LORDS of the REALM II

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

The Interface

County Management

Armies

Battles

Sieges

Diplomacy

Advanced Play

Strategy Hints and Tips

Customer Service

English Kings from 1066 to 1327

Credits

For help with Help, press the F1 key.


Frequently Asked Questions

What’s this game all about, anyway?

How do I increase my population?

How do I get food?

How do I improve my people's health?

What should I do each turn?

How do I grow grain?

How do I build a castle?

How do I make weapons?

What do the colored outlines on the control panel mean?

How do I reclaim a barren or damaged field?

How do I get more counties?

What if my people revolt?


How do I grow grain?

To grow grain, you need three things: grain fields, the grain itself, and grain laborers.

To allocate a field to grain growing, click on any non-barren, non-damaged field, and select the grain symbol near the bottom of the panel that appears. Grain fields will change in appearance as the seasonal grain cycle progresses.

To buy grain, you must wait until there is a merchant in your county. Click on the merchant wagon, and select the grain basket from the merchant panel to purchase your grain.

To allocate laborers to grain growing, simply make sure you have at least one grain field in your county, and that you have some grain. As long as you do, a portion of your agricultural work force will automatically begin farming.

Grain farming works on a yearly cycle. It is planted between the winter and spring turns, and it is harvested in the fall.

In the winter, make sure you have enough grain fields to accommodate the grain you want to plant. The grain fields you establish in winter will determine your grain output for that year.

After each fall season, you should yield many times the amount of grain you have planted. In the fall, your grain laborers will harvest your crops. The following winter, your grain harvest will be evident.


How do I build a castle?

You may only have one castle in each county.

To build a castle in a county that lacks one, click on the Build Castle button on the control panel. The castle screen displays five castle types, ranging from the modest Wooden Palisade to the impressive Royal Castle. As you click on each castle type, the display in the upper right tells you the materials required for that design, as well as the amount of time it will take a minimum number of workers to build it.

In order to build any castle, you must have the stone and wood required for its construction. Click on the thumbs up gauntlet to begin the project. As long as you have labor and materials, the construction will begin. A portion of your industrial workforce will work on castle building as long as you have activated the project and you have the required materials.

To speed up the construction of a castle, assign more workers to the job.

You may follow the same process to upgrade an existing castle.

See Castle Building for more inforamtion.


How do I make weapons?

To make weapons, you need an operational blacksmith shop, some laborers working there, and the required materials for the weapon you want to make.

To activate an inactive blacksmith shop, click on it. A weapon icon will appear on your control panel showing the weapon currently being produced. Click on it to access the blacksmith shop, where various weapons hang on the walls. To change the weapon being produced, select a hanging weapon.

The materials display will show the number of units of wood and iron needed to produce one of the selected weapon. All weapons require some quantity of wood, and all but the bow require iron as well.

If you do not have enough iron or wood, buy them from a merchant or produce them yourself. (Iron production requires an iron mine, and wood production requires a lumber mill.)

To increase production of weapons, allocate more laborers to the blacksmith shop. And remember, make sure you always have plenty of materials.


How do I improve my people's health?

A county’s health is a major influence upon its happiness rating. If a county’s health is poor, it is most likely due to inadequate rations. You must do your best to keep rations at Normal or above for all your counties. This means planning ahead and making sure you have enough cows and/or grain to feed your people. If your population is growing, make sure your herd, or your harvest, grows along with it.


How do I get food?

Food comes from cows and grain. There are only two ways to get food for your people: buying it and producing it yourself. Raising cows requires cattle fields, cows, and workers. Growing grain requires grain fields, grain, and grain workers. Make sure you have enough grain or cows to feed your population.

If you run low on food, try setting half or quarter rations temporarily. But remember: doing so will lower your population’s happiness.

If you are not producing as much food as you’d like, wait for a merchant wagon to show up in your county, and buy grain or cows there.


What's this game all about?
What’s this game all about?

This game is all about becoming the uncontested King of England (or whichever kingdom map you happen to be playing on). To do this, you must eliminate all of the nobles you are competing against.

Your first goal in any game should be to make your first county prosperous and successful. This means deciding where to concentrate your labor force. Will you farm grain or cattle (or both)? Will you produce wood (if you have a lumber mill)?, stone (if you have a quarry)?, or iron (if you have an iron mine)? As the seasons pass, if you have managed your resources wisely, your population and productivity will grow.

Eventually, you must raise armies. You may conscript your peasants and arm them with weapons you have made or purchased; or you may hire mercenaries. You may send these armies out to conquer other counties in order to expand your rule and increase your wealth. You will fight battles on open ground and you will conduct castle sieges using the most advanced siege weapons of the era: battering rams, siege towers, and catapults.

To protect your counties you may build castles of your own, and garrison them with powerful armies.

Soon the competition will heat up. You will communicate by message with the other nobles (both human and computer controlled). You may establish alliances or open hostilities.

Success will require a solid and multifaceted strategy. In the end, only one can be King.


What do the colored outlines on the control panel mean?

If the figure on the slider bar has a blue outline around it, this means you have idle workers somewhere. You should try to avoid having idle workers, because they represent unused resources. Move the slider bar to the left or right try to get rid of the blue outline. If your idle workers are agricultural, sliding the figure toward industry might put them to work. If your idle workers are industrial, sliding the figure toward agriculture might put them to work. If the blue outline remains, consider starting a new industry or expanding your agriculture to make full use of your labor pool.

When a blue outline appears around a production symbol on your control panel, this means you have too many workers assigned to that specific task. A blue outline around the cow symbol, for example, means you have more workers assigned to cattle farming than you need.

A red outline around a production symbol means that you do not have enough workers there to tend to the resources you have. A red outline around the cow symbol, for example, means that you do not have sufficient cattle workers to tend to your herds. You need to assign more workers to cattle farming.

The production numbers next to the symbols on the control panel will also be color coded: green indicates an expected gain, red indicates and expected loss.

View colored outlines


How do I raise my population?
How do I increase my population?

Raise your population by keeping your people happy. When a population is happy, you will lose few to emigration and you will gain many from immigration. To keep your people happy, feed them well, do not overtax them, do not conscript too many into military service, and buy ale from a visiting merchant every now and then.


What should I do each turn?

There is much to be done each turn, depending on your particular strategy. Here are some of your options:

•	Adjust your labor allocation to maximize food production, industrial output, and castle construction.

•	Check for overcrowding on your cattle fields, and establish more cattle fields (or get rid of cows) if you have overcrowding.

•	Visit a merchant, if one is present, and buy cows, grain, weapons, ale, wood, iron, or stone if you need it. Sell extra materials, if you have them, to make some money.

•	Adjust your tax rate if it needs adjusting.

•	Create an army if one is needed. Move existing armies, and fight battles.

•	Send messages to your opponents.

•	Turn industries on and off.

•	Adjust rations.

•	Transport grain or cows between counties.


How do I reclaim a barren or damaged field?

There is nothing you can do right away for a damaged field. A damaged field will, however, become a barren field before long. To reclaim a barren field, select the field and click on the hoeing figure in the panel that appears. A symbol will appear on the control panel, telling you how long it will take to reclaim the field. To speed up the process, assign more laborers to agriculture (specifically, to field reclamation).


How do I get more counties?

Create an army and march into the county you want to take.

If it does not have a castle, march your army into the county town. The local peasants will probably put up a fight, and you must win in order to take the county. If a county has a garrisoned castle (one with a flag flying over it), you must take the castle. The only way to do this is by conducting a siege.

March your army right up to the castle (on top of the castle, actually). A panel will appear, allowing you to build siege weapons. The more siege weapons you build, the longer it will take to build them. Also, the larger your army, the quicker it will produce the siege weapons.  When your siege weapons are finished, the siege battle will begin.

See capturing counties for more information.


What if my people revolt?

If you allow any county’s happiness rating to fall below 25 for more than four turns, the county’s population will revolt. When a revolt happens, your authority over that county will be taken away. In addition, a band a brigands will appear on the map, looking like a figure carrying a torch. The brigands will move around the lands looking for food. Happiness will fall in any county they move into.

To eliminate the band of brigands, you must send an army to do battle with them.

To regain control over a county that has revolted, you must march one of your armies back in and seize the county’s county town.

See peasant revolts for more information.


Game Overview
Getting Started: Game Overview

The game opens in the year 1268. The King has died without an heir, leaving the throne empty. You are one of several nobles vying for the right to wear the crown.

Your goal is to eliminate all challengers to the throne so that your rule is uncontested. You begin the game with a single county. With its meager resources, you must build a large following, a successful economy and, ultimately, a powerful army.

First, you must make your county thrive. Increase your population by making your people happy.  Manage your labor force to produce as much as you can while providing food for a growing population.

When the time is right, you may build castles to defend your realm and raise armies to march forth and bring other lands under your rule. Your fighting force must be large and well-equipped—it will do battle on open ground and in bloody castle sieges.

Look after your counties, build castles, raise and command powerful armies—these are your tasks. If you can carry them out with skill and ambition you will overpower your adversaries, and county after county will fall into your hands.

Only then will the glorious crown rest where it belongs—upon your head!

Setting up a Game

Game Time and Mouse Commands


Setting up a Game

Once you load the game, the introduction will begin. In the future, you may skip this sequence by clicking your mouse.

When the introduction finishes, you will be prompted to choose a single player or a multiple player game (for 2 to 5 people). Click on the appropriate button to continue.

If you choose Single Player, a second panel will appear:

•	Select Play Now!! to begin a game straight away with the default game settings.

•	Select Load a Game to continue a previously saved single-player game. A list of saved games will appear. Choose one and continue.

•	Select Custom Game to set up a  custom game. There are many variations to choose from (see Custom games  for more details).

•	Select Back to Start to begin again.

Whenever you begin a game you will be prompted to enter your name and choose a shield that will be your coat of arms. The shield’s color will serve as your identifying color throughout the game. Enter your name in the box, and click on a shield to select it.

Single Player Games

When you play a single player game, you will compete against as many as four computer-controlled players: the Bishop, the Baron, the Knight, and the Countess.

Multiple Player Games

When you click on the Multiple players button, a Connection Method window will appear. This window lets you choose a modem or network connection to link 2 to 5 human players.

See Multiplayer games for information.

When you play a multiplayer game with fewer than 4 human players, you may decide how many computer controlled nobles (if any) you will also compete against.


Game Time and Mouse Commands

Game Time

Lords of the Realm II is both a turn-based and a  real time game.

All county management aspects of the game take place in a turn-based environment. Each turn represents a season of the year, and as the game progresses, so will the years. All players will take their turns simultaneously.

As soon as any battle commences, however, the action begins to take place in real time. During a battle, you may issue orders while the fight rages, or you may pause and resume the action as you wish. Both armies will be able to move and attack at any time while the battle is on (see Battles ).

During each seasonal turn, you will tend to the essentials of building and managing your realm. There are five main types of action you may take during any turn:

1) Manage your counties:  This means making sure your people are well fed and happy, dividing labor between food production and industry, monitoring your treasury funds, buying and selling goods at a visiting merchant’s wagon, sending supplies between your counties, and checking on the progress of any castles you may be building. (See County Management ).

2) Create and dispatch armies: This means drafting peasants from your population, supplying them with whatever weapons you have purchased or produced, and sending them off to conquer the counties of your opponents. You may also hire mercenary armies whenever they are available, provided you can afford them. (See Armies ).

3) Build castles: You should build some kind of a castle as soon as you have enough stone and wood, and enough peasant workers to complete the task in a reasonable amount of time. The number of turns it takes to build a castle depends on the complexity and size of the design you have chosen, the number of castle builders you have assigned, and the availability of materials. (See Castle Building )

4) Engage in ground battles or sieges: During any turn, your troops may engage in a battle or castle siege. More than one battle may be fought in any single turn. (See Battles ).

An army can either fight a traditional battle on open ground, or, in an effort to capture a castle, it can lay siege. During a siege, the attacking army surrounds an enemy castle and spends several seasons constructing siege weapons such as battering rams and catapults. When the weapons are ready, the battle begins. (See Sieges ).

5) Engage in Diplomacy: Your relationships with the other would-be kings will develop as the game progresses. You may exchange messages, establish alliances, or foster hostile rivalries with your opponents. (See Diplomacy ).

6) End your turn: When your tasks are complete, click on the End Turn button. When all players have ended their turns, merchants, supply wagons, and rebels will move around the map, the screen will darken momentarily, and the next turn will begin. When the map reveals a new season and the words End Turn reappear on the button, you may begin your next turn.

Mouse Commands

You may perform most of the game’s functions by clicking on icons, buttons, text, or arrows.

In general, left-clicking on icons on the main map performs a function, while right-clicking calls up information. You may right-click on features in any county to view some general information about them.

The control panel at the right of the game screen contains many buttons and other features that allow you to manage your counties or view information.

Up and down arrows, where they appear, will allow you to set numerical values. Slider bars allow you to allocate people between two types of activity.

Much of the gameplay in Lords II occurs as you interact with figures and features on a map. On the main map, the terrain displayed is a partial view of a larger landscape. To move your view, you may scroll using your mouse pointer.

Scroll around a map by placing your mouse pointer just over any edge of your computer screen. You may scroll in any direction: north, south, east, west, or diagonal in any direction, until you reach the edge of the game area.


The Interface

The main interface in Lords II consists of a main map of the realm and a control panel.

When the game begins, your screen will display a view of the realm and many of its features.  The country is divided up into independent counties . At the start of the game each player controls a single county. County borders are marked by stone walls. Mountains, woods, and roads also appear on the main map.

At the start of the game, there are two types of counties: those controlled by nobles, and those that are independent. Counties controlled by nobles appear in the noble’s color on the mini map in the upper right corner of the screen. In a multiplayer game, a noble may represent either a human or a computer player.

The social center of each county is its county town. The county town will begin as a small settlement with a colored flag indicating its noble (if it has one). As its population grows, the town will fill up with buildings. You will be able to get some sense of a county’s progress by looking at its county town.

As a population grows, villages will also appear outside of the county town.

Each county also has several other features. Right-clicking on the features on the map will display information about them.

Every county will have a blacksmith shop, several fields, and usually one or more industrial sites like lumber mills, quarries,  or iron mines. In custom games, you will be able to set many of the conditions of the starting counties.

Your county and its resources will be the foundation upon which you will build your kingdom.

The Main Map

Overview Map

Control Panel

Menu Bar


The Main Map

The main map is where most of the game action takes place. It shows a zoomed-in view of the realm that displays the essential details of each county: towns, castles, industries, forests, mountains, fields, roads, borders. The main map shows only a portion of the entire realm. To move your view, scroll around by placing your mouse pointer just over any edge of your computer screen.

Your main map view will always determine the selected county. The control panel will always display information and control settings relevant to the selected county. If you adjust the labor allocation slider bar, for example, you are managing labor for the selected county only.

The selected county is always the county in the center of your main map view. It is indicated on the mini map by a white highlight around its border. Watch the county selection change as you scroll around the realm.

The main map also shows merchant wagons and county-to-county transport wagons, as well as the armies of the various players.

The control panel to the right of the main map is where you oversee and manage your counties and access other game screens.

County Management .


Control Panel
The Control Panel

The control panel allows you to view reports and take actions in order to rule your lands.

The mini map in the upper corner shows the entire realm. Each county a player controls is filled in with the player’s game color. When you click on a county in the mini map, the main map will center on that county.

The currently selected county—the one in the center of the main map—is indicated with a white border on the mini map.

The buttons to the right of the mini map display various color coded overlays (idle workers, rations, and happiness) for each county your control. The bottom button displays the overview map.

Colored outlines on the control panel


Overview Map
The Overview Map

The overview map is a full-screen view of the entire realm. To view the overview map, click on the button with the magnifying glass to the right of the mini map.

The overview map shows the locations of all merchants, armies, supply wagons, castles, and revolting peasants. You may access it to watch enemy troop movements, find merchants, or locate mercenaries.

Click on a county on the overview map to display its information on the control panel.

To return to the main map from the overview map,  click on the overview map on the county you wish to view; or select the county you wish you view on the mini map and click on the magnifying glass button.


Menu Bar
The Menu Bar

In addition to your pull-down menus (File, Options, Help), the menu bar will always display the year and season, and the amount of money in your treasury. The unit of currency is the Crown.

At the beginning of every turn, a row of shields will appear along the menu bar. Each shield represents a player in the game (either human or computer-controlled). As each player ends his or her turn the corresponding shield will disappear from the menu bar.

This feature comes in handy during multi-player modem or network games, as it allows everyone to see who has finished and who hasn’t.


County Management

Much of your time and effort will be devoted to managing your lands on the county level. You’ll find that each county has its own unique resources, features, and problems. If you can master county management, you will be well on your way to claiming the throne.

Your People

Happiness

Population Growth

Food

Feast or Famine?

Milk, Beef, or Bread?

Transporting Food

Labor

The Labor Allocation Slider Bar

The Advanced Labor Panel

Agriculture

Field Usage

Cattle

Grain

Industry

Wood Cutting

Stone Quarrying

Iron Mining

Blacksmith (weapon making)

Castle Building

Getting Materials

Choosing a castle design

Assigning builders

Altering a castle

The garrison

Repairing a castle

Managing mulitple counties

The Economy

The treasury

Merchants

Taxes

Winning the Game


People
Your People

Each county has its own population, made up of peasants. (The terms “peasants,” “people,” and “serfs” are used interchangeably in the game and manual.) Your population consists of everyone who is not serving in the military.

If you control more than one county, you control more than one population, and each requires individual attention.

To manage successfully any population, you must keep its people happy. This usually means keeping them healthy, which means feeding them well. All of this requires you to manage with skill the county’s labor pool in order to produce food and industrial goods.

At the start of the game, a good strategy is to strive for rapid population growth. Later on, a skilled ruler must learn to manipulate various factors in order to keep a county’s population at just the right size.

Happiness

Population Growth


Happiness

A high happiness rating is a sign of a healthy population. A low happiness rating can lead to rioting, and, if left unaddressed, can even get you thrown out of a county!

The factors that can influence a county’s happiness are taxes, health, military conscription, rations, and events.

View Happiness Report screen

•	Taxes are an essential part of government, and you will need tax money to buy the things you need. Your people can live with a reasonable tax rate, but will become angry if taxes are too high (see Taxes ). You may have to experiment for some time before you can find a happy medium.

•	Health is expressed as one of five levels: perfect, good, average, sick, and diseased. To see a selected county’s health rating, click on the Rations display on the control panel to display the Rations panel. A county’s health is also shown on the health indicator on the control panel. The colored portion of the indicator will be high when health is good, and low when it is poor.

Health is determined by factors both within and beyond your control. Do your best to provide Normal rations of food (or more). Half and Quarter rations are likely to cause health to deteriorate. Plague, an unfortunate random occurrence, kills people and damages the county’s health rating. You have no ability to prevent plague.

•	Conscription, like taxation, is necessary for the well-being of a county. People will accept some conscription, but will not stand for a leader who drafts too many of its young men into the military. The more men you conscript, the lower your happiness will drop.

If Happiness drops to zero, you may not conscript any more men. Like taxes, you will have to experiment with any given county to determine its tolerance for conscription.

•	Rations will also affect happiness. In addition to determining health (which will influence happiness), rations will affect happiness in their own right. Low rations will reduce happiness while high rations will improve it. The rations panel will tell you the anticipated effect of the ration you set.

•	Events can also influence happiness. The Events category on the happiness report refers to county takeovers, which cause severe reductions in happiness, and revolts, which will damage happiness as long as they remain in a county.

To keep your population happy, feed it well and treat it fairly. Your county’s happiness rating, indicated by a number between 0 and 100, is located on the control panel next to the red heart symbol. For a report on your county’s happiness, click directly on the happiness rating display on the control panel.

The Happiness Report charts the selected county’s happiness rating by season. It also lists each factor that raises or lowers happiness, and the effect each factor has had upon the rating since the previous season. If your happiness rating drops, this report will help you determine the cause.

You can increase happiness by:

• Providing normal, double or triple rations. The more food you give your people, the happier they get. (For information on rations and how they affect happiness see Food .)

• Buying ale. As a special gift to your peasants, you may purchase ale from any traveling merchant.  Ale’s only role is to boost a county’s happiness. Since you cannot produce ale yourself, it is a special treat for any population, although its effects are temporary. Buying ale for your people can be a nice gesture, and they will appreciate it!

• Keeping taxes low.

• Taking care not to draft too many peasants into military service.

If your population has a high level of happiness, your population will grow.  Conversely, if your population is unhappy, it is likely to shrink (see Population Growth ).

An extremely unhappy population may revolt. Revolting peasants roam the countryside and can seriously disrupt a county.

If you let a county’s happiness rating fall too low for too long, your peasants will revolt (you will get plenty of warning beforehand!). A revolt will remove the county from your control, and produce a roving band of brigands, who will wander the realm looking for food. A band of revolting brigands will appear on the main map as a figure holding a torch.

Brigands will spread their dissent: happiness will drop in whatever counties they move into.

You may gain back a county that has revolted by recapturing its county town.


Population Growth

The key to a thriving kingdom is a large citizenry. You should strive for large populations in the counties you control. A large population means more tax income, greater armies, and a healthy industrial output. It also means greater responsibility: the larger a population, the more food it demands from you.

View Population Report screen

A population’s size fluctuates from season to season. Population growth will come in the form of births and immigration.

• Births: Births will most likely occur each season. Sometimes a county may experience a spontaneous baby boom. Human passions being what they are, such occurrences are unpredictable and beyond your control.

• Immigration: If your people are happy and healthy, word will get around and others will settle in your lands. Immigrants will move from counties whose happiness is low to counties where it is high. The larger the difference in happiness between neighboring counties, the  more people will move to the happier county. Keeping your population happy usually means that immigrants will come. A county’s location will also affect immigration. A centrally located county that borders many others is likely to attract more immigrants than a remote and isolated county.

• Demobilization: Whenever you disband an army, its soldiers will return home to their county of origin. Their weapons will return to your treasury.

The following factors will cause a county’s population to shrink:

• Deaths:  Death is a natural and unavoidable occurrence. Deaths will most likely occur each season. You may attempt to minimize deaths by keeping health high (i.e. providing normal or high rations). Sometimes factors beyond your control, such as plague, will cause a rash of deaths.

• Emigration: If a population is unhappy, people will move out of a county to happier lands. If you set taxes too high, if you draft too many into the army, or if your rations are poor, emigration may soar.

• Conscription: Conscription influences population both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, a high conscription rate can make people unhappy, which may cause them to emigrate. But conscription also has a more direct effect on a county’s population. Once  someone is conscripted, he becomes a soldier, and is no longer part of the population.

To monitor your fluctuating population, click directly on the population display on your control panel. The Population Report will appear, displaying a graph that chronicles the seasonal changes in the selected county’s population since the start of the game.

In the beginning of the game, you will want your population to grow as fast as possible. The bigger a county’s population, the more workers it will have to build weapons and castles, which later on give you a decided edge in battles and sieges.


Food

You must do your best to provide enough food for each of your county populations. You should often check the rations panel for each county you control, and make adjustments if necessary. Your people may eat dairy produce, beef, or grain.

View Ration panel

Feast or Famine

Milk, Beef, or Bread?

Transporting Food


Feast or Famine?

Food management is done primarily through the ration panel.  Click directly on the ration display on the Control Panel to access the rations panel. Here you may set the amount of the county’s ration to None, Quarter, Half, Normal, Double, or Triple.

The Achieved listing shows the actual ration level the county’s people are receiving. The Achieved ration will be lower than the Wanted ration if the county does not have enough food to supply the ration size you have set.

The slider bar can also influence your achieved ration. If you have no grain, for example, and your bar is all the way to the grain side,  then your achieved ration will be lower than it could be.

The heart symbols show the effect upon the county’s happiness that the ration level will have over the next season. A ration of Normal or above will improve happiness while half or quarter rations will decrease happiness. Likewise, average or better health will cause happiness to rise, while sickness and disease will cause happiness to fall.


Milk, Beef, or Bread?

If a county has cows, then its people will live, at least partially, on dairy produce. People will automatically eat dairy as it is produced.

Dairy produce cannot be sold or transported, and any extra dairy will spoil and cannot be saved for future seasons.

On the ration panel, the number beneath the cheese symbol shows the number of people that can survive solely on the county’s dairy. As long as this is higher than your population, you need not worry about the content of the county’s diet.

As soon as dairy can no longer support an entire population, you will need to supplement its diet with beef and/or grain. This is done through the slider bar on the ration panel. The slider bar balances your population’s diet—aside from dairy—between grain and beef.

At the bottom of the ration panel, a simple chart lists grain, cattle and dairy produce. The first row shows how many people will be fed by each food item under the current settings. The second row shows how many sacks of grain, or how many cows, will be eaten during that season under the current settings. (There is no listing for Eaten under Dairy, because its consumption is automatic and it cannot be stored).

Moving the slider bar can affect this chart. Sliding the figure towards the grain sack, for example, will cause more sacks of grain to be eaten. Sliding the figure toward the cow will cause more cows to be slaughtered for beef.

Notice how the amounts of cattle, grain and dairy produce eaten and the number of people they feed are affected by setting the ration and moving the slider.


Transporting Food

Grain and Cows can be transported from county to county. If one county under your rule has an abundance of food, while another is going hungry, you may send a loaded transport wagon to share the wealth.

To send food between counties, select the Send Supplies button on your control panel (see Transporting goods ).


Labor

History’s greatest kingdoms were built upon the sweat and toil of the common laborer. A large, healthy, and well-managed work force is vital to securing and expanding your realm.

There are two main categories of non-military labor to which you can assign your peasants: agriculture and industry.

Agriculture consists of grain farming, cattle raising, and field reclamation.

Industry consists of woodcutting, stone quarrying, iron mining, weapon making (the blacksmith) and castle building (and repair).

Labor Allocation Slider Bar

The colored outlines on the control panel

The Advanced Labor Panel


Labor Allocation Slider Bar

The slider bar on the control panel allows you to divide your workers between agriculture and industry. When the figure is directly in the center of the bar, the labor force is divided exactly evenly. Click on the figure and drag it to the right to assign more workers to industry, and to the left to assign more workers to agriculture.

View labor allocation slider bar

When you allocate laborers with the slider bar, their division between tasks is automatic. New workers will be divided equally between operational tasks that need them, and tasks that do not need workers will not receive them.

Remember:workers will only go to operational tasks. Right-click on an industry to check its status; left-click on an industry to change its status.

If your county does not have an operational iron mine, for example, peasants assigned to industry will not work on iron mining. If you have no grain to plant, peasants assigned to agriculture do not work on grain farming.

Imagine, for example, that the only operational industrial sites a county has are a lumber mill and an iron mine. This county’s slider bar is set with the figure right in the center, so that half the workers are assigned to industry and half are assigned to agriculture. The half that are assigned to industry will be divided equally among the operational lumber mill and iron mine, so that each will employ a quarter of the overall workforce.

The county’s blacksmith will get no workers if it is not operational.

colored outlines on the control panel


colored outlines
The colored outlines on the control panel

When a blue outline appears around the figure on the slider bar, this indicates that you have idle workers that are unassigned in your labor pool. If you have a large number of workers assigned to agriculture, for example, and only a few fields are active, there will not be enough work for everyone to do. Your extra workers will sit idle.

View colored outlines

When you have idle workers, try adjusting the slider bar to make the blue outline disappear. If the blue outline remains, you should consider activating more industries or starting new cattle or grain fields. If you have idle peasants, you might as well put them to work!

The production symbols below the slider bar will be outlined in red if there is insufficient labor allocated to the corresponding task. If your cattle production symbol has a red outline, for example, allocate more workers to cattle farming.

If a production symbol is outlined in blue, on the other hand, this means that too many workers are assigned to the corresponding task. If a county’s blacksmith symbol has a blue outline, this means that there are more workers at the blacksmith than needed. The extras are idle. When a red outline appears around a production symbol, allocate the extra workers to another task.

View labor allocation slider bar


View colored outlines
Colored outlines


advanced labor panel
The Advanced Labor Panel

When you adjust labor with the slider bar, the workers will take it upon themselves to split up into each operational task.

You may accept the default labor allocation, or you may wish to take a more hands-on management approach, and change it. If you have a castle under construction, for example, and you want to finish it quickly, you may take workers from wood cutting and send them to the construction site to hasten the castle project.

View advanced labor panel

To do so, click directly on a county’s county-town. This accesses the county’s advanced labor panel. You never have to use this panel, but it is available to players who want a real hands-on management experience.

Each section of the labor panel represents a task. The figures within the task areas represent peasants at work.

Advanced Labor Management

To shift workers from project to project, simply hold your mouse button down and drag a rectangular frame around one or more workers. When you release the mouse button, the figures will stand at attention. Click on the area to which you would like them to move.

You may use the labor panel to shift workers from one agricultural pursuit to another, from one industry to another, or between agriculture and industry. When you move laborers from agriculture to industry (or vice versa), notice that the slider bar adjusts itself accordingly.

If you have too many peasants assigned to a task, the extra ones will become idle. Idle peasants will appear as sitting and resting figures, either in the over-staffed task area or in the Idle Townsfolk area in the center of the labor panel.

Double-clicking on the center of the labor panel automatically allocates idle peasants to areas that are understaffed, and brings any extra idle peasants into the center where you can keep track of them.

If any task does not have enough workers to meet its minimum labor needs, dark shadowy figures will appear in the task area on the labor panel. If possible, allocate workers to the understaffed task so that the shadows disappear.


Agriculture

In Lords II there are two types of agriculture: grain and cattle. You may buy grain and cattle from traveling merchants (see Merchants ).

When you have cows or grain you may either raise them or feed them directly to your people. Increasing your agricultural output will allow you to feed a growing population. You may also sell extra grain and cows to merchants, which can be profitable.

Labor

Field Usage

Cattle

Grain


Field Usage

Grain and cattle are raised on a county’s fields. Fields vary in number from county to county and can be allocated to different uses. Any field can be assigned to any use, as long as it is not barren or damaged.

To assign a use to a field, click directly on the field. This brings up the field usage panel. The symbol at the top of the panel indicates the current status or usage of the selected field. The buttons along the bottom show all possible field uses. Click on a button to assign a new usage.

Right click to exit without making a change. Be careful not to change accidentally an active grain field. If you do, your crops will be destroyed!

A field’s use, or status, may be any one of the following:

Fallow

Barren

Grain

Cattle

Parched or Flooded

Reclaiming barren fields


Fallow
  Fallow: A fallow field is one that is fertile and can be allocated to grain or cattle farming. (With the Advanced farming  option activated, fallow fields are  necessary to maintain fertility.)


Barren fields
  Barren: A barren field is infertile and unsuitable for use. You will not be able to raise or plant anything on a barren field until you reclaim it and make it fallow. Field reclamation is hard work, and requires many peasants over several seasons.

Reclaiming barren fields


Grain field usage
  Grain: Grain fields look different from season to season as grain is sown, grown and harvested. You will have no active grain fields at the beginning of a game. You must buy grain from a merchant, then allocate fallow fields to grain growing.


Cattle field usage
  Cattle: A cattle field is a grassy meadow with cattle grazing on it. The appearance of cows on a field indicates that the field is currently assigned to cattle use.  If a county has no cows, a field assigned to cattle will appear empty, but it will accommodate cows as soon as they are purchased or arrive by transport. The number of cows on a field reflects the field’s crowding condition.


parched or flooded fields
Parched or Flooded: Occasionally, a drought or a flood will damage a usable field. Such events are unfortunate and expensive, but unavoidable. You cannot reclaim a weather-damaged field immediately, but after a single season its status will change to barren and you may set peasants to work to reclaim it.


Reclaiming Barren Fields

Barren fields are reclaimed over several seasons. To reclaim a barren field, click on the field, and then select the farmer symbol from the panel that appears. In order to reclaim a field, you must have at least one peasant assigned to field reclamation.

For each field undergoing reclamation, a hoeing figure will appear on your control panel. Click on the figure to see a report on the field reclamation project.

To speed the project up, assign more peasants to reclamation duty (although you will never be able to reclaim more than a quarter of a field in a single season). You will be able to watch as the field is reclaimed gradually with the passing seasons.


Cattle

You will begin each game with some cattle, which you will see grazing in your county fields on the main map.

A cow figure on the main map does not represent a single cow, or even a specific number of cows. Rather, it indicates that the field has been assigned to cattle farming. As long as a county has at least one cow in its possession, a cow figure will appear in each field that is assigned to cattle farming. If the county has no cows, a field assigned to cattle farming will appear empty.

In addition, the number of cow figures in each field shows the overall herd crowding conditions in that county. One cow figure represents low crowding, two figures represent some crowding, and three represent overcrowding. Overcrowding can harm the productivity of your herd—your cows need space to graze. Whenever you have overcrowding, allocate a new fallow field to cattle farming if you can.

A county may do four things with its cows: it can raise them in its fields, eating the dairy products they produce each season; it can slaughter and eat them; it can transport them to other counties; or it can sell them to traveling merchants.

In order to raise cattle, a county must have at least one field assigned to cattle farming, some people working on cattle farming, and some cows.


Bovine Nutrition: Dairy and Beef

Cattle provide two sources of food: dairy products and beef. Dairy produce is a valuable food source. As long as a county has cows, they will produce cheese, milk, and other dairy products which will automatically feed some, or all, of your people. Your population will only need to eat beef or grain after the season’s dairy produce has been consumed. If your dairy output can feed your entire population, you need not worry about food allocation at all, because no grain or beef will be eaten (see Milk, Beef, or Bread?  ).

If you provide enough workers to tend to your cattle and do not slaughter and eat too much of your herd, it will increase in size. The more cows you have, the more dairy produce you will get.

But don’t forget as your herds grow, you may need more laborers and additional cattle fields to accommodate them.

Whenever a county receives cattle or grain, remember to allocate a field or fields for grazing or planting. Be sure to remember this when you transport food from county to county!

Food


Grain

At the start of the game, your county will not have any grain. If you choose to buy grain, you may either plant it or feed it directly to your peasants.

In order to grow grain, you must first buy it from a merchant. After buying the grain, allocate at least one field to grain growing and save enough to plant in the winter. Then assign workers to grain farming.

Up to 5 sacks of grain can be planted in one field, provided you have enough laborers. The more grain fields you plant, the more workers you’ll need to allocate to grain farming.

To raise grain:

•	Buy grain from a merchant.

•	In winter, assign one or more fields to grain (one field plants five sacks of grain).

•	Make sure you have laborers assigned to grain farming.

Grain will always be planted during the period between the winter and spring turns, and it will always be harvested in the period between the fall and winter turns.

For each sack of grain you plant, you will harvest many more sacks, provided you have adequate fields and labor. Grain can be an efficient food source and a valuable commodity.

When the advanced farming  option is turned on, grain will have different labor demands in different seasons.

The grain planting cycle


Grain planting cycle
The Grain Planting Cycle

As long as you have done all of the above, grain will be planted at the beginning of the following spring. You will see your active grain fields change in appearance as the planting cycle progresses.

Winter

  Winter is when you need to decide how many fields you want to assign to grain for the coming year. Base this decision on how many sacks of grain you have (up to five are planted per field), and how many grain laborers you have. Grain is sown during the period between the winter and spring turns. Think of this period as both the end of winter and the start of spring.

Spring

  In spring you will see that your fields have been sown. The grain is just beginning to appear.

Summer

  In summer the grain continues to grow into full stalks.

Fall

  The fall is when your workers harvest the year’s grain. Make sure you have enough grain workers to reap the maximum amount of grain. The grain you reap will become available to you after you end your fall turn. The following winter you should see the year’s work yield a nice return.


Industry

The term “Industry” refers to:

Wood Cutting

Stone Quarrying

Iron Mining

Blacksmith (weapon making)

Castle Building

A county may not have the resources required for all industrial pursuits, though. A county with no quarry, for example, may not produce stone.

You may activate or deactivate each industry in a county by clicking on it. When you do so, a panel will appear, informing you whether you have switched the industry on or off.

When you adjust labor with the slider bar, those you assign to industry will be automatically divided between the industries you have activated in the county.

When an industry is active (or operational), its site will animate and a symbol representing it will appear below the slider bar on your control panel. When an industry is producing, a number will appear along with the icon, showing the production that will occur over the following season. Click on any production symbol to access additional information about its industry (view example).

Wood, stone, iron, and weapons may be used in any county regardless of where they have been produced or purchased. You will never have to transport these items between counties.


Wood Cutting

Wood cutting takes place at a county’s lumber mill. When a lumber mill is operational and has workers assigned to it, it will produce lumber.

When a selected county has an active lumber mill, a lumber symbol will appear on the control panel. The number alongside it indicates the amount of wood that will be produced over the next season under the current labor setting.

To see how much wood you have at any time, click on the treasury button. To make any kind of weapon, or build any style of castle, you will need some quantity of wood.


Stone Quarrying

Stone can be produced in counties that have operational, staffed quarries. When a selected county has an operational and productive quarry, the stone symbol on the control panel shows the number of tonnes of stone that will be produced over the next season.

The only use for stone (besides selling it to merchants)is in castle building. All castle designs require some quantity of stone.

To see how much stone you have at any time, click on the treasury button.


Iron Mining

Iron can be produced in any county that has an iron mine. When a selected county has an operational and productive mine, the iron symbol in the control panel will show the number of tonnes of iron that will be produced next season under the current labor setting.

Iron is used by the blacksmith to produce weapons. All weapons, except the bow, require some quantity of iron.


Blacksmith
Blacksmith (Weapon Making)

Every county on the map will have a blacksmith shop where weapons may be produced. An operational, staffed blacksmith will produce the weapon of your choice. Each county may only produce one type of weapon at a time.

View blacksmith screen

The output of the blacksmith shop will depend upon the number of laborers working there and the materials (wood and iron) available to them.

When a blacksmith shop is operational and staffed, the symbol that appears on the control panel shows the weapon being produced, as well as how many will be produced over the next season under the current labor setting.

To go the blacksmith shop, click directly on the weapon symbol on the control panel (or click on the blacksmith on the advanced labor panel).

In the blacksmith shop, you will see a number of weapons hanging on or leaning against the walls. The currently produced weapon lies on the table in the foreground.

To change the weapon being produced, find the weapon on the wall and click on it. The new weapon will appear on the table in the foreground.

The panel at the bottom of the screen tells you how many blacksmiths are working and how many of the selected weapon they will produce next season.

There is also a small box showing how much wood and/or iron is required to produce a single one of the selected weapon. You will only be able to produce as many weapons as you have materials for.

Once you have the required materials to make the weapon, you must make sure you have laborers employed at the blacksmith.

As long as your blacksmith shop has the required materials and sufficient laborers, it will produce the selected weapon each season.

You may choose a weapon for which you do not have the required amounts of wood and/or iron. Your workers will begin producing it as soon as you collect these materials.


Castle Building

In an age of violent conquest, nothing can ensure a county’s protection like a strong and imposing castle.

As Edward I learned in 1297, a castle provides not only a powerful stronghold against armed enemies, it also stands as a symbol of a leader’s authority and might.

Each county may have only one castle at a time, but there are several types of castles, ranging from a modest Wooden Palisade to an opulent and foreboding Royal Castle.

To build a castle you must decide on a design, acquire the needed materials, and then assign laborers to the task. It may take many seasons to complete a castle.

Getting materials for a castle

Choosing a castle design

Assigning castle builders

Altering a castle

The garrison

Repairing a castle

Castles and tax revenues


Getting materials for a castle

Castles are built from wood and stone. You can buy these materials from a merchant, or you may produce them yourself (if your county has the resources). If you control more than one county, the materials they  produce will be shared. (For information about wood and stone production, see Industry )

When you choose a castle design, you will see how many units of stone and wood the design demands.

You may begin the construction before you have all the required wood and stone. As you collect these materials, they will automatically be sent to the castle site until the required amounts have been used. (Wood will be shared with blacksmiths if you are also producing weapons.)

Choosing a castle design

Assigning castle builders


Choosing a castle design

When you’re ready to build a new castle in a county, make sure the county is selected, click on the Build Castle button on your control panel.

If the selected county already has a castle, you may only alter the existing castle. Any single county can only have one castle at a time.

This brings you to the castle design screen. Pictured at the bottom of the screen, from the simplest at left to the most complex at right, are the five castle designs in the game:

•	Wooden Palisade

•	Motte and Bailey

•	Norman Keep

•	Stone Castle

•	Royal Castle

Choose the design you want by clicking on one of the castles pictured. One good strategy is to start with a simple design and improve upon it as resources become available. If you put off building a castle until you have enough workers and materials for a complex design, your county will be without a castle for years, and thus vulnerable to attack.

The scroll at the top right names the castle design you have selected. It also shows how many units of stone and/or wood are needed to build it.

Beneath the materials listing is an entry describing how long it will take to build the selected design. If you have any laborers assigned to castle building, this display will show you how long it will take that number of laborers to complete the construction. If you have no laborers assigned to castle building, this display shows the completion time based on a minimum recommended number of workers.

Once you have chosen a design, click on the thumbs up gauntlet to begin the project and return to the main map. There you will see the castle under construction in your county.

While construction is going on, the control panel will display a castle symbol. The accompanying number indicates how many seasons remain until the castle is complete under the current labor setting.

Right-click on the castle itself for a report on how many builders are at work, how many seasons the project has to go, and how many tonnes of wood and stone(if any) the builders still need.

To speed the construction of a castle, allocate more workers to the construction project.

At the beginning of your turn following completion of the castle, you will receive a message that a castle has been built in your county.

Getting materials for a castle

Assigning castle builders


Assigning castle builders

As soon as you approve a castle design, a portion of the peasants assigned to industry will automatically begin working on castle building. If you have too few builders to complete the castle within a reasonable amount of time, you may take some peasants away from other industries and assign them to castle building. (See advanced labor panel )

Remember to maintain a balance in your labor force. Don’t, for instance, assign all your woodcutters to castle building if you still need wood to build the castle.

Once the castle is complete, the castle builders will  automatically be distributed among the county’s other operational industries; or, if all the other industries are fully staffed, they will become idle townsfolk.

Choosing a castle design

Getting materials for a castle


Altering a castle

You may alter a castle in any county by upgrading or downgrading it. To alter the castle of a selected county, click on the Build Castle button on your control panel to access the castle design screen. Select a new castle design.

Upgrading a castle will require labor, materials and time. Downgrading a castle will also require labor and time. Depending on the previous castle design, a downgrade may free up some materials, or it may   require other additional materials. Going from a Norman Keep, for example, to a Motte and Bailey, will require wood, but will yield extra stone when the project is finished.


Garrison
The garrison

A garrison is an army that resides in and defends a castle. A new castle will automatically include a garrison. Its size will vary according to the size of the castle, its soldiers are subtracted from the county population, and its weapon costs are covered by the cost of the castle.

Archers are good at defending castle walls, but you may want to supplement the automatic garrison with some hand-to-hand units like pikemen and swordsmen. In case of a breach, you will need someone to take on the invaders at close range.

The capacity of each castle varies with its size: a Wooden Palisade can hold far fewer men, for example, than a Royal Castle. Right-click on a completed castle to display its troop capacity.

To garrison a castle, march an army right into the castle. While a castle is garrisoned, a flag of the player’s color will fly over it. To review the garrison, right-click directly on the castle.

You are not required to garrison the castle with the largest army it can hold. If one of your opponents is preparing to lay siege, however, you might want to fill it to capacity.

The best type of soldiers to place in a castle are archers and crossbowmen. Shooting arrows from high atop castle walls, these units are very effective against attackers.


Repairing a castle

Castles will commonly need repair after a siege. After you win a castle by siege, it will be yours to repair. Remember this as you crash through walls and gates!

If you fail to repair a castle, its damage will remain and may allow the castle to be easily breached in the next siege.

Right click on a castle to see its information panel. If the castle needs repair, this panel will tell you what materials are required, and will estimate how long it will take a crew to complete the job.

As soon as you have the required materials and have allocated laborer, the repairs will begin. To repair a castle, allocate laborers to castle building just as you would for a new castle project.

While a castle repair is underway, a castle symbol will appear on your control panel accompanied by the number of seasons it will take the current crew to finish the repair. The more workers you assign to the job, the faster it will be completed.

Note: Castle repairs will not happen in stages. Only when the repair is 100 percent finished will you see any improvement.


Managing Multiple Counties

Your goal in Lords of the Realm II is to conquer  all of your opponents so that your rule is uncontested. To do this, you must capture multiple counties and bring them under your rule.

Each new county will present a new challenge to your administrative skills. The more counties you conquer, the more counties you must manage. Some of your counties may thrive, while others may founder.

Recently conquered populations will often require special attention. After all, you have just seized their county  by defeating their soldiers on the battlefield. They can be forgiven for mistrusting you. Your challenge is to convince them that your conquest is for their own good!

The mini map at the top of the control panel allows you to move easily from one to another. The counties you control will be shown in your color.

Your counties share a common supply of gold, wood, iron, stone and weapons. Once any quantity of these items is produced or acquired by one county, it is automatically accessible to all others in your realm. Click on the Treasury button to check your stores of all these items.

Food, on the other hand, is always grown, produced, or purchased in a specific county. You may send grain or cattle from one county to another with the Send Supplies button. Otherwise, food will always remain in the county of its purchase or production.

The counties you control must be contiguous, i.e. they must all be contained within a common border. If your realm is split into two non-connected bodies, you will immediately lose the weaker one! In the game’s advanced stages, this becomes a key strategic element. If you can divide an opponent’s realm by seizing a single county, you will deal a serious blow.

Transporting goods


Transporting goods

The only goods you may transport from one county to another are grain and cows. To transport goods from one county to another, click on the Send Supplies button at the bottom of the control panel. The transport panel  will appear.

The origin of the shipment will always be the county that is selected at the time you open the transport panel. The transport panel displays a small map of the kingdom, with the county of origin highlighted.

Select the county to receive the goods by clicking on it on the small kingdom map. You may only send goods to counties you control. The receiving county’s name will appear on the transport panel.

Use the right and left arrows to set the quantity of grain and/or cows you would like to send. (Dairy products cannot be transported due to their tendency to spoil.)To dispatch the shipment, click on the thumbs up gauntlet.

The shipment will take a few seasons, depending on the distance it must travel, to reach its destination.

Consider your transport’s path and the locations of enemy armies. Supply carts can be destroyed!


Economy
The Economy

Your ultimate goal—to eliminate all rival claimants to the throne—can only be accomplished with large, powerful armies. To support such armies, you will need to cultivate a strong economy based on trade, taxes, agriculture, and industry.

The treasury

Merchants

Taxes

Castles and tax revenues


Treasury
The treasury

The treasury lists the TOTAL amount of gold, iron, stone, wood and weaponry for ALL of your counties. To view the treasury, click on the Treasury button on the control panel. No matter how many counties you control, they all share one treasury and all the items in it. When one of your counties produces or buys stone, for example, the stone immediately becomes available to all the other counties in your realm.

Be sure to keep a close eye on how much gold your treasury contains. You must spend within your means. Consult the treasury before beginning a castle construction to see how much wood and stone you have, or before raising an army to see what types of weaponry you have.

The treasury panel also includes the button that accesses the Best Noble report.


Merchants

  Trade may be conducted only when a merchant is present in a county. Merchant wagons are always visible on the main map. Merchants will generally travel from county to county on a set course. The frequency of their visits can vary from county to county — a centrally located county may host a visiting merchant almost every season, while a remote county will receive infrequent visits. As the seasons progress, you will get to know the routes of the various merchants, and this will help you plan ahead.

When a county does not have enough food, resources or weapons, you may buy these items from a merchant. You may also sell these items to a merchant if you have extra, or need to raise money.

To go to the merchant screen, click on a merchant wagon in any county you control.

When you rest the mouse pointer on the items in the  marketplace screen, a small scroll will appear, naming the item and showing two numbers (such as 30/60).

The left number is the selling price, in crowns, of the item, or the amount you will get if you sell a unit of that item to the merchant.

The right number is the buying price — the amount you will pay for each unit of the item that you buy from the merchant. Most merchants are tough businessmen, and you’ll notice a large difference between buying and selling prices!

To buy or sell an item, click on it on the marketplace screen. A panel will appear, with up and down arrows  that allow you to buy and sell goods. The right set of arrows sets the maximum possible purchase or sale, while the left set allows you to change the quantity one unit at a time.

The panel also tells you the unit price of the selected item, how many crowns your treasury has, and your gain or loss as a result of the transaction.

Click on the up arrow to buy, or click on the down arrow to sell.

Select the thumbs up gauntlet to complete the transaction. Select the thumbs down gauntlet (or right click) to exit the panel without making a transaction.


Merchant screen


Taxes

Taxes are a dual edged sword for any ruler. On one hand, they fill your coffers with much-needed gold to fund castle construction, army building, and other essentials. On the other hand, if you raise taxes too high your people will object. Their happiness rating will drop, and they may ultimately overthrow your rule (see revolts).

The tax rate of the selected county is displayed on the control panel beneath the population tally. Each county can have a different tax rate but all taxes go into your single central treasury.

A county’s tax rate is expressed as a percentage of each person’s income that is handed over to your government each season. The size of a population, combined with the tax rate, determines your seasonal tax revenues.

To adjust a county’s tax rate, click directly on the tax rate display on the control panel. The tax panel will appear. Click on the up or down arrows to raise or lower the tax rate. Notice how happiness goes up as taxes go down (and vice versa). The number next to the words “People Pay” is the number of crowns that you will collect from that county in the next season, based on the rate that is currently set.

Note that taxes are collected at the end of the season, prior to any population changes that will appear when the next season begins. So, the People Pay number will be accurate.

There will be some communication between all of your counties, so if you set taxes outrageously high in one county, this will damage the happiness ratings of all your other counties. The tax panel for each county will display the effect of that counties tax rate (if any) on all your other counties.

The condition of a county should help you determine its tax rate. If your population is very unhappy, you may want to avoid taxing it at all. Revolts can be costly! If your population is happy, perhaps you can afford to set very high taxes, as long as you don’t do too much damage to its state of general merriment.

When a county’s happiness rating hits zero, you can not increase its tax rate at all.

Castles and tax revenues


Castles and tax revenues

Whether or not a county has a castle—and the size of the  castle if it does have one—will also affect your tax revenues. Castles attract wealth, so a county with a castle will have greater wealth than one without one. Therefore when you build a new castle in a county, your tax revenues will increase, even if the tax rate you set remains the same.

Likewise, improving an existing castle will further boost your tax revenues, while downgrading a castle will cause tax revenues to fall.


Winning the Game

To win the game, you must completely eliminate every other noble who is vying for the crown. This includes both human and computer controlled nobles. Victory in Lords II requires complete annihilation of all who challenge your rule. As long as any competitor still has a single county or army in possession,  your victory is incomplete.

You may check your status relative to the other players in several categories by consulting the Best Noble report. This report compares each player’s status with regard to: number of counties, number of castles, number of troops, number of gold crowns, happiest people, number of people, and an overall rating, greatest noble, which takes all these factors into consideration.

Access the Best Noble report through the treasury panel.


Best noble report


Armies

No ruler can wear the crown without first building, organizing, and commanding powerful armies.

You may create many armies in the course of a game. Each army is composed of various types of soldiers, armed with weapons you buy or produce, and each may travel independently of one another, to fight and conquer as you command.

There are two main classes of soldiery in Lords II: citizen solders and mercenaries. Mercenaries are soldiers for hire, who travel the land and fight for whomever will pay them. They tend to be skilled professionals but they are costly to hire and maintain. You may find yourself unable to afford them until after you have ruled for several years.

A citizen army, on the other hand, comes from the ranks of the people themselves. The cheapest kind of  soldier is the simple peasant soldier, armed only with whatever “weapon” he can find on the farm. Or you may arm your citizen soldiers with swords, pikes, and other weapons which will improve their performance considerably.

You raise a citizen army through conscription (forcible service). Conscripting peasants can reduce happiness: your people realize it is necessary, but they will become angry if you conscript too many.

Mercenaries will come to your county occasionally to offer their services, and you may hire them when you can afford them.

Drafting Citizens

Arming your soldiers

Armies in the Realm

Army wages

Hiring Mercenaries


Drafting citizens

To create an army, click on the Create an Army button on the control panel. The armory will appear. The panel in the middle of the armory contains a slider bar which you may use to choose the number of citizens you want to draft into your next army.

The slider bar shifts your population between civilian service and conscription into the army you are about to raise.

Once part of an army, citizens cease to be counted among your population. Only those not conscripted will be available for the non-military work pool of agricultural and industrial labor.

The slider bar is your way of determining what proportion of the population you will conscript (the numbers on either side of the bar will equal your current population). Slide the figure toward the soldier to raise conscription; slide it toward the farmer to lower it.

Just moving the bar does not actually conscript anyone, it just sets the percentage of people you will conscript. Once you have determined the size of the army you want to conscript, click on Continue.

The conscription panel also displays:

•	The change in happiness resulting from the conscription level you set. The higher the percentage, the lower your happiness will fall. You may not conscript a number that will cause happiness to drop below zero—beyond a certain point, peasants will simply refuse to take up arms!

•	The number of mercenaries (if any) in the county, and the hiring price they demand. If you do not have sufficient gold in your treasury to hire them, the panel will tell you so.

•	The number of each type of weapon currently in your armory. If you have 20 swords, the army may not include more than 20 swordsmen.

Clicking on the Continue button confirms the size of the army you are raising. You may then determine the makeup of the army by arming your soldiers.

Arming your soldiers


Armory screen
The Armory screen


Arming your soldiers

After you have determined the portion of your population to conscript, you may arm your soldiers with swords, pikes, and other weapons.

An army must have at least 50 soldiers in it. It may  include a mix of several types of soldier:peasant soldiers, macemen, pikemen, archers, crossbowmen, swordsmen, and knights. To raise non-peasant soldiers, your armory must contain weapons.

View armory screen

The figures at the bottom of the screen (and the weapons visible in the armory) show the types of soldiers you may raise. The weapons you possess hang on the armory wall. If swords are visible, you may raise swordsmen; if pikes are visible, you may raise pikemen, and so on. The number next to each figure shows the number of that type of soldier currently in the army.

To arm your soldiers, click on the figures at the bottom of the screen (or click directly on the weapons in the armory). A panel will appear, telling you the number of the selected soldier currently in the army, and the maximum number you may raise. Use the up and down arrows to set the desired number, and then click on the corner arrow to close the panel. The number you have set will appear next to the corresponding figure at the bottom of the armory screen.

When you approve of the army composition shown at the bottom of the armory screen, click on the Create button to create the army.

If you are unsatisfied with the size or composition of your army and wish to start over, click on the Change button to return to the conscription slider bar.

If you change your mind and decide not to create an army at all, click on the Cancel button (or right click) to return to the main map.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Pikemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen

Armies in the Realm


Armory screen 2
The Armory Screen


Army wages

Your citizens soldiers demand wages. If you do not pay your army wages, your soldiers will desert and you will lose them. You may consult your Treasury at any time to see the total army wages you must pay each season.

To see the wages of any specific army, right click on that army on the main map.

Hiring Mercenaries


Hiring mercenaries

Mercenaries are “soldiers of fortune” who travel from county to county offering their services to any lord who will pay their wages.

Mercenaries are skilled warriors and as such they can be expensive. They come with their own weapons, though, and hiring them will not reduce a county’s happiness or population like conscription does.

When you see a mercenary figure on top of one of your county towns on the main map, a mercenary army is present in your county.

When there is a mercenary army in your county you may find out more about it by going to the armory. The panel in the middle of the screen displays the number and type of the mercenaries, what it will cost to hire them, and their seasonal wages.

If you have enough crowns to hire the mercenaries, the panel will ask you whether or not you wish to hire them. If you click on Yes, the mercenaries will be added to the corresponding unit type in the stone panel at the bottom of the screen. Their wages will be deducted automatically from your treasury, and will continue to be deducted for every season you employ them.

You may not combine two armies that both contain mercenaries. Most mercenary clans have fought against each other in the past, and as a result they do not get along!


Peasant soldiers

Peasant soldiers are the most basic, most ill-equipped troop type in an army, but they can be useful. Peasants soldiers carry only their own pitchforks as weapons, so they cost no crowns to raise and arm.

Peasants can move at medium speed around the battlefield, and they have a minimal ability to attack and defend. They wear no armor, so they are more vulnerable to ranged attacks by bow and crossbow than  units wearing armor.

Macemen

Pikemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen

Knights


Macemen

Macemen carry large and heavy warclubs with spiked heads. Macemen wear light armor and can move quickly across the battlefield (second only to knights in speed). Cheaper and faster than swordsmen, macemen are good attackers but weak defenders and are vulnerable to ranged attacks. Mace production requires both iron and wood.

Macemen are ideal for chasing down archers and crossbowmen. They are also very effective against peasants.

Peasant soldiers

Pikemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen

Knights


Pikemen

Because of their heavy and cumbersome weapons,  pikemen move very slowly on the field. Their light mail protects them somewhat from ranged attacks. Their hand-to-hand attack value is less than that of macemen, swordsmen, and knights, but their hand-to-hand defense value is relatively high. Pikes are less expensive than crossbows, swords, and knight’s equipment, but a bit more expensive than maces. Pike production requires iron and wood.

Pikemen are best used to defend archers and crossbowmen.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen

Knights


Archers

Archers and crossbowmen are the only units capable of ranged attacks. Archers wear no armor and are moderately fast on the field. They are not well suited to hand-to-hand combat, as their real value is in the ranged attack. Archers have a greater range than crossbowmen, and they can fire more rapidly. Each shot from an archer’s longbow, however, is not as powerful as one from a crossbow. Bow production requires no iron, but quite a bit of wood.

Archers are not well suited for attacking units that wear armor. They are very effective against peasants, macemen, and archers. Against swordsmen and knights, archers are nearly useless.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Pikemen

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen

Knights


Crossbowmen

Unlike archers, crossbowmen wear light armor. As a result they will better withstand ranged attacks. Crossbowmen are poor hand-to-hand combatants but they have better close range defensive ability than archers. Shots from a crossbow will do more damage than those from a longbow, but crossbowmen take a longer time to reload, so their rate of fire is lower.  Crossbows are among the more expensive weapons to purchase or produce. Crossbow production requires both wood and iron.

Crossbows are very effective against units wearing armor. (Against peasants or macemen, archers are a better value.) Crossbowmen can also be very effective against siege weapons.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Pikemen

Archers

Swordsmen

Knights


Swordsmen

Swordsmen wear full chain mail and helmets, and they carry swords and shields. These are your elite fighters, chosen from among your strongest citizens. They move reasonably well and are deadly hand-to-hand fighters. Their armor and weapons make them good at both attacking and defending at close range, and they stand up pretty well to archer attacks. Sword production requires much iron and some wood.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Pikemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Knights


Knights

Knights are the most powerful and most expensive close-range fighters. They wear heavy plate mail and carry swords and shields, but because they are mounted they are by far the fastest troops on the field. Their hand-to-hand attack and defense abilities are the highest of any troops, and they withstand archer attacks better than anyone. A knight’s only weakness is his vulnerability to crossbow attacks.

To outfit knights requires large quantities of iron and small quantities of wood.

Peasant soldiers

Macemen

Pikemen

Archers

Crossbowmen

Swordsmen


Armies in the Realm

After you create an army in the armory, you will return to the main map, where your new army stands awaiting orders. An army is represented by one or more figures carrying a flag of its player’s color. An army’s size is reflected by the number of figures that represent it on the main map. A one-figure army is small, a two-figure army is medium sized, and a three-figure army is large.

Army Information

Moving armies

Combining armies

Splitting an army

Disbanding an army

Pillaging

Capturing counties

Foraging


Army information

To get information about any army on the main map, right click on it. The army information panel will display information about that army.

The three buttons at the bottom of the panel allow you to move, disband or split the army. Clicking the move button closes the panel and readies the army for movement on the main map.

When you right-click on another player’s army, a small parchment panel displays very general information about that army.

Moving armies

Disbanding an army

Splitting an army


Army information panel


Moving armies

To move an army, you may use the move army button on the army information panel, or you may left-click directly on the army on the main map. The mouse pointer will change shape. As you move the pointer in the direction you want the army to travel, a path will progress in that direction, beginning from where the army currently stands. Click on a destination to move the army.

Each army has a certain number of movement points each turn, which represents the distance the army is able to travel during one season.

The number inside each ball shows the number of movement points it costs to move across the terrain your mouse pointer indicates. You’ll notice that travel across roads uses far fewer points than travel across grass or fields. Armies may move across many types of terrain, but they are fastest on roads.

Splitting armies and fighting battles also use movement points.

Combining armies

Splitting an army

Disbanding an army


Combining armies

To combine two of your armies, move one army on top of another. The first army will march over and combine with the second.

Whenever you want to add forces to an army, this is the way to do it. If, for example, you purchase 50 pikes and would like to give them to an existing army, simply create a new army of 50 pikemen and combine it with the existing army.

You may not combine two armies if they both contain mercenaries.

Moving armies

Splitting an army

Disbanding an army


Splitting an army

If you want to split one army into two smaller ones, right-click on the army to bring up the army information panel, then click on the Split Army button at the bottom of the panel. A new panel appears that gives a breakdown of units that comprise the army.

Use the left and right arrows to divide men between the existing army and the new one. When you are satisfied with the division, click on the thumbs up gauntlet and the two new armies will appear on the main map. If you decide you don’t want to split the army, click on the thumbs down gauntlet and the army will remain as it was. Remember:an army must have at least 50 soldiers in it.

Moving armies

Combining armies

Disbanding an army


Disbanding an army

To disband an army, right-click on it to bring up the army information panel, then click on the Disband Army button at the bottom of the panel. You will be prompted to confirm your command.

The soldiers of a disbanded army will return to their county of origin and become a part of the population  again. Their weapons will return to your treasury.

Moving armies

Combining armies

Splitting an army


Pillaging

Destroying your opponents’ resources can be an effective, if barbaric, tactic. You may wage economic warfare by destroying any opponent’s active fields or industrial sites. To do so, simply march an army over the site you’d like to pillage.

When you attack a grain or cattle field, your soldiers render the field barren and destroy all its contents. When you attack any industrial site, it must shut down for several seasons for repairs. You may also attack a county’s villages and slaughter its people, which reduces the county’s population.

Capturing counties


Capturing Counties

To conquer any neutral county (even one with a castle), you must send an army to capture its county-town. (Neutral counties appear green on the overview map).

To conquer a county with a garrisoned castle (which will always be controlled by a noble), you must capture its castle (see Sieges).

To conquer a noble controlled county with no castle, you must capture its county town. Human players must defend their county towns by placing armies nearby.

When you set the path of your army to end on an enemy town or castle, the graphic representing the army’s last move will appear different.

Counties without castles tend to be much easier to conquer than counties with castles.

The only way to capture a completed, garrisoned castle is by laying siege. During a siege, your army surrounds the defender’s castle and builds special siege weapons. As soon as these siege weapons are completed, the battle will begin.

If your forces defeat the castle defenders and capture the castle, it and its county will be yours —another jewel in your royal collection.

When a neutral county has a castle, you will not need to siege the castle to capture the town. Neutral counties with castles will always be counties that have revolted and kicked their ruling noble out. In these counties, the castle has been abandoned.

Pillaging


Foraging
Army foraging

By default, the Army Foraging option (under the Options/Advanced menu)is set to No. As long as foraging is off, you will never have to worry about feeding your armies; they will take care of themselves. Any and all food management you do will be for your civilian population.

For a more challenging game experience, switch Army foraging  to Yes.


Battles

The path to the throne will almost certainly be a bloody one. Those who would dare to deny your right to rule must face your wrath on the battlefield.

Open ground (non-siege) combat begins immediately when:

•	One army attacks another or the paths of two opposing armies cross.

•	An army attacks the county town of a neutral or computer controlled county.

(When an army attacks a castle, combat occurs only after a siege).

Before combat begins, a panel will inform you of the impending bloodbath, display the comparative troop numbers of both forces, and ask you if you would like to take the field.

If you choose not to take the field, the battle will be calculated automatically. You may want to do this if, after viewing the size and makeup of each army, you believe either winning or losing is a foregone conclusion.

You never have to the take the field if you don’t want to, but when you decline you waive the opportunity to use your tactical wizardry to your advantage. With some practice, you may be able to defeat forces much  larger than your own!

To take command of the battle, click on the thumbs up gauntlet and the engagement will begin.

Taking command

Unit sizes

Battlefield controls

Advanced combat commands

Combat notes


Taking command

When the battle begins, the combat screen will appear. Your main screen view shows a portion of the field. Consult the overview map in the upper right corner for a bird’s eye view of the entire field. You may scroll your main view around just as you do on the main map screen. You may also jump to a new location by clicking on the overview map while no units are selected.

The main screen will show the various terrain features of the battlefield: rocks, rivers, bridges, forests, etc. The troops of both sides will also be visible: attacking army at the south (bottom) end, and defending army at the north (top).

Each soldier figure wears the color of its kingdom (the soldiers of neutral counties wear brown). Each figure represents a unit of a certain type.

To select a single unit…

To select a single unit, click directly on it. When a unit is selected, a status bar will appear next to its figure on the battlefield, and a symbol will appear in the control panel.

To select a group of units...

To select a group of units, click and drag a rectangle around the units you would like to select. A status bar will appear next to each selected unit, and an icon for each selected unit will appear in the control panel.

To deselect a single unit…

To deselect a single unit, click on the unit’s icon on the control panel (or select another unit).

To deselect multiple units…

To deselect multiple units, right click on any empty space on the battlefield (or select something else).

To move a selected unit or units…

To move a selected unit (or units), click on a destination on the battlefield, or on the overview map. All selected men will move to the indicated spot.

To order an attack…

To order a selected unit (or units)to attack, place your mouse pointer over an enemy unit so that its appearance changes, and click. Archers and crossbowmen will be able to fire from a distance, all other units are hand-to-hand units which must attack at point blank range.

Battlefield controls

Advanced combat commands

Unit sizes


Combat screen


Unit Sizes

Each soldier figure on the battlefield represents a unit. Unit size will vary from battle to battle, depending on the overall size of the forces involved. In one battle, a unit may be four men, in another it may be 16 men.

The status bar that accompanies each selected unit shows the number of men that unit currently has, relative to the battle’s unit size. The icon that appears in the control panel for each selected unit shows the actual number of soldiers in that unit.

For example: picture two selected archer units, one with a fully green status bar, and one with a half red/half green status bar. The icons in the control panel indicate that the fully green unit contains eight archers, while the half red unit contains four archers. You now know that, in that particular battle, a unit consists of eight men. When you select an enemy unit, you can guess how many men it contains by looking at the status bar: if it is fully green, it probably contains eight men; if it shows a bit of red, it may contain  six or seven men.

By looking at the number of figures on the field, and the status bars of each unit figure, you can get a pretty good idea of the relative sizes of the opposing forces.

The precise size of each army is shown above the appropriate shield at the bottom of the control panel.

You may, for example, see that the number of figures on each side is about the same. But if all of your figures have a status bar that is half red, and the enemy’s are all fully green, you will know that are outnumbered two to one (or thereabouts).

When a unit’s status bar is completely red, it contains no men, and is wiped out.

Taking Command


Battlefield controls

*Pause: Starts and pauses the battle. When a battle begins, it will be paused. To begin the battle, click on the hourglass button. You may pause the battle at any time by clicking this button again. You may select units, but not move them, when the battle is paused.

*Retreat: Click on this button to order all your men to retreat from the field. When you do so, your army will not escape without casualties but it will escape complete annihilation. You may want to give this order if you are far outnumbered—at least part of your army will survive to fight another day!

*Lower Castle Drawbridge: This command will only work when you are defending a castle with a drawbridge during a siege battle. Lowering the drawbridge will allow your men to exit and enter the castle, but it will also allow the enemy to get in if your leave the entrance undefended.

*Mop-up: This button gives a general order to your army to attack and engage the nearest enemy. You may want to issue this command after you have positioned your troops effectively for an all out attack, or when the battle is nearly decided and you wish to end it quickly and easily.

*Autocalculate: Calculates the battle automatically. Choose this option if you do not wish to command the battle.

Taking command

Advanced combat commands


Advanced combat commands

Advanced players may use the keyboard to issue advanced commands to troops. You may, for example, assign multiple units to groups that will answer commands together. To create a command group, select all the units you would like to group together, and hold down the control key while pressing any number key from 1 to 9. Hitting that number key by itself at any time during the remainder of the battle will select that group of units. You may then command all units at once.

You may also order multiple units into formation. Press the H key to order the selected units into a horizontal line. Press the V key to order selected units into a vertical line.


Combat notes

Before you begin a battle, survey your army and devise a strategy. Consider the size of your army, its composition, the battlefield terrain, and other features such as rivers or bridges.

Once a unit is engaged, it will remain so until it annihilates the opposing unit, it is annihilated itself, or you command it to disengage.

Figures will fall dead on the battlefield as units are killed off. The number of remaining soldiers for each army appears on the control panel. Watch the numbers fall to evaluate the battle in progress.

An army wins a battle when one of two things happens:

1. It kills all the soldiers in the other army.

2. The other army retreats.

When a battle ends, a panel will show the new unit breakdown of each army. Even victories can be costly if a large portion of your army is killed. Click on the exit arrow at the bottom right of the panel (or right click) to return to the main map. If the losing army was destroyed in the battle, only the winner will remain on the map.

If the battle has won a new county for the victor, a flag with the winner’s color will appear over the newly won county town.

Battles


Peasant revolts

In addition to battling with rival armies, your troops may at times be called upon to put down peasant revolts.

When any county’s happiness rating drops below 25 and stays there for more than four seasons, its population will revolt. The ruling noble will be stripped of power and a band of brigands will set out in search of food.

Peasant revolts will appear on the main map as torch-carrying figures. They will reduce the happiness of any county they wander into.

To put down a revolt, send one of your armies to attack the band of rebels just as you would attack another army. The battle will play out as usual.

You should do your best to ensure that your counties do not revolt. Are your people getting enough food? Are they healthy?Have you set taxes or conscription too high?

Battles


Sieges

A siege is a prolonged confrontation in which an invading army surrounds an enemy castle and spends several seasons building siege weapons. Capturing a castle by siege is the only way to win a county that has a garrisoned castle.

Historically, Medieval armies besieging a castle had to contend with moats, 10-foot-thick stone walls, arrows, boiling oil, and other dangerous objects being hurled at them by the castle defenders above. You will face these same obstacles as you command sieges.

Once the siege battle begins, it will proceed just as a normal battle; you will issue orders in the same fashion (see Taking Command ). During a siege battle, however, you will have specialized weapons (catapults, battering rams, and siege towers) at your disposal.

To win a siege, you must do one of two things:

•	Kill all the soldiers defending the castle,

—or—

• Break into the castle and capture its flag. A castle’s flag will be clearly visible in the castle, in the color of the defender’s kingdom. If one of your men reaches it, the castle is yours.

Laying a siege

Preparing a siege

The siege screen

Winning a siege

Siege weapons

Walls, towers, and gates

Moats


Laying a siege

The height and protection of a castle give its defenders a great advantage over an attacking army. The advantage becomes greater the larger and more complex the castle is. Taking an enemy castle requires planning, manpower and perseverance.

To begin a siege, select an army and move it to the castle you desire. With the army selected, place the mouse pointer directly over the castle, so that the movement indicator turns gold, and click.


Preparing a siege

When you begin a siege, a panel will allow you to prepare the siege by choosing the type and number of siege weapons (catapults, battering rams and siege towers)you want to build.

Click on the up and down arrows to the left of each siege weapon to select how many to build. The panel tells you how many seasons it will take to prepare for the siege—in other words, how long it will take your army to build the siege weapons. The bigger your army, the less time it will take to build each weapon.

When you are satisfied with your selection of siege weapons, click the Proceed button.

While your siege weapons are being built, a symbol will appear over the besieged castle showing the number of remaining seasons of siege preparation. Click on the besieging army to monitor its progress.

When the siege battle is about to begin, a panel will inform you that the siege battle is about to begin. The panel lists the breakdown of units for each army and asks you if you’d like to take the field. If you choose not to, the computer will immediately calculate the results of the siege battle.


Siege screen
The siege screen

If you choose to take the field, the battlefield screen will appear, with the castle dominating the landscape. The siege weapons you have built will be present.

Your army, complete with siege weapons, awaits orders outside the entrance of the castle—or on the opposite side of the moat if there is one. The garrison defending the castle is stationed inside. Survey the positions of both your army and the castle’s defenders before the siege begins so you can devise your attack strategy.


Winning a siege

Offensively, there are two ways to win a siege.

One is by killing all the castle defenders. Archers, firing from outside the castle, will help you accomplish this, but you will most often have to send soldiers into the castle to fight hand-to-hand.

The other way is by capturing the castle’s flag. To do this, you must break into the castle in some way and at least one soldier must reach the flag, which will be clearly visible in the main screen view. The area surrounding the enemy’s flag will often be guarded heavily.

There are several ways to get into a castle: you can

•	Use a siege tower to climb over the wall.

•	Punch holes in the wall with a catapult.

•	Destroy a gate with a battering ram.

•	Have your soldiers hack the gate to pieces. (This will not work on drawbridges).

ONLY castle walls—not towers—may be knocked down or climbed.

Siege outcome


Siege weapons

Siege weapons are catapults, battering rams, and siege towers. When the siege battle begins, your siege weapons will be on the field along with the rest of your troops. Siege weapons do require soldiers to man them. These soldiers will be represented in the control panel when you select a weapon, but will not be visible on the field. When you give an order to a siege weapon, you are effectively ordering its crew.

While any siege weapon is within range of enemy archers or crossbowmen, it is vulnerable to attack. Siege weapons are especially vulnerable to crossbow fire. Close range units can also be used to attack and destroy siege weapons.

Once the entire crew manning the weapon is killed, the weapon is destroyed and will disappear from the field.

Catapults

Battering rams

Siege towers

Walls, towers, and gates

Moats


Catapults

A catapult can knock down a castle wall from a distance, including from across a moat. To use a catapult, maneuver it to face the wall you want to attack. With the catapult selected, move your mouse pointer over the target spot on the wall and click. The catapult will fire repeatedly until the wall is breached. Once this happens, you may march your soldiers right through the hole in the wall.


Battering rams

A battering ram can knock down a  castle gate. A battering ram must be moved right against its target to work. To use a battering ram, move it against the gate you would like to attack so that its ram faces the gate. The battering ram will pound on the gate until it is breached. Your men will then be able to march through the opening and into the castle.


Siege towers

A siege tower allows your soldiers to climb up and over a castle wall. To use a siege tower, move it right against the target wall. When the siege tower is in place, it will open up automatically, signaling that it is accessible. You may then march your troops over the tower and into the castle.


Walls, towers, and gates

Walls and towers will provide protection for a castle’s garrison. Archers and crossbowmen may be positioned along the top of a wall or atop a tower in order to target attackers below.

Neither archers nor crossbowmen will be capable of firing over a wall or tower from the ground level. This means that those inside a castle must be on top of a wall or tower to fire at those outside, and those outside may only hit troops that are on top of a wall or tower.

Troops atop walls or towers will be somewhat protected from missile troops firing from below and will endure fewer casualties than they would if they were on the same level.

The various siege weapons must target areas of a castle with care: battering rams may only attack castle gates; catapults can only break through walls; and siege towers will only work on walls.

Once inside a castle, the only way to move from walls to higher towers is via stairways. Send your troops through the stairways to move from level to level.

Defending troops may move in and out of gates at will. Attackers must destroy a gate to go through it.

Moats


Moats

A castle with a moat presents a special challenge. As the attacker, you must fill in part of the moat in order to enable your men to attack and enter the castle.

Any unit is capable of moat filling, with the exception of knights.

Before ordering units to begin filling in the moat, choose the section you would like to fill. It might be the narrowest section of moat, or it might be the section adjacent to the area you’d like to attack.

To order units to fill in a section of moat, select the units, and then click on the area of water you want to fill in. The selected units will march to the edge of the water with shovels and begin digging.

Your diggers will be open to attack while they are working. You may find it best to use peasants for this task, since you will eventually want to send your skilled fighters into the castle.

One solid strategy is to fire a catapult over a moat to breach a wall, and then send your troops over the moat and through the breach.

Walls, towers, and gates


Defending a castle

If you are defending against a castle siege, your goal is obvious: hold the castle at all costs. The first step is to create a large and powerful garrison, complete with archers and crossbowmen to pick off attackers before they can reach you. As defender, the advantage is yours and you must exploit it to its fullest!

Remember: if the attacker gets to your flag, the castle is lost—guard it well!

Boiling oil

The drawbridge

Protecting the flag


Boiling oil

Along with missile troops, another effective weapon for castle defense is boiling oil. Each castle will be automatically supplied with one or more cauldrons of boiling oil. Boiling oil is very effective when dumped on troops and siege weapons who get too close to your castle walls.

Move and dump your cauldrons just as you move attack with your troops. The effects of a boiling oil attack can be spectacular and deadly.


Protecting the flag

Remember: a castle siege can be a game of capture the flag. If an attacker reaches your flag, the castle is lost. You must make sure your flag is well defended on all sides. Keep a close eye on your flag and don’t let your opponent sneak up on your from behind.


Drawbridge
The drawbridge

Castles that have moats will also have drawbridges, which you may open by using the lower castle drawbridge button. You may want to lower the drawbridge in order to send hand-to-hand combat troops out of your castle to destroy siege weapons. Once you open a drawbridge, your troops may move in and out of the castle—but so can the enemy. Make sure your drawbridge is well guarded while it is open.


Siege outcome
The outcome of a siege

If you have won a siege, the contested county is now yours and you’ll see a flag bearing your game colors flying atop the castle when you return to the main screen.

If the castle is damaged, set about repairing it as soon as you have the materials and builders. (See Repairing a Castle.) Damage will carry over from siege to siege unless you repair it.


Diplomacy

Even in the 13th century, government was as much about political backscratching—not to mention back stabbing—than the ability to lead. The balance of power is often a delicate matter that rests precariously upon loyalties, betrayals, favors, and deceits.

You are but one of many seeking the throne. How you  interact with the others is entirely up to you. Will you make alliances and remain loyal to your friends? Will you lie and doublecross, bringing ruin to those hapless souls who trusted you? Or will you be a lone wolf,  shunning diplomacy altogether? The choice is yours.

As you play, you will get to know your opponents well. Study their words and actions—history’s great leaders often display an uncanny ability to read the minds of their enemies.

The Knight

The Countess

The Bishop

The Baron

Sending messages

Sending gifts

Compliments and insults

Friend or foe?

Alliances


Knight, the
The Knight

What he lacks in maturity, patience, and tact, the Knight makes up for in daring. He is zealous and cocksure, he and loves nothing more than to show off his prowess on the battlefield.

The Knight favors lightning strikes and invasions, often taking weaker opponents by complete surprise early on. He has been known to work his peasantry to the point of cruelty in order to produce and support his ruffian armies.

The Knight is a would-be warrior king, but he is no statesman. His road to the throne lies on the battlefield, not in the negotiating chambers.

His demeanor is rough, power-hungry, and base—but his sword is always polished.

The Countess

The Bishop

The Baron


Countess, the
The Countess

Her trail is strewn with the ruined souls of all who have underestimated her. The Countess is a master of diplomacy, but her lust for power will always win out over honesty or loyalty. She will treat her friends with grace and respect—until she no longer has use for them.

Highly intelligent, eloquent, and well-schooled, the Countess has no doubt that she is destined to rule all, and she has yet to meet an adversary she could not ruin with ease. Beware of the Countess. Her mien is regal and her countenance is fair, but her tactics are cruel and her terrible resolve will not be denied. Ally yourself with her at your own risk.

The Knight

The Bishop

The Baron


Bishop, the
The Bishop

Do not expect the Bishop to bow easily—he has God on his side. Cloistered in his clerical fortress, he and his Council of Elders plot endlessly to further the cause of the Church—not to mention their own wealth, power, and prestige.

The Bishop wields enormous influence with his infinitely loyal following, but he tends to hide behind the altar as soon as trouble breaks. The Bishop will be bold, pompous, and mocking when he is on top, but cowardly and groveling when he is cornered. Don’t be fooled by his pious prattle. His Grace covets but one sacrament—the crown.

The Knight

The Countess

The Baron


Baron, the
The Baron

The Baron is the elder statesman of the group. His years of experience have taught him that order arises from cold calculation rather than passion or empathy. The Baron believes he is the only soul who possesses the maturity and discipline to be King.

He will take no pleasure in crushing his opponents—no, he’ll do it simply because it is necessary to secure his ascension to the throne. His rule is solid and practical, but his detachment makes him unyielding and severe. He has a strong sense of dignity and deals swiftly with those who would challenge it.

His realm is ruled by a hard and oppressive brand of justice. His people are obedient, but they live in fear.

The Knight

The Countess

The Bishop


Sending messages

Each turn you may send one message to each of the other players. To send a message, click on  the diplomacy button on the control panel to access the diplomacy panel. To send a message click on the portrait of the intended recipient. A highlight will frame the selected player and the message options on the right will display all your message options for that player.

Select the type of message you would like to send. A panel will appear, containing a suggested message of that type. You may keep the default message, or you may type in your own message. Click on the thumbs up gauntlet to dispatch the message. It will arrive at its destination, and you should receive a response shortly thereafter.

In multiplayer games, human players receive messages instantly.

Sending gifts

Compliments and insults

Alliances


Diplomacy panel


Sending gifts

You may send a monetary gift to another player by selecting Dispatch Gift from the diplomacy panel. A gift can boost your standing in the eyes of its recipient. When you select this option from the message panel, a second panel will appear. Use the up and down arrows to set the amount of your gift. Then click on the thumbs up gauntlet to dispatch the gift.

Alliances

Friend or foe?


Compliments and insults

Compliments provide a free way to gain favor with selected opponents (see sending messages ). You may want to send compliments to players who are especially powerful, who pose a danger to you, or whose services might be valuable later on.

Be careful not to compliment too frequently, though. Excess in this area can be a transparent attempt to manipulate. Your opponents (for the most part)are not stupid. Too many kind words can work against you in the long run.

An insult is likely to hurt your relationship with the recipient. Sending insults is a good way to let an enemy know exactly how you feel.

Alliances

Friend or foe?


Friend or foe
Friend or foe?

The diplomacy panel displays a picture of each opponent remaining in the game. The colored bar next to each portrait shows the current state of your relationship with that player. A higher bar reflects a friendlier relationship; a lower bar reflects a more hostile relationship. The color of the bar will also reflect the nature of the relationship (red=hostile, blue=indifferent, green=friendly).

If you anger an opponent badly enough, he or she will become an enemy. A symbol will appear next to each opponent you have so offended. Once an opponent reaches enemy status, he or she will remain so for the rest of the game. Enemy status represents an irreparable breach between two players.

The higher an opponent’s opinion of you, the less likely he or she is to attack you, or to refuse an alliance should you request one. As favor drops, an opponent is more likely to attack or to refuse a friendly overture.

To improve your relationships, you may send compliments and gifts.

Alliances


Alliances

To aid your quest for the crown, you may choose to form alliances with your opponents. You may initiate an alliance with another player by choosing Offer an Alliance from the diplomacy panel. The player may or may not accept your offer. Likewise, another player may offer you an alliance. Accept or reject it as you will, but choose your friends wisely! Make and break alliances to your advantage, and remember: in the end there is only one winner.

An alliance gives you options you do not have when you go it alone. When you select an ally on the message panel, additional message options will appear.

You may :

Terminate your alliance: Once an alliance benefits you no more, you should terminate it. Terminating an alliance is the honorable way to say farewell.

Ask ally for help: If one of your counties is under attack, you may ask an ally to send troops to your aid. This request come in especially handy if you are the target of a siege.

Ask ally to attack: You may also ask an ally to attack another county. When you select this option, a small map will appear, allowing you to choose your target.

You always have the option to doublecross your allies, but this is not a wise course of action. When you attack an ally without terminating your alliance, all other players will be hesitant to trust you in the future. All will be more willing to attack you and less willing to form alliances with you.

A safer route is to simply terminate an alliance you no longer need, and then launch your attack.

Sending messages

Friend or foe


Advanced Play

By default, Lords of the Realm II is designed for easy play. There are, however, several advanced options that experienced players may try when they feel they are ready for a special challenge.

Advanced farming

Army foraging

Exploration

Custom games


Advanced Farming

When Advanced Farming is activated, you will have to pay more attention to your grain fields (if you have any).

Labor: The number of laborers required to get the most out of your grain farming will fluctuate from season to season, according to the grain planting cycle. Each grain field will require relatively few workers during the spring and summer. During the fall  you will need a great many grain workers to tend to the harvest, and during the winter you will need quite a few to get the fields ready for next season’s planting.

Weather: Advanced Farming also introduces weather as an influence upon your grain fields. Each season’s weather has the potential to affect your grain output. Many seasons will be cloudy and mild, having no great effect on your output. But droughts can severely undercut your efforts, and can reduce your grain productivity. Sunny seasons, on the other hand, can improve your harvest.

While Advanced Farming is active, a weather report is available each season on the Advanced Labor panel (accessed by clicking on your county towns).

Fertility: Fertility also becomes a factor under Advanced Farming. In order to keep your fields fertile, you will need to leave a portion of them fallow at all times. While Advanced Farming is on, you should try to keep at least a third of your fields fallow. The more fallow fields you have, the more fertile your active fields are likely to be. You do not have to engage actively in any sort of “crop rotation”—just make sure a portion of your fields remain fallow.

A fertility report beneath the weather report on the Advanced Labor panel will keep you abreast of each county’s fertility. When fertility is high, grain output will be high. When fertility is poor, grain output will suffer.


Army foraging

Under the default play settings you will never have to worry about feeding armies. Once you draft a peasant he will no longer eat, as far as you are concerned. Your ration management applies exclusively to your civilian population.

With Army Foraging switched on, this is no longer the case. Each army must now survive on the food available in the county it occupies. Armies will automatically consume food in the county they are in, and they will eat before the county’s population. So, if you march an army through a county with meager food supplies, its population may suffer.

As long as any army is in a county you control, you will need to provide rations for it. This is done, as usual, through the rations panel.

While Army Foraging is active, the ration panel will keep you informed of how many soldiers are foraging in each county.

In addition to feeding your own soldiers, this advanced option requires you to feed the soldiers of any other player, friend or foe, as long as they are in a county you control.

If the troops are friendly, you must feed them as a courtesy. If they are hostile, they will raid your county’s stores and help themselves to your food.


Exploration

Exploration offers a more realistic game experience by  obscuring your vision of the kingdom map. During the Middle Ages, leaders seldom knew for certain what their adversaries were doing, or even what the landscape outside their homeland looked like.

While Exploration is turned on, your vision of the kingdom map will be limited to what you have explored. When the game begins, you will only be able to see the single county you control. The rest of the map will be blacked out.

To expand your vision, you must explore the land. As your armies travel, the areas around them will be revealed to you gradually. Only when you have explored the entire region will you see all the lands you seek to rule.


Custom Games

You may customize any single player or multiplayer game. To do so, select Custom Game from the startup screen before you begin.

The custom game screen will allow you to set the options that you can normally set: difficulty, advanced farming, army foraging, and exploration. But here you have many more options.

If you would like to begin combat right away, all players can start with a castle, weapons, and an army.

You may decide how many nobles will vie for the crown, and you may set the amount of gold (crowns) each players starts with.

There are a number of maps —both real and fictional —to choose from. Each offers a unique strategic challenge.

Nobles allows you to determine how many nobles will compete for the throne. In multiplayer games, all positions not filled by human players will be filled by computer controlled nobles.

The Difficulty setting will determining how challenging the game will be.

Army size determines how large an army (if any)all the players will begin with.

Starting castle determines how large a castle (if any) each player begins with.

County Status refers to how strong or weak each player’s starting county will be. It takes into account the population, number of fields, number of cows, happiness, and health that each player will begin the game with.

Time Limit is designed primarily for multiplayer games. It sets a maximum time limit that each turn can last. If each player does not end his or her turn before the time allotment has passed, the turn will end automatically. During games with time limits, the timer will be visible onscreen at all times.

The Fight option allows you to set the game to automatically calculate each battle fought against a non-human opponent. This feature is designed for multiplayer games. If Humans is set, every battle that is fought against a non-human opponent will immediately be calculated automatically. Only battles against other human players will be fought manually. When All is set, every battle will be fought manually.

Advanced farming

Exploration

Army foraging


Custom game screen


Multiplayer games

Lords of the Realm II can be played by as many as 5 people connected by IPX compatible network, or by 2 people connected by modem or null modem cable. Multiplayer games are only supported by the Windows 95 version of Lords II.

To begin a multiplayer game, select Multiple Player during the game startup. Several options will appear.

IPX network connection

Modem connection

Serial connection


IPX Network connection

Up to 5 players can play over an IPX compatible network. A single CD can support up to three network players.

To start a network game, click on the IPX Connection button on the multiplayer panel.

A panel will allow you to either Create a Game or Connect to a Game, or Cancel to exit the setup.

One player must create a game for others to join. If you would like to create the game, choose this option, enter your name and shield, and select Continue. You will enter the custom game screen.

When you choose to connect to a game, a list of all current network games will appear. Select one to join.

The player creating the game must set all custom game options, and click on the Start button when all players are ready.

The custom game screen allows all players to communicate by sending messages to the others who have joined. Type your message in the black text box, and press enter to send it. This option allows you to discuss the custom options as you prepare for a game.

As the creator of a game,  you may load a previously saved network game by clicking on Load and selecting a game from the list that appears.


Modem connection

A modem game connects two computers through a modem and phone line. To establish a modem connection, one player must create a game for the other to connect to.

The host player should:

1) Select Multiple Players from the setup screen, select Modem Connection for DirectPlay, and then select Create a Game from the setup screen.

2) After you name the game, the modem selection panel will appear. Make sure that all modem settings are correct. The program should choose the correct modem settings automatically, but you should make sure that  the modem speed setting (on the Configure panel) is set properly for your modem.

3) Click on the Answer button and wait for the other player to initiate the connection.

The other player should then initiate the modem connection:

1) Choosing Modem Connection and then Connect to Game.

2) Type the host player’s modem phone number in the panel that appears.

3)Click on Connect to make the connection. Once the connection is made, both players will see the custom game screen.

The host player should choose the game settings and click on the Start button to begin the game.


Serial connection

Select this option to play a two-player game connected by a null modem cable.

The host player should:

1) Select Multiple Players from the setup screen, select Serial Connection for DirectPlay, and then select Create a Game from the setup screen.

2) After naming the game, the setup panel will appear.

Port: Set the Com Port number through which you are connecting the null modem cable.

Baud Rate: We recommend that you set the highest Baud Rate setting.

Stop Bits: Set Stop Bits to 1.

Parity: Set Parity to No Parity.

Flow Control: Set Flow Control to RTS/DTR.

When these settings are correct, click on OK to proceed. After you enter your name and select your shield, you will enter the custom game screen.

The player initiating the connection should:

1)Select Multiple Players from the setup screen, select Serial Connection for DirectPlay, and select Connect to a Game.

2)Select the game name from the panel that appears, and click on OK to proceed.

The host player must set up the game and click on Start to begin the game.


Menus

File menu

New Game: Click on this to begin a new game.

Load: Click on this to load a saved game. In the panel that appears, click on the saved game you wish to load, then click on the thumbs up gauntlet to begin.

Save: Click on this to save a game. A panel with a text box. Type a name in the box. To overwrite a previously saved game, select its name from the list so that the name appears in the box. Click on the thumbs up gauntlet to overwrite the old saved game with the new one.

Quit: Select this option to exit the game.

Options  menu

Advanced: See Advanced farming. See Army foraging. See Custom games for a description of Fight Humans Only?. See Exploration

Sound: This option allows you to turn the music and sound effects sound on or off.

Display: The Animations option allows you to control the animated portions of the game. Turning the animations off may help the game run faster on slower computers. Turning the Full Screen option on ensures that the game window takes up your entire screen, regardless of the resolution you have set. (Turning Full Screen on can improve performance.)

Game Speed: Clicking on this calls up a parchment panel in which you can adjust the game speed.

Scroll Speed: Clicking on this calls up a parchment panel in which you can adjust map scrolling speed.


Strategy Hints and Tips

Game maps

1) Dairy: It is possible for a county to survive entirely on dairy produce. However, preventing your population growth from outstripping your food supply can be difficult. Maximum herd growth is necessary, but requires nearly all of your workforce. A compromise is the best solution here: limit your herd growth to about 5 cows per season so that a good portion of your workers can work on industry. The only problem remaining is to restrict your population growth.

2) Grain: It is also possible for a county to survive entirely on grain, but this can be risky. Random events, weather, and pillaging can destroy your crops. Since you can only plant grain once per year, it can be difficult to recover from such a loss.

It is a good idea to plant at least one more field than you expect to be able to harvest. While this requires more labor to maintain, it reduces the risk of having to cut your rations for a year due to a bad harvest.

3) Mixed economy: Combining cattle and grain farming is the safest way to feed your populace. The chances of having both your cattle and grain destroyed by random events and weather is slim. In a combined economy, eating your cows can be very efficient. Since only a portion of your fields will be dedicated to cattle, your dairy production will be restricted.

The trick here is to restrict the size of your herd so that there is no overcrowding. With no overcrowding, cow births will be maximized. Adjust your ration slider so that, each turn, your people eat exactly as many cows as are born. This way, your herd size remains constant and your people are fed largely by beef and dairy. Grain can supplement this and can also be stockpiled.

4) Reclaiming Fields: Field reclamation is extremely important. Regardless of how you manage your economy, reclaiming fields should always be a top priority. Power is based on population size.  Population size depends on food production, which depends on usable fields. Reclaim fields as quickly as possible!

5) Overpopulation:  Whenever there is a shortage of food you must make an important decision in the affected county. A slight shortage is easily overcome by reducing rations for one turn. A more severe shortage can require a sustained reduction in rations, which can reduce health. Population control can prevent such problems.

To control population growth, raise taxes. This  will reduce happiness and drive excess people to neighboring counties (as well as raising a good amount of cash). Raising an army will also curb a population.

Reducing your population will allow rations to return to normal. If all else fails, have an army slaughter one of your own villages (if you can bring yourself to do it). Better to cut a population yourself than to have low rations and bad health drive a population to revolt.

6) Happiness: Happiness is the single most important rating in the game. Everything affects happiness. Happiness determines population growth (through birth and immigration) and allows you to collect taxes and create armies. If happiness drops too low for too long, counties are lost.

Keep happiness up by keeping your people healthy, minimizing taxes, and conscripting no more than a county’s happiness will allow. Raising small armies frequently and then combining them will have a smaller impact on happiness and population size than raising large armies.

7) Specialize: Once you control multiple counties, have each one specialize in producing a single item. This can be quite efficient and can simplify county management. Any resources not produced can be purchased.

8) Advanced farming:  When advanced farming is on, grain labor demands will fluctuate between seasons. Since the autumn grain harvest will require the most workers, base the number of fields planted on the number of workers available in autumn. Remember: field reclamation will slow down each autumn, so plan carefully. The introduction of weather makes a mixed economy even more beneficial, as weather can devastate grain or cattle production.

Try to maintain constant proportions of your population on each resource. If all workers are reassigned to farming for the autumn harvest, efficiency is lost.

9)  Divide & Conquer:  Counties must be contiguous to be retained. Take full advantage of this. A quick way to cut an opponent down to size is to capture a county in the center of his domain and split his realm in two. The smaller half turns neutral. Of course, your enemies can do the same to you!

10) Army Foraging:  When playing with army foraging on, your strategy must either be more offensive or more defensive than when it is off. With an offensive strategy, the goal is to raise large armies and invade enemy counties right away. Even if no battles are fought, your armies will ruin counties just by eating everything in sight. With a defensive strategy, focus on castle construction and keep friendly armies on garrison duty where they eat from the castle’s store rather than from the county. Either way, be very careful to minimize the soldiers eating in your own counties.

11) Split and Pillage:  When enemy forces are too strong to be confronted, it is often possible to capture counties by pillaging all usable land and then waiting for a peasant uprising. When this happens, your opponent loses control of the county, half the population becomes brigands, and the remaining half are easily destroyed. The most effective way to pillage is to split an army into many small armies (10 or so). This makes it very difficult for the defending player to kill all of your armies before they can destroy his fields. This strategy works, but keep in mind: the county will be unusable for some time.

12) Obstruction tactics: When being invaded, remember that all attacks require movement points. Block roads with very small armies to buy time. If you can’t do any damage in combat, order a retreat. If any soldiers survive they can block the road again on the following turn.

13) Off-road movement: Numerous mountain passes and forest trails allow armies to move between counties that are not connected by roads. Take advantage of these. They enhance your strategic opportunities and allow you to catch opponents off guard.

14)  Ranged Weapons: Use archers and crossbowmen effectively. Harass enemy units until they can no longer tolerate the attrition and are forced to attack or retreat. Set up a line of hand-to-hand units blocking a narrow chokepoint and place archers behind them. If your enemy has archers as well, keep peasants between your archers and theirs. Their arrows will hit your peasants while yours hit their archers.

15) Close Combat: In hand-to-hand combat, always try to have multiple units attacking a lone defender. Units can defend themselves against one attacker but do very poorly when surrounded. If you have only hand-to-hand units, take out enemy archers first.

16) Sieges: Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of each castle. Use catapults to isolate towers by destroying the walls on either side. The defender will often be forced to abandon the tower. Once a section of the wall is undefended, peasants can fill in a moat without being harassed. Ranged weapons are very  important in sieges. Always place hand-to-hand units in front of your archers to prevent casualties from enemy fire.

When garrisoning a castle remember to include a sizable contingent of crossbowmen. A good garrison will consist of mostly archers with the rest of the army divided between crossbowmen (for killing knights and destroying siege weapons) and hand-to-hand units (for defending against breaches).


Game maps

1)  England:  Balanced for 2-5 players, this is the standard game map. All starting counties have about the same number of fields. Two counties have the advantage of having islands that can’t be pillaged.  The best counties to hold here are on the western side of the country because limited access makes them more defensible.

2)  Scotland:  This is a small map for up to 5 players.  With only 10 counties, some of which have very limited resources, life here is appropriately nasty, brutish and short. Strategically, this map is a figure 8 even though cross-country movement is necessary to cut across the center.  The key counties to hold are the ones in the center of the map which divide the country in half.

3)  Ireland:  Balanced for a 4 player game, a fifth player will have to fight for space. Each starting county is adjacent to two neutral counties. However, all of the neutral counties can be easily reached from at least two starting counties. The fifth player starts in the middle and must fight his way out. Try to gain control of the neutral counties on either side of your starting location and avoid early wars.

4)  France:  Smaller than modern day France, the northern and eastern parts of the country were controlled by the Holy Roman Empire. Designed as a 5 player map, each player has access to two neutral counties which will provide all resources and act as a base from which to seek the throne. Starting in the Royal Demesne is most challenging because it is surrounded by enemies. However, it also has the best access to neutral counties.

5)  Germany:  This is the Holy Roman Empire and includes territory in modern France, Italy, Austria, etc. The inner ring of counties contains all of the important crossroads and enables access to the outer counties, like spokes on a wheel. The outer counties contain the best resources but have the least access to other counties and see very few merchants.

6)  Italy:  As a peninsula, this country imposes a linear strategy: fight from one end to the other. If you are unfortunate enough to start in the center, head either north or south while maintaining friendly relations with the players facing your other border.  Avoid fighting on both fronts simultaneously.

7)  Europe:  Best for 2-5 players, this map will always provide an interesting game. Many of the neutral counties here can only be reached by passing through enemy territory. Defend your home county well and gain control of any neutral counties in your rear areas. France and Germany, in the center of the map, will be hard pressed to avoid an early demise.

8)  Crusades:  Many counties divide this crescent shaped map in half. You will be fighting from one end to the other. Regardless of where you start, secure the counties in either Greece or Africa first and then turn back and fight for the center. Don’t allow players with a single front to remain at peace for too long.

9)  Africa:  This is an outstanding map for any number of players. French North Africa is by far the most strategically important county because it contains four other counties within it. However, it is also one of the most difficult to hold on to, especially with army foraging on. It has few fields which are inconveniently spread out and easily pillaged. Once you gain control of this county, make an effort to build a strong castle and, with foraging on, immediately start shipping food in. If an opponent controls it, make every effort to either capture it or make it revolt: his remaining counties will be non-contiguous and will turn neutral.

10)  India:  This is an interesting medium sized map for up to 5 players. The northern counties have an abundance of fields but no resources. The counties above them have resources but few fields. The central locations are well placed to start in but are inconvenient to capture. To conquer the western side of the map, you must capture a county accessed from the east and vice versa.  Starting in the south is probably safest.

11)  China: Using the province borders of the Northern Sung dynasty and a road network based on the main trade routes of the period, this map is historically accurate. Each starting area has access to at least two neutral counties which provide the necessary resources to form a solid base. Pay attention to the strategic possibilities of off-road movement.  Unlike other maps, there are no rear areas that can be easily defended. Every county can be invaded from at least two others. Ching His-Tung county, the capital, is similar to the Royal Demesne on the France map: it is centrally located and surrounded by enemies but also has the best access to neutral counties.

12)  Jigsaw:  This fictional map is exceptionally well balanced for 2 or 4 players. Adding a 5th will make it very bloody (and challenging for the 5th player).  Each player can control three counties as a base and then fight for control of the center.  Once you own the center, defend it well and then expand into another quadrant. If an enemy controls the center, make sure he doesn’t hold it for long.

13)  Rose:  This small fictional map for 2-5 players works best with 5. Each player has only his home county and access to the central county.  However, since the home counties are adjacent to one another it is not necessary to hold the central county to increase the size of your domain. With such a small map, plan a quick conquest rather than a long campaign. Starting with strong castles will lengthen the game somewhat.

14)  Bullseye:  Two concentric rings of counties with three concentric rings of roads makes this an entertaining geometric map. Evenly balanced for 2 or 4 players, with the 5th player appearing in the middle, this map always provides a lively, entertaining game.  Control of the central county will allow conquest of territories on opposite sides of the map. It will also allow conquest of counties that divide an opponent’s territory in half.

15)  Crossroads:  Another evenly balanced 2 or 4 player map with the 5th player in the center.  Here, control of the center is essential because it separates each of the other counties.  If you can’t control the center, try pillaging your opponents. Eliminating other players by making their counties revolt is almost as good as conquering the county.

16)  Rorschak:  Spend a few moments studying this map before playing it. The northwest and southeast are easiest to hold but are difficult to expand from. The northeastern counties are interconnected and will probably form the largest initial kingdom. The southwestern counties are actually the strategic center of the map and the most dangerous area to start in.

17)  Centreville:  This is a medium sized fictional map with seven counties forming an arc around a central county. In a 4 or 5 player game, there will be a scramble for neutral counties, as there aren’t enough to go around.  The central county is, of course, the most important and with five players someone will have the difficult task of defending it.

18)  Quaintville:  Very small 2-4 player map.  The center is not nearly as important here as on other maps of this type.  All counties are adjacent to all other counties so it is impossible to divide a kingdom in two. Also, since the center is so inaccessible, it is faster to move around it than through it.

19)  Pretzelland:  Specifically designed for 5 players, each player will have two natural enemies. However, with nearly all counties contiguous, it is possible to fight anyone and still be able to retain most captured counties. Note that some counties are adjacent even though it is not possible to move between them.

20)  New England:  Massachusetts is the key to victory on this map. Without it you won’t be able to control more than half of the map. This small map will be quick and bloody with any number of players.

21)  Equalizer:  This is a perfectly balanced 2 or 4 player map. All players have equal resources and access to all other players. Be careful to defend against all opponents: diagonally opposed counties are not contiguous but a surprise attack can cost you your home base even if the conqueror can’t retain his prize.

22)  Rubix World:  Also perfectly balanced for 2 or 4 players, this is a medium sized map which will take slightly longer to play. Note that counties which are diagonally adjacent are not contiguous. There are limited resources here: if you can’t capture counties containing iron and stone you will have to purchase them.

23)  Pentagon:  This is a perfectly balanced ‘donut shaped’ 5 player map.  Each county is contiguous only with its nearest neighbors. Try to form an alliance with a player on the opposite side of the map and get him to attack the county adjacent to both of you. You can join in this attack when your other border is at peace (let your ally do the fighting while you retain the county). If at war with your other neighbor, you will be able to concentrate on him as long as your ally can protect your rear.

24) YinYang:  Balanced for 2, 3 or 5 players, this medium sized map does not have enough neutral counties for everyone. There are plenty of resources for weapons, but stone is in short supply.


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Technical support

System configuration or installation problems may cause any one of a number of different error conditions. Refer to the README file in the game directory, as well as the Technical Tips section of this manual for information on technical problems and possible solutions.

Direct your inquiries to the Technical Support Department if your question is about hardware and software compatibility specific to Sierra games (i.e., sound card configuration and memory management).

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Sierra no-risk guarantee
The Sierra No-Risk Guarantee

The Promise: We want you to be happy with every Sierra product you purchase from us. Period. If for any reason you're unhappy with the product, return it within 30 days for an exchange or a full refund... EVEN IF YOU BOUGHT IT AT A RETAIL STORE. (Hardware ordered direct must be returned within ten days.)

One Condition: We’d like you to tell us why you don’t like the game. Your comments will help us continue to get better. Send it back to us and we promise you complete satisfaction. (If you bought it at a retail outlet, please send your original sales receipt.)

Disk/Documentation Replacement & Returns

Disk/Documentation replacement:

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Coarsegold, CA      93614

Product Returns:

Sierra On-Line Returns

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Coarsegold, CA   93614

UK Product Returns:

Sierra On-Line Limited

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RG2 0BS United Kingdom

(Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00, or £7.00 outside the UK.  Add “ATTN: Returns”.)


English Kings from 1066 to 1327

William I, 1066-1087

William II, 1087-1100

Henry Beauclerc, 1100-1135

Stephen, 1135-1154

Henry II, 1154-1189

Richard I, 1189-1199

John, 1199-1216

Henry III, 1216-1272

Edward I, 1272-1307

Edward II, 1307-1327


William I
William I (William Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror) 1066-1087

In person, William I was said to be a man of great stature with the thundering voice one might expect from one of history’s most remarkable figures. William became Duke of Normandy when he was just 7 years old, and by age 24 he was the mightiest feudal lord in France.

In 1066 William seized the English crown at the momentous Battle of Hastings. During his reign, William established a social order that would endure for centuries, and would become known as the feudal system. Although never popular with the English Saxon population, William’s iron rule brought order and stability. William ordered the creation of the Domesday Book – an exhaustive census of all of England’s people and property.

William died in 1087 while warring with Philip I in France.

William II


William II
William II (William Rufus) 1087-1100

During his rule from 1087 to 1100, William II, called Rufus (Red) because of his ruddy complexion, was not a popular man. One Anglo Saxon chronicle says that he was “hated by almost all his people, and abhorred by God. He every morning got up a worse man than he lay down, and every evening lay down a worse man than he got up.”

From his father, William Rufus received the English crown while his brother Robert was given Normandy.

Throughout his reign, Rufus was known for selling off church offices or keeping them unoccupied so that he could collect their revenue for himself. While hunting in the royal forest, Rufus was killed, probably accidentally, by an arrow through the head. He was succeeded by his brother, Henry I.

Henry Beauclerc


Henry Beauclerc
Henry (Henry Beauclerc) 1100-1135

Henry I was present when his brother, William Rufus, was killed, and he immediately claimed the throne. Henry’s rule is remembered primarily as one of peace and order, although in 1125 he found 94 of his 97 moneyers guilty of “debasing the coinage,” and ordered a hand chopped off of each one, and nailed to the owner’s office door.

During his reign, Henry declared a law that no baron could fortify his dwelling without a royal decree, a move that reveals the crown’s fear of revolt as well as the growing importance of castles.

In 1106, Henry defeated Duke Robert of Normandy, thus establishing his own authority on both sides of the English Channel. In 1120, his son William drowned and, according to legend, the King never smiled again.

Stephen


Stephen
Stephen 1135-1154

King Stephen, grandson of William the Conqueror, came to the throne in controversy. Before Henry I died, he had named his daughter Matilda to be his successor. But Matilda was across the Channel in Anjou when her father died, and Stephen claimed the crown. Twice was Stephen’s rule challenged by Matilda and her followers, who nearly succeeded in driving him out in 1141.

Stephen was never a strong ruler. Throughout his reign, lawless barons fought private wars in an effort to expand their  powers. When Stephen died in 1154, the people were ready for a king who would assert his power and bring order to a troubled land.

While Stephen and Matilda quarreled almost non stop, Stephen relaxed the grip on the feudal barons that Henry I had held so carefully. The barons ran wild, building thousands of stone castles at an enormous rate. Thus secured behind their stone walls, the barons ignored royal decrees, made alliances with each other, and conducted private wars to the great detriment of the land and the peasants who lived there. One form of economic warfare was to slaughter all an enemy’s serfs, depriving him of the income from his fields, while leaving the fields themselves unharmed.

Henry II


Henry II
Henry II 1154-89

After the chaos of Stephen’s reign, the people of England needed a strong leader, and they found one in Henry II. The son of Henry I’s daughter Matilda, Henry II was called “Plantagenet,” because of his habit of wearing in his hat a sprig of broom plant, or planta genista. After him the Plantagenet line of kings would rule England for 245 years.

Henry’s greatest achievement was the reform of the law courts. He standardized the courts by sending out specially trained justices to sit in the county courts. The legal principles these circuit justices helped to promote became known as the “common law.”

One unfortunate effect of this effort was the conflict with Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, over the question of whether church officials should fall under the jurisdiction of the King’s Court, or Curia Regis. Becket was murdered by the King’s men, and subsequently became a martyr and a saint.

Henry II’s last years were embittered by the rebellion of his sons, in conjunction with the King of France. He died, old and sick, in 1189, muttering, “shame, shame on a conquered king.”

Henry reasserted the former monarchic power over the barons by systematically razing the country’s castles. As his grandfather before him, Henry II realized that a proliferation of castles insulated ambitious barons from the authority of their king.

Richard I


Richard I
Richard I 1189-1199

The life of Richard the Lion Hearted is the stuff of legend. Tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, a brave warrior as well as a lover of poetry and song, Richard won the hearts of his countrymen despite the fact that he spent only a few months of his ten-year reign in England.

At age 15, he helped his brothers in their unsuccessful revolt against their father Henry II. But Richard was more fighter than governor. Shortly after his coronation he set out to help recapture the Holy Land, and became a chief leader of the Third Crusade. After several years Richard began to make his way home. He traveled for some time in disguise through Germany, but was captured by his enemy the Duke of Austria and held prisoner for many months. His ransom paid, Richard again went to war, this time defending his royal holdings in France. There he died in 1199, struck in the neck by a crossbow bolt.

Despite his absence, England fared well during Richard’s reign thanks to skilled and dedicated administrators like Hubert Walter, who helped to put down an attempted coup by Richard’s brother John in 1193.

John


King John
John 1199-1216

History remembers John as one of England’s worst kings.  He is described as vicious, cruel, cold, greedy, and given to frenzied fits of rage. Ironically, his reign produced the momentous Magna Carta, a pivotal document that limited even the role of a king and guaranteed the basic rights of his subjects.

In pursuit of the crown John plotted against his father, King Henry II, and later against his brother Richard. He became king in 1199 and began immediately to push to bounds of his royal power to their limits. In one characteristic maneuver, John conspired to eliminate his young nephew Arthur, who many felt had a legitimate claim to the throne. Arthur ultimately disappeared, and no one is sure what became of him One account said that John ordered his men to capture and castrate Arthur, who subsequently died from the shock.

John’s greed and cruelty served to unite feudal nobles, churchmen, and townspeople. In 1215, a group of nobles forced John to sign the Magna Carta, which spelled out various laws, rights, and official limits. The Magna Carta’s great importance lay in its assumption that certain universal laws superseded even the power of the king.

Henry III


Henry III
Henry III 1216-1272

Henry III’s long reign saw many changes to England’s political landscape, most centered upon the longstanding power struggle between the king and the feudal barons. Henry was crowned in 1216 at age 9, but took effective control over his realm only upon coming of age in 1227.

The pious Henry angered his barons by waging a costly and unproductive war in France,  as well as by favoring the interests of the church over those of the landed aristocracy. Such tensions exploded in 1264, when a group of the most powerful nobles revolted under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. The Earl managed to overwhelm the king’s forces and imprison both Henry and his son Edward, for a time becoming the effective ruler of England. Edward ultimately escaped and rallied sufficient support to put down Simon’s revolt. The conflict did, however, achieve some lasting reforms, most notably the expansion of the English Parliament.

The monarchy restored , Edward’s strong presence overshadowed that of his weak and aging father. In 1272, Henry died, and the throne passed officially into Edward’s hands.

Edward I


Edward I
Edward I 1272-1307

Edward I, called “Longshanks” because of his unusual height, was a strong and decisive king who solidified royal power even as he expanded the role the English Parliament. Edward’s greatest challenge was his effort to bring Wales and Scotland under his rule, and among his greatest legacies are the great castles he build to further this effort.

With the end of the Crusades and loss of most English holdings in France, Edward soon turned his eye toward the territories of Scotland and Wales. Edward’s incursions into Wales began in 1277, when he challenged the rule of Welsh Prince Llewelyn ap Gruffudd of Gwynedd. A vital part of Edward’s Welsh campaign was to build a series a great stone castles along the Northern coast to secure his forces and quell local rebellion. Many of these still stand today, a monument to Edward Longshanks’ vision of a unified English Island.

Partly because of the king’s coffer-depleting castle program in Wales, Edward had less success subduing the Scots. The expansive and rugged terrain of Scotland, coupled with the likes of rebels like William Wallace and Robert Bruce, made the job difficult for a monarch with dwindling resources.

At home, Edward brought many progressive reforms, such as the expansion of the Parliament. He died in 1307 at the ripe age of 68.

Edward II


Edward II
Edward II 1307-1327

Despite careful training by his father, the feeble and cowardly Edward II bore no resemblance to his father in the field of leadership. Edward thought to quiet mounting discontent at home by securing the Scottish territory that had eluded his capable father. The result was one the most humiliating military defeats of English history. More than 25,000 English troops, including some 3,000 armored knights were slaughtered by a hardened band of 10,000 Scottish spearmen under the brilliant command of Robert Bruce.

In 1326 the King’s enemies, aided by his wife Isabella staged a revolt. The King was captured, and his young son Edward III was crowned in his stead. Several months later, the deposed King was brutally murdered. It is said that his screams carried outside prison walls as his bowels were burned by red-hot irons as they passed into his body.

English Kings from 1066 to 1327


County

Each game map in Lords II is divided into a number of counties. A county’s borders are marked by stone wall. At the start of a game, each player (human or computer-controlled) controls a single county. Each county will have a blacksmith, and one or more industrial sites like stone quarries, lumber mills, and iron mines. Counties will also have other features like fields, villages, mountains, and roads.

As the game progresses, you may send armies out to bring other counties under your control. The social and political center of a county is its county town.


County town

The center of a county is its county town. The county town appears on the map as an area with homes and other buildings. As a county grows, its county town will change in appearance. In order to capture a county with no garrisoned castle, you must march an army into its county town. If the county has an army there, you must fight a battle.


Health

Health is expressed as one of five levels: perfect, good, average, sick, and diseased. To see a selected county’s health rating, click on the Rations display on the control panel to display the Rations panel. A county’s health is also shown on the health indicator on the control panel. The colored portion of the indicator will be high when health is good, and low when it is poor.

Health is determined by factors both within and beyond your control. Do your best to provide Normal rations of food (or more). Half and Quarter rations are likely to cause health to deteriorate. Plague, an unfortunate random occurrence, kills people and damages the county’s health rating. You have no ability to prevent plague.


Happiness report


Population report


Ration panel


View labor allocation slider bar
Labor allocation slider bar


View advanced labor panel
Advanced labor panel


Field usage panel


View blacksmith screen
Blacksmith screen


Castle design screen


Transport panel


Credits

GAME DESIGNER	David Lester

            with	Chris Beatrice

Simon Bradbury

Eric Ouellette

PRODUCER 	Eric Ouellette

PROGRAMMING	Simon Bradbury

CREATIVE DIRECTOR	Chris Beatrice

ARTISTS	Adam Carriuolo

Heidi Mann

Mike Malone

Scot Forbes

Dennis Rose

TECHNICAL WRITER	Todd Capute

MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS	Keith Zizza

AUDIO VIDEO ENGINEER	Steve Serafino

QUALITY ASSURANCE

           MANAGER	Steve Grammont

LEAD TESTER	Doug Gonya

QUALITY ASSURANCE	Joe McGuire

Ken Parker

Jon Payne

Edward Pugsley

GAME MAPS	Doug Gonya

Edward Pugsley

Ken Parker

BATTLE MAPS	Edward Pugsley

Jon Payne

VOICE ACTORS	George Piel

Paul Hecht

Felix Van Dyke

Jo Haden

Richard Cooper

Julian Halloway

Special thanks to Ken Ford and Steve Serafino.

Lords of the Realm II uses Smacker Video Technology. Copyright © 1994 by Invisible, Inc. d.b.a. RAD Software.