Total War: Medieval 3

This series of articles explores our ideas for the next era that should be explored in Creative Assembly’s Total War franchise.

See our other proposals here.

There have been lots of calls from the Total War community for a third Medieval title, considering how far technology has come a long way since Medieval 2 was released in 2006. So much so the Total War: Rome and Attila have extensive mod libraries dedicated to modernizing the old titles to accommodate that.

Still, should Creative Assembly create an official title, there are some new mechanics that I would love them to contribute.

Overview and Scope

Setting: 1066-1600AD – Continental Europe + Brittain

A lot of the new elements that could be used for Medieval 3 came from Total War: Britannia and Three Kingdoms. For example in Three Kingdoms each noble commands their own retinue forces. This makes sense since feudal armies are commanded by their individual lords not entirely by the king.

Feudal Economics

An element I’d like to see brought back to this era is the use of land estates. Introduced in Thrones of Britannia, the idea was to keep your forces loyal you grant your nobility estates spawned from your agricultural buildings. This increases their loyalty, but also increases their power and influence making them potential rivals if left unchecked. No longer are there just brigands, you actually could face nobles just as powerful as you.

I also want to preserve the more recent methods of how units are recruited in that they are no longer recruited based on buildings, but on tech and manpower. Also when men are recruited it takes several turns before they are at full strength depending on your commander’s replenishment ability.

There is great potential, However as Medieval 2 already exists, that means a 3^rd title may not come out for some time yet.

Tech Tree

Our tech tree would remain mostly similar to that of Thrones of Britannia, as this is a relatively locked period of history without much development in the way of economics and material science. However, artisans and general skills of manufacture will allow you to better equip troops and create heavier units like plated knights and heavy cavalry.

Armor

Your infantry would ascend from padded shirts/gambesons to adopting chain and heavy mail. You will be able to develop knights at any time, but only mastery of technology will allow you to procure plate armor cheap enough to actually field a usable number of them.

Domestic Gunpowder

As we get towards the Renniasance-end of the era, we will start introducing simpler gunpowder weapons.

It will start with crude siege cannons for bombarding fortified castles. Eventually, gun carriages would enable field artillery by the end. As for handheld weapons, arquebuses and more advanced firearms would begin to see larger use however you would still have to depend on melee troops like pikemen to protect the musketeers. It would be the invention of the bayonet that put the final nail in the coffin for the days of pikemen and armor, which is why 1630 would be the absolute end of the campaign game.

It is uncertain if or when Creative Assembly decides to return to this period of history, but if they do I hope they look at these tips presented to make this a game for today’s players.