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A Total War Saga: Troy - Beginner's Guide
Butcher79
Total War Saga: Troy introduces you to concepts and ideas that will help refresh your playthrough. Some may seem familiar. The rest, meanwhile, will be brand new. Here is our guide Total War Saga: Troy for newbies to help you. Oh, and don't forget that the game also has its own "training mode" for beginners.
Total War Saga: Troy: Beginner's Guide
Victory Conditions
В Total War Saga: Troy there are two types of victory. First, this Total War Victory, which is the same for all factions:
- ➤ Defeat your first "antagonist" (more on this mechanic later).
- ➤ Capture, plunder or destroy 100 settlements.
- ➤ Control certain provinces directly or through vassals and military allies (defensive alliances do not count).
Next comes Homer's victory:
- ➤ Complete all "epic missions" for your faction leader (more on this mechanic later).
- ➤ Defeat certain factions from the opposite side (e.g. Greeks vs. Trojans).
- ➤ Some faction leaders may have additional requirements. For example, Agamemnon must have 60% or more influence in certain provinces. Meanwhile, Achilles must reach the maximum level of 27.
You can see below an example showing Hector's requirements for Hector to win:
Antagonist mechanics
This function in Total War Saga: Troy something like Realm Divide ( Shogun 2 ), Civil War ( Rome 2 ) or Emperor Declaration ( Three Kingdoms ). No, the whole world will not suddenly collapse. Instead, the game will choose a faction to be your antagonist. The choice comes from a variety of factors such as betraying the leader, quarreling frequently with him, committing atrocities, etc.
As already mentioned, defeating the first antagonist is one of the victory conditions in Total War . However, if this is the faction you need to eliminate (for a Homeric victory), the campaign can turn into a tedious session.
For example, in the same campaign as Hector, Odysseus/Ithaca also became my first antagonist faction. I digested 100 settlements because - against all logic, reason and normalcy - it took some time before Sean Bean's character died.
In any case, if you have an antagonist, you will see additional help information in a new panel on the campaign map. Diplomacy will also be disabled for this faction and it will become a deathmatch. There is also a "scorched earth" policy that can be active, where taking over your antagonist's settlements will show you that only the main building remains - all other buildings have been destroyed and you will need to rebuild them from scratch. Conversely, your antagonist may change their strategy and choose to plunder all of your undefended settlements rather than capture or destroy them.
Epic missions
Think of it like a quest chain for a chosen faction leader. Some will put you in dilemmas, while others will have a specific goal that you need to complete, such as reaching 60% influence in a province or forging an alliance with a certain lord.
This concept definitely confused me at first. This is because the triggers for most of the quest steps remain a mystery to me. I'm not sure if they depend on the number of moves in your campaign or are completely related to some other factor. Sometimes I found myself in front of a new epic mission after completing the previous one. In other cases, I had to wait five, 10 or more than a dozen moves before I saw the next task.
Trade and resources
In previous games Total War you often just paid attention to gold. However, in Total War Saga: Troy you will need to manage five types of resources:
- ➤ Food - a set of units, basic military buildings and prayers / Hecatombs.
- ➤ Wood - construction of buildings and a set of chariots
- ➤ Stone - construction of buildings (advanced types)
- ➤ Bronze - unit set (advanced types such as heavily armored troops)
- ➤ Gold - prayers, re-consecration of temples and some units.
These resources can also be used for other features such as the tech tree (called "Royal Decrees" in Total War Saga: Troy ) or during certain dilemmas/events.
Similarly, you will see icons for each resource on the small settlement nameplates. They show you the resources that are being produced in that settlement, in case you want to build "farm-type" buildings to increase production.
As in Total War: Three Kingdoms , Troy also uses a barter system that allows you to exchange several types of resources (a certain amount per turn). You will use these resources as leverage for diplomatic deals (such as non-aggression pacts, alliances, peace agreements, vassalization, and even gaining neighboring settlements). It is also possible to have multiple barter deals exchanging the same resource.
However, there is something strange that I encountered when game review . Actually there is a bug related to the barter/resource system that can be used. Oh, and I'm guessing the AI is also using this because of how fast some leaders accumulate wealth.
Hero classes
Leaders/generals/legendary lords - at least in Total War Saga: Troy are known as heroes. Meanwhile, playable leaders such as Achilles and Hector are referred to as "epic heroes". I don't think it has anything to do with Epic Games exclusivity over time. In any case, heroes come in different classes, and they even have their own "subclasses":
- Warlords are generalists that tend to have a lot of buffs for the entire campaign/faction. The Commander subclass, in particular, can gain the Inspiring Leader perk at level 5, which grants additional recruitment slots.
- Fighters are melee fighters who like to get into the thick of the fight. They have several perks to increase armor piercing damage and generate rage.
- Defenders - These types of heroes love to taunt opponents to provoke them (while the troops are hitting them). They also have several support abilities to boost their armor, stamina, or HP.
- Archers - Archer heroes primarily shoot at targets from afar or unleash a barrage of arrows. But if necessary, they can also turn into hybrid melee fighters.
Note 1. Each faction in Total War Saga: Troy will have a certain class of heroes that cannot be hired. For example, Hector cannot recruit archer heroes (unless you merge factions that already have him).
2 Note: regular heroes also follow the "motivation" system. Motivation fluctuates based on the hero's preferences - for example, they like/dislike a god, they like/dislike raiding or sacking settlements, they like/dislike fighting battles with reinforcements. Higher motivation allows heroes to work better, but lower values lead to worse results. However, no matter how low the motivation, they will not become disloyal.
Leveling Up Your Generals and Agents
The image above shows the Warlord - Commander "Inspirational Leader" perk at level 5. You may have noticed that there are two main choices for each level (some also have smaller nodes). Well, in Total War Saga: Troy choosing a perk or skill for that level automatically locks its counterpart. If there are two additional nodes (providing additional benefits), you can also choose only one. Thus, it is important to note the "build" that you would like to end up with. Oh, and this system also applies to your regular agents like Spy, Priestess, and Messenger.
Skill lines/mutually exclusive options only go up to level 14. But you get XP up to level 27 (cap). You can also store skill points and ignore some perks you don't need. This way you can stack certain buffs for the future.
The same system and level concepts apply to your agents. For example, I enjoy accumulating critical success, happiness, and divine favor for my priestesses. They allow me to "craft" temples to help with the Divine Will mechanic.
note: what regarding agents, your entire faction is limited to three of each type (envoys, priestesses, and spies). However, some factions, such as Prince Hector of Troy, have the means to overcome this limit.
Divine Will - Gods and Goddesses
Speaking of Divine will, this is how gods and goddesses come into play in Total War Saga: Troy . It's a bit like a "button click" mechanic, although there's more room for strategy and interaction. This is because it is also related to:
- ➤temples/shrines you have built
- ➤achieving a certain level of cult of worshipers of this god
- ➤pray to god get blessing for a few moves
- ➤Passive and active buffs during battles or while exploring the campaign map
- use a priestess or seer to gain favor
- ➤ initiating a hecatomb (sacrifice) to get a huge benefit
For example, I usually clean the hecatomb on the first turn and pray to Athena. This will raise her cult to the next level, and on my next turn I will get additional recruitment slots and higher rank troops.
1 Note: you can learn more about this mechanic in our manual "Divine Will / Gods and Goddesses" .
2 Note: reaching the maximum level of the cult opens access to the recruitment of mythological creatures. You can check out our guide to mythological creatures and epic agents for more information.
Event Gathering Host
There is also one important event/dilemma to watch out for during your campaign. Total War Saga Troy, and this is "Gathering Host". You can declare your support for the Danaans/Greeks or Trojans, depending on the chosen lord, withhold support, or decide later.
If you decide to support your faction, those who are considered "pillars" of that faction will not betray you until the end of the campaign. However, there is a chance that you may find yourself embroiled in wars with other minor Greek lords due to the complex network of alliances.
Fury and Aristea
Rage is a resource that your characters accumulate during battles. Your heroes need to constantly fight with enemy troops in order to generate rage, which, in turn, is spent on various abilities. It's a bit like a warrior game in World of Warcraft . Some leveling perks also allow you to generate rage even when you're out of combat, so be sure to grab those.
As for Aristea, it comes from the Greek word "aristos" (meaning "best") and, as such, signifies a decisive moment in the hero's journey. Examples can be found in "Iliad" where Greek and Trojan champions destroyed countless enemies, devastated their enemies and, in fact, spent their "finest hour".
В Total War Saga: Troy Aristea acts as a kind of "super" that can be used once per fight.
The goal is to build rage and then use the rage to cast skills and prepare your Aristea. When the battle comes to a head or you find yourself in a tight spot, activate it to clean up the house.
Chariots
Veterans Total War should be very familiar with the concept of cycling your cavalry units. Well, how exactly to do it without cavalry units in Total War Saga: Troy ? The answer is "chariots".
The regular chariot units you get are vulnerable and very expensive, but they can make quite a fuss when they automatically attack formations of enemy units forward and backward. It's not as accurate (or as brutal) as a perfectly timed cyclic charge, but it works as long as you don't get bogged down in massed enemy troops.
Even better, try to find heroes and epic heroes that can get the melee chariot and its enhanced melee chariot upgrade (such as Achilles). Having a chariot prevents leaders from losing stamina as they no longer run around the battlefield. Combined with other level up skills like melee attack, armor, and limited health regen, your generals will be almost unstoppable. The main disadvantage is that you cannot use most of your abilities or Aristea while mounted, and if you dismount you will not be able to mount your chariot again.
However, chariots are a great way to roughly outflank most enemy armies. Total War Saga: combat AI Troy (even on veteran/very hard difficulty) will even make archers and slingers not waste arrows on a lone general (whether mounted or dismounted). You must be able to tear apart hundreds of soldiers before calling for reinforcements.
Siege
We will need to talk about sieges as well. In the end, Total War Saga: Troy based on a legendary siege from mythical times. However, the game's siege options are pretty meager - you only have battering rams, ladders, and eventually siege towers known as "Trojan horses" to help you overwhelm the defender's forces.
The good news is that you can siege the battle a bit by opening the gate earlier. How do you do it? Well, some settlements have gate towers that have blind spots... right in front of the gate. This means you can use the hero to make your way to the gate and have them kick and slash at it until it opens.
Below you will see how Achilles practically knocks down the city gates as he probably considers every day to be a day of legs. Good thing he didn't hurt his heel while doing it.
Troy city
As for Troy itself, the capture of this city is a key task for the Greek leaders. However, since this is a real "great siege of legends", you cannot resolve this fight automatically. You will have to win the siege manually (I will talk about battles and sieges later). Don't forget that Troy will replenish losses ridiculously quickly, and your agents won't even be able to sabotage the settlement.
In addition, the main building of Troy, as well as other buildings in the settlement, can be seriously damaged by an angry Poseidon. This happens from time to time during the campaign. In fact, the main building of the village cannot be repaired by hand. If you control a city, you need to wait a few turns until you get a notification saying "Troy has recovered". Unfortunately, I haven't tried timing this with a maxed out Cult of Poseidon to see if it speeds up the process or prevents the god from destroying the city.
However, if you're playing as one of the Greek factions, now is the right time to strike. A devastating earthquake from Poseidon will destroy the walls of Troy and severely damage its garrison. The once vaunted defensive structures now look like a deserted wasteland.
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