The latest addition to the Total War series of games is out on Steam. Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia throws you right into the heart of the events taking place in the 9th century AD during the war between Vikings and British kingdoms.
The game offers no tutorials, so it will be really hard for new players to understand all the ins and outs of this complex strategy game. The veteran players may have a few questions as well, since Creative Assembly changed some of the mechanics.
In any case, follow the beginner’s guide below for all the essential tips and tricks on Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia.
Keep Your Food Supply in Check
One of the new mechanics added to Thrones of Britannia is the Abundant Food mechanic. It basically stacks up food for your army and population. Each unit has a food upkeep that serves as the food provider. The more units you have, the more food you will have to supply.
This means that you need to constantly check your Abundant Food indicator on the top menu. If your food supply goes into negative numbers, your army will get significantly weaker. Apart from units, some of your buildings will also need a food upkeep, such as Royal Court, for example.
If you have trouble replenishing your food supplies with your own farms, then you can send a few units to capture enemy farms and fisheries. Those are usually located in small villages, so there should be no trouble with this whatsoever.
Think Twice Before Recruiting Units
A number of huge changes can be seen in the recruitment mechanic as well. Now you can’t just recruit units and disband them as you wish. A careless attitude towards your units will decrease your pool and make your game insufferable.
This means that when you disband units, they don’t simply return to the pool anymore. However, unit replenishment is possible, but it depends on the buildings in your settlement. The chance of replenishment depends on the technologies you have.
Additionally, there is a replenishment cap, meaning that you can’t have units stack up as much as possible. This number is very much limited, so you need to be very careful when recruiting new units.
Unlock Civic and Military Technologies
Technologies play a huge role in Thrones of Brittania. There are two types of tech trees in the game: Civic and Military. The Civic tree improves and unlocks new types of buildings and gives various bonuses, while the Military tree upgrades your units, recruitment, replenishment, etc.
You need to develop both of these trees to be able to sustain both public order and a strong army. Here are the necessary prerequisites to unlocking the technologies in Thrones of Brittania.
Civic Technologies
In order to unlock any of the Civic technologies, you need to build, upgrade, or conquer the highest-level buildings in the following chains:
- Agriculture: Granary or Souterrain
- Industry: Forge or Stadfordscir Blacksmith
- Military Support: Garrison
- Leadership: Moot Hill or Law or Thing
- Trade: Market Hall
- Community: Monastery
Military Technologies
- Melee Units: Recruit 10 sword and/or axe infantry units.
- Spearmen Units: Recruit 10 spearmen units.
- Missile Units: Recruit 10 bow, crossbow, and/or skirmisher units.
- Siege Warfare: Win 5 siege battles.
- Cavalry Units: Recruit 10 cavalry units.
- Military Prestige: Raise a General to Rank 10.
- Bodyguards & Companions: Attack another army 10 times.
- Recruitment:
- Infantry Logistics: Research Warrior Society
- Spearband Logistics: Research Traditions of the Spear
- Bowmen & Javelinmen Logistics: Research Hunter Society
- Cavalrymen Logistics: Research Horse-Warrior Traditions
How to Deal With Loyalty
You need to regularly check the loyalty index of your governors and generals. If you see that the loyalty counter is approaching zero, then you need to take measures immediately. The best way is to use the Secure Loyalty action, which costs some money. If you don’t have enough, then you need to get rid of that character.
If you do so, the rebellious general/governor will spawn a small army, which you can easily subdue. This will automatically increase the loyalty of your other governors and generals. If you want to prevent this from happening, then you can simply assassinate the rebellious character.
Also, don’t underestimate the influence of the wife on your small rulers. They can decrease the levels of loyalty just as much as increase them. In this case, you can pay money and force them to divorce.
How to Transfer Estates
One more thing you can do to increase loyalty is to give your vassals estates. This will not only increase their level of loyalty to you but also make them more jealous. So if you’ve assigned new estates, don’t take them back.
Follow these steps if you want to transfer an estate to one of your vassals:
- Go to the Faction tab.
- On the upper right, go to Governors and Generals.
- On the left, choose the Estates tab.
- Click on it to open up a map of your current estates.
- Some of the estates have a golden crown icon above them. These crowns indicate estates that you can gift.
- Drag the golden crown to one of your governor’s or general’s portraits.
- Confirm the transfer.
How to Win With the Help of Fame
If you like to work with Diplomacy and gain a significant amount of influence, you can win the game through fame. Fame can be increased throughout a game by constructing buildings and unlocking technologies (see above).
The higher the level your buildings are and the more technologies you unlock, the higher your chance of winning through Fame. However, choosing the right faction is especially important.
For example, the Welsh factions are especially well suited for taking advantage of the Fame victory condition. They possess a special faction mechanic — Heroism, which can provide bonuses to their faction leader’s influence.
Below you will find the list of buildings that can significantly increase your fame:
- Bard building chain (Gwined and Strat Clut)
- Hogback building chain (Guvan)
- St Dewi chain and other Saints (Menevia)
As for technologies, the most important ones in this case are the Civic technologies, so focus on them.
Military Tactics for All Types of Battles
There are five types of battles in Thrones of Brittania: Field Battle, Minor Settlement Battle, Siege Battle, Amphibious Battle, and Naval Battle. Below you will find optimal suggestions for each of these types of battles.
Field Battle
Battles on the open fields or forests are the most common types of battles in Thrones of Brittania. Here, the best tactic would be to pin down the enemy units with your heavily armored and well-armed melee units. When the enemy tries to leave the battlefield, you send in your cavalry from the rear and finish them off.
Minor Settlement Battle
If you don’t protect your villages and farms, then they will become an easy target for enemy units. This means that you simply ought to put at least a couple of melee and ranged units inside your minor settlements. Position yourself inside the houses, which will serve as a perfect defense and shooting range for your archers.
Siege Battle
This type of battle revolves around besieging a major settlement. Depending on which side you are on, you need to take into account two points. First, if you want to attack the settlement, you must always and under all circumstances deal with the defense towers, as they will keep hammering your units. Secondly, if you find yourself on the defensive side, then bring out some of your units outside the settlement and attack your enemies from the rear.
Amphibious Battle
Here you will try to besiege a major port. You need to land your ships on the beach and attack the walls of the port. But the rest of the battle plays out in practically the same way as the Besiege Battle.
Naval Battle
In this case, you can try and capture or sink an enemy’s ship. The best way to sink an enemy’s ship is to use archers with fire arrows that can easily take another ship down from a distance. Otherwise, you will need to get really close to each other and fight using melee units.
Diplomacy Is Your Ultimate Tool
Taking into consideration everything that was mentioned above, even with all the best units, technologies, and governors, if you have no idea how to maintain your diplomatic relations, the game will go nowhere for you.
You need to be fully aware of the status of your kingdom in the given campaign, such as Trustworthiness, Strength ranking, and Fame. If you have too many enemies and no significant alliances, then you will probably have trouble winning.
So learn as much as you can about your position, and start making necessary changes.
Military Alliances
Alliances can be very useful, especially with strong factions. However, this can also turn out to be rather risky. For example, one of your allies can drag you in a completely unwanted war and create more enemies. This can decrease the level of your Fame and Trustworthiness.
On the other hand, if you get into trouble and one of your allies decides to help you, there is a big chance that your stats will only grow stronger. So it’s a double-edged sword, and you should decide how to invest your time and resources.
Pacts and Declarations
Friendship declarations can be sent to you by other factions, and you can actually make money by doing so. In the end, if they want to have you as their ally, they will have to comply and give up that precious gold.
Of course, they can reject your demand, but on the other hand, if they pay, it’s a win-win situation. The best way to find good allies and sign common pacts is through factions that have common friends and enemies.
And if you really want to make a lot of money through declarations, then find a ruler who has a lot of enemies, and offer them a friendship in exchange for a lot of gold. They will most likely agree, as the situation is desperate.
Best Factions for Beginners
There are 10 different factions in Thrones of Brittania as of now. Each faction has its own unique mechanics, so it’s good to know which ones will fit your playstyle the best. Here are the three strongest factions to begin with:
Mide
This faction belongs to Gaels, and your main job here is to unite Ireland. This faction’s unique mechanic is Legitimacy, which allows you to annex other factions and protect your vassals from foreign attacks.
The higher your Legitimacy level is, the more chance you have to annex other factions and thus unite all on one Irish land.
West Seaxe
The unique mechanic of this faction is called Witan. It refers to the amount of levies you can field, meaning that you will have great bonuses to your food production, taxes, and overall happiness of the populace.
At one point, you will have to choose which way you want to go with this faction: either get a good army, or sustain economical growth. In any case, the more settlements you have, the better it will be for your governors and generals alike.
If you manage to balance your economy with military needs, you will have an upper hand in all aspects of the game.
Mierce
Hoards is the mechanic of the Mierce faction that lets you deal with treasury. You can share its abundance with your army or the nobles in order to maintain order in the upper echelons of the society.
Otherwise, you could share it among townspeople and bring social order on that level. In any case, when you have so much money, you can do whatever fits your bill.
—
That is all you need to know to start playing Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, but be sure to come back soon for more guides here at GameSkinny!
