Hey BB...

[Lorpius Prime]

So I got MTW working at long last, what should I be doing with it?

[Mlle Bienvenu]

Attempt to take over the Medieval world! Bwahahahahaahahaaaaa!

[Lorpius Prime]

Well obviously that. But it's going to be difficult since I can't even seem to figure out how to sail from Britain to Ireland.

[Big Brother]

Well, I'm currently working on a massive MTW strategy guide/commentary, which is already 10 pages in MSWord. But for sailing from Britain to Ireland...that's one of the most common newbie questions. Here's how to do it.

Say you want to get an army from Wales to Ireland. You need a "port" building in Wales and a ship in the Celtic Sea seazone in the straits between Ireland and Wales. To get back to Wales, you'll also need to build a port in Ireland, but you don't need a port in the destination province to move troops by sea (but you do need it to move in agents like spies, emissaries, and bishops).

If you want to move to Ireland from Wessex, you'll also need a ship in the English Channel. To move to Ireland from Mercia, Northumberland, or Scotland, you'll need a ship in the North Sea and either the North Atlantic or the English Channel AND the Celtic Sea.

In general, you need 6 requirements to be met in order to move troops by sea in MTW.

1.) A port in the province your army starts in.
2.) A ship in the sea zone that the port sticks out into.
3.) A ship in a sea zone that touches the destination province.
4.) A continuous, unbroken line of ships in any sea zones from the sea zone in Requirement 2 to the sea zone in Requiirement 3.
5.) No ships belonging to any nation (or the rebels) whom you are currently at war with can be in any of the sea zones between the start province and the destination province.
6.) If this move will result in combat with someone you're not currently at war with (an amphibious sneak attack to open hostilities), no ships belonging to the country being attacked can be in any of the sea zones you will be traveling through.

On the main campaign map, once a port is built in a province, it will become visible on the map, the only building besides forts/castles/etc. to show up there. And in the case of provinces that touch multiple sea zones (Such as Wessex, which touches Celtic Sea, English Channel, and North Sea), troops leaving the province by sea must first go through the sea zone that the port sticks out into. In the case of Wessex, it's the English Channel. Troops can move by sea INTO Wessex through any of those three sea zones, but they can only move OUT of Wessex via the English Channel. One bit of errata: the port for Tunisia, at least in my copy of MTW, seems to jut out into the Gulf of Gabes, but experimentation shows that the game treats the port as if it actually connects to the neighboring African Coast sea zone instead. All other ports do in fact correctly connect to the sea zones as shown on the map once built.

So, you playing as the Brits to start off with, eh? Good choice, although they can be tough to get going with, once you get them well established, they can quickly become one of the most powerful positions in the game. Easily the best unit mix of any of the Catholic powers, and only the Turks seriously challenge them for best overall mix of available units.

[Lorpius Prime]

Well, I managed to save over that with an abortive game as the Danes. Oh well.

[Big Brother]

oh, if I had a nickel for every time I did that...well, I'd have a buck and some change, but still...it's darn annoying when it happens.