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 succesful 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
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 multiplayer 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. Skirmish is an option which is only available when you also have the Lords of the Realm II: Siege Pack expansion installed.
Select Custom Game to set up a custom game. There are many variations to choose from. Check Advanced Game play for more details.
Select Back to return to the previous menu.
Whenever you begin a new 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. 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. More information on these characters here.
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 more information on battles here.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Interface
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.
Whenever you begin a new 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. 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. More information on these characters here.
