Medieval II: Total War - Kingdoms

Kingdoms is the first add-on for Medieval II: Total War and brings a few additions with it including the official SDK.

Other additions are the possibility to influence the nearby reinforcements by assigning basic behavior patterns to them. You can for example order them to stay where they are and only defend their position or attack the enemy, once he is near enough. Another change to the battles is the extended control over time. Now the player can not play the game in realtime- and pause-mode but also in fast- and slow motion-mode.

The game also features five new campaigns. One of them is a so-called hot-seat-campaign in which two or more players can play with or against each other in front of the same PC. In this mode each player can take control over several of the competing factions. The four new single-player campaigns are:

Britain - It's the year 1258 and the English king Heinrich III. owns most of the country. This of course is not acceptable for all the other kings of Britain. At the same time Haakon IV, king of Norway, sends more troops onto the island in order to prevent Scotland from retaking the islands located between Norway and Britain. The player can choose between England, Scotland, Norway, Wales and Ireland.

The Crusades - It's 1174 and 70 years have past since the first crusades but still the fight for control over the holy land wages. While Egypt and Turkey want to drive out the kingdom of Jerusalem and the princedom Antiochia, the Byzantine Empire waits for his chance to intervene and retake their lost countries. All five factions are playable.

The Teutonic Wars - Several years after the crusades, the religious order called "Deutscher Orden", wages war against all Eastern Europe. At first it seems like they want to enforce Christianity but at the beginning of 1250 it is clear, that their real goal are wealth and power. Lithuania, Denmark and Nowgorod stand up against the order. In addition you can unlock Poland and the Holy Roman empire as playable factions.

Battle for the American continent - It has been a while since Christopher Columbus discovered America but in 1521 the conquistadors of Spain make a visit to the new world and learn about the Aztec Empire in the south. The Aztecs themselves are constantly at war with their neighbours, the Tlaxcalteks and the Tarasks (both unlockable factions) and at the same time the Maya finally regained their strength after six centuries of oppression and begin their own war for revenge. In the north are the Apache Indians and Chichimek Indians (unlockable faction) are scattered throughout the land but are beginning to unite under one flag as the threat of New Spain gets bigger and bigger.

The difficulty of each campaign depends heavily on which side the player chooses to play with.