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UK manual cover
9/7/99
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Page 1
BRAVEHEART
ENGLISH
TM
BRAVEHEART TM & © 1995,1998 Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. © and Published by
Eidos Interactive Limited 1999. All rights Reserved.
EPILEPSY WARNING
Please read before using this video game system or allowing your children to use it. Some people are
susceptible to epileptic seizures or loss of consciousness when exposed to certain flashing lights or
light patterns in everyday life. Such people may have a seizure while watching certain television
images or playing certain video games. This may happen even if the person has no medical history
of epilepsy or has never had any epileptic seizures. If you or anyone in your family has ever had
symptoms related to epilepsy (seizures or loss of consciousness) when exposed to flashing lights,
consult your doctor prior to playing. We advise that parents should monitor the use of video games
by their children. If you or your child experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, blurred
vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of consciousness, disorientation, any involuntary movement or
convulsion, while playing a video game, IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your doctor.
PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE DURING USE
• Do not stand too close to the screen. Sit a good distance away from the television screen, as far
away as the length of the cable allows.
• Preferably play the game on a small television screen.
• Avoid playing if you are tired or have not had much sleep.
• Make sure that the room in which you are playing is well lit.
• Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game.
2
CONTENTS
System requirements
5
SOFTWARE
5
HARDWARE
5
Introduction
6
Chapter 1: Getting started
7
Chapter 3: Playing the game 21
PLAYING THE GAME
The object of the game
The Clans
The English
21
21
21
21
22
22
23
INSTALLING BRAVEHEART
7
BEGINNING THE GAME
The management screens
The clans screens
UN - INSTALLING BRAVEHEART
8
GENERAL MAP
24
LAUNCHING BRAVEHEART
8
THE SETTLEMENTS SCREEN
27
Chapter 2
9
THE LEADERS SCREEN
29
SETTING UP THE GAME
Welcome to 13th Century Scotland
9
9
ARMIES SCREEN
31
MAIN MENU
9
PRODUCTION AND STORES SCREEN 33
START NEW CAMPAIGN
Customise game options screen
Choose clan screen
Leader customisation screen
10
10
11
13
TRADE ROUTES
34
MESSAGE ROUTES
35
MULTIPLAYER/SCENARIO GAME
Hosting
Joining a game
Creating armies
Playing a multiplayer game
14
15
17
18
19
THE TOWN SCREENS
The main town summary screen
36
37
THE WORKERS SCREEN
40
LOAD GAME SCREEN
20
GAME OPTIONS SCREEN
20
THE MILITARY SCREEN
Creating and disbanding armies
Equipping troops
Missions
Assigning missions
Messengers
46
48
49
50
53
54
REPLAY THE INTRO
20
THE TOWN TRADE SCREEN
56
EXIT THE GAME
20
NEWS
Events
59
59
LOADING / SAVING GAMES /
IN GAME OPTIONS
61
3
Chapter 4: Warriors
62
LEADERS
Leaders in battle
62
63
TROOPS
Rank and gaining experience
Horses and cavalry
Loyalty
Siege engines
Lines of supply
63
65
65
66
66
66
OTHER FORCES
Scouts
Spies
67
67
67
Chapter 5
Chapter 6: 13th Century life 80
68
PLAYING THE 3D GAME
The camera
Camera control
68
68
69
THE 3D INTERFACE
Controlling your troops
70
70
80
80
81
82
84
85
85
85
86
PRACTICAL ECONOMICS
Happy people
Balancing the workforce
Goods and resources
Trade to live
Paying for soldiers
Politics
The long term objectives
86
86
87
87
89
90
90
91
Credits
3D GAME CONTROL SUMMARY
72
Other 3D game control/shortcut keys 72
COMMANDS
The Command icons
Tactical command icons
Formations
Radar
Troops in battle
LIFE IN SETTLEMENTS
Town buildings
Travel
Castles and castle Sieges
Transporting engines
Using engines
Catapults
Battering rams
Siege towers
73
73
74
74
78
79
4
92
RED LEMON CREDITS
92
EIDOS CREDITS
93
CUSTOMER HELPLINE
94
LIMITED WARRANTY
95
System requirements
Software
• P233
• 32MB RAM
• 4X CDROM
• 200MB + HDD
• DirectX® 6 or higher
Hardware (Open GL, Glide and D3D)
• P200
• 32MB Ram
• 4X CDROM
• 200MB + HDD
• Glide® or compatible Open GL® card
• DirectX® 6 or higher
5
Introduction
“I will tell you of William Wallace.
Historians from England will say that I am a liar. But history is written by those who have hung heroes.
The King of Scotland had died without a son, and the King of England, a cruel pagan known as Edward
the Longshanks, claimed the throne for himself. Scotland’s nobles fought him, and fought each other, over
the crown.”
It is the spring of 1296, Edward the first, King of England invades Scotland at the head of an
immense English army, sacking Berwick and raping the southern lowlands.
Within a month, upon the fields of Dunbar, the Scottish nobles are forced to accept him as their
liege.
Now the war, which desolated the country, is at an end, but it is a fragile peace, easily shattered. For
many a Scottish laird signed the bond of submission to the Invader unwillingly.
Now a new conflict has erupted, the fight for power within a new regime. The noble clans feud and
argue over land ownership while the English push incessantly northward, toward total domination
of the Scottish race.
While some gladly wear the English chains of submission, the torch of freedom burns brightly in the
hearts of others.
Scotland waits for an uniting force to begin its fight against invasion and persecution. William
Wallace is one of many who could rally to your banner to fight the aggressor. However, other
Scottish nobles have a similar inclination towards the vacant crown of Scotland. The balance of
power is a tenuous one.
Braveheart is a freeform campaign game. As such it is not based on levels or set missions. 13th
Century Scotland is represented by the rolling hills, the many towns and ranks of fierce warriors.
Exactly how these three interact with one another is entirely at the hands of the player.
A lost battle is not necessarily a lost war. A victory is not necessarily a foot closer to the final goal.
Scotland will evolve over time and nobles will rise and fall as the years pass by. The campaign may
well be a long and bloody one, but destiny lies in your hands alone.
6
Chapter 1: Getting started
Installing Braveheart
Installing Braveheart is easy. Simply insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive. After a few seconds,
the launch panel will appear:
NOTE: In the event the Launch Panel does not appear when you insert the CD:
• Double-click on the My Computer icon, then double-click on the CD-ROM icon, and lastly
double click on the SETUP.EXE file to bring up the launch panel OR:
1. Click on the start button.
2. Choose Run from the ensuing pop-up menu.
3. Type d:\setup.exe in the box provided (where d: designates your CD-ROM drive letter).
4. Click on the OK button to begin the install program.
• Click on the install button to begin the installer. The welcome panel will then appear.
• Click on the next button to proceed with the installation. The program will guide through the rest
of the remaining process via onscreen prompts.
• You will initially be prompted to select the path and directory you wish to install Braveheart to on
your hard drive.
• The default is C:\Braveheart. Click on the Next button to accept the default destination, or click
on the browse button to type in a new location in the box provided.
• You will be prompted to enter the name of the programme folder you wish to create if you do not
want the default “Braveheart” folder.
If you are experiencing difficulties installing Braveheart, please consult the Troubleshooting guide
and performance Issues section of the README File.
7
UN - Installing Braveheart
If you need to un-install Braveheart you may do any of the following things:
1. Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive to activate the AutoPlay feature. This will bring up
the Launch Panel. Click on the un-install button and follow the on-screen prompts.
2. Click on the start button. Choose Programmes from the pop-up menu. Drag your mouse
to the right and click on RED LEMON STUDIOS. Click on the Uninstall Braveheart
from the ensuing pop-up menu and follow on-screen instructions.
3. Go to the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs. Click on Braveheart, select the
add/remove button and follow the on-screen prompts. If you are experiencing difficulties
un-installing Braveheart, please consult the Troubleshooting and Performance Issues section
of the README File.
Launching Braveheart
Click on the start button. Choose Programmes from the pop-up menu. Drag your mouse to the right
and click on RED LEMON STUDIOS. Click on the Braveheart button.
8
Chapter 2
Setting up the game
Welcome to 13th Century Scotland
Welcome to Braveheart the computer game. We hope you will enjoy your stay a few hundred years
ago. Before you start a real game take time to skim though this initial chapter. The decisions you
make in the first few seconds will stay with you for many a long hour.
Main menu
The first real screen of the game. Here you are presented with the usual game options. Start new
campaign, Multiplayer/Scenario Game, Load Game, Game Options, Replay Intro and Exit Game.
Step by step some will take you through a series of other screens, each with their own choices for you
to make. Lets start with…
9
Start new campaign
Ready to play a game? You’re on the first step of the road.
There are four other screens full of options asking you for the type, and style of game you would like
to play. These are:
GAME DIFFICULTY
The standard difficulty rating of your opponent clans and the number of them. There are four
ratings, ranked for increasing difficulty: these are Passive, Opportunistic, Aggressive and Ruthless.
Each rating has an adjusted opposition clan number slider bar. The more difficult the rating the
more clans you must face and the smarter they will be.
Note that these opponent clans are the major clans that you may face. There are many lesser clans living
in Scotland.
Customise game options screen
There are a lot of options here. Leave Standard game selected and click OK. Otherwise select any
options that take your fancy.
The options are:
STANDARD GAME
All the standard game features.
SIMPLIFIED TRADE
Trade prices are a lot less variable and the market more stable.
MORE STARTING STORES
Your starting town has significantly increased resources at the start of the game. Enemy clans do not
receive this bonus and choosing this option reduces your final score.
RANDOMISE RESOURCES
Randomises the entire country’s land resources.
AUTO MANAGEMENT PERMANENTLY
For those among you that want to enjoy the 3D combat side of the game only, the auto management
feature of the game will be permanently enabled and the manual management features will be
unavailable for the entire duration of the game.
This feature also encompasses the auto trade feature. The player can concentrate on the pure military
operations of the game and will not need to worry about day to day life.
Note however that a good human player should be able to manage his resources better than the automated
process. This option is not necessarily an advantage and choosing this option does not reflect in any way
on your final score.
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NON-AGGRESSIVE TOWNS GROW
Neutral non-expansionist clans will grow more steadily over time. Choosing this option will increase
the difficulty of the game and this will be reflected in your final score.
CARAVANS CANNOT BE RAIDED
All trade caravans are safe from unscrupulous bandits. You will no longer be able to attack enemy
supply lines, and your own supplies are also free to roam unmolested.
MORE STARTING TERRITORIES
You start the game with two territories instead of the usual one. Enemy clans do not receive this
bonus and choosing this option reduces your final score.
RANDOMISE LEADERS
Randomises the starting leaders assigned to each clan and their starting statistics.
Choose clan screen
There are sixteen major clans available for the player to elect to lead in Braveheart. Each has its own
strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes this may only be reflected in their initial starting location.
Some can produce more or better resources while others may be next to useless at certain endeavours.
The clans are:
BUCHANAN
Clan Buchanan is political and honourable. Buchanans are famous for their willingness to fight for
a holy cause, however insurmountable it seems.
Starting location: Dunbarton
CAMERON
Clan Cameron is a warlike clan with vicious and dangerous warriors. Cameron’s are at their best in
times of strife. In peacetime however, Camerons are prone to restlessness and inefficiency.
Starting location: Fort Augustus
CAMPBELL
Clan Campbell is a powerful political clan who uses deception and intrigue like a well-oiled sword.
Campbell has links with the English and uses them well.
Starting location: Fort William
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FARQUHARSON
Clan Farquarson are a peaceful Clan and derive most of their power from its excellent politicians. In
times of war Farquarson are known for their superior archers.
Starting location: Balmoral
KEITH
Highlanders and swordsmen of the finest calibre, the warriors of Clan Keith are widely feared for
their undisciplined but deadly fighting skills.
Starting location: Peterhead
LAMONT
Clan Lamont is a coastal Clan, which boasts good sailors. Not particularly great warriors, Lamont
prefers to think their way to a solution to a problem.
Starting location: Dunoon
MACDONALD
Clan MacDonald is a prominent and powerful island Clan. Their claims as Lord of the Isles are
justified, such is their large naval power base.
Starting location: Portree
MACGREGOR
Fiercely territorial and aggressive, MacGregor boasts consistently fine warriors at the expense of
subtlety.
Starting location: Inveraray
MACKENZIE
Clan MacKenzie is known for its rationality and organisation on the field of battle. Its leaders are
sound and good tacticians.
Starting location: Fortrose
MACKINTOSH
Famous for its information gathering powers. Shrewd use of spies has allowed this very political clan
to use their skilled diplomats to their maximum potential.
Starting location: Nairn
MACLEAN
Clan MacLean is an island Clan known for producing outstanding leaders. Their island home is poor
and dependant on the bounty of the sea.
Starting location: Glenfinnan
MACLEOD
This fierce Clan is renowned for its powerful warriors. Situated on Lewis, Clan MacLeod also
possesses a solid defence.
Starting location: Barvas
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MUNRO
This great military Clan has produced many splendid leaders as well as disciplined and skilful
warriors. These Highlanders boasts some of the best fighting armies in all of Scotland.
Starting location: Dingwall
SCOTT
Clan Scott are a clever and scholastic clan. Seriously deficient on the field of battle, Clan Scott relies
on its peaceful reputation and diplomatic connections to avoid trouble.
Starting location: Selkirk
WALLACE
Small but robust, these lowlanders possess a fine balance of diplomatic and combat skills. People of
action, Wallace clan members perhaps lack a sense of subtlety or tact.
Starting location: Ayr
Leader Customisation screen
After choosing your Clan, you have the opportunity to tailor your starting clan leaders to suit your
own playing style. Each leader only has a few attributes that may be changed based on their starting
clan. Adjust the slider bars as you wish, but make sure all the attribute points are distributed before
you click OK.
The descriptions of leader attributes may be found in the section entitled Warriors: Leaders.
Once you are happy with your leaders, click OK and you will be transported to Scotland 1297 AD.
Good luck.
13
Multiplayer/Scenario game
The Multiplayer/scenario game allows up to twelve clans to participate in a single skirmish. These
clans can be either player or computer controlled but at least one of those clans must be a player, the
host.
Before starting a Multiplayer game you must decide to either host or join an existing game. Select
either Host or Join by clicking it.
You should now select a connection method. There are five connection types available, not including
a solo-play option.
Of the five connection types, only four may be selected from the Multiplayer screen. The fifth,
MPLAYER should be selected before starting the game via the Connect to MPLAYER shortcut in
the Braveheart section of the Start menu.
The other four options are IPX, Serial, Modem and TCP/IP. Each type has a different interface and
may not be selected if your individual machine is not compatible with that connection method.
14
Hosting
To host a game, you must first set the games variables, these are the Maximum unit number, army
point allowance, the time of day the battle is to be set in, the weather conditions and the battleground.
Maximum unit number
• Sets the limit for the maximum number of men that may be allocated to a single unit.
• This host option locks this number for all players and armies to level the playing field for the
slower computers.
Army point allowance
• Dictates the amount of points each player can use when creating their army.
• When creating an army, all weapons, armour, cavalry and leaders have a points cost.
• The more superior the equipment, the more expensive it is to buy from your army points
allocation.
• All armies in that skirmish must use armies with a point total up to the figure set by the host.
Time of day
• Dictates the light settings for the scenario.
• Light affects not only player visibility but also the lines of sight for the soldiers on the field.
Weather conditions
• Affect the battle conditions for individually equipped troops. Certain weather conditions
impair the effectiveness of certain troops types or soldiers equipped in certain fashions.
Battleground
• The area that the skirmish will take place at. There are sixteen battlegrounds in all, each taking
place within the home territory of a major clan. The Crossed swords dictate the exact position
of the battlefield.
15
STARTING A HOSTED GAME
You will not announce your hosted game until you select Use these settings placed at the bottom
right of the screen.
Both your Clan name and Host game name will default to anonymous if you do not enter anything
in the related spaces provided.
Once you select this option you will be taken to the connected lobby.
As the host, you will be waiting for other players to join your game. A panel will inform you of any
players who have joined your game.
You also now have access to the message panel. Type any messages into the area at the bottom left of
the screen and press the Return key to send the message to any players connected to your hosted
game.
You may now create your army and select an army colour. See Creating Armies below.
The host also has control over the number of computer controlled armies that will take part in the
skirmish. You may select as many or as few as you wish, up to the limit of twelve participating armies.
The host also may set up any human teams by clicking on the flag outline next to the players name.
Corresponding colours indicate team selection.
If you click Back at this stage, you will cancel your hosted game and expel all other users connected
to it.
Assuming that you have an army and everyone has assigned themselves an army colour, you may start
the game at any time by clicking on Start game. Only players joined at this time may take part in
the skirmish, no players may join once a game is underway.
Until this time, the Start game option will not be available.
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Joining a game
If you don’t want the hassle of hosting a game, you may elect to join a game hosted by someone else.
The options available to a joined connection are slightly different from a hosted game and the
connection choice None is not available.
Depending on the connection type selected, you will be offered a lobby of available hosted games.
Click on the Search (telescope) button to look for games using the selected link-up method. You may
also be presented with a dialog box in which to enter your link specifications.
Clicking of a hosted game name will display the setting chosen by the host for his game. You may
use this information in deciding whether to join that game or not.
If the game is protected by a password, a lit padlock will appear next to the hosted game name. You
will need to type in the password in the space provided.
When you have decided on which game to enter, click on Join game.
You will be taken to that hosts lobby, where you will see the names of other joined players and may
now communicate with them via the message box.
When you have created your army, select an army colour and click on Ready at the bottom right of
the screen.
The host may not start a game until all players have indicated that they are ready and have chosen a
colour for their army.
When all players are ready and have selected a colour, the host may start the game.
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Creating armies
As stated before, all armies have a point restriction based on the hosts’ game settings. Buying
equipment from the weapons bar creates an army.
Pick weapons up with the left-mouse button and drop them directly into the army box using the
right-mouse button and the points will be deducted automatically from your total as you pick up
weapons. Points may be regained by dropping weapons back into the stores.
Some troops types may be further equipped with shields and armour. These items may not be
assigned to troops carrying double handed weapons. These are assigned and unassigned in the same
way as weapons.
There are unlimited stocks of all items in the weapons bar and you are restricted solely by the army
point allowance.
The price of a single item of a weapon type is written directly under the weapon graphic. Lances also
come with horses, and therefore cost significantly more than other weapons. The army box works in
exactly the same manner as the armies’ box from the military screen.
Troops may be picked up and moved at will within the army box with left-mouse button to pick up
and right-mouse button to drop.
Leaders have a special cost, with some leaders costing more than others. As no two armies may have
the same leader, each player must hold his selected leader to prevent other players from selecting him.
Scroll through the available leaders using the arrows under the leader’s portrait and click the Lock
button to prevent other players from selecting your chosen leader.
Note that leaders are not initially equipped with weapons or armour. You must buy him one and drop it
on his portrait to assign it to him.
18
LOADING ARMIES
To save time, armies of set points totals have been pre-generated and may be accessed using the Load
army option.
• Click the Load army button and select an army point total. You will be offered a number of
pre-generated armies to load.
• Click on the armie’s name to select it and click Load. Take care, the loaded army will replace
any army you were previously working on.
• You may further modify your loaded army after loading, but if your army contains a leader
currently held by another player, you may not use him in the skirmish and will need to select
another.
SAVING ARMIES
Newly created or modified armies may be saved for later use by using the Save army option.
• Click on the Save army button.
• To save your army, select a Save game slot and click OK.
The army will be filed based on its army point allocation. When re-loading a saved army only the
armies equal to or lower than the hosts’ army point allocation will be listed.
If you would like to create an army in advance without hosting or joining a Multiplayer game, simply
select the host option with the army point allocation total of your choice and create and save your
army in the usual manner.
Playing a Multiplayer game
Multiplayer games are a brutal affair, usually culminating in a last man standing situation.
The winner is the last clan alive at the end of the skirmish. How that is achieved is up to the
individual.
You may send a message to the other players by pressing the Insert key while in the 3D engine.
Any messages are sent to all of the other players.
If the host player’s army is destroyed, he has the option to either remain on the field as a spectator,
to allow the other players to continue the game, or may end the entire game. This will disconnect
all other players.
If he remains, he may select cameramen to view the battle with, but has no other control over
the battle.
19
Load game screen
If you have a previously saved a game you can continue with it from this screen. Simply select the
saved game file name and click OK.
Game options screen
Adjust the games overall audio settings and view the previous high scores or see the game credits
from this screen.
Also there is a model detail bar which will alter the detail of models in the 3D engine. Model detail
will affect the speed of the game and the overall aesthetics of the 3D world.
Some options are accompanied by a slider bar: left is low; right is high.
Replay the intro
Replays the introductory animation sequence.
Exit the game
Shuts down Braveheart and returns you to Windows.
20
Chapter 3: Playing the game
Playing the game
The object of the game
Of course you want to win. But there are a few ways of winning. Basically you have two major goals
in Braveheart, the crown of Scotland and the total defeat of the English.
To accomplish these two tasks the answers may lie with politics or a steady sword arm, or both.
There are no set ways to win in Braveheart, so experiment with different strategies, but remember
that the other clans are not mere drones. They too are conspiring toward the same goals.
The Clans
Potentially you may have to compete with every other clan that you didn’t pick in the Clan choice
screen at the beginning of the game. These are the major aggressive clans. The nobles with the most
ambition and lust for the Scottish crown come from these clans. Each has its own expansionist
doctrine and each has an individual code of conduct. These characteristics are consistent from game
to game, so it’s up to you to find each clan’s strengths and weaknesses in order to exploit them.
Along with these major clans are many smaller who harbour no ambition for the crown. These clans
live day to day minding their own business. However they are not merely fodder for the major clans
to gobble up, they will defend themselves if threatened, trade goods and ally themselves as necessary.
The English
The English are under the impression that the Crown of Scotland already belongs to their King.
Edward I, known as the Longshanks. Therefore, all pretensions towards the Scottish throne are illegal
and will need to be crushed utterly.
Unfortunately, the English have the power to achieve this feat against a divided nation in chaos.
Their King is strong, their troops are well trained, well fed and exist in large numbers.
21
Beginning the game
The management screens
The management screens are your interface with the living environs that is 13th Century Britain. It
is through these screens that you will farm the land, trade your goods, make your weapons of war
and train your legions of warriors.
It’s a complicated process and is conducted on two different levels, the clan overview level where you
can assess the total effects of your governmental efforts, and the town level, which deals directly with
the everyday lives and work of individual towns within your clan.
Each screen is linked to each other through the link icons at the bottom of every screen. Each icon
represents a facet of clan management. Blue bordered icons represent clan screens, red borders
indicate town screens.
These icons are from left to right:
General map
Messenger routes
Settlements
Main town
Leaders
Workers screen
Armies
Military screen
Production & Stores
Town trade
Trade routes
News screen
22
The screens are covered screen by screen below:
The Clan screens
These provide information on the bigger picture of your environment. All the collated information
of the land and all of its inhabitants are presented in these screens.
There are seven clan screens in all, each representing a combined information source from all of your
settlements and often other settlements belonging to other clans.
At the top of the screen is the Clan title bar. This top line is significantly different from the Town
title bar as it only shows information relevant for your entire clan. It is non-specific and is present
only to provide an indication of the overall estimation of your clans well being.
The Clan title consists of the following, from left to right:
• The clan name
• The number of settlements belonging to your clan.
• The current population of the entire clan.
• The accumulated treasury total of the clan, in Pounds.
• The numbers of leaders in the clan’s employ.
• The current time and date.
Apart from the Clan name and the time and date, nothing on the Clan title bar can be manipulated.
• Left click on the Clan name to change it and type in a replacement name. Time will advance
one day if selected (clicked on).
• To advance time continuously, press the F1 key. This will advance time in days until another
key is pressed or until an event happens.
• Clicking the left mouse button may also stop time advancing.
• As time manipulation is essential, it is included on every clan and town screen.
• The time function is identical on all screens.
23
General map
The General map is the first of the management screens for good reasons. This is where you keep
track of your troop and caravan movements, look out for approaching armies and survey the land
for raw resources, political borders and settlements.
Firstly, under the screen title are a number of icons designed for finer manipulation of the map. The
first six are information toggles, the last three manipulate the map itself.
The toggles are:
Political borders
Displays a coloured border to not only show the extents of a clan territory, but also its
political attitude towards your own clan.
Political colours consist of the following, and these colours are consistent with all aspects
of the general map.
White
Your own clan
Yellow
Allied
Green
Friendly
Blue
Neutral
Orange
Hostile
Red
Warring
Grey
Unknown territory
24
Resources
Draws the map in terms of raw land resources. Resources are keyed to the following
colours. Darker colours indicate more fertile or richer land.
Brown
Arable land
Green
Forests
Red
Stone quarries
Yellow
Potential mines
White
Barren or useless land
Blue
Water or Sea
Settlements
Draws the location of towns and castles. Towns are drawn as a coloured circle. Capitals
are outlined with a second circle. A diamond represents your current location and a skull
represents a plagued town.
Castles are drawn according to their size and type and are coloured based on their political
disposition. Finished castles also display a protection radius. Any towns falling within this
radius gains the castles’ protection.
Hold Control (Ctrl) and clicking on one of your own towns will take you into the 3D
world to view your town. You may also view non-owned towns in the 3D world if you
have a spy present there by holding Control (Ctrl) and clicking on that town. To leave the
town, press ESC followed by ABANDON BATTLEFIELD to return to the General map
screen.
Armies
Displays not only your own, but spotted armies belonging to other clans.
Your own clan armies are displayed according to their current mission assignment.
Sword
Combat
Crescent moon
Covert actions
Castle
Garrison
Scroll
Diplomatic envoy
Arrow path
Patrol/ambush patrol
Shoe
Marching army
Empty shield
Awaiting orders
In addition, enemy armies may have:
Questionmark Unknown intentions
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Trade caravans
Displays your trade caravans and any other caravans that can be spotted from your towns.
Trade caravans will be displayed either full or empty depending on their current status.
Caravans displayed with a shield are travelling with an armed guard.
Scouts/Spies
Scouts, spies and messengers.
Only your own Special Forces are ever shown.
Zoom in to map
Zooms in the map as long as this icon is pressed (clicked on).
Zoom out of map
Zooms out the map as long as this icon is pressed (clicked on).
Move map
Grabs the map and scrolls the viewing area as long as you hold down the left mouse
button over the icon. As an alternative to using the map manipulation icons, you may
control the map by holding down the right mouse button to zoom in/out and dragging
the map area by holding down the left button or Space Bar and moving the mouse. You
may also move the map by using the cursor keys and the +/- keys.
To the right of the map is the information panel. This panel displays information on
selected towns or items on the map. Information displayed here is dependent on
information gathered by spies or scouts.
If a castle is selected it will display:
• Its castle type (size).
• Its clan owner.
• The town that built it.
• Its estimated garrison.
The bottom section of the panel is reserved for armies, individual units and caravans and also the
land resources key/legend if that toggle is switched on.
Caravan information on this map is restricted to the caravans’ destination and its estimated time of
arrival. For more information on caravans, see The Trade routes screen.
The map will appear in many guises throughout the management screens. The basic control method
described here is consistent with all pictorial maps.
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The settlements screen
This screen provides the summary of all towns and villages known to your clan. To begin with, this
screen will only contain a single entry, your starting town.
Before too long it should begin to fill up as your scouts return from their missions and your borders
begin to expand.
This screen offers the following pieces of information:
• The Clan to which the listed settlements belong.
• The settlement’s name.
• The estimated garrison at that town.
• The number of leaders based at that town. (Though these may not be actually present).
• The settlement’s main produce.
• The number of trade routes that town is currently managing.
• The settlement’s current status.
• The town’s current morale.
• The town’s current estimated population.
• The total pounds in the town’s treasury.
• The towns’ current tax rate.
The town with the highest value in the selected column will be placed at the top with the rest in
order of diminishing value beneath it. A second click will reverse the order. Settlement column sorts
the list alphabetically.
Under the list of settlements, the current political status of the listed clan towards you is displayed.
Below that, is the combined list of clans you have discovered. Clicking on any of these will change
the display to list the known settlements from that clan.
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Information is based on your political friendliness to that clan and your own spy network.
Clan attitudes are demonstrated by the colour of the box in which the clan’s name lies.
This clan list is colour coded for ease of sorting and player recognition in the same fashion as the
general map. These colours may change gradually as political relations change.
Clans marked with an asterisk denote the presence of one of your spies at one or more of their
settlements.
Spies inform you of town details and may wander about towns (See General map).
The Go to town icon
Lastly, you may use a shortcut to jump to the town management sections of individual
towns by double clicking on the highlighted settlement information row or by selecting a
row by clicking it once and clicking on the Go to this settlement (Put in Bold) icon near
the top right of the screen.
If you have a spy at a settlement the Go to this settlement (Put in Bold ) icon also doubles
as a spy report on that towns owner.
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The leaders screen
This screen lists your most important commodities, the leaders of your armies. Without these men
you are limited to only a very few military options. This screen will help you keep track of them and
allows you to study their strengths and weaknesses. This screen is split into two screens, a full details
screen for your own leaders and a brief details screen for every other known leader as well as summary
information on your own.
As well as displaying large portraits of your leaders, the full detail displays the following information.
For full details on leaders see the section entitled Leaders.
• The leaders name.
• The leaders clan affiliation.
• His current location.
• His current wages: this is paid from the treasury coffers of either the town in which he is
currently located, or from the treasury of the town with which his current army is based if he
is not barracked.
• His leadership statistic.
• His combat statistic.
• His brawn statistic.
• His brain statistic.
• His stealth statistic.
• His diplomacy statistic.
• His loyalty statistic.
• His current fame.
• His current morale.
• His current army and number of troops in it.
• His assigned army’s rank.
• His current orders.
Use the scroll arrows to cycle through your leaders.
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Also there are three icons at the top right of the screen:
Toggle List Mode icon
This toggles between brief and full detail leader screens.
The Go to leader icon
This takes you to the military screen of the leaders current town.
The dismiss leader icon
You may wish to dismiss a current leader. In case you clicked this button by accident you
will be prompted with an “ Are you sure? “ question before this command is implemented.
The brief leaders’ screen gives a more compact version of the known leaders in the game.
Similar to the Settlements screen this screen is arranged in rows and columns of
information. Again this is sorted by clicking on the column headings. Different clans may
be selected if they are known, but information is limited to your past dealings with those
leaders and your spy network. The political colouring system still applies here.
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Armies screen
This screen caters for all of your clans’ armies. As armies are changing constantly, no details of any
armies belonging to other clans can be tracked by your spies and are thus not shown.
Again this screen is arranged in columns and rows and is sorted in the same way.
This screen displays:
• The number of armies in your clan.
• The army’s name.
• The army’s estimated size.
• The army’s rank: This is calculated from the average of all the individual units in that army.
• The army’s leader/commanding officer
• The army’s home base.
• The army’s current status or mission.
• The army’s current morale rating.
• The army’s current location.
The bottom of this screen is reserved to display more information about a selected army (click once
on a highlighted army to select it).
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More detailed army information consists of:
• The army name.
• The exact number of soldiers in that army.
• The total wages for that army.
• The full name of the army’s leader.
• A portrait of that leader.
• The army’s rank.
• The army’s home base.
• The army’s status.
• The army’s current morale.
• The army’s location.
• A description of the units which make up the army. This consists of the number of men in that
unit, their equipment/troop type and their rank displayed as a colour.
The Go to this army icon
Finally the Go to this army icon takes you to the military screen of a selected army’s
hometown. This may also be achieved by double clicking on an army’s row.
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Production and stores screen
The production and stores screen simply lists all the items needed for your settlements continued
well-being as well as any weapons of war they may be making or storing.
Each item has two numbers directly underneath it. The first beige number represents the number of
this item currently present in that town’s stores. The second number represents either a surplus or a
deficit of that item per month. Green denotes a surplus, red a deficit. Any surplus is added to the
stores as items are made. A deficit indicates that the town is not producing enough of that item to
prevent the stores from being drawn from.
Again, either by selecting a town and clicking on the Go to this town icon or double clicking on a
town row will take you to those towns’ management screens. In this case the towns main summary
screen.
For a full listing of the meanings of the item icons, see the section entitles Goods and resources.
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trade routes
This screen shows you all of your active trade caravans, the towns they came from and those that
they are travelling to. The path caravan is drawn as it makes its way across the map.
At the right is the information panel describing the following details:
• The number of caravans that you have at present.
• The status of the caravan.
• Where the caravan came from and where it is heading.
• What it is carrying.
• Who is guarding it.
• Its estimated time of arrival to its current destination.
These caravans are listed according to the icon toggles at the top of the screen.
The toggles are:
Show all caravans
Displays all of your currently serving caravans.
Show incoming caravans only
Displays your incoming caravans only.
Show outgoing caravans only
Displays your outgoing caravans only. The bottom section of the panel is reserved for
details of the towns and caravan routes directly under your mouse pointer.
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message routes
Like the trade routes screen, this screen helps you keep track of all the messages currently being sent
or those you are awaiting a reply from.
As messengers are always sent out and replies are returned via the senders messenger. Only your own
message routes are ever displayed, the messengers of other clans are essentially invisible.
The bottom half is reserved for information about individual message routes or towns as your mouse
pointer passes over them on the map on the left side of the screen.
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The town screens
While most of the Clan screens are for summary and information purposes only, the town screens
are where you can get your hands dirty with the actual management of your clan, settlement by
settlement. Here you work the land, feed the masses, construct and sell your wares, arm and deploy
your armies, and communicate with the other clans. Sound daunting? Don’t worry, the town screens
are supplied with an auto management feature if you’re a little unsure on your feet or just plainly
uninterested in the management features.
The first major difference between the town and clan screens is the town screen title bar. There is
more detail to the town title bar, and the numbers will be smaller.
Displayed on the town title bar is the following:
• The towns’ name and size
You may change the towns’ name by left clicking on it.
• The towns’ status
Towns may possess seven states, Quiet, Alarmed, Panicked,
Warring, Besieged, Starving and Plagued.
• The towns’ population
The total number of people in the town, not including
soldiers. A second number indicates the change in
population for that town since the end of last month. This
change may be the result of births, deaths and immigration
and emigration from other nearby towns.
• The towns’ local treasury
This is the amount in the towns coffers which is kept in the
and the towns tax rate
town hall and the amount that the people from this town
is paying in taxes. You can alter this figure by clicking on
the tax number. It can be set to anything from 0% to 100%
taxation.
• The time and date
Again, this may be advanced by either the hour or the day
by clicking on the relevant area.
Note that there are two types of town, Capitals and satellites, the differences are subtle yet significant. See
the section entitles Life in settlements for more details.
All town screens have “town jump” arrows, clicking on these takes you to the next owned town based
on the order arranged on the Clan settlements screen.
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The main town summary screen
There are four town screens in all. The first is the summary screen, which is a kind of small-scale clan
screen. It provides little to manipulate and acts as a one stop at a glance stop of the town without
having to enter the other four screens. Useful for a quick check up or slight adjustment to the towns
overall town management policy.
The main points of interest here are the auto management triangle, the Build new town icon and
the Raze this town icon.
The auto management triangle is an extremely useful device, which essentially
runs your town for you if you let it. At each point of the triangle is an aspect of
town management. Management is set at a bias towards one or more of these
aspects.
Auto management can be turned on and off at will ( click on the large AUTO
or MANUAL buttons ). Useful for any actions you wish to make that falls
outside of the towns’ current work aspect.
That is, unless auto management permanently has been selected from the campaign game settings.
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The aspects are:
• MILITARY
The town officials will work towards managing an efficient community dedicated to producing
weapons. Weapons are made at the expense of all other goods apart from subsistence food. The
actual decisions on what weapons to make is automated but may be overridden manually.
• TRADE
The town will devote all their energies to producing marketable goods in order to turn a tidy
profit, at the expense of all else.
• PEOPLE
The town will make endeavours to make the people comfortable and happy with their lot in
life. This includes everything from the section entitled Happy people.
The auto management is featured for convenience, not as a complete substitute for the player. An
astute player should be able to make tweaks and cunning decisions, which the auto management
system will be completely incapable of.
Alternately, you may wish to set some of the less important towns on auto management, while you
take manual control of the important ones. Highly recommended if you have a lot of towns
screaming for your attention.
Town officials never look further than their own towns’ plight. A town will not help one of its
neighbours unless you do it yourself.
No auto-managed town may send armies on any type of mission apart from caravan guard duty.
Those kinds of decisions are yours alone. And they may never un-assign any army from a mission
that you have given them personally. If you wish to avoid this, either have no leaderless armies in
that town, or give those armies another guard or garrison duty before switching to auto management.
The auto management also appears on the Workers screen. The two triangles are the connected and
it is included in the workers screen for instant visual feedback purposes.
The two icons at the top right hand of the Stores window represent two powerful features that
shouldn’t be used without a good deal of thought.
Build new settlement
Asks a group of workers to go out and build the basis for a new satellite town within
your local territorial area. These settlers take a portion of their previous town’s stores
with them. Each territory is only allowed a limited number of satellite settlements based
on its size. Once this icon is selected you will be asked for a location to build your new
town on a map which will temporarily replace the left side of the screen.
Once selected (left click) you are asked "Are you sure?", No cancels the action, Yes build
the new town.
Further occupants may be acquired through immigration or by disbanding an army at
the new town. Town resources will start from nothing unless equipped by a friendly
caravan.
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Raze this town
Destroys the town completely and disbands the local populace and all the soldiers
belonging to that town.
All stores are lost and all caravans belonging to the town are disbanded even if they’re still
travelling to another town carrying goods. Leaders present or assigned to armies from that
town travel to the nearest friendly town without their disbanded armies. Armies travelling
to a town that has just been razed while on route, turn back for home. Not surprisingly,
you are asked “Are you sure?” before you are allowed to raze a town.
All other features of the main summary screen are non-interactive. To adjust anything else to do with
town management, you must enter the relevant town screen.
Other information consists of:
• The towns current health. Towns may possess seven states of health, Diseased, Weak, Poorly,
Average, Good, Very good, Excellent.
• The towns’ current morale. Towns have seven states of happiness, or lack off.
• Euphoric, Jubilant, Happy, Content, Unhappy, Depressed and Wretched.
• The state of housing and living space at the town.
• The current breakdown of the allocation of workers in the town. Switch to the workers screen
to adjust this.
• The current items or buildings the workers are making. These are represented by three bars
showing housing, stores and military buildings. The full bar represents the total quantity of
buildings that will be built. The green portion represents the towns’ current total buildings of
that type and the yellow line denotes the amount of buildings that the town requires.
The information section briefly lists all other town information:
• The number of caravans currently sent out by the town.
• The numbers of leaders currently present in that town.
• A brief rundown of the armies currently present in the town.
• The location of the towns scouts.
• The status of the towns messengers.
• The contents of the town stores, and the items that the town is put up for sale.
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The workers screen
This is where the ordinary peasantry conducts their lives. Working the land, turning raw resources
into product and building those large castles that soldiers are so fond of.
The workers screen is divided into three areas, the distribution area on the left, the forecast box at
the top right and the detail area at the bottom right.
The distribution area is further divided into the different professions of town life.
All of the different professions have a distribution area with either a minimum or maximum labour
limit and all have a details box to correspond to the tasks that you wish to assign the allotted workers
to. (Only on Manual management mode) Assign the workers by holding/clicking on a distribution
area to set the workers. Workers are always pulled from the idle area first and then from the other
professions.
To prevent unwanted re-allocation, you may lock certain professions by right clicking on the
profession area. A second right click removes the lock. Locked professions cannot be changed by
the Auto-management feature, keep this in mind if you wish to protect a certain profession or for
fine-tuning of the auto-management triangle.
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THE DETAILS BOX
The details box appears over the auto-management triangle whenever you click on the I
icon that appears at the corner of each profession area. Click on the I again to close the
detail box.
The detail boxes usually list the task options available to that profession. Each profession
may only engage in one task at a time, no matter how many workers are assigned to it. To
begin work on a task, select it by clicking on the icon in the detail box. You are presented
with information that describes what you need to begin production. If those demands are
met, click on the Start production icon and your workers will begin making that item.
The Stop production icon will replace the Start production icon. Click on this to stop
production without un-assigning your workforce.
Notice that there is efficiency rating for each detail box. Workers gain efficiency like
soldiers gain rank. As long as they are working in their specialised profession, the workers
will gain efficiency. As soon as they are reassigned they will lose all rank they have
previously gained. Efficiency speeds the creation process and in the case of builders and
armourers, increased the number of options available to them.
IDLE
Firstly at the top left is the idle area. This area is used for any spare workers not assigned to any other
task. These peasants are the ones available for recruitment into the armies from the military screen.
BUILDERS
Builders construct all the structures in the game and must have stone and timber
to work with. Builders will construct and repair town structures automatically.
Normal town growth will keep a certain demand for builders to construct
homes and other necessary buildings and their attentions will have to be
balanced with any special construction tasks you assign to them.
The builders detail box has a slider that represents the production bias towards
domestic and special construction needs. The blue left end represents domestic
town building while the red end at the right represents any special projects you
assign to the builders. These special construction projects are listed below. Not
all are available to all towns.
Barracks
Housing for troops stationed at the town. Insufficient barracks lowers troop morale and
may lead to their desertion.
A single barracks houses two-hundred and fifty troops.
Prison
A jailhouse where you may keep captured enemy leaders.
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Watchtower
Early warning lookout structure. Available only to Capitals.
Stockade
Wooden defensive fort. Available only to Capitals.
Keep
A stone single towered defensive structure. Available only to Capitals.
Small castle
A small stone keep with a defensive wall. Available only to Capitals.
Medium castle
A good-sized castle with corner towers and archer positions. Available only to Capitals.
Large castle
A large castle with many towers. Available only to Capitals.
Fortress
The best castle you can build.
Note: See Castles and castle sieges for more information about castles.
To build a castle, select a castle icon. You will then be presented with a map and asked to select a
location to build on. Choose a place where you can take the most advantage of the castles defensive
radius and click the left mouse button. Your castle may take a while to build, be patient. You do not
need to currently have the resources available to begin production, but no more than a single castle
may be constructed at any one time. A half-completed castle must either be finished or abandoned
before another castle can begin construction. Town construction usually takes priority over castle
building. Builders working on castles and other special structures are drawn from builders who are
surplus to the towns needs. An inferior castle may be upgraded to a better structure as long as it is
undamaged. When building a New Castle, simply click over the old castle site when selecting a
location to build on.
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FARMING
Part of the group of four land workers. The other three are the quarry workers,
foresters and miners. These four all share a common feature, their minimum
requirement is replaced by a maximum limit shown as a green filter.
All towns have a land radius, which they draw all their raw resources from. This
resource radius grows and shrinks according to the current population of the
town. Only so many land workers may be assigned to these pieces of land at a
time, hence the maximum limit. If a town does not possess any raw resources of
a certain type, the entire land worker profession for that resource will be
unavailable.
Farmers serve a very important role in your society, they provide the first link in
the food chain. Farmers tend the fields for grain and breed the animals for food
and toil. Coastal towns also have the option to farm the sea for fish.
Open the farmers detail box (click on the farmers I):
• This box has two areas of reference stores, goods and livestock. In its centre is a yellow and green
bar with a pitchfork slider. This bar represents the farming bias. The yellow end represent the
fields of grain, the green end represents the grassy fields of livestock. Use the slider to choose a
preference for your farmers’ attentions.
• Under the slider is the ration bar. This determines the amount of food you are allowing your
townsfolk to eat. The more they eat the healthier and happier they are.
• The less, the more sickly and depressed. You may cycle through the rations by clicking on the
ration bar.
• At the bottom right is the slaughterhouse. Here you will butcher your livestock for meat. Simply
add or subtract livestock using the arrows and click on the knife to quickly and painlessly
convert them into meat and hide.
QUARRY WORKERS
Workers of stone. These workers cut the stone which is essential to all building,
and hence town growth. Some towns may be lucky and discover gemstones in
their quarries.
FORESTERS
Foresters perform the husbandry of the woods and provide timber for building
and weapons.
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MINERS
Miners dig up metal ore and in some lucky cases, gold ore.
BAKERS
First of a group of four goods makers. Bakers take the raw ingredients provided
by the farmers and turn them into something edible. Bakers may make bread,
haggis, cheese and pies if they have the ingredients.
ARMOURERS
Make weapons, armour and siege weapons. Armourers are limited to certain
types of weapons at first, but after practice and time they may have a lot more
advanced choices of items to make. See the Goods and resources section for
the different types of weapons and armour available.
TAILORS
Produces clothes to keep your people happy and healthy.
JEWELLERS
Makes fine luxury items for the pretty maidens. Jewellery is expensive and
always fetches a good price.
Jewellery may be converted into money at any time by selling it to your own
townsfolk.
THE PRODUCTION BOX
This box predicts the future for your stores based on current production against
predicted consumption.
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Under the box is a row of toggle icons representing different areas of your town stores. From left to
right they are:
• Stores
• Livestock
• Farm produce
• Raw production
• Food production
• Clothes production
• Luxury items
• Weapon construction
• Land allocation
The prediction time scale may be cycled by clicking on the time frame at the top right of the
prediction box.
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The military screen
Easily the most complicated screen in the game, the military screen is the heart in Braveheart.
This screen represents the towns’ barracks. Here, all your leaders, armies and other forces are kept,
awaiting your orders.
Armies, leaders and other forces are shown in “Boxes”, Army boxes, Leader boxes and other forces
boxes. Leaders are also displayed as shortcut portraits at the bottom of the screen.
Below the armies’ name and wage cost is the army box. An army box consists of
a title bar where the armies’ total number of troops, its loyalty rating and rank
is displayed, and ten unit spaces. The spaces may be occupied by up to twentyfive soldiers of the same troop type, i.e. equipped in exactly the same manner or
a single piece of siege equipment. A catapult, a battering ram or a siege tower.
Under the army box is a leader box reserved for the commander of that army.
There are four types of other forces, peasants, messengers,
scouts and spies. For more details on the specifics of these
types see the section entitled other forces.
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Manipulation of items on the military screen generally involves picking things up and dropping
them on or in things. Left clicking the mouse button on a unit/soldier/leader/peasants/equipment
icon will pick it up. More items may be picked up if the left mouse button is held down and all items
will be picked up if the left mouse button is double-clicked.
Picked up items are held at the end of the mouse pointer awaiting placement into a box or onto a
military function icon.
Any type of soldier or peasant may be placed in a unit square, leaders may only be placed in Leader
boxes or back into the Leader bar, equipment may be dropped on soldiers, leaders and peasants. (See
Equipping troops).
• Clicking the right button drops items. Holding right button drops more, double-clicking right
button drops all items on the mouse pointer.
• Icons just under the army boxes may be greyed out as certain actions are not permitted until a
condition is met, such as selecting an army or picking up a unit.
The icons and their functions are:
Equip the troops/ Return to military screen
This toggle icon changes the mission/leader bar at the bottom of the screen to
the equipment rack and vice versa.
Visit the prison/ Return to military screen
Available only if you have built a prison in your town and you have prisoners in
it. This toggle icon changes from the army boxes section in middle portion of
the screen to the prison, displaying any captive leaders present in the town and
vice versa.
Prison bar
To interact with a prisoner select (leftclick) on his portrait and select a prison
icon. You may release him, kill him,
torture him for information or try to
convert him to your Clan.
List all armies/ List armies present only
This is a toggle icon which allows you to free some screen space by viewing only
armies currently present, or to see the entire list of all armies belonging to that
town, present or otherwise.
Create new army
This is a drop icon that takes the soldiers at the end of your mouse pointer and creates a
new army from them.
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Disband unit or army
This drop icon disbands the soldiers at the end of your mouse pointer back into peasants
or disbands a selected army.
Assign visiting army to here
All armies need a town to call its hometown or home base.
This icon links a selected army to the town you are currently managing.
Recall army
Recalls a selected army already on a mission back to its hometown.
Creating and disbanding armies
As noted before. To create a new army you need to pick up some troops with the left mouse button
and drop them on the Create new army icon with the right mouse button. These troops now form
the first troops of the new army.
Armies may also be created by picking up a leader, either from his portrait or from the Leader box
of an existing army and dropping him on the Create new army icon.
Once there are at least two armies, you may switch any number of troops from army to army at will,
but troops types may never be mixed and no army may have more than one commander. Exact
matching troops types dropped on top of each other will add to the unit up to the limit of twentyfive soldiers per unit space. Non matches will swap the two units from pointer to space and vice
versa. If at any time an army has no units in any of its unit spaces and no leader in the Leader box,
that army is considered disbanded.
To manually disband an army, select the name of the army and click on the disband army icon. To
disband a unit, pick up the unit to be disbanded and drop it onto the disband army icon.
Soldiers are reverted to idle peasantry and are added to the worker pool, losing all military rank and
leaders are merely unassigned from military duties and returned to the leader bar. To truly get rid of
a leader for good, you need to dismiss him from within the Clan leaders’ screen.
All equipment is returned to the town armoury.
If there are no soldiers to pick up, you have to start with unequipped recruits, the peasantry. The
peasants are the idle workers of the town. Peasants otherwise occupied with other facets of town
production cannot be recruited until they are made idle. Picking up idle peasants’ converts them into
peasant infantry armed with pitchforks and other farming tools, this removes them from the worker
pool, and is henceforth classed as unproductive soldiers who may never gain rank.
To turn them into real fighters, you need to give the weapons.
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Equipping troops
To equip or rearm troops, click on the Equip the troops icon. This changes the mission/leader bar
at the bottom of the screen to the equipment rack.
You now have access to your town armoury. Pick up equipment from the equipment rack in the same
manner as you pick up troops and drop them on the soldier units or the leaders.
Notice that each unit space has room for a shield and armour under the base weapon type. This
weapon defines the soldier type but any additional equipment given to a soldier further defines him
into a sub-type of that soldier.
A unit is made up of soldiers armed with exactly the same equipment configuration. A soldier may
be equipped with any combination of one weapon, one shield and one piece of armour. There are
restrictions placed on certain weapons that limits further equipping of that soldier. For example, a
soldier armed with a two-handed weapon may not be equipped with a shield.
See the section entitled Troops for the full can and cannot equipping list.
The one special case is the lance. Lances are the only combat units that may be assigned a horse, and
lances may not be used by foot soldiers. Therefore, whenever a lance is assigned to a soldier, a horse
is also assigned at the same time. Lances may not be assigned if a horse is not available.
Soldiers already armed will exchange their old equipment for the new equipment that you are
assigning to them. In some cases that may create two different troop types even if they are armed
with the same weapon. For example, a group of ten swordsmen armed with ten swords and ten small
shields are assigned seven large shields. This produces two groups, a group of three swordsmen armed
with three swords and three small shields and a larger group of seven swordsmen armed with seven
swords and seven large shields.
The new unit is always placed in the target unit space, with the older unit transferred onto the end
of your mouse pointer for relocation to another unit space or formed into a new army.The replaced
weaponry and any excess weaponry assigned to the troops are returned to the stores.
Equipment may only be taken away from troops by picking up the troops while the pointer is
unoccupied and disbanding them. This transfers the item(s) back to the armoury stores and the
soldier’s back into the peasants’ pool.
Leaders assigned from the leader bar are initially armed with an improvised weapon. Leaders are
equipped in the same way as ordinary foot soldiers except that the weapons and armour are simply
replaced to and from the stores. To leave the equip mode, click the Return to military screen icon.
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Missions
Once you have armies and commanders you may wish to send them out to wreak havoc and chaos
throughout the land. Simply select an army by clicking on its name. Some or all of the mission icons
on the mission/leader bar will become available.
Only a single army may be assigned a mission at once. But armies sent out immediately after one
another are prone to arriving at the same time. In this way, up to six armies may be sent on a single
combat mission. Armies in excess of the sixth and armies on any other mission apart from combat
are subject to an event cue.
Grey armies are unassigned and will perform no duties until assigned a mission. Therefore a town may
be unguarded even if an army is present if that army has not been assigned Garrison or Guard duty.
There are eight types of mission that may be assigned to your armies. Only Move, Garrison, Guard
duty and training may be assigned to armies without a leader. At certain points in certain missions,
you may be offered the opportunity to change the mission parameters of an army. This usually
consists of an Await orders command within an event window. In this case the army will wait where
it is until given a new mission from its hometown military screen.
The missions and army states are:
Idle army
Not a mission, but an armies neutral state without any current orders. Idle armies are essentially off
duty and will not perform any function at all, no matter what the circumstances. Idle armies may be
given orders at any time.
Move army
Orders the army to move to another one of your own towns. If an army has to cross water
to move or attack a target it must first travel to an owned port town. Only scouts may be
asked to move to an unknown area. Moving a spy to a non-owned town automatically
assigns him to infiltrate that target.
Combat mission
Your army will be sent to attack something. This is often used as an act of conquest.
Attacked towns will be conquered if your army is victorious on the field at their
destination. Towns protected by a castle cannot be targeted until the protective castle is
neutralised. Attacked castles do not change hands until the territorial Capital is taken. All
combat missions must have a leader to command it.
Diplomatic mission
Your leader acts as a diplomatic envoy and his army as his personal bodyguard. Diplomats
sent to clans, which are currently hostile towards your own clan or indeed at war with, are
exposed to severe personal danger. Diplomatic missions are assigned slightly differently
from normal missions. See below for more details. The diplomat is simply asked to go to
a town to open diplomatic talks. You need not specify the subject until talks are initiated.
The following may be discussed when the diplomat arrives.
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Certain subjects are only available depending on the political atmosphere between your two clans.
• Offer peace: Offered to any clan with which you are currently at war with. Success ends
hostilities; at least temporarily.
• Present gift: Available at all times to all clans. Attempts to bribe the clan to feel better towards
you. The agreed amount is automatically debited from the diplomats’ hometown.
• Demand surrender: Offered against warring clans only. Success ends the feud and transfers
ownership of all their land, armies and leaders to your clan.
• Demand tribute: Available at all times to all clans except allied ones.
Threatens the receiving clan to give you money.
Funds are automatically added to the diplomats’ hometown.
• Demand absorption: Similar to demand surrender except that you need not be at war with the
receiving clan. Although after a demand like this you soon may be. Absorbed clans transfer all
their lands, armies and leaders to your clan.
• Rally support: Asks your diplomat to actively seek recruits to your clan.
Success will result in a peasant army forming from the target town and heading to the leaders’
hometown. This action is highly unpopular among burgh lords.
• Ask for support: Similar to rally support except that this option is only available at an allied
clan. This asks the clan to gift you soldiers to add to the diplomats’ army. There must be room
in the army to allow a transfer of troops.
• Ask for information: Asks for any relevant information that the receiver wishes to share. Any
new information will be displayed in the Clan settlement screen. Any territorial information
will be conveyed to the General map.
• Attack the town: Send your diplomat and his diplomatic guard (if he has one), to attack the
settlement he has initiated the talks with.
• Declare War: Declares a state of war between your clan and the clan you are currently in
diplomatic talks with.
• Cancel Diplomatic Mission: Cancels current diplomatic mission, and returns Leader and
diplomatic guard to their home town
Ambush/patrol mission
Asks an army to patrol an area of land looking for potential targets of opportunity.
Ambush missions are conducted in non-owned territory. The raiding army will actively
seek trade caravans and attack them if prompted to do so. Once a caravan is ambushed,
the raiding party may return home with their spoils or destroy the caravan and continue
their patrol to look for other potential victims. Needless to say, not many other clans
welcome bandits and thieves. Patrols are conducted within your own borders. Patrolling
parties look for any raiding bandits or approaching armies. You have the choice whether
a patrol attacks an encountered force or not. Patrols continue until the army is recalled to
home base or are given other orders after an incident.
Garrison duty
This mission may be performed by leaderless armies and acts as a castles’ defensive force.
Only one army may garrison a castle at a time. Armies may also be sent to garrison a castle
up to the limit of the castles maximum garrison capacity. Armies garrisoning a castle must
be recalled home before they may be given another mission. Up to six armies may garrison
a single town, but if the town does not have enough barracks to house them, expect
insubordination.
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Guard duty
There are two types of guard duty; neither type needs the presence of a leader. Night
militia and caravan guard duty. Caravan duty is assigned from the trade screen where all
caravan activity takes place. Night militias are assigned from the military screen and may
only guard their current location. Their sole function is to watch for raiders at night.
Without a Night militia, even the strongest garrisoned town can be caught with their
pants down. Beware however, as some stealthy leaders can evade almost any night watch.
Only one army may be assigned as the Night militia at any one time.
Covert actions
This term is used for any small unit night operations into enemy settlements. Armies
wishing to undertake a covert action must not only have a leader but also must contain no
more than ten soldiers. Cavalry are considered too noisy to be taken on covert missions.
Possible targets:
• Raid treasury
• Raid stores
• Raid armoury
• Rescue prisoner
• Destroy stores
• Destroy armoury
• Destroy barracks
• Assassinate leader
Attempts to find the town hall and steal the town taxes.
Attempts to find the town stores and ransack them. The more
valuable goods are always taken first. Human players are given a
choice of the entire store to pick the most desirable loot.
The same as the above except that the armoury holds weapons and
armour.
Attempts to break into the town prison and free any prisoners kept
within.
Any leaders not belonging to your clan that are rescued from
imprisonment will join your clan in an act of extreme gratitude.
Freed prisoners are taken back to the armies’ hometown.
Seeks to find the town stores and burn them to the ground. Bear in
mind that some towns may have more than one storehouse.
Exactly the same as destroy stores except for weapons and armour.
Kills all sleeping soldiers in that barracks. However, those that wake
up may race out and retaliate.
A knife in the back is the desired end result for a meeting with an
enemy leader currently resting at a town.
Bear in mind that this can be done to your own leaders.
Most town buildings may be set on fire. To do this, attack the building. A soldier will hammer down
the buildings door and set fire to the building from the inside. Be warned. Fires tend to wake people
up. That includes all the other sleeping soldiers in the town. It can get really crowded, really quickly.
Train army
This takes an army out of active duty and inducts them into an intensive training program
to improve their overall performance. Training armies gain experience and improve rank
over time, however training is more expensive than the standard army wages. To recall an
army from training camp, simply select the army followed by the Recall army to this
town icon. Although not as beneficial as a live battle, training is none risk and reliable.
Note that some Clans are better at training troops than others.
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Awaiting orders
Again not a mission, but a neutral state of rest. Armies may achieve this state at the completion of
an aspect of their current mission type, i.e. after a successful castle siege, or if the circumstances of
their current mission have changed, i.e. the army is sent to a town, which is destroyed on route.
Armies awaiting orders are the only armies that may be given orders outside of a town, but they may
achieve this state many times depending on the situations that arise.
Assigning missions
Now you know what all the mission icons mean, you may feel like using them. In every case you will
need to select an army by clicking on its army name. The mission icons are now made available. If
an icon is still grey, then some army requirements have not been met, check the mission descriptions
for pre-requisites before undertaking missions.
Select a relevant mission icon and a map of the area will appear.
Notice the icon with the large Red Cross on it. Click on this to cancel the mission command. Some
missions require a destination, click on the map to send out an army. To help you choose a
destination. The area to the left of your map will confer additional information. This information is
only available for non-owned towns if you have a spy positioned there. When you have decided, click
on the target. That’s it, the army will leave immediately if they need to. They are now inaccessible
until they return from their mission, are recalled or are awaiting orders. Their army box will change
colour to reflect their mission.
The army mission colours are:
Grey
No orders
Cyan
Marching
Red
Combat mission
Blue
Diplomatic mission
Brown
Garrison duty
Yellow
Guard Duty
Purple
Patrol/Raid
Black
Covert missions
Green
Training
White
Awaiting orders
All you have to do now is wait until your army arrives at their destination or your deployed forces
meet some undesirables. You will be informed of any developments as they happen. See the section
entitled Events. Your armies may be intercepted by enemy patrols and a fight may break out. Chance
battles are not a part of any mission and the army will continue with its assignment unless recalled
home. Consider recalling your armies at this point, especially those on political missions. Non army
forces may only be assigned specific tasks.
• Scouts can only be ordered to move into a territory.
• Spies may only be ordered to move into an enemy town.
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Messengers
If you don’t want to risk a diplomat, use an expendable messenger. Towns are restricted to two full
time messengers at any one time. If a messenger is killed a new one will be trained from the civilian
population.
To send a message, select a messenger from the military screen followed by the “Move” mission
command. You will be asked for a destination to send him to. By holding the mouse pointer over
towns on the map, additional information will be displayed to aid your choice. Select a town and the
message you wish the messenger to bear. He will be despatched immediately. If at any time you wish
to abort the process, simply click on the cancel messenger button.
Note that messengers alter the standings of the players’ clan toward the receivers Clan and occasionally
other Clans. Political standings can be severely damaged or even shattered if the player sends too many
messengers with demands to a certain Clan.
Messengers carry a lesser degree of influence than a diplomat, and a much lower success rate.
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In addition, messengers lack the tact and subtlety of a diplomat and may be sent to any Clan with
any message, however unwise.
• Ask for information: Asks for any relevant information that the receiver wishes to share. Any
new information will be displayed in the Clan settlement screen. Any territorial information
will be conveyed to the General map.
• Ask for military support: Similar to rally support except that this option is only available at an
allied clan. This asks the clan to gift you soldiers to add to the diplomats’ army. There must be
room in the army to allow a transfer of troops.
• Ask for a loan: Ask an ally for some money. Loans are not expected to be paid back and are classed
as favours. Favours will be expected to be returned. Funds are automatically added to the
diplomats’ hometown.
• End alliance: A polite politically correct way to tell a former ally that they are no longer needed?
• Offer alliance: Asks for a friendly clan to join you in a mutual protective alliance. Allied clans
represent very favourable political relations and open a new set of diplomatic options.
• Declare War: Declares a state of war between your clan and the clan you are currently in
diplomatic talks with.
• Pay ransom: Pays the ransom for a captured fellow leader. Sometimes this mission holds an
inherent chance of a double-cross. Ransom money is automatically debited from the diplomats’
hometown.
• Cancel Diplomatic Mission: Cancels current diplomatic mission, and returns Leader and
diplomatic guard to their home town.
This approach may also be performed on your own leaders behind your back. Do you know how
loyal your own leaders are?
RECEIVING MESSENGERS
The reverse of the above. You are offered the choices of:
• Accept the messengers terms or demands.
• Refuse the messengers terms or demands.
• Kill the messenger to stir things up a bit.
DEATH OF MESSENGERS
Messengers cannot be intercepted while delivering messages but they run the risk of being killed upon
arrival by the receiver. If one of your messengers is executed in this manner, you will be notified
instantly via an Urgent report event notification. See the section Troops: Other forces for more details.
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The Town Trade screen
The trade screen controls the sending and guarding of trade caravans and the posting of items for
sale. Caravans wanting to buy items are always received from other clans, caravans going to towns
belonging to their own clan are conducting straight goods transfers straight into the town stores.
The trade screen is split into two sections, the actual caravans on the left, the stores and barracks on
the right. The icons at the top right of the screen are toggle icons. These toggle the viewing options
on screen.
The icons are, from left to right:
View stores
Displays the combined content of the town halls coffers, the store houses goods and the
armoury weapons.
View armies
Displays the available armies currently barracked in town which may be used to guard the
goods caravans.
Show all caravans
Displays all of the towns currently serving caravans.
Show incoming caravans only
Displays your incoming caravans only.
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Show outgoing caravans only
Displays your outgoing caravans only.
Under these icons is the Shop window. This area is used to display the goods
that the town has placed for sale to other clans.
You may select what items (if any) that you wish to put up for sale by picking
up an item from the stores section (you must have the stores section displayed
underneath of course) and dropping it into a shop window space. You may now
alter the asking price for one quantity of that item (a single item, a bail, a galleon
etc) by clicking on the yellow up or down arrows directly above and below the
current price tag. You can adjust this asking price at any time, but arriving
caravans will decide to buy or not based on the price of the goods when they
arrive at your town.
To un-assign an item for sale, simply reverse the process. Pick up from the shop
window and drop the item back into the stores. The town officials may
automatically control the town trade. Simply toggle the Auto or Manual
switches in the shop window to activate or deactivate this feature. This auto
trade acts independently from the auto-management feature.
With auto trade, caravans are despatched to buy goods. It will also create
caravans to supply your own towns with goods if the need arises and offers
surplus goods for sale to other clans. The Stores section under the shop window
each shows two numbers alongside the goods items.
These numbers indicate:
S
The number of this item in the town stores
£
The current estimated average market value of this type of goods.
TRADE CARAVANS
Trade caravans are similar to army boxes except that they are split into two sections. The first box on
the left represents the goods caravan itself. This caravan may carry up to five different types of goods
and up to fifty items in each caravan. The second box is the merchants’ moneybag. This bag carries
any money assigned to the merchant to buy goods with, or is transporting to another one of your
towns. The third box on the right represents the army guard. Caravans are coloured to reflect their
status. Blue is an outgoing caravan, gold is an incoming caravan. Existing caravans also display their
destination, the clan to which that town belongs and the caravans estimated time of arrival.
All caravans can be used once only, there and back. Indeed if the caravan is used as a supply run to
one of your own towns, it is disbanded as soon as it arrives.
See Events: A trade caravan for the full story.
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CREATING NEW CARAVANS
To create a new caravan, select a mode of transportation at the bottom left of the screen. Horses are
a rarity, but they travel much quicker than an ox. The movement bonus may be made irrelevant
though if walking guards slows the caravan to their own pace. A third inferior choice exists if a town
does not have enough livestock to form a caravan. Caravans may still be sent, but will be hand pulled
by peasants at an incredibly slow rate of movement. You may select the number of carts you require
for a newly created caravan by clicking the up/down arrows next to the Create new caravan icons.
Click on a cart type, horse, ox or peasant pulled and select a destination for the caravan on the map
that appears. Manipulate the map in the same fashion as the General map screen. Move your mouse
pointer over the towns on the map. You will be given the name of the town, the towns clan owner
and it political attitude towards you directly under the map. Notice that the information section has
changed. It is now displaying this towns shop window. Use this information to pick a town
destination. You can now decide what you wish to put in your new caravan, what guard you would
like and how much money to bring with you. Items may only be placed in a caravan if they are
delivering goods to one of your own towns. Open the town stores by clicking on the stores toggle
icon at the top right of the screen. Now pick up items by left clicking the mouse button and drop
them into the caravan portion of the caravan on the left with the right mouse button in exactly the
same fashion as the military screen. Do this only if you wish to move stores from town to town,
otherwise just pick up some money and drop it into the moneybag. You will need this to buy goods
at a town market. If you are sending a caravan to buy goods, it may not be sent until you assign some
money to it.
Caravans do not necessarily need a guard but this option may be useful if you fear for the safety of
the caravan. To assign a guard, click the barracks toggle icon, using the arrows to cycle through any
armies available for caravan duty. That is, any armies that is currently in the town and not assigned
to another task. Now select one by clicking on its army name and drop it into the right sided guard
portion of the caravan with the right mouse button. Drop it back into the military info section to
cancel the assignment to the caravan. Soldiers currently guarding caravans are essentially taken out
of the armies’ loop. You still have to pay their wages, but they cease to be an army with a hometown.
The regain both states when they arrive back at one of your towns or when the caravan is disbanded.
The caravan guard is then converted to a standing army homed to their new location. When you are
ready, click the Send caravan icon to send the caravan out, or click the cancel caravan icon to
abandon the process.
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News
All news is documented in this screen in simple reports.
This information is updated every day as it happens.
Events
Are you waiting for news from your patrols, your marching armies, and your messengers?
Then you’re waiting for an Event.
• Events are occurrences that may not happen every day.
• Events describe a large variety of occurrences, from basic information like the death of a
messenger to the arrival of vast armies at your castle walls.
Event windows will automatically pop up as the event happens in real time, advancing time will
hurry the events forward but the clock will stop at the time of the event.
Your advisor is available at certain events, click on the Advice icon to hear his thoughts.
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Events are split into seven sub-categories:
An urgent report
Describes everything from the successful insertion of a spy, a newly trained cadre of soldiers to the
assassination of one of your commanders. Urgent reports convey both good and bad news.
Possible responses to reports vary as much as the reports themselves.
A battle
Describes any type of potential conflict. You will have the choice to retreat your army if you are the
aggressor, otherwise you will have to fight for your life.
You also have the option to allow the computer to determine the outcome of the battle based on the
troop strengths of the combatants by selecting “ Use your initiative “ at the bottom of the event
window.
Raiding party at target
Your small covert unit has reached its target. You may allow them to run the mission on their own,
or take control of them manually in real-time.
Diplomatic talks
Either your diplomat has arrived at his target or you are receiving a diplomat. If it is your own
diplomat involved in talks, you are given a choice of what you would like him to discuss depending
on the political relations between your own clan and theirs.
If you are receiving a diplomat you will be informed of the diplomats request. You will have the
option to accept or refuse his suggestions. At the end of the talks you may allow the diplomat to leave
in peace, or try to cut him down like a dog.
A messenger arrives
You have received news of some type, either from a returning messenger or an envoy from another
clan. Clan envoys expect a reply to their messages.
A trade caravan
A trade caravan has arrived at a town. If the caravan and the town both belong to you, then any stores
that the caravan is carrying is deposited into the town stores and any guarding soldiers will be formed
into an army at the town barracks.
If the arriving caravan belongs to another clan, you may trade with it or attack it for the money it
will be carrying. If you wish to trade, you are presented with the caravan full of the goods that the
trader wishes to purchase and the goods you currently have in your towns shop window.
You are allowed to haggle last minute price changes to your goods at this time, and the trader will
adjust his shopping trolley accordingly.
When you are happy with the proposed transaction, click “Complete the deal”, otherwise “Send
them away”. The inverse applies when you send a caravan to another clans’ town.
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Loading / Saving games / In game options
Press the ESC key to access these options.
The following options are now available:
• Continue game
Returns you to the game.
• Save game
Select a save game slot to save your game or click on erase a slot to
delete a previously saved game.
• Load game
Select a load game slot to load a previously saved game.
• Exit game
Abandons the game and returns you the main menu.
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Chapter 4: Warriors
Leaders
The leaders of men; your Generals, Politicians and Spymasters. These are the heroes that will drive
the history of the British Isles. Without leaders, your armies are merely a collected rabble. In
Braveheart, your armies can barely perform any task without a leader at its head.
The collecting of these men is therefore imperative to a successful campaign. All of the major clans
begin the game with two fanatical leaders. These leaders are incorruptible from your cause
throughout the game while they live. The same does not apply to all other leaders who will wander
the land acting as mercenaries. Certain leaders are attracted to certain types of clan, and their loyalty
is dependent on their morale and the colour of your money. All clans will want their services, and
they know it.
All leaders have different skills and strengths, and their talents will have to be used properly to attain
the best results from them.
Leaders are displayed in the Clan leaders’ screen with a reasonably large number of individual
statistics. These represent personal characteristics and are described below.
LEADERSHIP
The ability to mould a body of men into a cohesive fighting force. A low leadership rating leads to
confusion in the ranks, weak formations and slower reactions when following orders. A strong
leadership rating results in swift actions and solid formations.
COMBAT
The leaders personal effectiveness in battle. This has no effect on the skill of his troops.
BRAWN
The strength of the leader. This reflects his damage potential in battle and the amount of damage he
can receive before death.
BRAIN
The leaders intelligence. A leaders brain statistic affects all diplomatic talks.
STEALTH
A leaders ability to be sneaky. A leader transfers this attribute to all his troops when on a covert night
mission.
DIPLOMACY
The leaders skill in direct diplomatic talks. Diplomacy also helps a leader on the battlefield in the
unlikely event of his surrender.
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LOYALTY
The leaders inherit devotion to his employer. A low loyalty suggests likelihood to work for the
highest bidder.
FAME
Fame is not a statistic but a running total of the leaders’ experience and reputation. Leaders gain fame
from victories and successful diplomatic talks. As a reflection of a leaders’ experience, leaders gain
extra skill points which are added to their statistics at certain intervals, therefore famous leaders are
more skilful and generally cost more to employ that unknown or fledgling ones.
MORALE
Similar to a town’s morale, a leader’s morale is affected by victories and defeats on the field as well as
events on the diplomacy table. Leaders with low morale may be liable to leave the employ of their
current clan.
WAGE
Simply the leaders wage for the month. Leaders are paid at the beginning of each month and are paid
according to their fame, not necessarily their statistics.
Leaders in battle
Leaders are inspirational figures and will impart a morale bonus on any friendly troops around them
whilst at the same time causing a fear modifier on the enemy.
Even weak leaders are better than an elite soldier when in combat. However since the commanding
officer is such a large target this does not impart the huge advantage that it would seem to. Take care
of your leader in battle.
Troops
There are many types of troops in Braveheart based on the individual soldiers main weapon that they
are equipped with. To add to that, depending on the type of weapon used, a soldier may also be
equipped with shield, armour, and issued with a horse. The actual number of permutations this
allows is quite sizeable but a Swordsman armed with a shield and chainmail is still classed as a
Swordsman.
Below is a table of available weapons and their possible combinations.
S denotes a Scottish weapon, E an English weapon and A can be made by anyone.
Their use is not mutually exclusive, but their construction is.
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Hands
Mounted Shield
Armour
Construct
Improvised weapon
Two
No
No
Yes
A
Claymore
Two
No
No
Yes
S
Broadsword
One
No
Yes
Yes
A
Great sword
Two
No
No
Yes
E
Dagger
One
No
Yes
Yes
A
Pike
Two
No
No
Yes
E
Short spear
Two
No
No
Yes
A
Long spear
Two
No
No
Yes
S
Axe
One
No
Yes
Yes
A
Broad axe
Two
No
No
Yes
S
Mace
One
No
Yes
Yes
A
Short bow
Two
No
No
No
S
Long bow
Two
No
No
No
E
Crossbow
Two
No
No
No
E
Lance
One
Yes
Yes
Yes
E
Club
One
No
Yes
Yes
S
Scouts (No weapon)
n/a
No
No
No
A
Spies
n/a
No
No
No
A
Messengers (No weapon) n/a
No
No
No
A
The movement rate of troops is affected by the weight of their equipment on the battlefield.
Equipping troops is a balance of resources and personal playing style. Bear in mind though that
certain weapons have advantages over others.
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Rank and gaining experience
Troops gain experience after every battle that they survive, more so if they emerge victorious. All
peasants drafted into the army begin life ranked as green and may never gain any experience unless
they are given a weapon to train with. Once equipped, soldiers gain experience with that given
weapon alone. If at any time that weapon is removed from the soldier he instantly reverts to peasant
status and loses all rank bonuses.
Shields, armour and horses do not affect a soldiers rank. There are four soldier ranks; Green, Regular,
Veteran and Elite. The higher the rank the better the troops.
Note that a high rank automatically improves the soldiers’ personal autonomy when commanded by a
weak leader. Elite troops do not follow fools easily.
Soldiers may be moved from unit to unit at any time, providing that the soldier is armed exactly in
the same fashion as his newly assigned unit. Mixed units are not allowed. This practice will average
the ranks of the newly added to unit. Green soldiers added to an elite unit will reduce the overall
unit rank to either Regular or Veteran depending on the number added.
Rank is colour coded as the following:
Green
Green, inexperienced troops.
Orange
Regular well trained, battle ready troops.
Red
Veteran battle hardened experienced troops.
Blue
The Elite and most experienced troops available.
Horses and cavalry
Horses serve two purposes in Braveheart, as a faster work animal to pull carts and caravans in place
of the more commonplace ox and as cavalry.
Cavalry adds a new and dangerous weapon to the medieval Commanders army. Combining excellent
mobility accompanied by devastating charge attacks, horses grants a new level of battle strategies.
Unfortunately, horses in Scotland are in short supply. If you see a line of cavalry charging across the
field in full gallop it’s likely to be English and headed towards your petrified men.
Horses are precious commodities in Scotland, perhaps more so because in times of extreme hardship
they may be slaughtered for their meat.
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Loyalty
All armies have a loyalty rating. This rating stems from the experience of the troops and their origins.
There are three loyalty ratings:
Dubious
Armies who have either just been created or turncoats from other clans.
Reliable
Standing armies with a solid background.
Fanatical
Unswervingly loyal troops.
The lower the loyalty rating, the more susceptible the army is to morale losses on the battlefield
resulting in surrender, desertion and rout. Be careful just who you assign to certain important tasks.
Your own army may surrender without your consent if its own loyalty rating is Dubious and they
are taking heavy losses. The commanding army of that army will seek to escape in this event back to
one of your own towns.
Siege engines
Specialised siege equipment does not come cheaply or quickly. Siege machines in Braveheart come
in three forms, the catapult, the battering ram and the siege tower.
Siege engines are built just like any other conventional weapon by the armourers, albeit at greatly
increased resource costs. However siege engines must be transported to a siege target either as or
along with a conventional army led by a leader. Siege engines occupy an army box unit slot for each
engine and does not require men to equip it to. These engines will need be assigned men at the actual
siege (See Castles and castle sieges).
Armies containing siege engines may only be sent to friendly towns or to attack enemy castles or
stockades. These are the only structures that require the presence of siege engines and the only reason
why men would willingly wheel these monstrosities across miles of muddy countryside. This trip will
also have wear and tear effects on the transported siege engine that can only be partially repaired at
a friendly town. These engines are not built to travel well.
Lines of supply
An army marches on its stomach and for the same reasons as transporting siege engines great
distances will damage the engine, moving men great distances damages the army.
An army eats from the stores of the town that they are currently barracked in. A large army will
exhaust a small community’s food stores in little or no time at all and then leave everyone going
hungry. Logistics for armies is an important basis for success, or failure if it all goes wrong. Armies
do not carry supplies when they travel. Instead they forage from the surrounding land. This does not
impinge on the supplies of the local town but since foraging is scarcely enough to survive on, troops
will find the act demoralising and demeaning after a time. Troops forced to forage on the march too
long will lose morale and start to desert. This also applies to leaders. If a leader’s morale falls lower
than his troops, causing him to desert, the entire army will desert on route.
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Other forces
Scouts
Scouts are non-combatants who are used to investigate terrain features on the General map. They
avoid settlements except to mark their location and once sent out do not return until the have
mapped the entire new territory.
Scouts have a small chance of being caught by territorial patrols. His survival depends on the nature
of the clan soldiers that caught him and the Clans attitude
towards you, if any.
Spies
These very special units have a single function. Infiltrate other clan towns and castles to find out as
much as possible about the enemy.
Spies are non-combatants and should not be confused with soldiers on covert missions. A town may
only possess three spies at any one time.
Spies are automatically trained from the civilian population of a town, although some clans are better
at training spies than others. Training takes some time, but once trained, a spy may be given a single
assignment, infiltrate a town or castle and relay information about that town.
To assign a spy to a settlement, simply order him to move to the enemy settlement or structure from
the military screen.
Only a single spy is needed per settlement/castle, further spies may not be sent there until the present
spy is caught. Spies kept at home increase the chance of catching an enemy spy who has or is trying
to infiltrate your town.
Any spy runs a continued risk of being caught. Spying is classed as a severely dishonourable action.
Caught spies are always killed and political relations are always very badly mauled by the discovery
of a spy.
A spy has another important function. Once inserted into a town or castle, a spy is free to wander
about the area as a civilian in the 3D world. He may investigate the town stores, armoury or
whatever. He must avoid the town guard though, as acting suspiciously around important buildings
is a sure-fire way of getting caught.
To view towns or castles with a spy insertion, hold Control (Ctrl) and click on the town or castle in
the General map screen.
A spy may see inside a storehouse or other special buildings by clicking on the RAID command and
then clicking on the building to be investigated.
To return to the Map screen, press ESC followed by ABANDON BATTLEFIELD.
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Chapter 5
Playing the 3D game
Sooner or later you’ll need to enter the 3D world. Control here is real time and similar to other real
time strategy games of its ilk, except for one main difference; the camera concept.
The camera
Control of the camera is paramount to playing the 3D game. To facilitate user control there are four
camera modes for the player. Soldiers’ views, follow cam, battle cam and null cam. Three of these
modes rely on the assignment of a “cameraman”. The camera may be assigned to any of your own
troops currently on the field. The cameraman may be changed at will. Once the cameraman has been
assigned you may switch between the camera modes.
Soldiers’ view is the view of the scene as perceived from the eyes of the cameraman. He may look left
to right and up and down.
Follow cam acts as a hovering camera a few feet behind and above the cameraman.
Battle cam is the most versatile of the camera modes with the most scope for manipulation. With
the Battle camera you have full control of not only the scrolling aspect of the landscape but also the
elevation as well. Be it from ground level to high above for a birds eye overview of the battlefield.
The Battle camera gives you the total freedom to roam around the battlefield. However it is a viewing
device not a mobile scout. Although it is allowed to fly anywhere it likes, the enemy will only be
drawn on screen if they can be currently seen by one of your own troops. Unless you scout an area
properly, there is no telling what could be lurking on that seemingly empty piece of land.
Note that when you enter the 3D world the cameraman is assigned originally to your army leader. If your
army has no leader, it will be set on a random soldier.
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Null camera, drops the camera onto a point on the ground. The last point of the previous
cameraman determines this point.
Null camera can also be achieved if the current cameraman is killed in combat.
Camera control
Camera actions are controlled through the use of the right mouse button while in the 3D world.
To assign/change the cameraman simply right click the mouse when your mouse pointer is over the
new target soldier. Since the actual playing area is huge and therefore it is incredibly easy to lose
yourself in it, there are several shortcuts to help you find a group of men and assign a new
cameraman easily.
There are four representations of your own troops in the 3D game user interface. The leader portraits
at the bottom left of the screen, the small shortcut units inside the army box, the selected units at
the top of the screen and the current cameraman at the bottom right. Right clicking on any of these
will reassign the cameraman to a member of the selected group (or leader) and centre them on the
screen ( unless you were in the Soldiers’ view mode ).
To switch the camera mode:
F1
Soldiers’ view mode
F2
Follow camera mode
F3
Battle camera mode
F4
Null camera
Moving the mouse cursor to the extremes of the screen scrolls the camera.
Alternatively, you may like to use the keyboard cursor keys to scroll the screen in Battle camera or
null camera mode, or control the look around view in the Soldiers’ view and follow modes.
In any camera mode, holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse will change the
rotation and zoom of the camera.
In addition to this, in third person, as well as holding down the right mouse button, holding down
the Left shift button on the keyboard will enable the camera view to change elevation.
This function is duplicated by the numeric keypad. The +/- keys on the keypad zooms the camera
in and out.
Camera control is essential to all aspects of the 3D world. Practice makes perfect.
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The 3D interface
The 3D game user interface is essentially separated into two parts, the control panel and the play
area.
The control panel represents essential command buttons and user information such as the play area
radar and the command icons. The play area represents the world in which you will interact with
your troops and conduct your army moves.
Controlling your troops
BASIC SELECTION AND CONTROL METHOD
The basic control method is achieved using the left mouse button. Clicking on
an individual/unit/army selects it. Dragging around individuals/units/armies
selects units within the drag box.
Holding CTRL along with the above adds to the selection.
Holding left ALT deselects from the selected individuals/units/armies.
Space bar: Cancels activated command mode, deselects all and toggles the army
box.
THE ARMIES TAG
You may assign up to six individual armies to the same mission. You may only access the army box
of one army at a time. This is done by left-clicking on the number tag directly above the army
box, the armies are numbered from one to six. All leaders present will be shown at the bottom of
the screen, numbered according to their armies. Leaders may only give leader commands to their
own troops.
Note that due to the huge processing requirements of very large numbers of troops on the field at the same
time, troops may be rounded down proportionally. A single soldier in the 3D world may represent multiple
soldiers from that army. The proportional scaling will be constant with all armies on the field.
THE ARMY BOX
The army box under the radar represents the army as arranged by you in the
military screen before sending your army on the mission.
You may toggle between armies by selecting the number tag directly below the
radar. This brings down the army box and displays its contents.
Here the armies name, total number of soldiers, loyalty and rank are displayed
followed by the soldiers themselves in their respective units.
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Clicking on the army name will select the entire army. Clicking on a unit selects that unit. Holding
CTRL/left ALT with a drag selection adds/subtracts units from the selection.
The leader portraits(s) act as a shortcut in the same manner.
Selected soldiers are displayed at the top of the screen. Entire units selected will turn green on the
army box; partially selected units are displayed in gold.
Selected soldiers, move to a space selected by the left mouse click unless the cursor is directly over an
enemy unit, at which point the soldiers will attack that target.
Note that you are offered a facing preference in the form of a direction arrow at the move destination only
if you have activated the Move mode. That is, selected the Move command icon. To use the facing arrow,
hold the left mouse down and move the mouse left and right to rotate the facing arrow clockwise and anticlockwise. Releasing the mouse button issues the command.
You may shortcut this process by pressing the M key to activate the Move mode.
The right mouse button can still be used to adjust camera position while doing this.
Actions may be selected directly from the icons command panel(s) or with the allocated shortcut key.
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3D game control summary
Soldiers may also be selected from the army box directly under the radar, by left clicking on an
individual soldier or by dragging a box around a body of troops.
• Left clicking an army slot activates the appropriate army box panel in which the armies predefined units are placed.
• Left clicking on the army name within the panel selects every member of the entire army.
• Left clicking on a single unit in the army box selects that unit.
• Leaders are selected by left clicking on the appropriate leader portrait at the bottom left of the
screen.
Other 3D game control/shortcut keys;
“Ctrl”
Add to selection
“ALT”
Subtract from selection
“1” - “0”
Unit selection/deselection
“Space”
Deselects all + close army box
“1” - “6” + Right ALT
Show/hide army box
“M”
Move mode
“A”
Attack mode
“G”
Guard mode
“R”
Raid mode
Alt 1- 9
Group soldiers.
1–9
Select Alt 1-9 grouping.
Numpad 8,2,4,6,-,+
Move camera up,down.left,right,in and out
Left mouse button (click)
Select/deselect
Left mouse button (drag)
Box select
+ Left ALT
Box deselects
+Left Ctrl
Box additional select
Right mouse button (click)
Select cameraman (change mode if same)
+Left Shift
Rotate and zoom (in 3rd or null cam)
“INSERT”
Send network message
“Esc”
Access game options menu
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Commands
Commands are issued via the icon panels and most need a second target click to begin the action.
All commands not in an action cue are processed last in first out, and the latest command always
over rules the previous.
Pressing the S key stops all commands. During a rout, this option may not be available, at least
temporarily.
The Command icons
The command icons are split into three subcategories. Basic commands, tactical commands, and
leader commands. Each is only assessable on certain conditions.
BASIC COMMANDS
Whenever a soldier of any type is selected the player has access to the Basic commands.
The basic commands consist of Move, Attack, Guard and Raid.
All basic commands freeze out any further selection unless the icon is clicked again, or until a target
is selected, be it an area, person or building.
All have corresponding icons until a target is selected, at which point the order is attempted.
Move
Move is self-explanatory and is targeted to a place, point on the viewed play map.
Holding down the M key when selecting the destination on screen will provide the Facing
arrow. Moving the mouse left and right will rotate this arrow. Releasing the left mouse
button will determine the end facing position based on the end pointing direction of your
troops.
Attack
Attack is targeted at an individual or a building with the selected soldiers.
Melee soldiers will attack directly in a straight line towards the target.
Soldiers attacking a building will attempt to enter it in order to destroy it by fire.
Troops armed with missile weapons are exempt from moving towards the enemy. They
will stop and fire where they stand.
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Guard
Guard can be targeted at an individual building. The selected soldiers will circle the
building, deflecting any hostile forces away from it.
Guarding soldiers only attack opponents attacking the building or are attacking them
personally.
Discipline and rank have a strong effect on how soldiers guard their target. See Rank.
Raid
Raid is targeted only on a building, and only specific buildings at that.
An icon will inform the player whether the targeted building may be raided or not.
Only Storehouses, armouries, prisons and town halls may be raided.
Individuals must enter the building to raid it.
Infiltrated buildings will be marked with a raid icon indicating that you have men inside.
Clicking on an infiltrated building will open the building contents.
You may now take or drop items up to the limit of the carrying capacity of the men inside
the building by clicking on the up/down arrows.
To leave with your loot, click on the exit building icon.
Note that the game is not paused while your men are inside a building. You’ll have to be quick. Soldiers
killed before the scenario ends will lose any items carried up to their individual carrying capacity.
Tactical command icons
These represent specific group actions or options. To perform a tactical command you must select a
body of at least six men.
There are eight unit commands. Four are formations; the others are strategic actions.
All unit commands are subject to variations of application due to the Rank of the unit.
Formations
All formations are selected by a single left click, but you also have the option to set the direction of
the formation using the facing arrow function (M key).
Line formation
Line is a Defensive formation unless charging cavalry uses it.
Line movement speed is below average and may not charge unless used with cavalry.
Leaders are placed at the back of a line formation.
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Wedge formation
Wedge is an offensive formation used to punch a hole through the opponents’ forces.
Because of the nature of wedge, when it attacks, it is always considered as a charge.
Wedge movement is below average but increases to a charge when attacking.
Leaders are placed within the wedge formation near the back.
Circle formation
Circle is a defensive formation similar to the basic guard command. It is used to protect
an individual, not necessarily a leader.
If a leader is not selected the unit will protect the man in the middle of the formation.
Circle movement is slow and may not charge.
Leaders are placed directly in the centre of a circle.
Loose formation
Loose is not really a formation. But the state the soldiers exist in if they are not in any
other formation.
Loose movement is standard and may charge at will.
Leaders may stand anywhere in a loose formation.
STRATEGIC ACTIONS
Charge
The group will run in formation (if possible) at the formations top speed toward the target
to attack with full force.
A charging unit deals double damage for the first round of combat (it will still need to hit
normally) but receives no other benefits.
A charge is vulnerable to a line formation with long weapons.
Scatter
A simple command where the unit breaks formation and runs at full speed away from the
centre-point of the unit.
Scatter is used primarily against charges, be it cavalry, wedges or just superior numbers of
troops.
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Withdraw
Withdraw is a movement, which needs a final destination, which directs the unit
backward while defending themselves.
Movement is slow, but is less dangerous than simply turning tail and running while in the
midst of combat.
If the unit is not engaged in combat they will shuffle backward to the destination point.
Retreat
Another mass move command. You will asked for confirmation of this command as it will
attempt to disengage the entire army from combat and remove them from the battlefield.
As soon as you confirm this command, you will lose control of the entire army
permanently. Retreat pulls the entire army from the field and abandons the scenario if it
is the only army in your force.
Retreat is not a surrender command. The scenario could still be a victory if the mission
objective was achieved, especially in a covert operation.
LEADER COMMANDS
Available whenever a leader is selected, whether on his own or along with soldiers.
There are four leader commands:
Regroup
Regroup is basically a move command.
However once the army reaches the destination it will reform to its initial shape it
possessed at the start of the battle. The facing arrow in the same fashion as the Move
command determines facing.
Truce
This is not available on covert missions as it offers the enemy a battlefield truce.
If successful, hostilities will end towards the leaders’ army and he is allowed to leave the
field and return to his hometown unmolested. The success or failure of this manoeuvre
depends on the leaders’ diplomacy rating and the enemies view on how capable it is of
winning the scenario.
Surrender self
Generally a better option than the whole army surrender.
This icon prompts an " Are you sure Yes/No " message.
! No continues the game.
The leader is offering himself for the lives of his troops. The enemies decision to accept
(It is always successful) is irrespective of political overtones, although its treatment of the
captured leader is.
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Surrender
Begs for mercy from the enemy.
! No continues the battle,
! Yes will indicate the acceptance of the armies surrender.
The scenario ends and the player is presented with the loss result screen.
The outcome of the surrender is determined by the diplomacy skill of your armies’ leader.
If your army has no leader, then expect heavy losses.
OTHER NOTES
Surrender and retreat in the net game merely removes the player from the net game and counts as
a lost game.
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Radar
The radar, although not standard 13th century equipment is nevertheless too
useful to leave out. It represents the landscape as seen two dimensionally from
above. Use it to locate relative positions between your own and opposing troops
and leaders.
The radar will always face in the same direction as the cameras current facing,
whichever mode it is currently in and is always centred on the camera.
The radar may be only be manipulated by zooming in and out at its centre
position to enlarge or reduce the active viewing range of the radar.
+/-
zoom in/out the radar
Information is represented on the radar as such:
Blue
Players troops
Light blue
Players leaders
Green
Players allies
Light green
Allied leaders
Purple
Neutrals
Red
Enemies
Orange
Enemy leaders
Light grey
Buildings
Also there are four buttons built into the radar graphic. A zoom in button, a zoom out button, an
in game options button and a minimise button.
The zoom in and zoom out button are simply an alternative to the +/- keys. The radar either zooms
in or out for as long as the mouse button is kept pressed.
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The in-game options button brings up a window containing the following: • Continue game
• Sound volume
with gauge
• Music volume
with gauge
• Effects volume
with gauge
• Voice volume
with gauge
• Adjust gamma
with gauge
• Detail
with gauge
• Abandon battlefield followed by another smaller window
!
Are you sure? - Yes/No
Abandon battlefield is really a shortcut to the Retreat troops command. You will be
returned to the management section with the result of the battle waiting for you.
If you are using this option to stop viewing one of your own towns or are leaving a spy,
no result is required or forthcoming.
• Exit game
followed by another smaller window
!
Are you sure? - Yes/No
Returns you to the games front end.
The minimise button only minimises the unit options icons. This hides the command icon panels
and clears some screen space while keeping selected units selected. Clicking it again will re-display
the options of the selected unit.
Troops in battle
The finer points of medieval warfare are best left to be discovered on your own. Without giving too
much away it is fair to say that some weapons are better against certain other weapons.
The equipment a soldier carries with him promotes a fine balance between speed of action, damage
potential and movement rate.
Equipping troops based on a defined role will greatly increase your chances of victory. Making good
choices with formations using certain weapons also helps greatly.
BATTLE TACTICS
There are numerous battle tactics available to you. The simplest being running in a straight line
towards the enemy and hitting them until either all of your own troops or your enemies are dead.
Not very subtle, but effective at times.
Information is a key factor on the battlefield. The enemy is not displayed if none of your troops can
see them, no matter how close they actually are. It may sound obvious but use your troops’ eyes as
much as possible.
Sometimes the battle is won by preparation alone. If you equip your men according to the
weaknesses of the enemy then success may be guaranteed before the first blow is struck.
The movement and placing of your units can induce many subtle battlefield situations. From
distracting the enemy, to encircling and overwhelming their ranks. Of course the enemy know those
tactics as well.
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Chapter 6: 13th Century life
Life in settlements
Settlements are where everyone lives their everyday lives. There are two types of settlements, Capitals
and satellites. Satellites are just normal towns.
Each territorial area has a Capital. This will be the oldest town in that territory, although not
necessarily the largest. This town holds the local burgh lords of that territory and it is they that make
the decisions on structure planning permission and construction. Thus only the capital is allowed
the option to build castles and keeps.
Because of the nature of the ruling lords being present here, the Capital holds the key to the entire
territory. Take control of the Capital and you will control the rest of its satellite towns as well.
The territorial Capital may only be reassigned if the old Capital was razed to the ground, probably
at the hands of the current owner of the town. In this case, the next largest town becomes the new
territorial Capital.
Satellite towns may do just about everything available for towns except that they are unable to build
castles or other satellite towns.
Town buildings
Towns and villages contain many different types of buildings and building structures. Most serve
only the basic living functions of the town or its theological needs. However some buildings are more
important than others.
There are six buildings that have a significantly higher importance than the others; the town hall;
storehouses; armouries; barracks and the prison.
While the destruction of other buildings is disruptive to the towns continued welfare, the destruction
or raiding of these five building types can prove disastrous if they are destroyed or raided at
inopportune times.
Of course, buildings are only destroyed or raiding on purpose. The defending of these structures is
the priority for the towns’ night watch militia guard.
The functions of the important town buildings are:
Town hall
This is where all the towns taxes are kept. There is only ever one town hall per town.
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Storehouse
These house all the stores needed for everyday living, from timber to jewellery. There may be
multiple storehouses in a town depending on the towns’ size.
Armoury
Makes and stores any weapons, armour or siege equipment for that town. There may be multiple
armouries in a town depending on the towns’ size.
Barracks
This is where all the troops present in a town stays when not on duty. Barracks serve no other
function and there may be multiple barracks in a town based on the number of troops present.
Prison
The prison stores any captured leaders that the armies from the town have defeated in battle. Prisons
may hold up to four prisoners and there is only ever one prison at any one town.
All but the barracks and prison are built automatically by the towns Construction workers and are
repaired by the same at the highest priority whenever any are damaged.
Travel
In order to get from A to B in medieval Scotland, most people are forced to use their feet. Armies
march to their destination avoiding steep hills and rivers whenever possible. Travel time is therefore
entirely dependent on the terrain that the army is passing through or around.
Armies may be sent to any destination on the known areas of the map but may be inconvenienced
or indeed confronted by the enemy if they pass through political borders.
Goods caravans move at the speed of their slowest member. This is usually a guarding foot soldier.
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SEA TRAVEL
Some locations have access to large bodies of water. The clans from these locations have the doubleedged sword of being hindered and helped by their natural obstacle.
Often troops will have to march around rivers to arrive at their destination, but islands are
completely out of their reach. Unless they first have access to a port town.
Only coastal towns have ports, these towns’ acts as normal but they may also enable the ferrying of
troops to other towns with ports.
Often in the case of island clans, it will be in the form of an invasion fleet.
This travel procedure is performed automatically whenever an army is asked to move to a coastal
town. This is only performed if the target destination cannot be approached on foot.
Even though ships disembark at the town docks, the town may not be taken while it lies within the
protection radius of a castle. Thus even amphibious attacks on towns are drawn towards castles, and
the castle must be taken before the town can be occupied.
No combat is performed ship to ship, troops are considered disembarked before engaging the enemy,
often at a designated battleground.
Castles and castle Sieges
Castles play an unequalled role in medieval life; they provide protection to large areas of land and a
safe haven to the peasantry in times of attack from hostile forces.
In Braveheart, castles rank from simple wooden stockades to mighty fortresses’. The larger the castle,
the more resources, manpower and time needed to construct it.
There are seven types of defensive structure available in Braveheart, the bigger it is the harder it is to
breach and defeat. These are:
WATCHTOWER
As stated before, the watchtower is a structure, which acts as an early warning system
against approaching armies. Garrisoned watchtowers also act as a permanent patrol.
Defensive radius: Small
Maximum garrison: 30 soldiers
STOCKADE
A large wooden structure mostly used as a temporary defensible position near a town.
Defensive radius: Average
Maximum garrison: 50 soldiers
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KEEP
The first of the stone structures. A keep possesses no outer wall and therefore it is relatively
easy to defeat. Its defensive radius exceeds the stockade.
Defensive radius: Above average
Maximum garrison: 30 soldiers
SMALL CASTLE
The first real castle. The small castle is basically a keep with an outer wall and gatehouse
added. This allows much greater protection for its garrison and a serious threat to
attackers without siege engines.
Defensive radius: Above average
Maximum garrison: 60 soldiers
MEDIUM CASTLE
The medium castles while being larger than the small castle also possesses corner towers
with archer positions. Its walls are stronger and it can hold a larger garrison.
Defensive radius: Good
Maximum garrison: 100 soldiers
LARGE CASTLE
The large castle is a very strong fortified structure with very strong walls and many towers.
Defensive radius: Very good
Maximum garrison: 150 soldiers
FORTRESS
The best castle available and the strongest by far. It is protected by a double wall and two
gatehouses and is nearly impenetrable.
Defensive radius: Excellent
Maximum garrison: 200 soldiers
Once constructed, the castle possesses its own subsistence system apart from the town that built it.
It always has enough food and clothing to cater for its garrison as long as it is manned. Each castle
type has a limited number of men that it may have garrisoning it, but if at any time it is left
unmanned, the castles defensive value is lost until a new garrison is assigned to it.
A Castles’ defensive value depends on its size and also clever use of its initial building location.
Approaching armies may not pass through this radius on their way to a town without first going to
the castle.
Therefore before attacking a town, the castle must be dealt with first.
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Covert parties bypass the castle and may enter the designated town unmolested, to begin with
anyway.
Castles are treated as a destination in their own right only when an army is sent to attack or
garrison it.
Destroying a castle only negates the castles defensive effects in the area and leaves the previously
protected towns vulnerable to attack.
You will only gain control of the castle if you capture the territories capital town. Once captured, the
castle may be assigned a garrison of your own troops.
Of course all the defensive benefits of castles are open to your own towns as well as the enemies.
Attacking a large specially constructed defensive structure is a tricky proposition at best. Even the
basic wooden stockade is a difficult task without the proper equipment. And in the case of castle
sieges, that means siege engines.
Soldiers are not built to hack down stone walls, although castles doors may not be beyond them as
long as they enjoy arrow showers. The serious castle stormer needs catapults, battering rams and siege
towers.
Siege weapons perform completely different things but have the common factor of having to be
manned to operate.
It takes four men to operate any type of siege engine. Manning siege weaponry is a process of
assigning men to it and using the engine to attack a target, either a door or a wall.
On top of that is the task of keeping tabs on enemy attacks on engines and defending them
appropriately.
Transporting engines
Siege engines must be assigned to an army as a piece of equipment, they are not technically a hand
weapon and do not need to be assigned to soldiers. Merely picking one up and dropping it into an
army box slot will equip that army with the engine. A single engine takes up an entire army unit slot.
Once engines are assigned to an army, it may be moved from town to town, or into battle. Armies
containing engines may only be sent on straight combat missions on castles.
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Using engines
As stated before, siege engines need a minimum of four men to operate it. These men are used to
basically move the thing. Whenever an engine is short of its four-man quota it will cease to function
until it has a full crew.
Selecting a number of men along with the engine followed by a move or attack order operates siege
engines. Excess men in the selection are assigned as the engine reserve. These reserves will replace any
casualties to the engine as they fall. Crew may be unassigned from the engine simply by selecting the
men without selecting the engine and giving them another order (i.e. Move). Of course this will
incapacitate the engine unless other soldiers take their place.
Catapults
Catapults are very powerful siege vehicles used for destroying castle walls and
doors.
Catapults are built in a city but are treated as a troop type once it is built.
Catapults have a maximum range similar to the maximum range of a longbow.
A manned catapult will attack a target, (i.e. A wall, door, soldier) as long as it
has its full compliment of four crew. The catapult will continue to fire until the
target is destroyed, the catapult is moved or destroyed or its crew is
incapacitated.
Note that catapult aim is relatively inaccurate and tends to drift from shot to shot.
ATTACKING CATAPULTS
Catapults are usually used at a decent distance from the actual target to avoid large accurate missile
barrages. The furthest range of a catapult rock does not exceed the furthest range of a fired arrow.
Catapults may be vulnerable to archers if they are too near their target. Inversely they may be too
inaccurate themselves to be effective if too far away from their target.
Catapults may also be destroyed through hacking or incapacitated by killing the crew.
Battering rams
Battering rams are treated in exactly the same fashion as catapults in terms of
building, assigning and manning once on the field.
To attack, rams must be moved against a door or wall. Once positioned, the
crew will swing the ram until the target is breached or they themselves are killed.
Rams may be destroyed by hacking them to pieces or incapacitated by killing
the crew.
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Siege towers
Siege towers are primarily covered ladders. They protect soldiers as they scale
castle walls.
Siege towers are manned like catapults and rams and must be pushed against a
castle wall.
All troops then ordered to the top of the wall will use the nearest available tower
to get there.
Towers do not need a crew once placed in position and will continue to function
as a ladder until destroyed.
Towers may only be destroyed by hacking and may be incapacitated by killing
the crew before they place the tower in position.
Practical economics
Happy people
Although the average medieval town can be productive without being happy (Many in history were
not), a happy town will have certain advantages over an unhappy one.
Firstly, and possibly most importantly, happy towns attract people from unhappy towns to want to
go and live there.
In essence, this is the very first and most insidious form of warfare. Enticing the populace of your
rivals to join your clan with the simple promise of a better life. More people means more taxes, more
production, more goods, bigger armies and as a helpful side effect, rival clans are weakened by the
exodus’ from their own towns.
There are a few ways of ensuring the happiness of your towns’ populace. Townsfolk like to feel safe,
secure in their jobs, and free from sickness and disease.
This translates to a reliable town guard, possibly from a protective castle. A decent life expectancy
away from war; a healthy trade system with a good backup quantity of money in the town hall; low
taxes; plenty of diverse food to eat; plenty of living space; plenty of clothes and the odd luxury item
for quality of life. Also a sense of importance is also a factor, this may be imparted from a successful
campaign army.
As you may have noticed, some of those things are contradictory. It’s not easy to keep everyone happy
all the time.
Please most of the people most of the time and you’re on the right track.
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Balancing the workforce
The populace of a town must be split into many different services and production tasks. The exact
management and balance of this is dependent on your own style of play with a little bit of your
chosen clans’ personality thrown in.
Certain clans may have a talent for certain professions. Whether you choose to exploit this talent or
not is up to you.
As described in the Workers screen, there are plenty of things to keep your peasant folk busy with.
But all towns need not be the same.
Not all towns will be best served with the auto management forged directly in the centre of the
triangle. Think about the needs of the local area. Is it safe to produce a mixed economy on the front
lines against Clan MacGregor, one of the most violent of all the clans? Probably not. You’ll need all
your men to build that castle as quickly as possible. So where do you get your food and clothes?
Things become complicated when you have a few towns to play with, but if you think as a Clan
warlord and not as a weekend council member, the pieces will fall nicely into place.
Goods and resources
Your towns have a limited area to gather resources from, but careful manipulation of satellite towns
can maximise the gathering of resources from your territories.
By now you’ve probably guessed what all the little goods icons stand for, but here is the complete list:
Money
Used to buy things with.
Timber
Used to make buildings and weapons. Also used for repairing catapults.
Stone
Used for building.
Metal ore
Used to make weapons.
Gold ore
Used to make jewellery.
Gems
Used to make fine jewellery.
Cattle
Used for meat, and milk.
Sheep
Used for meat and wool.
Horses
Used for meat, cavalry and pulling caravans.
Horses used as cavalry cannot be used to breed.
Hides
Produced from slaughtered cattle. Hide is used to make clothes and
leather armour.
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Wool
Produced by shearing sheep in spring. Used to make clothing.
Grain
Produced by your farmers at harvest. Used to make bread, haggis, and
pies.
Fish
Fished from coastal areas. Used to make pies.
Meat
Produced from slaughtered cattle, sheep and horses.
Dairy
Produced from cows.
Clothes
Used by people as an essential requirement to life.
Produced from wool and hide.
Rings
Jewellery produced from gold ore.
Necklaces
Fine jewellery produced from gold ore and gems.
Bread
Foodstuff produced from grain.
Haggis
Foodstuff produced from meat and grain.
Cheese
Foodstuff produced from milk.
Pie
Foodstuff produced from fish and grain.
Dagger
A small one-handed weapon produced from metal ore.
Broadsword
A medium sized one-handed weapon produced from metal ore.
Claymore
A large two-handed Scottish broadsword produced from metal ore and
hide.
Great sword
A very large two-handed sword produced from metal ore and hide.
Spear
A long two-handed stabbing weapon produced from metal ore and
timber.
Long-spear
A very long two-handed anti-cavalry weapon produced from timber.
Lance
A long cavalry weapon produced from timber.
Pike
A very long two-handed stabbing weapon produced from metal ore and
timber.
Short bow
A short range two-handed missile weapon produced from timber.
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Longbow
A long range two-handed missile weapon produced from timber.
Crossbow
A powerful short range two-handed missile weapon produced from
metal ore and timber.
Axe
A small one-handed chopping weapon produced from metal ore and
timber.
Broadaxe
A large two-handed chopping weapon produced from metal ore and
timber.
Mace
A small one-handed bashing weapon from metal ore and timber.
Club
A crude one-handed bashing weapon produced from timber.
Small shield
A small shield produced from timber and hide.
Medium shield
An average sized shield produced from metal ore and timber.
Large shield
A large shield produced from metal ore, timber and hides.
Leather armour A light armour produced from hide.
Chainmail armour A heavy armour produced from metal ore.
Plate armour
A very heavy armour produced from metal ore and hide.
Battering ram
A large siege weapon used to shatter doors. Produced from timber.
Siege tower
A very large construct used as an aid in scaling castle walls. Produced
from timber.
Catapult
A large siege weapon used to hurl large rocks against fortifications.
Produced from timber and stone.
Trade to live
Trading is occasionally perilous, but in the end the effort is worth it. Not all of your towns will
possess all of the natural resources necessary for a healthy existence. Of course you can try to steal
goods, but trading is safer.
Trading can serve two purposes, trading for survival and trading for profit.
Survival means trading for items that your town needs to provide for its continued well being. Goods
transfers from one of your own towns to another are classed as free survival trading. All other
transfers must be paid for.
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Market forces, supply and demand, affect trade. Keep in mind that this is 13th century Scotland.
Shrewd players may be able to detect a change in the market forces to buy and sell their own goods
to an optimum profit.
Paying for soldiers
A professional military is not free. Soldiers do not pay taxes and they consume large amounts of
towns’ food supplies. Travelling makes them unhappy, and combat gets them killed. Unfortunately,
you won’t last too long without them.
It is better to produce armies as you need them and then employ them full time than create masses
of enlisted soldiers at one time for a guaranteed win on the battlefield.
This plan is fatally flawed for several reasons. A green army is a weak army, a large army is an
expensive army and a dead soldier is a dead peasant that could have been paying taxes.
Soldiers are a necessity, but not necessarily a bank breaking one. Disbanding obsolete armies, not
assigning soldier guards to caravans deep within your own lands, building castles which provide
maximum protection with minimum soldier garrisons are all money saving devices.
Of course, sometimes you may need large expensive armies. Remember that all of your rivals are
balancing the same books as you.
Politics
It may sound obvious, but having too many enemies is bad, inversely you can never have enough
allies.
Politics affect every single facet and area of life in Scotland. Every action has a political reaction
somewhere else. Of course some political ripples are larger than others.
For example, all violent acts have an extremely negative effect on political relations with that clan.
Peaceful trading has a gradual but positive effect.
Even seemingly innocuous acts like forming an alliance may have detrimental effects on relations
with someone else. The new allies’ enemies may suddenly become your enemies. Ever wonder why
they wanted that alliance in the first place?
Reputation plays a big role in the political hotbed. Heinous deeds are remembered and good deeds
often not. Note that some clans actually like deviousness and skulduggery. It’s up to you to find these
clans if you have mind to the more shadowy parts of Scotland.
Don’t forget that a rival clan can be just as powerful as a weapon than as an enemy. If someone else
fights your battles for you, your towns can only benefit. Beware the conquering clan though, he may
eventually see your lands as an unsightly blot in his blanket of conquest.
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The long term objectives
Braveheart is a freeform game with no time limit. If you desire to play this game as a Scotland
simulator, by all means be our guest.
You are under no pressure to complete missions, make trade caravans or even collect leaders. But
whatever courses of action you take, bear in mind that there are several rival clans out there that will
be actively seeking the crown of Scotland. Also the English will be pushing for total domination.
Steps should be taken to ensure your survival in such a climate. Making allies is a good first step.
Even allying with the English is not unheard of, especially if this is the only course of action available.
If at any time, another Clan chief claims the crown of Scotland, either by making enough allies or
by defeating the English, the game will end. No matter what your current power base, you have been
beaten to the punch.
So what do you want to do?
The game is structured towards the conclusion of a united Scotland. Will you be the one who unites
the clans?
So the clans are now united, what now?
There is the small matter of an evil English King that sits uneasily at Westminster, atop a certain
Scottish stone, which just happens to belong to the King of Scotland.
Do you feel like picking a fight down south?
“In the year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland, starving and
outnumbered, charged the fields of Bannockburn.
They fought like warrior poets.
They fought like Scotsmen.
And won their freedom.
Forever.”
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Credits
Red lemon credits
Game design
Wai Ming Yuen
Game Programmers
Andy Findlay
Laurent Noel
Kevin Lamont
Tim Lowe
Nick Donnelly
Nigel Kennington
Neil Goodman
Will McGugan
Doug Day
Game art
Wai Ming Yuen
Gareth Hector
Mark Adamson
Jamie Grant
Voiceover artist
Angus MacFadyen
FMV art
Digital Animations
Motion capture processing
Audio motion
Additional staff
Iain MacDonald
Game manual
Wai Ming Yuen
Thanks to
The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, Clan Wallace.
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Eidos credits
Development
Many Thanks to:
Senior Producer
Darren Hedges
Juliet Dutton – Paramount (US)
Steve Booth – Paramount (US)
Andrea Irion – 20th Century Fox (US)
Lindsey Strasberg – Bloom
Hergott, Cook, Diemer and Klein,
The Source
Associate Producer (US)
Eric Adams
Lead Tester (UK)
Clint Nembhard
DESIGN
A Creative Experience, London
Quality assurance
Lee Houston
Chris McMahon
Dave Isherwood
Stephen Chainey
Daryl Bibby
Steven Didd
Tyrone O’Neill
Lead Tester (US)
Greg Coleman
Localisation Team
Flavia Timiani and Holly Andrews
UK Marketing and PR
Marketing Manager (UK)
David Burton
Marking Assistant (UK)
Rebecca West
PR Manager (UK)
Jonathan Rosenblatt
US Marketing and PR
Marketing Manager (US)
Kelly Zavislak
PR Manager (US)
Karina Kogan
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