Manual
Welcome to the A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA web manual.
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A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that may appear in video games. Even people who have no history of seizures or epilepsy may have an undiagnosed condition that can cause these “photosensitive epileptic seizures” while watching video games.
These seizures may have a variety of symptoms, including lightheadedness, altered vision, eye or face twitching, jerking or shaking of arms or legs, disorientation, confusion, or momentary loss of awareness. Seizures may also cause loss of consciousness or convulsions that can lead to injury from falling down or striking nearby objects.
Immediately stop playing and consult a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. Parents should watch for or ask their children about the above symptoms—children and teenagers are more likely than adults to experience these seizures. The risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures may be reduced by taking the following precautions: Sit farther from the screen; use a smaller screen; play in a well-lit room; and do not play when you are drowsy or fatigued. If you or any of your relatives have a history of seizures or epilepsy, consult a doctor before playing.
© SEGA. Creative Assembly, the Creative Assembly logo, A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, Total War, and the Total War logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of The Creative Assembly Limited. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Holdings Co., Ltd. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Developed for and published on macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive Ltd. Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Feral and the Feral logo are trademarks of Feral Interactive Ltd. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
THRONES OF BRITANNIA is a standalone Total War game that challenges you to re-write a critical moment in history, one that will shape the future of the British Isles. With ten playable factions, you must build and defend a kingdom of Anglo-Saxons, Gaelic clans, Welsh tribes or Viking settlers. Forge alliances, manage settlements, raise armies and pursue campaigns of conquest across the most detailed Total War map ever.
The year is 878 AD, the embattled English king Alfred the Great has mounted a heroic defence at the battle of Edington, and blunted the Viking invasion. Chastened – but not yet broken – the Norse warlords have settled across Britain. For the first time in nearly 80 years, the land is in a fragile state of peace.
Throughout this sceptred isle, the kings of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales sense a time of change approaching; a time of opportunity. There will be treaties. There will be war. There will be turns of fortune that become the stuff of legend, in a saga that charts the ascent of one of history’s greatest nations.
As part of the Steam download process, the game has already been installed on your computer. To start playing the game, read the Getting Started section.
Double-click on the Steam application icon. By default this is located in the Applications folder on your computer’s hard drive.
If you are not already signed in, the Steam Login dialog will appear. Enter your account name and password, then select Login.
The Steam application will launch. Select the Library tab.
In the library, highlight A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA in the list of games on the left-hand side of the window, then select Play.
The A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA pre-game Options window will appear. Click on the Play button. The game will launch.
After the loading screens, the Main Menu will appear. Select Campaign.
Select New Campaign.
The New Campaign screen will appear. To choose your faction, first select a culture by clicking on one of the crests at the top of the screen. From the resulting drop-down menu, select the faction you wish to lead.
Select Start Campaign.
After the opening video, you will find your realm at peace... but this tranquility will not last for long. Heed your advisor well and lead your forces to victory!
The default keyboard configuration is detailed below; these controls can be customized by selecting Options → Controls from the Main Menu. Please note that the instructions in this manual refer to the default controls. If you have customized your controls, the instructions will no longer apply.
THRONES OF BRITANNIA requires you to right-click in order to perform many commands. If you are using a Magic Mouse or Trackpad, your secondary click may not be activated by default. For detailed instructions on how to enable secondary click, see Can I play A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA using my Magic Mouse or Trackpad? in the FAQs.
If you have a short keyboard, you will need to use modifier keys for certain commands. For instructions on how to do this, see My short keyboard does not have certain keys. How can I use the game commands that are mapped to them? in the FAQs.
| Toggle Sound Effects | Alt + X |
| Toggle Music | Alt + M |
| Toggle UI | Alt + K |
| Select All | Ctrl + A |
| Select Next | . |
| Select Previous | , |
| Cancel Order | Backspace (←) |
| Standard Ping | Ctrl + F5 |
| Show Chat Panel | Y |
| Move Forward Fast | Numpad 8 |
| Rotate Up | V or + |
| Rotate Down | C or - |
| Camera Up | X or * |
| Camera Down | Z or / |
| Rotate Left | Q or Numpad 4 |
| Rotate Right | E or Numpad 6 |
| Scroll Left | A or Numpad 1 |
| Scroll Right | D or Numpad 3 |
| Scroll Forwards | W or Numpad 5 |
| Scroll Backwards | S or Numpad 2 |
| Increase Camera Rotation | Shift + Page Up |
| Decrease Camera Rotation | Shift + Page Down |
| Open Tactical/Overview map | Tab |
| Save Camera Bookmarks 1-4 | Shift + F9/F10/F11/F12 |
| View Camera Bookmarks 1-4 | F9/F10/F11/F12 |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Show Selected Overview | 1 |
| Show Unit Recruitment | 2 |
| Show Selected Details | 3 |
| Show Objectives | 4 |
| Show Finance Panel | 5 |
| Show Technologies | 6 |
| Show Diplomacies | 7 |
| Show Faction | 8 |
| Gameplay | |
| End Turn | Return |
| Show Campaign Overlay Options | Space |
| Toggle Character Move Speed | Space |
| Disband Current Selection | Ctrl + P |
| Quick Save | Ctrl + S |
| Quick Load | Ctrl + L |
| Auto-merge Units | Ctrl + M |
| Pan to Capital | Home |
| Unit/Group Controls | |
|---|---|
| Group/Ungroup Units | G |
| Toggle Locked Group | Ctrl + G |
| Toggle Melee Mode | F |
| Toggle Unit Speed | R |
| Special Ability Slot 1 – 7 | Alt + 1 – 7 |
| Increase Rank | Ctrl + Up |
| Increase File | Ctrl + Down |
| Step Unit/Group Backwards | Down |
| Step Unit/Group Forwards | Up |
| Rotate Unit/Group Left | Ctrl + Left |
| Rotate Unit/Group Right | Ctrl + Right |
| Strafe Unit Left | Left |
| Strafe Unit Right | Right |
| Pan to Unit | End |
| Create Unit Group 1 – 9 | Ctrl + 1 – 9 |
| Create Unit Group 10 | Ctrl + 0 |
| Select Unit Group 1 – 9 | 1 – 9 |
| Select Unit Group 10 | 0 |
| About Face | J |
| Selection Controls | |
|---|---|
| Select All Siege Engine Units | Ctrl + B |
| Select All Infantry Melee Units | Ctrl + I |
| Select All Cavalry Units | Ctrl + C |
| Select All Infantry Missile Units | Ctrl + M |
| Deselect All | Return |
| Pan to General | Home |
| Game/UI Controls | |
|---|---|
| Cycle Battle Speed | T |
| Show Battlefield Unit Status | Space |
| Toggle Radar Visibility | O |
| Toggle Unit Cards Visibility | U |
| Toggle Unit Information | I |
| Toggle Pause | P |
| Intelligent Zoom | N |
| Toggle Tracking | Delete |
| Cinematic Camera | Insert |
Most orders for campaign map characters and armies, or units in battle, follow a simple pattern of left-click to select and right-click to issue an order. If you’re completely new to strategy games, you’ll find all the assistance you need to conquer, betray and backstab through the in-game advisor and help information.
There are keyboard shortcuts to help you do things quickly, but THRONES OF BRITANNIA gives you time to consider and plan your actions. As you become familiar with the game, you’ll gradually master more advanced controls.
The in-game advisor is always on hand to help you with the controls and game mechanics, monitoring how you play and, as you progress, offering guidance about what you’re doing in the game.
By default, you’ll see and hear all advice as you play. You can tweak the settings to reduce the level of advice given, and tailor it to either speech or just on-screen text.
As you get more experienced with the game, the advisor takes a back seat and leaves you to your own devices, only offering helpful hints when you use some aspect of the game for the first time.
All victory objectives have one thing in common: you must seize and control territory by capturing regions and holding specific provinces.
While all this will require substantial military might, you may want to tailor your victory objectives by choosing a different path to glory. The different victory objectives can be viewed from the New Campaign screen or by clicking on the Objectives button at the top right-hand corner of the campaign map.
Along the way, there will be the option to undertake a variety of additional missions and objectives, as well as everyday dilemmas and incidents that define your reign. Inspired by real historical events, these are optional, but do offer bonuses if completed.
While it’s tempting to throw yourself into the fray, if you are a Total War veteran you might want to read the What’s New section of this manual. You’ll find details of the key new game features and improvements that make THRONES OF BRITANNIA an exciting new Total War experience.
Each of the five cultures have their own mechanic. Additionally, all 10 playable factions have an additional individual mechanic, which gives each of them a unique flavour and should help guide you along the path to glory.
You can view the different culture and faction mechanics on the New Campaign screen when starting a new game.
This time, there are multiple routes to victory. You can pursue the traditional Total War Conquest victory, pursue recognition through a Fame victory, or aim for the Kingdom victory. Completing a Kingdom victory, comprised of objectives unique to your chosen culture and faction, will create a new, greater and renamed realm with an upgraded faction trait as well as new bonuses.
In THRONES OF BRITANNIA the old chapter objectives have been replaced with a system whereby each playable faction receives unique events based on their campaign status, neighbours, and the diplomatic climate. These events help guide your progress through a unique gameplay experience – no two campaigns will be the same, even when playing as the same faction. The computer-controlled factions will also experience narrative events in the same manner – kings will be assassinated, thrones will be usurped, and cultures will be annexed. Conflict is unavoidable!
Units are no longer tied to provincial buildings, but are instead recruited from a faction-wide pool of manpower. There are significantly more levy (low-tier) units than elite (top-tier) ones. Elites are thus a resource to protect and levies always remain relevant – consistent with the typical military structure of the time. These units start small and take many turns to muster to full strength. Factions with depleted manpower pools will struggle to raise new armies.
As you progress through a campaign, your characters can recruit new followers or upgrade existing followers in their retinue. Followers can be upgraded to a maximum of level 5, with each level granting your character more powerful bonuses.
Characters also have traits which are dynamically created based on their history, as well as their accomplishments (and failures) throughout a campaign.
All technology is locked at the start of the game, each branch requiring the player to perform a task or achieve a goal in order to unlock it. Technology is now organised as a series of small, thematically-linked groups rather than being structured as a single tree.
Small villages no longer have garrisons or permanent defensive structures. Each provincial capital now serves as the economic and military hub of its province, whilst its minor settlements are the farms, mines, and resource-production buildings vital to your faction’s progress.
This time, there is no fog of war - all factions have knowledge of the entire campaign map, and all factions know of each other’s existence. Those at peace automatically begin trading with each other from the start of your campaign. Factions who are at war will cease trading until hostilities have ended.
Of course, this means that the Vikings also know exactly where to target their aggression...
Extremely aggressive Viking factions will invade Britannia and either attempt to raid or settle there. Although not hordes in the traditional Total War sense, they do begin each campaign without a home province as their base. Be wary and never rest on your laurels – even greater threats also regard Britannia with envy, waiting for an opportune moment to capture this green and pleasant land for themselves...
Every effort has been made to make A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA as compatible with current hardware as possible. However, if you are experiencing problems when running A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA, please read on.
The latest version of the FAQs can be found by selecting the FAQs button in the Support tab of the A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA pre-game Options window (this is the window that opens when you launch the game), or by going straight to the Feral website: http://support.feralinteractive.com
Contacting Feral
If the FAQs and/or updates do not solve your problem, then please feel free to contact us. The following information must be obtained before contacting Feral Technical Support:
All the information required can be obtained by opening A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA and clicking on the Support tab in the A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA pre-game Options window. In the Support tab, click on the Generate Report button. Once the report is generated it will appear as a file in your ~/Downloads folder (the “~” symbol refers to your home directory). Now click on the Create Email button. Remember to attach the Thrones of Britannia Report.txt file to your email.
In your email, please include a brief description of the problem you have experienced with A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA.
email: support@feralinteractive.com
Please check the warranty information provided by Steam.
