Welcome to Middle-earth! In The Lord of the Rings Online, you'll step into the shoes of a hero embarking on an epic journey across iconic lands. This MMORPG, released in 2007, lets you explore vast open worlds, team up with friends for cooperative adventures, and immerse yourself in a story-rich experience. Whether you're forging your own legend or reliving the tales of Tolkien, there's always a new quest to undertake.
This guide is your companion through the depths of Middle-earth, from mastering account creation and understanding class roles to conquering the treacherous depths of Moria. We'll help you optimize your settings, navigate challenging quests through regions like the Shire and Rohan, and understand gear progression. Get ready to forge your legend and experience the world of Tolkien like never before.
Part 1
Explore Part 1 of The Lord of the Rings Online guide, covering essential strategies and walkthroughs for the game's initial missions and campaigns. Updated for clarity and completeness.
This is the first part of a comprehensive guide and walkthrough for The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth on PC, authored by LoneEagle013. This FAQ is a work in progress, with continuous updates planned to refine tactics and cover more aspects of the game. As of version 1.0.3, it includes corrections and contributions, with a special mention to Doug U. for his input. The guide primarily focuses on the Single Player (SP) campaigns for both the Good and Evil sides, detailing strategies for important and critical battles integral to the plot. Multiplayer strategies may be included in future updates based on community contributions.
The guide's development history is outlined, starting from version 0.1 with the Good side Heroes and initial missions, progressing through the completion of the Good campaign, and the addition of Evil campaign missions and unit guides. Later versions introduced commonly asked questions, ancillary mission strategies, and refined formatting for readability. The author emphasizes that this is their first game FAQ and welcomes all inputs and ideas.
Part 2
Navigate Part 2 of The Lord of the Rings Online with expert tips. Learn strategies for defeating enemies and completing objectives efficiently. Your guide to Middle-earth awaits!
Hey there! So, you've made it to Part 2 of your adventure in The Lord of the Rings Online. This section of the guide isn't going to cover every single mission, mostly because a lot of them are pretty similar. The main goal in these missions usually boils down to one thing: destroying all the enemies. If you've built up a strong army, you should be in pretty good shape!
Before we dive deeper, I wanted to chat about how to get in touch. I love hearing from you all, especially if you've got some awesome strategies that you think are even better than what I've laid out. If you've got something to share, send it over to [email protected]. I'm always looking to make this guide as comprehensive as possible, and your input could really help out fellow players. Just a heads-up, though: my schedule can get pretty hectic, so replies might take a little while. Also, I haven't played through every single ancillary mission yet, so any contributions you have for those are super welcome!
When you do reach out, please do me a favor and give the FAQ a good read first. I try my best to answer everything, but I won't be replying to questions that are already covered. It just helps me focus on the more strategic aspects of the game, which is what this guide is all about. If you're struggling with technical issues or want to know the dollar value of something, the game's message boards or EA's official tech support page are usually your best bet. I'm here to help you conquer Middle-earth, one quest at a time!
A Few Important Rules for Contacting Me:
- Buddy Lists: Please, no instant messages or adding me to buddy lists without my explicit permission via email.
- Read First: Check the FAQ thoroughly before asking questions. I'm looking for strategy contributions or questions not already answered.
- Email Address: Use [email protected] for all correspondence. If you've emailed before, use this new address.
- Subject Line: Please put "BFME FAQ" in the subject line. It helps me sort through the junk mail.
- Legible English: Write clearly so I can understand your questions and contributions.
- No CD Keys: I'm writing a free strategy guide, not distributing game keys. Earn it, buy it, or find it elsewhere – just don't ask me.
I know this sounds strict, but a lot of emails I get are repetitive. I appreciate all the friendly messages and great strategies you send, but I need to streamline things to keep this guide useful for everyone. Thanks for understanding!
Part 3
Explore Part 3 of The Lord of the Rings Online guide, covering general game comments, FAQs, and insights into gameplay mechanics, balance, and system requirements.
- 1General Comments: The game is a simplified Real-Time Strategy (RTS) experience, focusing on large battles over resource management. Units are grouped by hotkeys, and complex inputs like force move/attack are absent. The AI is simplistic, with units sometimes failing to react to attacks. Battles are large and faithful to the movies, featuring good unit animation and sound design. Some units, like Mumakils and trolls, have death animations that affect the environment.
- 2Game Balance: The game's balance is debated, with some finding the evil side weaker. The author believes the game is somewhat balanced when factions are played according to their specific strengths and weaknesses. Playing outside these strengths can lead to defeat, even against less experienced players. The game requires polishing to be fully balanced and bug-free.
- 3Overcoming Defeat: If repeatedly defeated, analyze your mistakes and successes. Switching tactics and trying different approaches can lead to victory. The game is considered RTS-lite, making the single-player campaign manageable with the right strategies.
- Understand each faction's specific strengths and weaknesses to play effectively.
- Don't be afraid to experiment with different strategies if you're struggling with a mission or faction.
- The game is a good starting point for RTS newcomers due to its simplified mechanics.
- Expert RTS players might find it less complex than titles like StarCraft or Warcraft III but can still enjoy its fun gameplay, especially if they are Lord of the Rings fans.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Q: Will my computer run this game?
- A: The author's system (AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, GeForce 4 Ti4200) runs the game at 1024x768 with low details, with some slowdown in very large battles. Recommended specs include at least 512 MB RAM, Pentium 2.0 GHz or AMD equivalent, and a GeForce 5200 series or ATI equivalent video card. Message boards are a good resource for system requirements.
- Q: Should I get this game? Is it worth my money?
- A: Depends on your interest in Lord of the Rings. If you dislike the franchise, avoid it. If you haven't seen the movies, watch them first to avoid spoilers. It's a good entry-level RTS for newcomers. Experienced RTS players might find it simpler than other titles but can still find it fun, especially as a LOTR-themed game. It's generally well-received, though not considered a classic RTS like StarCraft or Warcraft III. The author has spent over 40 hours playing it.
Part 4
Part 4 of The Lord of the Rings Online guide covers unit merging, hotkeys, garrisoning towers, stuck units, and more. Learn how to optimize your gameplay.
- 1Anti-Piracy Measure: If units die upon starting a mission, it's likely an anti-piracy measure due to altered files. EA's official support page may have a solution. A quick fix is to navigate to the game's installed folder, then the support directory, and run 'The Battle for Middle-earth_code.exe' to re-enter the key. If this fails, uninstall and perform a clean installation in the default directory.
- 2Assigning Hotkeys: Hotkeys 0-9 can be assigned to unit groups. Select units, press Ctrl-# to assign them to a hotkey. Pressing the hotkey recalls those units. This is distinct from merging units.
- 3Merging Units: BFME allows merging different unit types into a single battalion (5 units for good factions) or horde (10 units for evil factions). A merged unit effectively has twice the capacity. Only specific units can be merged.
- 4Known Merging Combinations:
- 5Yeoman Archer - Peasant
- 6Gondor Soldier - Ranger or Gondor Archer
- 7Gondor Tower Guard - Ranger or Gondor Archer
- 8Uruk-hai - Crossbow Uruks
- 9Uruk-hai - Pike Uruks
- 10Pike Uruks - Crossbow Uruks
- 11Elvish archers - Elvish swordsmen
- 12Mordor Orcs - Orcish archers
- 13Gondor Soldier/Tower Guard - Gondor Knight
- 14Rohirrims - Peasants
- 15How to Merge: Click a mergable unit, hover over another mergable unit. The pointer will change to a merge icon. Click to merge. Merging is permanent. Merged archer battalions cannot garrison towers. Benefits include paying for upgrades only once per merged unit and new units gaining the rank of the higher-ranked unit.
- 16Garrisoning Archer Units: Some maps have abandoned towers that archer units can garrison. Select archers, hover over a tower; the icon changes to the garrison icon. Click to garrison. Garrisoned units are permanently lost and free up command points, so it's best to garrison stock or lower-ranked units. Enemy-garrisoned towers can be recaptured by sending your own archers; a mini-battle ensues, but the attacking unit wins control. Escort garrisoning units.
- 17Stuck Units: Bugs can cause units to get stuck. For heroes like Eomer, Gandalf, Theoden, Eowyn, and Faramir, try mounting/unmounting and clicking from different angles. If all else fails, you may need to win without the hero or restart the mission. Lurtz's 'ensnare' ability can also pin heroes; protect them until the spell wears off.
- 18Autoset for Hero Skills: Right-click a skill icon to enable autoset. A circular shine on the icon indicates it's enabled.
- 19Unit Upgrades: After purchasing upgrades from a building, you must individually apply them to your units by clicking the icons near their pictures at the bottom of the screen. Check the Battle School for more details.
- 20Finding Friendly Units: If objectives require finding friendly units and they are not visible after exploring, it might be a design oversight where the AI continuously explores and destroys.
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