Part 4

Anti-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.

Assigning 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.

Merging 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.

Yeoman Archer - Peasant

Gondor Soldier - Ranger or Gondor Archer

Gondor Tower Guard - Ranger or Gondor Archer

Uruk-hai - Crossbow Uruks

Uruk-hai - Pike Uruks

Pike Uruks - Crossbow Uruks

Elvish archers - Elvish swordsmen

Mordor Orcs - Orcish archers

Gondor Soldier/Tower Guard - Gondor Knight

Rohirrims - Peasants

How 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.

Garrisoning 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.

Stuck 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.

Autoset for Hero Skills: Right-click a skill icon to enable autoset. A circular shine on the icon indicates it's enabled.

Unit 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.

Finding 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.