LordCurlyton
01-27-2009, 00:50
Well, now that I've wrapped up my Arveni campaign, I face an intriguing question: where do I go from here? From my perspective, I have now conquered most, if not all, of EB's primary challenges/themes in faction play. To be clear, I see them as: big power with few major immediate enemies and lots of expansion opportunity (Rome/Carthage), big power with immediate enemies and little expansion room (AS/Ptolie), intermediate power facing numerous challenges before becoming a "big" power, including eventual conflict with an established "big" (Western Hellenes, Arveni/Aedui), the steppe experience (Sauro/Saka/Pahlava), the David vs Goliath scenario (Baktria/Hai/Pontus/Pahlava), and the "I'm isolated and face a crippling national debt. Woe is me!" scenario (Luso/Casse/Sweboz/Getai/Saba).
Now each faction obviously has its unique perks, but over the course of an entire campaign this probably sums up most people's experience, those who heavily rp or console migrate excluded.
I have, over the course of my EB time (0.8x+), played Rome 5 (1 complete, 3 to Marians) times, Carthage 3 (2 complete), Maks 2 (both complete), KH 1 (complete), Arveni 1 (just completed), Aedui 1 (stopped after beating Rome), Sweboz 1 (same), Hai 1 (incomplete), Pontus 1 (same), Sauro 1 (incomplete but damn they have a vast VC and no real challenge was left), Pahlava 2 (both complete), AS (effectively complete).
Thus the factions left for me are:
Saka
Saba
Epeiros
Ptolies
Getai
Luso
Casse
Baktria
Of these Epeiros , Ptolies, and Saka get ruled out as I feel they offer just slight variations on themes I've already played (intermediate power struggle, big vs big, and steppe experience), Saba is gone since it is basically "Here's the Arabian peninsula. Enjoy the waves of phalanxes you will be seeing!" which, if you manage to play long enough, will be basically you turning into a Successor-Lite depending on the direction of expansion, Casse for a similar reason (its Gauls but with a worse overall lineup), and Luso because I don't see much of a unique challenge in their unit roster vs Carthage, Rome, and the Gauls, plus Iberia is full of rich mines that would fund a grand army quickly. It also is likely my playing style that rules them out as ambushing is just not very fun in TW games (the engine is designed for set-piece battles) and I am prone to suffering phalanx fatigue when I don't play as a hellenic faction.
Of course, that still leaves the two options that still intrigue me, Getai and Baktria. here's why for each:
For Baktria, it is mainly b/c I have never really had a chance to use Indian units, and their unit roster (regionals + native) seems to offer enough variety that I can use a variety of tactics to achieve victory. Its downside, however, is the inevitable clash with the AS, though from my experiences with the Pahlava that's not really a bad thing as an emerging empire on their eastern front.
For Getai, it is also the uniqueness of their unit roster that intrigues me. The Western Hellenes are not nearly as phalanx-heavy unless I sit around and let them develop and the clash of fighting styles intrigues me. The downside is that unless I pull a really fast blitz it likely is going to be a phalanx-heavy land, but at least the Balkans are a much smaller and easily defended land mass than anything to the east.
So which should it be? Should I play as the furthest Hellenes on the map or the "barbarians" just north of the Hellenic homeland? Or should I take an EB break for a bit and recharge?
Now each faction obviously has its unique perks, but over the course of an entire campaign this probably sums up most people's experience, those who heavily rp or console migrate excluded.
I have, over the course of my EB time (0.8x+), played Rome 5 (1 complete, 3 to Marians) times, Carthage 3 (2 complete), Maks 2 (both complete), KH 1 (complete), Arveni 1 (just completed), Aedui 1 (stopped after beating Rome), Sweboz 1 (same), Hai 1 (incomplete), Pontus 1 (same), Sauro 1 (incomplete but damn they have a vast VC and no real challenge was left), Pahlava 2 (both complete), AS (effectively complete).
Thus the factions left for me are:
Saka
Saba
Epeiros
Ptolies
Getai
Luso
Casse
Baktria
Of these Epeiros , Ptolies, and Saka get ruled out as I feel they offer just slight variations on themes I've already played (intermediate power struggle, big vs big, and steppe experience), Saba is gone since it is basically "Here's the Arabian peninsula. Enjoy the waves of phalanxes you will be seeing!" which, if you manage to play long enough, will be basically you turning into a Successor-Lite depending on the direction of expansion, Casse for a similar reason (its Gauls but with a worse overall lineup), and Luso because I don't see much of a unique challenge in their unit roster vs Carthage, Rome, and the Gauls, plus Iberia is full of rich mines that would fund a grand army quickly. It also is likely my playing style that rules them out as ambushing is just not very fun in TW games (the engine is designed for set-piece battles) and I am prone to suffering phalanx fatigue when I don't play as a hellenic faction.
Of course, that still leaves the two options that still intrigue me, Getai and Baktria. here's why for each:
For Baktria, it is mainly b/c I have never really had a chance to use Indian units, and their unit roster (regionals + native) seems to offer enough variety that I can use a variety of tactics to achieve victory. Its downside, however, is the inevitable clash with the AS, though from my experiences with the Pahlava that's not really a bad thing as an emerging empire on their eastern front.
For Getai, it is also the uniqueness of their unit roster that intrigues me. The Western Hellenes are not nearly as phalanx-heavy unless I sit around and let them develop and the clash of fighting styles intrigues me. The downside is that unless I pull a really fast blitz it likely is going to be a phalanx-heavy land, but at least the Balkans are a much smaller and easily defended land mass than anything to the east.
So which should it be? Should I play as the furthest Hellenes on the map or the "barbarians" just north of the Hellenic homeland? Or should I take an EB break for a bit and recharge?