Most boring faction to play as

[Moosemanmoo]

Just wondered, mine would unfortunately be the Sauromatae, I just can't be arsed to take them past turn 3 :no:

[johnhughthom]

I've never been able to play the Sauromatae either, those huge spaces between settlements just make me think "Gah!".

[Moosemanmoo]

Amen to that, I think it's the fact that I wanna fill some Romans full of lead/arrows, though I know that will never happen

[Tyrfingr]

I have actually never even tried the Sauromatae...or the Saka...or the Ptolemaioi (Egypt is an old hate-faction from vanilla of mine). Casse is also boring as hell...

[A Very Super Market]

Casse? I started a campaign as them. You really need to roleplay, otherwise, it's very tedious.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Sauromatae because of the space. Saba because of the lack of history and work on that faction, as well as their lacking and lousy roster. And their position. AS because of their already large empire, especially the depressingly boring Eastern territories, and also because of their pike phalanxes and the elite spam that you can execute using them. Although it is quite interesting to fight those desperate battles against nomads. Ptolemaioi are another faction that is too large to be interesting.

Sometimes I also feel that KH has too powerful of a unit roster to be worth playing and to be a challenge. Not to mention their spread-out recruitment pool; typical of Hellenic factions. But they are quite interesting to play otherwise, so no complaint. Casse have a bad starting position, but I still like the Goidilic units they have access to (once EDU is modded). I also felt the the Sweboz roster was lacking, but I suppose I would welcome the challenge myself. Not to mention, regionals and a quick EDU mod to give their pikes the phalanx formation would fix it. I still do not like the deep forests nevertheless...

Otherwise, everything else is fine. Oh, and yes, Yuezhi seemed sort of boring when they were around.

[Ghaust the Moor]

I don't have the attention span to play as the Sarmations. Also, who are the Yuehzi?

[Constantius III]

Also, who are the Yuehzi?
Ancestors of the Kushan Empire, in EB they pop up in the northeast corner of the map as scripted Eleutheroi stacks about 130 years into the game. They used to be a faction but got cut out after the team decided that it would be too ahistorical to have them within the confines of the EB map before they actually got there in real life.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

In a dark, dark past I once played Romaioi. The only time I quitted voluntarily after having effortlessly become filthy rich and unstoppable. Didn't even wait for Polybians.

[Vasiliyi]

Huh, Id have to say that ive never actually played more than a few turns as Saba, Ptoli's, Saroa's and lusos.

Although, in the back of my mind i plan on writing an aar for the Sarmatia some day.

[Beefy187]

I've played almost all the faction until I get filthy rich and bored.

Only exception would be The Romans and the Sauromatians.
I enjoy fighting Romans, as its a good challenge so I usually avoid them.

Sauromatians are good fun. But eventually I got bored of Steppe warfare. Pahlava, Hay and Saka gives you decent land force so I usually end up playing them.

[Aemilius Paulus]

In a dark, dark past I once played Romaioi. The only time I quitted voluntarily after having effortlessly become filthy rich and unstoppable. Didn't even wait for Polybians.
Liar. Everyone is at least OK with the Romans unless they did something stupid to screw up the game (cheats, no fixes=CTDs, reloading, not activating script, etc). That is the satalexton in you speaking. :smash:

[penguinking]

Liar. Everyone is at least OK with the Romans unless they did something stupid to screw up the game (cheats, no fixes=CTDs, reloading, not activating script, etc).

Wrong!

Ok.. if you guess what faction I am then I'll give you a balloon :balloon2:
:clown:

Autumn 266BC
https://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh311/ibnkhaldun/TW%20games/romes_fall.jpg

No.. not KH :beam:

Actually Moros mentioned them already.. so he really should get the balloon :balloon2:

Yes.. I'm Romani.. on the little island called Corsica..

How I ended up there?? Well.. you need to have some skill to loose as a Romani and looks like I have that skill :laugh4:

My southern legion was defeated by the Epirotes because they brought(or recruited?) reinforcements and when I finally attacked them there was too large of a force against me..

Foolishly I used my northern army to attack Corsica (I wanted to spice up my game!).. My navy was defeated by the Carthagian navy and I was stranded on that island. Before I managed to get a new legion the Carthagian army near Lilibaeo came and attacked Capua and then Rome.. Because I was in dept when that happened I had no chance to recruit any units to protect my northern cities and they too fell to the Carthagians.. Epirote managed to get Arpi in the same time when Carthage took Rome..

There is one good thing in this campaign actually.. the Carthage and Epirotes are at war now.. Epirotes took Capua and are heading south against Rhegion(Carthagians just took it last turn)..

Have to say that this have been one of the most interesting campaigns because I have never seen Carthage to become so powerful so fast.. :yes:

[Moros]

Saba, boring!?
Who said that!? :inquisitive:

[Ibrahim]

Saba, boring!?
Who said that!? :inquisitive:

well, it is boring..at least early on. but it certainly isn't the most boring.

problem is the lack of funds. I'm playing it right now, and I had to disband my army 5 times now to keep it all afloat.

but it gets fun once you conquer 4 settlements.

say, how on earth does one train those elephants? I know you can get them in saba, from africa... I think its type III or IV, but I'm not sure :shame:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Liar. Everyone is at least OK with the Romans unless they did something stupid to screw up the game (cheats, no fixes=CTDs, reloading, not activating script, etc). That is the satalexton in you speaking. :smash:
Yes I WAS OK with teh Romanz, but then happened what I said. And that was the best to happen, since I immadiately started my first Makedonian campaign, and that's basically what made me the fantastic dude I am today. :beam:

[Aemilius Paulus]

Saba, boring!?
Who said that!? :inquisitive:
I did :snobby:. Everyone knows that. Which is why Saba was and is on the top of that EB II thread which basically asks which EB faction least deserves its place IOHO (in our humble opinion).

But, I do remember you saying that Saba will be revamped in EBII, with many new units.

[Satyros]

I would have to agree about Saba , I really prefer to wander in the steppe , if I am to choose between wastelands that is .

On the other hand I absolutely hate playing with the Empires at the start of the game : Carthage , Ptolemy , Seleukeia . Haven't managed to get to turn 3 with them .

After all , you get to kick their collective butt as KH , my absolutely favorite faction ( except for the fact that my Spartan Generals don't get to have Spartan bodyguards later in the game - oh the tragedy , boo-hoo )

Satyros

[ARCHIPPOS]

3 most boring choices:
1) Seleukids ...just the idea of managing 20+ cities every turn from turn 1 kills my motivation for playing them... I prefer starting small ,then building up ...

2)Casse ... though i really like them as afaction and they get a great starting position their economy is just too lousy during the first decades... weak economy+weak starting army=not much action...o and their charriot command is possibly the lousiest unit in EB (looks cool though)

3)the Romans... i got soooooo bored of them after playing the Julii and Brutii RTW campaigns...

[satalexton]

The Romaioi, it was simply a point, a grunt, then a WAAAGH!!! They're better off digging in mines or serving as pack animals.

[MerlinusCDXX]

The Romaioi, it was simply a point, a grunt, then a WAAAGH!!! They're better off digging in mines or serving as pack animals serving as practice targets.

Quoted for half-truth. They make shitty pack animals compared to my steppe ponies. I've corrected the quote underlined text=line-through.

[Maion Maroneios]

Romaioi.

Maion

[Blxz]

I think the getai suck. I united all their thracian people so I could get that trait for the faction leader but I just could give enough of a damn to even care after that. Didn't even save the game coz I hate them too much. And I hate their colour. And their units. And their location.

EDIT: And their victory conditions.

[mountaingoat]

to the poster above ...... :no:


getai have an awesome unit roster and can choose (from the start) to battle the steppe , the celts , hellenes or the dirty romans !

+ falx ftw

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/neo/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/dacians_box_art.jpg

[Zim]

I can never bring myself to play most of the big empires, especially the Seleucids and Ptolemies, although I like their unit rosters...

I did have a fun Carthage game where I abandoned everything but Carthage (or Carthage and the two closest settlemetns to it, I'll have to check my old saves to find out...). I also have a fun Romani game where I've had little money and found myself being invaded by full stacks by sea constantly. Just taking it very slowly seems to have helped make it more challenging.

[Jebivjetar]

Playing as romaioi is boring as hell.
Playing against them, make them suffer... well that's another story.

[Mikhail Mengsk]

Can you write one post without "blah blah hate romaioi blah blah"? It's boring after the 152nd post.

[Jebivjetar]

Can you write one post without "blah blah hate romaioi blah blah"? It's boring after the 152nd post.

I try, man... but it just ain't work :beam:

[Mikhail Mengsk]

well this time you did it XD

[Jebivjetar]

well this time you did it XD


:angel:

:clown:

[Apázlinemjó]

Nomad factions, they are too cavalry based for me.

[DaciaJC]

I think the getai suck. I united all their thracian people so I could get that trait for the faction leader but I just could give enough of a damn to even care after that. Didn't even save the game coz I hate them too much. And I hate their colour. And their units. And their location.

EDIT: And their victory conditions.

:shout:

:stop: You make me sick. :sick: Such vile rhetoric defaming the greatest of EB factions will not be tolerated. :rtwno:

Point 1: You speak of the trait "Pavel-ter"? Uniting the Thracians isn't difficult at all. It's possible to completely avoid Makedonian territories if you move reasonably quickly, and unless some other faction has expanded west into Asia Mikra, taking Nikaia should be no problem. That being said, you can expect a considerable amount of conflict after you unite the Thracians, but by then, you should have access to all of your factional units (split into the northern Dacians and the southern Thracians, as I view it) and fighting to keep your empire alive should be a great deal more fun.

Point 2: It is possible to change a faction's color. You'll have to do the forum search yourself, but I recall a thread or two, or at least a post, detailing the necessary steps. Personally, I am entirely satisfied with the Getai's dirt-brown color. The perfect shade for barbarians and it brings words like "ambush" to mind.

Point 3: You dislike Drapanai with their armor-piercing, super-lethality falx and dirt-cheap cost? You don't like the Traikioi Rhomphaiaphoroi, the butchers of antiquity and the terror of all other factions? You aren't convinced by their Traikioi Prodromoi, arguably the most effective medium cavalry in EB? (Personally, though, I prefer the wizened looks of Tarabostes.) Not even their numerous elite units (Komatai Epilektoi, Ischyroi Orditon, Komatai Agrianai, the before-mentioned Rhomphaiaphoroi, and Ktistai)? They also have access to abundant types of horse archers, both factional and regional (Scythians, Sarmatians).

Point 4: The Getai boast one of the best locations in EB. At the beginning, they aren't bordered by any other faction, and so can develop at their own pace. On the second turn, the Getai can capture Sarmiszegethusa, which has mines, a unique building (actually a holy mountain that offers experience boosts to troops), and can be developed into an excellent recruiting center. Although initially landlocked, they can quickly capture any of four settlements bordering the Black Sea (Kallatis, Byzantion, Tylis, and Olbia). To their immediate south lie the Thracians, with their array of excellent units. Go farther south, and you happen upon the rich Hellenes, easy pickings for the Getai. To the west is a large buffer of Eleutheroi settlements, one of which offer the Cordinau Orca, one of the best heavy infantry in EB. The Getai also have the option of expanding north or northeast, though I have not done that yet (the settlements there offer little in terms of real value).

Point 5: Their victory conditions are reasonably easy to attain. The one potential difficulty you may encounter is in dealing with the Eleutheroi "super-stacks" to the north-west, but that gives you a good opportunity to field your best units and watch a slaughter [of the enemy] ensue. Otherwise, the victory conditions are straightforward and as one would expect them to be. In my second Getai campaign, I have completely side-stepped the northern "victory settlements"; why should I capture those if I plan to play beyond the point when "victory" is attained?


Er, forgot to post my choice for most boring faction. That would be the Saka Rauka. They're positioned in the very corner of the map, an obscure location to say the least. If I wanted to play a nomad/steppe faction, I would opt for the Sauromatae.

[Aemilius Paulus]

I agree with Frontline. Getai have a unique location, and most of all, a very unique unit roster. Overall, they are a great deal of fun to play with. Unlike those cloned Hellenic factions the nutjobs posting earlier in this thread worship, the Getai do not have 95% of their roster shared with other factions.

I personally love Eperios and Getai because they start out in the Balkans, the best place in EB IMHO. You can expand West and East, you are at the crossroads basically. Unlike Saka, Lusotanni, Auedui/Arverni/Casse, Pahlava, Baktria, etc. Those factions are either way in the Western corner of the EB map, or way in the East. If not for Baktria's location, choosing between it and Eperios was actually going to have to be difficult for me. But it was not. Unlike those cloned Hellenic factions the nutjobs posting earlier in this thread worship.

[Alsatia]

Casse is very tedious at times, fighting the eleutheroi up Britain...

[Tristuskhan]

I'd go for Romaioi: the campaign is refreshing for the first hundred turns, but it becomes a bore once you swim in money, something dramatically easy. Gah, the only thing I found to make it a little bit exciting is to launch an invasion of Hibernia with a fleet coming all the way from Mediterranean, and then do the same in order to take the island in the Baltic (Gwajam Gotanoz?). Oh, and kill Satres 19 times (I kept the count) and Rhesus 14 times.

[Fluvius Camillus]

:shout:

:stop: You make me sick. :sick: Such vile rhetoric defaming the greatest of EB factions will not be tolerated. :rtwno:

Point 1: You speak of the trait "Pavel-ter"? Uniting the Thracians isn't difficult at all. It's possible to completely avoid Makedonian territories if you move reasonably quickly, and unless some other faction has expanded west into Asia Mikra, taking Nikaia should be no problem. That being said, you can expect a considerable amount of conflict after you unite the Thracians, but by then, you should have access to all of your factional units (split into the northern Dacians and the southern Thracians, as I view it) and fighting to keep your empire alive should be a great deal more fun.

Point 2: It is possible to change a faction's color. You'll have to do the forum search yourself, but I recall a thread or two, or at least a post, detailing the necessary steps. Personally, I am entirely satisfied with the Getai's dirt-brown color. The perfect shade for barbarians and it brings words like "ambush" to mind.

Point 3: You dislike Drapanai with their armor-piercing, super-lethality falx and dirt-cheap cost? You don't like the Traikioi Rhomphaiaphoroi, the butchers of antiquity and the terror of all other factions? You aren't convinced by their Traikioi Prodromoi, arguably the most effective medium cavalry in EB? (Personally, though, I prefer the wizened looks of Tarabostes.) Not even their numerous elite units (Komatai Epilektoi, Ischyroi Orditon, Komatai Agrianai, the before-mentioned Rhomphaiaphoroi, and Ktistai)? They also have access to abundant types of horse archers, both factional and regional (Scythians, Sarmatians).

Point 4: The Getai boast one of the best locations in EB. At the beginning, they aren't bordered by any other faction, and so can develop at their own pace. On the second turn, the Getai can capture Sarmiszegethusa, which has mines, a unique building (actually a holy mountain that offers experience boosts to troops), and can be developed into an excellent recruiting center. Although initially landlocked, they can quickly capture any of four settlements bordering the Black Sea (Kallatis, Byzantion, Tylis, and Olbia). To their immediate south lie the Thracians, with their array of excellent units. Go farther south, and you happen upon the rich Hellenes, easy pickings for the Getai. To the west is a large buffer of Eleutheroi settlements, one of which offer the Cordinau Orca, one of the best heavy infantry in EB. The Getai also have the option of expanding north or northeast, though I have not done that yet (the settlements there offer little in terms of real value).

Point 5: Their victory conditions are reasonably easy to attain. The one potential difficulty you may encounter is in dealing with the Eleutheroi "super-stacks" to the north-west, but that gives you a good opportunity to field your best units and watch a slaughter [of the enemy] ensue. Otherwise, the victory conditions are straightforward and as one would expect them to be. In my second Getai campaign, I have completely side-stepped the northern "victory settlements"; why should I capture those if I plan to play beyond the point when "victory" is attained?


Er, forgot to post my choice for most boring faction. That would be the Saka Rauka. They're positioned in the very corner of the map, an obscure location to say the least. If I wanted to play a nomad/steppe faction, I would opt for the Sauromatae.

You are forcing me to start a Getai campaign when I read this....:sweatdrop:

~Fluvius

[HunGeneral]

You are forcing me to start a Getai campaign when I read this....:sweatdrop:

~Fluvius

Me too...:sweatdrop:

Back to topic: I haven't tried all factions so far, but I think I can say with great certanity that the Sauros are ment above all for Nomad fans, for the others it can get boring quite quick. I don't know about the others...

By the way: @ Frontline 1944: I don't think the position of the Sakae is that bad - it has a great feel to conquer anything westwards without having to fear someone or something attack you in the rear. (pluss I love the nomadic cavalry and infantry potential the Saka have:2thumbsup:) And I gotta agrea - Traikioi Rhomphaiaphoroi are real butchers:skull: on the field of battle... I can wait to recruit them to my Saka hordes and use them to hack some Romani (insert evil:laugh4:)

[Fierro]

I don't get it is there some inside joke going on around this forum about the Romani? Many posts all over the forum say how the author hates Romani and can't wait to destroy them or is disappointed because they do not get a chance to fight them in their current campaign.
Am I missing something here? Am I the only one who doesn't start campaigns with animosity towards certain factions?

[Fluvius Camillus]

I don't get it is there some inside joke going on around this forum about the Romani? Many posts all over the forum say how the author hates Romani and can't wait to destroy them or is disappointed because they do not get a chance to fight them in their current campaign.
Am I missing something here? Am I the only one who doesn't start campaigns with animosity towards certain factions?

Some people at this forum actually hate Romans, some do it as an inside joke. For some reason there is a lot of Romani bashing around here. When I was new to forums, it really annoyed me, but after some time I got used to it, also some of the "haters" actually were playing a Romani campaign in the meanwhile, as it was an inside joke between people, not actual hate.

~Fluvius

Edit: I can predict some of the posts following will include some of these things:
- Rome (or "Barbaropolis") must burn
- All hail Makedonia
- Some way to torture or kill romans
- A creepy person telling how he burns Rome and then a bulge starts forming in his pants.
- Something in the context above....

[HunGeneral]

- Rome (or "Barbaropolis") must burn

Historically it did - quite often...:juggle2: Atleast you always build it to look better...

- All hail Makedonia

Well almost all hellenes say that...:laugh4:

- Some way to torture or kill romans
Don't we all say that about a factions soldiers earlier or later?


- A creepy person telling how he burns Rome and then a bulge starts forming in his pants.

Strange, I never read one like that before or am I missing something?:inquisitive:

It is all rather a kind of "all forum joke" by most.

Backt to topic: does anyone find the lusotanni boring? I mean even if you manage to unite all of Iberia you can hardly go outside of it succesfully...

[Fluvius Camillus]

It was a joke (yes kinda lame, I know), why so serious?:clown:

[HunGeneral]

It was a joke (yes kinda lame, I know), why so serious?:clown:

Who's serious here? When it gets to romans I'm almost never serious:clown::laugh4:

[Ghaust the Moor]

All Hail EPIRUS!!! :smash::smash::smash::smash:

[Mikhail Mengsk]

I've learned about the romaioktonoi's jokes just a few hours ago, before that i spent my time debating with those hellenos fanatics XD

[HunGeneral]

I've learned about the romaioktonoi's jokes just a few hours ago, before that i spent my time debating with those hellenos fanatics XD

No wonder. The hellenes form the fanatic core of the romaioktonoi - although there are many joking ones among them aswell.:clown:

[Tartaros]

i say the averni. i don´t know why, probably because they have no devided territory and there gaesachtae-unit looks stupid...

[Fluvius Camillus]

i say the averni. i don´t know why, probably because they have no devided territory and there gaesachtae-unit looks stupid...

What??

Building this was a great experience!

https://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt22/Fluvius_Camillus/Celticum.jpg?t=1245793352

~Fluvius

[Tartaros]

What??

Building this was a great experience!

https://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt22/Fluvius_Camillus/Celticum.jpg?t=1245793352

~Fluvius

i did nearly the same some time ago - but i don´t know why, for me aedui are the cooler celts. i enjoy there gameplay much more (divided war against averni, early war with the romanoi)

[HunGeneral]

https://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt22/Fluvius_Camillus/Celticum.jpg?t=1245793352

:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop: - Now thats what I call a celtic empire!:yes::2thumbsup::yes::2thumbsup:

And in 254 BC?! One question if I may: what tactics did you use (especially against the romani..)?

[Moosemanmoo]

i did nearly the same some time ago - but i don´t know why, for me aedui are the cooler celts. i enjoy there gameplay much more (divided war against averni, early war with the romanoi)

Plus that lime Green is just sickening
Aedui's dark colour just says grrrrr me smash :smash:

[Maion Maroneios]

Now that's what I cal blitzing, if you ask me. But hey, I've never bothered playing the Arbernoi too much as to get that far so I can't really tell if it's easy to get to such heights or not.

Maion

[DaciaJC]

By the way: @ Frontline 1944: I don't think the position of the Sakae is that bad - it has a great feel to conquer anything westwards without having to fear someone or something attack you in the rear.

That is precisely why I don't like the Sakae. Being able to expand in just one general direction is bad enough, but to be placed in the most obscure corner of the map, where the land is either steppe or mountains, is something that doesn't attract me.


By the way, Fluvius Camillus, if you can replicate your feat of conquering the world by 195/190 BC with the Getai, I will shower you with balloons. :2thumbsup:

[Moros]

I did :snobby:. Everyone knows that. Which is why Saba was and is on the top of that EB II thread which basically asks which EB faction least deserves its place IOHO (in our humble opinion).

But, I do remember you saying that Saba will be revamped in EBII, with many new units.

Yes. It will gain a few strong factional units but especially a lot of regionals. I'd expect EBII to have more than 20 arab units.
Also actually I must agree saba is boring even though the campaign 'an sich'would be very promising, well content wise it is. But that's because a lot never got made or finished. Either way as I will work on EBII's saba I'll have automatically extra content than could possibly be made into a small patch for EBI. And I'm also be helping AtB with fleshing out the Sabaeans more.

I'll only be content if Saba and the rest of Arbia in it's whole get represented as good as any other faction and region, and showing people that saba diserves a slot. Also I think I'll be very succesfull in making saba and arabia interesting, and hopefully set certain people to love this sadly forgotten, disregarded and neglected part of history.

[DaciaJC]

I started a Sab'yn campaign yesterday, and I'm having a blast. Their position is somewhat regrettable, and it's clear that there is still work to be done, but playing as Saba is far from boring, in my opinion.

[satalexton]

Oh joy, the more to join the service of Arche Makedonia =D

Oh Fatherland of Glory,
Vergina sun shines bright!
Sons of Alexandros,
All Hail Makedonia!!

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Re: Saba
Though I knew very little about them when I started, I tried to fill in as much as I could (outside of the units themselves, which I had no part in) to make them feel more interesting, like their ritual banquet building tree and the ritual hunts and festivals, their temples, their ethnicity traits, a few unique buildings for the region, their own unique looking spies and diplomats on the campaign map, etc. For a the last faction we added and one so different from the rest, I think we did a fairly good job with them. I'll also admit that I pretty freely took a lot from a few of the best academic works that I could find on them. I do wish we could have found someone or a group who would let us use some appropriate traditional music, but TPC's eastern songs help out for sure. Someone filling in like that is necessary when the big proponents of a new faction vanish. I did talk with some phd students who were working on the Sabaeans, but none would agree to help us (though Jean-Francois Breton himself did give a little in the way of advice and some leads).

[Celtic_Punk]

I like all the factions. But I hate Rome, and I feel like the bad guys when I play em. I prefer killing Romans! :smash:


EDIT: also for all you casse haters! The campaign is incredibly hard. Only the best survive. Only the greatest can take the whole isle. You just have to pick your targets. And siege them till they sally or surrender. Use your initial dough and let yourself go into huge debt. Get rid of those damn boats too you don't need em at all. Get to Eire through Scotland. Once you unite the Isles you'll have insane amounts of coin. Get trade rights with as many people as possible. Spain is an inviting target! Lots of romans or possibly carthies to kill! It is worth it to spend most of your money on a fleet to get rid of pirates in the North Sea and Bay of Biscay. Its a very hard campaign.

[DaciaJC]

I don't know why you ramble on the difficulty of the Casse while simultaneously exhorting Casse players to willingly go into debt... :dizzy2:

If one disbands the navy and most of the starting troops, the Casse won't go into debt and will actually make a small profit each season. Bide your time and you will slowly but surely expand with no threat from any other faction.

I managed to play about 10 years as Casse and build something of a full-stack before I decided that there wasn't much to be found attractive in Casse units, in my opinion.

[Celtic_Punk]

pfffff, you cower behind your phalanxes and such. The casse are true warriors! And actually put up a fight against the romans!

[Apázlinemjó]

The Casse isn't really a hard campaign, you are isolated and that tells everything. It's fun, if you want to build up a strong barbarian economy and army, before you hit the other factions.

[Atraphoenix]

I love all, I just get bored after I have dominated the world and there is no faction to challenge me.

If you battle with the same tactics you get bored as well.
For Hellenic factions you get bored using hammer and anvil all the time.
For nomadic factions you get bored using rinse and repeat or hit and run all the time.

so you must change your playing style. For example after I have dominated persia and mesopotamia with mostly Pahlava, I immediately change my battle tactics from classical rinse and repeat to a hybrid of hit and run and hammer and anvil.
Namely, I send HAS to soften the enemy. then enemy engages my pandadapoi phalangitai that pins them, then after the inferno of HAS the remaining enemy troops they are piece of cake for my cataphracts :laugh4:
so change your playing style, if you stick to historical realism or house rules, there is no fun mate :no:
like : If you bored with slow moving phalanxes just increase the time speed...

[Celtic_Punk]

I find the elutheroi in my Casse campaigns aggressive. I've been sieged many many times on the first few turns.

[Atraphoenix]

But Casse is a great challenge but it depend on the player who like challenge or peaceful, slow expansion. She has many good infantries and even romani elites are no match for them.
On the other hand, As I am a cavalry maniac, I have never played with them.

[Apázlinemjó]

But Casse is a great challenge but it depend on the player who like challenge or peaceful, slow expansion. She has many good infantries and even romani elites are no match for them.
On the other hand, As I am a cavalry maniac, I have never played with them.

Casse starts with neutral to Eleutheroi, so you don't need to worry that they don't let you to grow peacefully. The AI factions won't bother you, you can concentrate on the rebels - wipe them out, build a "safe haven" then invade Gallia. Casse is the easiest barbarian faction, as the Gauls are forced to fight eachother and Rome, while the Lusos end up dead against Carthage, while Swebóz is isolated too, after a little growin' they get into a trench warfare with Rome and the Sarmatians.

[Cute Wolf]

Believe it or not: Koinon Hellenon (but that also my favourite faction!!!)
End up doing the very same thing when the campaign starts... kicking Kydonia, reinforcing athenai, and massacring Korinthos... then moving up and doing a really big mess as quickly as possible against those Makedonians and Epeirotes.... and when u concentrate to the war, Pantikapaion, Emporion, Chersonesos, Sinope, and every "Greek Cities" sent their emissary say they are on your side now.... Waaarrrggghhhh......

But they are really funny everytime i play... just need some improvement, and "add_unit" for Makedonian ai

[Fierro]

I don't understand how people have trouble with Casse. In my current campaign taking over the islands was a breeze and after that I had a ridiculous income. I waited until 200BC to attack the mainland that way I could build up my cities and actually face developed favtions (that didn't work out too well, AI factions still seem just as weak with some being larger than others)
The only reason I'm not swimming in mnai is because I have three stacks of elites and a navy of 10 ships. If it wasn't for that I would easily have several million mnai.

[Satyros]

I wouldn't say the Casse are that hard either . They're for the first 3-4 turns , until you repel the Caledonians and take your first town , in my current campaign I managed to pull this off in the same battle , which was a close one but I really enjoyed winning it .

I found the Aedui a much greater challenge .

Still , these are 2 very interesting factions whereas the huge management of the Empires ( Carthage , Seleukeia , Ptolemy ) from turn 1 is too much of a burden for me to be convinced to keep playing after turn 3 .

Also the Romaioi are boring because they are too easy I believe . First turn on the positive ( at leat when I played them once , at an older version it was so ) ? Bah ! This is not a man's campaign ! It's a boy's campaign . Na na nana na .

On the other hand the KH suits me best I think . Some tough battles in the beggining ( true , the same ones every time ) till you get out of debt ( true , you can't plunge into a -30000 abyss ) but the challenge after that is to defend your colonies , especially if one happens to join your alliance . The declarations of war are a perfect opportunity to either gain some buck from ceasefires pretending to be forgiving to the enemy and roleplaying animosities with said colony , or be really offended and send ships and men to battle HA in the steppes , which should be a fun slaughter of your army .

Also , the unit Hellen Misthophoros Strategos absolutely rocks . Fast cavalry with a deadly charge , by the gods I'll have half of my cities with an allied gov . And a question popped up , but I will take it elsewhere since I am way off topic a while now in the post .

Satyros

[DaciaJC]

pfffff, you cower behind your phalanxes and such.

Er, no. Look to my signature and you'll see that I play mostly as Getai and a bit as Romani. No phalanxes to be found with either. I hate them myself.

And it seems like most people agree that the Casse campaign is rather easy compared to those of other barbarian factions.

[Moros]

Re: Saba
Though I knew very little about them when I started, I tried to fill in as much as I could (outside of the units themselves, which I had no part in) to make them feel more interesting, like their ritual banquet building tree and the ritual hunts and festivals, their temples, their ethnicity traits, a few unique buildings for the region, their own unique looking spies and diplomats on the campaign map, etc. For a the last faction we added and one so different from the rest, I think we did a fairly good job with them. I'll also admit that I pretty freely took a lot from a few of the best academic works that I could find on them. I do wish we could have found someone or a group who would let us use some appropriate traditional music, but TPC's eastern songs help out for sure. Someone filling in like that is necessary when the big proponents of a new faction vanish. I did talk with some phd students who were working on the Sabaeans, but none would agree to help us (though Jean-Francois Breton himself did give a little in the way of advice and some leads).
TA: nobody blames you. You did a terrific job at making the saby'n as they are, after VC and Qwerty stopped working on them. It's just that content wise and work wise, they are much behind the other factions. They barely have any unique traits and stuff. I'm really happy you were able to even get them in a more than playable state.
Also you had feeback from Breton? I know you used one of his books, which I've real as well, but I never knew you actually contacted him and that he responded!? Could you pm me what he said or something, as I'd really be interested to know what he shared with you?

[Apázlinemjó]

The Saba campaign is good, when you like to roleplay and build up a strong economy. The only sad thing about them, that you can't field good "native" army.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Search for Breton in the development forum, you'll see it pretty easily. Some team member translated the email to French and I sent it - he responded with some advice, it was pretty cool, but not tremendously helpful (though his book certainly was; it was probably the single biggest influence on the faction I'd say).

[Ibrahim]

The Saba campaign is good, when you like to roleplay and build up a strong economy. The only sad thing about them, that you can't field good "native" army.

you can build a good native one actually.

the way to do it is to rely on archers and slingers, with a core of infantry and cavalry for support of the archers. re sea axemen, and medium cavalry are very good for that. give them a few chevrons, and things will go well. and as most of your enemies will field light units, at least till later, the archers should do heavy damage.

archer spearmen come to mind, but sabaeans can do well in melee (for archers).

[Apázlinemjó]

you can build a good native one actually.

the way to do it is to rely on archers and slingers, with a core of infantry and cavalry for support of the archers. re sea axemen, and medium cavalry are very good for that. give them a few chevrons, and things will go well. and as most of your enemies will field light units, at least till later, the archers should do heavy damage.

archer spearmen come to mind, but sabaeans can do well in melee (for archers).

Because the AI is...the AI, but against a heavily armored army, controlled by a player doesn't really work, sadly.

[Celtic_Punk]

This much is true. Even a light armoured celtic army could overwhelm the Saba.

[Moosemanmoo]

Poor little saba

[Ibrahim]

Because the AI is...the AI, but against a heavily armored army, controlled by a player doesn't really work, sadly.

yeah, but I'm assuming this is sp, not mp:clown:

but yeah, playing them in mp renders you screwed. hardly anyone uses them there:no:

I'm telling ye, they are underpowered, especially the nomads. also can't get over them nomads having metal speartips that are 6ft in length, instead of the correct cowhorn speartip at 8-9f in length :sad:

[ARCHIPPOS]

It's all in the head though... i imagine some people might be inspired by leading the underdog underpowered Saba to world domination... i am kind of inspired by the prospect of a desert-middle- east , low-tech army of hardened veterans pushing against the Ptolemies and the Seleukid giants... makes the Saba cause a very noble one right???

[Ibrahim]

It's all in the head though... i imagine some people might be inspired by leading the underdog underpowered Saba to world domination... i am kind of inspired by the prospect of a desert-middle- east , low-tech army of hardened veterans pushing against the Ptolemies and the Seleukid giants... makes the Saba cause a very noble one right???

yep, it is and does.

I just won a battle vs. a stack of ptolemaians- 1600 of them, vs 1300 of us. I managed to win a heroic victory, using cannae style tactics (double envelopement using a smaller army). it was tough though, my general died, and 40% of my men with him. they had 1 unit Klerouch agema, 4-6 of the klerouch normal, 2 celtic ones, and the rest assorted troops. I had some ethiopeians swordsmen, archers, and cavalry,some celtic mercenaries, and a few mercenary gee-I mean, greeks. thessalikoi were a real help :yes:


the irony? It was next to the Pyramids-I fought the battle of the Pyramids 2000 years in advance :clown:

EDIT: is it me, or is it always a semetic speaking person who pulls this feat off? Hannibal, Khalid ibn al-walid, now me? double envelopement with a smaller army seems rare.

[ARCHIPPOS]

oops sorry read your message wrong... i thought you meant Semetic people coming back with apayback or sth...

i suppose if your troops are lighter and less armoured enveloping the enemy becomes even more of a necessity...

[ARCHIPPOS]

there was a thread abt making EB more rewarding... weeeeeell i find fighting your battles with low tech armies as a turn-on... i mean sure i like cool-ass elite infantry units, heavy cavalry, elephants etc to feed the megalomaniac in me but during the begining and middle game you can hardly afford many (if any ) of that stuff... fighting with decent "mediocre" troops makes you become all the more resourceful and carefull ... and the victories taste sooooooo sweet :yes::yes::yes:

[Ibrahim]

there was a thread abt making EB more rewarding... weeeeeell i find fighting your battles with low tech armies as a turn-on... i mean sure i like cool-ass elite infantry units, heavy cavalry, elephants etc to feed the megalomaniac in me but during the begining and middle game you can hardly afford many (if any ) of that stuff... fighting with decent "mediocre" troops makes you become all the more resourceful and carefull ... and the victories taste sooooooo sweet :yes::yes::yes:

well, it was more bitter than sweet. the casualties were so high, and I was so far from any retraining center, that I had to disband the thrid army's core units, and start all over (I have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; 1st is on its way to petra, fresh from taking Oman; 2nd is in Memphis and to the west (its overstreched), and 3rd is a series of little garrisons from Alexandria to Diospolis-megale, now that its been shattered:shame:

at least I took all of egypt-the question is now: can I hold it against the ptolemaian hordes?

[athanaric]

Well, as Saba you have to win lots of heroic victories or else perish.

[Maion Maroneios]

Pah, filthy desert mokeys. I hate them poking their noses when I meddle around the Levant, Bostra (?) always seems to rebel to them along with a goddamn fullstack.

Maion

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Yeah, they are really pesky! Countless times did they attack Bostra, until I was fed up and sent an army down to take care of them. I pillaged their country twice, twice I conquered their territories. I destroyed everything, but do they vanish into oblivion? No. They took Homna from me when the civil war ravaged the Arche. I gifted Qataban to the Kingdom of Axum (tffka Qarthadast), hoping these would eat them up. But now the Sabaeans are about to deprive the Axumites of their city even!

The Third Sabaean War will deal an end to them. :skull:

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Koinon Hellenon - despite having a certain fondness for them, their roster is bland, boring and terribly anachronistic and weak. Nothing like a pike phalanx when you're playing Hellenes, and that's what they lack the most. And cavalry, especially cavalry.

Sweboz - Terrible.

Saba - Never went past turn one.

Ptolemaioi and Seleucids - Big Empires, not fun.

Karthadastim - I'm better off destroying them than commanding them.

The Best:

Romani, Arverni, Makedonia, Epeiros, Casse, Sauromatae, Baktria.

EDIT - The order above is my order of preference. The important aspect to notice is that I was never fond of pike phalanxes either, despite finding them a necessary evil for Successor states; my favourite part is the Successor Cavalry, otherwise the flexible and fast heavy infantry of the Romani and Gauls eats them for breakfast all the time.

[Ibrahim]

Pah, filthy desert mokeys. I hate them poking their noses when I meddle around the Levant, Bostra (?) always seems to rebel to them along with a goddamn fullstack.

Maion

yeah, you can beat us up, but we will never really be beat (in the EB world).

unlike some other greekssakgfaeirkajf *cough*

[Ariovistus Maximus]

It seems like everybody thinks (x) faction is boring because they can't play it like their favorite faction. :stupido:

Of course you can't play Saba like you play the Gauls. Or Casse like you play AS.

If you play them according to their strengths and not an all-encompassing game rulebook, it is quite interesting.

I'm a big fan of variety, so I like the Saba just because their placement, units, and EVERYTHING is way different from everybody else.

And having gigantic Ptolemoi to fight against first is quite... interesting.

The Casse are fun in the beginning because you're losing tons of $$$, so you have to get rid of some stuff. And once you do THAT, you have juuuuust enough troops to take one of the eleutheroi cities. This is quite difficult just because of your limited army size, but if you pull it off you feel soooo good.

Plus, when I did my Casse campaign, I ran over to the baltic and took Scandinavia. :2thumbsup: That made it interesting.

Anyways, I think the most boring faction is the eleutherio. :clown:

HAIL BARTIX!

[Maion Maroneios]

greekssakgfaeirkajf:inquisitive:

Maion

[Ghaust the Moor]

It seems like everybody thinks (x) faction is boring because they can't play it like their favorite faction. :stupido:

Of course you can't play Saba like you play the Gauls. Or Casse like you play AS.

If you play them according to their strengths and not an all-encompassing game rulebook, it is quite interesting.

I'm a big fan of variety, so I like the Saba just because their placement, units, and EVERYTHING is way different from everybody else.

And having gigantic Ptolemoi to fight against first is quite... interesting.

The Casse are fun in the beginning because you're losing tons of $$$, so you have to get rid of some stuff. And once you do THAT, you have juuuuust enough troops to take one of the eleutheroi cities. This is quite difficult just because of your limited army size, but if you pull it off you feel soooo good.

Plus, when I did my Casse campaign, I ran over to the baltic and took Scandinavia. :2thumbsup: That made it interesting.

Anyways, I think the most boring faction is the eleutherio. :clown:

HAIL BARTIX!

Amen brother... :cool4:

[Irishmafia2020]

Personally I've really enjoyed my Saba campaigns... You really appreciate every soldier, and the family members have to fight immediately or you will lose. Additionally I found myself really appreciating levy phalanxes and Ethiopian spearmen - neither of whom would be exceptional units in a powerhouse roster. Saba is not a boring campaign at all - it is not about creating an empire, but rather it is about surviving, and maybe conquering Ethiopia and India... I do look forward to Saba's evolution in EB2!

My Votes for boring would be Sauromatae, Casse, and Sweboz. Sauromatae are spread out, and they have no real infantry units. Therefore your campaign will be almost exclusively about cavalry units, which holds limited appeal to me - in contrast, Saka can conquer India and get access to some really amazing native units, as well as some impressive regional infantry in the Baktria/selucid areas. Sauromatae's redeeming aspect is that they border a huge area potentially, and they have a legitimate reason to war with 9 or 10 different factions who have very different cultures (so very different battles and wars).

Casse is a challenging campaign, but they face no real external threat. They should start with Belgium at least (for gameplay purposes) or perhaps one of the Celtic tribes should control a piece of Britain. Unfortunately that may be ahistoric, but I hope EB2 adds another faction on the islands (Goidils, or Caledonians maybe) which would spice up the Casse campaign nicely.

Sweboz - I suppose that this is a matter of taste, I prefer Saba, you prefer Sweboz (speaking to no one in particular), but the campaign is similar in a sense. Sweboz are a bit isolated, and their units are not that impressive. Most importantly all of the battles are in the forest, so not a lot of diversity there. I am sure that you can make this campaign very interesting, but isn't that true of all of of EB's factions?

What is noteworthy about my three choices is that none of them border the Mediterranean or Black sea. I am not a fan of playing empires, and I am well aware of the similarity of the various hellenic and Eastern factions, but IMO if you can reach the sea at the center of the world, you won't have a boring campaign...

[athanaric]

Actually, the only boring part of a Saba campaign is the endless battles and sallies against countless horribly imbalanced (as in: Phalanx only...) Ptolemaic and AS armies.

By the way, Saba can recruit Galatikoi Kleruchoi, Indian Guild warriors, and three types of Elephants. And their version of Pantodapoi Phalangitai looks cooler to me than those of the other factions.

https://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6329/sabapikeman.jpg (https://img156.imageshack.us/i/sabapikeman.jpg/)

[Ibrahim]

Actually, the only boring part of a Saba campaign is the endless battles and sallies against countless horribly imbalanced (as in: Phalanx only...) Ptolemaic and AS armies.

By the way, Saba can recruit Galatikoi Kleruchoi, Indian Guild warriors, and three types of Elephants. And their version of Pantodapoi Phalangitai looks cooler to me than those of the other factions.

https://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6329/sabapikeman.jpg (https://img156.imageshack.us/i/sabapikeman.jpg/)

I;ve been using those lately.

but I still want those elephants; how do I train them? whatgevernment is required? I, II, III, or IV?

[athanaric]

I;ve been using those lately.

but I still want those elephants; how do I train them? whatgevernment is required? I, II, III, or IV?

You need lvl 4 regional MIC for Pilei Ya'ar Libim (the small ones) and lvl 5 regional MIC for Elephantes Liboukoi (the Bush Elephants). IIRC, Indian Elephants require lvl 4 regional MIC. Thus, Type IV government is probably the best for elephants.
By the way, be careful when using the Elephantes Liboukoi. Although they are at least as powerful as the Indian Elephants, their morale is extremely low (4, which is less than half of that of Arab slingers). Fortunately, government types III and IV come with a +1 experience bonus for Saba.

[Ibrahim]

You need lvl 4 regional MIC for Pilei Ya'ar Libim (the small ones) and lvl 5 regional MIC for Elephantes Liboukoi (the Bush Elephants). IIRC, Indian Elephants require lvl 4 regional MIC. Thus, Type IV government is probably the best for elephants.
By the way, be careful when using the Elephantes Liboukoi. Although they are at least as powerful as the Indian Elephants, their morale is extremely low (4, which is less than half of that of Arab slingers). Fortunately, government types III and IV come with a +1 experience bonus for Saba.

thanks! *goes off to save the war effort*

[Olaf The Great]

I honestly like Saba a lot, very challenging and a good starting position.

Baktria has a very good endgame but the first couple of turns are very boring.

[Maion Maroneios]

thanks! *goes off to save the war effort*
Dude, wait! You still haven't told me what "greekssakgfaeirkajf" means!

*runs behind Ibrahim hoping to catch up*

Maion

[Skullheadhq]

Most boring faction to play:
Sauromatae and Romani

Sauromatae because of the huge distances between their settlements
Romani: Because you're at 255B.C the Bill Gates of the ancient world and steamroll all faction with your moneyz.