Best Faction for a beginner.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I've been playing the multiplayer and historical battles on MTW, mostly, but I hadn't really looked at the full campaign. I thought I'd give it a go, so I tried the HRE on early. I did terribly I couldn't keep track of my units and buildings, and my provinces kept rebelling What is the best Faction for a beginner? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[solypsist]

try the Byzantine or Danish SP campaign if you're new to the game, setting on Early.

[Tyrac]

The smaller it is the easier it will be to keep track. So Danes are great, Also english with there big Island can be safe. Also scan through the forums and do some reading. There are tons of hints to make things run smoothly. The Table of Contents section is a very good starting point.

[econ21]

Yes, I tried HRE as a beginner and quickly got overwhelmed. Ditto Byzantines, although those two factions are in some ways the ones that appeal to me most (in terms of having a fun strategic situation).

The Danes may be straightforward, by virtue of having only one province, but you may find that too restrictive and anyway, they may require better strategy to get things going than some others.

I'd say start with England, especially if you are from the UK as it will feel rather familiar.

- It has one of the quietest strategic positions - you are really only threatened by France and she can be deterred or allied with for a while. Unlike HRE, you can pick your fights and so avoid perpetual warfare (which can get depressing in MTW).

- You have enough provinces & troops to get a decent income & army but not enough to be swamped.

- Your early battles can be small ones against rebels in your Isles (hint: bribe the Welsh to get their longbows; you won't see their like for more than 100 years&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

- If you follow your Glorious Achievements, you can build up to be a sea power and go on sea-borne crusades.

- You will be rewarded with nice unique units (longbows + billmen) if you play until the high age

- plus you get a very powerful special character quite soon in the early period (some chap Fitzsomehing Strongbow or other).

[chilling]

I'd agree with that. The English are nicely set up for a first campaign.

[Vlad The Impaler]

1. Englandm - anytime
2.Byzantine- early
3.Alomhads - early

[71-hour Ahmed]

Personally I'd say the Almohads in Early are easiest to learn the single player game. Its what worked for me.

The Egyptians don't do anything near the start, and the alomhad empire only has two provinces at the start where anything really interesting will happen - you can safely ignore most of N. Africa. Only one border is important at start - Spain.

Then you can have a simple invasion of Spain, and the other one. Nay bother. After all you want to go somewhere eventually. Plus it gets harder later and that will help push you on.

Let us know what you pick big King, and how it goes.

[Leet Eriksson]

for beginners i recommend Almohad and Byzantines(in early period),Egyptians in high and late and British in any period.also the russians start in a good position,but watch out for mongols.

[Lord Of Storms]

I would say the English anytime (not to large to manage ) and the Egyptians in late (good economic base )these were the first two I had good games with when starting out http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Odyssey of War]

Danes in the Early are pretty easy to start with, just take over sweden quick (either capture or bribe) and then build up trade routes to bring in some cash flow. Once you get going, Id advise either heading east toward the novogrod provinces or west toward the english provinces. Having lots of vikings early on with a few complements of archers and royal knights (very good generals with Danes) can make easy mincemeat of the english very early on before the english really get going.

The english in early are good as a start also. Just have to keep the french at bay.

[Basileus]

English Italian are quite easy i guess

[pdoan8]

Danes in Early.

- Small but easy to defend.
- Two rebel provinces to practice some early tactics before get into major battle later.
- Learn how to mess with the other Catholic factions without making the Pope go crazy. (Take Saxony from the HRE or invade England)
- Easy naval expansion both Westward and Eastward.
- Sweden and Norway are rich. Sweden has iron and Norway produces +1 valour Viking.
- Denmark, Sweden and Norway are not on the regular path of Crusades.

Byzantine in Early is good because it's big and rich and have lots of good generals. There are a few points that can make Byzantine hard to play:

- Too big to defend for learner. Wide frontline need more troops to defend almost immediately.
- Naples is cut off.
- Early sea contest with the Italian and the Sicilian.
- Close target for Crusades by nature. Also, it on the Crusade's land route to the Holyland (Tripoli, Jerusalem, ...).
- Tough opponents in the South: Turk and Egypt (Almohad later). Well, but they usually take good care of each other if you don't intervene.
- Very close to the Mongol Horde.
- Have to deal with both Crusade and Jihad.

That's my opinion.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Thanks for all the support, It's been really nice. I picked the English, and I'm doing well. I hold all of Britain(including Ireland)and most of France. Soon Ile De France will fall. I'm really starting to get into the SP game now, and I can see why it's so popular. Once again, thanks. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[HopAlongBunny]

http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=7;t=2273

I tried to paste you a link here to the Table of Contents. Lots of discussion about diffrent factions, tactics, strategies, hints...etc.

hmm, link doesn't work quite right but the URL will take you there (I guess netscape doesn't work quite the same as ie)

Enjoy http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif