How can i play other factions?!?!?!?!?!?

[Constantinius]

I think i remember reading in the manual somewhere that you could play as the barbarians, ie- other cultures besides the romans. Is this possible? And if it isnt why isnt it, In MTW you had many countries to choose from, is it that hard to play as other factions, or is this being addressed in a possible expansion?

[Thrudvang]

If you beat the game on a full campaign, you unlock everyone.

Playing Small Campaigns unlocks whoever you need to destroy (and I think others you eliminate on the way? Not sure, getting to the end of my first campaign very soon but it's almost bedtime for me).

[desdichado]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36543

above link is for a thread on the org. In there you'll find a link for a crack that opens all factions. not sure why CA bothered really - crack was out before most people even got the game!

[cstuart]

It's true you have to completely cruch a faction before you can play it in a campaign. I had to destroy carthage just so i could play it, i was not happy about this little part of the game. i wanted to test play each faction, but this part of the game is crazy.

[Merlin271]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36543

above link is for a thread on the org. In there you'll find a link for a crack that opens all factions. not sure why CA bothered really - crack was out before most people even got the game!

The file in that thread is a dud, but if you scroll down there's an excellent & easy guide by Steppe Merc written further down the thread.

[Orvis Tertia]

I actually like the little bit of suspense that's created by the need to unlock playable factions. I was also quite pleasantly surprised to discover that the Gauls have their own intro movie, just like the Roman families. I'm now assuming that all of the playable factions will have an intro movie. The movies are a really nice touch, I think. They really set the stage.

[lars573]

Here's how unlocking the other factions goes.
1.If you destroy a playable faction in the campagin you unlock them (I did this with the greek cities)
2.If you beat the imperial campagin you unlock all playable factions for play
3.The easiest way to do said unlocking is to beat a short campaign (hold 15 provinces and crush a specific faction (Gaul for the Julii, Carthage and Numidia for the Scipii, and the Macedon and the greek cities for the Brutii)
4.Non-playable factions are
Armenia
Dacia
Macedon
Pontus
Numidia
Thrace
Spain
Senate
Sythia

If you don't like the fact that one of these factions is un-playable then it's really easy to edit them in for play. I can't remember where the file is but it's called descr_strat or something like that.