Best Newbie Faction?

[Tigranes]

I'm introducing my father to this game tonight. What faction should I start him out with, for easy playability? Nothing overwhelmingly easy, but nothing too hard either.

Would the Seleucids be good?

Note: I have the latest version of Rome: Total Realism (6.2)

[Drusus Magnus]

One of the Romans if it would be vanilla. Seleucids seem pretty tough, being surrounded and all.

It depends how good your father is with comps.

Either the Romans or the Greeks... those seemed the easiest in RTR for me.

[ShadesPanther]

The Seleucids are pretty tough for a new player (Lots of money problems and the neighbours don't seem to like you)

I recommend Rome, Macedonians or trusty Carthage (They are nice and safe from attacks on their core provinces as well as rolling in cash with all the trade)

[GeneralHankerchief]

If you're playing vanilla, I'd recommend Julii. They have very little money problems, good units, and a starting enemy that isn't too tough, as compared to the other Romans. If your dad gets confident against the Gauls, then you can move him a level up and have him invade Carthage where he gets to deal with elephants.

I have no experience with RTR, but from what I've heard it's a lot tougher for the Romans in the start. I'd recommend the Eggies, but they have all their uber-powerful chariots taken away from them IIRC. I'd probably have him start out with some Greek faction, possibly Greece itself if you mean to play RTR.

[Zenicetus]

I'd recommend Brutii Romans, for the starting position and the (eventual) huge cashflow, once you roll through Greece and Asia Minor.

Seleucids have interesting units; I enjoy playing that faction a lot. But it might be a little tough for a beginner because you have to immediately deal with multiple fronts. The Brutii campaign is a more basic, linear expansion to the east in the early game. If he wants a barbarian faction, maybe Germania? They have good units and are fairly easy to play.

[Garvanko]

The Seleucids are pretty tough for a new player (Lots of money problems and the neighbours don't seem to like you)

I recommend Rome, Macedonians or trusty Carthage (They are nice and safe from attacks on their core provinces as well as rolling in cash with all the trade)
Carthage and Macedon can be tough for a newbie. No one will ally with you, and you're always at war with someone.

Easy factions?

Any of the Romans.. Senate missions will give you targets, while the objectives and expansion routes are clear. You also have your back covered by the other Romans for most of the game.

Egypt - All that money..
Greek Cities - Money not a problem, plus they're fun.
Spain - Clear early objective - control the Iberian peninsular - after that, it gets interesting.

[Avicenna]

Okay, read the post most of you. It's RTR, not vanilla. But really, for a person new to the game, you should try vanilla. It's easier to play and learn, due to the tutorial. In RTR, Carthage is a no-no with it's spread out empire that has an army to large to support, but you also need to wherever you want to go, whether that's expansion into Africa, Italia or Iberia. You'll almost definitely lose some provinces, and you'll have to be to careful. The vanilla Roman factions are easy and therefore good for the beginner. The Romans in RTR are too challenging: imagine facing Pyrrhus in your first ever battle. Almost a guaranteed loss, not knowing how powerful the elephants are (though that might be realistic). Perhaps secure Italia and let your father take on from there?

[Ciaran]

I don´t know RTR, and I don´t recommend starting a game with a modded one, for by and large they tend to be harder than the vanilla game, according to my experience.
In the vanilla game the Romans would be my recommendation, especially when it comes to the battles. The factions depending on Phalanx units need quite a bit of time to learn how to use properly, that combined with the crappy units you get at a campaign start will most likely be pretty frustrating for a beginner.
Personally, I´d suggest the Julii for a beginner, their units can stand up to the barbarian ones they´ll encounter easily enough, so they´re good for getting a feel for the game without too much frustration. It worked for me, and I´ve started my Total War experience with RTW.

[Krauser]

In any case, Rome is the easiest, vanilla(Julii, Brutii, or Scipii) or RTR(unified Rome)

[gardibolt]

Yeah, a first game would be better with vanilla to get the feet wet. If he likes that, then turn him on to RTR.

The Julii is pretty much what most people think of as the Romans, so that's probably the best way to go for a novice. The Brutii are a lot easier due to their cash-rich goals and the utterly ineffective defenses of the Greeks.

[Subedei]

I would say in any version (Vanilla, RTR, EB) go for Rome, Carthage, Greeks or Seleucids. Depends on what your dad prefers. Give him some advice, like: "No daddy, don`t attack the bowmen with your elephants, they don`t like the burning arrows!" And most of all: Levels on "easy/easy". That should do.

BTW how old is your dad?

[Ciaran]

Yeah, a first game would be better with vanilla to get the feet wet. If he likes that, then turn him on to RTR.

The Julii is pretty much what most people think of as the Romans, so that's probably the best way to go for a novice. The Brutii are a lot easier due to their cash-rich goals and the utterly ineffective defenses of the Greeks.

Personally, I wouldn´t consider Bruti easier than Julii for a complete beginner. The phalanxes they´ll be facing require a more coordinated approach on the battlefield than the Gaul units the Julii will face. Maybe it seems to many that Bruti are easier because they´ve finished a Julii campaign first (and have thus gathered some experience in the mechanics), as was the case with me.