Byzantine Empire

[Alex The Great]

IM looking forward for a new campaign after playing with Spain and Russia is this one a good faction¿?

[llewellyn]

i thought it was decent. keeps you on your toes

[Atalus]

Remember no gunpowder units and that you've got catholics to the west and Muslims to the east and no ability to either Jihad or Crusade.

[dopp]

Remember no gunpowder units and that you've got catholics to the west and Muslims to the east and no ability to either Jihad or Crusade.

You do get arguably the best spammable HA unit in the game and a solid navy. No Pope can be a good thing. And if you wait for the expansion you can get cool Black Hand greek fire flamethrower units.

[IPoseTheQuestionYouReturnTheAnswer]

Yeah those Vdarahormoplasty horse archer units are excellent. Their Varangians are junk thanks to the 2H issue and the Kataphraktoi are less than spectacular - stick with Lantinkon and Dismounted Lantinkon for heavy cavalry/infantry.

[KuriousJorj]

Since EVERYONE attacks you, you are almost forced to expand or die. I ended up winning with over 90 turns left --I never even got to build any Varangian guard, which was the main reason I played. (and BTW, I HATE rushing --I'm an empire builder... but Byzantiam campaign just wouldn't allow it. I had to constantly expand to eliminate threats, and I had to always build economics to fund everything, thus no high-level city barracks)

I'd recommend finding that 'fix' that's on these forums, that fixes the 2-handed weapon fighters, making them more potent. You may also want to change the time settings, so you can actually enjoy the campaign --I wish I had.

Anyhow, I'm now playing/winning as my 4th faction, the Scots. At least now I'm able to hack my way through stuff thanks to Highlander Nobles... Just wish I could've done it with Varangians. :furious3:

[Frederick_I_Barbarossa]

Byzantium is one of my favorite factions to play as...they sit on prime real estate at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and have a bone to pick going both ways...
That said, they only have the resources to effectively pick one bone or the other...long live the Emperor!

[Czar Alexsandr]

Well you've already played as Russia so you know a bit about the benifits/cons of the Orthodox faith. But this time you get a more powerful power base and a wide variety of units.

Although most of your wide range of units get outclassed some are always good. Byzantine Guard Archers are Dismounted Byzantine Lancers with bows, and one of the best flexible archers. Comparable to Dismounted Dvor and Ottoman Infantry. The Vardarotoi is probably the best horse archer.. Latinkon and the Dismounted variety are easily as good as the Catholic version of the same thing.

Individually some of your troops are lack luster.. but if you keep in mind the amazing ease that Byzantines have raising mixed forces it's not all bad. Anyways it should be an interesting campaign. Sounds like fun!