opinions

i just got Total War Eras... and never had any of the other games except MTW before this.... so my favorites would have to be:
Byzantines (historically speaking, I have always been a fan of the Byzantine Empire) or the
Hungarians (for their challenging position - nothing like a crusade coming thru your lands every few years!)... or the
English (because just like someone said above, I also have a fascination with the Longbowmen - i guess nothing like being able to skewer people from a distance longer than your enemy can manage).

I am looking forward to playing RTW and MTW2 when it comes out.

Does anyone have a faction that they just cannot win with?

In MTW, I have won domination (or massacred with points in achievements) with every faction I have ever played (usually within 150 years or less), except the Holy Roman Empire. It just seems like they have so many provinces with so few troops, so many potential enemies, and very little infrastructure to start with in their provinces (at least in the early era).

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Originally Posted by unseelie craig

Does anyone have a faction that they just cannot win with?

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I've always found playing the Polish to be an exercise in frustration. I'm all too likely to get squished between the HRE, Hungarians, Danes, and even the Novgorods/Russians. Even when I don't get crushed outright, I nearly always get hemmed in by the other factions and can't expand. :furious3: When coupled with the fact that the Polish don't get any decent/interesting units, they're easily my least favorite faction in the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unseelie craig

In MTW, I have won domination (or massacred with points in achievements) with every faction I have ever played (usually within 150 years or less), except the Holy Roman Empire. It just seems like they have so many provinces with so few troops, so many potential enemies, and very little infrastructure to start with in their provinces (at least in the early era).

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Yeah, the HRE is definitely a challenge. I've long felt that that faction's difficulty level should be rated as Hard, not Moderate. That said, it *is* possible to succeed as the Germans. You just have to be careful and choose your targets wisely--and maybe hope for a little luck while you're at it. ~;)

I dont know really know why... but in MTW with the BKB Super Mod my favourite faction to play as has got to be the Irish ..... either that or the Norse.... probably just because of the challenge... or the interesting units..

In RTW it has got to be the Carthagians.. I have a soft spot for crushing armies with elephants,,,

I always think the one I'm playing at the moment is my favourite, but let's see:

MTW: Turks
VI: Irish or Welsh
XL: Armenia
PMTW: Crimean Khanate
STW: no favourite, all too similar

RTW: Scythians or Sassanids
BI: Huns


hmmm, looking at the list again, seems like I have a taste for good hybrids and strong horse archers :2thumbsup:

This thread makes me really can't wait until i get MTW again, in VI i liked playing as the Scots, or this Irish, I don't think i've played as the Hungarians in MTW, i probably will when i get another copy. I also loved playing as the Alhmovaid (sp?) Caliphate, and the Egyptian Caliphate, Beating those crusaders never got old. :2thumbsup:

yeah, i am playing the Hungarians in my current game... it is a challenging position.... while the Holy Roman Empire is very difficult to play because it starts off with such little infrastructure, and so many land locked and poor territories that just dont make much money...
the Hungarians are not as difficult... but still very challenging. I managed to take Constantinople from the Byzantines... but that was because i concentrated nearly everything i had to take it and then hold it from repeated attacks by the Byz and the Turks. Without Constantinople's good infrastructure and money making, i would have been squashed a while ago i am sure. The Hungarians are in a tough spot to defend... Byz and Turks on one side, Polish, HRE, and Italians on the other side... plus some pretty eager Sicilians across the Adriatic, and now in my game the Mongols (more powerful than I ever saw them in the standard MTW game) swept thru the Russians, and now have done a pretty good thrashing on the Polish and are sitting at my doorstep with a ton of light and heavy cavalry! I am not at war with them yet... but if i have to fight a war with the Mongols in the north... i will have difficulty defending Constantinople from either the Turks or the Byz if they decide to attack.
All this... and then there are the crusades that come thru my lands... luckily only have had about 4 in the last 40 years or so.... and in one case, i got lucky and the crusading army fought off the Byzantines that attacked me shortly after taking Constantinople! :)

Wow, a Crusader army actually *helped* someone?? Well I guess there's a first time for everything. ~D

yes, it was quite amusing... although i would have to say, the crusaders surely saved my skin in that sitution!

I had just taken Constantinople a couple years earlier... when the Byzantines and the Turks who were both allied, made a play to retake my newly acquired territory. They both attacked me in Constantinople in the same year... the Turks had something like 1100+ troops and the Byz had about 450 superior quality troops (apx 160 Kataprak & 50 or 60 Varangian, etc). Turks had a 4 command leader and the Byz had a 3 command.

So, i was most likely screwed, since i had about 800+ men that were led by my 4 command king... my troops were pretty low quality except for 35 or so royal bodyguard and 40 szekely... although my army's average valor was about 3 and 4... while the Byz and Turks had mostly 1's & 2's.... so nonetheless i would have had to retreat with 2 to 1 odds and lower quality troops.... but the NICE English Crusade (that departed from Wessex, must have easily been marching for 10 years!) came along to try and retake Antioch from the Egyptians.

Luckily I was allied to the English... not to mention, that most of my territories that the crusade came thru were very low zeal, and mostly orthodox... so i only lost troops to the crusaders in Hungary while Bulgaria and Constantinople lost none. The 900+ crusaders arrived at the most opportune time to help me defend Constantinople from the Byz who were trying to retake it, and their allied Turks (who i believe, since having more troops than the Byz would have actually claimed the territory if they would have won).

The crusading English had a 2 command leader and plenty of great quality troops with knights and order foot soldiers. So we outnumbered the attackers by 200 or so and we won and gave the enemy about 900+ casualites to our nearly 600... 350 of which were the crusaders!

so... this was a rare, but great, example of a crusade actually helping a player!! :)

STW: Mori (loved using warrior monks)

MTW: Turks (the variety of units was a lot of fun, and if you were the Turks your army went through two pretty opposite phases in the game: in the first part of the game you would spam tons of cheap archer and HA-type units and you fought having to take higher numerical losses against superior Byzantine/Mongol/Western units; the second phase was teching up to the Janissaries)

VI: The Vikings (no explanation needed)

RTW: Scipii (if I'm going to be Roman, I want the best navy)