Re: How do you pick your faction?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gurakshun
I disagree! At the beginning, yes, your phalangites, shock/auxiliary infantry are at a distinct disadvantage to the successors. Cavalry only is barely equal.
However, any Pontus player who has paid careful attention looking at the recruitment possibilities of the nearby provinces will realize that Pontus has far more potential.
(...)
What more could you want, assuming you can overcome the challenges to GET to the level and economy required to start making these?
O.K., you are right Gurakshun. Pontus indeed has had a great potential already in 0.81 and has even greater in 1.0. My original statement is made obsolete by the improvement in 1.0 (heavily armoured archers ... oh my GOD:dizzy2: !!!) and stemmed from several reason which are probably more particular to my campaign rather than being of general validity:
- I would never build higher local MIC than appropriate to the government level, EB considers that an exploit and for good reasons;
- My campaign was rather short because EB 1.0 just came out...:beam: and therefore the best phalanx I had were Pantadopoi Phalagitai - brave guys, like them very much, but they suffered greatly against Pezhetairoi, Agyraspydai and the Epirote elite phalanx :skull: ;
- The gallic men are great, so great that I rather limited the presence of Gallatikoi Tindoloton (sp.?) in my armies: historically they would be rather rare and elite unit, I guess, and having several units of these naked butchers would make any battle too easy to be funny.
Anyway, Pontus is really a great faction to play, because it allows you to build an unstoppable war-machine with its own peculiar taste (besides other cool units, do not forget the chariots!) or to role-play a humble kingdom struggling for survival against the giants (AS, Ptolies, Epeiros, you name it...:beam: ). Both ways brings a lot of satisfaction.
~:cheers:
Re: How do you pick your faction?
I may get the hatred of a lot of EB players now...but I have to admit: I love to hunt down the Romani.
As Baktria: Try to establish an Eastern Empire, face the AS, reach the Mediterranean Sea & check out how far "The Reds" have expanded...build alliances...attack.
As Quarthardasht: [sp?]Well, try to operate as if the Barkids [Hamilcar, Hannibal Barkas etc.] did not have the stupid government in their times. Get Iberia, try to ally with the Northern/ Gaellic tribes...get Sicily, try to invade the homelands of Reds
But, and this is a big BUT: I actually plan to play as the Romani, as soon as I finished my Invasio Barbarorum campaign & EB 1.? is properly running on my system...but that is a different story. And it may take a little while....Just to get the feel of this faction. I am pretty sure it will be fun to see things from the other side....²god forsake those Parthian horsey riders, refusing to come close and fight like a true man!"...Will be a new experience for General Subedei....
Anyways: as far as I can tell: EB has the most balanced out & interesting faction choice there is out there....from the Eastern highly flexible, undisciplined, fast moving, arrow shooting, long haired, unshaved, gold addicted, horse riding Tribes...
to the Phalanx pimping, constantly disputing, backside vulnerable Greeks......
all the way to the highly disciplined, empire building, tunica wearing, Eagle adoring, horse despising Romans and all those in between...:smash: Gotta love 'em all.....
Re: How do you pick your faction?
Quote:
Originally Posted by V.T. Marvin
O.K., you are right Gurakshun. Pontus indeed has had a great potential already in 0.81 and has even greater in 1.0. My original statement is made obsolete by the improvement in 1.0 (heavily armoured archers ... oh my GOD:dizzy2: !!!) and stemmed from several reason which are probably more particular to my campaign rather than being of general validity:
- I would never build higher local MIC than appropriate to the government level, EB considers that an exploit and for good reasons;
- My campaign was rather short because EB 1.0 just came out...:beam: and therefore the best phalanx I had were Pantadopoi Phalagitai - brave guys, like them very much, but they suffered greatly against Pezhetairoi, Agyraspydai and the Epirote elite phalanx :skull: ;
- The gallic men are great, so great that I rather limited the presence of Gallatikoi Tindoloton (sp.?) in my armies: historically they would be rather rare and elite unit, I guess, and having several units of these naked butchers would make any battle too easy to be funny.
Anyway, Pontus is really a great faction to play, because it allows you to build an unstoppable war-machine with its own peculiar taste (besides other cool units, do not forget the chariots!) or to role-play a humble kingdom struggling for survival against the giants (AS, Ptolies, Epeiros, you name it...:beam: ). Both ways brings a lot of satisfaction.
~:cheers:
haha yeah, you will love to try the thereuphontes toxotai. plus the conqueror gets a special trait/script for freeing the bosporus from those dirty central asianers! in response to the things you marked:
-yeah i agree, i even made a topic in the general EB forum about it. I guess ancyra will always be a type 4 government and sardis, byzantion, and halikarnassos will always be type 3, it just doesnt feel right to be able to recruit the regional troops and have all the benefits at the same time. plus its a fun idea/experience to have kind of a protectorate gallic kingdom to draw on strong warriors, and to keep ionia (W. Asia minor) in mostly greek hands like it was in history.
-yeah the pantadapoi phalangitai are very brave, but unfortunately it does not count against the heavily armored veterans of the grey and yellow deaths! :laugh4: i try to get the hellenic medium phalanx as fast as possible because anything with pantadapoi in its name usually doesnt cut it :skull:
-yes, i limit those tindanotae too. i only keep maximum of 2 units of them in my armies. not to mention having several units of them would murder your economy!
you are right that pontus is a great faction to play. i love the fact that its units are mostly superpower status. as far as role playing a humble kingdom though, i recall that quote that i see when my battles are loading "Great empires are not maintained by timidity":yes: Have fun!
Re: How do you pick your faction?
I love to play the ones that almost broke Romes spine early in history begining with Carthage and Epirus. Then I get thrilled with the possibilities of KH. Carthage still is the beloved one!
Re: How do you pick your faction?
GAH! People complaining about 'disorganised Barbarians' need to actually try playing them :whip:
One of the main goals of EB is to help people get past the idea that the 'barbarians' were uncivilised :wall:
Aedui/Arverni have very nice, well organised units & a bunch of buildings in their build tree that the 'civilised' cultures could do with having.
They get good flexible troops that can really kick ass.
There are very strong, well armoured line infantry.
The cavalry doesn't quite have the power of successor cav but its still quite powerful.
With their shorter spears, they can be thrown around much more flexibly as they don't necessarily need to line up to get the charge to work.
Now with Oppida, you even get a nice strong city defense too :)
Getai have so many awesome phalanx killer units its insane.
So much fun beating up on the more 'civilised' types :juggle2:
Lusotannan get lovely flexible & powerful units.
Dunno about their build tree, not having played them yet.
Its worth noting that both the 'civilised & organised' Romans & Carthaginians learnt a lot about war from fighting them.
As for selecting factions, as many have said, I tend to go for a faction physically distant & with different unit types to what I've been playing lately.
eg after my Getai campaign, I'll probably be going for Ptolomies, Lusotannan or maybe Carthage.
Re: How do you pick your faction?
First campaign in RTW was with Scipii. The Julii felt like the 'typical' choice and the Brutii sounded like Brutus, the traitor so I figured I'll go with the bad-ass Scipii who BTW had a cool blue insignia. By the end it was Brutii vs. me and that fight was never resolved. Then I tested the German side, in vanilla RTW it wasnt really that good. Although I did like the introduction clip with the end "...there can be only WAR!" That really set the mood.
In BI it was mainly with the Sarmatians, partly because I like eastern sides but also because they had a good balance and weren't a 'total' horde side. I also like the good cavalry from start.
Now with EB its Sweboz, mostly because they have that teutonic feel. I like the northern and also eastern sides.
Re: How do you pick your faction?
Ptolemaioi 'cos good starting location, can fight factions one at a time and its not in debt at the start
Re: How do you pick your faction?
Here are the factions I like to play and the reasons...
Casse.......as my 'home faction' are a non-playable rebel group (Hibernian Celts) and I gotta represent the :ireland: ancestors, I go with the Casse. They are also quite challenging as well
Pahlavi.......I have always been fascinated by Persia/Iran for numerous reasons, so all of the Persian-based factions are my favorites. Who doesn't like Cataphracts and swarms of horse archers?
Rome.........Something of a no-brainer. Plus, stepping into the shoes of some of the greatest generals in history is always fun. S.P.Q.R!!!!!!!
Koinon Hellanon(?)....Democracy, logic, and bad-ass hoplities!
Sweboz......Even though I am not playing them now because of time constraints, playing as my Germanic ancsetors is always fun, especially when I can crack open a few Roman skulls:jumping:
Sabya a.k.a Sheba.....Since always play in Medieval 1 and Med1 XL as the Fatimids, thier ancestors in Yemen are always a safe bet. Like Persia/Iran, Arab history and culture as always been :book: for me.
Samourtae....Cavalry is just fun. My tactics in TW always revolve around armies with lots of Cavalry (mobility in the Campaign map, hitting power and speed in battle), and the Samuortae are cavalry distilled.
So its Celts, Romans, Greeks, Germans, Arabs, and Persians for me.
Re: How do you pick your faction?
I don't know how I pick a faction... let me think.
Well, I chose KH because I like Hoplites but I hate Pike Phalanxes.
Re: How do you pick your faction?
I pick it based on how fun it appears it might be. This "fun" factor is derived from badassery, my personal interest and the faction's difficulty. I want awesome units that aren't pikes (I've no idea how you're supposed to hold a line with a phalanx army, as I always get flanked and my line falls apart; it's too damned slow and rigid), badassery, something I'm interested in and a faction that's in a position that isn't massively difficult from the beginning. I picked Getai for my first play on 1.0, because my previous experience brought me great joy. Their unit roster is one of the most badass around (Thraikioi peltastai are by far one of the most useful and awesome units in the game, and they also have rhomphaoai, Scythian archers, axemen, falxmen, pikemen, those elite guys...the list goes on); I don't know much about them, and so I play to learn, in a sense; they are difficult, but it isn't straight rape from the top; they have plenty of people to beat up on in the area; and they are mildly isolated, so you have some eleutheroi meatshields but you don't have to hack your way through an endless briarpatch of independants to get to a faction, like the Sweboz (who have a special place in my heart).
In .81x I chose the Sweboz, because they were iolated, badass, not the most difficult, and interesting to me.
I chose at one point Kart-Hadast, because they already had a nice standing in the world, a massively varied unit roster, at least three clear-cut choices of direction to go with its empire and also historical fame.
I choose based on how I feel at the time, basically...