Printable View
It's that time again. I can't remember when we last had one of these threads, they used to be much more regular.
Cast your votes.
If your preference is for a faction that is part of a mod, then please vote for the rebels and please post stating which faction it is.
:bow:
In control of the Poelnische people I can annex as much of Europe as I would ever wish to control.
It is firstly the Habsburger-Oesterreichischer Adler, secondly the Polish Emblem which give me such a fiery envy of the respective nation.
Hint:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
i chose italian, but i like the swiss egyptians and novorgod, no real preference :laugh4:
I would gladly vote but choosing one is impossible i'm afraid. Favorite factions are the following:
Almohads
Turks
Egyptians
French
HRE
Byzantine
Occasional Vice:
Sicilian
Relatively unmoved by:
Italians
Spanish
Aragonese
Danish
Novgorod/Ruassians
Completely indifferent towards:
English
Polish
Hungarian
Favorite mod faction 2009: French/Pocket Mod/1.0.9 beta - it felt like i played MTW for the first time - sheer joy.
!it burnsus!
Normally I would have automatically said either the Turks or the Spanish.
However just yesterday I started playing as the Danes in early period for the first time in ages.
I forgot just how cool they are.
Running around dominating the battlefields with vikings and just the range of viking troops early and relatively easily built to get to Huscarles is cool.
I know I will soon be outclassed but for now it is great fun.
I am also appreciating the different battlemap music than the other Christian nations.
It is so much more lively and really got me into it.
Loving it!
So my vote now THE DANES.
:smash:
Spanish is the way I go. Jinettes are my favorite cav unit. Fast, javelins, and a decent attck. Rich provinces plus iron to start with.
I like the Swiss because of their Pikemen (Are they the best in the game?)
Lots of different factions are fun, for a variety of reasons. But I keep coming back to the Turks, again and again. Until you've developed up to JHI (by which time you've already won the game), they're a faction requiring finesse (rather than brute power) to win - so when you do pull it off, it's just so much more satisfying. :beam:
Yes the Turks prior to the availability of JHI and Sipahi units are an interesting faction to play. Initially they are challenging but once you become accustomed to THA usage and unleashing the potential of AHC, Saracen Infantry and Ghazis you may find them to be easy enough. For the new player though, they're very much a challenge.
Honestly, I just never get tired of these "favorite faction" threads. :beam:
For my overall favorite, it's a virtual tie between the Castille-Leon (Spanish) and the Fatimids (Egyptians), with maybe a slight edge to C-L. I enjoy the Fatimids' varied and somewhat exotic unit roster, and playing a Muslim faction means I don't have to worry about the Pope or trying to marry off my sons. As for Castille-Leon, they have a very interesting starting position in northern Iberia....and of course, there are those beautiful, wonderful, terrible Jinnettes. ~D
Byzantines: They have a large and varied unit roster, and don't have to deal with the Pope -- except of course when Crusades cross into their lands. Which brings me to other main part of their appeal, which is their location. Situated at the crossroads of the known world between the Catholic west and Muslim east, Byzantium is almost always guaranteed to be an....interesting campaign.
Danes: Vikings. Good access to nearby trade goods in other provinces. Lots of heavy infantry. Vikings. Longships. Immediate proximity to Sweden, one of the richest provinces in the game. Vikings. You're small, so you can attack just about any Catholic faction and the Pope doesn't care. And if you don't want to attack your fellow Catholics, there's always Orthodox Novgorod to the east. Oh, and did I mention Vikings?
Sicilians: It still surprises me that I enjoy playing them as much as I do, given how much I *hate* these guys when they're controlled by the AI. :laugh4: The fact is, however, that their location in the central Med allows them to do pretty much whatever they want to do, giving the player enormous flexibility. Want to establish a trade empire? No problem. Crusade to the Holy Land? You betcha. Overthrow and supplant the Byzantine Empire? Absolutely!
Using the same scale as Gollum.
Favorite factions are the following:
Aragonese (Spanish units but more challenging start)
Sicilian (see Martok's post just above + possibilty to prevent Byz from becoming too big)
Danish (see Martok's post just above)
HRE (guaranteed wars on all fronts for years)
Occasional Vice:
French (nice GA goals)
Turks (get rid of the byz nice and early)
Relatively unmoved by:
English (nice but a bit too easy after the French are defeated)
Polish (a bit boring - extend east - wait for the GH)
Spanish (easy once you get rid of the elmos)
Completely indifferent towards:
Almohads (never manage to give them a serious try in seven years ....)
Byzantine (hate those guy - way too easy)
Egyptians (too easy)
Hungarian (plain)
Italians (too easy)
Novgorod/Ruassians (never manage to give them a serious try in seven years ....)
Note of explanation:
- I only play early period,
- I hate to see teh byz becoming a superpower almost each time
- I really do not like HA
- I feel the games loses some of its flavour without papal interference and crusades ...
Favourite:
Turks (fighting a war on all fronts with no friends, not even your fellow muslims can be counted upon. Horse archers, hybrid units and a lack of any decent line infantry and requires different tactics to all other factions.)
French (This faction are very generic in early, have a fragmented territory but have the potential to become a great power, almost entirely surrounded by the "perfidious foe" makes a good challenge.)
Almohad (Challenging if you don't spam jihads and AUMs, Almohad campaigns come into their own once the Spanish and Sicilians start crusading against you. Plenty of desert battles to defend your lands. I usually turtle this faction.)
Occasional favourite:
Byzantine (Great units, but very easy once you get started. Jedi princes, Byzantine Infantry are overpowered in the full sized units, and large incomes.)
Egyptians (Good faction, no really overpowered units, I feel that people judge this faction by how the AI plays them. Nubians are great units to have in early as well as lots of camels and Arab Infantry and Ghazis as flankers. Lack of HAs until Mamluk HAs can be trained.)
Novgorod (A fun faction, can easily be modded as playable. Vikings, HA's and Boyars are quite the combination, poor income is a hindrance until you've supplanted the Danes and control the Baltic Trade, then it's on to dealing with the GH.)
English (Predictable and uninteresting until the high era and then - too easy. I suppose there's no pleasing some people? Only interesting if you choose to restrict your expansion in Europe and instead concentrate on crusading. It's far more interesting playing as the French, kicking the English off the mainland than it is supplanting them there as the English and then waiting for the Spanish and HRE to attack, etc.)
Aragonese (The Spanish, but considerably more challenging and interesting.)
Poles (Like the Danes e.g. poverty stricken and struggling, but can be turned around into a potent force at the expense of the HRE and Hungarians. Once you've done this though and are faced with the Horde (the Horde will probably have arrived by the time you've pacified Lithuania...) it can get very challenging once again).
Indifferent:
Hungarians (Interesting due to HAs and units such as Szekely but very generic otherwise and actually quite easy once you take a few provinces from the HRE and obliterate the Byzantine.)
Danes (Boring: Teaching up your one measly province, going after rebellious Sweden, Norway and the Baltic provinces, slowly putting a fleet together... then unleashing a wave of death upon the world in the shape of axe wielding loons.)
Spaniards ( Far too easy and the campaign feels finished once you've take Iberia and built Citadels all over it. There doesn't seem much point in going on at that stage. They are a faction that get's too powerful and too rich - too fast. The Jinetes, Lancers and Javelins are nice but are not that well balanced.)
Sicilian (Overpowered as a playable faction, Sicily starts overdeveloped compared to some other provinces. It is quite easy to blitz the Byz, Hungarians and Italians, once you've reached that stage it's quite predictable (as with their Norman cousins the English).)
Completely indifferent:
Holy Roman Empire (Too many provinces to start with and too much building and training of crap units from the word go. Just going through the first turn building a ton of watch towers in order to stabilise the Empire and raise taxes is the most nauseating chore in itself.)
Italians (I should really give this faction another go as I've never managed to get into them.)
Russians (They are a high/late era faction and I never play those eras. I did play the Russians in High once and was doing well until the Horde practically blitzed me from the map.)
Burgundian (Never played as them, though technically it is possible.)
Golden Horde (Unplayable without modding, though have never played them in a mod)
Papacy (Interesting for the first 100 years or so. Though basically they are the Italians with a difference.
Swiss (Has never appealed and I don't play High/Late much.)
The Rebels (Frustratingly unplayable and pointless, turns into an insane blitizing spree.)
Ok then, justifications;
Byzantines - while generally considered extra super boring in early - i once played the early campaign in vanilla all the way to completion and it wasnt all that bad. By the time i had wiped out the Egyptians and the Turks and the Hungarians and the Poles - the Spanish had become super extra big taking out the French the HRE, the Italians and the Almohads. So you end up being sandwitched between them and the Horde which gives a reasonable challenge. It was fun defeating the Spanish swiftly - i did a multifront attacks (on the strategy map) that were calculated to trap about 5 Spanish stacks in one turn (Manstein style), so they d be wiped out of existence as they would have nowhere to run and after winning all the battles (some on the line) it succeded. After that they got a civil war :2thumbsup:
The true gamebuster for Byzs in early is that they start with the Citadel - all units/techs are so easily reached in the first critical 20 turns.
The main attraction of the Byzantine campaign is what Martok says and the roster - it actually excels nowhere although it can do many things (play missiles heavy or melee heavy) and requires good generalship to win the campaign on average. Now before you start sending accross tomatoes, please note that this is actually true - Byzantine units are cumbersome, slow and relatively weak especially after 1204, and very expensive to maintain BUT they happen to be at the command of the Jedi Comnenian family in early and they are easily available mostly. Once the Jediism subsides - battles are way more challenging.
Almohads - Pure fun having no battle winners other than AUM in early (and early only as CMAA are way better) and playing in the desert. BTW for desert battles prefer mods that turn off those damn armor upgrades. Strategic position also challenging sandwitched between the Egyptians and the catholics - not to mention that your lands become a waypoint after more factions take it to the sea. Muwahids/DesertHorse rule.
Egyptians - One of my all time favorite campaigns played as the Eggyptians - i actually helped the Almohads survive and defeat the Spanish, only for them to become large at which point a series of incredible battles started in the desert seasawing back and forth since we were producing troops in equal amounts. Khaliffa versus Khaliffa in epic confrontations that were decided with a handful of troops remaining! Love mameluk line of troops even the gunners :laugh4:. Especially Mameluk heavy Horse.
Turks - Although the roster seems overburdened with a million units of the same kind (Turcomans,Futtuwas,Ottomans) the fact is that they all have their uses and personality. Turcomans are there to substitute your archers (more armour, less upkeep). Futtuwwas are there to act as a reserve/flanking line after they empty their quivers due to the strong attack/good morale. Ottomans have an AP bonus and very low requirements - they can do all of the above without being exceptional at any. Turcoman Horse absolutely rule. Armenian heavies must be the most effective SP unit in the whole game; low requirements-good stats-cheap upkeep-never goes obsolete. And as cherry in the pie you get the Jannissaries. Perfect.
In general the Muslim and Orthodox factions do not get high/late era units that are almost cheat - say CMAA. The stats of such units go up not a notch but are worlds apart from early. While the early catholics are relatively balanced - after 1204 they become very overpowered - but the Muslims/Orthodox dont - even the Janissaries come after tonnes of investment and if you do not do the multiquee they can be buillt in only one province.
French - the best catholic faction for me. Its not only that they have the best GA goals - but also that they have no *special* units. No overpowered billmen/italian infantry or lancers or gothics. But best of all is as Caravel says their strategic position. You have to fight litteraly everyone - and not from a position of strength - nor at once - politics and diplomacy matter up to the point you conquer Spain or something - after that you can start a new game. Ok, and i admit it im a big Jean D Arc fan.
HRE - i turtle a lot with the Germans and not only to survive but to actually have fun - just barricade and send crusades to the Levant and the Ost - do the occasional conquest of Poland or Hungary or France or Italy if they frustrate me too much, but slowly. Always obey the Pope - except for those rare occasions when i simply blitz him out of existence for no reason at all :laugh4:
!it burnsus!
PON forever!
Best roster in the game imho; you start dirt poor and with your spam of heirs it just gets worse.
The Turks are a close second; the struggle up the chain to JHI should count as GA goal :p
Aragon- they have pretty much everything that i'm looking for in a faction. great starting position(for expansion and/or defending), near plenty of iron rich provinces, potential to become a serious naval power early in the game, farms, trade, unit roster, a better challenge than playing as Spain,etc. my only complaint about playing as Aragon is that it can get pretty boring after you drive everyone else out of Iberia. i've never made it to the late era playing as Aragon but i'm going to try to stop expanding at 4-5 provinces and turtle until the late era hits in my next campaign to see if that'll keep it more interesting.
Bohemia- love their unit roster, the fact that their Kings seem to produce really good heirs, proximity to iron and tons of trade resources, and variety of ways to play a campaign with them. the only major negatives with Bohemia for me is that, even if you take provinces like Friesland, Flanders, Croatia,etc early in the game, it can be pretty slow getting a navy/trade network going with them and it kinda sucks not being able to crusade.
Venetians- great unit roster, great location for crusades, navel power, and trade income. it kinda sucks starting out with a 2 star king and Germany/England/France are constantly passing through on crusades but they still seem like a pretty fun faction to use in the game.
i also love playing as the Byzantines or Bulgaria in High but wish that both were early campaigns instead.
factions that i've used and wasn't crazy about are England(too easy to expand, heirs seem to be pretty sucky more times than not) Hungary(interesting unit roster but still seemed to get boring pretty quickly playing as them,imo) and Portugal (other than one or two units, they basically seem like Aragon or Castile Leon minus the iron and ability to expand without going to war,imo).
factions that i'm curious about but haven't really given a fair shot yet are Sicily, Turkey, Armenia, and Serbia.
Thus far the faction that I enjoyed the most would be the Serbs in XL, hence my vote for rebels...varied unit roster, challenging start position, tough initial economic situation...
Burgundy was also good fun, but having to start in "late" took some of the gloss off this option.
Aragon was enjoyable, with a good unit roster....
In XL my favourite faction is Schottland!
I do so love good old England. But it's probably just the misguided patriotic pride talking. :laugh4:
Denmark yo.
I liked the Byzantines best. Mainly because of the reasons Martok already stated. Plus I like the style of their infantry and the heavy cavalry. Massssssssive slaughter!
Second would be the English because of the Longbow Units. :yes:
Hungarians - fun in both Campaign and MP, nice combination of Western infantry and heavy cav, and fun distinctive units like Jogaby and Szeks
:2thumbsup:
Hi all, where is the GAH alternative?!? I wanna vote GAH….
Oh well, I’ll behave now....
Favorite faction then, and especially for 2009 none the less, it got to be England for me. It has always been England for me no matter how simple or easy they are to manage. I always liked the dudes in solid red and it’s probably the main reason for me liking them and that I am accustomed to the surroundings of the British Isles (probably due to various assorted strategy games all the way back to the stone age). To me it is not a question of various troops at all (not in the original game at any rate, in redux it helps with the “Heavy Infantry” formations available to England and the HRE). So my personal top three candidates would be England, the HRE and Spain (the same in redux as well). So, I can’t claim any originality here can I?
:medievalcheers:
Threads such as this always remind me just how brilliantly diverse MTW is.
reading others opinions and reason for the fav factions gets me thinking yeah I haven't played them for a while and they were very cool.
My vote was for the Danes but since them I have played the English and the Almo's both which are amazing to play in their own right and could have easily got the vote.
So here is a cheers to the game we all so obviously still love:charge:
i've noticed that Denmark seems to be a really popular faction with a lot of people. i've never played as the Danes but what's kept me from using them in the past was thinking that they'd be similar to the Byzantines, in the sense that they start out with really strong units but get weaker as time goes on in the game. is this accurate and if so, do you have to be really aggressive in the early era or is the Basic Catholic unit roster enough to keep things interesting?
i like to try to turtle, using factions that get really strong late era units(Aragon, Bohemia,etc) but that strategy doesn't usually work out very well for me because i start getting bored with my campaigns as the other factions are eliminating each other while i'm trying to do everything i can to keep as many factions in the game as possible, until the late era hits.
Well, I put England as it is the one I usually play, (I like Billmen, hobilars and longbows!) but lately others are creeping up in my estimation.
I play the Turks a lot if I want to be on the other side of crusades and the aragonese or poles if I fancy a challenge.
I guess this stems from wanting to be the underdog. i.e. when I play, the AI controlled France/Spain/Almohads/Egyptians are nearly always medieval superpowers, so I don't fancy playing them as much.
Danes in Early are lots of fun, due to the spammability of Vikings and Longboats, and their defendable position. The other "Viking" units that were added with VI are actually available to any faction in Early, they just have to be built in Norway/Sweden/Denmark. Novgorod can also build Vikings and Longboats, so they are similar, but with an Orthodox flavor.Quote:
Originally Posted by chris34au
Once the Danes get to High, they still get Vikings, but are pretty much limited to the base Catholic roster (and can't crusade, so they are even more limited). The key is to use the advantages they get in Early to set them up for later years. With their low cost Longboats, they can set up trade routes (and attack routes) cheaply, and start raking in the cash. With base Vikings, they have some of the best infantry in Early and can replenish them anywhere with a Fort. From their protected position and with naval superiority, they can pick and choose their battles, and can take territory that will allow them to build specialized units. Ireland (Gallowglasses for the desert), Switzerland (Swiss halberdiers/pikes), and Spain (Jinettes) are all fairly easy to take during Early, and offer localized units that fill out the base Catholic roster. The main trouble I've had is finding something to deal with horse archers. In the end it's usually the tedious trees/arbalesters combo.
You do have to be somewhat aggressive, but the early units are good enough to allow it. Once they get rolling, you sometimes have to force yourself to stop and wait for the infrastructure to catch up. So many exposed coastlines, waiting for the fury of the northmen...
thanks for the response. i think i'll try Denmark in my next Campaign. it sounds like it'd be a great change of pace after trying to turtle for 200 years with Aragon.
Definately give the Danes a crack Chris.
I had not played them in years and just finished a campaign and it was great fun.
Perfect for turtling early until you can build ships and then good defensive position for 'viking raids' in your longboats.
The faction specific music is very cool and immersing and the generally easy tech tree to Huscarles is rewarding as they just decimate all in their path.
I enjoyed having to be red hot early becuse all your specialist Viking troops are unavailiable after 1205and you are reduced to the normal Catholic Roster so you have to make haste early and then the slog begins which from your posts I think would really suit your style.
i definitely want to check them out in my next campaign. they sound like a really fun faction to use. how about Sweden? is there much difference in their unit rosters? i've heard that Sweden's one of the better provinces, as far as income goes, and it seems like they also have iron. everything else being equal though, i think that Denmark's white and red looks way cooler than Sweden's blue and gold. ;)
I have never played as the Swedish but I imagine the unit roster would be very nearly the same.
Sweden does have better farmland and good availablility of trade.
The Danish Huscarles and Landsmen wear these really cool blue uniforms and blue and red shields which look very contarsting with the Red and white flag.
Which is very handy when you use your easily built longboats to invade upper Brittain.
Otherwise in melee way too much red on the field methinks.
lol that's a good point about too much Red. then there's the Poles. maybe Sweden's the way to go. it seems like between Sweden's economy and +1 valor for all viking units trained in Norway, starting in Sweden might not be a bad idea.
Sounds pretty good.
If you go that way keep us updated.
I am interested to see how the playability actually is.
Its been a while since I last played, but i always liked the english and the italians
I would def choose Byzantine or Papacy,or Sicily..or(plenty of them)..better stop huh??:dizzy2:
:laugh4::laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:
Quote:
Originally Posted by thanosz
Fair call that.
I had all sorts of trouble with this poll.
I am glad we were only able to vote once.
Even now after all the years of playing MTW I could still have changed my vote as to my fav faction a dozen times!
Question?
What Mod enables you to play as the Papacy?
I cast my vote for the Turks because of their horse archers. I find it more satisfying and challenging to surround and frustrate the enemy than simply rush their lines.
I'm also a big fan of the Cumans. They are around a lot of rebel provinces which are not pushovers, face strong factions to the north and south, and will likely take the brunt of the Horde invasion. When I use them, I purposefully ignore the coming doom. Luckily, the Turks and Volga-Bulgarians make massing troops in the east a must most games. I tend to focus my offensive efforts on the Bulgarians, Hungarians, Poles and Byzantines.
Finally, I'm a sucker for the killing power of Spain's jinettes. Just as with the Turks, I've built and fielded entirely horse-borne armies with Spain. I've never actually used the Aragonese, but it seems I've missed out on a more challenging version of Spain.
I too, have not played MTW recently, but I always seem to remember enjoying playing the;
English - great troops, billmen and longbows rock. Great starting position
Byz - Love the gemnerals and they have decent soldiers.
Italians - love those Genovese sailors and the Italian infantry.
Alomos - always had good luck with them after turtling.
Spanish - okay, not a big jinnette fan. Some good starting provinces though.
These are the only factions I have successfully played all the way through. I admit it, I hate losing:wall:!
Turks for the win!
Forza Italia! :2thumbsup:
Never mind. One very large can of spam has been opened in this thread so some cleaning is now needed. Can we stay on topic from now on please gentlemen?
Sure, the Turks were always the greatest favorite due to the variety of the roster among other things. Its one of the few ones that never stops evolving either as the game progresses. The Byzantines are the complete antithesis of this being given everything out initially and actually losing units overtime. The Catholics increase in melee strength and armor. The Egyptians play all late without any new units - the last blooming are the Mameluk units. The Almohads are another Byzantine type roster philosophy. The Russians are a catholic and Byzantine hybrid. The Italians should have been more unique, having exclusivity in the pavise units. The English have a good amount of flavor - although they should have been denied mounted Chivalric knights and given the foot variety exclusively - Billmen are overpowered for SP - longbows are ok as they are imho. Spanish and HRE and Italians can expect the heavy mounted horrors they get in high/late to spice up the roster.
The French are the most dull of the lot as are the Sicilians that also have no exclusive units. The French really deserved something in late like the Gendarmes but the unit is given to many others too (Italian, Burgundian, Aragonese), has a relatively low morale (4) and no lance - in other words better stick with Chivalric Knights. The Chiv. Knights bonuses in France are really a gift to the HRE/English/Aragonese/Spanish/Italian player rather than a bolstering of the French forces.
From my perspective, a lack of exclusive units does not make a faction "dull". If this were the case, then STW would have been a dull game.
The French are IMHO the best of the catholic factions and this is due to their interesting starting position and reliance on the generic catholic roster. They have no vikings, longbows, javelinmen, jinetes, szekely etc and must make good use of units such as FMAA, FS, UM, MS, MntdS and archers. There is also much incentive to tech up to Chivalric Knights as soon as possible, as they are easily your best mainstream cavarly unit.
Agreed on your other points, but that brings us back to redesigning the game...
-Edit: My next campaign will be as the French.
:bow:
And hence off topic - better stop posting altogether :laugh4:
We await your adventures with anticipation master Camelier
:bow:
There is no stopping you from starting such a thread on redesigning the game? I.e. "the ideal mod" or the "perfect MTW" etc.
:bow:
Certainly - actually sounds like a good idea.:2thumbsup:
Interesting to note the different replys so far. I personally haven't played all the factions (I play other games thief II, until my CD shattered:dizzy2:, BG II, Captalism, Max Payne, etc) , but MTW is one of the games that has so many elements that I like. Economics, battles, careful building and balancing..
Anyway, of the factions I have played all the way through, that would be
The Danes
The Italians (in another one right now)
The Alomonds
The Spanish
The English
The French
The Byzantines
Favorite? Well, I do like the English with billmen and longbows being strong reasons. I liked playing the Danes (only once), very challenging in the beginning. And the Italians? Whew, this is the first game where I remember rolling in this much dough...700k.
The Alomonds are fun, and the Byz can be good too. Hell, in MTW, how can you go wrong:beam:?
Gotta say rocking out with the Italians to 100% on expert made the game seem almost easy. Those Italian infantrymen rock, took me all the way with a little bit of help from some Swiss halbs right at the end.
I guess I've always liked the Russians. In XL, my favorite is easily Serbia.
But as gaijinalways said, how can you go wrong ?
By far the Poles. No other faction has such a fun starting position. You almost always have to deal with the Hoard, you can get some semi-unique units like Avar nobles, and Steppe Heavy Cav.
Not to mention they have the coolest names!
I haven't played in a while but I love the English. Sure they start out as a somewhat uninteresting with their fyrdmen with longbowmen and billmen unavailable until 1205 but its fun taking on the French, a somewhat expected duel but after that it gets interesting.
Go South to sunny spain or east to germany? Or even sail to Scandinavia to give the Danes a taste f their own medicine.
I've always been a fan of the Byzantines just for the challenge of the early years of fighting both the turks and egyptians from the start.the amount of HA's they use can be quite a challenge given your lack of archers and the need to keep infantry coming from the Big C,but once you get them both conquered the Mongol Horde usually turns up about that time,which can also prove a challenge,if you aren't prepared for them
Love
Danes - For one, I like to play factions that don't have a ton of provinces to begin with. And I only play early period, so that's what I will be referring to with all my choices. I like Danes for a few reasons. First, I like that they're only one province to begin with. They have many enemies to the south to have fun with. Sweden. Vikings. Norway's a good province when you get a trade route set up. More vikings. Sweden. Novgorod is right around the corner from you. So is Lithuania. Livonia. Flanders. It's simply so easy to set up a successful trade route with them while still maintaining a small number of provinces. Sweden alone with a good trade route can make over 4k. Denmark over 1500. Same with Norway. Pope typically won't pester you until later. There's just a lot of opportunity.
Turkish - While having a very unique roster of units which causes you to think on your feet and what choices you will make later, you have 2 very strong enemies on your entire border. Playing the Turks can be very fun and rewarding, as you have several abnormally profitable provinces. Later on in the campaign when the Catholic provinces take over everything in sight, JHI is there to completely destroy cavalry, infantry, archers, and anything else in its path ^^
Like
Spanish - They have one of the best cavalry units in the game later in the campaign. They have a profitable trade opportunity. You can only own 7 provinces and make enough to pay for anything with a good trade route. You have Elmo's to your south, and France will probably gobble up everything and present a good fight later on. They aren't the best choice for non-turtle campaigns, but I like it where I only need to keep track of a small area and still make out like a bandit.
Sicilians - Infantry is OK. Cavalry is OK. Area is small and limited. The prime factor that completely saves this faction from the dust is simply in its unlimited naval opportunity. You can simply own Sicily and Venice and still be in a better strategical position than any other faction, no matter how big as long as you have a good navy and trade route.
Aragonese - Small, condensed, war on many sides is imminent. FUN! After a struggle, this faction can come on to be very powerful. Just like the Spanish, except they have another step before reaching what the Spanish is capable of.
Italians - Giant naval advantage and pre-owning provinces with enormous income possibilities. This faction, in my opinion, has the strongest position at the very beginning of the campaign. And it is exclusive (other than Germans) to one of the best unit categories in the game later on, Gothic units.
Indifferent
Egyptians - Well, one thing that I don't really like about this faction is how easy it is to make a giant profit early. Makes things too easy. Another reason I refrain from this faction is the unit selection is like a wannabe Catholic factions selection. It's like playing Catholic with an endless money output and a giant army since you can get huge production early. Too easy.
Byzantines - Too easy. WAY too easy. They have access to some of the best light infantry with literally no effort to make at all. They have generals that would put Robert E Lee to shame. Expanding is simply no challenge. Building up navy is no challenge, they have no province that isn't next to water. The only reason they're worth playing is with this overpowered of a faction, the Golden Horde is fun to fight 10000 vs 10000 troops with and in late period they get severely gimped. But perhaps by late period you'll control 60% of the map already.
Poland - Boring. Below average cavalry, average infantry. Crappy provinces in any direction. (except Lithuania). It's like playing English/French, but with more challenge.
Dislike
English - I don't know why, but I simply don't like playing the English. I don't like the factions they start with, I don't like being sandwiched between the french, I hate those stupid low-budget cavalry they give you. The only exclusive unit you get is longbows. It's just boring to me. Redundant, and I hate having to expand on inland provinces.
French - They're English without longbows. Snore.
Holy Roman Empire - I don't like this faction simply because you have to manage too much too early. It takes 32 light years to set everything up, mobilize units into a strong defensive position as you'll probably be at war in the first 3 turns, set taxes, governors, make sure your provinces won't rebel and at the same time produce max profit. And after that you turtle because you dare not attack anyone until you have an adequate army because you are hemmed in on all sides and can get attacked at any possible time from anyone that isn't a rebel.
Hungarians. Booooring. Szekely, big whoop. Typical Catholic faction with no frills and a mediocre starting area.
Swiss - Campaign will end before you get to do anything worthwhile.
Hate
Russians - The only faction that can get away with archery as their weapon of choice is Turkish. I'm sorry, but this faction is like a wannabe Turkish selection. They have mediocre archery selections compared to the Turks, and virtually no good cavalry or infantry. Militia Sergeants. Great. The only difference is you get your enemy later on instead of right from the start, and if you have any chance of fighting off the Horde, you'd be better off not waring with anyone who is remotely big and just take over the rebel provinces near by and turtle until you fight the most annoying enemy of all time. I hate fighting horse archers. I hate fighting horse archers. Did I mention I hate fighting horse archers? Although I can't say they're boring, they are very frustrating to play.
Almohads - Mediocre unit roster, unprofitable provinces. You basically have to turtle because you can get attacked no matter where you are. You have no navy, or any idea of one at start (and that's really, really sad considering where they are and who is going to occupy the area they are in as far as boats). AUM is the only frill, and they are quickly out-teched. I don't fancy javelins or archery builds much unless it's Turkish. It's like playing the Turkish without any fun units. Boring.
I beg to differ. ~DQuote:
Originally Posted by Valentine
Welcome to the Org, Valentine! ~:wave:
Welcome Valentine, to the .orgQuote:
Originally Posted by Valentine
In see that a big part of your focus is on the available special units? Yes the French are very generic, but they have an interesting position, sandwiched between the English, HRE, Aragonese and Spanish. IMHO this is an important part of any campaign. You're right about the HRE though, their biggest failing is the need to invest in building infrastructure from the off.
:bow:
I don't know why, but I just hate that general area. Otherwise I'd play the English/French more often.Quote:
Originally Posted by Caravel
Haha I gotta try that sometime, but my graphics card hates medieval so I don't know if I'll be able to on this machine.Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
Russian factions are my favorite in TW games (with a strange exception to M2TW) for a number of reasons.
First off you've got a lot of open land to yourself. With some speed, some military skill and a bit of luck you can lock down vast tracks of land in no time flat.
Once you've got the steppes secured then there's numerous opportunities for expansion. Will you sail over the black sea and attack the stagnant Byzantines? Harass the Turks in Georgia? Invade Poland / Hungary? Perhaps even an invasion of Scandinavia!
I love playing in Early so by the time my empire is really big and i'm facing numerous wars, I've got to really start thinking about the Horde. If you're not careful you can easily ge bogged down fighting the West while the Horde looms ever closer. It's a tough spot to be in, and all great fun! :2thumbsup:
I'm stunned nobody vote for the sicilians. They've got a great strategic location, and a campaign bent on destruction as there's all sorts of good factions to pick from(Italians, byzantines, Almohoads, Egypt). Units might be a bit generic, but I always thought they were a very fun campaign.
Classic case of low voter turnout...
:bow:
Sicily's starting position is perfect for crusading. North Africa is a stone's throw away and with the aid of a halfway decent navy you can get really close to the Holy Lands before disembarking. In fact i once played a Sicily game entirely devoted to crusading. It ended in disaster after i sent my heir-less king on the fifth crusade to Jerusalem in 1190 but what a ride.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinseikhaan
The English!
It it even hints at a whiff of a smell of Agincourt and longbows, I'm there.
I'll play the Mongols or the Byzantines once in a while, but it's 95% English.
The English, because, well, I'm English.
I loved playing the English - love those longows and bills
Other favoutites - sicilians, Teutonics (XL) and Almos.
Not a massive fan of the poles and Hungarians - too many enemies and I could never get those boyars right.
As I've noted before, the Sicilians are definitely in my top five favorite factions. (Perhaps I should create a poll allowing multiple choice?)Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinseikhaan
Playing them stretches my "strategy muscles" so to speak, as I'm forced to rely on a strong naval presence more than on powerful armies as I'm used to. In conjunction with that, their starting location also practically guarantees an....interesting campaign. ~;)
1. Turks
Constantinople is near and it has a lot of buildings that add stars to your generals. Also Trebizond adds 2 stars. So you can pick two 2 star generals and turn them into 6 star in the first turns. PLus JHI
2. Byzantines - the same reason. Plus you can bribe that Serbian general.