What faction did you play first?

[Theodotos I]

Baktria, actually. I was inspired by hooahguy's AAR and the unique unit choices they possessed. Will have to play them again some day, now that I've got a handle on EB economics. I won, but didn't get to use all their units.

[Maeran]

The Romans from a much earlier release (can't remember now but probably .74 or something)

They have always had a good position and what is more, an excellent and involving trait and reform system (it got better with the last two releases). The challenge with the Romans is not to conquer x number of territories, but to get the reforms naturally. It becomes a story that is so involving.

I've played the Casse to the VCs, the Sweboz and the Pahlava as my first 1.1 campaign and am currently giving the Macedonians a go. None have grabbed me as much as the Romans.

This is no reflection on the real peoples, I'm talking about gameplay here.

[Tiberius Aurelius Cotta]

lol, Foot.

true, though, the seleucids are way too ignored, tbh. i started as the ptolemaioi, got confused after 3 turns, and eased into EB with the romani

[bovi]

I can certainly understand the amount of people who choose Romani as their first faction. In the complex mod of EB, it's safe to choose something that you know fairly well from before, and it's also one of the easier factions to start out with. A good choice, far better than for instance Saka or Hayasdan where you're likely to go bankrupt and/or be destroyed within 30 years as a newcomer.