Best faction to start as?

[Manoflooks]

What is the best faction to start as? I just downloaded EB, so im new. Though I have played rtr, rs and xgm.




While your at it, what your favourite faction? Or give me a link to a fave faction thread.

[Carthaginian General]

I'd say the Romans. No explanation needed really.

As for my favorite factions, in no specific order: Pahlava, Carthage and Ptolemaioi.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Depends on what kind of history you like. Most people display an unproportional amount of interest towards the Romans because they are generally more well-known due to the amount of media attention they receive. However, the Romani are the most unique and complete faction in EB. There is just no faction that could compare to it in the voicemod, traits, overall uniqueness, victory conditions, amount of reforms as well as overall strategy.

What factions did you like in RTW and its mods?

Here are some links:
faction the EB fans played first: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=107047
faction the EB fans liked the best: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=105436

Personally, my favorite faction is the Romani, which is made pretty evident by my signature.

[gamegeek2]

For beginners to RTW, I recommend the Romani, Qarthadastim, or Sweboz, as they are the easiest factions, featuring a pinch of everything and familiarity (coupled with good starting position and economy), one of the best economies in the game (tied with Epeiros/Makedonia), or the best starting position in the game (respectively). The Ptolemaioi are also a decent choice here, though you'll have to fight the Gray Death , and the Getai are another good option here.

For war veterans who need to adjust to EB's demands, I highly recommend the Aedui/Arverni (showcases most of EB's new principles, especially high cost and tough foes). If "barbarians" aren't your thing, Baktria is an excellent choice (you fight two completely different enemies at once).

For tough cookies, try the nomads, who are much more prominent than in RTW and have (arguably) changed the most. Their economies are terrible, so you'll need skill with the few troops you can afford unless you don't mind super-deep debt; the Casse offer a similar experience. If those simply aren't right, try playing as the ever-present enemy of all, the Arche Seleukeia.

If you think those sound too easy, and you think you're an expert, try Hayasadan, Pontos, or the Saka Rauka, who all feature endless waves of gray banners, weak starting economies, and high risk-high reward options everywhere. Every battle counts in these, and everything is on the line, at all times.

[chenkai11]

I suggest HAYASDAN, and yes VH/VH.

Learn it from the hard way, General. You will enjoy it.

[bovi]

As the faction descriptions say, Roma or Carthage will make a softer clash with what you'll expect from playing the other games. If you want a somewhat greater challenge and don't mind a big starting empire I suggest Arche Seleukeia or Ptolemaioi.

[Space_Ed]

I'd suggest Roma, Baktria or Casse. I found those campaigns enjoyable on the outset.

[Grriffon]

For beginners to RTW, I recommend the Romani, Qarthadastim, or Sweboz, as they are the easiest factions, featuring a pinch of everything and familiarity (coupled with good starting position and economy), one of the best economies in the game (tied with Epeiros/Makedonia), or the best starting position in the game (respectively). The Ptolemaioi are also a decent choice here, though you'll have to fight the Gray Death , and the Getai are another good option here.

For war veterans who need to adjust to EB's demands, I highly recommend the Aedui/Arverni (showcases most of EB's new principles, especially high cost and tough foes). If "barbarians" aren't your thing, Baktria is an excellent choice (you fight two completely different enemies at once).

For tough cookies, try the nomads, who are much more prominent than in RTW and have (arguably) changed the most. Their economies are terrible, so you'll need skill with the few troops you can afford unless you don't mind super-deep debt; the Casse offer a similar experience. If those simply aren't right, try playing as the ever-present enemy of all, the Arche Seleukeia.

If you think those sound too easy, and you think you're an expert, try Hayasadan, Pontos, or the Saka Rauka, who all feature endless waves of gray banners, weak starting economies, and high risk-high reward options everywhere. Every battle counts in these, and everything is on the line, at all times.

this is a really great breakdown of the factions.

like some of the others, i would recommend playing EB for the first time as Romani.

Almost as "easy" as the Romani are the Qarthadastim. They have an amazing economy, and some of my favorite troops in the game. Elite Liby-Phonaecian axemen are human buzzsaws, and a unit of elephants will allow you to steamroll through any wood-walled settlement with ease.

The nice thing about the Sweboz is they are more or less surrounded by Rebels, and you can pick and choose your fights.

I think Arche Seleukia is a little more challenging that the previous 3, but they start with a HUGE amount of land, and are able to recruit some truly terrifying units, like their elite spearmen, armored elephants, and wide array of superb archers.


I guess my favorite thing about EB is how different the battlefield styles are of the different factions. For instance, with Rome you can rely purely on their ever-present, excellent, heavy infantry along with some medium to heavy cavalry to produce routs. With Carthage your elite shock infantry should more or less chew through anything you send them against, and you can provide screens for them with Balaeric slingers, arguably the best missile unit in the game. The Epeiros/Makedonia/AS are the epitome of the hammer/anvil, which can be difficult to set up sometimes, and requires patience, but is a famous tactic for a reason. It works. Thracians just run around killing things with really big swords. There are many more examples, but as you get a feel for each faction, you will find unique battle styles that work for you, and in my opinion, therein lies the fun of the game.

[Hax]

Hayasdan, Saba, Baktria, Pahlava..

It all depends on what you like to play with? Phalangites? Choose Epeiros/Makedonia. They aren't in such a dangerous situation and you are in relative peace once you've taken all of Hellas (which is not that difficult with Epeiros).

For Roman play, choose..well the Romans, of course. Kart-Hadast is also said to be pretty forgiving and easy though I've never played them.

[Tellos Athenaios]

You may want to try the Romani -- you can make mistakes and not get flogged for it immediately by your enemies; Qartadastim, though a (stupid) mistake sets you back a bit in the early game; Ptolemaioi who have a slightly harder start perhaps than the other two, but have easy expansion targets nearby and are in good shape to tackle the AS. Which is more than can be said for most factions were they to be neighbours of the AI AS. It will still require you to set priorities, but won't require you to fight until both parties are exhausted.

[Celtic_Punk]

I personally started off with Hellenon Koinon. But I would not recomend it. unless you are incredibly lucky, and exellent at outnumbered defending and outnumbered foolish attacks.

Instead I recommend a Roman campaign (I personally have never gotten very far in them, I lose interest in the Romans quickly) or Carthage if you hate Rome. If you are partial to Celts I suggest Sweboz, or Casse (disband your army and navy, and do not attack anyone, till you repair the economy) Casse will be a tough learning curve, but if you tackle it you will beable to tackle most campaigns and situations (espeically cause their FM are freaking useless chariots - THATS MY OPINION DONT FLAME ME) If you wish an Eastern campaign try out Ptolemy. I hear they are the easiest of the Greeco-Asian factions. I do not suggest you take a steppe campaign, as they are quite difficult. Thats my two cents anyway.

[Maion Maroneios]

Well, there are some factions I can recommend to you:
1) Kart-Hadast (Carthage). Good starting position, not so many enemies close to you (only the Lusotannan and maybe the Romans later), opportunity to make lots of cash early on and many, many possibilities for future expansion. You can either conquer northern Africa, Iberia or Sicily and Italy. You also have access to many good units (read the FAQ about the Carthaginian reforms to get some uber-units that literally kick @$$), which in liaison with the loads of cash you will gain will probably make you the most powerful faction early on.

2) Romani (Roamns). Good starting position, without too many enemies that can and will bother you. You also have excellent troops, which will become even cooler as you progress into the game and obtain the reforms (again, read the FAQ). If you focus on Italy and Sicily from the start and secure those lands, you can shift your focus to the north (Gaul), west (Gallic shores and Iberia), east (Illyria and/or Greece) and south (Africa). You can alo gain some good cash if you conquer certain rish areas, like Greece or the Illyrian and Iberian mines.

3) Ptolemaioi (Ptolemies). I only propose this faction if you are experienced with pike-based factions, as they have quite a favourable position (only AS to face from the start) and can make lots of cash early on. Their troops are also very good of both variety and quality (including African bush elephants, see RV for further info about them), so you can kick some mayor butt if you manage Greek factions well. After that, you can reunite Alexandros' empire and meddle with the affairs of lesser factions, making sure no one will ever be able to rise against you in defiance.

As for my favourites, I would say Makedonia, Arche Seleukeia and Koinon Hellenon in that order.

Hope this helped,
Maion

[Captain Trek]

(espeically cause their FM are freaking useless chariots - THATS MY OPINION DONT FLAME ME)

Well I'm not going to flame you, but I wouldn't say the chariots aren't totally useless... I played (and completed the victory conditions of) a Casse campaign on H/M and I found the chariots were good for at least a few things...

1: First and foremost, their ability to cause fear, I found, was (at least on occasion) a big help and, even when it wasn't, it was certianly good for my morale to roll my mouse over an enemy unit and read "frightened by chariots"...

2: Flinging spears at the unarmoured backs of Celtic levy troops.

3: Chasing down routers

4: They can sometimes be effective against skirmishers and light cavalry...

Again, I wouldn't say they're totally useless...

Also, I started my Casse campaign differently... Rather than disband everything, instead I sunk all my starting mnai into a few extra units and went around conquering the British isles... Even with a few large 'brigand' rebel armies wandering around, my agressive approach paid off...

But that's all off topic... As most everyone's said, Romani (and Kart-Hadast to a lesser extent) are good for newbies, Eperios and (to a lesser extent) Ptolemaioi are good for somewhat inexperienced players who like phalanxes and Casse is a good barbarian faction for the somewhat inexperienced (even in spite of their initally weak economy), largely because the other Celtic factions tend to leave you alone, generally being too busy fighitng each other and the Romans to bother with you, leaving you plenty of time to unite the isles and prepare a grand crusade against the mainland...

What I personally can't seem to understand is why nearly everyone around here seems to have a hard-on for Baktria... Could someone please explain this to me? Because I just don't get it... I tried playing as them and frankly, the truly stupid distances between one settlement and the next and Baktria's appaling economy made the faction one that in the end I couldn't be bothered trying to get into... Oh well, that's just me...

[Celtic_Punk]

Ill answer this question, but after lets try to stay ontopic.
I found the same thing with Baktria in the end. I loved their units. So diverse, and visually appealing. Plus I enjoyed the challenge of my Weaker city state fighting against hordes of Steppes people. But eventually you get bogged down. The distances and lack of proper roads destroy any sort of effective supply, which means you must fight every single petty skirmish yourself. And it makes carving an empire out of the Indus quite hard. The economy starts slow, seems to pick up, but if you do not continue a quick expansion, and somehow are able to house 2 decent garrisons in Baktra and (cant remember the name of the settlement) the city in the NE valley - PLUS field a decent field army with atleast 2 phalanx and 2 flankers, plus supporting missiles and cavalry to carve your Indus empire. it will go to a dead halt and becomes extremely boring to struggle along. Then to add insult to injury, Selucids will betray you at some point, and force you on a 3 front war. yay some fun this turned out to be. Sure the massive amounts of battles will keep you busy, but fighting all the skirmishes becomes too tedious. Unless you can blitz (good luck with that in EB) Baktria is not for you, and you will eventually lose interest.

As to the reason people liked Baktria, probably for why I did. The units, their history, and the possibilities... Plus they seem the LEAST 'evil' and over powered of all the Eastern factions (IMHO) and you have the ability to adopt several different strategies with their diverse unit selection. From Indian armies with elephants, to Steppe archer armies, to Makedonian Phalanx, to the good ol fashion greek hoplites (fashioned with new improved weapons and armour of course), or even a mixture of all of them! Only if you can quickly establish effective road and supply system, and carve your indian empire quickly. trust me when I advise, never try to push into the Persian lands until you have the Indus valley as your spine. youll get surrounded and shot to peices... Your heavy units will never catch those Persian cowards. Avoid field battles against the Steppes people like the FREAKIN' plague. )


Baktria's Bodyguard unit are THE coolest looking in the game... end of story.

[oudysseos]

Personally I love the Baktria campaign most of all. A caveat- I used force diplomacy a couple of times to keep the AS off my back, but mostly I just sat back and watched them and Pahlava keep each other busy while I sorted out the Indus. Maybe using the Alex exec helped, I don't know. The Saka are a constant irritant but nothing more. So I'm moving from Pattala by sea- much faster than roads- into Persia proper.

What's so appealing? The units are beautiful and exotic (Indian longbowmen!), but I think the kicker is that while you have all the advantages of a civilized Hellenic faction (advanced tech trees i.e. paved roads and so on) you have new part of the map to explore and develop, which, if you're like me and bored of going over Italy, Greece and Asia Minor for the umpteenth time, is the only thing that keeps the game fresh. Best of both worlds, really. 'Civilized' faction in a 'Barbarian' location.

After Persepolis, I plan to invade the Arabian peninsula, eliminate the Saba and move up the Red Sea coast to take on the damn yellow horde from behind. Hey, Ptolemy, how d'ya like them apples?


P.S. Celtic Punk- I'm impressed. Most people have never heard of Liam Mellowes

[Tellos Athenaios]

Baktria's got a very interesting position, civic & military wise -- much like Pontos, only a tad more exciting on the civic bits. If you manage to get some mines going, you will have quite a rock solid economy; much like uniting the British isles with the Casse gives you a solid position.

Baktria's distances aren't too bad if you use the combination of forts and rivers to your advantage -- long distances also mean that the AI takes a little more time to get to you.

[KhaziOfKalabara]

I found the same thing with Baktria in the end. I loved their units. So diverse, and visually appealing.
...From Indian armies with elephants, to Steppe archer armies, to Makedonian Phalanx, to the good ol fashion greek hoplites (fashioned with new improved weapons and armour of course), or even a mixture of all of them!

"Evil-looking and overpowered" I'm not sure about, but they are probably the most beautiful and certainly the most diverse.

In terms of factions to start with, I'd definitely look elsewhere largely on the basis of the economy - for Baktria there is only one way to get ahead (mining) whereas the western factions have a little more choice. Romani, Kart-Hadast or Epeiros would be my recommendation.

[Apgad]

Ahh, start them all! Play 20 turns, change your mind, try a few different factions, see what suits... Change your mind again, decide on something completely different, learn something you never thought you'd learn, change again!

Forest-fighting gauls and germans, mediterrainian romans and cathaginians, phalanx-loving ptolemies and seleukids, steppe-living sauromataes and sakas, or a dozen factions somewhere in-between those mentioned. You really can't go wrong! Just don't forget to activate the bloody background script!

[Grriffon]

Ahh, start them all! Play 20 turns, change your mind, try a few different factions, see what suits... Change your mind again, decide on something completely different, learn something you never thought you'd learn, change again!

Forest-fighting gauls and germans, mediterrainian romans and cathaginians, phalanx-loving ptolemies and seleukids, steppe-living sauromataes and sakas, or a dozen factions somewhere in-between those mentioned. You really can't go wrong! Just don't forget to activate the bloody background script!

be careful only playnig 20 turns though. some factions are slow to start out, but juggernauts if you manage to get them going.

[Celtic_Punk]

very true, playing all for 20 turns doesnt really give you a good taste... Its much better to pick a faction and stick with it, than just jump around the board. Not all of us have that kind of time either, unfortunately. I highly recommend you start with a Western faction. Not because of politics or anything, they just seem a bit easier seeing as the West is a bit more stable than the East at the early game. this gives you that crucial time to build your economy to support a vast army and navy. Tell us what faction you decided to go with.
I'm sure we'd all be happy to throw some pointers your way if you give us your situation.

@ oudysseos - I'm an Irish Republican! long live Eire! not a catholic though, used to be, but I am no longer a Christian.

@ KhaziOfKalabara - i still think that AS is a bit evil in appearance (I'm pro Ptolemy! though I have never actually played as either faction hehe Baktria is the only eastern faction I picked up)
It might be 300 or my readings of the persian wars messing with my head, but I have no interest in Pahlava, and thoroughly enjoy stomping them out lol. I do intend on one day picking them up... but ill probably be on EBII when that happens.
OOPS! i meant to put baktria seems the LEAST evil & overpowered.

[Dutchhoplite]

Pahlava....300...Persian wars...

Errrrr...

On topic: If you survive the first turns of the Casse campaign it's a very interesting faction.

[Celtic_Punk]

um Pahlava was what survived of the Persian empire? unless i am sorely mistaken... they expanded and took over the AS and they were what was known as Parthia, the second coming of the Persian empire!

[Artorius Maximus]

In my opinion, the five most enjoyable factions for me are: Romani, Baktria, Getai, Casse, and Koinon Hellenon. I like Saka Rauka too, but they are a bit difficult for me to play without having to resort to cheat codes. . . .

[Carthaginian General]

In my opinion, the five most enjoyable factions for me are: Romani, Baktria, Getai, Casse, and Koinon Hellenon. I like Saka Rauka too, but they are a bit difficult for me to play without having to resort to cheat codes. . . .

Yeah man, I feel you... it's not that some factions are too hard to play (disband everything and build economy), it's just so extremely boring to sit there for decades, just managing the economy of a couple of cities...