favorite faction in XL or Vanilla

[caravel]

I think I've played all the factions except Scicily - somehow they just don't appeal to me. I play a different faction each time, as I feel varity wins. There is one scenario that I keep returning to, though, and that is Byz in High.

The Byzantine (The Empire of Nicaea) in high makes for a very good campaign. When I eventually get to the High era in the mod I am working on it will be a one province faction. The Byzantine Early campaign is poor and predictable due to the huge number of Provinces. If you mod Lesser Armenia and Georgia rebel and give Naples to the Sicilians it improves things a bit but not enough. In reality the Byzantine are simply overpowered, with super full size bodyguard units and 8 or 9 command star royalty. Their faction leader also gets a 2 point influence and 1 point command star bonus in addition to this.

As to the Sicilians, I find them to be an interesting faction to play. You should give them a go. Some very early crusades are possible.