I'm new, need some help!

[Flavius Julius]

Need some help with deciding what faction to play, and how to go about doing it. I downloaded a mod so I can play all factions.

[G. Septimus]

well, If you wanna know,
I played Holy Roman Empire first
-Large Empire
-Kinda good Economy
-Powerful early, and late units

[coalition]

Need some help with deciding what faction to play, and how to go about doing it. I downloaded a mod so I can play all factions.

Venice.

Pros:
- You never have to worry about Finances, they are the richest faction in the game IMO.
- Great gunpowder units like the Monster Ribault + Musketeers and many more
- Venetian Heavy Infantry are great. They come with armor piercing and have a 16 attack and 16 defense.
- Good early units, can conquer Milan and Sicily + a couple Rebel settlements quickly before they become a real threat.
- Powerful ships later on (If that matters)

Cons:
- Although they have good units to conquer other factions, they are surrounded by Byzantine Empire, Hungary, Holy Roman Empire, Sicily and Milan....Prepare to do ALOT of fighting early on.
- Lacking high quality cavalry.

[Flavius Julius]

I'm going to go with Venice I think. Want me to post pictures on the campaign?

[Yesugey]

Yes, post your war story in order, and remember to put some "iron rules" ^^

[Vlad1]

I played England.
1.Great heavy infantry.
2.England is an island ,because of this it can't be attacked from outside providing a stable economy which faciltates expansion into europe.
3.Great speeches before battles!

[Sevis]

England for the win. Nothing like sitting on a hill, eight trebuchets, three hundred and sixty retinue longbowmen, and a few dismounted English knights (or armoured swordsmen) to kill off anyone who comes close - and, perhaps, a little bit of mounted English knights to smash any archers they may have. As long as they can't flank you, they'll die, pretty quickly.

[_Tristan_]

I'd be partial to France for its position which is both strong and tenuous with so many potential threats around but lots of rebel territories to expand into in the first turns.

Major asset being the availability of cavalry (both light and heavy) from the start and a rather balanced roster from start to finish.

[Thermal]

England is a good starter, if you don't want to be in trouble early on or under any heavy pressures. Whilst not being isolated. Sicily is also in a fairly safe position & a good starter, though quite poor.

[The1exile]

I played England first. Until you play any other faction, you don't realise what a godsend not having a pike-based defence is. You get longbowmen (and later, sherwood archers) that rain pain and death down upon enemies, pretty kickass knights, and heavy swordsmen who basically cut through any enemy infantry in the world ever.

[Yesugey]

I can vote for england is the best for newbies. Also for medium players Byzantines and HRE is the best choice, they are all round strong.

For challenge, Turks, Poles and Hungary. Their units are very good but have to be used carefully. They have not enough land and income at early stage, and they are surrounded by strong enemies or at least large number of rebels.

[Seabourch]

England is always good, no one will attack you on the island. You just have to wipe out Scotland. Then when you have established the Isles as yours, try and go for France or Denmark( they might attack you in Caen).

[Viking Prince]

I had started with Spain and my buddy had started with England. What really worked though was each sitting in on the other game for some of the play. Sitting dowwn and comparing, discussing, etc. will do wonders for ramping up your learning curve.