Your Favorite Faction Now

[BroskiDerpman]

So I made a "What faction will you play on release" thread.

Now it's time to see which one is your favorite!

I chose Arverni... (Previous was Epirus)

[Hooahguy]

Suebi. I love the barbarian hordes!

So why do you love the Averni?

[Veho Nex]

My favorite factions are Athens, Rome, Epirus, and Macedonia. The majority being greek because for some reason hoplite fighting fascinates me to no end. Sparta op so they auto suck imo

[BroskiDerpman]

Suebi. I love the barbarian hordes!

So why do you love the Averni?

It's just the aesthetics for some reason. It's like a mish mash of Celts, Germans and the Mediterranean cultures. The Oathsworn especially look awesome.

Pontus is second place for me as they've always fascinated me.

If Rome 2 had culture ui's then it would even be more better.

[AntiDamascus]

I haven't played the Greeks yet so I have to say Rome for now. I dunno, I guess I just like the order compared to the other factions.

[Sp4]

They all move and fight in very much the same way, just end up looking less 'orderly'.

I think I like Averni, I started out liking Sparta but over the time I just ended up finding them boring. I like Rome, I like Egypt.. I wanna play Iceni next.

[Neric]

I started with the Iceni and like them so far. Their style of fighting also suits the current game mechanics...chaotic melee

[Myth]

Have to at least give them all a try before I can say. But I can never go wrong with Rome... Though I'd say Sparta, Macedon, Averni, Sweboz, Iceni and Parthia all look appealing to me. The least appealing would be Egypt (stupid chariots and guys in 3000 bc. clothing) and Carthage (I just hate Baal worshipers)

[BroskiDerpman]

What about the KFC followers of Baal? (Kentucky Fried Children )

I like Pontus for the Hellenistic and Persian mix, I wonder how mods will flesh them out... You can never go wrong with pikemen actually wearing trousers/ pajamas. (Not in vanilla but I hope somebody mods it in; it's authentic)

[Myth]

What about the KFC followers of Baal? (Kentucky Fried Children )

I like Pontus for the Hellenistic and Persian mix, I wonder how mods will flesh them out... You can never go wrong with pikemen actually wearing trousers/ pajamas. (Not in vanilla but I hope somebody mods it in; it's authentic)

You'd be surprised just how many Baal worshipers there are in the USA, knowing or otherwise.

[BroskiDerpman]

I can smell them from here...

Smells of somethin' good?

[Jarmam]

The Seleucid Empire, even if their Cataphract clones get mauled by Noble Cavalry. Flexibility, location and historic fate all speak to their advantage for me. I felt kind of bad for having to bash them around in the historic battle, but if you can field that many Companions and still lose... oh well ^^

[komnenos]

First Pontus then Sparta. I choose Pontus because the location is very good for trades , defense ,etc. And has good armies with their unique style like the deadly chariots. Also this faction is mixture of two great civilization, Greek and Persian. And I like their moto: Independence , Ambition , Profit.

[Spoonska]

I chose Sparta just because the Sparta campaign I'm doing now is probably the second most fun I've ever had in Total War. Number one being this H/H Uesugi campaign I did awhile back. Every fight was tooth and nail. I got Kenshin, and his brother to 6 starts that campaign. It was damn near perfect. Anyways, this question should be asked every 3 months, 6 months, Year. The campaigns in RII are really long. It will be really nice when I have a few under my belt to compare.

[andrewt]

I've only played Carthage so far so can't say. I decided to save Rome for a non-newbie playthrough this time around. I will get around to them eventually.

Least appealing has to be Egypt and Sparta. I'm not a fan of the anachronistic Egyptian units. I despise "300" fans.

[Bramborough]

Still have only played Rome, so not really qualified to answer the poll. I look forward to maybe trying one of the Celtic and/or Hellenic factions later. Not particularly interested in Eastern factions.

Regarding comments about "anachronistic" Egyptians. At first I thought "well, maybe they just hadn't really changed much in style/appearance since the Pharaohs". But then I think...in subject time period, wasn't "Egypt" under the Ptolemies, a largely Hellenic family, as result of Alexander's conquest? And if so, even if the main population and culture remained "Pharaohic" (lol, is that a word?), wouldn't their military forces at this time have been pretty much Greek in organization/equipment/training? Or at least heavily influenced as such.

[BroskiDerpman]

Indeed, the military arm is essentially Greek settlers, mercenaries, etc. plus foreigners like Galatian Celts. They tried incorporating native Egyptians but I think that failed and the natives even rebelled. (Now you got well armed native forces roaming around)

Later on I bet from all those wars there was a lack of Greeks to fill in military rolls so perhaps Egyptians became more dominate again.

Even then Egytians were probably mostly armed like Greeks with a few native stuff here and there.

[Subedei]

To get used to game mechanics i picked rome (b/c ist easier, hehe). I am enjoying the faction (already 14 AD…and rising!).

But man: am i looking forward to play Parthia or the Selucids. Loved them in EB.

Will Baktria be an option in upcoming releases? They are my all-time favs!

Man it is good to be back here. In the last years i only checked now and then for mods in the tw center. They do not stop dizzing the game over there. Here i have my AAR, my distinguished discussions and whatnot! I enjoy Rome II a lot. Can´t wait for mods. Good 2 be back!

[Myth]

To get used to game mechanics i picked rome (b/c ist easier, hehe). I am enjoying the faction (already 14 AD…and rising!).

But man: am i looking forward to play Parthia or the Selucids. Loved them in EB.

Will Baktria be an option in upcoming releases? They are my all-time favs!

Man it is good to be back here. In the last years i only checked now and then for mods in the tw center. They do not stop dizzing the game over there. Here i have my AAR, my distinguished discussions and whatnot! I enjoy Rome II a lot. Can´t wait for mods. Good 2 be back!

Welcome back. I'm glad you see the value of the .org ways.

[Sp4]

I think I like Pontus, they have a really strong starting location. I hate Parthia but I am like the only person in the world that doesn't like cavalry and I only use a tiny amount in my armies, like 1 or 2 units (and the general) for flanking stuff. In the beginning, I used infantry generals a lot but they die easier I find.

[Bramborough]

I seem to think many of the same things as Sp4.

I do really enjoy Pontus, see AAR. Their start location itself is a little meh, but I agree that they have a strong starting situation. Pontus has a couple of early wars to fight, but nothing remotely like what folks describe for Carthage or Epirus.

I too am not a huge cav fan, and also recruit very limited numbers, primarily used for tearing up missile troops once their melee/spear infantry is engaged. I think my main issue with cav is that when I do use them, they tend to require a lot of dedicated attention to truly unleash their power while not getting them killed. This level of hands-on management tends to make me neglect the rest of my army.

[Hooahguy]

To get used to game mechanics i picked rome (b/c ist easier, hehe). I am enjoying the faction (already 14 AD…and rising!).

But man: am i looking forward to play Parthia or the Selucids. Loved them in EB.

Will Baktria be an option in upcoming releases? They are my all-time favs!

Man it is good to be back here. In the last years i only checked now and then for mods in the tw center. They do not stop dizzing the game over there. Here i have my AAR, my distinguished discussions and whatnot! I enjoy Rome II a lot. Can´t wait for mods. Good 2 be back!

Welcome back! I hope you stick around!

[Sp4]

I seem to think many of the same things as Sp4.

I do really enjoy Pontus, see AAR. Their start location itself is a little meh, but I agree that they have a strong starting situation. Pontus has a couple of early wars to fight, but nothing remotely like what folks describe for Carthage or Epirus.

I too am not a huge cav fan, and also recruit very limited numbers, primarily used for tearing up missile troops once their melee/spear infantry is engaged. I think my main issue with cav is that when I do use them, they tend to require a lot of dedicated attention to truly unleash their power while not getting them killed. This level of hands-on management tends to make me neglect the rest of my army.

Yeah I am terrible at microing my cav once the battle really starts and I have it only because you sort of have to have it and it gives you a few options. During my co op campaign with a friend, I always give him all my cav and let him worry about it :D

[jbillybrack]

I'm the oddball who chose egypt because... they have good shock cavalry (ptolemaic), solid swordsmen (galtatian royals), pikemen (royal guards), and the royal peltists (a unit that can be recruited early in tech). And their missile units are decent, too. Plus elephants! They have a really diverse mix of unit types without specializing in any, but their top tier (and sometimes middle tier) units are certainly passable. I also love their starting position if you can build a power base before feuding with selucid/et al. Oh, and stop at Lybia and see if Carthage wins or loses all their wars before getting locked into treaties. (We've all talked about the eastern bloc, but what about the southwestern bloc of Carthage, Nova Carthago, and Lybia? Not quite as thorny, but still an issue early on.) It's very easy to keep food coming in, and they have a tech research faction bonus, which I'll take over defensive bonus on own or allied territory any day. Locking down Aegyptus, Aetheopia, and Lybia will get you beaucoups bucks for your march east, west, or (shudder) north. Better to ally/befriend Selucids and take Arabia first, but that might not always work.
And @Bramborough, the word you're looking for is "pharaonic" (not Philharmonic, as spell checker suggests).

[Myth]

To love cav one must play Medieval 2 and crush entire armies with a couple of well placed charges from elite knights. Here cav is a bit mroe weaksauce (but that's historically accurate). But when you get to tier 4 cav buildings and stack the necessary bonuses for them (training, arms and armour) they will still have highest kill count in your army.

Hell, even my miserable Equites usually have kill counts ranigng from 300 to 400 while the legions just sit below 200 (but they're there to hold the line really). But I checked the stats of my most recent Rome campaign and i've only lead about 12 battles out of 130 so only around 10% of the time do I actually bother (or am forced to) to lead.

[Sp4]

Oh yes, cavalry was amazing in M2. I guess it kind of made sense with them all being the super heavy knights they were meant to be ^^ It was pretty epic actually.

[Kamakazi]

I went with Partia. Sparta was cool but there is something immensely satisfying about trampling an army in a mass of cavalry. Horse arches leave something to be desired most times due to less of a range than slingers =\

A little comment on what SP4 said about cavs. For all of my campaign with Parthia all of my armies were primarily cavalry... They are hell to keep in check and the AI knows how to herd bow cavs to destruction

[lars573]

Regarding comments about "anachronistic" Egyptians. At first I thought "well, maybe they just hadn't really changed much in style/appearance since the Pharaohs". But then I think...in subject time period, wasn't "Egypt" under the Ptolemies, a largely Hellenic family, as result of Alexander's conquest? And if so, even if the main population and culture remained "Pharaohic" (lol, is that a word?), wouldn't their military forces at this time have been pretty much Greek in organization/equipment/training? Or at least heavily influenced as such.

Egypt's militia type units are native Egyptian. The higher tier units are Hellenistic. Plus Galatians, Nubians, and Arabs. For the most part. There's also nothing anachronistic about how the native Egyptian units look.

[komnenos]

Still I love Ponthus and Sparta. Also Athens was good to me. But Epirus was very weak and hard to achieve success with it.

[Sp4]

Still I love Ponthus and Sparta. Also Athens was good to me. But Epirus was very weak and hard to achieve success with it.

It's the Epirus unit roster. I haven't tried Athens yet but it seems all the little city states get some sort of weaker version of what Macedon has, with a bit of extra bling thrown in somewhere to make up for the lack of good stuff. I have not played Epirus yet but the fact that you start with elephants makes me guess you can train them somewhere later on? (if not, ignore me, I have no idea what I am talking about ^^ )