WHAT IS THE BEST FACTION?

[rocketjedi]

tell me who's your preferd faction and why.

[LadyAnn]

The Papacy is my favorite faction. But it is only available in Dark Age Era.

Annie [EDIT: just in case you missed it]

ps.: did you know that:
1. There were a time where there are 2 Popes, one in France and the other in Italy? They both excommunicated each other
2. There was a female Pope, who was only discovered after she died. So there is currently a rite to check for it while keeping the Pope's dignity. I won't elaborate on it.

[Gregoshi]

Hello rocketjedi and welcome

I'm still on my very first campaign and I'm the HRE, so they are my default favourite faction. Many of the other faction do intrigue me thought.

[Knight_Yellow]

Its gotta be the spanish for me all the basic troop choices and in late u get Lancers witch in my opinion r the best calv unit in the whole game. plus the pope always lets u launch crusades at non belivers lol.

[Mr Frost]

When I am in a game , it's the one I'm playing : because if you wan't to do well , you have to love what your using .

From an objective point of view : Byzantium in the 1092 mod {Paladins' mod} because I love that engine of destruction that is the fully developed all-arms Byzantine war machine of the early period .
In a Multi player , I would probebly prefer Byzantium early period for the same reasons , Turkey for a Jannisary army {4 Jannisary Inafanry , 4 Jannisary Archers , 4 Jannisary Heavy Infantry and 4 Saracen Infantry ... perhaps replace 1 Jannisary Archer with 1 Sipahi of the Port for the General} and Germany in the Late Period {4Swiss Armoured Pike , 4 Pavise Arbalast , 2 Chivalric Foot Knights , 2 Gothic Foot Knights , 2 Chivalric Knights and 2 Gothic Knights with 1 Gothic as general : or call them by name : Die Maschine} because I LOVE that sort of bone crushing army : firepower for the turks , shock-power for the Germans . It's the evil in me

[Juan Madsen]

I like Byzantium pretty much. Some of their units are wonderfull as most of you know and permit you to fight with an equilibrated armies or legions on the early period.

However, as the game advances, I miss reliable spear units as the catholics have. You can manage without them or else recruit mercenaries but on certain armies I would prefer to have heavy spear units enrolled as regulars. Those facing a golden horde for example.

In all is a very interesting faction.

Also Spain is very attractive and with lots of resources, good position, good generals, nice tapas, good wine, marvellous food, sunny country, etc.

[A.Saturnus]

Quote[/b] ]
originally posted by LadyAnn:
1. There were a time where there are 2 Popes, one in France and the other in Italy? They both excommunicated each other
2. There was a female Pope, who was only discovered after she died. So there is currently a rite to check for it while keeping the Pope's dignity. I won't elaborate on it.

actually, there were up to 4 popes at a time, one of them was a former pirat who bought the tite.
If you don`t elaborate on it, I do:
The pope sits on a chair with a hole and his robe around it. So the cardinals can look from under, if he`s really a man

[Edratman]

The best factions are ones that start out with sea provinces with trade goods or are able to conquer some in the early stages of the campaign. The most crucial element of the game is money and establishing an early sea trade network ensures ultimate success. Once you learn to do this, the game is quite easy, whatever the difficulty setting.
In fact the Danes are quite easy to play despite their meager start. They can take rebel held provinces around the Baltic,which means no wars with major power and all of which have trade goods and quicly become the wealthiest nation. And the AI likes to build ports even without trade goods, so a lot of trade becomes available without the Med.
I ended up modding my startpos file to put at least one resource and trade good in every province. That way the AI can trade if it builds ships and spreads them out a little, which it seldom does.
Kraelin's(sp) newly posted mod also changed a lot of the factors for AI building and deployment of trade so if you don't want to mod I recommend you download it. I haven't played it myself, I'm playing a campaign now and don't have a lot of time so it takes me some time to complete one, but I intend to try it next. (Or least read his files and steal what I like.)

[hundurinn]

I like the English, Byzantium, Spanish and Danes.

[rocketjedi]

thanks for the info people

[Nikitas]

Well I will just throw my two cents into this topic. I prefer the Byz because they have many disciplined units, but as Madsen pointed out you do miss having heavy spearmen in the later game. Other than the Byz I will go with the Egyptians. I am not a fan of the catholic factions, they have great units, but in every game I have played as a catholic faction the Pope always got on my nerves so I just gave up on it.

[terryblack825]

Turkey all the way. Janissary infantry is realy good.

[Alrowan]

my 2 cents on the popes, i didnt know about the 4th, but as it went...

the papacy had been moved to avignon for some time, the people of christiandom saw the popes as puppets to the french, eventually the cardinals 9mainl french at the time as well) elected a pope who they thought to manipulate, Urban the something.. anyway, he didnt move back to avignon, but instead stayed in rome.. the cardianls were none to pleased, so they said his election was a farce (the vatican was stormed by the people of rome), so they elected a new pope from thier number.

that is 2 popes, one in rome, one in avignon...

anyway, what happened next was that the kings didnt want to support a french pope, and the english and germans opposed the roman pope, so they elected thier own

and thats as much as i know

[All_the_Sultan's_horses]

Definitely the Turks. i think they're the most intriguing of the muslim factions, with all their really interesting and unique troops. The janissaries are too cool, plus the Sipahi of the Porte. Basically they're the only muslim faction with troops to match the catholic factions in late game. when the catholics get chivalric knights, chiv men-at-arms, gothic sergeants etc., only the turks can match them technologically.

plus i just love their history. from basically nowhere they stormed onto the world stage and carved a great empire that lasted more than 500 years. at one point in history, they were the scourge of the west. even today they're the most progressive and secular of muslim nations.

[woodsman22]

I have played almost every faction. The Italians were the most fun. Financialy they cannot be beat. Italian infantry is pretty reliable and tough in the heat of battle. Right now I am playing as poland on expert. Talk about financially challanged. I have won as the danes but takes longer to build a financial base with them too.

Italians win my vote.

[Jeroen Hill]

I prefer England, Spain, Germany or France. England and Spain suit me well cause of their natural defences. France and Germany are sort of in the middel and you end up protecting all your borders. England and Spain are accessable through water as well but by the time other nations start using vessals, you have enough troops to protect your shores as well.

I guess England is my absolute favorite. I dont use special units really. Spear units to form a beakon in front of 480 longbows if enough money available. Men at arms protect my rear and flanks and are always hidden if possible. I always try and play in a defensive position. Chivalric cavalry moves wide and charges when the enemy is engaging my troops in close combat.

Ofcourse, I dont own this game for that long, just 3 weeks now, and thus some guys on this forum will beat me with ease.

[fenir]

I am no Catholic, but to set the record straight.....

The Myth, and I say Myth.... has it that a woman named Joan from England, joined the church to be with her lover.

Well a long story short, she followed him to Rome, whereby the Cardinals elected her pope, but when she appreantly gave birth in a procession, she was stoned to death by the people.

This was supposed to have happened about ~850'sAD from memory.

However, there has never, EVER, in any Vatcian record, nor in any other record that has been found to support this. Only the arguements of those who persure there own agenda as usual, (National Organization for Women). But thats nothing new. They even produced a book, without I should say, any historical documentation. And there version is different to the original story. They claim it was a woman from Germany, who traveled to Greece to study, which would have been really dumb considering they are two different kinds of Christianty, even back then. As they where already seperated in doctrine. And if it where true, she would have studied at Constaninople, as that is where the seminary is, since 335AD. Which still exists today, abit the turkish Government refuses to allow it to reopen.

But it has always remained strictly a myth. And is not supported by either evidence or historians, (because we have no evidence). There are at present 5 different versions.

fenir

PS: my favorivate faction is the Roman Empire. best general, Alexius I KOMNHNHS.

[Exile]

Hmm, for me it's a toss up between the Turks and Byzantines. The Catholic factions have pretty much the same units, so I am less excited about them, plus the Pope...

I like the Turks because of their specialty units. I like the Byzantines for the same reason, though to a lesser extent. My main reason for liking the Byzantines is because of their role in history. They suffered a bit of a tragedy at the hand of the crusaders and it's enjoyable to turn the table on history amd conquer the world with the Byzantines. IMO these two factions are the most distinctive in the game and both are a bit of an underdog. (except the Byzantines early - then its just pure revenge)

[chilliwilli]

I like the Egyptians. Excellent starting position, Mameluk units can be useful in any situation and will become backbone of your army, and its the only time I get to fight in the desert alot .

[Kensai Achilles]

does anyone has the same feeling that all euro faction are equal? the top units like armoured swiss, lancer, gothic come in too late after we're winning and no longer need them. so they prolly matter only for MP games?

same thing with janissary troops in my case.

so I'd vote for the best position and resources: Spain.
the downside is that spain is too far to replace a new pope so I ended up conquering the far away sicily as my top priority as my base to replace the pope every once in a while and deserted it to rebels.

[rpasell]

You know, every time I play with a new faction they become my favorite. Each one presents unique challenges. I'm playing as the English right now, and I didn't think I'd like it, but gave em a try anyway. Glad I did. THe only factions I haven't played with now are the Byzantines, French and the Almohads (including minor factions modded).

[lancer63]

I play English and Danes mostly. Less worries about crusades than other Catholic factions. I like all three muslim factions but Turks are best. The Byz I have to try yet.