What faction to play as?

[MongolWarrior]

Hey everybody I am a total noob(just bought the game) and was wondering, what are the four factions I should start out with? All help appreciated!

[Fragony]

Byzantines, they have good economy and awesome troops. Pretty easy faction to start with.

[The Grand Inquisitor]

The Danes on Early. You only have one border to worry about, and your initial direction of expansion should be obvious.

Danish battle tactics are straight forward too. Blokes with axes march forward and chop people up.

[YAKOBU]

Hi MongolWarrior

I may be being patriotic but I recommend England.

If you take Flanders and let go of Normandy, Anjou and Aquataine you only have 1 border. Also you can invade the 3 province island of Scandinavia which has good trade goods and only gives you 1 more border to defend.

With Flanders and Scandinavia intact you have great income flowing in once trade is up and running.

Also what troops, V2 Longbows in Wales and V2 Billman in Mercia in Late and Hobilars in Early.

[CherryDanish]

My first game was as the Danes and it was a fantastic learning experience (it was however somewhat simplified due to me improperly installing the VI expansion initially). As was said above, simplified borders, wide variety of early troop types (build LOADS of Huscarles in early while you can, you will not be able to build them anymore after 1205 (?)). The Danes teach you a lot about acting early, taking risks, building an economy, teching up, and even diplomacy (kiss the HRE's butt for a few years) without much real risk of losing. With the Danes it's hard to get rolling, but it's easy to draw a stalemate of sorts (if left on it's own, the AI never takes Denmark). There is a good tactic guide in the guides section. Personally I find an early aggressive stance against rebel Baltic states and an early drive to build Sweden into a troop building (melee troops and cav only)/money making power house is a very successful strategy. Loading up on cheap vikings from Norway is great too. Swarming an enemy with vikings and huscarles is a quick recipe for success in early. Lastly longboats = mucho love.

[Doug-Thompson]

Byzantines are a good start, mainly because you don't have to worry about inquisitors, Crusades and excommunication.

Of course, you don't get to learn how to use inquisitors or Crusades or how to avoid excommunication, either.

The difficulty ratings on the set-up menu in the Early Era are obsolete., mainly because people have come up with good opening moves that have been discovered since the game was invented. The ultimate example is the Turks. They're listed as hard, when the truth is that Katank's opening "Ransom Blitz" make them the easiest, most powerful faction on the board.

Spain is another faction that's described as hard but are really easy once you know how to open with them.

I'd go with the Almohads: Great early era units, decent navy, you get to use Jihads. You're on the opposite end of the map when the Golden Horde arrives.

Also, what type of units or faction do you like? If you're a horse archer fan, Hungarians are the best by far. If you like to just walk up and chop people up, follow The Grand Inquisitor's advice and go with the Danes and their Vikings. If you love cavalry charges, you might consider the French with their bonused Chivalric Knights. If you like early, lighter cavalry, consider the Spanish with their jinettes. If you have other units you'd like to use, let us know.

[Hetman_Koronny]

And if you decide you want some challenge try Turks in Early, France in Early GA or IMO greatest challenge Russia in High... Golden Horde battles are something you must experience

[Longasc]

I would start playing as the Byzantines.

Then I would switch to the High Era. You will have conquered Europe before you get to see the more sophisticated and cool High Era Knights/Units if you only play in the EARLY period.

[econ21]

The only problem with the Byzantines is that they start off rather "big" - quite a large number of provinces and units to worry about, rather a lot of decisions about what to build and where to deploy what. I recall firing them up for my first campaign as the Byzantines but finding it overwhelming, so I quit and restarted as English. Of course, it helps that I am English so the strategic situation was more easily comprehensible.

[Fragony]

With the Byzantines I only develope a few provinces for armies, farm upgrades for the rest of them for horse archers. I always invade sicily first turn and build ships in the meantime. By the time the ships reach sicily you got a 9 star general for life with all the vices you need to make the campaign really boring but I do it anyway. Byzantines are fun to command but lack a bit of flavour, they are just too good in early to have a nice campaign. Most of the time I end up owning the map WAY before the high period (I play very aggresive) and it kinda becomes a drag. Byzantines is fun for starters but once you know the basics they are just too good with their unstoppable cheap infantry. Even with the late period they hold up good enough to make your own jedi generals, the VG aren't even needed (and I think they are WAY to overpowered)

[Marquis de Said]

I've never started a game in late, but my last game was as the Russians starting in high, and I found it very interesting because all the AI factions had better facilities and thus better troops. I don't think I've ever seen as many crusades in a game either. So for me, the more developed starting situation makes for a better game. And there's plenty of time for you to conquer Europe from 1205 to 1453.

You can play as the Mongols if you use the -ian command. Just switch to the Mongols the turn after they appear. You'll find information about it in one of the guides. I think frogbeastegg's Unit Guide had a mention of it at the end.

Marquis de Said