Faction with decent infantry (besides Romans)?

[Excalibur Bane]

I wanted to play my next short campaign with a faction that has some good infantry that can compete with the Romans, but there really doesn't seem to be any good ones with a quick glance at the unit chart.

I don't count hoplites or any unit that can form a phalanx as decent infantry, they are simply too painful to control to be worth playing a faction with them. Gaul looked promising, but the only-roads tech limitation and no stonewalls thing, that rather dumbs things down considerably. Any way to mod this so they could get the maximum tech for roads? I would love to do that.

What do you guys recommend? I'm also looking for a faction with some decent missile units that have a good long range.

Thanks in advance.

[Magraev]

The Egyptians seem to be the answer you seek. Good heavy inf (axemen) and the best bowmen in the game.

The Seleucids might be cool for you too, but it takes forever to get to the silver shield legionaires.

[Theodoret]

The Spanish are okay, if you are not averse to modding the game to make them avaliable. A combination of the Gallic and Carthaginian lines. Same problems as the Gauls when it comes to tech capping. The Thracians are also quite interesting. Yes they do have the phalanx, but they also have falx-armed troops who are utterly deadly in combat.

Magraev is right in that the Egyptians have both excellent infantry, and good missile units. On the other hand they do have phalanx units (guess there is no getting away from them).

[Bob the Insane]

Good heavy inf (axemen)

Shiver.... Scary man in only a skirt with the armour stat as an Armoured Hoplite?!?!

[Excalibur Bane]

Hmm. Spanish sounds good or maybe Dacia. Where do you get a mod to unlock all the factions?

[Boohugh]

Although I havn't played with them yet, the Germans have some pretty fearsome infantry. They are mainly very big axemen that scare the enemy before cutting them into very small pieces .

[Akka]

Well, if you don't want to use phalanxes, you remove about a third of the available infantry units of the game, so... ^^

[The_Emperor]

Phalanx infantry makes for some of the best infantry in the game. If your unwilling to use them then your choice is pretty limited to tell you the truth. I have played a few campaigns as the greeks and in some instances it is worthwhile removing your Hoplites from Phalanx formation... (A flanking charge of Hoplites in standard formation into the side of rear of an enemy can be devastating)

The Barbarian factions tend to have good infantry (the Britons and Germans), but when it comes to competing with Rome's late infantry you will find it hard. As has been said the Desert Axemen with their "invisible armour" is ok for Egypt, but you will still have Phalanx spearmen.

In reality Rome has the best infantry in the Game, with Phalanx infantry running a close second.

[Red Harvest]

If you want some pleasant phalanx experience, take Germania for a spin. For whatever reason I'm finding their spear warbands easier to wield than the other phalanx units I've tried. You won't have much else early on... so you have to get good at using the phalanx units (grab whatever cav mercs you can and put them just behind each flank.) You get practiced facing various Gaul and Briton armies.

[Sin Qua Non]

Germania will also give you the option to warm up to the phalanx, since they have good close infantry as well as spear warbands. So if you play them and still decide that the phalanx is not for you, then you still have a good selection of units.

I just finished a Spanish campaign. Once you get settled, the Scutari/Bull Warrior combo is rather potent.

[Theodoret]

Hmm. Spanish sounds good or maybe Dacia. Where do you get a mod to unlock all the factions?

You can do the mod yourself, its easy (even I managed it).

Find your Rome:Total War folder and open it.

Select Data>World>Maps>Campaign>Imperial_Campaign

Find the file descr_stat, make a back up of it and put it somewhere where you can find it (I have a backup folder in my TW directory). Now open the original file in Notepad.

You will notice that there are a list of factions split up into Playable, Unlockable and Nonplayable. Simply cut and paste the Non-Playable factions you want into the Unlockable section.

[Colovion]

Yeah I'd say to go Germans - I'm using them now and I love them. The Greeks were nice, but their whole infantry line was Phalanx - the Germans have a weaker phalanx to use in the beginning of the game and then you will get some other infantry like axemen, berserkers and whatnot to flank with. I'm with Red Harvest on that I think they're easier to control. I just staved off a 940 unit assault of my 600 man garrison and lost 4 men while killing every one of them. Needless to say my General gained 5 Stars and a load of Virtues.

[troymclure]

Dacia has pretty good infantry IMO. They have all the standard barbarian infantry including chosen swordsmen plus they have falxman. all in all a pretty good infantry combo

[Colovion]

Dacia has pretty good infantry IMO. They have all the standard barbarian infantry including chosen swordsmen plus they have falxman. all in all a pretty good infantry combo

Falxmen are very fearsome. My Romans were slaughtered by them once when I underestimated how amazing their attack is - playing with them online is great because people generally do the same thing.

[Tamur]

I've haven't had terribly good success with Chosen Swordsmen, but the Falxmen are very, very scary, agreed. The Brits are a blast if you like chariots as well

[Red Harvest]

Agreed, those falxmen are killing machines.

[Basileus]

falxmen killing machines?, i used them when i played thrace very hard and on hard and they where useless :\ when the ai uses them on hard and vh they seem to do good of course heh getting the attack bonus

[Red Harvest]

falxmen killing machines?, i used them when i played thrace very hard and on hard and they where useless :\ when the ai uses them on hard and vh they seem to do good of course heh getting the attack bonus

Could be, I haven't tried my hand with them yet, but I found they were very effective at soaking up my cavalry attacks in very hard.

[Colovion]

Well I've beaten full Macedonian phalanx armies with purely Falx and Cav - only 5 Units of Cav. THis was online so it had nothing to do with penalties etc... they also are hard for Romans to defeat if used properly.

[hoof]

Red Harvest, given the stats boost the AI troops get on hard and above, I'm not surprised your guys got chewed :)

If you want a good environment to compare troops with in a fair setting, play on Medium tactical difficulty.

[Red Harvest]

Red Harvest, given the stats boost the AI troops get on hard and above, I'm not surprised your guys got chewed :)

If you want a good environment to compare troops with in a fair setting, play on Medium tactical difficulty.

That's hardly fair...the AI is so weak that it needs the VH boost. If I restricted myself to medium I would have been done with RTW in about a week. The difference I was seeing is that the falxmen stood up to the cav rush better than most infantry does and anything that can stand up to some cavalry is a plus in RTW. (The Egyptian desert axemen also do pretty well, with their cast iron skin and all.) Part of the reason the falxmen look good is that they usually are accompanied by chosen archers, so I end up having to hit the falxmen in less than opportune circumstances because I'm trying to deal with those blasted archers.

[bighairyman]

German infantries have one of the highest attack points in the game!

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Greece- although all their infantry are phalanx infantry, armored hoplites and spartans make kickass heavy infantry when you take htem off phalanx.
carthage is ok too.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

I enjoyed playing as the Armenians with their heavy spearmen and legionaries. Couple those with cataphracts and cataphract archers and you can give anybody a hard time.

[Ism8000]

Selucid Good Heavy Inf. also Armena is a good faction to play challange? Yes

[Excalibur Bane]

Well, I initally tried Dacia but the unit variety left something to be desired. So, I saved it, and switched to Germania. Oooooh, I love it. Those axemen and naked fanatics are killer. I haven't gotten any of the missile units except basic skirmishers yet but I'm really enjoying the faction. A couple of things would improve that though:

1) Something better then simply dirt roads, it's way too long to move governors and armies around the borders of your empire. Or a movement bonus as I mentioned in another thread.

2) Fortifications. This is a real problem. It's compounded by the above even more, because it only takes a turn for the AI to build a decent battering ram, smash down the gate and kill the defenders before I can bring in any kind of reinforcements from my northern or southern armies. At least with stone, you have a wall to put your skirmishers/archers on and gates to pour boiling oil on the enemy and let's not forget the autocannon ballista/arrow towers.
I know it wouldn't be historically accurate to allow them stone anything, but it would make it more fun. Same with the roads.

3) Learning facilities. Another problem. I rarely get any retinue members, except the local priest. Or the village idiot. Or a rebel turncoat. That's about it. Barbarian factions should have their own form of learning structures, like a campfire stories circle or something.

Otherwise, I'm having a blast. Sure beats having to do those stupid senate missions all the time.

[LittleRaven]

If you want some pleasant phalanx experience, take Germania for a spin. For whatever reason I'm finding their spear warbands easier to wield than the other phalanx units I've tried.

And the reason, of course, is that German Phalanx units have a base unit size of 60 instead of 40 like the Greek ones. This means the phalanx actually has a bit of staying power to help make up for its lack of mobility.

After having such luck with German phalanx units and such a miserable time with the Greek ones, I tried modding all phalanx units to a base size of 60.

Whoa. Greece becomes pretty deadly. A unit of armored hoplites on a wall simply will not die. I may have to tone that down a bit. But it does give Carthage some decent infantry. The Sacred Band are now a force to be reckoned with.

[Red Harvest]

And the reason, of course, is that German Phalanx units have a base unit size of 60 instead of 40 like the Greek ones. This means the phalanx actually has a bit of staying power to help make up for its lack of mobility.

After having such luck with German phalanx units and such a miserable time with the Greek ones, I tried modding all phalanx units to a base size of 60.

Whoa. Greece becomes pretty deadly. A unit of armored hoplites on a wall simply will not die. I may have to tone that down a bit. But it does give Carthage some decent infantry. The Sacred Band are now a force to be reckoned with.

That is what I've been saying since the demo. Phalanx units need to be of larger size to make them more durable and present a reasonable frontage. I've not yet modded the units, although I intend to. Of course cost and upkeep need to be in proportion to size as well.

[Chimpyang]

If you mod the game Macedonia is one of the easiest and most fun factions to play as long as you take out the romans quickly. If you don't then try Briton, it's very hard to get going but once you produce troops it's fun conductioon mass inf charges.

[Akka]

And the reason, of course, is that German Phalanx units have a base unit size of 60 instead of 40 like the Greek ones. This means the phalanx actually has a bit of staying power to help make up for its lack of mobility.

After having such luck with German phalanx units and such a miserable time with the Greek ones, I tried modding all phalanx units to a base size of 60.

Whoa. Greece becomes pretty deadly. A unit of armored hoplites on a wall simply will not die. I may have to tone that down a bit. But it does give Carthage some decent infantry. The Sacred Band are now a force to be reckoned with.

I played Greece with the "large units" settings, which means 80 people per unit, and I was always surprised to see others complaining about them, because I found they were incredibly powerful.

So, well, perhaps that it's, in fact, that ^^