most difficult faction?

[breakfastsausages]

I'm curious which nation people think is the most difficult. Right now I am constantly struggling to survive with parthia on vh/vh. If a unit of egyptian desert cavalry or chariots even looks at me funny all of my horse archers explode in a shower of blood and gore. Eastern infantry are perhaps the most stupid human beings on earth. Somehow despite having poor morale and my repeated orders to fall back they always rush to impale themselves on an enemy phalanx.

[GFX707]

Yup, in my experience Parthia. Hardly any money at first and Eastern Infantry are crap, plus the game becomes frustrating when you have to manage more than say 4 units of HA when the skirmish AI consists of "run for map edge and get stuck then get slaughtered". Maybe someone else is harder, but that's what my experience ha been so far.

[Rurik the Chieftain]

Try Spain, Numidia and Dacia.

[Count Belisarius]

I agree with most of the above comments. I would add Thrace to the mix. Very tough strategic position, strong neighbors, and poor starting troop mix. Last time I played Thrace, Macedonian Light Lancers just overwhelmed my falxmen. But overall, the Parthians get my vote for hardest faction to play. Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam.

[MoROmeTe]

The Dacians aren't that hard, although I think that the game should only be played on Emperor (that's VH for vanilla RTW) for the Campaign Map and on Consul( that's H) for the battles. On this level Dacia is really interesting to play.

Hardest faction? I'd go for Numidia. Parthia can kick ass if you manage to take out the Seleucids rather quickly, beginning with Seleukia. The Numidians are much harder.