Which faction for the first game

[_Aetius_]

Byz is not that hard at all management wise if you are a die-hard civ player like me And tactics wise it is easy because of the good generals and crash-thru-everything troops. I'd say Byz just keep in mind two things: money will run out so trade and build ships and always use good generals because they make your troops fight harder, better and longer.

The Byz arent hard to play as if your experienced but newcomers, will not react fast enough to the empires various problems and almost certainly be overrun. The Byz have loads of good things going for them but unless the player is vigilant and aggressive then the empire will be picked apart.

The Byz are by far my fave faction to play as.

[ajaxfetish]

There's one faction that's really not considered a beginner's faction but which you might enjoy anyway. It's about as complicated as the Byzantine's but without many of their pluses. It's the Holy Roman Empire. The reason I mention it is that it contains Friesland, roughly equivalent to Holland. Sometimes I think going with your national identity can make up for a lot with passion.

I'm a 7th-generation American (somehow there doesn't seem to be an American faction :)--but still care a lot about my older Welsh heritage, and bought the expansion largely so I could play the Welsh. Like UltraWar mentioned they're not the easiest faction but they're the first one I played on the Viking map, and I had a great time in spite of their limitations just because they're Welsh. Don't know if it makes a difference to you, but if you're diehard Dutch you might go with the Germans just so you can play your homeland.

Anyway, whatever you choose, have fun. It's a great game.

[Spartakus]

It's the Holy Roman Empire. The reason I mention it is that it contains Friesland, roughly equivalent to Holland. Sometimes I think going with your national identity can make up for a lot with passion.

Indeed, I think many do just that, choose their first faction out of nationalistic sentiment. It's inspirational. I played the Danes first, as I had no clue what faction to pick and thought I might as well go with the Scandinavian one, being from those parts myself.

Still I wouldn't recommend starting out with any of the empires, neither the Byzantine or the German one. The bigger you are the more enemies you make, you might end up harried from all directions while still in the process of learning to manage provinces, build troops and leading them in battle. Disloyal generals and rebellions might also become a problem if you don't know how to deal with it. It's my advice to play at least one smaller faction on beforehand.

I agree with Spain, it's the beginners faction. Rich lands both in agriculture and trade, nice troop rooster, a healthy royal family, and best of all you have an infidel neighbour in the Almohads you can smash without suffering excommunication and - in the worst possible scenario - a crusade towards your lands (I've seen this happen even on the easy-setting).

I see England and Egypt also suggested a lot. The latter really isn't a beginners faction, as already mentioned by Martok the muslim factions require a little more finesse to succedd in battle and they are probably the most crusade-prone faction in the game. The English are a better choice, but their lands in western mainland Europe always complicate things. Most likely you'll become embroiled in war with at least two of the following factions at the same time; the French, the Germans, the Italians, the Spanish or the Aragonese. Excluding the Aragonese, I've actually managed to be attacked by all these during just a few turns time. Needless to say, I was drowned by their sheer numerical strength and ended up clinging desperately to Wessex.

The Spanish, I say. The Byzantine and German empires have great potential but only an experienced player can take full advantege of this.

[King Clas]

Danmark I would say is a good start, they have easy expansion possibities and when the Holy Roman Empire come tumbeling down from the inside you can parade down and grab lots of land easily.

And oh get VI it not only gives a new campaign but also expands the original campaigns. :)