Which faction for the first game

[Martok]

I ran an Almo campaign until it developed a repeating crash problem which I put down to gavesave corruption. I chose that point to install the VI expansion, which I'd had for ages but not bothered to install (don't ask!).

I liked the gold mines, I liked having just two border provinces, I liked gaining general stars from rebellious Portugal, I liked being able to access the non-coastal ship areas but I'd only got as far as wiping out the Spanish and breaking through the Pyrenees by the time the game got corrupted.

I agree that the AUM's ate up just about anything, suffering few casualties in the process and racking up valour like nobody's business. As far as I was concerned, they were the Almo equivalent of BI's - and dirt cheap too, not just cost per unit but in terms of required tech level.

Word around the forums was that they were suspiciously overpowered, until the modifications made by VI are in place, that is. I have to agree but I also wanted to try them out for myself, in unmodified form, before entering into any debate about them.

I forget if the Almos begin the game with any fort in Granada (I think they start with a keep in Cordoba) but, let's face it, your getting a unit with +1 valour bonus starting from turn seven, at the latest. No other faction on the map gets that kind of starting edge, other than in their generals/kings units. How the AI manages to **** up the Almos so badly, when it is in charge of them, I cannot imagine.

In Viking Invasion, the Almos' AI was switched from "aggressive" to "defensive" (or whatever the opposite designation is). They start with the same assets as they do in original Medieval, but they rarely try to attack anymore (except the occasional invasion of Portugal, and/or to retake lands lost to another faction). That's why you can smack them around so easily with VI installed.

[EatYerGreens]

In Viking Invasion, the Almos' AI was switched from "aggressive" to "defensive" (or whatever the opposite designation is). They start with the same assets as they do in original Medieval, but they rarely try to attack anymore (except the occasional invasion of Portugal, and/or to retake lands lost to another faction). That's why you can smack them around so easily with VI installed.

Well, I suppose it's more historically accurate, in that they were more into enriching their level of culture within certain territories, rather than being expansionist aggressors. Still, it's a pity about the change in VI. I'm going to miss being the English and encountering camels in Aquitaine

This next bit really belongs in the 'Pics & History of your Empire' thread but I'll stick it here for the time being, as I referred to it on page 2...

The French crusade has made no further forays since its second time of being repulsed and is reduced to suffering desertions in Hungary. I must track down the French king to see what his influence is now. They reduced the English to just Scotland and finished the HRE, so they're otherwise quite a power in this game. I'll soon have enough troops spare to expand into Hungarian lands and I wouldn't mind betting that the remnants of it will still be around to play a part in the defence against me.

The Spanish crusade surprised me by not using the Italian ships after all. Instead, it came over land, via the Papal States. A daft thing to do as this allowed me to reconnect my ship lanes and have a spare turn in which to shuffle units around to get precisely the mix of troops I wanted and get the right general in place.

I had a keep under construction in Naples, which was 2 years from completion in the turn I expected their actual attack and contemplated cancellation when they failed to take the sea route to Sicily. The bad news for them was that I just about matched their troop numbers, which made me a bit more gung-ho, so I let the build continue. We won but with considerable use of reinforcements, an unimpressive ratio of 2.5 to 1 but casualties of around 700 (give or take my captured men get returned to me). More pleasing was that the 750 they had left didn't make a second attack and the keep is now completed. This allows me to leave a small garrison behind and either redeploy excess troops elsewhere or say 'screw the trade' and make a bid for Rome.

My Byz holdings are now close to being on a par with their historical peak, as seen in a TV programme about their fire-ships, which I watched avidly, the other day. Tunisia will complete the North African picture, once I've dealt with the three stacks of Spanish currently holding it. Rome is beckoning, if not historically a part of it. Khazar and Crimea are mine. Pereslavl has been strangely empty for over ten years and I could have walked into it at any time in the past five but didn't want to weaken Khazar unduly. I gamesaved with an 'attack' in progress but my one-and-only remaining ally, Novgorod, have made rapid advances against rebels recently and are positioned next door to it too. If we both grab on the same turn, it could turn nasty on the northern border.

The Reliqary is complete in the Capital and the Cathedral is under way. Should be finished by 1197. Trade is good, 6-7 destinations on most export lists, profits around 6500 per year. Balance is under 20k but that's because just about every province is busy building something. Spy training starts year after next. Peachy.

[dgfred]

I am pretty new to the game, so take my views with a grain of salt :

I've tried HRE, Danes, French, and Spain for test runs when I first got the
game. I also gave the Egyptians, Alo's and Aragon for smaller tries. From
what I noticed, Spain seemed to be the easiest to get going, with the
Danes in second. France was also very easy if you rushed the English, but
that is what you have to do with the Danes too for the most part. My only
problem with Spain is that I don't fight too well yet with the Jinuettes (sp),
but I'm learning fast. They have great position, very good lands, tough units,
and usually several great generals...... what more could you ask for?

My favorite is still HRE for ancestrial reasons .