Medium/Medium Difficulty

[Checkers]

I just finished my Julii campaign on M/M(Darth mod 5.2), which I know is an easier faction. I found it comfortable to play. I now want to try my hand at the next opponent and want to get an idea as to how much more difficult these candidates would possibly be, using the same M/M settings, in relation to Julii. I am considering: Carthage, Britons, Germans, Seleucids, Armenia, Greeks or Macedon.
What are the assessments on these in relation to Julii?
Thanks,

[pezhetairoi]

Armenia is a little too crazy for noobs, IMHO. Carthage is tough in the initial-survival stage, but later on their elephants are...*ahem*. The Britons are, to me, boring, but strategically interesting in the opening stages. The Seleucids is good if you're really truly 'Total-War', because right at the start you'll be facing many factions all wanting a bite of you. Greeks are by far the easiest because all the rebel armies in Greece and Asia Minor can be bribed by you, giving you a HUGE army right at the start, and it makes a HUGE income enough to support both bribes and increased upkeep. I managed to get 40 provinces within 30 turns playing the Greeks, and I could even provide you with my campaign's nitty-gritty if you wanted. Macedon to me is superior to the Greeks because of two things: Light Lancers and Pikemen. Germans are superior Macedon. Good Cavalry, phalanxes right at the start (with which you can dominate the barbarians) and fast melee units to balance the slowness of the phalanx. If you strike straight for Italy at the start, you're made, because you get all the upper-tier units in Rome. With your phalanxes the barbarians and the Romans cannot stand against you.

I say Germania if you want to try barbarian culture and barbarian playing styles, or Macedon for civilised development. Either way, you should try a phalanx culture to balance off your Romans who are sword-wielding.

[professorspatula]

If you don't mind having very limited resources at the start, Germania could be fun. They have good infantry, although unlike the Roman ones, they tend to turn and run more often, and are more vulnerable to missiles, as they don't have much in the way of armour. They also have the interesting Beserkers (powerful 3HP club wielding maniacs!) and Gothic Cavalry, which is amongst the best in the game. They also have spear warband, a light version of the hoplite which is very effective, although not overly powerful like Pikemen and the Greek hoplites (especially armoured and Spartan ones). Barbarian factions also struggle to keep large and huge cities under control, adding more challenge.

Britons are interesting too, but if you can't get to grips with their chariots, then you'll hate their campaign.

The Seleucids have a very tricky start to their campaign, but if you can weather the storm, you'll have the strongest army in the game under your control. The challenge starts off being big, then fades into being a walk in the park.

Macedon don't appeal to me personally. Plenty of cavalry, but pikemen again and not a lot else. Aside from keeping the Brutii out of Greece, I can't see much in the way of fun or challenges. Greek hoplites won't be able to get in range to kill your pikemen, and the Thracians and Dacians couldn't scare a spider into moving aside, let alone your Macedonian army.

The Armenians could be interesting, starting off weak and all, but they never appealed to me. Their Cataphracts will rule the battlefields though.

Carthage's campaign is similar to the Seleucids: very tricky at the start, but once you fend off initial assaults and challenges, you have an incredibly strong army to control. Unlike Seleucids, there's no pikemen though, and their initial infantry is weak, so it's arguably more of a challenge throughout. You also have the option of going after Rome early on, or just fending them off and expanding into the East instead, or maybe annexing Spain and Gaul into your empire.

Up to you who you pick in the end. Germans, Carthage or Seleucids get my vote. Consider also, upping the campaign difficulty to at least high. You might as well make things slightly tricker, because you don't want the campaign too easy, too soon.

[Checkers]

Thanks professorpatula & pezhetairoi.
I am leaning towards Germania right now.
When you said "if you can get to grips with their Chariots", what exactly is the issue here?
In terms of raising Campaign difficulty, what exactly does it change and how stark is the difference between going from Medium to Hard? Where will I notice it the most?
A little side noobish question: When people write the difficulty in order as "Hard/Medium", I take it that this order is "Campaign Map/Battlefield Map", and not vice-versa. Is this everyone's take on it?

[professorspatula]

Chariots are tricky to use properly, because they are prone to falling to pieces within seconds of contact against the enemy, thus making them a liability. Plus they are awful to use in narrow streets, sometimes even deciding to charge out of a city when you tell them to move somewhere else in the city. Chariots require a lot of micromanagement to get the best out of them, which can become annoying. On the plus side, they are incredible when used to their strengths. I had incredible success with my Briton campaign with chariots when I started it.

As to campaign difficulty, upping it should make the other AI factions a bit more aggressive towards you, in theory, and I assume diplomacy is slightly harder to broker a deal, although diplomacy has always appeared to be a bit random. It's possible the AI gets further bonus to maintaining its own settlements and other such things. I really don't know to be honest, as I spent most of my campaigns just playing on hard or very hard and not having too many troubles either way. One thing that upping the campaign difficulty does do, and that is give the AI a bonus against you in auto-resolved battles. Any battle you have the game calculate will now require you to have a much stronger force to avoid suffering defeat. On very hard, with naval battles, you tend to need a 2:1 advantage ratio at the very least or you'll have your fleet sunk, with 3:1 or 4:1 battles still an uncertainty.

As to does H/M or VH/H mean campaign difficulty first, battle difficulty second, I assume that is the case.

[Garvanko]

Playing M/M

Best barbarian faction to play first is Britons. They have good units (although Chariots are hard to deal ith at first), while expansion is slightly challenging as you face Gaul and Germania, who have similar tech levels. After that you should be strong enough to take on the Julii.

Best factions to play.. Seluecids - best units in the game, Scipii - nice expansion routes, and you get to deal with Egypt pretty quick if you want, Macedon - Light Lancers. And of course the Brutii.

Carthage is hard.