IGN Article

[TheSilverKnight]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/682/682437p1.html

It has a list of the factions, and they are as follows...

There will be 21 playable factions for custom battle and multiplayer. England, France, Scotland, Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Milan, Venice, Papal States, Sicily, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Byzantium, The Turks, Egypt, The Moors, The Mongols, The Tumurids, The Aztecs.

We've included several factions that weren't included in the original Medieval; examples being Scotland, Venice and Portugal.

Personally I'm a bit upset. The factions don't array for the wide possibilities that are available in certain theatres, such as the British Isles, Germany, and Iberia. In Iberia, the Aragonese/Catalan faction should be a major one. In Britain, well, I suppose England and Scotland are the only major players, but Wales was an important theatre as well. If Germany is denied, then not much will be going on in the field there besides occasional skirmishes between HRE and Poland.

To be honest, I'd like CA to work on the factions and expand on them a bit, break up Spain into Castile & Aragon, maybe add two more German factions...Hohenstraufens & Habsburgs perhaps.

Does anyone know of how the provinces will be divided up according to duchies or anything like that? IMO, CA needs to work a bit on their choice of factions.

[SirGrotius]

I like your suggestions of breaking up the big three (England, Iberia, and the HRE). I guess Germany, Spain/Portugal and England sell better than talking about Wales, the Habsburgs, and the Catalines.

One other thing I noted (and thanks for the link), was something about increasing prestige. I wonder how prestige/influence will be handled. I think it could be a bit more robust than in MTW.

[Lentonius]

personally as long as the '21 faction' thing isnt hardcoded im alright

[ajaxfetish]

Two things about the 21 factions listed in the article.

First, it says 21 playable factions. In M:TW1 there were at least 7 non-playable factions along with the playable ones (of which I think there were originally only 12?). Some of those were made playable with the expansion, which could be a possibility here, and modding filled any other big holes.

Second, the list only applies to Multiplayer. He said they hadn't yet decided on a final faction roster for the single-player campaign, so it could well have more (or even--cringe--fewer) factions available.

For a starting number I don't think 21's bad at all (certainly not compared to the original), as long as there's the possibility of picking up some of those other pivotal nations in the expansion or with mods.

Ajax

[Martok]

I still really like the part where your senior Priests can become Cardinals, and that one of them could eventually be elected Pope, thus improving your faction's standing with the Holy See.

[Mithrandir]

Gah!Aztecs!

[King Noob the Stupid]

Will there be different years to start the campaign in or will you be forced to begin in 1080 with the Aztecs and wait for 400 years sacrificing your bored soldiers to bored gods until anything happens?

[Antiochius]

yes, that`s a good question. I believe that the develpoers will make more factions in america.They havn`t decided everything til yet.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I can see some other factions making such as Aragon, Burgundy, maybe Genoa and Sweden, another indian faction and perhaps the Crusader States, Armenians and Serbs. But maybe only in a non-playable role. I hope anyway. I am surprised Scotland has made it but a good surprised as i thought another faction might pip them for the faction slots but things still might change.

[Martok]

Gah! Aztecs!

Yep. Not sure how I feel about that either, but we'll just have to wait and see....

[Lord Ovaat]

Gah!Aztecs!

LOL, yeah, my feelings exactly. But we may be able to mod the Atlantic so it's not usuable. I don't care what they do if they can't leave the Americas. Also, the article says 21 playable factions for MP and custom battles. It didn't say anything about the campaign, which is the only thing I'm interested in. I would guess at least as many as for custom.

[TinCow]

This Aztecs thing has me concerned. They'll have to make the New World a significant area if they're going to make the Aztecs playable. Yet given the timeframe of the game, the New World shouldn't be accessible to Europe until the very, very end. This seems like a misallocation of resources just to add in one more playable faction.

[Mithrandir]

Maybe South America is just as playable as Europe..

just because the western world didn't discover it sooner, doesn't mean it wasn't there before...

[TinCow]

Yes, but if that were true why aren't at least the Mayans and the Incas playable? The fact that there is only one new world faction is what has me confused.

[kataphraktoi]

Name ur ideal faction list and rebel (independent list)
France
Burgundy
Castile
Aragon
Portugal
Norman (Sicilians)
Genoans
Venetians
Seljuq Turks
Ottoman Turks (yes two Turkish factions)
Egyptians (yaya I know I know, but it has be called Egyptians)
Byzantium
Cilicia Armenia
Georgians
Timurids
Kievan Rus or possibly Novgorod
Mongols
Holy Roman Empire
2 North African factions
A Scandinavian faction
Hungary
Poland

Rebels:
Bulgarians
Serbians
Croatians
Pechenegs
Cumans
Danishmends
Volga Bulgars

as far as I can think of

[Antiochius]

Egyptans? they belonged to the Ottoman at this time

[Kraxis]

Egyptans? they belonged to the Ottoman at this time

At the end, sure. But in the beginning, no.
This would be like looking at the factionlist for RTW and say that over half of them belonged to the Romans at that time.

[Azi Tohak]

Anyone else just love how old-whats-his-name salivated over how pretty the game will look? Ooo! Wow! Different people on different horses! whoopee! I don't give a @#*$@#(*(@#$ @%*@*$@( how the game has improved visually. In RTW I'm never close enough to see faces anyway, and when I get close, I still think the units looks quite nice (I have my computer set up to give me the best units possible, everything else is limited). Are they going to use the AI of MTW, the AI of RTW, or the AI of BI?

That being said, I am excited. I still have my questions (like everyone else: Aztecs... what?), but I think this could be a lot of fun. I just need a new video card!

Azi

[DukeofSerbia]

Spain is only a fiction. Castille and Aragon should be there.
Russia is also fiction. Kievan Rus were divided into numberless principalities.

[Martok]

Spain is only a fiction. Castille and Aragon should be there.
Russia is also fiction. Kievan Rus were divided into numberless principalities.

Agreed. I like VikingHorde's XL Mod because it at least splits up the "Russians" into the Novgorods and the Kievans. I also like that he renamed the "Spanish" as Castille-Leon, which was a nice (if superficial) improvement.

Also, I'd ideally prefer there be far fewer "rebel" provinces in Medieval 2, as most of them were legitimate kingdoms in their own right (even if they were only minor powers with not much influence on the world stage). Yes, I realize it wouldn't be practical for CA to make that many factions even if they were unplayable, but I can still dream.... [wistful grin]

[doc_bean]

As an example, a swordsman might do a swing to the left, a swing to the right, followed by a stab to the stomach knocking his opponent down. He might then spin around, and deliver a merciless finishing strike to the enemy while he's lying helpless on the ground.