RTW which is the hardest faction to win with ?

[AndyNgFL]

I am a player who like challenges and tried many different approaches with many factions. I started my first campaign on VH/VH and had not tried anything less than that difficulty since.

Numidia ? I tell u. Its EASY.
Even on ver 1.3 VH/VH
If you are attack minded, you can rush your original Siwa army to Thebes. There is a 50% chance that u can exterminate Thebes in 3 turns bcoz it has NO WALLS and poorly defended. But SOMETIMES, it has rebels or small egyptian army blocking the route.
Else, start building a Numidian port in the Capital and ferry a Diplomat across to Spain/Gaul border to negotiate trade and sell maps to get $$$. Concentrate your military build in Siwa, Peasants for garrisons, Archers for Defence (later attack thebes) , Infantry for Attack. Attack Thebes with at least 3 Archers and 3 Infantry and a few Calvary units and the rest of the Egyptian cities are chicken feet. I have tried many approaches, I can take Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria by BC 260.

Summary :
All out military build in Siwa. Egypt is a fat land to plunder.

I would say Parthia is the most difficult. Why ?
1) Parthian land is huge. It will take several turns to move from one city to another.
2) U can only build roads (no more than that) that will be filled with REBELS
3) Your economy is poor.
4) There is not much FAT LANDS beside you.

[Dutch_guy]

Well Parthia isn't that hard, your HA will rip every seleucid pikeman to pieces,and you won't need loads of HA - so if you're carefull you won't need to go on a spending spree.

You just plunder your way towards Antioch and later towards Egypt, then money won't be a problem,ever.

If you catch egypt before they get their Uber bowmen and chariots, you'll be fine.

The only thing to watch out for are the backstabbing Armenians - who have a similar army composition as you have, so battles can go wrong badly if your not carefull.

If you find NUmidia easy and Parthia hard, then you'll find Armenia the hardest.

Really

[Garvanko]

If you had to rank factions based on difficulty, then IMO, this is what you'd come up with, from easiest to hardest..

YOU SIMPLY CANNOT FAIL
Greek Cities

MONEYMAKERS
Egypt
Roman Brutii
Roman Scipii

BIT OF A CHALLENGE
Roman Julii
Macedon
Carthage

COULD GO EITHER WAY
Spain
Britannia
Gaul
Pontus
Seleucid Empire
Germania

BORING AND A BIT DIFFICULT
Dacia
Thrace

DISTANCE TO EVERYTHING A PROBLEM
Armenia
Parthia
Scythia

WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?
Numidia

[AndyNgFL]

I agree Armenia can be quite difficult too ! Its economy is similar to Pathia. Its position is similar to Pathia. Its military is similar to Pathia. The only thing is that Armenia has to choose where to attack in the beggining. There are fat lands and closely packed cities to the south. So, Armenia is slightly better than Pathia.

For Pathia, the best traditional attacking option in the beggining is to attack Armenia. Then Seleucid Empire. These two are not a problem. The problem comes when u leave Egypt alone. It will become a superpower. Thier arrow shooting chariots and long range bowmen and pose a proble to HAs. Egypt is a worthy opponent if you let them grow. And, Seleucid Empire and Egypt should war each other. But the many campaigns I played, if I attack Seleucid Empire, the Egyptian will ally with Seleucid and cross Arabia to attack my city, Seleucia (Babylonia).
So after some experimentation, I found out that while I Blitz Armenia and take only Seleucia (with a Wonder) from the Seleucid Empire, preparing a stack full of HAs at Susa and send one young General aross the Arabian desert with it and gallop straight to Memphis, ignoring anything, can be quite fun.

I've tried Armenia and Pathia, both can be difficult especially if you leave Egypt to grow into a superpower.

[jarmel]

Okay wre in BI is a challenge , after losing about 6 provinces and just as i thought i was in a position to counter attack, Wrong 2 hordes pop up both with 6 full stacks right in my heartlands .

[Ciaran]

If you had to rank factions based on difficulty, then IMO, this is what you'd come up with, from easiest to hardest..

YOU SIMPLY CANNOT FAIL
Greek Cities

MONEYMAKERS
Egypt
Roman Brutii
Roman Scipii

BIT OF A CHALLENGE
Roman Julii
Macedon
Carthage

COULD GO EITHER WAY
Spain
Britannia
Gaul
Pontus
Seleucid Empire
Germania

BORING AND A BIT DIFFICULT
Dacia
Thrace

DISTANCE TO EVERYTHING A PROBLEM
Armenia
Parthia
Scythia

WHERE DO YOU BEGIN?
Numidia

I daresay you can very well fail with Greek Cities, namely if you don´t have the hang on phalanx units. They don´t have much else. I find it hard to fail with Julii (failing meaning not managing the starting phase, once you´re established the faction doesn´t matter much). I´d also put Gaul into the "bit of a challenge" slot, due to the fact that they lack utterly in the anti-cavalry department (no decent cav on their own and their spear warbands only have light spears), making them, in my opinion, the weakest barbarian faction, though I don´t know about Dacia.
Is Numidia really that bad?