Quote Originally Posted by allfathersgodi
I don't see an MP faction as all that challenging, your opponent has the same strengths and weakness as you do, the missile units have the same capability, your cavalry can charge and flank, disengage, re-engage, wheel around just as quickly as his. Your Spearmen have the same reach as his.

Where is the challenge in that? The challenge lies in trying to beat someone who is an awesome commander of the Horde with a faction that is mis-matched (HRE, Byzantines, Italians). Or using cavalry in a place that is ill-suited for cavalry (Scotland is an example)...

The true challenge would, I think, lay in what ever faction you pick versus what your opponents pick. Imagine trying to defeat the Horde with a HRE force of Gothic Sergeants and Knights? Or a Byzantine force of Kataphraktoi?
When all is equal it is superior battlefield tactics that win the day, if you cannot see the challenge in that then you never played STW.
I used Mongols almost exclusively in MTW and I routed many european armies. In one 3v3 I routed my Spanish opponent and then finished the other Spanish army and Danish army that had routed my allies. I had 1500+ kills.
However, these european armies should never have lost and I fought one opponent who knew exactly what to do against the Horde.........NOTHING.
With HRE, Italy or whoever, all you needed to do was deploy in close formation with crossbowmen close to the spear line and let the Horde do their damnedest. Arrows killed far less in MTW and any european army could easily sit and soak up every Horde arrow and still have enough men left to win the day.
Sure, if your opponent could be drawn into mistakes you could achieve wonders, if he refused to budge and kept his missile units safe while they covered the HA, the Horde could do very little about it. I faced the Horde with european armies (and I never used anything heavier than Feudal Knight cav) and believe me, it was easy to stop them. I complained about their weakness when MTW was first released and hope that MTW II will address this issue. I will not hold my breath since the Huns were no real threat in BI.
Then you should be glad to hear that Napoleonic: Total War 2 has disabled the upgrading of troops.
Good for you Duke John, you know my thoughts on upgrades in MP....the scourge of the game

........Orda