EB factions pros and cons

[Patriarch of Constantinople]

hi im about to start playing EB and i want to know what are the factions pros and cons? and what do faction is good for a newb? thanks

[tk-421]

I'd start with a Hellenic or Celtic faction because they seem to be more complete than other factions. The Ptolemaioi are supposed to be really easy, but I've never played as them. Romani are also easy. Casse are very difficult, but they have some really cool champion units. The Yuezhi will be leaving the game so this would be your last chance to play as them, but they aren't very complete. I also would suggest playing with battles on medium or hard difficulty and campaign on very hard or hard.

[Cheexsta]

I'll see if I can help you out with the factions I've tried so far.

Romani: Not too difficult, I like the senate offices and triumphs and such. It's good fun to watch your characters go off with their own ambitions. As for disadvantages, they are plagued by the "Greek Effect" - they are essentially of a Greek culture because of some hardcoded problems with the 1.2 patch (though will be fixed for 0.8, by my understanding), but that is purely an aesthetic issue. They lack overly powerful cavalry, but Equites are generally "good enough" for most purposes.

Makedonia: quite a powerful starting position. They are in quite a deficit in the early game and either have to disband or conquer. I just started a new Makedonian campaign after accidently deleting my old one, and at the start you can quite easily put together two stacks of troops, and after disbanding the unnecessary (and expensive) cavalry on your island holdings, the debt isn't *too* bad. Like Rome, they have a very strong economy. Their military is good in this version, thanks to phalanxes being quite powerful (as is the case in all RTW mods, it seems), their cavalry is excellent and they have no shortage of heavy infantry later in the game. I'd say they're a pretty good all-round faction, but sometimes the phalanx combat can get boring.

Ptolemaioi: Similar to Makedon, but with less phalanxes early on; you'll be heavily relying on Pantodopoi. Unlike Makedon, though, you'll be "in the black" from the start, but have to contend with the Seleucids. I didn't play this campaign all that long, though, so that's about all I can say.

I've tried a few other factions, like the Aedui and Averni, but too briefly to really say much about them. The three I mentioned above, though, are good places to start for a new player.

[Ardaric]

I've played Aduei till 237bc.
As Aduei you're in the red from the start. Take a few reb cities or/and fight the Arverni. You'll be in the red for a lot of turns, depending on which level you play. Try to get some towns with harbors in the west for some economic growth.
Fighting against a lot rebs is tiresome and a lot of battles are in those horrible dense woods

You'll have to use only Longao inf and Sataroas Bow unit to keep the costs low. Try to andvance in Northern Italy. There are some useful units to train. Then on to the Alps for the towns that produce the celtic phalanx Mori Gaesum are great .

[Ardaric]

I've played Aduei till 237bc.
As Aduei you're in the red from the start. Take a few reb cities or/and fight the Arverni. You'll be in the red for a lot of turns, depending on which level you play. Try to get some towns with harbors in the west for some economic growth.
Fighting against a lot rebs is tiresome and a lot of battles are in those horrible dense woods

You'll have to use only Longao inf and Sataroas Bow unit to keep the costs low. Try to andvance in Northern Italy. There are some useful units to train. Then on to the Alps for the towns that produce the celtic phalanx Mori Gaesum are great .

[Slider6977]

Good for a newb?

Romani, Ptolemaioi, Baktria, Carthage, and perhaps Macedon

Macedon you start with a lot of troops, as has been pointed out, but you can blitz Athens away from KH and stop your debt, but you won't be gaining money either until you either expand to some direction or disband. Personally I like to keep it pretty historical and try to take out Eperios quickly, before the Romans take their Italy province and the computer gives them loads of money to have 3 full stacks with only 2 cities.

Baktria is pretty cool. You don't start off with good units at all, even recruitable, but once you take 2 or so provinces and build up your capital city, it gets really fun.

Romani all around fun. Not to hard, yet you find yourself thinking a lot more about, 'where do I go next' one you get all of italy. Start First Punic war in sicily? Boat over and finish off Eperios? Go north with a somewhat still weak army and try to expand through Infantry rich gallic factions? (there is a reason Rome didn't mess with gual until their imperial days). Fun, somwhat easy.

Ptolemaioi are nothing by money, population, and troops. The easiest of all factions, which makes it surprisingly the possibly least fun. Great units of assault infantry, pikemen, heavy and light tough cavalry, easy starting postion, and you can go south quick and be recruiting African Elephants in very little time. You can even abandon your two northern-most provinces, taking the troops with you and still be in the positive income. With the units you get, the battles are a lot of fun, but the campaign game (which is obviously what you will be playing most) is somewhat boring. I think Macedon is the best of the successor states.

Carthage is loads of fun in my opinion. Aside from Eperios you are really in the best positon to be the first to fight Rome, and Eperios is hella-hard, so if you want to start off kickin Rome ass, this is where it is at. Awesome selection of units, both from africa and Iberia (and even Gaul if you can get a province there), with the best cavalry in the game aside from maybe cataphracts, and a good starting army in sicily and a good navy. Once you capture a town or two more in north africa, you will be out of the red and on your way to fighting Rome. This game almost seems set up to fight Rome and carthage, with the successor state struggles as a backdrop.

[AngryAngelDD]

Sueboz are also quite easily to play (and are more complete than other factions).
As is written about the Aedui/Averni fractions above, the sueboz are in financial crisis after the first turn. But you are able to get 1-2 additional provinces with the starting army.

the great pro for beginners is, that you are not at war with other factions. and this won´t change for many decades if you wish.

the great negative feature is, that the cities can´t grow much and the money income is relativly low.

But to get used to EB, this faction is a good choice.

so far
AngryAngelDD

[stalin]

As the romani you get 3 (or was it 4) different army lineups which for me makes the stretch (was it 2000 turns) bearable. Plus you get to fight the nudists a lot

[Masy]

Plus you get to fight the nudists a lot

Yeah, I would say Carthage or Rome, because gesetae (SP) are great fun, and with Carthage they are at your disposal, so it's really a matter of preference between the two. Both have good starts, both have a huge variety of units, and both have a stable starting economy, which i would say is a key factor for any begginer.

[Moros]

What's with everybody liking Psyho so much?