Most powerful faction...

**Kobal2fr** · 12-12-2006, 04:35

Roster-wise, I'd probably say the French and the Turks... but in actuality, the French have to maintain 4 fronts most of the time (Milan, HRE, Spain, England/Danes), and of course the Turks have to deal with the Mongols and Timurids...

Spain is probably the most powerfull all-around faction. Easy borders to defend, very good units, no crippling weakness, except in the ranged department pre-gunpowder... but then again they have Jinetes so it's a toss-up.

**SMZ** · 12-12-2006, 04:43

portugal is pretty much spanish version 2.0 (better pikes, better guns, better ships)

and word, the english have the most secure starting position... with no threat of attack for your first seven provinces, you can do a lot of things strategically that you can't with the others.... of course there are drawbacks too... for one, it's a really, really, long walk to any crusades

**JoeyFantana** · 12-12-2006, 04:53

Playing Spain, I'd say them as well - Portugal/Spain, Tomata/Tomato, perhaps for the slightly better units Portugal have . . . Looking at who continually keeps wooping the arse of all the other facrtions I must say Denmark! They have some wickedly strong units and that seems rather obvious to me, as in every campaign I've fought they're doing absolutely amazing AND they have a nice starting position - once they've taken Norway, Sweden and Hamburg, there's only one place to maintain troops . . .
Being Danish myself I love all these Danish units, even though some if not even most seem fairly historically inaccurate (I've had extensive Danish history and never heard of Norse War Clerics for example - there may have been one or two, but whole armies!) . . .

**Zenicetus** · 12-12-2006, 04:55

I'd vote for Spain but that may be "current campaign bias" because I'm doing so well with that faction. They have England/Scotland's advantage of geographic protection, but they're right there in the Med to take advantage of sea trade, and they have much easier access to the Holy Lands on crusade. They have a close enemy (Moors) that can be attacked with no consequences to your relation to the Pope, and you can ignore the Mongols and Timurids if you want, just sacking Jerusalem and leaving when convenient.

When it comes to units... they get one of the 3 most powerful navies in the game, they get the incredibly versatile Jinete light cavalry, and a great gunpowder unit in the later game (musketeers). But I think the main advantage is the map position, not the units. Portugal is easy to wrap up early, then you can seal your border against France while mopping up the Moors. From there, you can go anywhere and only deal with two or three fronts at most, instead of being surrounded.

About the only disadvantage I can see to Spain so far, is that they don't have great infantry or archers in the early game, so you have to punt with mercenaries. And conquering the African provinces bogs down the rate of conquest a bit, due to the very long travel times down there. Once Timbuktu is secure though, that's (literally) a gold mine, economically. Spain is the ultimate faction to play if you want a "safe" home base backed up against one corner of the map.

My next campaign will probably be Turks, to see what I can do in a much less secure position.

**Sarmatian** · 12-12-2006, 05:10

So far I've played Byzantium, Scots, Russia and now I'm in the middle of my moors campaign. I'd have to say Russia.

Great heavy cavalry (bit weaker than its western counterpart at charge, but not so much), great missile cavalry, great archers and melee infantry, and of course, the famous cossack musketeers.

They don't have a single weak unit.

Also, their starting position is great. A lot of rebel settlements. Conquer first the western ones to cut of poland and hungary and all your problems are solved.

Two problems that russia may have are mongols, and getting to america (unless you really expand westward). I've reached america from the black sea, and, believe me, it is a pain in the rear.

**Mandos** · 12-12-2006, 05:27

In terms of units France, Turkey, and Venice/Milan are by far the most powerful (Not including Turimids). In terms of power on the campaign map I'd say the Byzantines, HRE, Venice, or England.

**Musashi** · 12-12-2006, 08:03

I'm gonna have to say Russia and Portugal... Russia has the strongest heavy armored horse archer in the game, Berdiche Axemen are uber (Or will be, presuming CA fix their horribly slow animations), and even at the beginning they have very strong troops. Their strategic position is isolated by virtue of A) being a corner of the map and B) being surrounded by a huge buffer of rebel territories.

They have easy access to the amber fields, and Kiev is a high income province (You should be able to take this easily before Poland or Hungary can if you head straight for it at the beginning of the game, then move east after solidifying your western lines. If Turkey gets Sarkel before you get there it's no big deal, just means they'll have to deal with the Mongols instead of you ;) )

Portugal has the uber combination of musketeers and super elite pikemen... Plus Jinettes for awesome light cav and missile cav in one package... In terms of late game power Portugal has the "perfect" army. And of course they have a great strategic position, wipe up Spain and the Moors and you only need to station an army (Or a fleet) at the land bridge and you're all set on that side.

The moors are surprisingly good as well. Desert Cavalry, Granadine Jinetes, Tuareg Camel Spearmen... Easy control of the gold and ivory in Timbuktu and Arguin... Really good position, much better than the Emoheads in MTW.

**PseRamesses** · 12-12-2006, 09:01

Hmm, tough choice but I´d say Milan. No other faction has the economy and the units that Milan can produce from the start. Not rarley they have 2-3 full stacks of good units very fast and expands quickly as Venice also does. In the hands of a human player any of the 4 Italian states are unstoppable. Personally I flavour Russia or the Turks.

**sapi** · 12-12-2006, 09:59

I'm going to jump in here and say the byzantines. They've got a sound economic base and can field their best troops almost from the word go, so they've got massive room for expansion in the hands of a good player.

Their only weakness is that they have to fight on two fronts at the very least for the whole game.