What's your favorite M2TW faction?

[econ21]

I don't recall us having had a poll on this. Please give reasons.

[SnowlyWhite]

byzantium; vardariotai and more vardariotai

[JCoyote]

Portugal... good balance of unit types, great gunpowder once there, great ships, Conquistadores in the new world... and a good starting position. First Iberia, then the world!

[Doug-Thompson]

You start with Mameluk Archers, can declare Jihad on the first turn and never run out of money. You also get the first crack at the Mongols and the Timurids. The only real complaint is that they're too easy.

[Carl]

You Forgot the Papal States, (along with Aztecs, Mongals and Tirmiurds), so went for scotland as they are another fav, Denmarks also good too BTW, (I love infantry as you can tell and loathe cav).

[llewellyn]

pourtugal. kill spain then consolidate, kick moors out of iberia consolidate, cross gibraltar kill moors and once angain consolidate

[caius britannicus]

Portugal... good balance of unit types, great gunpowder once there, great ships, Conquistadores in the new world... and a good starting position. First Iberia, then the world!

QFT!

Their javelin infantry and cavalry is so effective is almost unfair. Then throw in the arquebusiers and Avertous and you got yourself the best INFANTRY based faction in the game

[FactionHeir]

I'm torn between Moors and England.
English have great Longbows and that's all really and Moors got cheap and effective early units that are still great in the late game.

So I am going to abstain from the poll as I cannot decide.

[ezekiel6]

Scotland every time. Patriotism I suppose is the reason. They don't have the best selection of units, including no xbow units or gunpowder infantry, but they do have Galloglaich rebels to hire which are my favourite unit. Seen as they start from such a small position I like marching them out and proving their force. :D

[PseRamesses]

Turks: Awsome location. Superb economy. Easily defendable. Just love the units. My siphais are untouchable. Later foot units are highly versatile.
Runner up: Byzantine (sadly portraited in M2) and HRE.

[Armenia_Byzantium]

All the way Byzantium!

[Hosakawa Tito]

I like Spain. Great starting position, with Muslim Moors and a weak Portugal to beat up on. Excellent Naval units with the best position to invade the New World. Not to mention my favorite calvary unit that are useful early and late in the campaign, Jinettes. "The lances in Spain fall not too gently upon the plain." Team them up with an all cav army including Knights of Santiago and Crossbow cav, they can take on just about any army.

[zstajerski]

But still a hint for all who hanent tried it yet:
play Russia on VH/VH, or maybe it was coinsident that at both times i played Russia I got the whole first imapact of both invasions Mongols and Timurids, so that made for a heck of a problem :)

But also their units beat ass, although there is no infatry unit (without upgrades) which has defence over 16 :(
They still kicked all asses that came across in the game, when used with a little tactic abillity

[HoreTore]

Actually, reading this thread has changed my mind....I just started a moorish campaign, but I'll scrap that and have another go at Ze Germans!

Didn't like it the last time I played it tho, as I was finished by turn 50...Won't play it offensively this time tho...

[Sapper]

I don't recall us having had a poll on this. Please give reasons.

France - Because I have an overwhelming desire to repeatedly send my hugely expensive massed knights and nobility up against English longbows. I can do this either on horseback or dismounted trudging exhausted through the mud over the bodies of earlier attacks and all the while be historically accurate! It just doesn't get any better than this!

[Fookison]

Scotland all the way......."Where's the fight?"......Love to wipe out the English and Danes and then I head south and east.............Scottish Pikes....Deadly........

[Shahed]

Turks.

Speed, mobility, firepower, decent all cavalry armies, horse archers (!), Jannisaries, versatility in mid and late game towards balance of all cavalry and mixed armies.

Hey Timurids and Mongols should be added to the poll. IMO a reasonable candidate for a sticky too.

[-Amon-]

Turks.

Speed, mobility, firepower, decent all cavalry armies, horse archers (!), Jannisaries, versatility in mid and late game towards balance of all cavalry and mixed armies.

Hey Timurids and Mongols should be added to the poll. IMO a reasonable candidate for a sticky too.

I agree..My vote has gone to Turks....

[hippo]

Hungary. Mostly because starting position and early horse archers. Later units are not so important as my early units still make the backbone.
Starting position you ask?
Well I can take venice and bologna without getting in war with HRE. With venice, bologna, zagreb and budapest I have enough money to do virtualy what ever I want.

[Whacker]

Always been partial to England. They have a great starting position with which to consolidate and then expand. Not the best units though, and you face the problem of expanding against catholic neighbors with the pope breathing down your neck.

[Lord of the Isles]

I'd like to say Scotland for patriotic reasons but while they are fun, the best factions are those with challenges (and variety too):

-- Venice and HRE for their awful starting positions
-- Russia and Turkey for intersting troop mixes and the Mongol/Timurid threats

With the winner by a short head being Turkey.

[Tora]

Is the poll malfunctioning?
A couple of posts flying the flag for Hungary yet no votes registered for them in the poll!?

[Doug-Thompson]

As of the time of this post, notice that England and Scotland — the British Isles — make up 23 percent.

Just an observation.

[vonsch]

Okay, I have only been playing II two weeks and have only gotten to about 40 turn in on any campaign before I switch. So far I've tinkered with English, Spanish, Portugese (several times) and now Milan.

Maybe it's growing expertise and knowledge, but Milan is really interesting from a family angle. With the core of five cities all right there in northern Italy I can actually develop positive governing traits by city-hopping. I have three pretty darned nice governors (one of which is also close to an effective 10 general depending on circumstances). It's also nicely set for crusading and early pope ring-kissing.

Also interesting to de-emphasize castles into oblivion. I use them when I capture them only long enough for any repairs they can do (my small cav and vanilla archers & crossbows still, mostly) and just long enough for the unrest to cool and some basic pop control buildings (that apply to cities too) to get built, then I convert them to cities and use the militia garrison to hold them. Milanese militia are solid. And when the crossbows can be made (and thus are free as garrison too), well, it's a no-brainer to convert. They are actually cheaper in maintenance.

The central spot means I have no secure borders, just more and less secure ones. If it weren't for the defensive power of Milan (and the ungodly money-grubbing ability!), I'd be uncomfortable with that. I like having SOME secure flank. At the moment I'm "at war" with France (port blockades, starting to beat down their navy and may go grab Marseillie to teach them a thing or two), still in a state of war with Venice after grabbing Venice (more port blockades) and the Moors decided they don't like me too (more port blockades).

For some reason they are all afraid to attack. They're probably coordinating.

My cardinal is poised to become pope, but ol' Greg refuses to croak. So I sent along a little gift to Rome. Naples turned up with the plague the turn after I conquered it (and finished those Sicilian back-stabbers!) so I sent a spy to hang out in the Pope's kitchens. So far he's not terribly infectious it seems, but I still have hope (and he still has the wicked little mouse to show for it).

I find myself auto-resolving a lot though. In general, not as Milan. I played out a lot more battles in RTW, though fewer in MTW. Something about the tactical system's working isn't "fun" enough. I think I'm finding the controls a lot more squirrelly than in the earlier ones.

But despite liking Milan a lot, I also like the others. And want to try some horse archer-based cultures, and something non-Pope centric.

I do wish we had the option to start in early/middle/late like in MTW though. I tend to not play out campaigns to the bitter end, so I'll never see gunpowder at this rate, or even Mongols.

[Beggarman]

For me, my Favorite has to be the Turks. Again. Because of the flexibility of their armylist: you can field both all-cavalry and all-infantry and do VERY well. All Cavalry against the Mongols makes fighting those annoying bastiches so much easier. But you still have excellent infantry options to defend your cities and castles: I slaughtered a TWO mongol hordes at the gates of Antioch, using only Saracen and Halberd Militia, along with a high chiv family member.

For my next favorite, it's probably the wonderful Portuguese. They can Blitz the Moors out of Iberia early on, and Almghuvars are excellent troops. A line of spear militia to hold the enemy in place, then your Almies can run around the flanks and slaughter the pinned enemy by showering attack 13 javs on them. ATTACK 13 JAVS. Knights die by the dozens.

I also like the Danes, as they have a very solid and dependable infantry roster. Viking raiders are just silly good, so long as you upgrade their armor.

[Michael333]

I don't know why, but I can't vote...
But my favorite faction is Scotland!!!! Highlanders forever!!!!!!

[Prussian to the Iron]

perhaps you voted at one point in the past and didn't know?


no wait....its because you are still a junior member. post a little and thatll go away.

[Michael333]

perhaps you voted at one point in the past and didn't know?


no wait....its because you are still a junior member. post a little and thatll go away.

Thanks for the information

[Thermal]

I don't know why, but I can't vote...
But my favorite faction is Scotland!!!! Highlanders forever!!!!!!

My favourite is scotland too, I like small factions to start with and just generally like there unique unit roster.

[Tabuu]

However, Mercury, if you have a small faction, there's a good chance the neighboring faction will declare war on you, if you're relations are adequate.