Factions To Play

[Seabourch]

I'm playing as the English. I'm doing well, I own all of Britain, Scandinavia, Iberia, Germany are vassals. Anyway, I'm thinking of starting a new campaign. Any ideas for which faction to choose?

[TheLastPrivate]

Any faction with a roster that seems interesting is a good choice. Later when u develop your own sense of world domination you can choose by their starting location and political possiblities.

I'd try one of the Italian factions after English if you want some more experience though.

[mir]

Go for the Turks for a challenge. You'll be racing against time to prepare yourself for the inevitable Mongol arrival in 1210.

Plus, being sandwiched between the Byzantines and the Egyptians (with the latter amassing armies just south of you) is not a good position.

Having said that, the presence of some very decent cities like Antioch, Damascus, Acre and Jerusalem in the region makes for interesting possibilities and a quick push up the tech ladder!

It's all about racing to grab as many cities as possible before your opponents do and then tech-ing asap to meet the hordes! Woohoo!

[marrow]

I say try Sicily or Milan.
Both start pretty much bang on in the centre of the map and both are fairly compact initially (Milan more so) and both have very, very decent unit roster.
Milan is a fantastic faction to play because their units are just so damn good without being too strong, so you still have a job to do winnig battles and all but you just know you can rely on your troops to do get the job done.
Sicily build up a lot slower and are tangibly poorer than Milan, but to counter that you train Norman knights right from the start IIRC and they munch Feudal K's for lunch, both mounted and on foot.
Both factions have equally big feelgood factor and are just pleasant to lead, my personal choice being Milan because of their awesome Genoese x-bows.

[Odin]

Hungary !

Location, location, location !

You're in the middle of everything, access to the middle east, the Byzantines, as well as the steppes, Italy and the outskirts of the HRE.

[Seyfullah]

I say pick France. You might be strong and the choice might seem common but you get one helluva game with total war on all your sides. You have the English, the HRE, the Spanish, the Milanese, and sometimes even the Portuguese at your borders fighting you all the time. You will never have peace -unless you intend to- plus you can take the war somewhere else, such as the Middle East. And if you try hard not to get excommed the game is taken to a whole another level. Just my opinion though...

[ColIndyJackson]

Dear All:

Good afternoon from Canada!! Happy Thanksgiving to all you Yanks out there!

I totally agree with the Sicily idea. 1) It's a fun little country to play, I found. 2) You're right next door to His Hatness, and he LOVES YOU TO DEATH!!!! 3) This is the only the country in the whole of Med 2 that gives not ONE but TWO PRINCESSES!!!

For all you guys out there, this could be A BIG HONKIN' PLUS!!!!

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

[_Tristan_]

I would advise Hungary... the shock of the west (Knights) with the speed of the east (Horse archers) plus a challenging starting position...

One of my best campaigns to date...

[ReiseReise]

I would say chose a horse-archer based faction to get a different type of battle fighting style. Russia, Byzantine, or Turks for the full effect, Poland and Hungary are good cav factions but also have a mix of infantry (IIRC, haven't been playing much lately). Building armies of all cavalry is a different and fun experience. Sieges pose a problem however, usually solved by choosing your targets carefully (bypassing heavily defended cities with your far moving cav army) and hiring a few mercs to push the rams.

[Fisherking]

I would recommend Poland. It can be challenging until you learn to use your two main cavalry units. Don’t worry about seiging cities…just take three of four spies along and storm the gates. Your infantry is also good but your cavalry is so good you seldom need them. The woodsmen are cheaper than peasants on upkeep and can handle most any other infantry units if handled well. They also have a stake using archer unit when it is called for…

Who ever you choose, have a blast.

[imnothere]

Turks - for sure. Total chaos /war on every front. First to meet up with Mongols and Timurid. Always fighting off Crusades.

Byzantine - probably bit boring (for me personally due to lack of late/high level units) but challenging.

Hungarian - you have good cavalry units, but so does your neighbour. Your location are blocked by Poles, Russian, Byzantine, HRE and quite possibly Turks. You have no advantage what-so-ever, even less than HRE because HRE has excellent armoured units.

HRE - a departure from "safe" position as English, ranged units not as fast as Longbows. Change of battle tactic from passive to aggressive.

[WhiskeyGhost]

The Moors, Spain, and Portugal are all interesting choices. Especially with javelin units and units like Jinetes, and Camel Gunners(late game).

[Carthage]

best factions for me...
Byzantium and Spain, because in ROME TW i choose Greece and Carthage...
during all ages i prefer sit down on my -home- territories, and, it is very sucsessfull... i'm the champion in our Kibernet)))

[Eusebius86]

Milan - they have a great, though challenging location. At one point in time I was at war with Sicily, Venice, HRE, France, the Moors, Spain, and Portugal. Their crossbows absolutely rock. When defending cities I've frequently defeating 1,200 man armies with only two Genoesse crossbows and two spearmen. Oh, and they also get musketeers, which rock later on.

[ReiseReise]

@Eusebius 1200 muslim peasants or what? 2 Itialian spears can only hold for a minute against 1200 men, they get pushed back and spread out and gradually take losses until they lose. Doesn't matter what the xbows are doing.

Now if you said 2 xbows and 4 spears, i would believe you.

[Flavius Merobaudes]

When deploying crossbows on your walls, only about every second man of the first rank gets a clear shot. All others have to use balistic volleys instead, which dramatically decreases their efficiency.

[Lamprey]

@Eusebius 1200 muslim peasants or what? 2 Itialian spears can only hold for a minute against 1200 men, they get pushed back and spread out and gradually take losses until they lose. Doesn't matter what the xbows are doing.

Now if you said 2 xbows and 4 spears, i would believe you.

Defending a city with that force against 1,200 men is actually possible. Deploy them in a city street, one on top of another, defensive on. Spearmen won't spread out as you say if they're set to defend. Deploy the xbows in the town square, behind the spears.

AI will charge in and die; you may as well go make coffee, don't need to do a thing. Would never work against a human, of course.

[Fookison]

Scotland!!!
"Wheres the fight?"
Plunge South, take out England, then head East and do in the Danes, Polish and Russians. Then head south again and deal with France, Milan, HRE and Hungary.
By then, you should be ready for a real battle with the Turks.....Watch out for those Mongols.....
Enjoy!