Byzantine Empire

[Alex The Great]

IM looking forward for a new campaign after playing with Spain and Russia is this one a good faction¿?

[llewellyn]

i thought it was decent. keeps you on your toes

[Atalus]

Remember no gunpowder units and that you've got catholics to the west and Muslims to the east and no ability to either Jihad or Crusade.

[dopp]

Remember no gunpowder units and that you've got catholics to the west and Muslims to the east and no ability to either Jihad or Crusade.

You do get arguably the best spammable HA unit in the game and a solid navy. No Pope can be a good thing. And if you wait for the expansion you can get cool Black Hand greek fire flamethrower units.

[IPoseTheQuestionYouReturnTheAnswer]

Yeah those Vdarahormoplasty horse archer units are excellent. Their Varangians are junk thanks to the 2H issue and the Kataphraktoi are less than spectacular - stick with Lantinkon and Dismounted Lantinkon for heavy cavalry/infantry.

[KuriousJorj]

Since EVERYONE attacks you, you are almost forced to expand or die. I ended up winning with over 90 turns left --I never even got to build any Varangian guard, which was the main reason I played. (and BTW, I HATE rushing --I'm an empire builder... but Byzantiam campaign just wouldn't allow it. I had to constantly expand to eliminate threats, and I had to always build economics to fund everything, thus no high-level city barracks)

I'd recommend finding that 'fix' that's on these forums, that fixes the 2-handed weapon fighters, making them more potent. You may also want to change the time settings, so you can actually enjoy the campaign --I wish I had.

Anyhow, I'm now playing/winning as my 4th faction, the Scots. At least now I'm able to hack my way through stuff thanks to Highlander Nobles... Just wish I could've done it with Varangians.