Faction??

[Saeon]

Hiya i'm about to start a new game here but i dunno which faction i sould play, i'm not new so i'm looking for a challenge although a do-able one :P if you follow me. I was thinking i'd like to play Western Europe and was wondering what peoples experiances were playing them and if they could share them?

Thanks

[Teleklos Archelaou]

It'd be great if fans got some descriptions organized about the best reasons to play as some factions and the drawbacks of playing as them too - for this kind of thing. If it was done well, we could put it up in the FAQ as a "I'm new - which faction should I play?" type entry.

You guys all play it more than the team gets to anyway after all!

[Saeon]

lol that would be very helpful though i'm not that new :P. I'm just interested in a bit of a challenge to keep me sane during my exams

[Moros]

None of the western factions are really a challenge. Tough Lustonnan migth become difficult if the carthies get strong and aggresive while your empire isn't build up yet. However during my Luso. campaign they didn't attack me. When I was strong enough I kicked them out. Didn't play much further tough. However I think most westerbfactions are fairly easy. The real difficult ones are in the east.

[Saeon]

I see well what would you say we're the most challenging factions then :P i am think that Hellion looks pretty tough??? I prefer to start out with smaller factions personally 1 to 3 towns is enough to start with for me :P

[Spendios]

Try Baktria you get 3 provinces to start, rich provinces and a very cool units roster.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Hayasdan and Pontos are great too if you want a challenge. They are among the toughest in the game outside of the nomads.

[Saeon]

Are the normads hard to play i dunno why i never had them down as that tough???

[Ignopotens]

I like the Getai myself, only 1 territory to start, long buildup, but before long you can whip the Greeks' collective asses

[Saeon]

lmao sounds fun :P what sort of troops do they use, i played Romanii for a long time and the organised legions have begun to bore me a bit :P i'd reli luv to play something with a bit of an off-beat tactic needed, Skimishers, Archers or even Phalanxes i supppose spring to mind.

I dunno much about these eastern factions at all myself :P historically i'm a westerner :P

[Pharnakes]

Surely the Casey are hardly what you would call easy? Although I suppose once you've taken half a doven settlements there is little that can oppose you. But then I find that is the same with any faction.

[Redmeth]

The nomads are tough to start but offer some unique feelings in fights and having to conquer all that land. And to integrate the locals in your armies.
Check this for my posts of a Sauromatae campaign:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=129
And check out the unofficial mod sections for some money scripts and the mercenary recruitment script by mlp071 and maybe the victory conditions by JMRC (if you play with BI).
These things really help against the stack-spawning of AS and/or Baktria and/or Ptolemies, the game is still tough don't worry (especially on VH).
The Getai are very cool and I'm fond of them (biased ) but I'm waiting on 1.0 to play an epic campaign with them.
I played a campaign with the Casse, very cool units especially after the first reform but it was quick I was victorious in 212.

[Saeon]

lol i don't have any mods and i don't use BI either just typical upgrade to the vanilla :P i always take a challenge stratigy is something i'm not that bad at :P. What is playing Pontos like???

[Ignopotens]

what sort of troops do they use?

With the Getai, I use a mixture of slingers, skirmishers, drapanai (falx-wielders), with some Skythian cavalry, and unit or 2 of Getai light phalanxes

what I like best about them is that their non-phalanx units can almost universally outfight any comparative unit in a melee, hell the falx-wielders can take out just about any cavalry in a melee, and almost all their units are good at hiding in woods

Just don't expect to get any heavy cavalry or heavily armored infantry

[Pharnakes]

Thorakitai stratikoi? Taxeis triabloii? and you can of course get the Galatikoi Kuarthoroi in Tylis with a type 4. Tarabostes also are at least a cut above medium cavalry, I would say.

[EasternScourge]

Well (in an attempt to do what Teleklos said),here are (in my view) the pros and cons of playing as the Sabeans

Pro-Sitting in the middle of supposedly nowhere allows some breathing space and slow development,similar to how the Casse are stuck on the British Isles.The faction has potential to get strong,especially if you can get to Africa and pick up the Ethiopian troops.Also,the unit roster,while small, is pretty different from other factions (who else has a roster made up of lots of skirmisher units?).Overall it is a fun and different faction,if you can survive the beginning.

Cons-It takes awhile for the economy to get going,and your going to go into debt.Next,the factional unit roster is real small compared to other factions, though it is slightly balanced by the African unts you can recruit.
Enemy wise,its tough.The Red Sea has some tough rebel fleets that really put a damp on invasion plans into Africa.Also,you got the Grey,Silver,whatever you want to call Death as your next door neighbor.Add the Ptolemai (SP?),and your expansion plans involving some serious fighting.But don't fret.Do it right,it isn't to hard.

[Saeon]

Cool i understand what you say i am at the moment deciding between the Sabaeans, Pontos or Koinen Hellion

[Ignopotens]

Thorakitai stratikoi? Taxeis triabloii? and you can of course get the Galatikoi Kuarthoroi in Tylis with a type 4. Tarabostes also are at least a cut above medium cavalry, I would say.

I think what I meant to say was "much if any"

I haven't played much in the late game yet, so I'm not that familiar with the use/availability of their higher level units

[Saeon]

So has anyone got anything to say on either Pontos or Koinen Hellion??

[Pharnakes]

Phalanxes ar e under powered and overpriced for the koinon, imho. Especialy as regards armour and secondary attack. And in pure numbers as wel, of course.

[mlp071]

If you looking for best mix of units, then go for Makedons. Hippeis Thessalikoi owns all other cavalry around there, phalanxs are toughest ones and generaly you get great mix of units. They do get best cavalry and infantry around.

Plus as bonus you get to destroy KH in beggining(same as Alexander Makedon), which is a quite enjoyment.

You have so many options with them. Offensive army, they got units for that. Defensive army, they got that. You can basicaly have 3-4 elite armies with all different units they get down the road.

In my campaign i was fielding all regional Gaul army recruited in Tylis and Singidunum on Balkans , All HA army around Black Sea and regular Makedon "hammer and anvil" army in Hellenic areas.And , none of them was weak.

That was in 208 BC though , so could take time.

Other then that i liked Casse units (nasty guys with 2h hammers and 2h swords are really rockin). No good cavalry till 220BC though.

[Pharnakes]

Makedon's hardly exactly a challange though ,is it?

[mlp071]

Nah , they are not, other then financial hole that they got at start.Was reffering to best units composition.

Majority of factions is not to much of challenge anyways,due to stupid AI, except steppe factions and Sabeans.

[Pharnakes]

Yeah, but especialy not Makedon.

[mlp071]

Yeah, but especialy not Makedon.

I found it same for all hellenic factions.I had same results with Epyros and KH.

Thats why you have house rules for playing, to make it more of a challenge.

[EasternScourge]

Nah , they are not, other then financial hole that they got at start.Was reffering to best units composition.

Majority of factions is not to much of challenge anyways,due to stupid AI, except steppe factions and Sabeans.

Well,he did say he wanted a challenge.So go for the Sabeans.But KH is fun too.I had a campaign with them once.It went pretty well.But it eventually got a bit on the easy side.Athens alone probably made the same amount of money my entire Sabean kingdom made every turn.

Besides,I haven't seen too many people getting excited over the Sabeans.Does anyone play as them other than me and The Errant?

[Griever14206]

I am in the middle of a Sabean campaign at the moment. It is definetly interesting. I've conquered nearly the entire Arabian Peninsula, and have been constantly changing alliances with the AS and Ptolemaiois. The Persian portion of Seluekia is always poorly protected (it is nearly devoid of threats) and although I can't spare the troops to properly garrisson the large cities, I like to take them, enslave, and then destroy everything I can. Gives a real feeling of being a desert raider.

Oh, and the Sabean Citizen Calvary rock.

[mlp071]

Well,he did say he wanted a challenge.So go for the Sabeans.But KH is fun too.I had a campaign with them once.It went pretty well.But it eventually got a bit on the easy side.Athens alone probably made the same amount of money my entire Sabean kingdom made every turn.

Besides,I haven't seen too many people getting excited over the Sabeans.Does anyone play as them other than me and The Errant?

Yeah that was my thing also. All 3 Greek based factions are fun, but they tend to get easy fairly fast.From my personal expirience, i found KH easiest(economy rocks), then Maks and Epyrotes afterwards.

I am curently trying Sauromatae, and thats load of fun. You are broke no matter what you do , hehe.I believe Sabeans are in same position.

i would say:

- real challenge : Steppe Factions and Saba

- decent challenge : Gauls factions, Lusotannan, and maybe somewhat Casse (early years)

- fairly enjoyable ride : everyone else

Never tried Seleukids though.It must be fun everyone going against you and half of your lands are rebelling.

[LusitanianWolf]

Besides,I haven't seen too many people getting excited over the Sabeans.Does anyone play as them other than me and The Errant?

Sabeans are pretty cool!!!! I have played an little with them and I've love it... I just want too see more new units to them as I love to have where to chose (even if I have regionals). Too bad I can play more until I have my new pc...

About Pontos they seem to be quite chalenging and maybe more than Saba at least at the very begining. It was one of the first nations I've tryed (after take an look at Lusitanians, of course) and while I was fighting hard to keep an insignificant positive economy at same time that an little levy army I got myself overruned from an Selek stack made from lots of phalanxs and two units wild naked crazy fanatics... I didnt had an chance. But at that time I didnt understand nothing of EB and I didnt had played RTW for more than an year... I'll have to try later with my new game experience.

I've played an little more with Lusotannan, Romanii and Epiros and I've found all them to be quite fun and, even if not dificult, chalenging at least for an long time retired and now reenlisted veteran ( like coort evocata )...

I never had played with gaul factions but arent they chalenging too? I mean you have the other gauls, sweboz, lusotannan, romani and Casse all around and no strategic place to start. Its an small place with lots of people around.....

[The Errant]

I am in the middle of a Sabean campaign at the moment. It is definetly interesting. I've conquered nearly the entire Arabian Peninsula, and have been constantly changing alliances with the AS and Ptolemaiois. The Persian portion of Seluekia is always poorly protected (it is nearly devoid of threats) and although I can't spare the troops to properly garrisson the large cities, I like to take them, enslave, and then destroy everything I can. Gives a real feeling of being a desert raider.

Oh, and the Sabean Citizen Calvary rock.

Someone else is a fan of those I see. Granted the Citizen Cavalry are the most expensive Medium Cavalry around. But they are also the best. Even better than Thrakioi Prodromoi.

I like the Sabaeans for their unique challenge (limited economics and restricted units). They are a great faction to teach a player about tactics.

Of the Greek factions my personal favorite is Epeiros. Mostly cause of the elephants and Chaonion Agema. They also get most of the same reagionals that Makedon gets, with the exception of Thrakioi Peltastai and Taxeis Triballoi.

I played Casse during my money script testing. Interesting barbarian faction. Greatest starting position. In my later games I simply bribed the surrounding Eleutheroi settlements into submission. No other faction are as well placed with no enemies coming on to you.

The Carthies are another great faction. They have wonderful factional troops and great Iberian reagionals. And the money to hire almost any interesting merc they encounter.

I recently started playing the Pahlava as part of the beta testing progress. It has tought me new respect for foot archers. Everybody knows that with even a couple of HA you can destroy much larger enemy stacks.
During a rebellion of Kiat I got a nice stack of Persian archers and a few Dahae raiders. That stack has so far taken something like 8 Seleukid settlements and a lot of their mercenary field armies to the grave in different parts of Persia.
My economy sucks and I'm constantly going into debt. But with just this single stack and the dregs of my starting army, I've been kicking the Seleukids out of most of their eastern holdings.

The hardest challenge are the Steppe factions. Mostly due to their downright lousy economy. But with the units they have. They can totally thrash civilized factions with their starting armies.

The second hardest challenge comes with factions like Saba and Pontos. Pontos is worse with their friendly neighbor already present next door. Saba atleast has breathing space with the desert between them.

The rest are of varying degrees between downright easy to moderatly challenging.