advice for next campaign

[hoetje]

Hello all,

I've played four succesful campaigns up to this time : England,Danes,Venice and Egypt.Now I've been wondering which faction I should play next, considering I want a totally different experience (or as different as possible ).Therefore,I'd like to hear your ideas :)

Thanks in advance.

[Midnight]

Russia. No other faction quite like them - a one-province start, barren, far-flung lands, and starting troops which won't set the world on fire.

Or you could try the Byzantines - Crusades and Jihads flying both ways (and at you, often), war on two fronts, and the awesome Vardariotai (sp?).

I've had the most fun so far with these two.

[icek]

byzantine or moors, in first case a real survival having everywhere enemies, second a islam fighting on european grounds. Russia also seams nice, having to take both bizantium and jerusalem to complete this :)

[Askthepizzaguy]

Byzantium.

Russia, after Byzantium.

Do Byzantium first to get a feel for an Orthodox faction. Try to revive the Eastern Roman Empire from its historical defeat by the Turks. Turn your collapsing empire around and reconquer the old Roman territories. Fight off the Catholics who have poisoned the Empire and caused the Great Schism, and defend your lands from the invading Muslims and Mongolian hordes.

Good economy, good troops, and positioned right in the crosshairs of everyone who can reach you.

Then, when you want all the thrill of not being able to crusade, coupled with a pitiful starting position, a bad economy, and even worse starting troops, play as Russia.

I would rather start off as Arab rebels in Jedda.

[_Tristan_]

From what you played before, I'll say your chocices boils down to :

1/ Byzantium : Enemies all around, ni jihad or crusade so no long pillaging raids, nice variety of units (and powerful too...)

2/ Moors : A Muslim with a lot of HA fighting mainly against Catholic factions who prefer Heavy Cav & Inf, cool starting position but economically less profitable from the proximity of Arguin and Timbuktu.

3/ Russia : the most challenging one of the three. Only one settlement to begin with, weak units to begin with, settlements far from each others (so no easy reinforcements...), orthodox country so no jihad or crusades, and finally the Mongol invasion right on your doorstep to top it all... if that is not a challenge...

If I were you, of the three, Iwould go for Russia as it offers the more challenge...

It also depends on your style of play : A blitzer would rather go for Byz whereas a turtler would certainly prefer Russia as you need to consolidate first and foremost before launching on conquering neighbouring factions...

Hope that helps...

[Odin]

Hungary. My personal favorite faction, fun to play and its got a great location to start with.

Russia, although its a real pain waiting for population growth to upgrade castles and get Dvor.

The Turks are fun to play as well but you probably wont get many variations from your egyptian expirence.

[_Tristan_]

Hungary is great fun but having played Egypt and Catholic countries, you won't see any great change or challenge, jsut a sort of mix of the two : HA and Heavy cav at the same time...

For some change, see the list in post # 5

[TeutonicKnight]

I've tried the Moors, but I couldn't get into the game much.

I think it's mostly because I find the Muslim factions to be totally boring. They have almost all the same troops, with only a few exceptions, and I'm tired of recruiting Arab Cavalry and Dismounted Arab Cav. I hardly ever get to Gunpowder, so the end-game units are rarely seen.

I hope Kingdoms does something good for the Muslims. :(

[hoetje]

Thank you all for your replies ^^ I'll think about your ideas ;)

[_Tristan_]

Please let us know which campaign you finally choose

And tell us how you enjoyed it...

[andrewt]

I've tried the Moors, but I couldn't get into the game much.

I think it's mostly because I find the Muslim factions to be totally boring. They have almost all the same troops, with only a few exceptions, and I'm tired of recruiting Arab Cavalry and Dismounted Arab Cav. I hardly ever get to Gunpowder, so the end-game units are rarely seen.

I hope Kingdoms does something good for the Muslims. :(

I'm the opposite. I feel that the Muslim factions actually have better unit variety. The Catholic nations are all about the Mailed Knights/DFK combo. The knights eventually get upgraded but it's still all about the DFK.

The Moors, though, are not so much different than Catholic nations. In fact, they're very similar to both Portugal and Spain. They don't have HA's, but have quite a few javelin cav just like Spain and Portugal. They also have arguably the best (among the strongest and most cost effective) heavy inf and cav in the game. To me, the Moors actually play a lot closer to Catholic factions than to other Muslim factions.

[Flavius Gonzo]

Another thought for you -- vary up your campaign by decreasing the dates that Gunpowder and the new world arrive! Depending on your style of play, you can end up finishing a campaign before you ever get in any good gunpowder battles, which is no fun.

What is fun is watching your Cossack Musketeers blast it out with some Arquebusiers while you try to outflank the enemy with Cossack & Dvor Cavalry. (Russia has been my fav campaign so far -- especially once your "financial diamond" of Novgorod, Stockholm, Riga, and Helsinki is up and running.)

Changing the game to get gunpowder early is easy IIRC, I think all I had to do was modify 1 or 2 text files. I'm not at home though so I can't tell you off hand... maybe someone else can post instructions or if not, they're in the forums somewhere, that's how I found out how to do it the first time.