Most difficult faction to win with?

[Heidrek]

So far I've played as the Germans, English and Danes managing victory with each. I'm temped to try a muslim faction like the Turks perhaps, or Egyptians but I'm wondering who the hardest faction to win with is?

I've just started a High era campaign as the Russians, dealing with the Golden Horde and their starting position should make it a solid challenge, but I'm confident my Boyar's, Steppe Cavalry and Druhzina Cavalry (dismounted into Feudal Footknights for my base infantry) will be enough to secure the wins.

I'm playing on expert difficulty and while this will prove a challenge I'm sure, I'm certain I'll prevail.

what have you veterans found? Who is the hardest to win with?

[seireikhaan]

I wouldn't get too confident about your odds as the Russians. Don't get me wrong, Boyars are fine troops, as are Druzhina's. But in my experience playing that, money is incredibly tight, so tight that you really won't be able to afford druzhina's, on account of the fact that halbs serve the anti-mongol purpose much better and boyars are flat better as cavalry. And frankly, steppe cavalry just get trounced by Mongol heavy cav and mongol horse archers in melee, unless you have far, far superior generalship and tactics. My biggest advice would be this: DO NOT try to out-cavalry the Mongols. It doesn't work. Especially in high period when you just don't have enough time or money to pump out enough boyars. Rather, go for the classic arbs/halbs approach. Much cheaper, which you will need, and better suited to tackling the Mongol units. The only saving grace I've found is that the Mongols seem to have weaker emergences when you start on high period, but perhaps its just coincidence.

As for the hardest faction...in unmodded VI, I'd say the Holy Roman Empire. Just a ton of enemies to deal with, all at the same time, lots of bad provinces to start out with, not much money, and the royal pain in the arse that is the Pope. However, I'd say the Armenians in XL have the most difficult start, although it was vastly tougher in my experience before the 3.0 version came out.

[Roark]

In unmodded MTW, I'd have to go with the Polish based on my own personal experience. Their unique troops are outgunned by almost everything else in their class, and the economy is quite hard to build. It's been ages since I played them though, so maybe it had something to do with my n00b skillz as well.

I think I'd have to go with the Armenians for XL, although (as per above) I've only got an early version of the mod. The poor Armenians are surrounded by strong factions with faster, more versatile troops. I got absolutely hammered.

[PershsNhpios]

(XL), I vote the Volga-Bulgarians, as the Armenians, if you gather a momentous beginning, then you can conquer very easily into Georgia.
However as Volga-Bulgaria, you are forever teetering and tottering.
And then the Mongols arrive in your homeland!

If you are going to attempt a Russian Orthodox faction, start in Early as Novgorod or Kiev - both are very similar in challenge and units.
If you start in Early, like the Fatimids, you will have an advantage in strength over Catholic forces,
depending on your playing style.

Very well done on your campaign with the Holy Roman Empire - I have just finished destroying them at the head of Bohemia,
which will hopefully be my first AAR.
The English are not in a position I admire, Britain is very high maintenance to protect, ironically, and so I prefer, like I do the Germans, to conquer them.
As the Danes however, I prospered, and my campaign would have been successful had I not recruited a unit in each of my 12 provinces,
whom each had 1 Loyalty, under the rule of two Princes with 2 Loyalty.

[Peasant Phill]

(XL), I vote the Volga-Bulgarians, as the Armenians, if you gather a momentous beginning, then you can conquer very easily into Georgia.
However as Volga-Bulgaria, you are forever teetering and tottering.
And then the Mongols arrive in your homeland!

I couldn't agree more. I haven't tried the Armenians yet, but the Voga-Bulgars are no easy faction either. The first 5 to 10 years are easy but then every neighbour starts to turn on you. You're struggeling to get those poor steppe provinces to yield you at least some revenue while you constantly have to field a few armies. Then the Scandinavians start to show up and go right for you with all their princes and vikingsunits (I don't care what units you have, if you face 3 units of huscarles you're going to bleed). And when you finaly have pacified your borders and have access to your best troops, then the Horde arives and you don't have Xbows.

[macsen rufus]

The V-Bs rock! Bashkorts are the key. Spearmen with javelins, just remember to use them properly It's their economy that's tough, for sure....

I think in vanilla VI Poland is a tough one, too, and as outlined above HRE has a challenging time. The Muslim factions are all pretty easy, as they start so big anyway. Starting as a one-province muslim faction would be more of a challenge Of course, if you've only played Catholic factions so far, the change of style required for muslim armies will make it a little more difficult for you, though you will soon get into the swing of things.

I still have to try XL3, but in 2.1 I loved the Armenian campaign. Tight cash, surrounded by (potential) enemies, but once you've sorted the economy and have a couple more provinces, it's the kick-@ss superhighway to 1453

[Etym]

In unmodded MTW, I'd have to go with the Polish based on my own personal experience. Their unique troops are outgunned by almost everything else in their class, and the economy is quite hard to build. It's been ages since I played them though, so maybe it had something to do with my n00b skillz as well.

I agree, and their leader pool is uniformly stupid/timid. But, since you mention it, I was barely more than a noob the last time I played them - perhaps it's time to put my hard-won experience to the test in a REAL challenge?

[Ravencroft]

well, at first, russia in high was REAL hard, yet I used my foreknowledge to avoid fighting the Horde (at first), Letting me expand west before tackling the horde.

french in early seems kinda hard too. poor infrastructure, no unique units, faced with rivals on all sides...good thing they have rich provinces(e.g. Flanders).

[Jxrc]

french in early seems kinda hard too. poor infrastructure, no unique units, faced with rivals on all sides...good thing they have rich provinces(e.g. Flanders).

Not that hard cause even though your location is not that great you get very quickly two very nice generals. Moreover, the fact that you can train holibars is a big advantage (just need a fort while most of the other catholic faction around - except the English - need a keep to build mounted seargents)

[LadyAnn]

Howbout Byzantium in Late? :D

Annie

[Martok]

I've gotta go with the Polish as being the hardest, and the HRE a pretty close second. I've not really played Novgorod/Russians enough to comment on them.

In XL, I definitely agree that the Armenians are the toughest, with the Irish right behind them.

Howbout Byzantium in Late? :D

Annie

I confess I almost never play in the Late period. I imagine they would be fairly challenging, however. They only have Constantinople & Nicaea, and their troops are surely at least somewhat obselete by then.

[King Kurt]

I confess I almost never play in the Late period. I imagine they would be fairly challenging, however. They only have Constantinople & Nicaea, and their troops are surely at least somewhat obselete by then.

As usual my old friend Martok is right - I am currently playing a late Byzantine XL and it is really fun. You have to play a different game to normal - especially early on - you expand in small bites, usually capitialising on other people's problems. You frantically build a trading empire and econ upgrades and buy as many mercs as possible. In my game Nicaea had an inn from the begining and there was a succession of quality troops available. Once you have got a bit more critical mass you can play a slightly more conventional game, but the mercs seem to dry up and you don't really have the real quality troops others have. Your army has to be large to counteract this and that makes for a constant budget pressure. Despite having the largest income I get the insufficent funds message virtually every move. The troop problem is best illustrated by the infantry - your main line troops are either Byz infantry or armoured spears - now there is a challenge!!

[ULC]

Wll for me (nd I thnk the rest of you) THEhardest faction in XL would have to be th Volga-Bulgars...in High. You literally have no advantages (no polearms, no xbows), your economy is horrible, your surrounded by enemies, and you will always be outnumbered without the blessing of a bridge either! Has anyone EVER managed to win as Volga-Bulgaria in High?

[predaturd]

in vanilla the hardest to win with would be the germans

[LadyAnn]

As usual my old friend Martok is right !

Of course, he's right! I told him! :p

Annie

[Ironside]

No mention of Aragon (for vanilla that is)?

Of course, it's almost only the opening that's hard, after that it can be very hard to predict if it's going to continue to be difficult´, as it's dependant on that some faction have grown very strong.

[Jxrc]

All factions get easy after you've reached a suitable size so that the question is basically to assess what are the most difficult starting positions. The only post-start factor to take into account IMHO is whether or not you are close the Khazar (HUGE SPOILER: that's where the Golden Horde usually shows up !!!).

Based on that the most difficult factions for me are:

• Aragon (if you do not get rid of the Spaniard and Elmos ASAP you are trouble indeed)
• HRE (no money, not enough good generals, enemies all over and rebellion prone)
• Italy (enemies all over, non-stop crusades crossing your land, Pope fascinated by Tuscany)
• Poland (No moeny, Byz to the south and east, if managed to go eastward you're first in line when the Horde appears)
• Turkey (Byz West, Egyptians South, No East, if managed to go North you're first in line when the Horde appears)

On the other hand the easiest factions are the English (and their cosy little set up) and the Spanish (need to get rid of the Elmos ASAP but that usually a walk-over for an human player with a few jinettes).

[CountMRVHS]

I'd say it also depends on your play style to some extent. Every faction becomes easier if you do the early blitz, but some factions become considerably harder if you try to turtle. I imagine blitzing somewhat levels the playing field of difficulty, whereas turtling highlights the differences in the starting positions of different factions.

[Hound of Ulster]

Irish in XL leave no room for error at all. The easiest faction would have to be the Byzantines in early, as you have lots of lucrative proviences and you can play off the Fatimids and Seljuks against each other.

[Heidrek]

Well, my first Expert High Age Russian campaign failed due to CTD problems, but I was already reeling from the Golden Horde onslaught anyway.

I recently restarted with the ruskies and have cleaned house. Slaughtered the Golden Horde after a tense standoff and a couple of pitched battles. Picked up most of Scandanavia from the Rebels, then moved on to Britain and dealt to them. The Almo's conquered Spain, france and most of the rest of western europe while Turkey wiped out the Egyptians.

It looked to be Russia vs Almohads going for the title and sooner or later we were going to have to clash so I bit the bullet and landed a massive army in France, Normandy and another in Provence. The idea was to force a retreat then bait the Almo's into a counter attack where I had the advantage of defending. they wouldn't bite however and just withdrew to other territories.

As a result, I've cleaned out most of western europe and I'm working on Spain. Almo provinces are rebelling everywhere and I think they must be in the throes of a civil war. Aragon and England have reappeared and are trying to make some gound against me but getting nowhere.

A couple of minor factions - Hungary, Denmark are trying to take advantage of the fact that most of my armies are away and are nibbling my borders without success. Only Turkey, Italy, Sicily, Pope and HRE are uncommitted at present but if they all joined the fight against me it could get interesting.

Currently Russia dominates most of the world, despite the best infantry attacking infantry I have access to being Militia Sergeants. No FMAA or CMAA's, no Vikings nothing expect dismounted Druzhina Cavalry which I can't build anymore because we're now in the late age.

Also, No Feudal, Royal or Chivalric Knights - nor even Mounted Sergeants!! The best strike cavalry I have is Steppe Cavalry or perhaps Boyars once they've used up their arrows.

I think it's time I tried out a muslim faction - Perhaps Turkey. Mother Russia has proven herself enough I think.

[Heidrek]

Has anyone else played Scots in High period XL?

I'm finding them very difficult. Very limited cavalry, no mounted archers, no Halbardiers, no knights except royals, no Chiv. MAA leaves you ata disadvantage against many european armies. The Scottish Warriors are nice, but low defense and can only be built in Scotland, aside from that you only really have FMAA's and Militia Sergeants for infantry or Gallowglasses. The Gallows are nice, but die rapidly due to nonexistant defense.