Not sure what faction to play as

[Hoplite7]

I'm in faction-limbo again.

I finished Danish campaign, and I'm pretty sick of Northern Europe. That leaves me with Moors, Sicily, Turks, Spain/Portugal, Egypt and Byzantines.

Moors are OK, but I hate their position on the map. Sicily is a strong choice for me, even though it will just drag me into Europe again. I tried the Turks, but they are basically horse-archer only, which got boring. I hate Spain/Portugal army rosters. Egypt is another good one, with OK infantry, calvary, and horse archers... but Egypt is kind of easy like in RTW even on VH/M. Byzantines are another strong choice, but are lacking in the infantry department and cannot jihad/crusade.


As you can see none of them are that great! Which would you recommend based on experience? I'm looking for the most challenging but also some diversity... (I don't have Kingdoms)

[Cheetah]

Hungary!!! IMO it is as challenging as it can get esp if you play it chivalrously. Also there is variety, at first it mostly HA with weak inf but later on you get DFK, pav.spearmen, chiv knights i.e. everything you need for a good heavy army. It is also at the cross-roads you can go wherever you want. Into middle europe, into Italy, to the east or even to the north!

[WhiskeyGhost]

Ditto on the Hungary suggestion, for almost the exact same reasons

[Hoplite7]

Hmm I never even thought of Hungary. Just took a look at their unit roster and they have probably the most balanced of all of the factions. And they are Christian. I always dismissed them, I thought they were orthodox and the battlefield assassins always seemed quirky to me.


So I'll probably play as them, although there must be a catch somewhere in their faction.

[Cheetah]

The catch is that they are hungarians!!!

Well, the only catch I can think of that they do not have strong city H2H infantry. The best unit you get from cities is pavise xbow (it took me while to find out that they have pavise!!!), and later on arquebus and hussars (very nice unit!). So all your strong H2H inf comes from castles (DFK/DCK, pav.spearmen). But this just gives a challenge compared to lets say italian factions where you can do the whole game without castle units.

[Zim]

I think the main catch for the Hungarians is the salmon pink faction color!

Their units are nice, though, and Pavise Spearmen are a step above the regular Armoured Spearmen.

[Hoplite7]

Hey, Salmon pink is better than the Sicilian... leg hair... things...

[Cheetah]

It is salmon red! Actually the (salmon) red/green combo looks quite cool.

[Zim]

You're kidding yourself Cheetah, it's pink.
I do really like their unit roster. It seems balanced to deal with anything. Best spearmen in the game, great horsearchers, and better heavy infantry than the other horsearcher heavy factions.

[Guru]

Knights of the Pink Table, Chaaargeee!!!
I.. I just cant cope with that pink. It's way too pink. See my great PINK army besieging Constantinople? Here's my PINK army fighting the great Golden Horde... I admit the colour plays a huge role when I'm choosing a faction. But no army should be PINK!
Hungarian unit roster is great and their position is very good, too. Constantinople, the Holy Lands, Black Sea trade etc. Had to take Russia because of the colours and now I'm going to grab Hungarians' lands. Bwahaha.

[Cheetah]

Who has pinky in his sig?

It is salmon red!!! MTW was pinkish indeed but now it is not ... much less .... alright you win, it is pink:

Pink it´s my new obsession
Pink it´s not even a question
Pink on the lips of your lover, ´cause
Pink is the love you discover
Pink as the bing on your cherry
Pink ´cause you are so very
Pink it´s the color of passion
`Cause today it just goes with the fashion

[Paradox]

I wanted to play as one of the Muslim factions first (Turks or Egyptians) but none of them are unlocked. I tried editing the desc_strat file but it wouldn't work, it says "file already exists" or "please choose a valid file".

[Hoplite7]

I get what you're saying, I was always a white/silver color guy. Carthage/Selucids and then Sicily. Something attracts me to turning the entire world white.

I wanted to play as one of the Muslim factions first (Turks or Egyptians) but none of them are unlocked. I tried editing the desc_strat file but it wouldn't work, it says "file already exists" or "please choose a valid file".

Hmm that's odd. I'm no good at that stuff, but I recommend going with the Egyptians once you unlock them. I got whooped my first time as Turkey. Emperor Alexis of Byzantines beat me up pretty bad after I tried grabbing Constantinople. That's what you get when your faction starts next to the most powerful general in the world!

Hopefully as Hungary I won't do as bad.

[Fisherking]

Just play England or France on short... It is easy to knock out one or two factions and get a few provinces

[Hoplite7]

Just play England or France on short... It is easy to knock out one or two factions and get a few provinces

I've already done England to death, it's the only faction I've actually conquered the world with. (or came very close. Maybe 5-6 provinces left). And I can't stand the French accent! No offense to the French, but the overdone French accent in the game drives me nuts.

[Fisherking]

I've already done England to death, it's the only faction I've actually conquered the world with. (or came very close. Maybe 5-6 provinces left). And I can't stand the French accent! No offense to the French, but the overdone French accent in the game drives me nuts.

Sorry you had a shock there. That was just for Shogun to unlock all the factions.

[ReiseReise]

Once you complete a campaign it unlocks all the factions so if you conquered almost the entire map with England.... they should all be available.

Sicily is fun with the Super Normans and awesome Muslim Archers, and Sicily does not have to immediately go into Europe - sure taking all of Italy and the HRE is appealling, but try taking Africa and march to the Holy Land.

[MerlinusCDXX]

If you think the Hungarians are way too pink...stay away from the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Deus lo Vult mod), they are not only pink, but the shade is of a sickly pastel hue, no wonder the Muslims kicked their pansy pink arses out of the Holy Land (hard to take someone seriously when their surcote looks like it was a Project Runway entry)

(my ex-wife watched that show to distraction...good thing for TW games to kill the pain of horrible reality TV)

[Old Geezer]

Say, Hoplite, if'n you like white, try the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Crusades campaing in Kingdoms. Many white units! And, you can rent byzantine flamethrowers to fry the Mongols.

[Paradox]

Just finished English Campaign. And finally, I got the descr_strat files to work again. The Egyptians are officially my favorite faction now, I didn't like the Moors, the Turks weren't that good either IMHO. It just hit me, why isn't a Jihad video included here? There's a crusade video.

The Muslim factions don't have much political affairs too since there isn't a central power and there are no holiness....seses, sigh, Kingdom of Jerusalem sound like a great faction.

[russveld]

venice is really good starter civ. the italian militias are way better than other europeans and they remain usefull for a good period of time. Plus a full stack consiting of Venetian heavies, Venetian archers, some good cavalry and a carraci standard led by a good general cant be beat

[rvg]

Byzantine Empire is also a pretty simple faction to use. In fact it's too simple, as the most efficient Byz strategy is the Vardariotai spam which gets boring rather quickly. Insanely powerful though.

[russveld]

Byzantine Empire is also a pretty simple faction to use. In fact it's too simple, as the most efficient Byz strategy is the Vardariotai spam which gets boring rather quickly. Insanely powerful though.

That coupled with varingian gaurd is practicly un-friggen-stoppable.

[Sentinel]

If you play Sicily, Spain, and Portugal you will still have to deal with the pope and go on crusades etc. Making them very similar to the campaigns you have already done.

Hungary has a good unit variety and an interesting starting position, if you don’t mind leading a Barbie army.

My suggestion is for the Byzantines, because they don’t have the Crusade / Jihad option. Starting with Constantinople they are usually targeted by most of the other factions so you will see plenty of action and gain useful experience for your troops, ready to deal with the Mongul / Timurids.

[Paradox]

I have a question, how does one get to South America? I keep playing campaigns and the last events I get often are the Mongol Invasions. So, how exactly is South America displayed on the map? Does it just appear out of nowhere or is there some kind of teleportation system?

[rvg]

I have a question, how does one get to South America? I keep playing campaigns and the last events I get often are the Mongol Invasions. So, how exactly is South America displayed on the map? Does it just appear out of nowhere or is there some kind of teleportation system?

gotta wait for the "World is Round" event.

[Paradox]

And what year is that exactly? It's in the "Late" period right?

[Quillan]

1400 AD or so. There's a minimum date, and it's triggered by the construction of the first University after that date, if I'm not mistaken.