Not Sure...

[Deadhuntr]

where this would go, so I just post it here.

I just started offically playing EB, I've had it on my computer for about a month just never really played it. I visit the RTW (offical) Forums quit frequently and ask'd 2 friends a question and they sent me here.

Which faction would best for a EB noob to start with on VH/VH? I dont like factions that start BIG (you will never see me play SE on ANY mod or van). I was told Pontos would be a good one, but I am also "newbish" when it comes to making money- I am not interested in going into debt turn 2 or 3. And if ALL factions do this, which is eziest to get out?

Thanks.

[Bonny]

Which faction would best for a EB noob to start with on VH/VH? I dont like factions that start BIG (you will never see me play SE on ANY mod or van). I was told Pontos would be a good one, but I am also "newbish" when it comes to making money- I am not interested in going into debt turn 2 or 3. And if ALL factions do this, which is eziest to get out?

Karthadastim and Romani are the easisest factions money wise, every other faction will need several years (1 year = four turns) to get out of the red.

Pontus is a rather hard faction to play, becasue you have problems getting money and you are a neighbour of the overmighty AS.


I would suggest to play on vh campaign and m battle difficulty. In vh Battle difficulty the AI gets statbonusses which make normal their normal units stronger and theri strong units almost unbeatable.

[Ayce]

Karthadastim and Romani are the easisest factions money wise, every other faction will need several years (1 year = four turns) to get out of the red.

Wrong, I got back on track very easily with Getai by rushing Sarmisegetuza.

[Tellos Athenaios]

It depends most factions will require some revision of armed forces and most notably priorities. Do you really need to take settlement a through f, or would those troops you need be better spent defending the border elsewhere if you are the AS for example.

As the Casse you can easily get your economy going by conquering two rebel settlements on the opposite side of the Channel - but to do so means to render yourself exceedingly vunerable to AI betrayal or ordinary attack.

[Deadhuntr]

"do the getai"- Think I'll try that, thanks.
Doing a RTRv1.9 Bactria campaign right now.

[LorDBulA]

do the getai

They are easy at start but you will get in dept if you will expand from turn 1.

[antisocialmunky]

"do the getai"

Nice tag line, some one needs to photoshop a picture for now like those extreme "do the dew" comercials.

Getai are fun, you ought to enjoy their crazy stong units.

[sanitarium]

Macedonia and Epeiros, once you get the mines in the area running, can rake in cash by the boatload. The problem is you have some bitter fighting to overcome in the early game in order to settle the area down.

If you want a relatively peaceful startup, Rome is a good faction to use. Once you kick Epeiros out of Italy, you can just sit there for years without worrying about anything but slave rebellions. Baktria is another faction where you don't have to worry a whole lot about fighting early on.

[Hegix]

Don't start on VH/VH, stats are balanced for M battle difficulty. I would suggest Rome or Carthage as a first faction, most of the smaller ones have a lot of initial debt. If none of those sound fun then one of the Greeks (KH, Mak or Epeiros) might do. For a campaign in the Eastern part of the map I'd suggest Baktria.

[Deadhuntr]

Well, I just tried Mak and didnt like it. I've tried Epeiros already...to many issues, lol. I dispise the Romans. I'll try Carthage/KH and see what happends.

So whats best setting? M/M or VH/M?

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
M/M

Any harder campaign setting than M and the diplomacy unfeature won't work at all. Any harder battle difficulty than M and the AI will get ridiculous attack/morale bonus totally screwing up the unit balance.

If you like blitzing the map you may try H campaign setting, for the AI to blitz a little too.

Whichever difficulty you prefer, don't forget to activate the script whenever you start a campaign or load a savegame, or you're virtually not playing EB.
.

[LorDBulA]

VH/M is officially recommended difficulty setting by EB team.

If you want additional challenge on the battlefield I suggest using general camera.

[Barbarian]

I started with Baktria, mainly because their culture and location seems interesting to me. Definitely not the hardest faction, but also not the easiest one.

It is quite unusual that you try to find faction with small territory but enough money, because almost always the factions with few settlement also have a small income.

Baktria starts with 3 settlements, not sure if it is counted as a small faction. But I was never in debt while playing.

Yeah, and do not start on VH/VH, because unlike the RTW, the mod is well balanced.

[Decimus Attius Arbiter]

Really, I think you're going to need to change your playstyle or maybe I suck at rushing. Your economy is always at a knifes edge at the beginning. You build only military from the start and your going to go into debt. Hang back and build up your economy.

[Deadhuntr]

Gonna give that a shot right now...so take 1 land, then disband all I dont need to defend..got it.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Yep that's how it works, and that is how it continues to work throughout the game. Minimal garrison, maximal civic infrastructure, and only a few armies ready for campaigning or rebel-hunt.

From a financial point of view, you ought to try the Ptolemaioi or the Qartadastim or the Romani first (on whatever campaign difficulty you like + M battle difficulty) to see what kind of troops are worth their cost and what troops are typically a no-no unless you can really afford them...

Only then go for the small-ish factions with weak economies and potentially very dangerous neighbours (basically the other 18) because AI backstabbing you with some 3 full stacks or more doesn't go down well if you don't know the basic truths about EB.

[fahrenheit]

Gonna give that a shot right now...so take 1 land, then disband all I dont need to defend..got it.

Actually in my experience thats not the best way to go.

My advice would be to take all of your units and form one large army. Siege as one city at a time waiting until they sally then attack. Do this as many times as you can until your army isn't strong enough to take another settlement (or your tired of being in debt, but you should aim for additional two to three cities). Then disband your costly units, if you have to send the cheap units to other cities that have expensive units and disband the expensive one. Each city should have a general (if possible) and one or two units(maximum) to defend.

In my most recent campaign with Lusotannan I went into debt as deep as -25K until I bounced back. Now my economy is bounding as I took all of Iberia and most of Carthage.

edit: Oh, and I'm usually out of debt (in my Lusotannan, Sweboz, and Casse campaigns) around 10 years (40 turns).

[Hooahguy]

well, for me, i did go into debt for a bit, but then i RP that every tribe we submitted gave us 1,000 mnai a turn, and i cheated and did the add_money cheat and added the money. i have a comfortable income now, with the trading and the bosporus soon under my control.

[Deadhuntr]

Well, I kinda did what both of you suggested...only before you suggested your part Fah.

I gathered my entire army ('cept the 3 in starting city) and marched on Tylis (altho I put a spy in it 1st). Then I took ALL the army from Tylis (leaving a Govn) and marched on Kalla (again moving my spy 1st). After I took those, I moved 3 units back to Tylis and kept 3 units in Kalla- disbanded the rest. Now I am omw out of debt.