Factions to be added

[midget_roxx]

what's the point of adding a faction in the middle east when they're going to be pwned by the endless mongolian hordes anyway?

You mean the Golden Horde actually get somewhere in your games? Mine just die :/

I chose Georgia, Bohemia and Serbia. Although I would rather Brabant/Holland and Austria than Bohemia and Serbia

[Ichon]

on the other hand, abassids would make k-shah, seljuks and possibly fatimids more careful about their borders, problem here, is that, this faction should be represented weak at the begining, making it a desirable target for k-shah and seljuks, making it a faction that would wither quite fast

Other small factions survive well in the face of larger empires. Genoa, Lithuania, Portugal... not sure why Abbasids would suddenly wither. Mongols are a challenge for every faction that face them but Abbasids have a better chance of surviving than K-Shah which even now in early campaign can sometimes hold the horde of Mongols for quite some time though in 6.3 I have yet to see them win like they did frequently in earlier versions.

[Black_Nebula]

Lots of catholic factions, could use another muslim faction. I liked them in BC, with Bagdad they could be a rival to alot of the surrounding factions.

[Cyprexinia]

Bulgaria sounds good, too often Hungaria captures Constantanople and becoems a super power of spamming tons and tons of militia units, they're as bad as the Fatimids because they have no nearby enemy that's really strong.

[Radiso-FIN]

I can't decide!
But, lets be gameplaywise.
Middle-east needs seriously rebalancing. Too many times I have seen Khwarezmian Empire growing way too strong. There really must be one more faction in that area, either Georgia or Abbasid Caliphate. I can't decide which one, maybe I prefer Georgia.

Another are what really need a balancing faction is the Balkans. Again, there is no-one between Hungary and Romans, and Venice plays only a small role there. Serbia or Bulgaria is a must have in that region, I see no other option. This time I would prefer Serbia, don't know why, but I think they are slightly cooler

And now I come to the part which seems causing a lot of contradiction here in the forums: the Scandinavia and Sweden. As a Finnish my self I would like to see a Swedish faction presented in SS, since they made many crusades to Finland and fought against Novgorod several times. Sweden would make Baltic area and Scandinavia a lot more interesting. It would also control Denmark and Norway from expanding too much. But thinking gameplaywise, Scandinavia and Baltic are isn't in such a dire need of a new faction compared to Middle-east and Balkans.

In conclusion I think that the main focus should be concentrated in Middle-east and Balkans by adding new factions primarily there. They need a new faction more than any other region in the game.

[omen1710]

Middle-east needs seriously rebalancing. Too many times I have seen Khwarezmian Empire growing way too strong. There really must be one more faction in that area, either Georgia or Abbasid Caliphate. I can't decide which one, maybe I prefer Georgia.

You are quite wrong in this case. Both Georgia and Abbasid Caliphate aren't in same region. Georgia is in Caucasian region and Abbasid Caliphate is in Middle_east region. I think both of them are strongly wanted by the SS players. In addition to this, SS players also want to a country in balkan region ( Serbia or Bulgaria). However; there are 2 empty slots according to messages of SS modders. I wonder which SS6.3 country is deleted from SS.

[Meneth]

If a third slot is needed, the Timurids would probably be deleted and be replaced by mongols.

[RollingWave]

Georgia would give another faction to counter act the Turks, though on the other hand with Bulgaria the starting situation for the Byzantiums would be much harder, which should help the Turks a bit, and Abbasid should also counter act the K-shahs a bit more.

Though if we add Abbasid / Georgia / Bulgaria then the settlements would need to be rearranged a bit to add a few more region to those areas , Roz and Fair Prince have talked quite a bit about that though so that should be a problem (primarily removing a few region from the Stepps, and probably 1 or 2 from North Africa, and maybe one of the islands, and maybe one from Scandanavia etc...)

[Dr. Croccer]

Abassids or Georgia or maybe Serbia. The rest would just crowd stuff.

[beckyolt]

Im in doubt beetween Florence, Georgia and Bohemia. Florence is cool and Bohemia is too ( besides it has the name of my favorite beer *-*) but the Middle East is so empty... Georgia would be nice.

[Meneth]

You have 3 votes, so pick all three.

[Overlord.ru]

Voted for Abbasids, Georgia and Sweden. I have no idea whether adding Sweden to 1100 or 1220 is historical, if not - then I would have voted for Bohemia. And Btw, what is Florence? Another italian state? I suppose Italy is already crowded too much. Personally, if adding a new faction, I would be guided by historicity and how it would diversify the gameplay.

[Meneth]

Yeah, Florence is some Italian state.
Sweden existed at the time. They were often in conflict with Novgorod. Should also make the Baltic more interesting.

[Overlord.ru]

Okay, you convinced me Then my votes are 100% Sweden, Abbasids and Georgia.

[omen1710]

If a third slot is needed, the Timurids would probably be deleted and be replaced by mongols.

Thanks for the information. I wish, this decision is good for SS.

[Inhuman One]

Burgundy has my vote. It could be an interesting mix of the French and HRE roster.

[squirel]

from the bottom of my heart, Im against sweden

I voted for Bulgaria, Georgia and the Abbasid Khalifat

[Ichon]

For Burgundy and Georgia especially map should be re-worked a bit. Also for Bulgaria/Serbia to a lesser extent. Scandinavia already too many regions so Sweden could just start with Nykoeping/Uppsala.

Abbasids could get just Baghdad or add Samarra as well which would be a tiny rework.

Bohemia could also be quite small rework.

Trieste/Moravia, Şebinkarahisar, Abkhazia, Tarnovo, Vama, and Samarra.

[HolyDevil]

just take some rebel settlements from somewhere and add them near to georgia, and make all other settlements "easier" access.... for georgia i mean

for abassids maybe make the western castle a little closer to them, so they capture it first, at least giving them a chance

[Rilder]

A smaller Muslim faction would be fun... right now if you want to play Islamic you have to start out with an already good sized faction....