Factions for a beginner?

[Inuk]

I will be starting my first campaign for this mod that looks great indeed. I am looking for an easy faction to start with to get aclamated to the mod. Thank you in advance.

[PaulH]

I found Yvresse to be quite an easy faction to play as, you are far from the main evil factions and have a few cultist settlements to capture early. Also you have access to Yvressian Sea Guard who are both Spearmen and Archers which makes it easier to protect your cities. I also found Saphery to be a good faction for similar reasons, but also because the Apprentice Mages are an incredible unit to have, be sure to get those!

[Inuk]

So Yvresse & Saphery. Thanks a lot!

[Vhaelor]

I'd definately look into Lothern as well, if you can manage to weather the initial invasion you'll have a breeze. Caledor's your closest neighbour and will usually defend their lands capably. By the time they hold of Tiranoc and Nagarythe, you'll be building up your colonies across the bay to the east as well as further up the coast to the northeast. If Caledor's overrun completely (it may or may not happen) you'll sit there with a lot of cash available to you that you can use for training armies. Also the lands to the east usually fall into corruption and become cultist settlements that are fairly easy to deal with. Just be sure to rush eastwards fast after you defend your lands in the first 10-20 turns so that the Yvresse and Saphery AIs won't take your potential colonies.

Should you fail to defend Lothern in the initial invasion, the game is still not lost. You still hold your eastern provinces as well as the Shrine of Asuryan in the middle of Ulthuan, excellent staging points for a reconquest of your lost lands.

[Kolwen]

I agree with Aru,
Eataine is the best choice in my opinion.
Their economy is really strong and you just need to keep an eye on Caledor or they may cancel the alliance and attack you.

[Inuk]

Thank you Aruthiel & Kolwen.

I imagine that as one of those three faction I must try and send troops up to assist my allies on the front line, yes?

[Kolwen]

Yes. You can just sit and grow your settlements, but if you are too lazy Nagarythe will overhelm you and things will become very hard for you later

[PaulH]

It depends how well you use your time being lazy really, on my Yvresse campaign I managed to claim all the eastern coast from the tip of Cothique lands to the tip of the bay into the heart of Ulthuan, also gained Hoeth and the Shrine of Asuran. Once I had those, I made peace, got trade with everyone and began to roll in it. Most of my cities are fully upgraded now, and I have vast levels of wealth which will allow me to have decent garrisons and strong armies. It all depends how you spend your money really. I tend to avoid buying any buildings that give trade increases (except for roads and first level ports), and instead focus on increasing settlement size and city happiness, before moving onto trade buildings after about 50 turns.

[Inuk]

I am about 70 turns in as Saphery (those mages are unbelievable) and have been assisting Caledor against Tiranoc, taking cities there and giving them back to Caledor. I am not sure if this was the best thing to do but, I figured that this way I could keep moving and not have to bother with defending the cities which would have been hard considering how far away they are from my main land.

I also started helping Averlorn who lost the gate and a city to the Druchii. I am currently sieging the city but it’s tough to navigate this forest so it takes a while to bring my troops up. Maybe I ‘ll use the sea and land close to Ellyrion for quicker access.

The Cultists have been defeated but so has Chrace who was getting drowned in stack after stack. Cothique has been holding allright so far.

I read in the forum that the alliances are not guaranteed and can break. Is this common? That’s is, is it has common as in vanilla or has it been edited to be less common? It would be really tough to have to fight Yvress or another close neighbor but I guess it’s part of the fun.

As far as cash is concerned I am doing alight and have about 3 full offensive stack with only free militias as garrisons. I went with a balanced approach of growth and trade buildings.

@PaulH Does your approach of growth first end up with more trade revenue down the line or is it just a preference?

Anywho, I am loving this mod. Really really great job by the devs. Do you guys know what a total noob in modding like myself could do to help the team with the next release? I am really looking forward to Struggle for the Old World and I figure the best way to get it is to help out. I think I would be more suited to coding/text editing but I am open to anything and willing to learn.

[PaulH]

If you are busy conquering and passing settlements to your allies you should be sure to sell -all- buildings in the settlement before you pass it to Caledor, this will give you a massive boost to your treasury.

Also I found that if I spend money on trade buildings near the beginning then later in the game I seem to struggle to raise enough money to properly sustain my empire, so experimentation taught me to wait with them. Building them sooner might work out better for you though.

[Inuk]

Thanks again for your help PaulH.

Are you able to direct me as to how I could contribute? Should I send a pm to Kolwen?