What is the best faction for RS first time?

[Sgian Dubh]

So I am new to RS and started a campaign as the Germanic tribes - but I was wondering if there is a better first time out faction to play that will let me get settled into the mod without spanking me too much

[Mulattothrasher]

I love the screen name. You wear a kilt as well?

To answer your question, I would not think theres a wrong or right faction. With the Germans, they are somewhat far removed from the other factions, so this enables you to build up your towns, empire, and military for a longer amount of time without interference from other factions looking to take you over.

I would say that you chose well in your first pick

[Sgian Dubh]

I love the screen name. You wear a kilt as well?

Aye, laddie. I wear the kilt every chance I git.

I was married in full kit. My wife says at least I get more use out of my "wedding dress" than she has.....

Alba gu brath!


Thanks to all others for their responses. I think I'll stick with the Germanic tribes for the nonce. I am surprised that the free peoples I am at war from the start with have huge armies and garrisions. How do they afford it?


I am building slingers and a few other units and re-organizing prior to attempting to wrest one of the towns nearby.

[jackwei]

Rome

[Nellup]

Thanks to all others for their responses. I think I'll stick with the Germanic tribes for the nonce. I am surprised that the free peoples I am at war from the start with have huge armies and garrisions. How do they afford it?

Germanic tribes are a good choice for a steady expansion against the free peoples. The reason they can have so many stacks, is that the AI doesn't care if it goes into the red economically, it's quite happy to just sit there not building anything, whereas a human would get bored of this very quickly.

[rory o'kane]

Well, there's always Rome.... but they've got Pyrrhus of Epirus to deal pretty much right from the start...

[century x]

ROME.
Enough SAID.

[cherryfunk]

One of the Greek factions (GCS, Pergamon, Bosporans, Syracuse) or Carthage...

[Drtad]

Armenia of course.

More seriously, Rome or Carthage are the best starting factions.

[Paidonomos]

Ptolemaics might be a good choice. Your flank with Carthage is rather secure, you start with rich trade lands, you've got pretty good Hellenic units and the gray monster (Seleucids) can be rolled up quickly with a bit of a blitz into Mesopotamia. The rest of your border factions are mostly chumps (sorry Drtad) at the start.

Sarmatia might be an interesting choice if you like cavalry. If they can build up they can be quite nasty as I'm learning in my Roman campaign. The addition of the Steppe Warriors and axemen to their roster makes them quite deadly in open field combat, particularly when you have to deal with those cursed noble horse archers!

[icydawgfish]

Rome or Carthage. Both are relatively easy and fun campaigns. But the Romans require a ton of micromanagement later on due to the complex AOR.

[century x]

Rome is not an easy Campaign. They may have the legions but they can be defeated by those relentless free people and GERMANS.

[Coldcall]

Personally, I'd advise someone new to RS to try out the Romans first. The named legions are the coolest part of the mod in my opinion. Its great all round but playing Rome gives that feel of personalistion to each of your armies which is different than the other factions.

On a side note, I think there are too many barbarian and free people stacks close to the german tribes. In each of my campaigns the germans never get out of the starting blocks and seem to be penned in to their starting borders.

Of course I notice others saying how powerful the German tribes become but I've played 5-6 RS campaigns now...always as Rome, and the Germans always stay weak.

I play on h/vh so maybe that has something to do with it?

[Nellup]

Personally, I'd advise someone new to RS to try out the Romans first. The named legions are the coolest part of the mod in my opinion. Its great all round but playing Rome gives that feel of personalistion to each of your armies which is different than the other factions.

On a side note, I think there are too many barbarian and free people stacks close to the german tribes. In each of my campaigns the germans never get out of the starting blocks and seem to be penned in to their starting borders.

Of course I notice others saying how powerful the German tribes become but I've played 5-6 RS campaigns now...always as Rome, and the Germans always stay weak.

I play on h/vh so maybe that has something to do with it?

My experience is that the Germanic tribes will either sit there and do nothing all game or will go mad and take over northern europe. It is much like the Seleucid arguement - sometimes they take over the entire eastern part of the map, sometimes they are crushed by those surrounded them. It probably comes down to a couple of key battles - if won then they are in a position of strength, if lost then they are crippled and then destroyed.

[Coldcall]

My experience is that the Germanic tribes will either sit there and do nothing all game or will go mad and take over northern europe. It is much like the Seleucid arguement - sometimes they take over the entire eastern part of the map, sometimes they are crushed by those surrounded them. It probably comes down to a couple of key battles - if won then they are in a position of strength, if lost then they are crippled and then destroyed.

Well hopefully in my new campaign they come alive and threaten my Northern expansion. I was even thinking of taking a big army up to their area and killing some of those Barb stacks for them, taking over a few cities and gifting them to the germans. Would that make any difference do you think?

[Nellup]

Yeah, giving them cities will defintely get them started on expansion - their main problem at the start is not being able to raise large enough armies to take on the rebels around them, so if you deal with the rebels then they should start the ball rolling.

[Coldcall]

Nellup,

I'll give it a try in this new campaign. Of course I dont want to get too friendly with them because the idea is that they will be a bitter foe in the end :-)

[Sgian Dubh]

I have to admit, I chose the Germanic tribes because I wanted to bring the Purity Laws (for beer) to the rest of the world as early as possible