Italian City States

[Exarch]

pwn everything else
1) their italian militia is the equal of armoured sergeants and comparably superior when upgraded with weapons and armour (tho they sure look funny)
2) i dont know about venice and the papacy, but milan and norman sicily have superb cavalry-norman knights and famiglia ducale?! who would want for anything else? both have 'very good stamina' which is all i need to chase down routers.
3) superb crossbowmen. enough said.
4) excellent starting positions
5) excellent cities that develop incredibly fast, thus more $$$$.

i dare anyone to prove me wrong

[townie33]

I agree but Sicily is the only Italian faction to get competent knights. At least Sicily gets chivalric knights but mo other Italian faction gets them. Even if you look at the DFK Sicily gets Norman knights which are superior. Other than that detail Italian factions are amazing.

[Exarch]

I agree but Sicily is the only Italian faction to get competent knights. At least Sicily gets chivalric knights but mo other Italian faction gets them. Even if you look at the DFK Sicily gets Norman knights which are superior. Other than that detail Italian factions are amazing.

yes, the normans are especially powerful in terms of unit roster.
altho, personally when you already have norman knights, why would you want chivalric knights?
norman knights are superior considering they have similar armour (when (re)trained from the same citadel), higher kill points, and higher stamina.
the famiglia ducale are the same also, possessing similar attributes to norman knights including very good stamina.

[townie33]

what I was trying to get at was that Milan and Venice only get men at arms and broken lances which cannot stand up to DCK or Norman knights. But they are cheaper and can be recruited in cities.

[Exarch]

what I was trying to get at was that Milan and Venice only get men at arms and broken lances which cannot stand up to DCK or Norman knights. But they are cheaper and can be recruited in cities.

i dont bother with men at arms or broken lances
i only recruit the best and damn the expenses (i usually find my economy becomes a plunder economy)