Recommend me a faction.

[Zwei-Gothic]

So I'm about done with the HRE campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I'm looking for a change of pace. I'm playing the vanilla M2TW btw. My experience with the game thus far was mainly centered around heavy infantry. I want to get a taste of a different terrain from what I'm used to (Northern Europe, little bit of Iberia), and different tactics than the usual heavy infantry + archers.

Factions I'm considering:
Russia
Byzantines
The Turks
Sicily
....Maybe Spain.

Thanks in advance guys!

[Pyrebound]

Byz is a good all-round choice. Russia is a pain to play due to their low income and expensive troops.

[syntax_error]

ENGLAND! ENGLAND!Hehe...

England is something new, especially if you play centered around longbowmen. It's definitely a different experience.

[Zwei-Gothic]

ENGLAND! ENGLAND!Hehe...

England is something new, especially if you play centered around longbowmen. It's definitely a different experience.

Forgot to mention factions I've played through already: England, France, Moors, HRE, Egypt, and Scots. Not interested in Portugal, Denmark, Milan, Venice, Poland or Hungary.

That said, I have to say England was fun to play. Lots of heroic victories from those longbow stakes. But I want something new... :hmmm:

[Mithrane]

I would suggest Russia or Byzantium. Both start out very cavalry centric, specifically horse archer. They differ mainly in 2 ways, besides location.

Firstly, economically. Russia starts with only a single city. Your economy, at the beginning, is horrible. You are surrounded by rebels you can capture, but they take a lot of time and money to invest in to bring up to code, as it were. Byzantium, however, is, as they were historically, freaking rich. They have a large number of regions to start with, with many more they can quickly conqure. They are right next to the Holy Land, and thus can gain relatively easy access to a lot MORE money.

However, they need this, as the Byzantines need to make a huge head-way in the early-mid game, as they fall far short in the technology game, whereas Russia only gets better with age. Byzantium does not get any gun-powder units, period. They have wonderful horse archers, their cavalry in general is quite strong, and their infantry, at end game, is amazing. However, with no gunpowder, their range is far shorter than everyone elses, and sieges become quite painful. Russia has some of the best gunpowder units in the game, and will rule the battlefield if they can have the economic strength to bring their end game units to bare.

Russia should start out going south and closing off the borders with Poland, Hungary, and Byzantium. They should then head east along the Black Sea and close off the Turks. From there, they should consolidate the rest of modern Russia, and build up for an attack against their target of choice. They would do well to have their far eastern towns be castles, which they work very hard to grow as fast as possible, and prepare for the Mongols.

Byzantium would do well to get Sofia to secure their western front, and then push into Turkish area while pushing in from the sea at Antioch, etc. Once the Turks are gone, push through Egypt and up into Russia. These lands do very will with your cavalry-based armies. Once the east is yours, if you have been fast enough, you can take Rome and get your goal before the Mongols get there. If you don't think you can do that, start fortifying and prepare for pain. Once gunpowder shows up, you're on a timer, and need to hurry up, or else the Catholics will destroy you at range.

[Zwei-Gothic]

There seems to be a lot of love for the eastern nations. No spain or sicily? Works for me. I'm not sure which I want though... They all have their challenges... Russia overcoming crappy economy, Byzes not having gunpowder, Turks dealing with the brunt of the crusades and mongols/timurids... I'm not sure if I want to do without gunpowder though. Seiging those huge cities and citadels without cannons? =\

[dr_guerra]

Spain has the most versatile unit selection. It never gets boring. From start to finish they have great units, and an amazing navy. Their position is such that they can take on the Moors with Catholic support, perhaps a Crusade. And if you go on Crusades against Jerusalem, you have a straight shot by sea, no hassle. The Iberian peninsula is probably the most geo-strategic location. It provides for a lot of opportunities and challenges so you never get bored.

Spain has some really beautiful unique units. (Portugal has some of them also, but lack the later professional armies).

Anyways, try out Spain. It's really just tons of fun.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Play the Turks. You can play a full HA game or you can rely heavy on city based infantry like Janissary heavies. Plus you will be in the midst of all the fun: crusades, Mongols and if you survive the Timurids with their African Elephant corps.

[Leutrim]

Play the Turks. You can play a full HA game or you can rely heavy on city based infantry like Janissary heavies. Plus you will be in the midst of all the fun: crusades, Mongols and if you survive the Timurids with their African Elephant corps.

Agreed.

[Nikos]

CoughBYZANTINEcoughcough

[Douchebag]

what the are you smoking mithrane? byzantines DO get gunpowder units...i think its called "Bombard". its the first cannon available when the gunpowder event happens.

now to get back on topic...choose byzantines man...you wont regret it.

[Mithrane]

what the are you smoking mithrane? byzantines DO get gunpowder units...i think its called "Bombard". its the first cannon available when the gunpowder event happens.

now to get back on topic...choose byzantines man...you wont regret it.

My appologies, yes, they do get 1 single gunpowder unit, the Bombard Cannon. I so rarely get to that stage of the game as them, I had simply forgotten. They don't, however, get any of the "standard" gunpowder units. NO muskets, no hand gunners, no mounted gunners, etc etc.

[Leutrim]

My appologies, yes, they do get 1 single gunpowder unit, the Bombard Cannon. I so rarely get to that stage of the game as them, I had simply forgotten. They don't, however, get any of the "standard" gunpowder units. NO muskets, no hand gunners, no mounted gunners, etc etc.

Dont they get gunners?

[Mithrane]

Dont they get gunners?

http://totalwar.honga.net/faction_un...tw&f=byzantium

Nope, just Bombards. Ok, and ships, but everyone gets ships.

[Zwei-Gothic]

Well I just took a look at the unit selections with the custom battle option. It looks like the byzes and russians have the smallest selection of units if I'm not mistaken. Doesn't that make it a little boring? The Turks have a pretty nice selection, including what looks like the best gunpowder in the game.

I think I will end up doing what a lot of you suggest: play all of them. I think I will go with the turks first since I enjoyed the crusades a lot (it would be nice to defend the crusades AND call jihads). Byzes I will check out as well while I'm doing the Turks.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Very much appreciated.

[The Noble Lord]

So I'm about done with the HRE campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I'm looking for a change of pace. I'm playing the vanilla M2TW btw. My experience with the game thus far was mainly centered around heavy infantry. I want to get a taste of a different terrain from what I'm used to (Northern Europe, little bit of Iberia), and different tactics than the usual heavy infantry + archers.

Factions I'm considering:
Russia
Byzantines
The Turks
Sicily
....Maybe Spain.

Thanks in advance guys!

Hi,


Why dont you try:Fatimids, Turks, Knights Templars, Spain, Russia,and of course Byzantine Empire.
That where you gonna get the taste of not only different units but also of: Crusades,
Jihads, Mongols, Timurids, attacks on Constantinople, Jerusalem, and even attacks on Pope himself.
And fighting in the deserts and in the endless steps of Russia.
Go for it.


CHEERS

[Viking Prince]

You will get a ton of reccomendations. My personal favorites are Spain/Portugal and Russia. As dr_guerra stated Spain has a great military. You start with Jinettas. If you have not used them yet, I would certainly give them a try. Some say you can win the entire campaign with only token infantry for the seiges and armies of Jinettas. I would not go that far in claims, but it is amazing how quickly light missile cav can break flank units.

Russia is a very great challange. You will need to learn a whole new style of play due to low population settlements, the Mongols, and not a catholic faction.

Both factions start on the map edge, so the play will be differant from HRE.

Speaking of the edge, Sicily is a bit of an edge faction also. As you know from HRE, any settlements in Italy will soon be in the thick of things. Naval power will be the key. Not a side issue as it is with Spain and Russia.

Short answer -- play all the factions once, twice or three times! Good luck with your choice. If you decide and want "advice" make another post!

OT (kinda) -- look into using the Retrofit Mod (requires kingdoms) For my style of play, the kingdoms changes that are not patchable into MIITW amd the rebalancing of units fits my chivalric style of play better.

[KoS]

All of those factions that you are considering are good ones, but I'm not sure which would be best for your situation... hmmm... Byzantium has a strong and fairly diverse mix of units, and several rebel settlements nearby to strengthen your position, but in both my Byzantine campaigns I tended to run out of money quickly.

Sicily's location in the middle of the Mediterranean gives it a good mix of Italian, Muslim and European style units, but you would need to rely on naval power to expand into the rebel lands of Africa, Greece, northern Italy (if you're quick enough before the HRE or the Pope seize it), or perhaps Iberia. Also, the presence of Rome and the Pope between you and northern Europe might prevent Milan or Venice from attempting a land assault, and an isolated position such as an island, like Sicily itself, is definitely a good base of operations.

Russia is another example of a good location, with plenty of room to expand and a good selection of troops. That gives you the opportunity to stay neutral to other factions long enough to build large armies and defend your strongholds if need be. But, as some others have mentioned, financial considerations might eventually catch up with you.

Spain has a great variety of different types of troops - some of which Portugal has as well, but many of which are exclusive to Spain. And their navy is very strong, especially once gunpowder is discovered. Once you've driven out the Moorish and eliminated or outsourced the Portuguese, when all of Iberia answers to you, then your lands will be impenetrable to all but the most well-equipped armies.

The Turks - now, there's a great faction. You'll have a little bit of everything - crusaders, Jihads, Mongols, Timurids, and the chance to take Constantinople, Jerusalem or Baghdad, all very profitable cities and assets to your empire. And the units aren't that bad, either - good cavalry, horse archers, and decent infantry on top of that.

I'd have to say that you should probably try them all to get a feel of them before you make your decision. They're all excellent choices, and the decision is ultimately yours.

[Gornard]

Sicily defenetly have differnt terrain and starting position, but they do fight in a very european way depsite the multicultural appearence. The italian milita make cities very easy to defend, but they are still pretty relaint on knights, missles, and heavy infantry. They do have the advantage of being well able to fight any enemy on the mediteranian. The key is to keep your navy stronger then any you encounter.

Spain may be a better bet if you want to keep it christian, lots of powerfull skirmishers and nice later units too. Not so much of a reliance on heavy infantry, also the oppertunity to fight islam right of the bat, and storm through africa. Though you do have 2 immediate enemies and one very large one in the form of france before too long. A little tip to start is to let the moors or portugal have first crack at valencia, it has a big starting garrison. They will always lose the first time and you can easily take it with much fewer loses.

[Viking Prince]

Why not a jihad on Constantinople? Free upkeep on a stack of two that you are needing to hold off the Byzies. Possible assistance from Egypt.

When you ask for a ceasefire, do you ask/offer anything else with it? I'm thinking trade rights. Money with a ceasefire tends to require quite a bit. They may also be adament because you took a rebel province or are too large for the AI to be comfortable.

Suggestions other than jihad would include giving them a bloody nose and quite possibly taking a province from them.

Your military standing or overall standing may also be much weaker or much stronger than their standing. That makes you a target.

Are they allied with their other neighbors? Maybe you are the only target left in the neighborhood.

I seldom like to broaden a war, but ... If they are in conflict with another close faction (probably Hungary or Venice), perhaps going to war with their other enemy will make it easier to ceasefire the Byzies. The enemy of my enemy is my friend you know!

I am ceretain you will get some other great advice to add to this post. Good luck with the Turks!