Reasons why I may or may not want to play Milan..

[mikil100]

Hey all, I have been thinking about this a lot this past day, I have been playing my English campaign but the defensive play and not having so many enemies from the start is kinda.. meh. Plus I want to have musketeers late period =D

So I was wondering if anyone could give me a rundown on why I may or may not want to play these guys- and if no, who would I like to play?

From what I can see, I like they have Gunpowder units, I like that they have a decent mix of spear men and assault troops- and their cavalry seems decent..

One thing that I'm really loathing is a lot of their units coming from CITIES- it seems like a bonus but I think I'd be a pain in the arse.. I like to get my armies from 1-2 spots and not have to ship troops every where..

How do these units fair into comparison with other factions (I have little to no experience with them)?
Dismounted Men at Arms
Men at Arms
Famiglia Ducale
Dismounted Broken Lances
Broken Lances
Genoese Crossbowmen

And what would you say are better for their class- like do I want the Dismounted Men at arms, dismounted Broken lances of just plain 'ole DFKs..

Hope this brings up good comparisons between Milan and other factions military, Milans is very unique it seems. =D

[Celsius]

They are pretty good. Especially crossbowmen.

Only thing thing is, there not that good at melee combat.

[Wheelchair]

Only thing thing is, there not that good at melee combat.

Well, they arrrre, but not in later stages of the game. In the early they can completely dominate the Germans in Bologna. If you have all the cities in northern italy you basically win the game.

Edit, A whole army of crossbowmen is Kinda funny... Who needs spears when you have 3000 arrows flying at the enemy.

[Eupholi]

Their H.Infantry late is solid however not superb.

Fagmila Ducale look cool and have the best name in the game and they are also very solid heavy cav maybe just behind lancers, and Gothic knights, possibly Gendarmes.

Genoese crossbowman are in my opinion the best crossbowman in the game.

Men-at-arms are kinda meh nothing very special about them.

Broken Lances are better than Men-at-arms, they are a solid calavry until you get fagmila ducale

All in all they have a solid militray not the best in anything but solid in everything, plus their early militas are uber strong, and they have a cool faction colour.

[Surgeon]

Milan actually doesn't get particularly good units from castles. Dism. Men at Arms are meh and aren't as good as Dism. Feudal Knights. Dism. Broken Lances are better than both but are fairly late game. Italian Spear Militia are just about the same as Armored Sergeants but have free upkeep. The only good unit from castles are Genoese Crossbows, but although Genoese Crossbow Militia are slightly weaker they also get free upkeep and so are much more cost efficient.

As Milan you'll probably need a castle or two early on to pump out troops, but in later stages once you get Famiglia Ducale and Dism. Broken Lances you can last with cities only.

[RusticDeaTH]

Milan can get their best units pretty much from their cities so they really do not need any castles.

[AWZC]

From the looks of things, you'd be happy with Spain

[Musthavename]

If you just want Musketeers late period, Venice & Spain also have access to them (Portugal do aswell iirc, aswell as Portugese Arquebuisers). Turks get Jannissary Musketeers & Novgorod gets Cossack Musketeers.

Milan's roster is fine and very city dominant. Late game you don't need castles at all. Just conquer Italy then turtle till you have huge cities, then you can literally blitz the rest of the world easily.

If you want a lot of enemies, Venice is better imo. Byzantines, Sicilians, Milanese, HRE & Hungary can all attack you. Pope will obviously maim you if you get excommed, and the Moors like to hop onto Northern Italy if theres a player there.

[Spartan90]

Milan is a VERY good faction. Don't know why you're complaining about castles, i HATE having to ship troops around from castles, it's so much more convenient to pump out units from each city.

Milan have the BEST crossbowmen in the game, and the militia crossbowmen are just a tiny bit weaker than their castle counterpart. Their spear militia will kill anything in the early game.

Also, if you own the "Big 5" northern italian factions, you've basically won the game

[frederickm]

You sound like someone who will enjoy Spain IMO.