Strongest faction?

[Shqiponja_Hayabusa]

What is the strongest faction (not in the campaign) in your opinion?

I have found through several battles that maybe close to the strongest faction is the Teutonic order.
The foot Ritterbruter are very strong, plus they have the fright infantry attribute which can help.
The habruder are also good haldber unit that manage in every battle more than 100 kills.

[Templar Knight]

in RR/RC i would have to say HRE. They are strong all around and have no real weakness

[JiangZiya]

HRE is full of weaknesses. They are literally surrounded by enemies, Do not have any superior archers until late, no light cavalry to speak of, and generally are on the popes bad side.

There really is no strongest faction as they all counterbalance each other. Although, I must say England has a relatively secure starting location, and is easily defensible. The Turks also have excellent units in the late period and a strong trade based economy.

France is also excellent in terms of economy and heavy infantry and cavalry.

[Ichon]

France seems fairly strong if it develops long enough. HRE is decent all around but not outstanding and its central position and conflict with the Pope usually means it never develops full potential in the games I've played so far.

Right now I am enjoying the javelin LC- they seem perfect general killers, once the enemies general is dead, well the battle is usually half won so any faction capable to kill enemy general quickly is a strong faction.

1- strong javelin LC, very fast and can kill from a distance if not able to reach general behind lines or if general runs away can often kill the last 5 of a bodyguard and general as they try and retreat. Vulnerable to missiles and when taking a charge but their speed should keep those threats low.

2- strong pikes/halbierders able to wait behind line for generals charge and when close in kill the bodyguard very quickly

3- strong HC which can bust straight thru opposing spear line and seek out general or smash into engaged general and wipe out half the bodyguard in a few seconds.

Also I think a strong navy is great for almost all the factions except a few which play half the game without much regions near water so any faction with decent cheap ships available gets a boost. Using naval transport effectively is one of the last few great advantages of human player in 6.2 RC/RR. Not that human still can't usually beat AI in combat which is the biggest advantage but in a strategic sense faster movement and choosing where to strike that AI is not prepared makes nearly impossible campaigns possible.

[Templar Knight]

HRE is full of weaknesses. They are literally surrounded by enemies, Do not have any superior archers until late, no light cavalry to speak of, and generally are on the popes bad side.

There really is no strongest faction as they all counterbalance each other. Although, I must say England has a relatively secure starting location, and is easily defensible. The Turks also have excellent units in the late period and a strong trade based economy.

France is also excellent in terms of economy and heavy infantry and cavalry.

i beg to differ, when ever i control the HRE i crush my enemies

also when i am talking about faction strength i am referring to there military not there starting location, which btw i agree is a difficult starting location for novice and players.

anyway back on military strength the HRE is a very strong faction in the mid to later periods of the game when they gain access to Imperial Knights, Zewhailders, (spelling?) and Gothic Knights

[Scandal]

Its usually completely random which faction becomes strongest in my campaigns, the only certain thing is that the faction i control is the weakest , quite often the Fatimids and Russians expand quickly and the Byzantines get crushed between them, but meh, just depends on the roll of the dice if you will.

[JiangZiya]

i beg to differ, when ever i control the HRE i crush my enemies

also when i am talking about faction strength i am referring to there military not there starting location, which btw i agree is a difficult starting location for novice and players.

anyway back on military strength the HRE is a very strong faction in the mid to later periods of the game when they gain access to Imperial Knights, Zewhailders, (spelling?) and Gothic Knights

i was under the understanding we were talking about AI controlled factions, as when the player is in control of the faction, said faction has a huge advantage. a brain.

[Templar Knight]

i was under the understanding we were talking about AI controlled factions, as when the player is in control of the faction, said faction has a huge advantage. a brain.

and i thought we were talking in general terms

[JiangZiya]

well there are only two choices in game. you can either be the faction, or not be the faction. so general terms is a bit vague, no? lol.

since the only fair way to determine a factions strength is to assume they are all equal (controlled by AI) i gave my opinion in this way.

[Lemming69]

i think spain are pretty good- new world curassiers and conquistadors

[Awellesley]

I have to think HRE, France or TO based on the strength of their late era units and heavy cavalry. Turks are nice late too.

[NewUser]

Hello guys? This thread is about the factions' roster in custom battles, not in the campaign (first post). IMO, France is the strongest when playing all period or late period, their lancers just dominate. England is also very good because of their archers (which I modded to give more range and 1 more damage).

[Burrich]

France, Aragon and HRE as they are the most powerful all round factions. They are not the best in all circumstances though. Eastern Heavy Cav destroys western Heavy Cav.

[Point Blank]

France, Aragon and HRE as they are the most powerful all round factions. They are not the best in all circumstances though. Eastern Heavy Cav destroys western Heavy Cav.

Not in late era, and not really in high era either after partial plate becomes available, though Quapukulu are nice, and the earlier western cav, being largely feudal, has sometimes so-so mental stats.

[Shqiponja_Hayabusa]

Oh the Qapukulu are really tremendous cav killers. I normally surround 1 unit of them with 3 heavy cav units and they barely get to finish the Qapukulu off with heavy losses, spearman also don't perform that good against them. The only choice is pikeman since archers can't kill them. I think is better than Gothic Knights.

[Andrew1994]

I vote for England.It start in an excellebt position with only a faction threatening it.
England has the best Archers in the world and also has very good heavy infantry(heavy billmen,King's Men,etc.)
Nevertheless the best cavarly belongs to france.France's cavarly cannot be compared(Lancers)

[RazAlgul]

Well at the moment I started the campaign with Aragorn and have SS 6.1 with the BGRIII on and it is quite fun so far.....even though taking a castle with 7 Spear Units and a general is not that much fun....but still needs a lot of strategy thinking

[Finlander]

Hmm.. England is very powerful and it is easy to start growing.

Also Spain is very powerful. Many types of units.
and have to say that I lke also France and Holy Roman Empire.

[juvenus]

We're talking about custom battles.....that's why I really don't get it
No one even mentioned the Byzzis
Indeed, it's been a while since I played SS but again...what on Earth are you talking about?

Nevertheless the best cavalry belongs to france.France's cavarly cannot be compared(Lancers)

In reality those french lancers could have been easily outclassed by Vasilica Tagmata (in-game called Scholarii) troops (even as late as in the 13th century).
In the game itself those troops (widely regarded as the best cavalry force of the time! Arabs believed them to be invincible!) were represented quite good, though not as widely and thoroughly as they had been.
The Byzzis could defeat any army if properly applied against. Your thoughts are ok (HRE, France, England...), but I'm surprised that no one recognized their strength.
Tagmata+Mounted Acritoi/Cavalarii are devastating combination (not to mention Latinikoi/Skythicoi at all). Furthermore, you talk about

The foot Ritterbruter are very strong, plus they have the fright infantry attribute which can help.

and they definitely are, but the thing is I would obliterate them with Varrangians.
Plus, they have multiple archers and heavy spearmen troops. Maybe, but just maybe(!) they're not the best army you can assemble in the game but still, if you make appropriate roster and apply troops accordingly (I always destroy as much as half the enemy forces with several false retreats) they can easily match any army.

[NewUser]

I feel like the retinue archers of England are underpowered. So I raised their shooting range, and gave them 1 more ranged damge... (but also increased costs)