Fastest Faction

Hi all,

I'm going to attempt a speed run of vanilla RTW soon and I want to finish it in the fastest time I can (game time anyway). My question is,

Which faction has the ability to expand and finish the Imperial Campaign the fastest?

I've got a couple of ideas:

• Macedon thanks to the brilliant combination of pikes, light lancers and archers that make it really strong in the early game
• Carthage. They start with an elephant unit that makes a mess of enemy generals and means you can immediately attack a settlement as long if they've got a pallisade or wooden walls.
• Egypt. Chariot generals, Desert Cav and phalanx spearmen.

All three of these are situated in very wealthy positions so money shouldn't be an issue. What do you think? I'm very undecided and open to all suggestions.

the Brutii have an excellent starting position, but you have to go through the other Romans eventually, which could slow you down.

Personally, the fastest campaign I've ever done was with Carthage. You start in a position to quickly take out the Romans, so they won't be a "late" game problem. That's assuming you're doing a Long Campaign. Egypt, in my opinion, takes a bit longer, as you have to deal with a large Middle East before you can even think about the Romans. Macedon isn't bad, for the same reasons as Carthage, but they have to deal with Greece, and possibly Dacia/Thrace, first.

I love the Brutii Starting position. You can conquer Macedon, Greece and Anatolia before the Marius Event

Hmm my fastest campaign was with germania I had all of europe before the romans came crawling out of their italian shell

A Selecid Empire campian is fast if you beat Eyjpt fast.

Well, whit Dacia you can have 3 medium sized armies in 1st turn and take 3 settlements whit them in 2-4 turns

With a Julii campian your mostly fighting barberians.

Originally Posted by War lord

With a Julii campian your mostly fighting barberians.

YEs but somehow i fought Carthage, and Egypt

Germania, Berserkers, Chosen axes. win. fast.

I would say either Carthage or Egypt, probably egypt, bec in the beginning there is actually only one way to expand and there are only enemies in the north

Someone at the Org chose the Greek Cities for a speed finish. The reasoning being that their cities were widely spread apart, thus allowing the player to play in multiple theatres from the start. They key was to trust that the player could win any battle with the resources at their disposal, and to exterminate every captured city for the cash to keep their conquests going. The actual mix of troops wasn't important, as it was assumed that the player, if they play well, would be able to win any battle with reasonable odds, no matter what the troops were at their disposal. Instead, the strategic position was deemed to be far more important for a quick campaign finish.

Originally Posted by pannonian

Someone at the Org chose the Greek Cities for a speed finish. The reasoning being that their cities were widely spread apart, thus allowing the player to play in multiple theatres from the start. They key was to trust that the player could win any battle with the resources at their disposal, and to exterminate every captured city for the cash to keep their conquests going. The actual mix of troops wasn't important, as it was assumed that the player, if they play well, would be able to win any battle with reasonable odds, no matter what the troops were at their disposal. Instead, the strategic position was deemed to be far more important for a quick campaign finish.

Funny you said that because a friend and I decided to compete in speed runs a long time ago to see who could beat vanilla the quickest. I chose the Greek Cities and he chose Brutii. I destroyed him.. dont remember how many turns it took but he wasnt even close to finishing by the time I was done.

I fought almost all of the battles to reduce casualties that way I could continue to steamroll provinces. I chose Greece just because I like the faction. It turned out to be a good choice.

That is a very logical point of view, seeing as the AI is controlled by a baby seal. for what its worth one could also pick parthia, and then begin operations from both the high-north settlement into scythia, and from their main bases in the middle east. same applies for carthage with its spain, africa and sicily starting positions.

Are we talking about short victory conditions, or long? Because if it's short, I'm going to say Julii. You fight nothing but barbarians, and have tons of nearby cities to capture.

Originally Posted by Darth_Max

That is a very logical point of view, seeing as the AI is controlled by a baby seal. for what its worth one could also pick parthia, and then begin operations from both the high-north settlement into scythia, and from their main bases in the middle east. same applies for carthage with its spain, africa and sicily starting positions.

And parthias cav armys move faster then Inf armys.

I say, with Armenia, Bruuti or Carthage

you would need at least 1 inf to break an enemy gate to let the cataphract soul eaters in.

Originally Posted by Darth_Max

you would need at least 1 inf to break an enemy gate to let the cataphract soul eaters in.

Mercs.

I would have to say Brutii. Great position and money, plus you can support a HUGE number of armys that just will lay waste to anyone they come across. Once you take Egypt you can also keep the temples that can give you troops gold weapons. I try to delay civil war till I defeat them fully. 14 fully euipped Roman armys marching through Europe after that can make up for a lot of lost time.