Need help choosing which faction to play

**Rykov** · August 31, 2009, 11:13 AM

I'm looking for a faction that starts off quite small but is surrounded by rebel settlements which gives me the opportunity to expand. Also i'd prefer the faction to have good infantry.

**emzu** · August 31, 2009, 11:28 AM

I'd say Denmark.
Very good infantry, good localization, just arrange peace with HRE at first and take care of rebels in the Scandinavia.

Or, try Norway, very similar to the Danes.

That would be my two types. Good luck with the choice man!

**Rykov** · August 31, 2009, 12:02 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. I've played Norway quite a few times! I was playing crown of aragon on 6.2 but my game got stuck and kept CTD and when i installed the fix my save games disappeared. So i just finished reinstalling SS, 6.2 and the fix and am looking for a faction to play, i recently played Norway, England and Crown of Aragon so any faction excluding those 3 would be good.

**Lazy-Hamish** · August 31, 2009, 12:19 PM

genoa are fun, you can expand easily but the infantry isn't that strong, scily can expand into north africa and the balkans and you get norman knights. Scotland have great infantry but little room to expand

**Rykov** · August 31, 2009, 12:27 PM

I'm thinking about being Venice but am not sure. Would venice be good?

**emzu** · August 31, 2009, 01:06 PM

Venice is a fun faction to play but I don't think it would suit you. Expansion is rather hard because you're surrounded by other factions which will surely like your lands (e.g. other Italian factions, HRE and Byzantium).

If you would like to expand slowly by capturing rebel settlements I'd start with Denmark, really. You can choose your goals well and develop nice economy base for invasions. Not to mention the superb infantry with lots of AP weapons around. And yeah, Norse Archers are not too shabby either.

**Tacitursa** · August 31, 2009, 01:20 PM

Templars are the most fun faction to play imo. Teutonic are fun too.

Choose templars , Make huge infantry armys and crusade , crusade , crusade then defend the cities against jihads with your infantry.

I wouldnt advise fighting too many field battles though horse archers are anoying

**Anatorax** · August 31, 2009, 01:19 PM

Well, if you really want a lot of rebels around, I would advice Kievan Rus. If you are quick and smart you can get +10 settlements in first 15 turns, expanding in all directions. Plus it requires some skills - due to the vast distances you need sometimes 2-3 turns to reach another settlement (not all), so planning required. I can't say much about infantry, since I rarely played other factions deep into the game, but it is not bad.

**Rykov** · August 31, 2009, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the advice everyone! I've finally decided to give Denmark a go.

**PerXX** · September 01, 2009, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Rykov

Thanks for the advice everyone! I've finally decided to give Denmark a go.

Excellent choice! A suggestion - go directly after Oslo when the game starts. If you manage to get that, you've effectivly kept Norway from expanding into the Swedish territories. Even better, they might try to assault Oslo, which should be fairly easily defendable since it's a castle. Just hold your ground, and hope they'll end up excommunicated. Then wipe them out! That way, you should be able to unify all of Scandinavia, while still keeping good relationships with the rest of Europe.

Another priority is getting Hamborg. In 6.2, HRE already owns it, but usually get's excommunicated fairly soon. Capture Hamburg, and then you can usually sue for peace, since HRE would likely have plenty of enemies at the time.

Once you have both Hamborg and Oslo, (possibly wiped out Norway), your borders are sequre, and you can expand into Sweden at your own pace.

**Rykov** · September 01, 2009, 08:35 AM

I played a bit yesterday before i saw your post PerXX and have already taken Oslo but i've allied with HRE. My plan was to keep my southern boreder secure by allying with the HRE and taking all of scandinavia and then allying with the scots and then helping them to kill the english.

**Sir Walter** · August 31, 2009, 01:29 PM

If you want to start small and fight rebels, Lithuania are good - surrounded by rebels, but pagan so they get Teutonic invasions and general grief from both the Novgorodians in the east and the Polish and the Teutonic Order. Also good for attacking rebels are Poland and Hungary though.

**bɑne** · August 31, 2009, 01:45 PM

Lithunia not only gets Teutonic invasions but you might also experience a crusade on your capital pretty early making it more difficult then the catholic factions in similar starting positions.

**Sir Walter** · August 31, 2009, 02:24 PM

Always my prime expansion method as Poland (crusade on Vilnius or Riga)...

**Relentless** · August 31, 2009, 04:30 PM

Bah! Play Scotland, you get to kill the English without needing to sail anywhere.

Portugal is fun too, it's like Spain but with some form of challenge... sometimes anyway.

**Sir Walter** · August 31, 2009, 04:50 PM

The problem with eliminating the English as Scotland is you probably wind up invading Caen to finish them off and that makes it much harder to consolidate and stabilise a kingdom with good borders from which to expand when you've built up your armies... or am I just too conservative?

**Lazy-Hamish** · August 31, 2009, 04:52 PM

just give caen to the french then you can build up your economy in relative safety, destroy the irish then the whole world is your oyester

**Sir Walter** · September 01, 2009, 04:52 AM

I can never get the AI to accept land gifts... or any military access treaty... even when I'm on Perfect relations, it's annoying.

**Sir Walter** · September 01, 2009, 11:31 AM

A problem you may have to face later on is Novgorod expanding into eastern Sweden via Finland and Estonia... I always do that when I'm Novgorod anyway.

**Rykov** · September 02, 2009, 01:41 PM

I just finished taking over all of scandinavia (well Norway and Sweden) and have made Norway my vassals after taking throndheim and decimating all there armies in 1 turn and then getting my very charming princess to get them to submit to my will. After that i gifted 10k to them to show my good will

and make our relations outstanding. Next turn i got 60k