Milan, Venice, or Sicily?

[Emperor Tom]

Milan for me. Reason being that all's you need are cities! While having fewer units than the others, their city units are overall greatest and so you can keep strong armies while have a booming economy!

[Irelia]

i hate them all

[Ascarona]

Milan by far.
Just turn the castles to cities, and when the Mongols and Timurids arive then make a border from Thorn to Ragusa to Tripoli with only citadels, and capture the islands and turn them into citadels too. Capture everything to the west and then you won't need to do anything else . You can try to defend against Timurids but mweh .

[Emperor Tom]

Milan by far.
Just turn the castles to cities, and when the Mongols and Timurids arive then make a border from Thorn to Ragusa to Tripoli with only citadels, and capture the islands and turn them into citadels too. Capture everything to the west and then you won't need to do anything else . You can try to defend against Timurids but mweh .

Never fought the trimuids. Always done before then. What turn do they appear?

[PoleCat]

Milan by far.
Just turn the castles to cities, and when the Mongols and Timurids arive then make a border from Thorn to Ragusa to Tripoli with only citadels, and capture the islands and turn them into citadels too. Capture everything to the west and then you won't need to do anything else . You can try to defend against Timurids but mweh .

I have to agree with this. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with Milan - they're almost too easy. Also if you build your economy right then you never have to worry about the Mongols/Timmys. You can afford to buy 3-4 full stacks for every one of theirs. Who cares if you lose men by the thousands - you can afford to make more. It's almost no challenge at all really....

[Jiub]

Milan for me. Reason being that all's you need are cities! While having fewer units than the others, their city units are overall greatest and so you can keep strong armies while have a booming economy!

They all have the same strong militia and xbows dude. That isn`t a good argument at all

I like Sicily best because of their position. I like to be very spread out and have lots of islands, makes the game all the harder. Plus they have those great norman knights early on

[Ascarona]

They all have the same strong militia and xbows d...

Yo Jiub, I'm really happy for you and all and I'll let you finish, but Milan had some of the best crossbows of all time! Of all time!

(yeah people, meet the newest internet meme )

[Emperor Tom]

They all have the same strong militia and xbows dude. That isn`t a good argument at all

I like Sicily best because of their position. I like to be very spread out and have lots of islands, makes the game all the harder. Plus they have those great norman knights early on

Actually you clearly forgot the Familigia Ducale! Best cavalry in any city in the whole game! Also Sicily doesnt even have broken lancers, and only get them dismounted in castles. A huge blow for sicilian cities. Making them the weakest of all Italian city states...

Playing Venice has some pretty key diplomatic and strategic advantages.
4) Poland likes you, and they tend to be faithful allies, keeping the HRE and Hungary somewhat busy and off your back.

Speak for yourself dude, I was completely unprepared for the massive assault by the Hungarians and lost Zagreb and Ragusa and had to wait to call a crusade to finally push them back!

[MooseUpNorth]

Speak for yourself dude, I was completely unprepared for the massive assault by the Hungarians and lost Zagreb and Ragusa and had to wait to call a crusade to finally push them back!

Heh. Key word being "somewhat". The Hungarians can usually be trusted not to stab you in the front, but they _will_ attack you if you ever turn your back on them. Preventing this can be as simple as keeping five or six units in Zagreb's garrison. That's usually enough to intimidate them into backing off once they've started probing your border.

[CobraStallone]

I like Venice the most, I've always despised Milan, and though Sicily has some nice units I find my Sicilian campaigns to be in constantly bankrupt.

[eisx]

Venice is bigger challenge so I voted for Venice.

[Lysimachus]

Sicily. Nice faction colour and a very nice roster of Norman Knights (which separates them from the rest of the clone factions in itself), the typical Italian Men-at-Arms, Italian Spear Militia and the Pavise Crossbow Militia. I think they have a very unique and powerful roster with Muslim, Norman and Italian influences.

[scougall9]

milan, its green it mean and starts up north, not down south

[KayRim]

I'd say Venice. Venice has a very strong late period roster. They have access to Musketeers, Monster Ribaults, Mortars, and of course the fearsome Stradiots. Stradiots can easily maneuver around enemy formations and make mince meat out of their expensive knights.

Not to mention Venetian Heavy Infantry (also with an AP attribute), Venetian Archers, and Pavise Crossbow Militia.

[Silent Assassin]

Here is a little comment on Milan to people who say that Castles or useless and only have cities: If you don't or didn't knew about this in castles you can recruit professional Genoese’s crossbowmen which are quite stronger than the ones recruited from cities, so maybe this is something players should be tough full of.

Ok so here is a more clear explanation.

Milan: as the best Xbows and that is probably the only good thing they have army wise. Their starting position isn’t bad it’s probably the second best of those 3 factions.

Venice: They have good pavise Xbows but also later on great Venetian archers, the have the best late era heavy infantry as in the Venetian Infantry. Their starting position is a bit crappy IMO but it’s a great faction to play. They have the best city for starters between the 3 factions compared here as Venice.

Sicily: They have the best starting position, they have the weakest missile units but they have the strongest heavy infantry early on with the Norman Knights. I would also like to mention they have a border almost protected by having the north occupied by the Pope and they also have one of the most developed castles at the start of the game.

So I would be temped to say Venice more than the others

[Change]

I voted venice, but if venice is number 1 then sicily is 1,000000000001 or something.
I like venice' starting position! You can easily crush BE and then you have a large city! You have excellent access to the holy lands, and you can attack hungary from two fronts.

The main reason i didn't vote sicily is their starting position. You only get castles! but I love normans and muslim archers!

[Yumaseven]

Tough tie between Venice and Sicily; though I'm gonna have to say Sicily. Muslim archers + Norman knights, both mounted and dismounted, are devestating when used right.

Though I do like Venitian Archersand Heavy infantry. They kick arse

[Frederich Barbarossa]

Id say Venice, just pwning colonial units, and has a great navy...

[Highi]

Id say Venice, just pwning colonial units, and has a great navy...

Colonial units? I've never seen them ingame. Do they appear in the custom battle screen? Are they like the spanish conquistadores?

Oh, and I always run out of money as Sicily, any tips?

[Yumaseven]

Oh, and I always run out of money as Sicily, any tips?

Conquer the islands to the west and make them cities. Take Tunis, then take Corinith. Then expand into the Byzzies territory; if they've got a two way war going on between Hungary and the Turks going on, you can profit from their misfortune

After you've done all of that, than start taking territories in Iberia; Cordoba and Zaragoza are good money makers.