Just Finished Installing - Who Should I Play As?

[Alco]

Just got 6.2 installed - was checking out the different factions, a few crashes while clicking between them. Custom map crashes too, but I did start a campaign just to see if it will work and it does.

Anyways, since this mod has different / the same factions as vanilla, which is a good / fun - a little on the easier side to play.

Thanks!

[Goofy]

Just got 6.2 installed - was checking out the different factions, a few crashes while clicking between them. Custom map crashes too

It's normal and a familiar bug in this mod and couldn't be fixed. Btw did you have SS 6.1 already?
I don't know about 6.2 as I haven't downloaded it, but I know a lot about 6.1. So I can suggest you to pick one of these;
-Papal States; you can use inquisitors and your catholic enemies are automatically excommunicated
-Genoa; it's quite fun, nice colours, good militias and crossbows etc. However, they lack good cavalry in early period
-Hungary; good economy, Venice is easy to beat as they will be at war with many factions in the same time (Sicily, Genoa, Byzzies, perhaps HRE), excellent horse archers

Hungary is the one I'd perhaps prefer...
Play on easy/easy difficulty if you're new with SS... If I remember it right, M/M in 6.2 is similar to VH/VH in 6.1. And perhaps even harder...

[Sokar Rostau]

I would suggest you play as England, for a few reasons.

6.2 is harder than 6.1 and 6.1 is a lot harder than Vanilla so England's relative isolation will greatly benefit you as you learn the ropes... play something like Venice or HRE and you'll quickly find yourself surrounded by enemies. England is one of the easier factions to play regardless of difficulty and the isolation is the main reason for this.

You have a mainland foothold in Caen which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what you do. I usually make an alliance with France and HRE ASAP and then take either Bruges or Rennes (or both) as soon as I can... Bruges is a bit harder to take and defend, but economically well worth the effort. Once France and HRE inevitably go to war either capture or buy Antwerp and you'll be set. If you don't keep a good sized garrison, upgrade Caen as soon as you can, and take Rennes/Bruges you will almost certainly lose your foothold before you can consolidate the British Isles.

Take York, Caenarvon and, if it's still Rebel, Dublin in that order before going to war with Scotland or Ireland. Use Caernarvon and a few ships to prepare for the annihilation or subjugation of Ireland while you use Nottingham for the Scottish part of the campaign. I've found Ireland to be happy to become Vassals if you take their castle and give one of their armies a good thrashing. Taking Scotland requires a naval invasion ASAP so they only have militia to fight you with and, most important of all, destroy Scotland entirely before William Wallace arrives.

You need to consolidate Britain ASAP because once they grow the balls Ireland will attempt to take Caernarvon and Exeter and Scotland will go for York and Nottingham... the last thing you need when you're at war on the mainland. Once you've done this you can concentrate on your base economy and only have to worry about Spain, Portugal or Norway possibly invading down the track. Some people suggest turning every settlement in Britain into a city for maximum profit. From there the world is yours to conquer in a hail of arrows.

My England campaign is currently at around Turn 150. Ireland (1 settlement) and France (3 settlements) are my Vassals, I destroyed Aragon and my staunchest ally HRE decided to launch an attack on Arhus to coincide with my simultaneous naval invasion of five Norwegian settlements (Denmark is long since dead and Norway is a major power). Norway will be difficult but pretty doable now that I have two of their four Citadels (I sunk six of their fleets... and four full stack armies with them hehehe). Genoa is rattling their sabres and Spain has a large army on my borders but are too occupied with their war with the Moors and the scramble to take the newly Rebel former Portugal... options, options...

[Beregond]

Byzantium

they have more rebel regions nearby than in vanilla and you can expand really quickly and have a decent empire by the time you have to face some other factions. Their army at the beginning may be not that strong, but you will have enough money to employ some mercenaries, esp mounted archers (they are my main force when I play for Byzzies)....and the TRADE! which means loads of money

[TheBromgrev]

Depends on your playing style. If you like using archers or crossbowmen as your main killing force, with other infantry as support, then England or Genoa are your best bet. If you like the hammer and anvil approach (infantry distract opponents while heavy cavalry strike the sides/flanks), France or Khwarezm (the Mongols are scripted to attack them first) are good. All of the nations east of the HRE use horse-archers, so IMO the best starter faction with that playing style would be the Turks (powerful starting position, easy to spread to the east). Denmark and Norway are heavy-infantry based and both are located in good positions (Norway is more isolated but starts off poorer). All of the Iberian factions are a good mix of javelin and spear units (Catholics get better heavy units) if you prefer non-horse archer skirmish tactics.

I do not recommend Byzantium, Lithuania, HRE, or any other faction surrounded by hostile nations to start with. I personally tried the mod out as England for the reasons Sokar Rostau stated.

[Massive_attack]

I know what factions you should NOT play on the first time:

Teutonic order, Kingdom of jerusalem, Knights Templar, Lithuania, Byzantium (unless you rock at defending sieges).

Good factions...

Any British isles faction
Sicily
Moors (if your good with muslims)
Novgorod

The poster about england was quite right by the way, id suggest following his advice, he knows what hes talking about

Also, DONT PLAY THE GAME ON HARD OR VERY HARD. At least not the first time ! Medium is 6.1's "very hard" difficulty ! I'm playing a game as lithuania on hard with 6.2 right now and every turn i expect the AI to pull a fast one and over-run me.

[Bomimo]

I know what factions you should NOT play on the first time:

Teutonic order, Kingdom of jerusalem, Knights Templar, Lithuania, Byzantium (unless you rock at defending sieges).

now i know what I need to play, if sieges are anything like in Rome, i'm gonna have a blast defending.

[Kazuhiro]

now i know what I need to play, if sieges are anything like in Rome, i'm gonna have a blast defending.

Byzantium is not recommended if this is your first game, unless you're willing to play on H/H.

I'd go with Teutonic Order. They're unique, but not too tough.

[Bokz]

I'd go with Teutonic Order. They're unique, but not too tough.

This is only true if you consider being constantly bankrupt as 'not too tough'.

BTW I suggest England

[pericles_plato]

England. Get to build up economy for proper units. In all my campaigns hardly anyone attack England. Only one i know of was Norway. Plus it's a good place to invade mainland Europe.

[RollingWave]

Play with whatever faction your familiar and good with. because like other said, it's pretty damn hard.

I think the biggest weakness the AI have so far though is seige assault. they are too naive with their chances of winning and usually assault when they're only slightly bigger army than the defending garrison, oh, and their tactic in the assualt is still "2 units up the wall and everyone else kamakazi through gates!) so basically a large spear contingent and a crossbow unit or 3 should be able to hold most early armies who seige you (provided you have a general with positive moral bonus). also, if you SEE a attack comming (watch towers are your friends) go outside and hire some mercs. espically merc spearmans in schitorm at the gate is very helpful.

[Trinity]

Sicily has Norman knights, Muslim archers, and lots of potential to expand east and west in the Mediterranean. The Norwegians and Danes are also seafaring, melee heavy factions. Try all three.

[OneArmedScissor]

Teutonic Order

[Warmaster Tibs]

Teutonic Order

Your a sick man.

[OneArmedScissor]

Your a sick man.

They're a good and exciting faction to play.
Start small, get big and rich. The American dream, baby.

[meese]

They're a good and exciting faction to play.
Start small, get big and rich. The American dream, baby.

You forgot about all the other things especially being surrounded by people who hate you and being absolutely poor.

[RollingWave]

I'm playing Moors and it's a pretty good faction to start with if your not sure about the difficulty, as long as your competent with javlin cavs and generally understand the strength and weakness of their units. because economic and position wise they're simply awesome.

Fatamid Caliph is in the same boat, if you can keep peace with the Turks (possible) then all you have to deal with is the relatively weak crusader states. Though the downside is that you are MUCH more likely to face Crusade and Mongol problems.

[Massive_attack]

The TO really are a hardcore faction to play as on the harder difficulty levels, and remember this guy has 6.2- very much a different paced game !

Nah, England really is a fun faction to play as when your just testing the waters. Once you got army supplies, dealing with the AI, and how to set up a good economy and alliance system, then *Maybe* you can move onto a faction like say, byzantium, or an italian faction, as either are good mid-rangers.

But the Teutonic Order ? Jeez. You need some experience before you dabble with them. Its an amazingly fun and well put together faction its true, but that doesnt make it any less difficult.

The other crusader state factions are much the same as the TO,however they have to really only worry about either the fatimids or the Khwarzemian empire when they begin to grow into monsters mid-game. Plus there muslims, which helps keep papal stuff on the down-low, the TO doesnt really have such a convenient enemy, Lithuania can only hold you down and feed you settlements for so long !

[The Colonel]

Any real Italian faction is great to start of with, conquer Italy, make friends with the pope, and you can go either east into Greece, north into Germany, west into Spain, or my favorite is south into Sicily and North Africa. They all also have awesome militia in the early period and great foot knights (Broken lances) in the late period. They also take advantage of nearly all the late age tech.

[Loose Cannon]

Did you say you want fun?
Did you say you want easy?
Did you say you want to crush your enemies? (Oh wait you didn't say that.)

There is only one faction that meets all these requests.

Late Mongols on Easy.

Have you ever driven over a cat with a steamroller? They play just like that. Repeat after me: Eleven full stacks by turn 6. Eleven full stacks of silver & gold chevron barbarians with attitude. Led by 7 command/6 dread generals. All you have to do is figure out an economy(hint-sack, sack, and sack some more).