Need advice from Veteran TATW players.

[Silent Assassin]

Hi all,

I've just installed this great Mod and I would like to know which faction should I play first???

I'm a Veteran player of Rome TW, Medieval TW and the Lands ot Conquer Mod.

I've made guides for M2TW and LTC and all but now I going in blind in this Mod. Could someone help me?

Who choose, what to do at first etc.... I've tried the High Elves with my cousin but they were for me a bit boring because they are far from the action. But I don't want to get crashed on my first try, I don't mind having hard times but I don't want to get pissed also.


Thanks
Rebel6666

[TheCrakFox]

Rhun would be a good place to start if you want a balanced roster and a great starting position.

[Maverock]

Rhun indeed, or Dwarves for the good guys.

[Raiven]

I started with Isengard, it was not too hard but quiet interesting campaing!

[Seleukos_I.]

I would not start with the Dwarves because their fighting style is really different from all the other factions. Mordor is the easiest factions I'd say.

[Valiant Champion]

Well Gondor certianly puts you at the forefront and it has lots of different units.

[Silent Assassin]

Thanks for your answers guy's but could some of you elaborate a bit more on why you choose a given faction compared to others

[Jean=A=Luc]

Thanks for your answers guy's but could some of you elaborate a bit more on why you choose a given faction compared to others

Gondor has the most versatile unit roster, many interesting AoR units (especially with RC/RR), a large starting territory and a good economy once it's developed a little.

All this makes it an interesting starting faction but the problem is it also gets double teamed by Mordor and Harad which can make things difficult.

Some of the "safer" factions are Mordor, Harad and Rhun. Mordor is powerful but can get a little tedious if you're not an orc fan (though RC/RR adds a cool AoR unit for it, the Barad-dur Guards).

Harad is pretty exotic and unique with its light desert troops but its immense territory can make logistics frustrating and fighting the heavily armoured Gondor troops isn't so straightforward. But your initial territories are very large and easy to defend. Mordor is also nearby to lend a hard.

Rhun also has a cozy starting position in a corner with Mordor guarding its flank. It has "cool" great looking units (powerful too in the highest tiers) but is a bit more threatened than Harad due to the close proximity of Dale and Dwarves.

[eregost]

I started with Gondor. You have the most powerful unit roster and are right where the action is. Thats not to say its difficult to protect your lands though since you will only get attacked from 2 directions and Rohan protects your entire northern border.

[Lordinquisitor]

Well, i`ll post some pros and cons then.

Starting with the good Guys:

Gondor

Pros:

-Gondor has an wide variety of troops.. If you are able to field them all.

-Gondor can have an good economy.

-Gondor only has to defend three chokepoints in the beginning; Osigiliath, Cair Andros and South Gondor. (Against Harad!)

Cons:

-Many of Gondors best troops are AOR (Area of Recruit) Thus, you can only build them in certain settlements. Retraining wounded ones can be difficult, and you have to "rotate" units often. (Send wounded Units home and exchange them with fresh ones.)

-You`ll have to keep an Eye on Rohan. Should Rohan fall, Gondors life will be much, much harder when Goblins and isengard start attacking the undeveloped cities in the North and the West of Gondor. Be sure to send Units to help Rohan!

Eriador

I wouldn`t suggest playing as Eriador. It`s possible, but Eriador is being redone- I`d wait till the new Eriador is finished.

Dale

Pro:

-The Best Human Archers supported by good Cavalry and later by good infantry. The early infantry is weak, though.

-Good Standings with the Dwarves and the elves. While no ally will really try to help you in any Medieval 2 game, the dwarves usually go after rhun. The Silvans and the Dwarves together will eliminate any threat the OOTM could pose.

Cons:

-Should Rhun decide to use more than one unit of Generals Bodyguard in one stack, you`ll might be in trouble. Rhunic cataphracts are nasty and the Hearth watchmen won`t be able to inflict enough damage, and arrows will simply not penetrate their armor.

-As i said the early dalish infantry sucks. Swallow it and try to survive till you get better infantry!

Rohan

Pros:

-The best Cavalry in the game. Rohan is able to break every formation in one thunderous charge. FORTH EORLINGAS! Rohan got mounted Archers and skirmisher, too, so you might as well play "catch me!" with the enemy.

-Many starting provinces can provide some nice money.

-Just one Early Enemy: Isengard. Isengard is quite weak at the beginning, with just 3 provinces, and you can and usually should try to rush against them.

-Open Plains. While not an bonus per se; Open Plains are very good for Cavalry. Did i mention, that Rohan got lot`s of it?

Cons:

-Rohan is the worst faction to defend or attack Cities with. Their Infantry is only mediocre and most of your Cavalry will be useless in street fights. If you attack an city, you should wait until the enemy comes out and you can beat him on open field.

-Often Sauron will call an Invasion on Edoras- Prepare to fight every evil faction! The best Solution here is to be mobile and use your Cavalry to attack them on the field.. Don`t forget that being on an Invasion grant`s the enemy units an increased Movement speed!

Silvan Elves

Pros:

-The best Archers. (Well.. HE Archers are as good..) You`ll often will be able to destroy your enemy with arrows, before they even reach you.

-Ents. By sending an General to Fangorn you can recruit this walking trees- Those guys are the most devastating Unit in the Game.

-Many Trees. You will be able to ambush evil armies. Make use of it!

-You`ll only have to fight the OOTM and the fortress of Dol Guldur- The Goblins are usually easy to deal with (Especially when dwarves and the HE start bashing them.) and Dol Guldur is just an single, if well defended, fortress.

Cons:

-The early silvan infantry is quite weak. Usually Archers are better.

-Lack of Cavalry. Besides the mediocre mounted archers, you don`t have any cavalry. So you won`t be able to effectively break formations, unless you have ents. But you often will only have one unit of them.

-Later in the Game Archers get less effective. There will either be too much orcs to kill, or too many "hard hitters" (Trolls!) that require too much archer fire to take them down.

-Elven Units are less in numbers and more expensive than any other faction.

-No Armour Piercing Units. Should you meet armoured enemies, this could be an problem.

-Their Kingdom is divided in two halves. Corruption and troop managing could prove difficult.

High Elves

Pros:

-Good Archers, good Cavalry, good Infantry. They have better infantry and Cavalry than the Silvans, but worse (Well just a bit!) archers.

-The western Provinces are quite secure, but as you noticed apart from the action.

Cons:

-Their Kingdom is divided in two halves. Corruption and troop managing could prove difficult.

-No Armour Piercing Units. Should you meet armoured enemies, this could be an problem.

-Elven Units are less in numbers and more expensive than any other faction.


Dwarves

Cons:

-They have the best Infantry- All Armour Piercing with heavy armour. Sign me in!

-City battles are easy, because of the good Infantry.

-Cons:

-Their Kingdom is divided in two halves. Corruption and troop managing could prove difficult.

-They have no Cavalry, save the very weak dalish mercenaries. Every Skirmisher will outrun you. This can be very, very, very frustrating and that`s why you shoulnd`t play them without Third Age Experience. If you however do; Try to surround them, and use your corssbowmen against them.

-They lack archers. Axethrowers are mediocre at best and iron crossbowman fire slowly.. But they hit hard!


Orcs of the Misty Mountains, called OOTM.

Pros:

-Many, many, many, ing many Orcs. While weak, they are cheap and you`ll be able to drown the enemy in Goblins.

-While weak, your snaga skirmishers are javelin throwers! Set them to skirmish and no dwarf will ever be able to catch them. It`s evil, but bloody effective.

-Moria can be an cash cow.

-Trolls. Those heavy hitters deserve an pro slot on their own. While they compare badly to Mordor ones, they still will crash through any infantry unit. Be careful when fighting dwarves, though. They have the best way of killing trolls: Armour Piercing elite units. *Shudder*

Cons:

-Their Infantry is weak.. very weak.

-They have many enemies (Silvans, Eriador, High elves, dwarves..) And most of them will soon start to attack you. Your lands are also open and the outer provinces are hard to defend. It can be hard playing the OOTM.

Isengard

Pros:

-Good Infantry. Well, for orcish standards. And they can still field many of them.

-Isengard can produce much money.

Cons:

-Their nemesis, Rohan, has the best Cavalry in the World. Rushing them early and/or getting Pikes as soon as possible is essential.

Mordor

Pros:

-Cheap early orcs, decent uruk infantry and hard hitting Trolls. Mordor can both field swarms of orcs and hard hitting elite units.

-Good Economy.

-Secure starting position. Surrounded by high mountains, that are surrounded by allies, all entrances but the eastern one secured by an big fortresses... No one simply walks into Mordor.

-Only one enemy at the beginning- Gondor. And if you are swift they won`t be able to do much harm.

-Nazgul are the best General units in the world, only High Elves might compare to them. They are simply bloody efficient.

Cons:

-None really.

Harad

Pros:

-Good starting position. The only possible attacker is Gondor.

-Good Economy, if you have some experience with managing cities.

-Mighty Mûmakil! Gate crushers, formation breakers, bane of infantry.

-Can field good light cavalry. And decent infantry.

Cons:

-Mûmakil are expensive and you`ll get them quite late.

-Their infantry is very light armoured and arrows will hurt.

-They have no heavy infantry, nor do they have Armour Piercing (If you don`t count tribesman. I don`t know whether they are or not.) units and thus they could have some Problems.

Rhun

Pros:

-The best unit roster. Infantry; heavy and light, archers; bow and crossbowmen, skirmishers; on foot and mounted, Cavalry; light, missile, super heavy.. Rhun`s roster is perfect.

-An good economy.

-Secure Southern and eastern borders.

-Your skirmishers will rape the dwarves. Not nice, but bloody effective.

Cons:

-It will take quite a while till you can get your best units, since your cities are quite small.

[Beregond]

Dale
a bit tough at the beginning, cause you have to face Rhun with crappy starting units and small amount of money. Great late units and loads of possibilities to expand after Rhun's defeat. Classic "heavy inf screen-archers' barrage-cavalry strike" tactics, more heavier relying on archers perhaps

Dwarves
the best infantry in game. If you want to have a different from standart M2TW tactics go for them. without cavalry battles are fun. you'll also have MUCH money and great starting position

Gondor
a bit tough starting position, though cause of strong units I find Gondor's game not so challenging as it could be. Though if you won't rush the AI...
classic tactics; wonderful Swan Knights and the most glorious faction in TATW

you choose

[Silent Assassin]

Thanks Beregone!.

I've seen in another post that some archers can lay stakes?? Whom are they in in which faction?

[Silent Assassin]

As an evil faction like Rhun can I decide to attack Mordor

[Jean=A=Luc]

As an evil faction like Rhun can I decide to attack Mordor

Technically you can attack anyone you want (with any faction) if you don't mind the "lore infraction".

[Beregond]

Technically you can attack anyone you want (with any faction) if you don't mind the "lore infraction".

I made alliance with Gondor and attacked Mordor and Rhun playing as..Harad
that was funny!

[JuL14n]

What factions did you play as in the other Total War games?

If you like elven weaponry with a small taste of guerilla-warfare I suggest you should try Silvan Elves,
you have OoTMM to the west and mordor to the south. It can be pretty fun until Gondor makes peace with Mordor,
and mordor starts to spam you with stacks and trolls.

[Silent Assassin]

What factions did you play as in the other Total War games?

If you like elven weaponry with a small taste of guerilla-warfare I suggest you should try Silvan Elves,
you have OoTMM to the west and mordor to the south. It can be pretty fun until Gondor makes peace with Mordor,
and mordor starts to spam you with stacks and trolls.

Well I played around 200 campaigns that included every factions in the game more than once. BuT IMO I like archers, I merely never used cavaley in my games of M2TW. So who as the Archers that can lay down stakes and are the Ents Strong or worthless??

[Evan MF]

Well I played around 200 campaigns that included every factions in the game more than once. BuT IMO I like archers, I merely never used cavaley in my games of M2TW. So who as the Archers that can lay down stakes and are the Ents Strong or worthless??

Ents are only strong if you have manyof them or f you support them with some decent infantr. Otherwiase they will inevitably die but eithe way they will cause a disruption to the enemy's formation and movement. You should engage them ASAP or keep them far from missle units. They are pretty much like a troll unit for the elves.

[Vifarc]

Well I played around 200 campaigns that included every factions in the game more than once. BuT IMO I like archers, I merely never used cavaley in my games of M2TW. So who as the Archers that can lay down stakes and are the Ents Strong or worthless??

I have stopped my Silvan Campaign for now, I was a bit tired of them, not having good cavalery is almost being handicaped,

?? You don't know what you want.
You don't need cavalry as you have the best archers. The only need in cavalry is to charge trolls (what do the High Elves).

[Evan MF]

That deserves a REP from me Lordinquisitor!

EDIT: BTW how do you view all the REP that you recieved?