Top Five Factions

[scarybandit]

Top Five Factions in SS 6.2?

This is an overall rating, including whichever factors you wish: units (early - late), special buildings, location, anything.

France
Spain
HRE
Byzantium
Seljuks

[cedric37]

I think there has been many many topics opened for this already. It depends of what "top" you speak of ?
Top starting position, top units, top income, top look ? all together ?

Also it depends on the period, some factions are real crap to start with but finish with the best units in the game.

Finally, it also depends of the sub-mod you are using (if any).


If only late unit quality is taken into account then yes, France, HRE, Byzantium and the seljuks would in the top 5 i guess. And maybe Spain or Sicily could complete the list.

[JorisofHolland]

Byzantium doesn't have many late game units, so they should be 4th or 5th place, but definetely in!

[Cooltosha]

Byzantium is perfect for the start and middle period............for the start, just spam Akritai, and you win.

In early:

1. Byzantium
2. Crusader States
3. Lithuania
4. Sicily
5. Denmark with Norway

In middle (late campaign):

1. France
2. HRE
3. Crusader States
4. Byzantium
5. Sicily

In renaissance:

1. Seljuks
2. France
3. HRE
4. Spain
5. England with Scotland and with Hungary (I love the mix of Banderium Knigts with Battlefield assasins, sick)

[scarybandit]

Byzantium doesn't have many late game units, so they should be 4th or 5th place, but definetely in!

Again with the no gunpowder bias!

But anyway, Byzantium has Guard Pikemen (second best buildable in game after Scots Noble Pikemen), Guard Archers (second best archers after Scots Guard), Vardariotai (best missile cavalry?), Archons (best armoured cavalry), Varangians and DM Latikon heavy infantry.

Militia-wise, they have Alamanoi (!), Greek Fire Throwers, and yes, even Greek Arquebusiers. The Byzantine Infantry can even make a shield wall (like the Byz Spearmen and DM Byz Lancers), which is excellent for merging multiple units into tight city streets.

Not to overlook, Byzantium has the unique ability to build a tier 3 road: Highways.

[Anaatti]

Again with the no gunpowder bias!

But anyway, Byzantium has Guard Pikemen (second best buildable in game after Scots Noble Pikemen), Guard Archers (second best archers after Scots Guard), Vardariotai (best missile cavalry?), Archons (best armoured cavalry), Varangians and DM Latikon heavy infantry.

Militia-wise, they have Alamanoi (!), Greek Fire Throwers, and yes, even Greek Arquebusiers. The Byzantine Infantry can even make a shield wall (like the Byz Spearmen and DM Byz Lancers), which is excellent for merging multiple units into tight city streets.

Not to overlook, Byzantium has the unique ability to build a tier 3 road: Highways.

If they got so perfect roster, roads and rich constantinople, why did they fall...?

[Stephan de St. Omer]

Maybe with a certain personal bias but my five Top Factions (SS 6.1.) are:

1) Teutonic Order
2) Knights Templar
3) HRE
4) France
5) Golden Horde

Kritic Stephan

[Loose Cannon]

For sheer fun there is nothing as good as driving a steamroller (mongols) over a cat(everybody else).

[Fotchimus]

Early Campaign (6.2 RC/RR):

1. Turks
Horse Archers > All. Turkomans will destroy anything the byzantines throw at you. Furthermore, the byzantines won't get horse archers of their own until very late in the game by which point they should be dead, by you. Also you get strong units in every era. I would say Turks are the best faction in the game no contest.

2. Egypt
Egypt makes stupid amounts of money from the get go and has a lot of castles. You can out spam everyone. Their units are somewhat bland but they are effective. Desert Cavalry are their war winning units early on and once you get arab infantry, nubian archers, and mamluk archers it's a steamroll.

3. France
France has a very strong unit roster in every era and they have a good location. French Feudal Knights are amazing. They also have the 2nd best accents in the game. If you sail to Britania and conquer Nottingham, you can inform the inquiring English general as to why you are there that it is "None of your business!" and that his mother is a hamster, and his father smells of elderberries.

4. Byzantines
I really don't like the Byzantines but I can't deny their unit roster that obviously got more attention than the other factions. They have good javelin infantry and cavalry, good spearmen, good swordsmen, and a ridiculous general's bodyguard. Fortunately their weakness is that they have no early horse archer unit. A weakness that is easily exploited by the Turks.

5. Kievian Rus
Kievian Rus has a great unit roster that's sort of a blend of western style units and eastern style ones. They have a few nice trading cities within an easy reach that can make them lots of money. I found them to be a lot of fun. The only downside I can think of is you will have a huge land empire that's takes forever for armies to march across.

[asn]

If they got so perfect roster, roads and rich constantinople, why did they fall...?

They fell because they had few (if any) reliable allies, shortage of wealth and manpower (especially after losing Asia Minor, their primary recruiting grounds) and Western indifference about their fate (the Roman Empire had always been taken for granted by most Europeans).

My short list would be the Spanish Factions (Leon and Castille, Aragon and Portugal), closely followed by France, Byzantium (if it makes it through all the scripted events thrown its way), HRE (if it avoids getting Excommunicated) and the Turks (though in quite a few of my games the Fatmids steamrolled them within 50 turns or less).
Denmark also has a fairly good early roster, and I've seen a few games where they ruled the whole of Germany and most of France before they were finally cast down by jealous neighbours.

[scarybandit]

If they got so perfect roster, roads and rich constantinople, why did they fall...?

It's a simulation dude...

But for the record, as a Latin teacher I had once said, everyone asks why the Roman Empire fell, when they should ask why it lasted so many centuries.

Any other questions, try wikipedia?

[Awellesley]

If they got so perfect roster, roads and rich constantinople, why did they fall...?

People have wrote thesis papers on this subject for a long time. Not a simple question to answer.

Personally, I enjoy playing with these factions the best:
HRE
Turks
Byzantium
Venice
Kwarez

[Kazuhiro]

RR/RC compilation-My Faves
1. Castille and Leone
2. Sicily
3. Turks
4. Byzantines
5. Hungary

[Massive_attack]

(Playing 6.2)
1. Teutonic knights
2. Templar knights (better city troops sure, but teutonics are just cooler overall)
3. Hungary (has a wide variety of really good infantries, which are also cheap to replace, as well as horse archers and the standard W.Europe mix, plus with a certain texture mod, they look amazing too)
4. Lithuania, just because its really cool when you realize your entire army can hide in seemingly any terrain... its like having an army of ninjas, plus really nice early game lithanian cavalry HA's)
5. England (honestly cant say why, but i love the feel of the faction, especially around late game. SS did a wonderful job on this faction with regards to graphics too, which certainly helps)

[JorisofHolland]

I have to disagree with you, because:
A) Knightly Orders don't get many gunpowder (yes I say it again BUT it still is true)
B) You didn't put France in (they are really among the greatest)
C) uhm... well... never mind.

[merocaine]

I don't really have a top 5, but in RR/RC 6.2 I've always found the later English armies quite intimidating, Late pike men, demi lancers, retinue longbows, those Knights with the tin openers,and mortars. I'm surprised there not in there.

My top 5 in the late era

1/ Turks (they got the full set)
2/ Spain (well balanced, fast moving, excellent offensive pikes)
3/ France (There lancers can break all but the best Pike formations)
4/ England ( An English late era army is well suited to pike and shot, the demi lancers provide your static formation with a fast moving strike force that need only fear a heavier horse)
5/ Venice ( pike and shot provides those pesante archers with a fire base for there super deadly flaming arrows)

[Goofy]

I'm too lazy to write why did I pick these factions.

1. Kingdom of Leon-Castille
2. Republic of Novgorod
3. The Golden Horde
4. Knights Templar
5. Republic of Genoa

[JorisofHolland]

Can someone give me a list of the factions that have not been chosen yet?

[Loose Cannon]

Can someone give me a list of the factions that have not been chosen yet?

Cumans, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Khwarzem, and the Moors have no love-so far.

[Lemming69]

byzantines, hre, venice, genoa, spain