Good factions to play as a noob?

[RootsKW]

So I bought MII and beat my first campaign with England on VE/VE . I'm messing around with Kingdoms right now but I will install SS soon. Who is a good faction to play as? (besides England, they are so easy it's boring)

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

The Italians factions....http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=328404

I would also recommend SS6.2. Once you have a feel for it there's a large sub-Mod forum here that's got lot's of great stuff...

download to SS6.1...http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=159996

download to SS6.2...http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=302184

Welcome to the TWC Forums, let us know if you have any trouble with the install...

[meese]

The Italians are alright. Denmark, Norway, Scotland...

In the middle range I'd say maybe the Russians and Turks, France and HRE. They're all pretty fun.

[Holy winter]

Sicily has a good starting position.
Also England, scotland, ierland, Norway are good.
I don't think England is very boring, your difficulty is just to low, try M/M or H/H. The more difficult the faster you learn.

[gluteus maximus aurelius]

By good I assume you mean good fun but without too much difficulties until you understand the complexities of the mod? In that case Norway and Denmark are very good factions to start off with, good position to expand, few enemies, good inf, reasonable archers and cav. If you want a teensy bit more of a challenge I would recommend France, who are awesome at everything. Otherwise there's Spain and Portugal and Aragon, if you're into the whole Iberia Peninsula wars. Otherwise Lithuania are very interesting and have a diverse roster. However, expansion in the first few turns is key, as is slapping Novgorod in the face with a frozen tuna. Quit hogging Russia Novgorod!

[Kazuhiro]

The only factions that would be considered hard would be: Crusader States, Byzantines, Cumans, Kwarzems, and Lithuania.
The above factions are all non-euro, and most aren't catholic or muslim, which makes them more difficult to play as.

If this is your first time as SS, choose the faction you liked the most in vanilla and get the hang of SS and its submods before choosing a challenging faction to play as. I'd say go with any of these: Spain, Aragon, France, England(could be too easy and boring), Sicily, or Hungary.

Check out Point Blank's RR/RC, it adds alot to SS.

[RootsKW]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys! So what exactly does RR/RC do?

[meese]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys! So what exactly does RR/RC do?

In short, RR/RC aims to depict realistic army compositions and the relative strengths and weaknesses of units. It's an overhaul on unit costs, recruitment times, recruitmen pools and unit stats. It ensures that armies aren't just made up of feudal troops for example, and that peasants have a tough time denting a noble's armour. Unless of course they have an armour piercing weapon. In the end, you come to appreciate the worth of such units.

It's not for everyone, but you won't know until you give it a shot!

[Gogolometro]

Papacy.

[Concrete]

Holy Roman Empire.
Because you have to have alliances, and have to attack somebody, as well as the particular roster(basically everything); it'll teach you all you need to know.
Play as early era, as late gets really hard for them.
Secure two of your fronts. (I suggest West(France) and East(Poland and Hungary), and while you're there, maybe Venice as well.(I've actually seen a Genoan/Venitian alliance wreck the HRE.)
And, when I was new, I autoresolved a lot. Which is a bad thing to do, get as used to the battle map as the campagin map, and you'll no longer be a noob.

[Tyrenia]

To ease into SS, I would recommend France. A relatively strong all-round roster, with particularly good cavalry. Also has a good starting position, and provided you crush those backstabbing Genoese early, one that is unlikely to be attacked. Good expansion options too.

Other good beginning factions are:
Egypt: Access to a large amount of fabulously wealthy cities near the beginning of the game, solid roster. However, you have to deal with A LOT of crusades, and eventually Kwarez (early) or Mongols (late) will become a huge pain to deal with
HRE: As stated before, solid roster and a good starting position to expand. Be warned though that in 6.2, they are intensely difficult to play, particularly in the late period. Beware of fighting multiple front wars, they'll be the death of you
Any Italian Faction: They start with bucketloads of money, and most nearby factions (i.e. the other Italians) are all relatively small at the beginning, and can be easily eliminated

As for RR/RC, don't do it unless you HIGHLY value realism, as it can become intensly frustrating when the only troops you can produce in great quantity are militias. I know others like it, but I couldn't recommend it.

[Velico]

It also depends on what era you play in. I only play early campaign so my favorite choices are Byzantines, HRE, Sicily, Novgorod. As for a good introductory faction... I'd say England, HRE, or Spain. I select those choices because they are powerful early on, they are challenging if you don't play your cards right, and there is always a lot of action around those three.

My personal favorite is Byzantines mainly because I love their unit structure, history, and starting position. It's really challenging to balance between keeping relations with the Catholics or the Muslims. They're a force to reckon with in the Mediterranean once they gain steam. You can be an influence in anything that goes on in the entire Mediterranean and for that they are my personal favorite.

[JorisofHolland]

Well I will recommend RR/RC, but not when you're new to kingdoms, and especially not at all when new to SS.

One of the best starters factions is England in Early Era, you can learn the game best by playing those guys. They might be a bit boring, but not when you play them the first time.

Another good factions is Leon-Castille (Spain). If you ally Portugal and Aragon (to the west and east) you can focus on the Moors (those guys are powerfull!). An nice campaign, but it can be challenging when the other Iberians form a front against you.

Same goes for Aragon, although you'll have to watch out for France crossing the Pyrenees.

If you like taking many rebel settlements you can try Novgorod, you'll be surrouned by rebels on all sides. Later on you'll have to face Kiev and the Cumans, perhaps the mighty Golden Horde too.

[StyggeKrumpen]

As a start up player in SS i would recommend you start off with playing a rather large and easy faction like France, England or Novgorod. If you like too play a bit more slow small easy to defend factions like Denmark, Norway or Sicily. Good luck.

[WastedTrojan]

I would recommend Hungary. Not the easiest campaign ever, but they have a strong starting position and with quick access to the black sea you can get a strong economy fast. Also puts you right next to a variety of enemies of all different faiths. Interesting campaign

Battlefield assassins are very fun to use as well

Seljuks are fun as well, strong all game but are fun. Early can be difficult because you are right next to kwarzem and Egypt who are stronger than you. Also the Byzantines may attack you if they decide to lay off venice/hungary. Late game you will have to deal with the horde invasions, so there are plenty of challenges, but the seljuks have very strong units and a very strong infrastructure and they can become very strong economically fairly early.

I would avoid some of the italian factions on harder difficulties. I tried Venice on SS early campaign on VH/VH.... By turn 10 i think Hungary, Byzantines, HRE, Milan and Sicily were all actively trying to invade me.

[Mr. Tornado]

I would play Crusader States for a challenge.

1. They're surrounded by hostile factions. It's total war.
2. It teaches you to conserve your troops. You won't win if you throw your armies away.
3. Teaches you to be strategic in your alliances.

Overall, I think it's a good lesson on how to play other factions.

[ShockBlast]

So I bought MII and beat my first campaign with England on VE/VE . I'm messing around with Kingdoms right now but I will install SS soon. Who is a good faction to play as? (besides England, they are so easy it's boring)

Easy factions:
Scotland - wait for England to get in a serious catfight with France and kick them off the British Isles then you can do what you want.
Norway - get all rebel settlements in Scandinavia,get the ones that border Denmark so you will cut their expansion,and then wait for them to attack you(the Pope will be less pissed if you conquer a faction that attacked you first)or you can just go all out emo on Denmark, with Scandinavia under you foot you can expand were you want.
Denmark - similar with Norway.
Novgorod - expand in Scandinavia and don't expand in Russia,the mongols might get emo on you if you are in their expansion path.
Sicily - expand in North Africa both Muslim faction will have their hands full with the other Cristian factions.In the North the Pope will be a good shield and with you fighting Muslims he will love you.

Have fun.

[Concrete]

^ lol @ use of the word 'emo.'

[RootsKW]

Haha I have never seen "emo" used in that context either.

[Anaatti]

Lol'd at emo, but good answer