What faction should I try next?

[Xanthippus of Sparta]

I'm kind of stuck right now, not sure what faction and what era I should play next. Has anyone played a really fun campaign recently that they would suggest?

In SS, I've beat a Roman 6.1 late period campaign, and I'm doing well in a early period game but I wanna mix it up a little.

I tried Aragon, but they were really easy. I have games going with the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but I'm not too far into them yet.

In a faction, I really like to have good heavy cavalry but it's not a must. Location and religion....doesn't matter to me....

[Gogolometro]

Heavy Cavalry? HRE and France?
Sicily?
If is plain SS and not RR, than I suggest something like Poland?

[Jean=A=Luc]

Portugal?

It's got its Santiago/Portuguese Knights + other assorted heavy cav and can also be quite challenging.

[Concrete]

I like playing as Egypt.
Roster isn't terrible, but it encourages tactics over quality troop spam, and they get good cavalry in the late Era.
They have good economy to start off with, and can expand in many directions.
Or perhaps Novgorod... which are fairly similar to Egypt, actually..

[Stolet]

Fatimids are a great idea. First Crusade - Cairo - hang on

[Neptune7]

I had the same problem today as you had. However, I just downloaded Stainless Steel 6.1, and started my first game today.. So many choices, I finally decided I would try out the Teutonic Knights Order. Although they only start out with 2 cities, I have a feeling because their are so many factions, you aren't going to get that much better than that. .And I am having a lot of fun.

[adecoy95]

i played a lithuania campaign the other day, their kinda cool, they get an interesting way to recruit units and get some decent horse archers

[Stolet]

Lithuania is fantastic in Stainless Steel, one of the best factions, very unusual units roster, and the nobles look really nice (they also fight that way). I tend to play the little factions, or at least factions that don't seem to be "popular" amongst M2TW ppl. Little factions are the most fun to play as. Everyone can win with England, try Lithuania instead, think you get 1 region in the Early Era campaign, expand as quickly as you can, beware of the Christians, and beware of Teutonic Order spawning in the neighbourhood

[Xanthippus of Sparta]

Thanks for all the great replies.

I started a game with Egypt. I'm enjoying it...the First Crusade has just been called aganist Cairo. About 8 factions joined. I've defeated the Portugese, Castilian, and Danish armies so far.

I really do wanna try Lithuana though. I have never played the Baltic campaign in Kingdoms, having downloaded SS as soon as I got the X-Pack. Poland is also on my "to do" list.

[davethelucky]

I really do wanna try Lithuana though. I have never played the Baltic campaign in Kingdoms, having downloaded SS as soon as I got the X-Pack. Poland is also on my "to do" list.

Lithuania is great - though I recommend you play the early campaign. For when you choose late you will probably be smashed by the Teutons. (At least that`s what happened to me. ) If you play early the difficulty is still high but you have time to prepare yourself for the order...

[Maltacus]

Lithuania in late campaign is quite fun but there is an infamous bug that have plagued SS, making the Teutonic Order undefeatable even when all the generals, settlements and agents are gone.

A suggestion I've read, which sounded logical, is to change the descr_sm_factions document in the "data" folder and set the "has family tree" line to "yes" for the TO. Presumably the lack of family tree would have a hidden effect which makes the faction eternal (just like the Papal States). I haven't tried the fix though, but the bug is annoying as hell since Lithuania is obliged to smash the teutons to win.

My personal favourite is the late Cuman campaign. Mongols are everywhere and scaryer than ever since you lack heavy troops. Migration is a good idea until you have the economy to fight the golden horde. And cuman noblemen are cool.

The Moors have good cavalry, but it is good light cavalry which is harder to play with, and good competition in Iberia from the start.

[Ichon]

Lithuania in late campaign is quite fun but there is an infamous bug that have plagued SS, making the Teutonic Order undefeatable even when all the generals, settlements and agents are gone.

A suggestion I've read, which sounded logical, is to change the descr_sm_factions document in the "data" folder and set the "has family tree" line to "yes" for the TO. Presumably the lack of family tree would have a hidden effect which makes the faction eternal (just like the Papal States). I haven't tried the fix though, but the bug is annoying as hell since Lithuania is obliged to smash the teutons to win.

My personal favourite is the late Cuman campaign. Mongols are everywhere and scaryer than ever since you lack heavy troops. Migration is a good idea until you have the economy to fight the golden horde. And cuman noblemen are cool.

The Moors have good cavalry, but it is good light cavalry which is harder to play with, and good competition in Iberia from the start.

Late era Cuman campaign is about the most difficult SS campaign besides maybe 1450 Crusader States which start with 1 castle on an island. Cumans simply don't have time to prepare for Mongols and you can either waste a few armies fighting the first Mongols to come after you or use those armies to migrate to the west fast. Cumans do get nice units but can't afford the time to get economy or buildings to support an elite army fast enough to fight Mongols near equally. The distances also hinder Cumans initially but then benefit them as it takes Mongol armies quite long to get anywhere and you have plenty of warning. Still... getting the economy to fight 1-2 full stacks of Mongols every other turn for 30 turns and defend against the theocracies in the west is a good challenge.