Back to basics - which faction?

[Vaz]

Well, I'm back to basics with SS. Not played a 6.1 campaign in nearly 6 months, never downloaded 6.2, OR RR/RC, and have spent the last 3 months in the Stan, with no time to play games. So, I'm looking back to playing, and with 6.3 released, it seems a better time than ever.

So, what are your suggestions for a faction that'll be good to play, and write an AAR for?

I don't mean one like Skantarios' epic, as I'm obviously not that skilled, but neither one where I'm stuck in an extremely easy position only having to fight a single opponent at once (so not England/Scotland, I'm guessing).

I think that I'll be using Savage AI having read the thread about it.

So, yeah, what is the faction you'd suggest?

[Alpha Zeke]

Crusader states vs the egyptians. make an alliance with the turks however, to fend them off for a long while.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Crusader states vs the egyptians. make an alliance with the turks however, to fend them off for a long while.

On M/M the Turks will be loyal to you till the end. Til they get steamrolled by K-Shah unless you intervene.

[Alpha Zeke]

On M/M the Turks will be loyal to you till the end. Til they everyone gets steamrolled by K-Shah unless you intervene.

[Marcvs Antonivs]

I would suggest England or Hungary, as they are my personal favourites... And since I like them the most, the more chances I'll see your AAR... jk

[Meneth]

I recommend Norway. Norway is generally awesome
Edit: though in the beginning, you'll only be fighting Denmark.
That changes once they're defeated, though, as you'll be surrounded by HRE, France and Poland, with possibilities of naval invasions from Novgorod and Scotland.

[gord96]

I recommend Norway. Norway is generally awesome
Edit: though in the beginning, you'll only be fighting Denmark.
That changes once they're defeated, though, as you'll be surrounded by HRE, France and Poland, with possibilities of naval invasions from Novgorod and Scotland.

When I play Norway I make peace with Denmark and invade Scotland.

[Meneth]

When I play Norway I make peace with Denmark and invade Scotland.

Heh, I usually conquer northern Scandinavia to begin with, Oslo-->Skara-->Kalmar first, to cut off Denmark from Nyköping and the last settlement in Scandinavia (can't remember the name right now), then take the remaining the remaining three settlements.
If Denmark hasn't attacked by then, I'll usually get a spy into Lund (they never seem to defend it properly, usually just a general and maybe two units of spear militia) and conquer it, pushing Denmark out of Sweden.
Then, I take Roskilde, then Århus (GREAT moneymaker), and relocate my capital to Skara, decreasing corruption by about 2000 florins/turn (without that, it's very hard to earn much as Norway, due to most of Scandinavia being castles). After that, it's usually pretty easy to conquer the rest of Denmark, as they're usually at war with HRE, and their economy is wrecked by the loss of their main money-makers.

[UndoX]

Venice, my favourite faction!

[Marcvs Antonivs]

I'd personally would like to see how my noble Yeoman or Longbowmen fare in combat as right now I don't have much time to spare playing it until Friday or so...

[Jack95]

France, monsieur! Gotta deal with the English, HRE, Genoa, and Aragon. Happily you will have many rebel buffers so you won't likely get swamped early on.

[CamilleBonparte]

Hungary, Poland, or Venice would be cool. Can't think of any AARs of those factions that went anywhere.

Just don't do England or Byzantine, it's been done to death. XD

[RollingWave]

depends , what faction have you not played much? tried that?

I'm having a tough with with my VH/VH moors, despite it being the faction i've done most with. I'm pretty sure if I do another VH/VH Lithuania campagin I would be screwed.

[meese]

My rr/rc + bgr poland game on vh/vh is fun. I allied with the hungarians and hre so I'm fighting a two front war with denmark on the north and lithuania/kiev in the east. Surprisingly, it's lithuania who's giving me the most trouble; their missile cavalry are devastating and strzelcy just dont' have enough range. Else, it's pretty average in terms of difficulty.

[Ichon]

My rr/rc + bgr poland game on vh/vh is fun. I allied with the hungarians and hre so I'm fighting a two front war with denmark on the north and lithuania/kiev in the east. Surprisingly, it's lithuania who's giving me the most trouble; their missile cavalry are devastating and strzelcy just dont' have enough range. Else, it's pretty average in terms of difficulty.

Foot archers or other light cavalry should deal with those Lithuanian Cavalry ok- though some losses almost unavoidable. Easiest vs archers is always take a hilltop or hide in forests but I'm sure you know already. Lithuania does get a decent amount of those guys so you'll see them alot until you capture Vilnius and raze it.

[meese]

Foot archers or other light cavalry should deal with those Lithuanian Cavalry ok- though some losses almost unavoidable. Easiest vs archers is always take a hilltop or hide in forests but I'm sure you know already. Lithuania does get a decent amount of those guys so you'll see them alot until you capture Vilnius and raze it.

The problem is that the only foot archers I have are peasant/levy grade who are outranged by lithuanian cavalry as well In the way of light cavalry, I dont' have anything yet. I have piast nobles which are great melee cavalry but won't do much if they can't catch things.

I've resorted to just waiting out the arrows with spear militias then proceeding as usual.

Ah well, it's still turn 39 and I should be able to recruit lithuanian archers soon. How ironic that I should rely on lithuanians to fight lithuanians

On another note, disaster struck my northern campaign when,
after taking that lone island between sweden and russia, denmark sieged it with a full army. And it's only a town so it'll largely come down to street fighting which isn't what I want.

[vtec.dominion]

The problem is that the only foot archers I have are peasant/levy grade who are outranged by lithuanian cavalry as well In the way of light cavalry, I dont' have anything yet. I have piast nobles which are great melee cavalry but won't do much if they can't catch things.

I've resorted to just waiting out the arrows with spear militias then proceeding as usual.

Ah well, it's still turn 39 and I should be able to recruit lithuanian archers soon. How ironic that I should rely on lithuanians to fight lithuanians

On another note, disaster struck my northern campaign when,
after taking that lone island between sweden and russia, denmark sieged it with a full army. And it's only a town so it'll largely come down to street fighting which isn't what I want.

I always started my scandinavian invasion early (5-7th turn) with Kalmar capture. This way you're sure Denmark will attack you there. And if you're there it means you have at least one ship. Deploy it near Arhus/Roskilde port but do not block it. Danes shall be excommed very soon, just keep defending using your cavalry. Then take all their regions. I would leave Lithuania alone for a while. Let them fight with Novogrod/Kiev and upgrading Vilnus. But if you're already involved use Prussian Auxilla and Strzelcy (circle mode on). Send your priests to Iasi & Bucharest and ask for Crusade targeting one of these (Cumans are pagans). Iasi is a good place to recruit Bulgarian Brigands which are great archers and you lack reliable foot arachers. Note if you take Bucharest you risk a war with Byzantines.
But as you're allied with Hungarians you can give them Bucharest for SatuMare (that castle with Istvan LOL)) -> silver mines there Ah, send your merchants for silk and sugar near Constantinople and watch the money flood hehe.

[meese]

I always started my scandinavian invasion early (5-7th turn) with Kalmar capture. This way you're sure Denmark will attack you there. And if you're there it means you have at least one ship. Deploy it near Arhus/Roskilde port but do not block it. Danes shall be excommed very soon, just keep defending using your cavalry. Then take all their regions. I would leave Lithuania alone for a while. Let them fight with Novogrod/Kiev and upgrading Vilnus. But if you're already involved use Prussian Auxilla and Strzelcy (circle mode on). Send your priests to Iasi & Bucharest and ask for Crusade targeting one of these (Cumans are pagans). Iasi is a good place to recruit Bulgarian Brigands which are great archers and you lack reliable foot arachers. Note if you take Bucharest you risk a war with Byzantines.
But as you're allied with Hungarians you can give them Bucharest for SatuMare (that castle with Istvan LOL)) -> silver mines there Ah, send your merchants for silk and sugar near Constantinople and watch the money flood hehe.

Good tips but attacking denmark wasn't an option early on I needed the trade just to get enough money to get troops to defend against early lithuanian attacks which lithuania started. The chivalric code from BGR is really hurting as well; I can't seem to take any lithuanian settlements without it revolting just because I can't exterminate or at least sack, and they've got quite a few shamans or whatever they are hanging around so conversion is slow.

[Vaz]

I've done Kyiv in the past, but that was down to one reason only - Palace Guards with the big drop form shields, but they've been removed for Rusichi Roundels =(

I've never played as Genoa EVER in SS or vanilla. How hard is that campaign? I've toyed with Hungary and Lithuania but those have been done recently.

[meese]

Eurgh I would, but I've got to reinstall because something messed up. I copied the save file so I'll see if I can get them some other day.

Anyway, yeah, attacking Denmark early probably would've been better, but I guess I was counting on the peace lasting a bit longer. Then, as per usual, they blockaded my port. Thankfully their army sieging my town is made up almost solely of spear militias with no cavalry, but they still outnumber me horribly, then as reinforcements they've got a general with about 3 units of ?'s. Ah well.

As for crusades, they were never an option to start with. I just didn't have enough money and I needed money to upgrade my castles so I could actually recruit things.

A bit of a pity about the weird game error; it was a fun campaign Maybe I'll give Genoa a go if I can't get it working. They look fun.