Early or Late and why?

[Feldspar]

So do you play early or Late era campaigns, and why do you choose them?

[NewUser]

Early era. There are many merits to this. You start early, which means more potential for customization of settlements. You get to experience the full Medieval experience, having gunpowder only at the very end. The turn load times are shorter due to less factors the computer has to calculate.

[Lushang]

Although Teutonic Order is my favorite faction, I've been getting my Mongol Lite on with the Cumans and having a blast early campaign wise. Adds a little more variety when your not fighting the best stuff in the game almost right away and also having some gray to conquer is nice.

[Ichon]

Usually comes down to if you like early or late roster units and if you don't mind having a couple changes in the units you can use.

I personally prefer early or 1450 campaign. Late era feels not developed enough each city, but the factions are larger and the units will start changing quickly after campaign starts.

[Mornai]

Early era. There are many merits to this. You start early, which means more potential for customization of settlements. You get to experience the full Medieval experience, having gunpowder only at the very end. The turn load times are shorter due to less factors the computer has to calculate.

I play Early Era for all the reasons NewUser said. Couldn't have said it better myself!

[Heskey]

I play Early Era for all the reasons NewUser said. Couldn't have said it better myself!

Seconded.

I play Early Era because I play Medieval Total War to be Medieval; not renaissence messing around with gunpowder prototypes.

[Alpha Zeke]

Early. Can't exactly explain why, but my hate for the late campaign is the same as my hate for the HRE. I can't start out with so many towns or settlements, and I want to be in control from the start, so i can look back at my family tree and say, "It's MY fault that man died in battle for no reason, and I'm proud." or "If I hadn't had that man assasinated, the Sicilian bloodline would be unpure."

[Pleiades]

Late campaign. For the challenge. There are nor rebel "buffers" which means I do not have luxury to expand where I want, who will be my ally, also not much possibility for turtling, cause you are in effective war practically from turn 1. The other reason is I am sick of beginning units like peasants or militia units (although I very much appreciate peasants in real life)...

[Marcvs Antonivs]

I would choose Early. Because you start off from almost 0 as every other factions, and you have to build your way up to have those nice knights and archers and up-tier units. And not to mention you will have more time to conquer the world

[Point Blank]

Late, Later, Latest

[ShadowKiller2000]

Early! I like to grow everything up from nothing. I hate gunpowder........love plate armor era stuff......just not the late late units....does not feel medieval anymore at that point.

[urrah]

Late campaign for the win.

For me, the joy in TW is fighting epic battles against other factions, and I don't want to spend the first 50 turns of my campaign fighting rebels. Not to mention the fact that it takes ages before you're able to recruit half decent units; in my opinion battles with spear militia and peasant archers just aren't that fun. TW is also about rewriting history, not fighting rebels over and over again simply to conquer territory that your faction historically controlled. With the late campaign I can skip all the boring militia fights and upgrading and straight away, from a historically accurate position, start planning my expansion.

Another major part of TW is its unpredictability. You never know what factions will form alliances or what war's will break out, every campaign is unique. However, the first 50 or so turns of every early campaign are pretty much always the same thing, recruiting peasants, building dirt roads and fighting rebels. The late campaign allows you to skip right to the action, when factions have consolidated their positions and are considering their next move. ie. The interesting part.

I can understand the appeal of the early campaign to people who enjoy building up their empires one region at a time, turning their faction from a small, struggling kingdom into a dominating superpower. However, I find the early campaign monotonous and predictable. The late campaign allows you to begin building a huge empire without having to sit through 50 turns of rebel fights. (metaphor time) For me, the late campaign is essentially the steak without the fat (you can't argue with a metaphor, comrade's jk).

P.S. This is only my opinion and I don't mean any disrespect to people who prefer the early campaign. At least there's one thing we can agree on...

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SS ROCKS!!!

[Heskey]

omg spoilers