England or Milan?

[AchillesXX]

I am new to Stainless Steel, but not to Total War games and mods. For my first campaign I picked Norway on M/M. I played a short campaign, and have just about destroyed England, which is the final goal I need before being victorious. It was definitely an improvement over vanilla, but I found Norway's roster to be a bit boring, substantially lacking in cavalry and especially in missile units. So, I see that both England and Milan have great missile troops, but I can't decide which to choose. What do you think would be more fun? Thanks in advance.

[RabidSheepLegion]

you not using 6.3 then? That version takes out milan, but still, genoan xbows really good however need a clear shot as they can only shoot straight. I personally prefer england cuz of the longbows, and if you blitz scotland you can usally get them out of the picture before 10th turn

[AchillesXX]

I meant to say Genoa, old habit.

[Irishpsycho]

Milan is replaced with Genoa in most later Stainless Steel versions, but their roster is simaler and they are still missle heavy.

Go Milan/Genoa. England is very easy and they will not be new to you since you aparrently just kicked the out of them. Italy is right in the midst of a titanic war between the worlds greatest empires HRE, France, and in a few turns you.

[dominion]

Go for a real challenge...the crusader states

[WARdrobe]

Go for a real challenge...the crusader states

Lol so true. Playing on H/H and destroyed Fatimids but now the Byzantines are really raping my ass
Anyways I agreez with ze Genoa statements. England is pretty easy.

[midget_roxx]

For a real exciting game try Genoa. England is a bit stuck and can only advance downwards or I you want to roleplay you can sail ships to the Crusade Lands. Genoa has places to expand and is near(er) the centre of the map which means less corruption

[AchillesXX]

I have tentatively started an England campaign. The first thing I have noticed - they are stinking rich compared to my previous Norway campaign. Also, I'm on H/H instead of M/M. So, I expected to have less money.

[E.K]

I reckon the best way to choose a good faction is to play a few turns with each faction and do a few custom battles

[napoleonic]

england (and to an extend also with scotland) is arguably the most boring campaign in the game, the game will always over when the human controlled england conquered the britain

only a mass migration england would offer challenge, at very least you can try selling all your britain settlement to william wallace and try to survive on the continental

[Gogolometro]

Genova aka Milan. Why? Because they have what you never find in Albion. Crossbows, not just crossbows, best crossbows in the game, militia and proffesional. Arbalesters. Famiglia ducale. They got big citys, you need 100 turns to make a decent city, let say York like english. Genova, Milan, Pisa. No need to mention your close future enemy, Rome, Venice, Bologna...
Things you will like, voulgiers, cheap to recruit, cheap upkeep, efective against armor and cavalry, lot of them to recruit. Moster ribauld, excelent weapon. Easy to get the swiss/austrian castles of HRE. Plus is the prestige, who want to be english, pump longbows, kill scotts and enter in a booring campaing in France. If you choose english, get some challange, establish a duchy at Levand and expand there.
Like genovese you play the most hated catholic faction. Colonial like venetians and with taste of invasions via sea.

[Spartan90]

Genoa, defs. England is far too easy. But maybe I'm a little biased, because I want to have children with crossbow units, and I've never been a huge fan of longbowmen. Xbows kick arse in the field, and longbowmen excell in siege defense. Although they are both up there with the best economies in the game, Genoa definitely have way more options militarily. Number one, they are easily the most distrusted Catholic faction in the game, and are reknown to be backstabbers in the TWC community! So expect the fight from all directions. Number two, you can expand in so many different directions. Literally anywhere is an option. Fight locally, defend and turtle, blitz, crusade or relocate. It's probably the best faction to choose your own conquest.

Most importantly, give the AI some credit: they know that you have (or have very quick access to) the most fertile, lucrative land in the world, and they capitalize on that at any moment. Very fun, and generally unpredictable. Way better than pumping rounds of longbow volleys into shieldless Scottish pikes. Too easy dude.