What Faction to play as??? :)

[KingsleyHunt]

Hi, i have the unmodded vanilla version of the game and I'm not sure what faction to play as.I like the threat of the mongols and timuirids but as i am new to the game i don't want a faction where I'm going to get mauled by them (by being too close to their spawning places). Also I would like to be able to recruit a nice unit like one of the knight orders.

Thanks in Advance
Kingsley

PS: With your faction suggestions i would like a bit of a plan of how i could expand.

[zcylen]

hi man.
well welcome . and you'll recieve 1.000.000 suggestions that might drive you crazy since here everyone has different
ways of thinking, as well as strategies.

I wont recommend any specific faction.
since some of them are a real challenge and fun to play
in my opinion, I 'll recommend to discover the game little by little, it makes the game more interesting to me, and then if I have problems I come here and just ask


anyways, there are a lot help here so dont worry if you're having problems

[eggthief]

England makes for the easiest starter, any Christian faction can obtain guilds which produce special knights so that's no issue. All 5 starter factions are pretty far away from the invasion point of the Mongols and Timurids, but you'll notice that your Middle East colonies (which you'll probably get trough crusades) will probably feel their wrath.

[Leaf-Fan-Forever]

I found Spain to be a fun starter campaign. Ok in the beginning, stronger than Portugal and the Moors, and fantastic in the late period

[KingsleyHunt]

Oh I forgot to mention i have unlocked all the factions after winning a campaign

[shikaka]

Oh I forgot to mention i have unlocked all the factions after winning a campaign

No need for playing tips then?



I think the most interesting, and relatively close to mongols are the Byzantines. (= core provinces are safe, but you can fight them if you want) Different enemies (horse archer muslims, militia infantry venice, and knight hungary), you can practice lots of horse archery, and there is no pope.
Expansion: Sofia! then consolidate balkans, if done, smash the turks.


You could also try Sicily. Balanced unit roster, and very good starting position. You can do what you want. It is close to both north Italy (rich, good for european campaign) and the holy land (if you want to crusade)

[KingsleyHunt]

Right I'm think I'm going for the Byzantine Empire then. The Roman empire hasn't fallen yet Will i get completely mauled by mongols and timuiriuds or do you guys know any tactics with the Byzantine Empire that will massacre them?

Thanks for quick response

PS: Do the Byzantines have any knight orders or special units from guilds?

[shikaka]

Right I'm think I'm going for the Byzantine Empire then. The Roman empire hasn't fallen yet Will i get completely mauled by mongols and timuiriuds or do you guys know any tactics with the Byzantine Empire that will massacre them?

Thanks for quick response

Mongols go for Antioch or Kiev, not for Constantinopole. (= if you want to avoid them going at your core instantly, avoid Russia and Turks. The rest are relatively safe from them)

PS: Do the Byzantines have any knight orders or special units from guilds?

No knight orders for orthodox.

But I simply love Vardar valley cavalry



But if you want to crusade/have crusader knight guilds, choose a catholic. I think the most friendly catholics are which don't border only catholics.
As France, Scotland, England, Milano, HRE, you will notice that the popes stops you often.
This is not like this with Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Venice, Sicily (you have non-catholics to attack)

[Iññsomññi]

If you're just starting out I'd say England, nice secluded island which you can fall back to, not that much competition to begin with and once the Scots are taken care of you can focus all of your might on expanding into the continent.

[eXistenZ]

England is the easiest, danes are fun, and i really like sicily varied unit roster, lots of ways to expand.

[Miroslav Klose]

England for sure.
Than perhaps Spain or Denmark.

[MJDreamWalker13]

I'd recommend Denmark.
Easy to maintain relations with the Pope, fairly easy to defend yourself, not many enemies if you play a fairly non-agressive game, fun to play with and plenty of options to expand.

You should establish yourself in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea (Stettin, Hamburg, possibly Helsinki and Riga). From there you can invade the British Isles, or go further southward fighting the Holy Roman Empire or Russia on the east and then wait for the Mongols. It'd be a good idea to capture Hamburg quickly, as it's a nicely situated castle that you can use to launch invansions from effectively. It will be a matter of time before HRE attacks you, so create watchtowers at the border and always have a garrison that can stand its ground. Stettin could be your place to create cavalry. That way you should get a knightly order quickly. If you let Poland have Magdeburg and Riga, keep good relations and hope they'll constantly be at war with someone they should make great allies. Be friends with Hungary just in case though. Denmark is a great faction because it's easy to defend, has got awesome infrantry with low upkeep cost and has plenty of money, which is... invaluable. It doesn't have a variety of cavalry, but hey, neither does England and it still rocks.

[Frederich Barbarossa]

England- Easier
France- Powerful starting position, yet troublesome
Holy Roman Empire- Economically difficult, and in a tight position (geographically)
Venice- Moderate
Milan- Moderate and has the opportunity to expand into France
Sicily- Difficult

[Jared Sinn]

I wouldn't start out with Byzantium myself. Constantinople tends to get Jihads called on it alot. (this is in Stainless Steel, I don't recall if it happens in vanilla as well) So, if you are just starting out your MTWII playing career, you're going to have a tough frustrating time at it. I go with the others recommendations and start with England. It's the easiest IMHO, you have a nice island to conquer, which after you do, you don't really have to worry about invasions. The AI isn't much on naval invasions. Keep a decent army at Nottingham just in case. Economically, the British Isles can produce loads of wealth after awhile. You start with a nice castle at Caen, which means after conquering the island, you already have a nice base of operations to start working on the continent. When a crusade is called, go one it (although maybe not the first one, you may still be working on getting the island under control and may not be ready) and capture the area that the crusade was called upon. This almost guarantees that you will be offered a knightly guild in very short order, either the templars or hospitallers. If this is your beginning experiences with MTWII, this will be a good way of cutting your teeth and learning how the game operates. Then you can try some of the other factions. Although I do agree that Spain is also a fun one because you do have a defensible position in the Iberian penninsula, and you don't have to worry about excommunication fighting Moors. It offers a different play style than England. England is infantry and archery heavy in my opinion, where spain is more skirmisher oriented with Jinites (horse javelinners) and whatever foot javelinners are called (I forget). This does require a bit more micromanagement and tactics on the battlefield which you may find easier once you have more of a handle on how the game works.

[Chad29]

Personally I like England for the early game, Spain for the late game, and Hungary for the location. England gets longbowmen and mailed knights early, plus as long as you smash Scotland early your island will be safe. Though sometimes ships will come to it with armies.

Spain gets musketeers, Basilisk, and Grand Carracks. Plus it's reasonably close to resource rich lands in Africa and the New World. It's a nice late game faction, especially if you want to avoid Mongols and Timurids. By the time they get to you, you'll probably be ready to start a new campaign anyway.

Finally Hungary. It has a good military, is close to Jerusalem which is the Pope's favorite crusade target, and borders four out of five non catholic factions. You can beat the long campaign without ever taking a catholic settlement, so the Pope is much less frustrating. As fr the Mongols and Timurids, as the Human player you are the only faction in the game that can keep them from sweeping the lands. Best get rid of them quickly.

[shikaka]

I go with the others recommendations and start with England. It's the easiest IMHO, you have a nice island to conquer, which after you do, you don't really have to worry about invasions. The AI isn't much on naval invasions. Keep a decent army at Nottingham just in case. Economically, the British Isles can produce loads of wealth after awhile. You start with a nice castle at Caen, which means after conquering the island, you already have a nice base of operations to start working on the continent.

But seriously, England is boring as hell.

Not many types worth recruiting (armored swords, knights and the longbows), they don't have spears and... nothing ever happens!

With Byzantium, Sicily, Venice or Hungary the game is much more interesting!

England- Easier
France- Powerful starting position, yet troublesome
Holy Roman Empire- Economically difficult, and in a tight position (geographically)
Venice- Moderate
Milan- Moderate and has the opportunity to expand into France
Sicily- Difficult

I think the opposite.

Especially England, France, Milan and HRE are not for beginners, because your well planned invasion will be stopped by the pope.

Venice and Sicily is easy, you are free to rage across the balkans and the holy land, noone will care.


Also, none of the mentiend have horse archers, what unit is definietly needed. (the game is a boring infantry slugfest without them)
The most fun factions (imho) are the turks and russians.

[ChivalrousKiller]

I think England is the best starter faction. Good starting position, good units, knight orders...

But of course, they're very far from the Mongols/Timurids.

[KingsleyHunt]

I've started a campaign as Venice and It's going good, apart from the death of one of the Doge's sons taking rhodes. Anyway here is the plan:

Slowly expand taking parts of Greece, north eastern Italy and some of the meditarranean islands east from Italy. Get a spy into Constantinople and monitor movements there. Then when it is weakly defended invade Constantinople loot it and make the Byzantine Empire sue for peace, taking Cyprus in the peace treaty deal ( so i can launch crusades later ). Then expand into the rest of Italy with the Papal States as my ally so hopefully i dont get stopped that much. Then prepare my eastern borders for the mongols and send regular crusaders to the holy land What do you guys think of that plan?

[shikaka]

I've started a campaign as Venice and It's going good, apart from the death of one of the Doge's sons taking rhodes. Anyway here is the plan:

Slowly expand taking parts of Greece, north eastern Italy and some of the meditarranean islands east from Italy. Get a spy into Constantinople and monitor movements there. Then when it is weakly defended invade Constantinople loot it and make the Byzantine Empire sue for peace, taking Cyprus in the peace treaty deal ( so i can launch crusades later ). Then expand into the rest of Italy with the Papal States as my ally so hopefully i dont get stopped that much. Then prepare my eastern borders for the mongols and send regular crusaders to the holy land What do you guys think of that plan?

Good!

2 things:

- I don't think the Byzzies will sue for peace, and definietly won't give you an additional province (siege Cyprus instead)
- you can _buy_ Bologna from the emperor if you send there your first diplomat (4-5k for 3 turns. It is cheaper - about half - if you offer alliance)

[xxxMoRaVexxx]

Spain is a good starting faction. It's better than Portugal and Moors on the Iberian peninsula and you can easily take out that two factions and had Iberia by yourself. Kick Moors out first for a higher pope standing then take on Portugal, you'll just have to be fast so that the pope won't stop you attacking Portugal but by that time(after defeating Moors)Portugal might have a stronger army than when the Moors are still in Iberia, so just remember to conquer as fast as possible. Once you had Iberia, turtle and then develop your economy. Then its not that long till you pump troops through whatever regions you want to conquer next.