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[Team Sleep]

I'm opening this one up because I've seen others like it where players ending or near ending their campaigns are looking for suggestions for the next faction to play from those that have already. Feel free to join in if looking for suggestions or if you're willing to give them.

I beat KH & Pontus campaign. Both were entertaining from start to finish. I attempted a Saba campaign and failed horribly. (Although now I'm confident in waging arrow warfare against Phanlex now). Am in the process of a Casse campaign that has slowed down but has been very interesting.

I'm taking suggestions as to which faction I should try next. I was thinking Roman. Are the reforms that daunting however? That would be a turn off for me. Or perhaps a Nomad faction. I've yet to test my skills at nomad warfare. In fact I've seldom faced off against Nomads in my previous campaigns. I'm a bit reluctant due to rumors of their bad economy thus I figure starting off would be difficult. I'm not pinned down and will try any faction as I find them all intriguing. Any suggestions & tips for starters?

If anyone else out there is looking to start a new faction, let us know which ones you've attempted/completed and hopefully those of us who have tried at others will be able to make suggestions for you.

[Ferdiad]

Try Sauromatae, they have Tanks for Bodyguards.
Romans:Mod the script to your liking.

[Team Sleep]

You know I was thinking Sarmatians for some time. I was just wondering how all that running around and shooting is going to fare against a heavy infantry based army. Or even how it would pan out against another nomad faction. How do you determine the winner?...whoever can shoot arrows furthest wins? What are the Sarmatian reforms like?

[Ferdiad]

No reforms.Although you can recruit your nobles everywhere.If you can get some HA around their backs you'll decimate them, frontal won't do much in comparison.If you run out of arrows just withdraw.Against nomads like Parthia?Well if they get their reforms they'll get more settled with less HA and more lancers and hoplites.In HA duels quality usually wins up to a certain point.16 HA nobles will be very op.

[Entropy Judge]

I'm taking suggestions as to which faction I should try next. I was thinking Roman. Are the reforms that daunting however?

I've played several Roman campaigns (never finished any of them ...), and while I've never gotten the Marian Reforms, that's more because I tend to stop playing that campaign long before 175 BC - I think my longest-running campaign so far has actually been the Sweboz, which I stopped playing ~200 because of consistent CTDs during the Roman turn. Anyway, looking at the requirements, Marian Reforms aren't terribly difficult (especially if that "conquer 90 settlements" is a standalone), just time-consuming. The hardest part would be getting a character to match the requirements (specifically, Popularis).

Or perhaps a Nomad faction. I've yet to test my skills at nomad warfare. In fact I've seldom faced off against Nomads in my previous campaigns. I'm a bit reluctant due to rumors of their bad economy thus I figure starting off would be difficult.

From what I've read (which isn't that much, to be honest), it's not much worse than a Sweboz or Casse economy, with the major differences being large territories and little naval trade. Once you start conquering mines or close-in territories with ports, the economy should sort itself out.

Regarding Nomads vs Infantry armies: Remember that Noble units are broken. Sarmatian Bodyguards are effectively Cataphract Archers with an AP Spear instead of a sword (and 44 Charge!); Early Parthian BGs are much the same; the Saka bodyguard is essentially a Cataphract, with an AP Spear (again, 44 Charge) and an AP Axe with .165 Lethality. The Noble HA/Cavalry units are pretty similar, being weaker versions of one BG or another in most cases.

[Julianus]

Regarding Nomads vs Infantry armies: Remember that Noble units are broken.

Never seriously played a nomad faction, I can never keep a thread of what's going on with all those HAs running wild across the map...So what do you mean by this? They're too weak or too expensive?

[Entropy Judge]

Never seriously played a nomad faction, I can never keep a thread of what's going on with all those HAs running wild across the map...So what do you mean by this? They're too weak or too expensive?

They're ridiculously *powerful*. The bodyguards tend to be Horse Archers with a Cataphract-level Charge and as much Armour; "Noble" units tend to be a bit weaker, but most should still have little or no difficulty dealing with most infantry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sarmatian BGs have 6 Bow Attack, and a 5-Attack, .4 Lethality, AP Spear with a 44 Charge value. They have 22 Armour and 12 Defense Skill.
The Early Parthian BG is the exact same, except they only have 20 Armour.
The Saka BGs aren't quite as bad - they've got the same Spear/Lance as the other two, but their other weapon is a .165 Lethality AP Axe with 10 Attack, and they only have 18 Armour.
Parthian Cataphracts have the same Attack stats as the Saka BG, and have 20 Armour and 10 Defense Skill.
Hellenic Cataphracts have a Sword for their sidearm (10 Attack, .11 Lethality, AP), 22 Armour and 8 Skill.

Now, for the Noble units:
Parthian Medium Nobles: 5 Attack Bow, 4 Attack Spear with 34 Charge. They have 9 Armour and 9 Skill. They are available in over 20 regions.
Dahae Noble Cavalry: 6 Attack Bow, 4 Attack Spear with 37 Charge. 14 Armour and 9 Skill. Five regions.
Sarmatian Nobles: 5 Attack Bow, 4 Attack Spear with 33 Charge (.33 Lethality). 10 Armour, 11 Skill. If I understand the map correctly, the Sarmatians can recruit them - literally - in every province (other factions can recruit them, but in limited areas).
Roxolani Nobles: 6 Attack Bow, 5 Attack Spear, 44 Charge (back to .4 Lethality). 12 Armour, 12 Skill. Similar Recruitment area as Sarmatian Noble HAs.
Saka Armoured Nobles: 6 Bow, 4 Spear (44 Charge); 19 Armour and 10 Skill. Map is broken, so I can't figure out where they're found. There appears to be a Bodyguard version of this as well, with a 5 Spear and 18 Armour.
Early Saka Nobles: 6 Bow, 4 Spear (33 Charge, .33 Lethality). 10 Armour, 11 Skill. Available everywhere.

[Orontid]

The Sarmatian bodyguards are amazing. They get gold chevrons in such a ridiculously short period of time and, with their armour, absorb any arrow fire from the enemy. You can use their tank-like qualities to take the heat off the rest of your army.

[Maestro Lignarius]

I have played one Romani game--and it was very good right to the end. I have actually played past the end date, but the script needs to be restarted every turn and the new family members are drying up. If I play Rome again (likely) I will stop the empires expansion more along historical lines. In my game I took everything except the south coast of the Arabian peninsula, lands north of the Baltic, perhaps 2 provinces in the extreme east and those north of Hadrian's Wall. ( I allowed the Casse to survive because it was fun to slap their silly chariot kings around once in a while).

I found the challenges from almost every faction to be very interesting. The Parthians were the toughest to beat--I did not take their last province util about 20 BC. It did not get tedious until I ran into the situation of maintaining flows of new units to the east of the Caspian sea. One other little reason not to get too big is the revolts on the outer fringes. I had several cities change hands 5 times in perhaps 10 seasons. By the time things would settle down, what was once a city of around 20,000 had 400 manpower left...actually, one time I had to temporarily withdraw as my forces were heavily worn down after capturing the same place several times.

I actually had far more crashes at the start of the game--and was free of those for a long time. However, it came back at the tail end of the game--the culprit was the field of martial games. I knew better to build those, but somehow those would appear in the worst locations--perhaps I was playing while bleary eyed. BTW, it took me 10 months time to finish the Romani game--including a 1 month break.

[wiande]

I never finished campaigns, due to CTDs spamming, almost finished lusotanian, carthage, sweboz, casse, macedon, koinon hellenon, epeiros, pontus, and baktria.

I tried to play as a gallic faction, and the starting diplomatic position is killing you. It would be a good challenge. Hayasadan too.

I really can't play nomadic, that kind of warfare annoy me, once you run out of arrows, you're forced to retreat :/

[FAB0L0US]

I really can't play nomadic, that kind of warfare annoy me, once you run out of arrows, you're forced to retreat :/

if you run out of arrows and they still have lots of units... you probably didnt position your horses behind them to shoot the units in the back. Nomad armies are ridiculously easy to destroy people with.

And even if you run out of arrows, just split units off (they will chase you around) then charge them with like 4 units all at once from all sides. Bam. Easy win.

[lmt96]

I tried to play as a gallic faction, and the starting diplomatic position is killing you. It would be a good challenge. Hayasadan too.

/

Yup playing the Gauls is really interesting. If you don't blitz into other Gallic territories you'll be overraped haha.

[Ferdiad]

Not really, the nomad factions have very good Cataphract archers and their Super heavy Cav are insane.

[wiande]

I just don't like eastern, i prefer rely on solid infantry ^^

[Ferdiad]

Parthians get a halfway decent infantry unit after their reforms.

[wiande]

Parthians get a halfway decent infantry unit after their reforms.

That's a long road to get descent infantry ^^

@lmt: aye, once your northern army got crushed better start a new game :p

[lmt96]

That's a long road to get descent infantry ^^

@lmt: aye, once your northern army got crushed better start a new game :p

You mean the Averni or Aedui? I was mentioning both tribes.

[wiande]

You mean the Averni or Aedui? I was mentioning both tribes.

was mentionning both, i tend to regroup my units to make a almost full stack with both gallics factions. But anyway 3/4 battle and the remains of my stack are useless and the AI of the other gallic faction keep building some, over and over as cash ain't an issue for it.

[Ferdiad]

Well who needs infantry when you have HA?

[Entropy Judge]

With the Gauls, it's easier to go for the Eleutheroi settlements until you have a strong, stable army, and then just start taking cities.