What faction do i play now?

**Nyarla** · July 15, 2011, 04:46 AM

Time for starting a new late Era campaign and i was wondering what to pick. i want a faction with a nice late rooster, that starts weak, so i won't expand too fast. settings gonna be vh/vh, BGR, longer assimilation and Carl. looking forward to suggestions and along with reason why its worth playing the faction.

**ihranator** · July 15, 2011, 04:49 AM

I'd say Castille is your pick.

**Marcvs Antonivs** · July 15, 2011, 05:04 AM

I'd say Portugal. They haven't got very strong knights as other Catholics, they start very weak compared to Castille/Moors, and can be attacked very early by both Castille/Moors. It is a very challenging campaign, specially if you play on Very Hard. Might not be as difficult as a Late Crusader States campaign, but it is difficult anyway. I'm currently playing a Portuguese campaign in Hard/Hard and I'm finding very difficult to hang on. The Moors attack me on turn 3 with around 2 almost full stacks and 2-3 half stacks and I have to hold them with my only stack of a few regulars and militias, which are wearing down battle after battle. My recruitment pool does not generate fast enough so I can retrain my army at full strength.

**Knight of Santiago** · July 15, 2011, 05:34 AM

Go for Castille; nice late knights both mounted and on foot. Landlocked among Aragon, Portugal and the Moors and besieged from all sides. I am playing them right now and find it quite challenging in H/ H

**English Ruler** · July 15, 2011, 05:51 AM

I would say the Romans (Byzantines). I am currently in a VH/VH campaign using BGR II and I am finding it to be very fun. The unit roster is very unique and the Romans have a lot of interesting and special buildings. Add to this the diplomatic joys of being squashed in between the Catholic and Muslim worlds, while you cannot be targeted by a crusade you can still find youself fighting for your life against catholics. Choosing to ally yourself with certain factions can ensure your survival or give you a one way ticket to failure. So far I think that this campaign has been one of my favorite campaigns aside from the Kwarezmian Empire. But unless your planning on relocating to central Europe i would definetly say use Rome... hope this helps!!

**Nyarla** · July 15, 2011, 05:54 AM

btw i did ERE, HRE and CS already, so those are out

**Head of the Heavy Chargers** · July 15, 2011, 06:25 AM

I don't know what u mean by late roster, pike, muskets and plate cavalry? If u looking for those u can only pick catholics IMO.

I suggest:
Turks: nice roster for plate era too.
Novgorod: U get pike & shot in the end and nice infantry, but no full-plate cavalry.

Catholics have the most advanced rosters, but they aren't always so fun to play.

For tough starting positions I suggest Cumans and Kwarezm.
Try turtling and roleplaying if u tend to advance too fast. Give AI a chance and don't steamroll or use bugs/cheats or whatever advantage u can get out of stupid AI.

**Hadrian I** · July 15, 2011, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by Head of the Heavy Chargers

Try turtling and roleplaying if u tend to advance too fast. Give AI a chance and don't steamroll or use bugs/cheats or whatever advantage u can get out of stupid AI.

Signed,

and if you can't roleplay on your own, ask a friend, or someone who likes to play stainless steel, sit down and play a hot-seat campaign togther and roleplay with him or her.

+Reputation to you Head of the Heavy Chargers.

**Nyarla** · July 15, 2011, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Head of the Heavy Chargers

Try turtling and roleplaying if u tend to advance too fast. Give AI a chance and don't steamroll or use bugs/cheats or whatever advantage u can get out of stupid AI.

i'm already using most submods to enhance AI both on battlefield and campaign and i omit stuff the AI can't do, e.g. stakes, making cities rebel, deploying on insanly high mountains, stacking merchants, attacking undefended cities with ships, using unbalanced armies and so on.

anyway i decided on using portugal now, lets see how its working out, gonna go all out finishing the reconquista and throwing out all other nations from spain

**Hadrian I** · July 15, 2011, 06:18 AM

I'm not very renowned, about the late aged periode in the game, but perhaps The Kingdom of Danmark,The Most Serene Republic of Genoa,The Most Serene Republic of Venice, or the Kingdom of Siciliy.

Danmark vs. Germany,Norway.
Genoa vs. France,Germany,Siciliy,Venice.
Venice vs. Byzantine Empire,Hungary,Germany,Genoa.

Atleast that is what the odds are in the eailer campaign.

And stop playing on E/E

use BYG IV, and RR.

**Aquila SPQR** · July 15, 2011, 07:33 AM

Poland.

**Lazy** · July 17, 2011, 11:13 AM

Teutonic Order... sell all your Settlements, make the Poop call a crusade ( for example Constantinople ), conquer it and try to survive there... if you think its too easy go to Rome instead...

**ziserman** · July 17, 2011, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by Lazy

make the Poop call a crusade

The Great Poop

**Diamat** · July 17, 2011, 04:23 PM

Just started playing the Byzantines on VH with Byg IV. For all the years I have owned this game, I have never played as them. I had no idea that they are so much fun. Great variety of units, no castles (all units recruitable in cities through unique buildings), and awesome geography (gonna go for Rome!).