From Mods to Vanilla, and good campaigns

[PrestigeX]

It's been a long time since I've played a Vanilla campaign in m2tw, and I'm looking to start one up again after years of playing different mods, and all of my own tinkerings. I suppose it's a silly post, but I'm looking to play a campaign to the fullest and go through all the hoops so to speak (americas conquest, gunpowder units, perhaps World Domination)...

I can barely remember how the tech tree was originally designed in Vanilla, I miss the simplicity of the Vanilla skins, the formations and unit stats again will be foreign, the map different / smaller , and generally it's a kind of nostalgia.... These days I rarely even play the campaigns due to time constraints, mostly all I do is play custom battles based on History Channel Docs on Battles or Books I've read or just anything else that urges me to make my own units, play with skins, etc etc.. My modded games have extra units I put in like Sergeant Swordsmen, or 'Mercenary Pikemen' for europeans that have none of their own... EDU heavily changed , notable 2 handers and pikes ( fyi a helpful tip, remove secondaries with pikes BUT change their soldier anims to Halberd and only give them phalanx formation, makes them far better without being 'God Mode' as they would be if using their original anims without 2nd weapons).

The campaigns take a long time so If i'm going to get into one good and proper, I'd like to have selected a good faction -- based on recommendations... What factions in vanilla offer the best challenge? Who has a more stringent Tech Tree (as in, more difficult to spam DFK / Fk quality troops) etc... I'm thinking maybe Poland, HRE, France, idk whichever would be a great campaign to see to the end.

[tudor93]

You gotta try the Turks !!
Also, try the Byzantine Empire, they are my fav faction

[Drustan]

For a challenge, you can't go wrong with with the Byzzies on VH/VH. I find playing England campaigns to be a lot of fun, although a little easy.

[danny X]

i reverted back to vanilla a couple of weeks of ago, for a quick refresh of it and i chose england!

[sumaznguy]

Non Catholic nation for unrestricted gameplay. catholic nations if you want inquisitors and the pope hindering your expansion. Well some catholic nations are near non-catholic nations so they can expand and attack more freely.

[kevindrosario]

A fun challenge is to play with a Catholic nation with the intent of getting excommunicated and crusaded. I didn't want to deal with the public order hit on my settlements, so I modded that out. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

[Diamond]

Tech tree?
There's a tech tree in vanilla?
What?

Personally I like to play as Portugal. They're very versatile. Early on, they have Jinettes, which are killing machines. Late game, the Dismounted Portuguese Knights are godly. They start with their back to the sea, so you can concentrate on one front. They have a strong navy, so this can keep the Moors from crossing the strait with reinforcements while slaughtering them in Iberia. I always kill the moors first. The Pope will love you.

[PrestigeX]

Thanks for some of the input.

I decided to go with Poland, and I'm happily surprised to find it quite a challenge on vh/vh, money has been tight. Denmark declared war upon us, as have the Russians .

Will Poland be able to reach the New World ? I plan on heading south-east, and then take on the mongols when it comes...But I'd like to reach america so that I can open up some Polish Bakeries

[the new username]

geez i dont post here for years.

you are in a great position, absorve all of those rebels before germans, hungarians and russians do it.