a new start

**sahensah** · February 05, 2012, 10:12 PM

i installed the 3.2.3 patch. started a few campaigns but i didn't find a faction wich suits to me really. but i must say the georgians have pretty nice units. specialy the swordman and heavy archers... but there are no wealthy cities around. to the east the ai doesn't build ports for sea trade, and i can get only 3 cities (soukhumi, kutaisi and ani) in the black sea coast without going into war. and it's hard to get nice troops, not to mention the religon is hard to spread. and when the kıpçak's attacked from the nord the economy went down really bad.

so i tried the sindh after that. nice provinces, bad armies. open field battles against the indians are sadly boring, just try to sepperate the ellephats attack them with javelins... the rest of their army is easy. and a war against the ghurids would be my end. the sindh are lightly armored.
light armored troops were the reason for my unsuccesfull omani game too. everything was nice untill some heavyly troops sieged my citties. but the ocean trade was nice, untill i did lose my settlements in persia.

the seldjuks of rum... pure survival game. i did try a lot of games. with them. the best solution was to finish the armenians early and get some nice citties for trade. but the romans did not like the idea. you can't just simply defend against full roman stacks and siege city in wich troops don't stop respawning. even when i did get adana there was nobody for sea trade. the latins started war... you get where this is going. and i tried to ally with the romans but they find it easier to just siege konya in turn 4.

so i did try the abbasids, i think it's me, but get bored too easy. nice economy, no hostile factions nearby... i don't know. just keeping on expanding untill i meet someone in anatolia i guess.

so can anyone suggest a fun faction? nice starting settlements, or rich places nearby. and a nice rooster with cheap archers and great swordman.

one thing more, i didn't tried it yet but is a migration campaign possible? like, take the turks and settle in hormuz... or even india? would i be able to create troops?

sorry for the gramar mistakes.

**Dago Red** · February 05, 2012, 11:28 PM

You mean 2.3.2. In my opinion, if you want the most nonstop exciting game, then you must play a faction deeply immersed in the perils of the time -- The Crusades -- so either The Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Ayyubids.

Or secondly the Mongol Invasions -- so the Khwarezm Shah since you cannot play the Mongols.

These factions have the most scripted events that affect them most noticeably, and have lots of flavor. Now with swordsmen fixed if you want cheap archers and good swordsmen, then clearly the KoJ is your faction, although their archers are not very good, ranged troops are balanced out by crossbowmen.

Thirdly, the Kipchaks get an interesting script which unites them and makes for some great gameplay to build up too. And the ERE nearby are affected by both the Crusades scripts and most likely the Kipchaks script since they are neighbors and usually enemies.

After that it's all gravy, the other factions.... delicious and necessary for a superb and lengthy meal, re-playability and diversity... though not as necessary as the meat and potatoes factions I mentioned above which have gotten the most scripting.

**nein** · February 06, 2012, 06:49 AM

try makuria, it's fun being the underdog. Use bridge battles to pin their army and then destroy them with javelins and massed longbow fire. Most of their troops are poorly armoured but they come with alot of cheap disposable missile units

**zburanuki** · February 06, 2012, 07:32 AM

try byzantine empire.for 10 turns you can't build or recruit anything,except the georgians everyone else hates you,you can have just one full stack unit and take dorylaeum and amorium and if you are lucky you can take sevasteia.after you have finished with the rebels turks armenians and franks will declare war on you and it's certain that you will lose 2-3 settlements from them.also by year 1190 you have to start to organise your defences in constantinople to ''welcome'' Enrico Dandolo and his guys.and also when the kipchaks be united the declare war on you also and georgia of course.finanally they have some devastating units (unfortunately not the greek firethrowers ) like pelekyphroi axemen,royal kataphractoi,spatharioi emperor's guard and the mercenaries in constantinople the varangian warriors.

**nein** · February 06, 2012, 08:15 AM

>turks armenians and franks will declare war on you and it's certain that you will lose 2-3 settlements from them.

usually the turks leave you alone, which is a relief considering they start with 3 stacks, the armenians have never declared war on me, koj will always do so but there are no real consequences until you share borders ofc

They will blockade some ports with small feets that are easy to wipe out, and send a small army to cyprus... which can be easily dealt with.

>also by year 1190 you have to start to organise your defences in constantinople to ''welcome'' Enrico Dandolo and his guys.

by that time (roughly turn 60) it is easy to garrison the city with an army of elite units... the battle is fun but far from impossible

>and also when the kipchaks be united the declare war on you also and georgia of course.

georgia and the romans tend to conquer regions that the kypchaks need to form a horde, meaning the event rarely occurs

**zburanuki** · February 06, 2012, 08:34 AM

@ nein: i don't know if these things will occur int 2.3.2 but for sure in 2.3 in long camapign even at easy difficulty every time happen.i wrote that the turks declare war when dorylaeum,amorium and sevasteia (either by byzantines either by armenians) fall not right from the start.the armenians siege seleukeia for sure and then depends on them if they continue to cyprus or attaleia. the turks siege sinope,heraclea,attaleia and nicomedia simoultaneously, the crusaders siege cyprus all the time with an army at least with 10 units,the kipchaks are pain in the ass if fence off the georgians from black sea's shores.and remeber that in order to deal with the 4th cruusade you have to have at least 1 full stack unit in constantinople and return to constantinople the other full stack unit (the one with which you conquer the rebel settlements).that means that you have to stay in the defence in anatolia and focus on constantinople only.and of course it's true that byzantium can't ally with anyone (except the georgians,but if they are in good situation the will try to take trapezus or ani).even the makurians can handle the ayyubids with the aid of the crusaders.

**Savoyard** · February 07, 2012, 05:37 PM

Makuria was really quite easy. I haven't had a real sweat of a battle fighting the Caliphate.

**nein** · February 07, 2012, 06:29 PM

>but for sure in 2.3 in long camapign even at easy difficulty every time happen.i wrote that the turks declare war when dorylaeum,amorium and sevasteia (either by byzantines either by armenians) fall not right from the start.

my experience comes from 2.3, version 2.02 was alot more hectic for a human roman player. The turks and kipchaks were a real threat back then. What is sevasteia? Do you mean ani? Either way the only threat the ERE faces in 2.3 is whether the turks attack you in the first few turns... usually they do this if I get too greedy and conquer ani, I can sack the two rebel regions nearby in anatolia and usually the turks push into the rebel regions eastward... however if I touch ani they declare war. Three stacks against an economically crippled nation is dangerous... however if the romans are left to recover from the debt and develop... you can easily conquer everyone.

>the armenians siege seleukeia for sure

never had this happen, the armenians are usually the victim of turkish or koj aggression (if they fail to get the alliance)

>the crusaders siege cyprus all the time with an army at least with 10 units

Usually after the first army is defeated they do not return, ceasefires are easy to get but they can declare war again via a blockade. A large army, even of levies, can deter the koj from invading amacosia... filling it with an army of cheap peasant units does seem to help. the AI thinks twice

>the kipchaks are pain in the ass if fence off the georgians from black sea

it's easy to get an alliance with them, also with the georgians. The 2.3 kypchaks are way too slow when it comes to absorbing all the rebel regions to spawn the horde event... it rarely happens in 2.3. The georgians, without the great seljuks checking them, can usually take majar and make it impossible for the event to trigger. You can also conquer the rebels in southern ukraine to make it impossible for the horde event to occur.

>you have to have at least 1 full stack unit in constantinople and return to constantinople the other full stack unit (the one with which you conquer the rebel settlements).that means that you have to stay in the defence in anatolia and focus on constantinople only.and of course it's true that byzantium can't ally with anyone (except the georgians,but if they are in good situation the will try to take trapezus or ani).even the makurians can handle the ayyubids with the aid of the crusaders.

it's easy to defend the city with one full stack of emperors guard, vestiratai etc. A quality stack can easily deter them if you force them into a meatgrinder in the town center... even better if you sacrifice a few cavalry units to destroy one of the armies siege engines. That way both armies face you from one side instead of a two pronged push into the city.

By the time the 4th crusade triggers you should have conquered most of anatolia and be rolling in money. The turks should be defeated or reduced to a few regions near edessa.

they can ally with the georgians (making it impossible for them to attack trebizond) and the kypchaks

>even the makurians can handle the ayyubids with the aid of the crusaders

makuria is very easy in 2.3, in 2.02 the ayyubids devour the koj with ease.

>Makuria was really quite easy. I haven't had a real sweat of a battle fighting the Caliphate.

in 2.3 the koj became one of the superpower ai factions, in 2.02 they got destroyed by the ayyubids very quickly making makuria alot harder. Besides makuria only has to face one potential enemy due to it's position, it is easy to crush the stupid ai in a bridge battle, plenty of bridges on the nile.

**zburanuki** · February 07, 2012, 07:33 PM

all that things that i said happened in every campaign.i don't know why the armenians don't declare war on you or the frnks just blockade your ports.in my campaigns they are different.anyway i still believe that byzantine empire is oen of themost difficult factions (along with with khwarezmians and maybe seljuks of iraq).

p.s. sevasteia is the greek name of sivas

**nein** · February 08, 2012, 01:05 PM

I have played multiple roman campaigns on 2.3, the worst thing that can happen is the turks suddenly attacking you right at the start instead of heading for the eastern rebels... which is what they usually do. I have never had the armenians declare war, not in 2.02 either. And the crusaders are at best an annoyance, easy to dispose of as they do not attack cyprus with a significantly dangeorus force. Still we may do things that trigger different ai responses