easiest faction

[complete noob:(]

i am wondering what is the easiest faction for one of my first vh/vh games. I don't want it be ENgland or Scotland, so anyone wanna give me some advice?

[Sweger]

Maybe somwhere were you are in a geographical corner, like Denmark (they also have som good units) and maybe an Iberian fraction, you are kind of isolated as soon as you've secured Iberia for yourself, just watch your French border.

[13lackGu4rd]

I'd say definitely England, but since you don't want them I guess Denmark is the next best thing. Very straight forward unit roster, mostly a variety of heavy infantry units and cavalry that does very well in melee rather than just charge and retreat.

[GoodstuffTW]

Russia or Egypt (Egypt gets rich fast) and dont worry about crusades lol just get a good navy and take down the ships before the get to you

[Sitalkes]

I think England would be the easiest but otherwise I'd take a corner or the centre so I'm going to try Sicily because it has a good early period army and is almost in the centre of the map and that makes keeping down rebellions easier

[Masked Marauder]

I'd say Milan or Byzantine Empire. Both get a lot of income, if that's what you're after.

[ash874]

I'd say Milan or Byzantine Empire. Both get a lot of income, if that's what you're after.

after maybe 5 years of playing and winning with all kinds of factions on all kinds of mods
id say byzantium on vanilla on vhvh is one of the hardest campaigns ive ever played, if not the hardest

[PrestigeX]

Depends what you mean by Easy - could be more focus on the campaign, economy, technology, etc - or easy in terms of units/armies/battles.


My choice for you will be - The moors.

A - no pope to fuss with.
B - very low chance of any fronts other than iberia (unlikely that anyone is going to launch full scale war from the East into North Africa).

C - Easily take over Timbuktu and Arguin -- lots of money from Gold Mining, Trade, Merchants - with slaves, ivory, and gold (all the best stuff).

D - Ability to call Jihads is far easier than Papal Favor / Crusade , you'll never be excommunicated etc.

E - Moors have a strong roster, and are not as 'Eastern' as the other muslims, very simillar armies to europe - and a lot of great units. Helpful tips == get heavy armorers in cities and pump out 'urban militia' (unique moorish swordsmen), and also get 'peasant crossbows' - don't let 'peasant' throw you off, they have Steel crossbows just like the Italians -- heavy hitting, long range, etc. Moorish Peasant Crossbows are a unique unit, all other 'peasant' / 'militia' or just plain old crossbowmen have Wooden Crossbows, but the Moorish Peasant Crossbowmen are just like 'Mercenary Crossbows' - except obviously you can train boatloads of them =)



You can basically take over all of Iberia , and north africa - and then decide what to do -- France? Kill Egypt? ,,, wte - you'll have a very strong homefront, very high profits, etc.

[Mhaedros]

I agree with PrestigeX, the Moors are really easy to start with

[Aeratus]

Agree with Moors.

- One of the strongest rosters in the game. (better infantry than the Europeans', top notch militia units, the best ranged cavalry unit in the game, and the best fast-speed heavy cavalry in the game).

- Strong starting position, since you have a corner of the map all to yourself.

[Mhaedros]

I dont agree about the best horse archers actually. Russia, the Turks, Mongols and Timurids have way better, but you wont have to deal with any of them during early game

[fredtrotter]

I dont agree about the best horse archers actually. Russia, the Turks, Mongols and Timurids have way better, but you wont have to deal with any of them during early game

I think the OP was referring to the cammel gunners. Those guys are awesome as they are one of the only mounted gun unit (the other one is the reiters but they arn't as good)

[Mhaedros]

Arent there some kind of mounted cossack muskeeters?

[Blaze of Macedon]

Arent there some kind of mounted cossack muskeeters?

Nope. Just Cossack HA. They're great i prefer them to Dvor cav cause Cossacks are very fast but no mounted muskteers for Russia.

Camel Gunners have the range, Reiters have some better stats i think.

I agree on Moors, i think France wouldn't be too hard either...

[Mhaedros]

OK, thanks

France is fairly easy, but not for noobs. They're practicly surrounded from the start (England, Spain, Milan, Hre and Denmark)

[Blaze of Macedon]

Yah, but i can't think of anyone else that starts so isolated that he can pick one opponent at a time.

Even the Moors might get invaded from Sicily (happened to me two times when i played em on VH/VH) in North Africa so even they can end up on a two way front. Still fairly easy though...

[Mhaedros]

You mean Russia right?

Yes, but it's not very likely, and even if they attack it's hard for them to be a real threat if you take Tunis

[tudor93]

Sicily invades you when you play as the Moors even on M/M
The Pope also invades you

[In3x]

The HRE, you are too big to go down and you have early access to the Pope and therefore an alliance with the Pope.

[Blaze of Macedon]

The HRE, you are too big to go down and you have early access to the Pope and therefore an alliance with the Pope.

Boah, HRE is very fun but never easy. You need to be super agressive at grabbing all those rebel provinces around and yet careful not to step on to many toes early on.

Once you secure Northern Italy you're an unstoppable production machine but until then you 're always at danger of getting gangbanged from all sides by Venice, Milan, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and France. PLUS the Pope doesn't like you by default so you'll need to work a bit to get some good relations going...