Playing with Larger starting Factions

[Dude with the Food]

As the title says, can I have some help playing factions with bigger starting areas. Places like Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Harad etc. I seem to prefer places that are small like the Silvans, Dale and Isengard.

It's not only this either. I just get bored playing anyone other than Marathas, Sweden and Prussia on ETW and the NTW is hell for me. I think it's one of the main reasons I prefer M2TW and TATW over all the other games. I just don't like starting big but it means I can't play factions I want to.

I really want to play Rohan but I just get bored and if I could it would make other factions easier.
I know that was a long-winded way of saying it but please help. What things do I need to focus on more compared to a small faction and what can I scrap?

[DrDragun]

Basically your homeland cities are for money only. The difficulty with a large territory is fighting along a larger border, perhaps 2 fronts at once. But your risk for being completely eliminated from the map is small. Corruption and "distance to capital" will be tricky to manage in your settlements. Big territories you might consider moving your capital early in the game for more money (High Elves and Dwarves). If you are going to fulfill a mission with the reward "some of the best units available", be aware that those units are going to appear in your capital. You might want to move your capital forward to your borders so that your 3 trolls appear close to where they are needed. When you need to move units long distances, remember upkeep. Usually if you walk a unit for 3 turns the cost is equal to buying a new one. So consider disbanding and buying a new unit on the other side of your empire. The other good thing about moving your capital forward is more happiness in new cities that you occupy. However it's less money than having the Capital centralized.

Empty out your central territories and maintain bigger garrisons on the borders. Expand until natural choke points then fortify. When I say a choke point, I mean when you can concentrate your borders on 1 settlement rather than 2-3, allowing you to keep a bigger army in 1 place defending.

[Altimis]

Calm down and stay focus

I know what you feel, its so wow to see very big land and don't where to manage or what to do.

For Gondor, your priority is to prevent Mordor invading into Minas Trinith [sorry, can't remember name but its Gondor's Capital] You don't have to worries about Rohan much, Your focus is Mordor and Harad. For your expanding path, you should go for Harad, don't go Mordor because they will crushes you and surrounded you. Harad is weak compared to Mordor, only must to be fear is their Mumakill [big daddy elephant] the rest is just weak maggots. All you do is hold off against Mordor as much as you can and expanding into Harad lands instead of Mordor.

On other hand, if you want more challenge, try to capture 2-3 lands south of Gondor and garrison them in the south border to hold against Harad then focus on Mordor to the east. Either way, you should fight only one side, don't go two way, just hold one and fight one.

For Mordor, its far less stress than Gordor, because you have allies from north and south, you start at very super safe location, you don't have to worries anything except Gondor, what you do is spamming Orc and invade Gondor, nothing more. Also don't forget to prevent your north land [Dol Guldor] from Silvan Elves too.

For Harad, this one is easy, expanding to the north until Gondor and Rohan is no more, your economy is super rich too.

For Rohan, your sworn enemy is Isengard, kill them as soon as you can and everything will be easier, don't forget to help Gondor fight against Mordor sometime, use all Rohan cavalry army for moving on campaign faster.

[Dude with the Food]

Ok, thanks.

I've just started a Dale campaign (like I said, I like starting small) but after that I'll try out these ideas.

[ThaDoews]

For Gondor, your priority is to prevent Mordor invading into Minas Trinith [sorry, can't remember name but its Gondor's Capital] You don't have to worries about Rohan much, Your focus is Mordor and Harad. For your expanding path, you should go for Harad, don't go Mordor because they will crushes you and surrounded you. Harad is weak compared to Mordor, only must to be fear is their Mumakill [big daddy elephant] the rest is just weak maggots. All you do is hold off against Mordor as much as you can and expanding into Harad lands instead of Mordor.

What you should do playing as Gondor is to take Cirith Ungol so you have an easy defending point from armies moving from the east. But remember doing so, you will have a double amount of orcs coming from the Black Gate invading Ithilien from the north. But then you can be sure to hold of Mordor with only two garrisons.

When i have taking Cirith Ungol and has a army in Ithilien and Cirith Ungol, then i go for Harad.
I only send 1/3 of my new troops to Ithilien and the rest to Harad. That is quite enough to steamroll Harad and hold of Mordor