Starting Faction.

[Socktu]

Hey, I've never played this mod funnily enough. I've owned Medieval 2 for quite awhile now, and I loved it back then, even the vanilla was great and it had drawn all the potential there was out of the old rome 1 engine.

I felt like recently replaying it too, and might as well make it worthwhile.

I'll probably be playing at a high difficulty or something like that, I don't like my games holding my hands.

What faction do you recommend to start as?

[Earl Dibbles Jr]

Eriador is fun.

[Redgrave]

I personally love the elven factions, but I have to say that an Eriador campaign is absolutely smashing!

[Socktu]

Hrm, an Eriador campaign does sound fun!

[mlks]

i would advice you to start with a relatively easy faction like high elves and then try gondor campaign which can simply be epic

[Veteraan]

Well I sure hope you own Kingdoms too

What faction to start with, depends on how you like to play.

Heavy use of archers and elite units, play the elves.
Like melee fighting more than anything else? Pick the dwarves.
Prefer to do a bit of everything with a large roster? Choose Gondor.
Like to see a sea of gold dominating the battle field? Rhun is the way to go.

And after completing some campaigns you could go all out and install a submod or two.

[Socktu]

Well I sure hope you own Kingdoms too

What faction to start with, depends on how you like to play.

Heavy use of archers and elite units, play the elves.
Like melee fighting more than anything else? Pick the dwarves.
Prefer to do a bit of everything with a large roster? Choose Gondor.
Like to see a sea of gold dominating the battle field? Rhun is the way to go.

And after completing some campaigns you could go all out and install a submod or two.

Yeah, I own Kingdoms. Just finished patching/installing everything. Oh my god, these models/units and everything is just astonishing. I know I'm going to love this!

I may just install the Divide and Conquer submod, as I do like a bunch of factions instead of just a handful.

Does Crimson Tide 4.2 work for this? I'd like to see my warriors get all gritty/bloodied up in the battlefield.

And does germanicus' REALLYBADAI System work still too?

[jinjo]

go with rohan, but don't autoresolve battles

[Bladvak]

I'd advise starting as Rohan or as Silvans. They're both good at introducing you into the game feel.

[chriskourou]

I'd go with Rohan on this.. although I usually play with elven factions.

[LuckyPistol]

Good starting factions I'd recommend:
1. Rhun - good economy to rely on, no real threats early on. Consists of mostly human vs human fighting until you get to dwarves and elves. They have a great roster too, plus they're units look amazing
2. Rohan - They have a relaxed campaign and a solid roster of cavalry units. You're relatively safe from Mordor unless you engage them/decide to help Gondor.
3. Elves- Superb units, easy enemies early on, and a slower campaign due to finance and recruitment rates.

Those top 3 are what I suggest to start out to get back into the M2 playstyle comfortably.

If you want to dive into the TATW style, I suggest Eriador, Harad, or Mordor. Now each of these play differently:

Eriador - you start out small, but there's no heavy action ever going on up north. You're surrounded by allies to the west, and the dwarves will help with the northern orcs. I won't spoil anything, but Eriador has the ability to become something great if you meet the requirements

Harad - They have the safest area in the game and a straightforward expansion into Gondor. Half of your campaign will be building up your economy though

Mordor - the perfect trial and error faction to introduce you to Horde style factions. You'll struggle in the beginning, but later on you'll be able to mass armies of monsters and catapults comfortably.

If you want a challenge, try out Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Dale, or Isengard. Or try turtling with Gondor

[The SilvanElve NL]

*ugh* download submods *ugh*

[Kolaris8472]

I think there are a few factors that make for a great campaign:

1. Medieval 2 gameplay works for that faction. You raise armies, expand your borders, and then grow your settlements. It never sat well with me when I tried playing as the Elves that I was sacrificing precious Eldar lives...to seize some backwater village of men that did me no harm.
2. Something to work towards. Several factions have mini-goals, like reforging Arnor or retaking the lost Dwarven halls.
3. Beautiful units. Everything in this mod is top quality work, but some go above and beyond. Arnor, Rhun, and the Dwarves especially exceed what I thought was possible in Medieval 2.

For the above reasons I've always felt that the best Third Age experience was Eriador. You have a reason to be expanding your borders (reclaiming the borders of Arnor), you have a long term goal (reforge Arnor), and when you do accomplish that goal it's sooo satisfying because the units are both gorgeous and extremely deadly.

The Dwarves are also a lot of fun if you stick to taking mountainous regions, working your way along the Gray Mountains then down the Misty Mountains.

If you want an Evil Campaign, Rhun is a great choice as well.

[Cybernaut]

It never sat well with me when I tried playing as the Elves that I was sacrificing precious Eldar lives...to seize some backwater village of men that did me no harm.

I think that in this mod, you can afford to be a little bit unscrupulous with the Elves too. Probably even attack some other Free People faction if you cannot find Melkor followers to attack anywhere.

[Nicolaos]

Rhun has always been my favorite as soon as you get the elite units

[DrDragun]

Third Age has quite a different pace than Medieval 2. Middle Earth is not so crowded as historic Europe and pop growth/trait gains are slower to make some battles more significant.

Good Factions
Easy - Rohan, Silvan Elves, High Elves
Medium - Dwarves (split territory management not military difficulty), Eriador, Dale
Hard - Gondor

Evil Factions
Easy - Harad, Rhun
Medium - Mordor (starting econ, then very easy), Gundabad
Hard - OotMM, Isengard