Migrating Factions

[Miria]

So i've had successful campaigns with both Romans, Sassanids as well as a fairly decent run with the Huns.

I'm still trying to decide which barbarian faction to play through as, more so out of the migrators.

I'm not too fussed about Alans, but as for the other 4 i'm not too sure.

I like the Ostrogoths because of their ability to recruit Roman units and their ease of settling in Roman lands due to their traits. I wanna take over Italy and become the new empire but i also start at war with the Huns who would become a problem later on.

Visigoths have a fairly easy start as well as a good unit roster and unlike their counterparts they don't start at war with the Huns. However the ERE is no pushover and is usually harder to take down than the WRE which is spread far and wide. Also, i have 2 puppet states to deal with and of course the Sassanids to the east who might decide they want ERE's lands for themselves.

Vandals are better suited to water but i've never actually gotten that far with them yet, the two times i tried, first time i went after Alamans and subjugated them but then the Langobards and Franks declared war. The second time i built up 2 extra full stacks, 4 in total and then i camped around and eventually had about 6 armies but of course by the time i thought about settling i knew that as soon as i settle im gonna be in debt and have no food to support my armies so it was a case of continue migrating or settle and just try and deal with it. But i'm thinking it would be great to go and take Rome, instead of staying true to history and simply sacking it i was thinking it would be cool to see the Vandals take Rome and all of Italy then use their naval traits to help control the Med Sea.

Lastly, the Suebians are great because they have no enemies at the start and they are free to wander WRE lands, especially Spain which is a rich place to settle and even the opening dialogue suggests it. They have a pretty easy start but their unit roster seems like just a copy/paste of Alamans/Vandals with only a few unique units of their own, if that. I liked Suebi in Rome 2 but this time around they don't feel very important.

At this point it's a toss up between Ostrogoths, Vandals and Suebians.
Anyone got some insight to their experience as any of these factions? which migratory faction do you like and what was your plan? where did you migrate to or did you remain a horde?.

[Northern Musa]

Well, I have completed a Suebi and playing a Vandal campaign. The Suebi are decent from start. I started off by getting a second horde, and worked on the horde economy a bit. It is important to save a lot of money early one as Building conversions as migratory factions are really expensive. You start of sacking Roman cities for money, but that's really risky since both Roman empire are actually strong in the beginning. Instead, send your spies north to encounter more factions as you have potential trade partners once you settle. This solved my financial problems as the Suebi. Also, once you settle down, convert your religion to whatever religion in the most dominant as Germanic paganism is at 0% when settled. Latin Christianity is pretty a decent as their osmosis is the largest, but other alternatives are not bad. Recruit priestesses for public order as they can get to dangerous levels quickly. Speaking of public order, a lot of your armies are going to be static for public order, so just be patient for social and economic stability. It's really going to take long, but with careful management, you should have all of Iberia and western Africa and Mediterranean islands before Minor Victory.

For Vandal campaign, it seems easy, but it becomes a bit difficult. My first move was to subjugate the Marcomans, and made 8k by sacking their settlement. Sack a lot with Vandals as their factional trait gives bonus to raiding and sacking. Then, I went after the Alamans with successful subjugation. After this, halt subjugation, and go on sacking and razing. The Alamans were the only loyal client state, and I made a mistake by subjugating the Langobards and the Thuringians. I almost got destroyed by their stacks, but managed to get my revenge by razing their settlements, and turning them into only a page in history books! This could indirectly help WRE as it reduced their potential invaders, leaving more settlements for you to take safely. Unfortunately, these actions lead to most of the Barbarians acting hostile, so I attacked WRE. This will improve relations with them, allowing you to negotiate peace with factions you're at war with and increasing the chances of trade agreement. I punched from the Alps all the way to Sicily, even sacking Rome on the way (there is a Steam achievement for that). Sacking their cities probably made me at least 30k. Sack, but never raze as you want those cities at a later date (unless you are really desperate). I then crosses the Mediterranean to settle in Africa (Carthage) as the Vandals historically did (but not via the Strait of Gibraltar). Make sure you have three hordes and a lot of money in treasury (I mean SUPER A LOT), so that you can take Africa in a single turn and have the money to convert the city buildings as they could cost up to 10k. But, convert the buildings after you enact the "Resettlement" edict as it discounts 10% of the construction cost with additional 10+ growth in the region. From then on, proper management should allow you to consolidate, and the rest should be pretty easy for you.

I only played a bit of Ostrogothic campaign, so my advice on this won't be the best, but I still hope it will be useful. Since you start in Dacia, go after ERE first as their Balkan forces are small (but remeber that their forces could grow large too. Never underestimate the Romans, and always keep you forces united). Sack and liberate some settlements to boost your treasury for future cause. Wait just a bit before you invade WRE, as you don't to get their attention too quickly. When WRE is loosing ground, go through Dalmatia towards Italy, especially when there are other factions are near you. I settle in Ravenna to play it historically. The good thing about Ostrogoths is that there is no conquest penalty when you settle in Roman regions, so Public order is not much of a problem. But, afterwards, some factions tend to get in the way of your conquest, your the rest of the campaign can get twisty. The feature that allows you to recruit Roman units is cool, but it's sad that you can't build nor upgrade those buildings... I only played up this point, but I can tell the rest will be a quite a mess...

The Visigothic and Alani campaign are pretty cool, but I'll admit I haven't played these factions much. The Visigothic should plow through the Balkans quite easily, and head west when WRE is weakened. For Alans, their forces are pretty scattered, so their union is their priority. Like previous factions. Sack you way through the Balkans, and it's pretty much up to you whether you should head west or east, but keep your forces always united until you settle. The Alani victory condition is quite unpleasant as the Minor Victory conditions require you to have regions that are at polar opposite ends of the map. I am still trying to map out this plan with no success, but nobody has to play campaigns for victory conditions. Hope you enjoy some Barbarian wrath!

[Miria]

Thanks for the tips Musa.

In my few campaigns as Suebi i always go straight for Hispania, building up a 2nd and 3rd army along the way so i can simultaneously take 3 settlements in one go in the same province so i can speed up conversion of that province. It works pretty well as the rest of Hispania is easy to take (i usually go for the province with Brigantium in it first as that capital has gold). The only problem is, every Suebi campaign i've ever played the other factions seem to go crazy as far as taking down the WRE. I mean other factions i've played as i watch as the WRE gets steamrolled by many factions but usually they only end up at war with a few extras besides the ones they start at war with. However with Suebi the WRE seems to fall a lot faster, i don't have time to set up my first province because it's a race to take the rest of Hispania before the rest of the barbarians get there first. My current one i've taken all of it except the north-eastern part of Hispania as the Picts, surprisingly beat me to it. So my only choice is to take Hispania as quick as possible but risk rebellions as i wont have time to sort out public order or just bide my time in whatever regions/provinces i can take and then build up and attack the other barbarians.

I never really considered going after other barbarians as Vandals, normally i just subjugate Alamans then proceed into WRE lands to either settle in Italy, Africa or Spain. I suppose though it's no surprise if i run into the same problem i have with Suebi where by the time i'm all settled in half the WRE is already gone. So i either need to be quick settling or as you said maybe go after the barbarians first and allow the WRE to hold out which could help in the long run.

As either goth faction i think the best way to go is just cross the Med to Italy or Africa and settle there, rich lands further away from enemies besides the Romans who are too busy to attack me anyway. Plus it means i am far away from the Huns and i can just take over Africa and then turtle for a while, guarding the coast and the entrances to Africa.

I've never really gotten far with Alans and the victory conditions did worry me a bit, they are probably the hardest migratory faction to play as IMO even without that victory condition. They start at war with ERE, the Huns dislike them and i tried settling in Scythia only to have the Afrighids or Arran declare war on me....along with the Sassanids and all their eastern buddies....not fun. Plus there are the other nomads roaming about.

I've also considered playing as a barbarian faction like Burgundy or something and just migrate from Germania to Roman lands.

[Northern Musa]

Thanks for the tips Musa.

In my few campaigns as Suebi i always go straight for Hispania, building up a 2nd and 3rd army along the way so i can simultaneously take 3 settlements in one go in the same province so i can speed up conversion of that province. It works pretty well as the rest of Hispania is easy to take (i usually go for the province with Brigantium in it first as that capital has gold). The only problem is, every Suebi campaign i've ever played the other factions seem to go crazy as far as taking down the WRE. I mean other factions i've played as i watch as the WRE gets steamrolled by many factions but usually they only end up at war with a few extras besides the ones they start at war with. However with Suebi the WRE seems to fall a lot faster, i don't have time to set up my first province because it's a race to take the rest of Hispania before the rest of the barbarians get there first. My current one i've taken all of it except the north-eastern part of Hispania as the Picts, surprisingly beat me to it. So my only choice is to take Hispania as quick as possible but risk rebellions as i wont have time to sort out public order or just bide my time in whatever regions/provinces i can take and then build up and attack the other barbarians.

I never really considered going after other barbarians as Vandals, normally i just subjugate Alamans then proceed into WRE lands to either settle in Italy, Africa or Spain. I suppose though it's no surprise if i run into the same problem i have with Suebi where by the time i'm all settled in half the WRE is already gone. So i either need to be quick settling or as you said maybe go after the barbarians first and allow the WRE to hold out which could help in the long run.

As either goth faction i think the best way to go is just cross the Med to Italy or Africa and settle there, rich lands further away from enemies besides the Romans who are too busy to attack me anyway. Plus it means i am far away from the Huns and i can just take over Africa and then turtle for a while, guarding the coast and the entrances to Africa.

I've never really gotten far with Alans and the victory conditions did worry me a bit, they are probably the hardest migratory faction to play as IMO even without that victory condition. They start at war with ERE, the Huns dislike them and i tried settling in Scythia only to have the Afrighids or Arran declare war on me....along with the Sassanids and all their eastern buddies....not fun. Plus there are the other nomads roaming about.

I've also considered playing as a barbarian faction like Burgundy or something and just migrate from Germania to Roman lands.

Interesting campaigns! One challenge for Barbarian factions are indeed scramble for Roman lands. It's a displeasure to have the give/obtain region option taken out after Napoleon, as they were really useful at adjusting your domains. As the Suebi, I have all of Iberia except for Tarraco, which my military ally Franks have it. I sent my priestesses to disturb the public order there, which helped them to covert from Germanic paganism to Latin Christianity, which even boosted the public order. I probably have to betray them them at some point, which will have heavy repercussions from the diplomatic entanglement... Nevetheless, risking rebellions, in my opinion, are pretty decent, although you don't want to have the emergent faction of Hispania to rival you in Iberia and other Barbarians could still beat the rebel with some ease. What makes Iberia idealistic are their distant proximity from the Frontier regions of WRE, and it is usually the last Roman region to fall, even later than Italy. Iberia is a great place to consolidate for any migratory faction. But, any alternative strategy would still produce some insane amount of fun (or frustration ) by adding some historical chronology and challenge!

[Miria]

I noticed that Iberia is the last to fall, sometimes they have their islands too but they lose Africa to the 3 factions there, France to the celts and franks/saxons ect and the east to the Ostrogoths and Quadians and Illyria.

I'm gonna try a new Suebi campaign but this time i'm just gonna take the first Iberian settlement i can get to then work my way down, hopefully i can take all of it before anyone else that way i can build up my empire from there.

The Suebian empire will live again