looking for small faction with strong troops

**Sloty** · November 28, 2015, 04:41 AM

Hi!
Is there a faction that starts with a relatively small number of provinces but has a strong unit roster?

**Genghis Skahn** · November 28, 2015, 04:50 AM

Originally Posted by Sloty

Hi!
Is there a faction that starts with a relatively small number of provinces but has a strong unit roster?

Hi, it depends on what you want from a faction--do yo want to be strong in infantry or cavalry?? or have a reasonable mix of both??

Try either the lusotannan or Areuakoi, their rosters are relatively complete and their unit selection is quite dependable.

The Boii, aedui and arverni have a good roster too.

If you need any tips for playing those factions, just let me know

. I already have a guide to playing the Boii posted in the gameplay guides and AAR sub-forum.

**Zeion** · November 28, 2015, 04:55 AM

There is Genghis Skahn with his germanic factions again

I would say Baktria, but depending on the difficulty settings, it can be a somewhat rough start with the nomad factions around and the strong Arche at your front door. Also, I dont have much experience with later releases and the scripted missions that were introduced.

Epeiros is another option if you don't mind a tough start in Greece.

Personally, I'm having a blast with Kimmeros Bosporos. They only start with one province, but have an easy start it seems (playing VH campaign difficulty and did not run into any problems). Their roster is interesting and fun - really recommend it.

**Genghis Skahn** · November 28, 2015, 05:03 AM

Originally Posted by Zeion

There is Genghis Skahn with his germanic factions again

I would say Baktria, but depending on the difficulty settings, it can be a somewhat rough start with the nomad factions around and the strong Arche at your front door. Also, I dont have much experience with later releases and the scripted missions that were introduced.

Epeiros is another option if you don't mind a tough start in Greece.

Personally, I'm having a blast with Kimmeros Bosporos. They only start with one province, but have an easy start it seems (playing VH campaign difficulty and did not run into any problems). Their roster is interesting and fun - really recommend it.

Germanic!? Those are celtic and iberian factions! *shakes fist*

EDIT: Baktria is a good beginners choice in hellenic factions because it's one of the only small factions which doesnt hemorrhage money without needing to disband it's beginner army. Unfortunately/fortunately(depends on how you view it), the huge rebel army in oyrta's province often attacks and sacks oksobara early, with z3ns aggressive rebel CAI. It ends up being a somewhat logistically difficult campaign, because you're smack dab in the middle of 4 factions, and you want to grow as large as humanly possible before committing yourself to war with the AS. Once you've established a power base, however, and have conquered enough eastern territories, things really start to improve for Baktria.

The KB will hemorrhage money in the early game without disbanding your starting army, but you have the luxury of being able to play a relatively isolationist campaign if you so choose.

Epeiros will start off at war on several fronts. She has a rough starting game, but once you establish a firm powerbase in Hellas, then things start to become a hell of a lot easier

**Sloty** · November 28, 2015, 05:08 AM

Is the mod now (with version 2.06f) relatively bug free, balanced, without ctds and most importantly a lot of fun?

**myarta** · November 28, 2015, 05:21 AM

Originally Posted by Sloty

Is the mod now (with version 2.06f) relatively bug free, balanced, without ctds and most importantly a lot of fun?

There is a bug in the Baktrian campaign missions that was a simple oops but will be fixed up 2.06g in a day or two, based on what we've been told.

The Autumn Release is coming up soon, but I think the game as it is now is quite enjoyable. I haven't had any problems with it crashing and being unplayable. Nothing atrociously imbalanced has come to mind, though the fuller rosters with the Autumn Release might make things even better.

**Zeion** · November 28, 2015, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by Sloty

Is the mod now (with version 2.06f) relatively bug free, balanced, without ctds and most importantly a lot of fun?

Absolutely.

It might depend a bit on the faction AND on your requirements for "historical accuracy" (see: baktrian mission bugs, some problems with government buildings).
I'm about 150 turns into a 2.06a campaign and I have not encountered a single CTD or apparent bug.

So its def. a lot of fun right now!

Just a hint: in my opinion, you need to play VH on the campaign. Otherwise, that is my gut feeling, the AI is too passive.

**Genghis Skahn** · November 28, 2015, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by Zeion

Absolutely.

It might depend a bit on the faction AND on your requirements for "historical accuracy" (see: baktrian mission bugs, some problems with government buildings).
I'm about 150 turns into a 2.06a campaign and I have not encountered a single CTD or apparent bug.

So its def. a lot of fun right now!

Just a hint: in my opinion, you need to play VH on the campaign. Otherwise, that is my gut feeling, the AI is too passive.

The AI on my H/M Taksashila game is expanding nicely and is fine with making war on me/using shadow tactics to weaken my nation state. VH just tends to make any neighbor attack you, in my experience. 2.06g should be on the way shortly(fixing the 2nd baktria mission, among other things) and the autumn 2.1 release is also around the corner(which will add a butt load of units to the game). The bug testing in this community has been rigorous, and Quintus Sertorious and z3n have been very active in trying to make the BAI, CAI and game in general more balanced. Every week or two there seems to be a patch out to improve or fix the game in some way. Ive played 300+ turns of a saka rauka game with no fatal and repeating CTDs. Currently, this is a very stable mod with a very active community dedicated to improving it.

**myarta** · November 28, 2015, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by Zeion

Absolutely.

It might depend a bit on the faction AND on your requirements for "historical accuracy" (see: baktrian mission bugs, some problems with government buildings).
I'm about 150 turns into a 2.06a campaign and I have not encountered a single CTD or apparent bug.

So its def. a lot of fun right now!

Just a hint: in my opinion, you need to play VH on the campaign. Otherwise, that is my gut feeling, the AI is too passive.

Zeion, I don't think that applies to 2.06f. The early 2.06's were testing out a more passive AI. One of the later releases switched back to the more aggressive AI file that was used on the 2.03 - 2.05 range. I think it was 2.06d and onwards.

**Hummer** · November 28, 2015, 10:01 AM

Play Pergamon.

**QuintusSertorius** · November 28, 2015, 07:08 PM

2.06g/2.07 is around the corner; I'm waiting on a significant BAI update from z3n which may include some selective re-introduction of scripting (not wholesale like G5). Something we really want to get some thorough testing before the release.

**Barnabas** · November 28, 2015, 07:38 PM

Talking about small factions with strong troops. For the first time I'm trying a Lugia campaign and having really hard/impossible time with it. The starting province doesn't make any income so after recruiting all I can with the starting money, I've decided to take the settlement Lugiadonon which seemed to have the highest population around. I cannot take any third settlement with the remaining army (easiest seems to be the start of Amber Route settlement just north of Kalisia but my troops cannot stand against the force of townsquare

). If I disband all the troops I have other than FM's I can make some 150 per turn (depth is 5000) but draw the attention of Bastarnae Rebel Army moving to siege me from the settlement north of Getai Koile.

Am I doing something seriously wrong here? Any tips on Lugia? Build is latest Medium battles Hard campaign..

**QuintusSertorius** · November 28, 2015, 07:45 PM

Devastation caused by nearby Rebel stacks I believe is the culprit here.

**Roma_Victrix** · November 28, 2015, 08:16 PM

Two words, bro: KOINON HELLENON. Nuff said.

I have a little bit of a bias in that suggestion though; they're my favorite faction.

**Imperial Pudding Head** · November 28, 2015, 09:19 PM

If you have a problems with money Baktria is your best bet, Mostly bcs baktra spews out so many mnai a turn that your entire economy is sustained by it. The tributes won't even make a dent on your economy
And even though they're a bit smack dab in the middle of nowhere with four factions on your borders only one of them will be active towards you.

The giant AS will mostly loves you if you keep paying the bills and do their missions (not to mention you get reward from their missions), Pahlava will be mostly happy chilling out on their side of the caspian, taksashila got tons of rebel on their land to bother going towards you, and it leaves us with your only constant threat the saka, which is pretty weak once you get around the basics of steppe tactics.

And a few tips on sieges and devastation, don't assault unless you have overwhelming advantage (something that won't happen early game). Instead try to force them to sally, which will put them on your level. The trick is to siege the town you're after with fewer troops than the enemy do, with a bit of luck they will sally out on their turn.

On devastation try to place watchtowers to cover your entire territory and take note on black patches on your land.
Most of the time its rebel stacks on your roads, but sometimes enemy troops can also cause devastation by standing near your border.

**QuintusSertorius** · November 29, 2015, 05:34 AM

However, if you do want to try Baktria, you need to wait for the next patch (which will be 2.06g or 2.07 depending on what we call it) since the second mission has a CTD-causing bug in it.