If you could add 10 more Factions, what would you choose?

[Lusitanio]

Just for fun, if we could add 10 more factions to the game what would be your choices? Try to explain your reasons if you have the time.

I would choose:
1- Another Numidian tribe - So we can have the two main tribes (the Massylii and the Masaesyli) fighting each other and even a nice reform after the player defeats the other tribe, creating a united Numidian Kingdom.
2 - An Iberian tribe - Either the Gallaeci, the Asturian or the Ilergetan in order to add more wood to the fire in that region!
3 - Syracuse – I think it’s self-explanatory since it was one of the biggest cities in the period of time of the game and would be a very hard faction to play, with the player facing pretty soon both Romans and Carthaginians.
4 - Massalia – Another fun greek faction that would be awesome to play with but this time facing Gauls in southern France.
5 - Rhodes – A city very involved in war during the time of the game and rather fun to play with.
6 - Sparta and Athens – There would be no more a KH faction, instead each city would be a faction by themselves.
7 - Galatia – A faction in the central Anatolia, with lots of factions to fight and a great unit roster, it would probably be one of the hardest factions to play but it would be pretty fun.
8 - Ambrones/Ligures – A faction in Cisalpine Gaul, it would soon face the Romans…
9 - Cimbri or Insumbres – Or another major German faction that existed at the time of the game.
10 - The last one would be either a Nomadic tribe in the east or the Thracians.

[Genava]

1 - A Belgian tribe, probably the Remi or the Suessiones because of their hegemony with Diuitiacos (over Britain and Belgium regions).
2 - An Iberian tribe (Iberian civilization), the Oretani or the Ilergetes. They were quite active against the Carthaginians.
3 - An Aquitanian tribe, Proto-Basque populations with strong La Tène influence. The Tarbelli or the Sotiates.
4 - Syracuse, if we give them the possibility to rise from their defeat in 307 BC.
5 - A Caucasian Iberian faction, the Pharnavazid dynasty (Kartli). They were close to become a powerful kingdom, beaten by Armenians.
6 - The Cimbri. Contrary to the common belief, the "Germans" at this time are not a single culture and there is interesting materials to build a Jutland tribe.
7 - A Cisalpine Gallic tribe, the Insubres.
8 - A Balkanic tribe. The Scordisci or the Triballi. It could be a faction where the player can choose which culture from his confederation to reinforce (a little tweak on accuracy thought).
9 - An Irish Iron age tribe. There is quite a lot of archeology material up there now.
10 - The Kushites (Meroe).

[Roma_Victrix]

Warring States of China:
1) State of Qin (western China), which would unify all of China in 221 BC under Qin Shihuangdi, China's first emperor
2) State of Zhao (northwestern China)
3) State of Wei (central China)
4) State of Han (south central China)
5) State of Chu (southern China)
6) State of Qi (northeastern China)
7) State of Yan (northeastern China)
8) Xiongnu, steppe nomads of ancient Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin/Taklamakan Desert, ancestors to the Huns
9) Maurya Empire of India, since we need a good balance act against the Taksashila faction
10) Scordisci Celts of ancient Serbia

[Genava]

Warring States of China:
1) State of Qin (western China), which would unify all of China in 221 BC under Qin Shihuangdi, China's first emperor
2) State of Zhao (northwestern China)
3) State of Wei (central China)
4) State of Han (south central China)
5) State of Chu (southern China)
6) State of Qi (northeastern China)
7) State of Yan (northeastern China)
8) Xiongnu, steppe nomads of ancient Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin/Taklamakan Desert, ancestors to the Huns
9) Maurya Empire of India, since we need a good balance act against the Taksashila faction
10) Scordisci Celts of ancient Serbia

well played

[Hellenikon]

I would add some of the factions already mentioned, and to make room i would remove others... but i won't say which ones because it would start a flame war

[Roma_Victrix]

I would add some of the factions already mentioned, and to make room i would remove others... but i won't say which ones because it would start a flame war

[Giant black 80s sunglasses and wild Sicilian hand gestures with cigar in hand.]

A sexy hot flame war is precisely the sort of thing we need to push this thread straight up to the top, baby! Yeah! Sell it! Ship em all! Like hot cakes. Let's get the blood pumping, the juices flowing, the temples throbbing, and the flames licking, baby! Haha!

well played

Too bad our M2TW engine would break down and cry if we tried to include all of mainland Asia, stretching all the way to the Korean peninsula in the easternmost portion and Gulf of Thailand in the southernmost portion. The northern Korean peninsula was even colonized by Western Han China in the late 2nd century BC, within our EBII time frame, after they conquered and absorbed the native Korean Gojoseon kingdom.

[Dargaron]

7 - Galatia – A faction in the central Anatolia, with lots of factions to fight and a great unit rooster, it would probably be one of the hardest factions to play but it would be pretty fun.

Darn it, do we really need to bring back that "Sweboz Rooster" signature from EBI? :-D

/end silliness

I probably wouldn't want a full 10 extra factions: you'd either end up with some regions feeling overcrowded while others would still represent the current paradigm.

I'm also assuming that we won't be getting any new provinces.

1: Kush. Seriously, I don't care if their portraits don't match: shove them in the Semitic group and call it a day. Kush represents an expansionist kingdom that existed at our start date, is distinct from her neighbors, and has expansion possibilities both in South Arabia, North Arabia and Egypt proper.

2: Mauritania. I recall the very early Peoples of North Africa preview talked about how Mauritania has some kind of monarchical government at our start date. Plus, having a third faction in North-West Africa would allow the factions in that part of the world to play off one another: at the moment, it seems like either Carthage fully eats Numidia or Numidia replaces Carthage. Also Mauritania usually ends up as a weird appendage of whichever faction dominates Iberia: a Mauritanian faction might make this less likely.

3: Media Atropatane. A less Caucasian, more Persian version of Hayasdan? I'd buy that for a dollar. Plus they existed at the start date and have similar expansion possibilities to Hayastan, with the exception of replacing Colchis with potential incursions into Parthia.

4: Atrebates (or a Belgic tribe in general). This option seems fairly popular, so I'll defer to the forum on this one. The Belgae/proto-Belgae seem like a decent faction to contest the Rhineland with whichever of the Gallic/Germanic factions gets there first, and can threaten the Pritanoi (although in theory, the Aedui are only one province away from acquiring naval capacity, so not sure how much that would affect things)

5: Scordisci(?): This one is a maybe. At the moment, Pannonia (and Illyria in general) is an enormous power vacuum that inevitably gets eaten up by the Boii, Epirus or Getal (with the Sweboz occasionally gobbling up EVERYONE). It's a giant empty hole in the map in the north-west Balkans, and Illyria is suspiciously quiet for most of the game.

6: SOMEBODY in Cisalpine Gaul: The fact that the game requires large rebel stacks in North Italy to "simulate" the Gallic confederacies in the region indicates that there's a large amount of untapped military power in north Italy: now that Mediolanum isn't folded under the Aedui, like in EBI, it seems like the Alpine/Po River regions could use a faction.

7: Possibly split off Rhodes from the KH: Rhodes was really the only member of the KH to have independent foreign policy beyond the very start of the game, and tended to look more towards Anatolia and the Aegean than the Mainland Greek powers. There's expansion room in south-west Anatoila (although they'd have to race against Pergamon to get it), not to mention Crete or sniping some possessions of whichever Diadochos they decide not to side with (personally, I'd gank Kupros from the Ptolemies, but that's just me).

And...that's basically it.

-A second British faction (I feel) would be wasted since that entire region is highly speculative anyway: I'm not sure that there would be a historically-appropriate way to distinguish between the two powers, given how little information there actually is.

-The Sweboz basically "fill" the entirety of central Germany, and the Lugiones likewise "fill" Poland with their natural expansion zones. Russia is "Here there be Dragons" territory.

-IIRC, Western Gaul is something of a backwater, and with the addition of a Belgic faction, Gaul would be approaching capacity. Maybe Veneti/proto-Veneti?

-I don't think there's any particularly hegemonic power among the proper Iberian states at this time, so Iberia gets to keep the partially-celticized dudes and the mostly-celticized dudes (Lusotannan and Areuakoi, respectively).

-The steppes are mostly full, between the KB, Sauromatate, Pahlava and Saka. India is likewise full, Iran is taken up with the Seleucid Empire, North Africa (besides the Desert Fringe and Mauritania) is also too full, and IIRC, there aren't really any other expansionist powers in Arabia proper.

[Lusitanio]

Warring States of China:
1) State of Qin (western China), which would unify all of China in 221 BC under Qin Shihuangdi, China's first emperor
2) State of Zhao (northwestern China)
3) State of Wei (central China)
4) State of Han (south central China)
5) State of Chu (southern China)
6) State of Qi (northeastern China)
7) State of Yan (northeastern China)
8) Xiongnu, steppe nomads of ancient Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin/Taklamakan Desert, ancestors to the Huns
9) Maurya Empire of India, since we need a good balance act against the Taksashila faction
10) Scordisci Celts of ancient Serbia

I really wasn't expecting that x) You have won the internet for today!

[Genava]

4: Atrebates (or a Belgic tribe in general). This option seems fairly popular, so I'll defer to the forum on this one. The Belgae/proto-Belgae seem like a decent faction to contest the Rhineland with whichever of the Gallic/Germanic factions gets there first, and can threaten the Pritanoi (although in theory, the Aedui are only one province away from acquiring naval capacity, so not sure how much that would affect things)

The Atrebates are popular but they are more related to the Commios post-Gallic war flee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commius

I personally prefer the Suessiones because of their pre-Gallic war role during their king Diuiciacos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diviciacus_(Suessiones)
And because of the role of their king Galba during the Gallic war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galba_(Suessiones)

Moreover, they seems to have built a double-tribal kingdom, as Caesar stated and as several coins suggest (according to Patrick Pion).

Edit: and they have a cool coin https://www.cgb.fr/suessions-region-...55_0582,a.html + https://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotvi...92a164120e2296

-A second British faction (I feel) would be wasted since that entire region is highly speculative anyway: I'm not sure that there would be a historically-appropriate way to distinguish between the two powers, given how little information there actually is.

-The Sweboz basically "fill" the entirety of central Germany, and the Lugiones likewise "fill" Poland with their natural expansion zones. Russia is "Here there be Dragons" territory.

Well, honestly the "Germans" of the Jastorf Culture (which is only one of many cultures in the area at this time) didn't have a better archaeological history than the Irish Iron Age for the pre-roman period. They are even quite the opposite. Jastorf = only ceramics and nothing else (and a few belts hooks near the Gallic war). Irish iron age = no ceramics but several hillforts and royal sites.

[Roma_Victrix]

I really wasn't expecting that x) You have won the internet for today!

If there was an 11th slot there for another available faction, I would add either the Early Pandyan Kingdom of southern India (in Tamil territory, rivals to the Maurya Empire), or the Nanyue Kingdom of northern Vietnam and southwestern China.

The Nanyue Kingdom (or "Nam Viet" in Vietnamese) is totally underrated (and it surprisingly doesn't drive modern-day Vietnamese insane due to being founded by a Chinese guy). It was founded in 203 BC by Zhao Tuo, a former Qin dynasty Chinese governor and general who formed his own breakaway state after defeating the Baiyue people of the region. It wasn't conquered and absorbed into the realm of China's Western Han dynasty until 111 BC, under the reign of Emperor Wu (who, as I mentioned before, conquered Gojoseon in northern Korea, and also defeated the Xiongnu in Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin region of easternmost Central Asia).

[hlidskjalf]

-IIRC, Western Gaul is something of a backwater, and with the addition of a Belgic faction, Gaul would be approaching capacity. Maybe Veneti/proto-Veneti?

i would love to play a dedicated armorican faction but is there enough historical material to make them unique enough from aedui/arvern? as it is now there are i believe three armorican land units and their unique fleet type, but in all of armorica i can only remember kondates as the sole population center. so maybe with the rumored belgic faction coming into the area it might be a little cramped indeed. i do however agree with other posts about a cisalpine gallic faction and a galatian faction! galatian faction would make for a flavorful campaign contre eastern hellenic type armies. and cisalpine gaul to protect europe from the evil romani, of course

and the cimbri, as a celto-germanic(?) faction (are they thought to be celto-germanic?), would be fun, recreating the campaigns of the cimbrian war!

[Stannis Baratheon]

1. Ardiatei, really wish they eventually get added.
2. Galatians
3. Caledonians (yeah it'd be bad for gameplay/historicity but populating British isles with another faction would be fun)
4. Cantabrians
5. Mauritians
6. Insubres
7. Syracuse
8. Kush
9. Belgae (but they're getting added anyway)
10. Thracians

Thinking about splitting up KH but having only Athens and Sparta wouldn't make that much sense and them and Rhodes on their own would likely just get eaten up too fast. If it was possible to use navies to more effectively prevent naval invasions and have them be more relevant in general then maybe.

[Lusitanio]

If there was an 11th slot there for another available faction, I would add either the Early Pandyan Kingdom of southern India (in Tamil territory, rivals to the Maurya Empire), or the Nanyue Kingdom of northern Vietnam and southwestern China.

The Nanyue Kingdom (or "Nam Viet" in Vietnamese) is totally underrated (and it surprisingly doesn't drive modern-day Vietnamese insane due to being founded by a Chinese guy). It was founded in 203 BC by Zhao Tuo, a former Qin dynasty Chinese governor and general who formed his own breakaway state after defeating the Baiyue people of the region. It wasn't conquered and absorbed into the realm of China's Western Han dynasty until 111 BC, under the reign of Emperor Wu (who, as I mentioned before, conquered Gojoseon in northern Korea, and also defeated the Xiongnu in Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin region of easternmost Central Asia).

How do you know so much about Asian history?

My dream is that in 2030 or something, there will another great medieval total war game released by CA that will be extremely easy to mod and EBIII will emerge with all its splendour! And than to war we go!

[Dargaron]

If there was an 11th slot there for another available faction, I would add either the Early Pandyan Kingdom of southern India (in Tamil territory, rivals to the Maurya Empire), or the Nanyue Kingdom of northern Vietnam and southwestern China.

The Nanyue Kingdom (or "Nam Viet" in Vietnamese) is totally underrated (and it surprisingly doesn't drive modern-day Vietnamese insane due to being founded by a Chinese guy). It was founded in 203 BC by Zhao Tuo, a former Qin dynasty Chinese governor and general who formed his own breakaway state after defeating the Baiyue people of the region. It wasn't conquered and absorbed into the realm of China's Western Han dynasty until 111 BC, under the reign of Emperor Wu (who, as I mentioned before, conquered Gojoseon in northern Korea, and also defeated the Xiongnu in Mongolia, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin region of easternmost Central Asia).

But, Roma_Victrix, why not Minyue? I mean they're sort of the Byzantine- excuse me, "Eastern Roman Empire" of the various Yue peoples: after the fall of the Kingdom of Yue circa 300, members of the aristocracy set themselves up in Fujian, rebranded themselves as Minyue and kept on trucking until the Han took them out, also in 111.

The Yue proper were a non-Chinese people dwelling south of the mouth of the Yangtze River, apparently were known for their snake tattoos, and even took out one of the Warring States by invading Wu (modern Zhengjiang) in alliance with the inland Chu Dynasty before their allies betrayed them and annexed the region?

Plus, the Minyue are known for their boats, so you could have these cool, serpent-tattooed marines with javelins and short swords!

[Roma_Victrix]

How do you know so much about Asian history?

My dream is that in 2030 or something, there will another great medieval total war game released by CA that will be extremely easy to mod and EBIII will emerge with all its splendour! And than to war we go!

Speaking of Asian history, Total War: Three Kingdoms focusing on China in the 3rd century AD will consume everyone's attention in 2019, so we probably won't see a Medieval III: Total War anytime soon. Even so, CA might bungle it, as they tend to do these days.

But, Roma_Victrix, why not Minyue? I mean they're sort of the Byzantine- excuse me, "Eastern Roman Empire" of the various Yue peoples: after the fall of the Kingdom of Yue circa 300, members of the aristocracy set themselves up in Fujian, rebranded themselves as Minyue and kept on trucking until the Han took them out, also in 111.

The Yue proper were a non-Chinese people dwelling south of the mouth of the Yangtze River, apparently were known for their snake tattoos, and even took out one of the Warring States by invading Wu (modern Zhengjiang) in alliance with the inland Chu Dynasty before their allies betrayed them and annexed the region?

Plus, the Minyue are known for their boats, so you could have these cool, serpent-tattooed marines with javelins and short swords!

You had me at snake tattoos!

[Wulfburk]

Galatia, Bithynia, split Koinon Hellenon into Sparta Athens and Rhodes. Syracuse, Meroe, Belgae, and one of each celtic, german and thracian tribes.

[Cultist]

I agree with this list. Especially the use and abuse of Media Atropatane. I would love to see it in EB, a region of Media which preserved its traditions and identity for some time. Then i can finally have a proper Achaemenid reconstruction

Darn it, do we really need to bring back that "Sweboz Rooster" signature from EBI? :-D

/end silliness

I probably wouldn't want a full 10 extra factions: you'd either end up with some regions feeling overcrowded while others would still represent the current paradigm.

I'm also assuming that we won't be getting any new provinces.

1: Kush. Seriously, I don't care if their portraits don't match: shove them in the Semitic group and call it a day. Kush represents an expansionist kingdom that existed at our start date, is distinct from her neighbors, and has expansion possibilities both in South Arabia, North Arabia and Egypt proper.

2: Mauritania. I recall the very early Peoples of North Africa preview talked about how Mauritania has some kind of monarchical government at our start date. Plus, having a third faction in North-West Africa would allow the factions in that part of the world to play off one another: at the moment, it seems like either Carthage fully eats Numidia or Numidia replaces Carthage. Also Mauritania usually ends up as a weird appendage of whichever faction dominates Iberia: a Mauritanian faction might make this less likely.

3: Media Atropatane. A less Caucasian, more Persian version of Hayasdan? I'd buy that for a dollar. Plus they existed at the start date and have similar expansion possibilities to Hayastan, with the exception of replacing Colchis with potential incursions into Parthia.

4: Atrebates (or a Belgic tribe in general). This option seems fairly popular, so I'll defer to the forum on this one. The Belgae/proto-Belgae seem like a decent faction to contest the Rhineland with whichever of the Gallic/Germanic factions gets there first, and can threaten the Pritanoi (although in theory, the Aedui are only one province away from acquiring naval capacity, so not sure how much that would affect things)

5: Scordisci(?): This one is a maybe. At the moment, Pannonia (and Illyria in general) is an enormous power vacuum that inevitably gets eaten up by the Boii, Epirus or Getal (with the Sweboz occasionally gobbling up EVERYONE). It's a giant empty hole in the map in the north-west Balkans, and Illyria is suspiciously quiet for most of the game.

6: SOMEBODY in Cisalpine Gaul: The fact that the game requires large rebel stacks in North Italy to "simulate" the Gallic confederacies in the region indicates that there's a large amount of untapped military power in north Italy: now that Mediolanum isn't folded under the Aedui, like in EBI, it seems like the Alpine/Po River regions could use a faction.

7: Possibly split off Rhodes from the KH: Rhodes was really the only member of the KH to have independent foreign policy beyond the very start of the game, and tended to look more towards Anatolia and the Aegean than the Mainland Greek powers. There's expansion room in south-west Anatoila (although they'd have to race against Pergamon to get it), not to mention Crete or sniping some possessions of whichever Diadochos they decide not to side with (personally, I'd gank Kupros from the Ptolemies, but that's just me).

And...that's basically it.

-A second British faction (I feel) would be wasted since that entire region is highly speculative anyway: I'm not sure that there would be a historically-appropriate way to distinguish between the two powers, given how little information there actually is.

-The Sweboz basically "fill" the entirety of central Germany, and the Lugiones likewise "fill" Poland with their natural expansion zones. Russia is "Here there be Dragons" territory.

-IIRC, Western Gaul is something of a backwater, and with the addition of a Belgic faction, Gaul would be approaching capacity. Maybe Veneti/proto-Veneti?

-I don't think there's any particularly hegemonic power among the proper Iberian states at this time, so Iberia gets to keep the partially-celticized dudes and the mostly-celticized dudes (Lusotannan and Areuakoi, respectively).

-The steppes are mostly full, between the KB, Sauromatate, Pahlava and Saka. India is likewise full, Iran is taken up with the Seleucid Empire, North Africa (besides the Desert Fringe and Mauritania) is also too full, and IIRC, there aren't really any other expansionist powers in Arabia proper.

[wermez]

Odryssian Kingdom, Scordisci, Galatia, Cimbri/Teutones, Scythians, Syracuse, Media.

[athanaric]

Honestly, I'd much rather be able to add 10 more regions than 10 more factions.

[Sarkiss]

Honestly, I'd much rather be able to add 10 more regions than 10 more factions.

good point. how come no one mentioned Achaean and Aetolian Leagues? for the former, an extra region in Peloponnese would be needed but otherwise i dont think they are far off from Sparta or Athens in terms of strength and significance during this period.