New Player with some questions.

[Draken2007]

Hey everyone, long time member and forum lurker as decided to finally return to Medieval 2 after a really LONG break. Modern Total War games are super disapointing to me and utterly fail to deliver what I want from them. And I've been wanting to come back to what is still to date, my favorite Total War game. But specially to this one. I've been hearing about EBII for years but never really got around to playing it, but now, I'm finally taking the plunge.

So, while it's downloading, I'd figure I'd ask what is the interesting factions to start with or what is the most friendly for a beginner. I imagine Rome would be a good one and maybe Macedon?

Oh, and do people play it in multiplayer? I wouldn't mind some player vs player battles every now and then.

Recomendations and advices for a new player is welcomed!

[RodriguesSting]

Rome is absolutely fine. They got a great starting position, great economy, a sizeable starting army, a starting enemy that requires a naval invasion to get to your territory, and all the proposed mechanical systems are in place and working well. The Cursus Honorum might look intimidating for a new player, but it is not difficult to use at all. You got plenty of old farts to be Consul and get nifty bonuses to lead your armies while you put your young FMs to be *secondary* generals in an army and wait up until they get to the service mark you want (2.5, 5, 7.5 years at max). After that, depending on the office they get, use them as governors, temporary, or permanent if they are doing some good work in the cities. Imperium is useful, but not necessary. Commanding without Imperium causes a few maluses, but a good general will be able to ignore them entirely, and there's currently no punishment for doing so.

Macedonia and the other Successors offer a slightly more straightforward game, although a Hellenic game will be frustrating for a more experienced player for entirely other reasons. You have access to good settlements and good troops, but the problem is that your recruitment is not fantastic. Many units, not one going above a 3 pool for most of the game. However, you get large mercenary pools in Hellenic lands that you would be very wise to tap into. They replenish fairly well (not as well as Celtic or Iberian, but you do what you can), and can cover most flaws your factional roster has due to absence or low number of certain units.

Finally, the one faction I think new players should stay away is Carthage. It is the Cursus Honorum up to eleven. While a Roman general without Imperium can get around, a Rejected Carthaginian, no matter how good, will be just barely better than having no commander at all at the head of your army. Their factional pools are iffy, their colony system requires most of the points to be used to build up to make more points, and finally, their key-reform is hard (and according to some players, impossible) to get at the moment.

[Sar1n]

Macedonia is a good start. Once you get through the initial three way slugfest for Greece, it's pretty straightforward, without complicated reforms or political systems, allowing you to focus on building and settlement management. Rome is also good, but the new update (that might come this month or next year, nobody knows) will introduce many new regional units to their sphere of influence. For that reason, Iberian factions aren't recommended, the update will be focused on them.

[Draken2007]

Thanks for the replies guys but, what is this "Cursus Honorum"? And what does it exactly influence?

[Domaje]

Many of the gameplay mechanics such as the Cursus Honorum or the colony system are explained in game at the start of the campaign or throught trait descriptions. You might also want to read the Player Guide that is in the EBII mod folder for informations about mechanics, government systems and factional reforms.

And finally there is this thread and this one that are very useful.

[Draken2007]

Thanks for the info! Will probably start as Rome as my first campaign based on the posts here so I can learn the game proprely.

[RodriguesSting]

Cursus Honorum is one of the many examples of factional trait lines in this mod. Nearly every faction has an optional or obligatory traitline that have a major impact on their generals and can, to a degree, shape strategic gameplay. It is how the modders came up with ways to add factional exclusive mechanics, as much as the engine and UI allowed. Mostly the engine. It is already quite beyond the limits of the UI.

Romans have the Cursus Honorum. Carthage have social standing and wealth. Greeks have life stages. Celts have adulthood rituals and druids. Hellenistics in general have city offices. And so on.

[Shoebopp]

Also something to note: the faction difficulty ratings on the campaign selection screen are either outdated or flat out inaccurate. Factions that are in practice easy are:

Hayastan: Just make sure to click "Accept" whenever the Seleucid Basileus asks you for tribute and you'll be free to expand wherever.
Rome: As RodriguesSting said, Rome is a pretty good introduction to the mod.
Pergamon: Use your starting diplomat to buy Sardeis and Ipsos from the Seleucids on turn 1 and BOOM. Instant kingdom.
Saba: The script which spawns counterattack armies if you attack an Arabian settlement is currently bugged. Thus you can easily absorb nearby settlements without fear of retribution and then expand however you want.

Check out the "Faction difficulty ratings" thread for more player feedback about which factions are easy and which ones are hard

[BailianSteel]

Hey everyone, long time member and forum lurker as decided to finally return to Medieval 2 after a really LONG break. Modern Total War games are super disapointing to me and utterly fail to deliver what I want from them. And I've been wanting to come back to what is still to date, my favorite Total War game. But specially to this one. I've been hearing about EBII for years but never really got around to playing it, but now, I'm finally taking the plunge.

Oh yes. I do try and look on the bright side when it comes to games, but from my recent delvings into the latest generation of Total War (admittedly skipping the large Warhammer and 3K projects,) they have mostly been taking a direction I don't agree with. In there soldiers are dying like flies, but even in vanilla M2TW, I find that it's still a little arcadey compared to EBII. In EBII there's much more room for maneuver compared to CA's balance. Unless you're fighting light units or militia, expect line infantry slugfests to last for some time before producing a result.

So, while it's downloading, I'd figure I'd ask what is the interesting factions to start with or what is the most friendly for a beginner. I imagine Rome would be a good one and maybe Macedon?

One of the most distinctive features of EBII's balance is just how important money is. I've recently branched out my modding experience, and across a variety of mods maybe one or two are as strict with their money as EBII (that's not to say I'm the most comprehensive connoisseur of TW modding, I haven't played DEI, LOTR, and others.) This slows down recruiting and building compared to vanilla, which can be frustrating at first but ultimately makes careful play more important and rewarding.

However, it can be stressful to start with negative income, and several factions have very, very steep negative income. Only a few factions in EBII have positive income at the very beginning, SPQR, Qarthadast, Hayastan, Arche Seleukeia, maybe Sabai. I'd recommend SPQR and Qarthadast as the most "easygoing" starts, as it's difficult to be destroyed as them, and they aren't so easy that it won't stunt your ability to play other factions. If you don't mind the risk of losing a few regions, then Arche Seleukeia is probably the least demanding start of the Greek world, maybe in the game.

I wouldn't recommend Makedon as a beginner's start. As of 2.35 they have logistical disadvantages compared to their immediate enemies which can only be remedied through spending a lot of money. Hellas itself is also one of the most crowded and war-torn zones, it's not just the powers of the peninsula that you'll be fighting with. One of the two times I got locked into an unwinnable situation (or getting out of it required massive amounts of micro that I wasn't willing to put in) was as Epeiros, on Very Hard (both campaign and battle,) trying to spare my rivals on the peninsula. I wouldn't even try that strategy as Makedon.

Oh, and do people play it in multiplayer? I wouldn't mind some player vs player battles every now and then.

Unfortunately I don't think EBII has multiplayer. It's a mixed blessing because I've switched to a shared internet plan to save money, but now my connection randomly turns to ass and cuts me out of sessions.

Recomendations and advices for a new player is welcomed!

There are two quirks to M2TW gameplay that I don't think are well known. Firstly is that you can drag unit cards of the same type on top of one another to replenish them, this can be very helpful in keeping your units replenished without having to walk your army back and forth (and is a godsend as SPQR.) Second is that you can pass retainers between Generals, this will probably be necessary if you're pursuing the Marian reform.

A key part of EBII is undertaking reforms to change the capabilities of your faction on the battlefield and on the strategic map. I recommend seeing the player guide to see what needs to be done.

Optimal building choices are not always apparent, even when looking through the building browser. You may wish to consult with other members of the subforum on where a faction's ideal grounds of recruitment (called AOR for Area Of Recruitment) is. What might provide troops and stability for Epeiros in Sicily may not work for the Ptolemaioi, let alone Hayastan.