What is the most OP Faction for campaign?

[Southern Owl]

Hello,

I am trying to find out what the most OP/broken faction to play in campaign is. I don't mean which one has the best unit roster, because unit roster doesn't really matter to me very much since I auto-resolve all my battles (about 98-99% of my battles I just auto-resolve.)

Thus, by OP, I mean the faction that is the easiest to start steamrolling the map with from the get go - things like income, starting position, culture traits, etc.

I've tried to find guides/reviews on this, but almost all of them are talking about most OP faction in terms of unit rosters, which as I said, means essentially nothing for me due to my playstyle.

Anyhow, if anyone could give me some ideas as to this question, I'd appreciate it

:)

[Salty Nobody]

Iceni are one of the best, you can rush capture the entire isles very quickly and that gives you two starting provinces in the corner of the map that the dumb campaign AI will have a hard time invading from the mainland. There is also alot of Celtic territory nearby for easy expansion of your own. Plus you can get early game access to Stonehenge and the Dolmens of Carnac (in Gual) for a nice tech boost. If you really want to you can devour all the territory in the Isles and Gual just in your first wave (by around turn 40) of expansion, though going that far with early game units will require manual battles and use of the non auto-resolve friendly chariots.

Build lots of cow farms and send an agent or admiral to the med to trade with the civilized factions down there (you get a diplomacy bonus with them) and you will have plenty of money as well.

I know you said you don't care about units but better infantry units = better auto-resolve outcomes and the Iceni have elite swords on par with Oathsworn, boost their stats with the barbarian upgrade buildings and nothing will stop you. Just don't use the chariots in any battle you aren't fighting manually, though if you can get 14-16 or them together in one army you might find yourself enjoying the experience of literally rolling over all the enemies.

Good luck.

[comedy]

Rome

[Salty Nobody]

Originally posted by playdead222:

Originally posted by The Fifth Archon:

Iceni are one of the best, you can rush capture the entire isles very quickly and that gives you two starting provinces in the corner of the map that the dumb campaign AI will have a hard time invading from the mainland. There is also alot of Celtic territory nearby for easy expansion of your own. Plus you can get early game access to Stonehenge and the Dolmens of Carnac (in Gual) for a nice tech boost. If you really want to you can devour all the territory in the Isles and Gual just in your first wave (by around turn 40) of expansion, though going that far with early game units will require manual battles and use of the non auto-resolve friendly chariots.

Build lots of cow farms and send an agent or admiral to the med to trade with the civilized factions down there (you get a diplomacy bonus with them) and you will have plenty of money as well.

I know you said you don't care about units but better infantry units = better auto-resolve outcomes and the Iceni have elite swords on par with Oathsworn, boost their stats with the barbarian upgrade buildings and nothing will stop you. Just don't use the chariots in any battle you aren't fighting manually, though if you can get 14-16 or them together in one army you might find yourself enjoying the experience of literally rolling over all the enemies.

Good luck.

Yeah but Barbarian economies are pretty bad. You could maybe afford 3 stacks of mid to bottom tier units with the isles when I could easily afford 5 (and my units would be better) with Rome just holding the Italian peninsula. Rome has the best starting point in the game with the exception of maybe Egypt. The Icenti are a great barbarian beginner though if you've never played as a barbarian faction before.

My one experience playing grand campaign Rome was attempting the This is Total War achievement, which due to being literally surrounded by enemies did not go very well. Probably still biases me against the faction lol.

On the other hand I suceeded with the Iceni and have been using them as my multiplayer h2h first choice ever since. When playing the Iceni I don't really stop to consolidate until I have at least taken the Isles and the entirety of Gual, and usually I grab all of Iberia as well since my armies are on the border anyway and there is an iron settlement in there. At that point once I tech up and switch everything to heavily upgraded elite units (barbarians have by far the best upgrades for melee infantry) I can sweep over the entire rest of the map in one go if I wanted to. This of course requires many manual battles and heavy use of the prone to die in auto resolve chariots so Roman auxillary spam might well be the better choice for the op.

There is more to my recommendation than armies though. While I'm aware that the Romans have plenty of ways to spread it they still have their own Latin culture. Anywhere they go outside of Italia they need to spend time converting or risk widespread civil unrest. The Iceni have a TON of Celtic territory in easy reach for rapid expansion and nothing but the corner of the map behind them, so they can focus everything on attacking their neighbors with no need to watch their back until they have secured a sizable territory.

[Salty Nobody]

More like very hard mode. Would have done legendary but I needed saves just in case I even thought I might have missed declaring war on a new faction. As to a h2h due to the proximity you could probably take me out before I was able to achieve my full potential. Failing that though.... You get to fight these. And these aren't even as far as they will go.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=330397794

[Comander-07]

I think egypt is pretty good. Border of the map, still central for easy expansion.
Bonus tech, massive bonus food, gold mine to the south, iron in starting province. LOts of ressources in the east for trade. Decent units as well.

The winning conditions can be a bit annoying though.

[LuL]

Egypt and Sparta , research military only until u get best troops possible

[MANWHATADONGA]

Any faction i play old china.

[DerZäpp]

In my opinion Greeks are just completly broken. Sparta is really storng. You only have to rush Epirus. Macedon will have a hard time with the balkan states, so if you use your chance you will destroy them and Athen easily, because your units are op. Then just take Knossos and push xour economy a few turns and you are unsoppable.
I did also really fall in love with Pontos. Take the wine and Iron in Asia and then push to to the gold privince north of Armenia. Arminea is quote nicee to, so you have 2 iron settlements an can easily expand on the north becoming so strong. You will have by far the best economy.
Last but not least Egypt. Youz start with iron, have an easy gold access, and Nabatea as a friend protecting your borders. You will just completly destroy the seleucids and can easily expand to bacrtia and also then kill Nabatea.

It is better to have more lower quality armies at the beginning, exept of Sparta, there you should go prtty fast for spartan Hoplites. You will have to search a lot in the technical tree but it is definitly worth it to push your economy early on. And greeks hav both things you need. Good economy, good units

[F-22]

Rome, build multiple stacks of trash units and start autoresolving around the map.

[BRAN MAC BORN]

The Klingons.

[Primarch Timmy]

Ptolemy is really really easy. Super rich, with super abundance of resources, great natural defensive location and pretty solid units.

[DerZäpp]

Originally posted by █▄ █▄█ █▄:

Egypt and Sparta , research military only until u get best troops possible

Well I dont think so. These arte very good factions but the most important thing ist to have a good economy from the beginning. That means: Rush good territory, build up trade resources and get as many wealth as posible combined with buffs from the temples.

[volbound1700]

Seleucids aren't bad either. I wish they would have started with direct control of Iraq (what is their Media Satrap)

[Comander-07]

Originally posted by sebasty:

Originally posted by █▄ █▄█ █▄:

Egypt and Sparta , research military only until u get best troops possible

Well I dont think so. These arte very good factions but the most important thing ist to have a good economy from the beginning. That means: Rush good territory, build up trade resources and get as many wealth as posible combined with buffs from the temples.

yes economy is more important than best troops, but egypts starting units are really, really bad. So atleast some research there is recommended

[LuL]

@sebasty and Commander-07 , ok , lets see if u can beat my campaign win in turns, i will be waiting for your victory screenshots :

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2079891202

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2079901046

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1812317389