Factions - What's the point?

[LionSaurus]

I can't help but wonder what the point of having the possibility to chose factions are? Rome is so far the only faction with a unique unit (the legionaire) which happens to be the most amazing one too. Why would I pick any of the other factions?

The reason why I raise this question is because I feel like there is a huge potential being missed here. Why not let each faction have its own unique unit? Rome gets legionaires. Gauls get berserkers, etc. Maybe it's just me, but as it stands I couldn't imagine wanting to chose anything other then Rome as starting faction.

[Leb]

I believe there will be some variety although I'm not sure.

At least in the current state, one of the Belgic tribes has a unique ability to move through the marshes it inhabits.

[Blue Knight™]

Well i just like that they are differnt colour i dont really care if they all have the same units aslong as i get to be Blue or Yellow or Green so on :)

[FightAboutIt]

I personally would expect more than just a single unit or slightly altered stats for the same units (but from different factions). But I do see that they are limiting the units a city can build to the set 9 on the one page, not sure if they plan on adding more to that. I would definitely want more units depending on which faction I play to add diversity rather than just changing location. Who knows what theyll wind up doing.

[Ridcully]

well (afaik at least) all units have the same stats! this makes this even worse... i hope they'll change it

[Blue Knight™]

Originally posted by Ridcully:

well (afaik at least) all units have the same stats! this makes this even worse... i hope they'll change it

remember EA here they cant really put everything in so they do basics i bet when the final comes out all pictures will be differnt for each and every clan all units for every clan will be differnt and then they will balance everything out then we would all love it

[Bansh]

End product will most likely be as gold was. Every faction (Rome being the exception) will have the same basic units, this is pretty much the nature of the time. That said each faction is likely to have it's own 'flavour' units. Romes are the Legions, some will have archers, others armoured cavalry, may if we are lucky even see war dogs and the like.

Give it time is all I can suggest, Longbow have a track record of doing good work and taking on feedback from players, Gold itself was pretty much a massive revamp of the original PoM game based on communication with PoM's players.

[Cat]

this unfinished game is clearly lacking features, what gives? I hope they add features!

[Blue Knight™]

Originally posted by catparty:

this unfinished game is clearly lacking features, what gives? I hope they add features!

sarcasm im guessing :)

[LionSaurus]

To be fair, it's not because it is a unfinished game. It is based on previous experience. If you played the previous installment you would know that the different factions didn't actually have much different units. This thread was created to raise awareness about it while they can still hopefully do something about it.

[Bansh]

I think the game being historical rather than historical fiction is going to limit what you are looking for. It's just a fact that Gallic/Germanic tribes all used the same basic types of fighters while each of them had one way of doing things that was unique, sometimes a couple.

Maybe when the modding tools are complete then the modders can do what you are looking for, I just don't think large scale unit differentiation will happen with the vanilla game due to it's historical nature by design.

[LionSaurus]

Doesn't need to be historical fiction. I'm just asking for some traits, possibly one unit or two that differentiate the factions. I know the gallic&germanic tribes were mostly the same, but not entirely. You had the naked swordsman, druids from britons, etc. It's not that hard to find one historical unique unit for each faction.

Otherwise I just don't see any point in playing anything but Rome which is the only faction with a unique unit.

[Bansh]

Fair point.

Though I again expect them to do this as it is what they did for factions in Gold, can't hurt to 'remind' them about it.

May help if you add a thread on the Hegemony forums over at the Longbow site if you haven't already done so.

[Meneldil]

Originally posted by Lionbutt:

Doesn't need to be historical fiction. I'm just asking for some traits, possibly one unit or two that differentiate the factions. I know the gallic&germanic tribes were mostly the same, but not entirely. You had the naked swordsman, druids from britons, etc. It's not that hard to find one historical unique unit for each faction.

Otherwise I just don't see any point in playing anything but Rome which is the only faction with a unique unit.

Someone played to much Rome Total War. Druids never fought, naked swordmen were common to pretty much any celtic people (even as far as Turkey).

I think Hegemony Greece had it right. Diverse cultures (thracian, german, greek, persian), and a few flavor units for some factions (sacred band of thebes, spartian hoplites, etc.)

[Galle]

Originally posted by Bansh:

End product will most likely be as gold was. Every faction (Rome being the exception) will have the same basic units, this is pretty much the nature of the time. That said each faction is likely to have it's own 'flavour' units. Romes are the Legions, some will have archers, others armoured cavalry, may if we are lucky even see war dogs and the like.

Give it time is all I can suggest, Longbow have a track record of doing good work and taking on feedback from players, Gold itself was pretty much a massive revamp of the original PoM game based on communication with PoM's players.

The way Gold actually worked was that there was a common set of units that factions got by default, and then each faction tended to have riffs on that. So, by default, you got Spearmen, Peltasts, Cavalry, and Hoplites. Some factions didn't have all of those units, some factions had extra units like Phelangites or Archers, and many factions had special versions of those units, such as Sparta's super-hoplites or Thessaly's heavy cavalry.

I figure this is how Rome will eventually wind up working, once its done. At the moment, the focus is on other things, so the factions are mostly stuck with the default unit set (except for Rome). Once the focus of development moves to diversifying the factions, we'll like start seeing Briton charioteers and more tribal specialties.

[Havoc]

Mmmm, Rome works out as this: Romans have roman legions, a all-rounder unit (strong melee, some range) and no auxilliaries of their own (outside of campaign) besides native units (gauls for example)

The other factions/tribes then have varying start positions and near enough the same units all over with 2 exceptions, number of native cities (ranging from 5 to 11+) and, certain tribes have booster stats that affect all units and buildings...
The Selassi have winter alpine movement.
The Suebi germans have -50% food consumption.
The Menapii have flooded marsh movement (as do the aquitani).
The Nervii and Helvetii have +20% melee damage.
The Arverni have missile damage +4

If you don't really care about what attributes then choose between the aesthetics of your troops, the versatility (romans vs tribes) and then the strategic starting locations. Different locations have different resources which (at least locally) can support certain strategies. (Eg lots of wood = more sieges, lack of farms = starving troops)