How to pick other factions?

[Smig]

Sorry, I know this is as noob a question as it gets but I see things suggesting that many factions are available though I can only pick 5. I also have the DLC installed.

Is it a case of only those 5 are playable or am I missing some way of selecting others?

[HazardHawk]

You unlock the other playable factions by winning with those first factions. Alternatively, you can browse in and find the descr_strat and move the factions from unlockable to playable if you want

[Smig]

I see. I'll play the playable factions first then. Still learning the ropes anyway. I was just worried that I didn't have other factions to look forward to.

[MattKingCole]

Don't worry. Just win a short or long campaign with one of the starting five. and you will unlock all the rest.

[HazardHawk]

Short England is fastest way to unlock. I honestly do not remember anymore, but it might unlock only a few with the first win and then when you win a short game with one of the newly unlocked factions it unlocks the remainder. CA has changed this in several patches back and forth and I use a modded descr_strat so I really do not know how it works in full at the moment.

[Mile pro Libertate]

Originally posted by Smig:

I see. I'll play the playable factions first then. Still learning the ropes anyway. I was just worried that I didn't have other factions to look forward to.

The way vanilla works is that when you eliminate an AI faction in the campaign, you unlock them as playable.

So say you are England: if you completely destroy Scotland, you'll unlock Scotland as playable for campaign.

But you don't need to settle for the first 5 playable and go through all this campaigning trouble.

As HazardHawk says, it's easy to mod.

Go to your root Med 2 folder, then Data > world > maps > campaign > imperial campaign: inside there is a file called "descr_strat"; open that using Notepad; right at the top of the text you'll see a list of the factions; simply copy the list under "end unlockable" and paste it so it is under "campaign playable"; now save the changes to the file (in Notepad, click File > Save) and start the game 😀

Just make sure you don't try to make any of the factions listed under "end nonplayable" playable, like Aztecs or Papal States, because that will cause the game to crash.

[friscobay58]

England remains the safest bet for the new player. It has an easy buildup in its own home areas of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland which will pump gold into your coffers, and will allow you to hold the line in Caen until a pushout is made [ whether against France, or one of the Iberians [ Spain, Portugal, or the Moors ], or a trip across the North Sea to deal with Denmark. These conquests will rack up quick gold that will enable the newer player to improve the state of his armies and cities rather quickly. [ another tip here, that will place the player in a decent position for Crusades,is to send an army into a North African or Holy Land city occupied by a rebel army. This way, you get control of a city right in the Crusade zone, without declaring war on nations in the region until you are ready ].
In this way, it was easy to move towards the Long England goal of 45 regions and Jerusalem [ I parked a vast army right next door in Acre ], and then go for a more challenging role once you have won the first time around. Scotland maybe, perhaps Denmark or the Byzantines.

[CorsairPL]

England can make tons of money once you control east coast of British isles and all cities on the east from Caen. You just have to make ports. Those cities are close to each other, so they will establish a lot of trade connections. York or London can even earn 4000 or 5000 florins per turn.

[darkphury]

Originally posted by Mile pro Libertate:

Originally posted by Smig:

As HazardHawk says, it's easy to mod.

Go to your root Med 2 folder, then Data > world > maps > campaign > imperial campaign: inside there is a file called "descr_strat"; open that using Notepad; right at the top of the text you'll see a list of the factions; simply copy the list under "end unlockable" and paste it so it is under "campaign playable"; now save the changes to the file (in Notepad, click File > Save) and start the game 😀

Just make sure you don't try to make any of the factions listed under "end nonplayable" playable, like Aztecs or Papal States, because that will cause the game to crash.

Wicked. Played this game years ago, and had forgotten about not being able to play all the factions from the beginning: lame.

I might add that you're not just pasting the "end unlockable" under "campaign playable", but moving the list FROM "end unlockable" TO "capaign playable". I simply copy and pasted w/out deleting the list from "end unlockable", and had to go back and delete it from "end unlockable" before it would work. Maybe that's obvious to someone more knowledgeable than me. But I had to reason that step out for myself.

Still, huge thanks for correcting what is a fairly annoying feature of this cool game!

[Mile pro Libertate]

Yeah that's right, you must delete the list under end unlockable in addition to pasting the list to be under playable.

Basically, edit the text to reflect what you want. What you want to be playable, make sure is under playable, and what you don't want to be an unlockable, make sure is removed from the list of unlockables.

[maartenW100]

Originally posted by Mile pro Libertate:

Originally posted by Smig:

I see. I'll play the playable factions first then. Still learning the ropes anyway. I was just worried that I didn't have other factions to look forward to.

The way vanilla works is that when you eliminate an AI faction in the campaign, you unlock them as playable.

So say you are England: if you completely destroy Scotland, you'll unlock Scotland as playable for campaign.

But you don't need to settle for the first 5 playable and go through all this campaigning trouble.

As HazardHawk says, it's easy to mod.

Go to your root Med 2 folder, then Data > world > maps > campaign > imperial campaign: inside there is a file called "descr_strat"; open that using Notepad; right at the top of the text you'll see a list of the factions; simply copy the list under "end unlockable" and paste it so it is under "campaign playable"; now save the changes to the file (in Notepad, click File > Save) and start the game 😀

Just make sure you don't try to make any of the factions listed under "end nonplayable" playable, like Aztecs or Papal States, because that will cause the game to crash.

So then you can play with the Mongols & Timurids, without making the game crash :) ?

[Mile pro Libertate]

Originally posted by maartenW100:

Originally posted by Mile pro Libertate:

The way vanilla works is that when you eliminate an AI faction in the campaign, you unlock them as playable.

So say you are England: if you completely destroy Scotland, you'll unlock Scotland as playable for campaign.

But you don't need to settle for the first 5 playable and go through all this campaigning trouble.

As HazardHawk says, it's easy to mod.

Go to your root Med 2 folder, then Data > world > maps > campaign > imperial campaign: inside there is a file called "descr_strat"; open that using Notepad; right at the top of the text you'll see a list of the factions; simply copy the list under "end unlockable" and paste it so it is under "campaign playable"; now save the changes to the file (in Notepad, click File > Save) and start the game 😀

Just make sure you don't try to make any of the factions listed under "end nonplayable" playable, like Aztecs or Papal States, because that will cause the game to crash.

So then you can play with the Mongols & Timurids, without making the game crash :) ?

There are mods that allow Papal States, Aztecs, Mongols and Timurids as playable. There is even a mod that lets you plays as the Rebels.