Which Factions Are Best?

[RebelCobra]

I'm curious to know people's opinions on this, and I'll start by giving mine.

Out of the Roman factions, I really can't give it to any other than the Beutii. They have the better religion, they get the wonders of the world, and they have a very strong starting point that's hard for the AI to invade, though the same can be said for the Scipii, but not so much for the Julii. The Brutii tend to become the richest faction very easily, which allows them to easily outnumber the other factions.

For the barbarians, I’d give it to Germany. Because they use phalanx formations it's hard for the other barbarians to win battles against them. However, I believe they suffer from having weaker cavalry than the Britain’s or the Gaul. That might be wrong, but it seemed my Generals were not as tough as the others last time I played them.

For the Middle Eastern factions, it hands down belongs to the Seleucids. There really is no comparison in my mind. Sure, they start off in a crappy position, but once they upgrade their cities enough, their armies can be severely over powered. I find it easiest to just remain on the defensive and let the other factions wear themselves down against your walls until you get some propper offensive units.

Out of all the factions, I'd say the strongest is the Seleucids.

[WhatWillTheNextDowndateBring?]

Well, I agree with your picks so, I guess all I can add is some clarifications and corrections, like, how the Brutii are indeed the best to the point of being unfair lol! The only unit (other than Scipii's bonus ships) unique to each faction are the gladiators, now while a case can be made for the Julii having the best gladitor due to 2 extra attack, Brutii's is the cheapest, lacks the "well armoured" trait which is a weakness, not a strength as all it means is the unit is vulnerable to armour piercing units such as Cataphracts and Germanian Choosen Axemen. They are also the only ones with the fast moving trait, only ones with a shield and in the campaign, available the earliest via the minor city level arena, Julii+Senate at large city and Scipii at huge city despite having the most expensive and weakest gladiator! Brutii start with the largest navy with 3 ships instead of just 2 like the others, highest population (4,500+4,300=8,800 compared to 4,800+3,500=8,300 for scipii and just 4,000+3,500=7,500 for Julii), only one with cav (besides generals) and only one who can recruit cav at start, the slight downside being unable to recruit Hastati at start, and as good as Hastati are for light infantry, being possibly one of the best in the game and as bad as Equites may be even by light cav standards, I'd still rather have Equites to do things like this: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1491727692 or this: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516018229 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516018294 Cav sandwich ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is the way to go!

Germania doesn't have weaker cavalry than other barbs, in fact, Germania's Gothic cav is probably 3rd or 4th strongest cav unit in the game after Catapracts (largely due to armour piercing mace attack), Pretorian cavalry and arguably Armenian Catapract archers (even when ignoring missile attack!) who lack mace, but have better melee attack than regular catapracts or cata camels. Gaul has the same cav as Germania minus Gothic cav, so they're certainly not better, but chariots are kind of exaggerated cavalry, as in, better at doing what cav is good at, worse at what cav is weak at, who also happen to be anti cav, so, they're just annoying to deal with lol!

Not much to say about the Seleucids to add other than I think it would be better to go on the attack against Egypt straight away rather than wait on the defensive.

[Obdilord]

If your including dlc then the Saxons and the Huns are also quite good.

[No Fun Allowed]

@BloodRush Considering that he didn't mention Barbarian Invasion factions at all, no, he wasn't including DLC. What made you think he was?

[Xautos]

You Beutii! :D

But i prefer a challenge to my playthroughs on RTW: Spain, Carthage and Numidia.

Spain has weak infantry fighting troops, stuck between Carthage and Gaul forces with next to no means available to build a strong economy early. By the time you get setup the Julii Romans will be on your doorstep.

Carthage has one of the worst starting positions being just opposite from Sicily and Sardinia and the Roman mainland. Numidians to your backs, Gauls and Spanish forces to your left, Ptolemy forces to the right and in front of you are Greeks fighting for their lives and the ever threatening Romans.

Numidia have it even worse still, stuck in a corner with the more powerful Carthage surrounding the Numidians and vast deserts making treks across the area take a while, but any villages and small towns captured will take a while to build up which forces the Numidians to attack a more established town to stage attacks from and Numidians don't have the best troops to work with.

[{COR}Lucian{K-IV}]

Originally posted by Xautos:

You Beutii! :D

But i prefer a challenge to my playthroughs on RTW: Spain, Carthage and Numidia.

Spain has weak infantry fighting troops, stuck between Carthage and Gaul forces with next to no means available to build a strong economy early. By the time you get setup the Julii Romans will be on your doorstep.

Carthage has one of the worst starting positions being just opposite from Sicily and Sardinia and the Roman mainland. Numidians to your backs, Gauls and Spanish forces to your left, Ptolemy forces to the right and in front of you are Greeks fighting for their lives and the ever threatening Romans.

Numidia have it even worse still, stuck in a corner with the more powerful Carthage surrounding the Numidians and vast deserts making treks across the area take a while, but any villages and small towns captured will take a while to build up which forces the Numidians to attack a more established town to stage attacks from and Numidians don't have the best troops to work with.

carthage actully was one of my easyest play thoughs. being so close italy made takeing rome out easy cav spam plus mercanry carthage has a good enonmoy , u just gotta focus on sacred band inf. and ur good. att the scipli when their attcking greece. use ur spys.

sadily the numidia isnt impossible u just really need to take carthage in the first 4 turns. and att egypt in memphis. i usely do fine except for that spot. build ur best units take syracuse. build trade, take spain.

i found with spain it was best to take all of spain and then focus on cartage/numidia . then once u had a enough bull warrirors take out the romans.

i found the most challenging faction to be parthia. u pretty much have to dog fight armienia pontus and pick off selcudia when there sleeping. on selcudia. build persian cavs , u almost have to fight every battle . even with cat cav the roman tide at that point can be pretty powerfull once the scipli take carthage its just a matter of time before they att u.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by }--{Lucain:

Originally posted by Xautos:

You Beutii! :D

But i prefer a challenge to my playthroughs on RTW: Spain, Carthage and Numidia.

Spain has weak infantry fighting troops, stuck between Carthage and Gaul forces with next to no means available to build a strong economy early. By the time you get setup the Julii Romans will be on your doorstep.

Carthage has one of the worst starting positions being just opposite from Sicily and Sardinia and the Roman mainland. Numidians to your backs, Gauls and Spanish forces to your left, Ptolemy forces to the right and in front of you are Greeks fighting for their lives and the ever threatening Romans.

Numidia have it even worse still, stuck in a corner with the more powerful Carthage surrounding the Numidians and vast deserts making treks across the area take a while, but any villages and small towns captured will take a while to build up which forces the Numidians to attack a more established town to stage attacks from and Numidians don't have the best troops to work with.

carthage actully was one of my easyest play thoughs. being so close italy made takeing rome out easy cav spam plus mercanry carthage has a good enonmoy , u just gotta focus on sacred band inf. and ur good. att the scipli when their attcking greece. use ur spys.

sadily the numidia isnt impossible u just really need to take carthage in the first 4 turns. and att egypt in memphis. i usely do fine except for that spot. build ur best units take syracuse. build trade, take spain.

i found with spain it was best to take all of spain and then focus on cartage/numidia . then once u had a enough bull warrirors take out the romans.

pretty much made my point for me.

Originally posted by }--{Lucain:

i found the most challenging faction to be parthia. u pretty much have to dog fight armienia pontus and pick off selcudia when there sleeping. on selcudia. build persian cavs , u almost have to fight every battle . even with cat cav the roman tide at that point can be pretty powerfull once the scipli take carthage its just a matter of time before they att u.

Armenia isn't that much trouble, they will capture your first town on the opening moves and unless you cheat, there isn't a hope in hell in keeping it. parthia relies on eastern spearmen and horse archers, so use that to effect. use the spearmen up close to pin enemies and bring your horse archers around and take them out in the rear. once you can get yourself established, you only need a general, a few archers and eastern spearmen to take back your town, by then Armenia will have give you some generous upgrades to the town which you can use. Armenia becomes less of threat after you take down one of their towns.

Your more immediate threat comes from the Selucids more than Pontus. Pontus are pinned in by Armenia, Greeks and Selucids. they can't really do much to you early on. Seucids can however. their hoplites are weak early on and that can be taken advantage of with cavalry, you only need a few lines of cav against lines of hoplites. split them up, one lures and the others strike from behind, as the hoplites attempt a reform smack them in the other side with the units meant to lure, watch them run in terror. rinse and repeat.

if the Selucids manage to send a large enough mixed force, you will have little choice but to endure heavy losses. your best bet is to kill their forces out in the open as they are likely to send out several small armies after you, if you survive that and take one of their towns, their threat becomes far less urgent.

[{COR}Lucian{K-IV}]

@xatus in most of my playthoughs sleudia abondes slecudia.as parthia u need to try to get persian missle cav before u take on sel i agree with that. id fake a treaty and make them give me money, i wait intell they fully muster and send their force towards egypt then id att selduia sue for peace after takeing it buffer city between u and egypt and it usely can produce missle cav. pretty much and id send three crappy units towards the rebel city to the south. possible allie with greece intell u can take rhodes, take tarus instead of hatra, when u do att.attcking asia minor and prodiceing trade as parthia is probably more imporeten inless u can sneak one by on egypt. or take selcudias captial though takeing rhodes would be wiser, i think susas ur miltary power house early on. it probably ur first city to get cat cav inless u enslaved the.their ecnomy is horrid is the only reason id pick them, greece, carthage , egypt,seludia all make decent money. greece i thought was super easy mainly because ai is dumb, u only need hoplites and missle cav, to get though most of the game probably useing more mercnarys cavs then anything in late playthoughs. or just stacks of peasants

out of the none playable id say pontus has it the easyest if u work it right four rebel citys in range and asia minor can turn a profit quick,macidona pretty much like greece i guess take athens , sythia take out thrace early and dacia early then aim for macaondia greece ,thace take the northen sythia city sue for peace take out macondia , spain unfie spain hold off gauls in narbo whatever aim for carthage numbia , armania take out pontus take asia minor, dacia take out thrace and sythia take out macidna rinse and reapte dacaia is limted , numbida you have to take carthage and build trade hope u can hold off egypt in the east,roman senate(needs modded to be playable) , rebels



seems hellonic factions due seem to sue for peace usely its like they give and money and they will a accept trade rights.

[💖 Officer Hotpants 💖]

I'll always be a Scipii at heart. First house I played and still the one I play the most. Of the non-Roman factions that open up after the campaign, Egyptians are my favorite. Of the manually enabled factions, Scythia is my favorite.

---

I like the Scipii for their starting position and unparalelled naval units. Their home is hard to invade, they practically start with four cities since you can take the Greek and Carthaginian cities on Sicilia right away and their navy, combined with their starting location, makes it very easy to quickly dominate the western region (including Sardinia to the immediate northwest and that tiny island to far west near Spain, which are are almost unassailable).

Plus they're blue and their logo is a wolf.

---

Part of the appeal of the Egyptians for me is a combination of their more diverse religious options and how differently their battles play out compared to the other advanced factions. They have a lot more and better ranged and mounted units. I enjoy the Seleucid well enough but the Egyptians ultimately win out.

---

Scythia... scythia just feels the most unique of the manually enabled factions. I've experimented with them all over the years and Scythia sticks out the most in my memory. Not only for their numerous unique units, mind you, but for their starting region. You've got massive expanses of land to monitor & defend but lots of choke points in the form of river crossings.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by }--{Lucain:

@xatus in most of my playthoughs sleudia abondes slecudia.as parthia u need to try to get persian missle cav before u take on sel i agree with that. id fake a treaty and make them give me money, i wait intell they fully muster and send their force towards egypt then id att selduia sue for peace after takeing it buffer city between u and egypt and it usely can produce missle cav. pretty much and id send three crappy units towards the rebel city to the south. possible allie with greece intell u can take rhodes, take tarus instead of hatra, when u do att.attcking asia minor and prodiceing trade as parthia is probably more imporeten inless u can sneak one by on egypt. or take selcudias captial though takeing rhodes would be wiser, i think susas ur miltary power house early on. it probably ur first city to get cat cav inless u enslaved the.their ecnomy is horrid is the only reason id pick them, greece, carthage , egypt,seludia all make decent money. greece i thought was super easy mainly because ai is dumb, u only need hoplites and missle cav, to get though most of the game probably useing more mercnarys cavs then anything in late playthoughs. or just stacks of peasants

out of the none playable id say pontus has it the easyest if u work it right four rebel citys in range and asia minor can turn a profit quick,macidona pretty much like greece i guess take athens , sythia take out thrace early and dacia early then aim for macaondia greece ,thace take the northen sythia city sue for peace take out macondia , spain unfie spain hold off gauls in narbo whatever aim for carthage numbia , armania take out pontus take asia minor, dacia take out thrace and sythia take out macidna rinse and reapte dacaia is limted , numbida you have to take carthage and build trade hope u can hold off egypt in the east,roman senate(needs modded to be playable) , rebels



seems hellonic factions due seem to sue for peace usely its like they give and money and they will a accept trade rights.

you can't get near rhodes early as Parthia and you need access to the mainland to keep the other hellenistic factions off that floating treasury you want to take. This way you can send reinforcements out to defend it.

no matter which way you want to go, through Armenia or down past the Selucids, you will have some fighting to do and it is more luck than anything if you can get a naval fleet from out of the Black sea, past Byzantium and through the Aegean to Rhodes. it means potential pirates other factions that will see you as an enemy. Besides this the town morale is going to be hit more harder than it should due to distance and that it is all alone with no support and and a population with hellenistic values, so it means appeasing those folks and balancing the right troop numbers while fighting off the attention of hostile armies that land on your island which further causes more town morale damage.

The other route will take a while, but at least you can find a way to connect your mainland town with Rhodes and use both as staging points. perhaps deal with Salamis to secure the corridor and then work on surrounding your enemies. if you can take Halicarnassus quickly enough.. but that town will need development before it can be useful.

[Brotherscompany]

Armenia is often over looked.

Sure their starting position is bad and really low on income but, we are smart players, we can make it work :D

Their Cav Archers are so freaking OP that will win you any battle. Not to mention their Cataphrats Cav Archers and the Cataphrats that will just kill everything they lay eyes on

Their infantry is okish not talking about those early spearmen. They get Phalanx Hopolites which makes you able to camp inside citys no problem. They also get Legionaries (although not the best) if you dislike the Phalanx fighting style.

There is no need to go archers really with their Cav Archers unless you are facing elephants or Chariots

Combine that with the fact they get the Trade Caravan building, Execution Square + Temples that give law you got yourself the best way in game to make more money and decreasse that god d@mn corruption

[Firbog Mindartis]

scythia is one of the best factions on the battlefiled in my opinion & though they may start off with a few financial problems, they sahre little threatening borders, can move throughout the campaign map very quickly, taking territory at an unbelievable rate, as little can stop the Noble house achers + those units can seriously fight hand to hand too, it's insnae. Those house archers also gain XP very effectively with minimal casualties, not to mention as scythia you'll only ever want completely cav armys, so it's a tone cheaper to up keep units cos just cavs, which furthmore means you can have more & more armies.

[unit5421]

The western roman empire is the best, Why?
Because it is ROME. I love heavy infantry and the roman style.
I could second the barbarians factions with beserkers because those guys are amazing (again infantry).

Im not a star with cav or missile but i can see why some players love those kind of units and would have different prefrences

[Vtx]

Originally posted by richnathaniel9419:

Well, I agree with your picks so, I guess all I can add is some clarifications and corrections, like, how the Brutii are indeed the best to the point of being unfair lol! The only unit (other than Scipii's bonus ships) unique to each faction are the gladiators, now while a case can be made for the Julii having the best gladitor due to 2 extra attack, Brutii's is the cheapest, lacks the "well armoured" trait which is a weakness, not a strength as all it means is the unit is vulnerable to armour piercing units such as Cataphracts and Germanian Choosen Axemen. They are also the only ones with the fast moving trait, only ones with a shield and in the campaign, available the earliest via the minor city level arena, Julii+Senate at large city and Scipii at huge city despite having the most expensive and weakest gladiator! Brutii start with the largest navy with 3 ships instead of just 2 like the others, highest population (4,500+4,300=8,800 compared to 4,800+3,500=8,300 for scipii and just 4,000+3,500=7,500 for Julii), only one with cav (besides generals) and only one who can recruit cav at start, the slight downside being unable to recruit Hastati at start, and as good as Hastati are for light infantry, being possibly one of the best in the game and as bad as Equites may be even by light cav standards, I'd still rather have Equites to do things like this: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1491727692 or this: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516018229 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516018294 Cav sandwich ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is the way to go!

Germania doesn't have weaker cavalry than other barbs, in fact, Germania's Gothic cav is probably 3rd or 4th strongest cav unit in the game after Catapracts (largely due to armour piercing mace attack), Pretorian cavalry and arguably Armenian Catapract archers (even when ignoring missile attack!) who lack mace, but have better melee attack than regular catapracts or cata camels. Gaul has the same cav as Germania minus Gothic cav, so they're certainly not better, but chariots are kind of exaggerated cavalry, as in, better at doing what cav is good at, worse at what cav is weak at, who also happen to be anti cav, so, they're just annoying to deal with lol!

Not much to say about the Seleucids to add other than I think it would be better to go on the attack against Egypt straight away rather than wait on the defensive.

perfect explanation

[Hugh de Salle]

Scipii for me while your quite correct in what you say not many people understand the ScipII have the best weapons and armour + ships just lockdown the wonders in greece before the Brutii get there.

[WhatWillTheNextDowndateBring?]

Originally posted by Hugh de Salle:

Scipii for me while your quite correct in what you say not many people understand the ScipII have the best weapons and armour + ships just lockdown the wonders in greece before the Brutii get there.

Lol what?! Brutii start closer to the Eastern wonders with the larger navy and arguably better army to conquer them, so no, that's just BS! Scipii have the best weopons and armour?! So what?!?!?! Experiance is superior as it's an attack AND defence upgrade while weopons and armour just do attack or defence, so that's certainly nothing to brag about!!! Scipii lack missile attack upgrades with Vulcan compared to Brutii with Mars AND Mars gives a morale buff, Scipii maybe best at sea (which is STILL debatable as Brutii via Mercury have the stronger economy and therefore could afford to make up in numbers what they lack in quality at sea), but Brutii are the indisputable best at land out of the Romans, maybe even as a whole.