Best faction?

[Cuaco]

I´ve been experiencing every faction in the game recruiting its mercenaries but no one convinces me. So i ask for your opinion about witch is the best faction.

[TheJustlyParanoid]

Sweden. First, let's look at their unit roster.

- Superior Musketmen, with Swedish Lifeguards being one of three of the top 3 musket units
- Good heavy infantry. One does not simply defeat a large army of Swedish pikemen and swordsmen.
- Decent cavalry. Their dragoons may not be the best, but their reiters fill in that gap fairly well.

Secondly, you have to consider your own tactics.

-This faction is very good for musket lines or mass-infantry. However, this is the age of gunpowder, so the former may be a bit of a better choice.


Basically, they have a very good unit roster, but of course so do the others. In the end, it's more based on your playstyle. Rapid movements and blitzing with cavalry is more of the job of the Cossacks and Crimeans. Sturdy defense is more of a Swedish and Muscovite thing. Poland has been considered by some to be decent at both offense and defense, but for the most part they rely on heavy cavalry to bash through enemy lines.

[Blue Knight™]

Originally posted by Drevin99:

Sweden. First, let's look at their unit roster.

- Superior Musketmen, with Swedish Lifeguards being one of three of the top 3 musket units
- Good heavy infantry. One does not simply defeat a large army of Swedish pikemen and swordsmen.
- Decent cavalry. Their dragoons may not be the best, but their reiters fill in that gap fairly well.

Secondly, you have to consider your own tactics.

-This faction is very good for musket lines or mass-infantry. However, this is the age of gunpowder, so the former may be a bit of a better choice.


Basically, they have a very good unit roster, but of course so do the others. In the end, it's more based on your playstyle. Rapid movements and blitzing with cavalry is more of the job of the Cossacks and Crimeans. Sturdy defense is more of a Swedish and Muscovite thing. Poland has been considered by some to be decent at both offense and defense, but for the most part they rely on heavy cavalry to bash through enemy lines.

One does not simply recover from a charge from Winged Huscars (polish fanboy)

[TheJustlyParanoid]

Originally posted by KoA Blue Knight™:

Originally posted by Drevin99:

Sweden. First, let's look at their unit roster.

- Superior Musketmen, with Swedish Lifeguards being one of three of the top 3 musket units
- Good heavy infantry. One does not simply defeat a large army of Swedish pikemen and swordsmen.
- Decent cavalry. Their dragoons may not be the best, but their reiters fill in that gap fairly well.

Secondly, you have to consider your own tactics.

-This faction is very good for musket lines or mass-infantry. However, this is the age of gunpowder, so the former may be a bit of a better choice.


Basically, they have a very good unit roster, but of course so do the others. In the end, it's more based on your playstyle. Rapid movements and blitzing with cavalry is more of the job of the Cossacks and Crimeans. Sturdy defense is more of a Swedish and Muscovite thing. Poland has been considered by some to be decent at both offense and defense, but for the most part they rely on heavy cavalry to bash through enemy lines.

One does not simply recover from a charge from Winged Huscars (polish fanboy)

One does not simply get through a mass of Swedish Pikemen and Swordmen.

[Shaddam]

Hahaha have fun being picked to pieces by my Serdiuks, filthy Swedes and Liaks! haha!

(Obvs. Cossack fanboy) (The Cossacks are actually really hard for the conventional M&B player to because of lack of infantry and heavy cavalry. If you have a penchant for muskets, then this is your faction.)

In all honesty, every faction has strengths and weaknesses. Drevin99 has a pretty decent scope of the situation, but I would argue that the Poles have the best offense- all their cav is good cav, while their infantry is lacking.

As far as other factions are concerned:

The Cossacks are an interesting breed to play, because they require very good co-ordination between their light horsemen and their elite musketmen- One must distract the main enemy force while keeping them within range of their marksmen, until the moment comes to rout them with a light cav charge.

The Crimeans are full blitzkrieg. A variety of lancers and horse archers can punch a whole and keep it open. Even their infantry (Ottoman mercenaries especially) are fleet of foot.

The Tsardom and Sweden are very similar, as pointed out by Drevin99. The exchange is that the Tsardom shys away from muskets and infantry a bit more- their pikemen have less armor and their musketers are significantly poorer shots- but make up for it with heavy cav. Save for their Don Cossack units, all Russian cav- the Sumpter horse-riding Armed Serfs included- have at least medium armor.

The Swedes and Russians are equally easily playable to those aquainted with M&B but new to WFAS.

[Blue Knight™]

Bah you disgracful cossacks , you know the Polish Infantry shall smash any of your damn Serduicks

[TheJustlyParanoid]

Bah, you disgraceful Polish, you know the Swedish musketeers shall gun down your infantry and their pikemen shall bring down your hussars.

[Shaddam]

"We are disgraceful, Liak? You would not even fight off the Mussulmen without the full, unamonmous agreement of your "Szlacta" or their zhyde lackeys"

[TheJustlyParanoid]

...first off, what the heck is a Liak.... second off, what is a Mussulmen..... for that matter, what the heck is a "Szlacta" and a "zhyde"?

[Blue Knight™]

Originally posted by Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV:

"We are disgraceful, Liak? You would not even fight off the Mussulmen without the full, unamonmous agreement of your "Szlacta" or their zhyde lackeys"

HOW DARE YOU , POLAND FIGHTS ON ITS OWN , the rest are our slaves you would be lucky to fight us !! only few get the hounr to be defeat by such royalty !

[Shaddam]

[History lesson time] The Szlacta were the combined nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was around 10% of Poland's population, and included everyone nobleman whether he was of Polish, Ruthenian (Ukrainian) or Lithuanian origin. Some noblemen even came from as far as Russia. They all made descisions (in accordance with the king) in a grand council, were all noblemen were considered equal.


The rest of those terms, Drevin, are old-timey slurs for Pole, Muslim and Jew respectively, all of which were in common use the the Zaparozhian Cossacks, who obvious resented the Poles and Muslims (Tatar and Turk), but also the Polish Jews who were often employed as tax collectors.

To OP: Sorry for hard-derailing you thread, but it serves a purpose; Players of WFAS often choose their faction for Roleplaying purposes, as all have analog units (or playstyles which don't require certain units) and can more or less be equal on the battlefield. If you want to get inspired, try watching or reading hisorical fiction from the era. I reccomend Gogol's "Taras Bulba" (An english screen adaptation is present on youtube) or the Polish trilogy, title With Fire and Sword (also on youtube)

[Ezekiel]

Does the faction have Reiters? Has the King yet to piss you off? Do they have profitable towns? If so. Them. MUSCOVITES CHARGE!