Factions

[MasterDubya]

So I'm coming from M&B: Warband. Can someone please give a brief overview of each faction's individual strengths and weaknesses?(IE, the Nords are awesome defenders of a castle, but are helpless in the field against a horde of the Khergit Khanate(if you play it right))

[Engelbrekt]

Long article!

Mount&Blade: With Fire & Sword is the second sequel to Mount&Blade, released by TaleWorlds Entertainment on the 4th of May 2011 in both North America and Europe.
With Fire and Sword is based on a historical fiction novel of the same title by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz and set in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The playable factions are Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden and the Crimean Khanate.

Kingdom of sweden
Wealthy and powerful, the Kingdom of Sweden patiently waits to conquer the losing side of the Russian Polish conflict with an army of dreaded dragoons and musketeers. Sweden's army resembles contemporary Western European armies, with many gunpowder units such as the Swedish Reiter and the Lifeguard. In comparison with its peers, Sweden's emphasis on gunpowder weaponry makes it one of the more original factions of With Fire & Sword.

Cossack Hetmanate
The Cossack Hetmanate is a Ukrainian state comprised of wild-spirited independent fighters led by Hetman Bogdan Hmelnitski. With few armored units to speak of, the Hetmanate relies on an army of accurate musketeers, light insurgents and light Djura cavalry
The Cossacks fight against Poland for their freedom. Cossack leader Hetman Bogdan Hmelnitski is forced to seek help from Russia in order to combat the Polish threat. Together the Cossack Hetmanate and Tsardom of Moscow march on the Polish Republic.

Polish Commonwealth
The Polish Commonwealth, also known as the Polish-Lithuanian Republic, is famed for its majestic Winged Cavalry. Dominated by its Winged Hussars (the heaviest cavalry in the game) and supported by competent but unexceptional infantry in the form of Zolniers and Pikemen. The Polish Commonwealth best resembles the Kingdom of Swadia in troop composition. While it possesses a rich army, it is fragile, which could ultimately lead to the Polish Commonwealth's demise.

Crimean Khanate
A kingdom caught between shifting alliances, the Khanate has been shielded from both the Tsardom of Moscow and the Polish Republic, but soon may find itself vulnerable and desperate. The Crimean Khanate may be forced to betray the Cossack Hetmanate and take its lightning fast army of mounted bowmen elsewhere.
Crimean cavalry cost less to maintain than any other nation's, and the Khanate boasts a large assortment of cavalry, ranging from the numerous Bajrak, mounted archer Jasaqs to the heavily armored Asak-bey, Circassian, and the powerful Nokhor. The light Kapikulu archer and the inaccurate-but-armored Seymen are the only native infantry the Crimean Khanate fields, but has access to elite infantry on loan from the Ottoman Empire (modern Turkey) including Janissaries (elite musketeers), and Azaps (elite light infantry).

As the date is set in a later time period as well as based on real-world events, there are firearms. These weapons are very powerful, but take a long time to reload, aren't very accurate, and have small amounts of ammunition, meaning your sword and bow are not yet obsolete. Explosives, such as grenades, can also be used, but they do not refill.

Castle sieges have some new options as well: bribing a guard to grant you entry, poisoning the water supply, or even blowing a hole in the walls. There are now multiple ladders.

You can also find new people such as tavern visitors and mercenaries. The training camp has been replaced with a mercenary camp and marriage is no longer an option.

Unlike prior games, factional troops do not upgrade into more advanced forms. Troops typically only upgrade once to a veteran version. In villages you can only recruit weak militia, but you can hire better from the Commanders in fortifications your faction controls. Mercenary camp troops can upgrade from recruit to experienced to veteran to elite and also have several equipment options purchasable from the camp commander.

The castles now also have taverns and can be upgraded with universities and traders. Walking around the towns, villages and castles will reveal a far larger game environment (which could cause lag on lower-end PCs). Capturing of castles has become far more difficult to achieve by force, so bribing a guard or poisoning the water supply is essential. During sieges, muskets are lethal enough to kill a heavily armoured unit in one hit, so running into enemy fire (like in Mount&Blade, or Warband) is an act that can get you killed much quicker.

Warfare techniques are altered greatly. For example, you now have the choice of building a 'wagon fort'. A wagon fort is a triangle-shaped barricade which can be jumped over by horses (although the AI will not do this) but forces infantry to go around it. During a field battle, the best tactic is to wait until you come into close range and then fire all your army's muskets. Note, however, that elite musketeers are accurate enough to hit and kill straight across the map. One way to avoid the long reload time for muskets is to buy a pistol, which can be reloaded on the move.

Possibly the most significant addition is the grenade, which is a primitive bomb that can kill a cluster of enemies. Stock can only be used once, however, as they don't refill. This technology replaces throwing weapons in the previous games, so that now the "Power Throw" skill is replaced with "Grenade Throwing". Guns have a similar effect on melee encounters to the use of throwing weapons in previous games.