Best Campaigns?

[Flakstruk]

Whats the best campaigns, in either technical design? Or most enjoyable?

[Lone]

Had to join the beta to get the fix for 'using heroes in battle' to not kneecap my army but I really liked the Hautevilles. I liked that several were open ended about how you could achieve victory - letting you decide between conquest, wonder, or empire building. By the end of the final mission, advancing on the HRE, most of my population was in Trade Cogs and was earning tens of thousands of gold. Had a moderate army and a small army of villagers behind them, throwing up new buildings and castles, mainly so reinforcements didn't have to walk as far.

I completed the Rajendra campaign without known how to fix heroes so I'm retroactively deciding that being able to use my hero, the campaign would have been a lot more fun.

I've not played them all nor the vast majority of the historical battles which the Bukhara one was a lot of fun but I can't really remember there being any real stinkers. I think the Americas are probably my least favorite, maybe because I was already familiar with their histories and the other ones, especially Southeast Asia, I learn lots of new history.

Also remember quite liking the Britons. The Unique Unit is fun and there were interesting choices to make. I particularly liked the "Un-chivalrous Pragmatist" achievement heh.

[Bob of Mage]

I enjoyed the Hun and Tatar ones quite a lot. It felt nice to be evil and having the AI despair as nothing would stop my campaign of looting and pillaging. It was also fun to give those high and mighty Romans a sound beating as the Goths.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

I'm currently playing the Vlad Campaign and map 3 is really interesting. I feel I could play that map several very different ways.... it's certainly one to come back to once I finish all the campaigns.

[fortebuster]

Probably nostalgia talking, but I always felt El Cid was one of the best.

[Krosis Priest]

Still have some of the post-Conquerors and DLC campaigns to go, but so far, in no particular order:
- Saladin: classic, for a reason. Diverse, challenging, great atmosphere, and it feels like the DE version is more balanced a little bit.
- El Cid: arguably just the most "fun" of the classic campaigns, even if missions 3 and 6 could have been longer.
- Jadwiga: I waited 20 years for this campaign and it was worth it. It's as brilliant now as the original campaigns were back in the day, instant modern classic. Close to perfection in every way - storytelling, variety, difficulty.
- Jan Zizka: also really damn good, and probably the only campaign I have played which is harder than most but feels designed to be good and fun FIRST, and then just happened to be this intense and brutal.
- Devapala: I had no idea what to expect and just had a blast. I love the narrative here in particular, and the missions are just a lot of fun and the maps are probably the most gorgeous I've seen.

Honourable mention: Vlad Dracula - I've found post-Conquerors, pre-Lords of the West (I wish there was a shorter way to explain this) campaigns to be pretty underwhelming or artificially difficult (at least from the ones I've played so far, which is already quite a few), but this one was probably the most interesting and balanced and can hold its own against the classic ones.

[Quarantined_villager]

For a short story mode you can try:
- 1) Algirdas and Kestutis, 2) Jadwiga and 3) Jan Zizka
- 1) Genghis Khan, 2) Kotyan Khan, 3) Tamerlane and 4) Babur
Pretty much the campaigns in Europe and Asia follows two main subjects: Mongol conquest and Crusades with some extras