Interestingly enough, historically that was correct. Anatolia was some of the richest territory in that area of the world, by a LARGE margin, to the point that Roman generals would jockey for the ability to wage war there, since much of your spoils depended on where you were looting. Keeping your troops happy was easier if the spoils were greater. Gaul, for instance, of Caesar's conquering fame, was considered an utter backwater compared to the developed riches of modern day Turkey. Granted, that was biased, but still.
@@lugotorix6173, the map doesn’t even have the other half of the Parthian empire. Parthian empire was historically the richest and most powerful adversary the Romans ever faced except the Sassanians. Also, some important cities in Mesopotamia weren’t even in the game, like Ctesiphon
Seleucids had a glitch exploit where their extra long pikes poked through gates which meant they could attack incoming rams causing that unit to drop the ram. Never lost a siege thanks to this :-D
It's funny how the Parthian intro clip talks about how much gold and wealth flows through their desert. Seems like none of that wealth stops in Parthia.
@@lugotorix6173 thank U for this show I been playing this game over 15 yrs on and off it's my favourite game in the world I love games like that but there's only some thinks I didn't like is that we couldn't choose all the countries and ur right it's hard to get on country to other but this game helps me relax
Nice video but where is SPQR 😂😂😂... Na just kidding, man my favourite faction is the Julii can't beat them. I won on easy and medium difficulty levels now I'm trying hard 👍👍
All of his are, I like to think that he’s been playing the long game on his videos. Like sure, RTW is the best game ever, but its old enough that it’s weird for someone to make guides and stuff well over a decade later
I personally have never played a total war game, but love Roman history. I preordered Rome Remastered and am watching videos like this to help understand the gameplay a little before I jump into it.
@@BlazeTheGamer1 if your PC isn't to bad i would recommend getting Rome 2 and playing it with the DEI mod. There are many submods that flesh out the Roman Roster to a ridiculous extend
@@julianlipsky2323 they're pretty killable by archers though, especially gallic archers, so if you survive long enough against them you'll get a perfect anti~german weapon in the late game
I love doing custom battles as Germania cause the only units I have seen that can beat berserkers are basically super heavy pikeman and elephants. Unfortunately when I tried to play Germania (I was like 12 so I was still not good at the game), I went bankrupt trying to get the berserkers.
In my opinion seleucid is the best faction to play with. It could be challenging at first because everyone will try to get you, but that means more fun. If you manage to survive it you will end up with the strongest army and easily win the game
Well sir, good for u, after years i decided i try to go back to play and do qhat i consider to be cheese, scythia, fck me mate literally every pitch battle is like 3000 kills 100 deaths. Fcking absurd
surviving the initial challenge is too easy...you can never lose a settlement as Seleucids (or any Hellenistic faction for that matter) because your enemies have no way to fight pikes / hoplites in siege defenses. A full doomstack will literally go hear first and die against a single unit of phalanx
A strategy I adopted as an experiment was to abandon the starting position. Leave my eastern cities for the enemies and just keep Antioch (and maybe turn Babylon into a lone fortress). I push west as fast as possible and secure rebel anatolia and quickly conquer Greece. This puts me in a position to begin conquering Rome early, without having to deal with Egypt, the Parthians, or Pontus attacking from 3 sides. Athens starts out as a rebel city and should be the first target.
One thing that I think is an important factor to consider (for non-roman factions) is the distance from Italy in their starting position. For example playing as the Greeks, the Romans aren’t really too much of a worry as they haven’t had time to build up yet, and if you rush them, they can be dealt with quite easily. But for someone like Egypt, by the time you get over to the Romans, they’ve built up an empire, many armies, and may have even reached Marian Reforms, so can be quite a difficult foe. Keep up the great work bro, always excited to see you in my sub-box 👍
Its very ironic considering Egypt is one faction that doesnt benefit from Marian reforms being triggered, all other factions could use having better bodyguards but Egypt gets a downgrade
There is one faction, supposedly off limits, one can consider: The Rebels. Maybe only available in a cracked version (and you still need to hack one of the game's folders to make them available). Once I tried them and they were both pretty powerful but also a massive challenge. You start with a lot of settlements and a huge army, albeit spread-out across the map. Basically your first two/three turns you have almost a battle per settlement against the odds. It is definitely a lot of fun!
Rebels are piss easy (and very buggy), that's the problem. You can ignore public order and economy since you get free armies anyway. Quite a lot of factions can be strangled in their cradles by starting rebel forces (like Pontus or Dacia or Numidia).
@@TovKafur Duh, they weren't meant to be played. They're there to occupy land and cause devestation to settlements, which lowers your income so you have to hunt them down. That's the whole idea behind them.
@@hammer3721 true, AI Gaul gets destroyed by the Romans and hides out in Spain for half the game. What I am saying is that Gaul when controlled by the player has a lot of potential to expand very quickly and in a lot of locations due to their strong military beginning.
I mean, seleucid always got slapped by 4-5 factions at the same time, while Gaul will spent their time fighting mostly romans, since brits usually go after germans, and spain prefer to turtling themselves
@@wearing_a_golden_facemask_9432 that is true, Gauls early game is faster paced and has more potential. But their late game is the opposite with the Seleucids being much stronger
Generally agree. Major factor: the early game units you have to work with. A rtw vet myself, I would switch Carthage with Thrace; play with Carthage on vh and start a war on each front (iberia, africa, sicily) - you will still roll everyone with a combination of light inf+cav. Try do the same with Thrace, you get rolled by everyone.
Thank you thats very interesting, I spent a long time deliberating between Carthage, Thrace, and Dacia; and I originally put Carthage ahead but I didn't in the end because you are forced to engage with the Scipii from turn 1. Very interesting take though and I appreciate the feedback ! :)
@@lugotorix6173 Now for me one of the big problems with Carthage is their early level infantry. Town Militia, Iberian Infantry & Libyan Spearmen are 3 of the weakest options in the game at each level. You have to reach Large City tier 4 before you can recruit the more decent Poeni Infantry. Thrace and Dacia's infantry options win at each of the first 3 levels comparitively.
I haven't played as Thracia or Dacia but I would agree, especially if one focuses on cavalry. Cavalry in general is strong in most Total War games and Carthage has pretty good cavalry, especially early on (later on they are more likely to contend with other factions catching up or getting near other cavalry-focused factions, still good units, though). It is also a marked weak point of the Romans. Later on you can roll in the infantry for more diverse armies.
I was surprised you ranked Spain as the worst faction, They are my favorite barbarian faction to play. No real threats in the beginning , so easy to build up military buildings fast. The iberians infantry are cheap and good fodder for drawing range fire and breaking as a first wave on enemy troops while the scutari and naked fanatics hit second and break formations while thier adequate cavalry flank and rout the remaining troops . It is easy to get them economically viable if you take out the Carthaginians first. If you hit fast and hard early game with the spanish , they are deadly.
As someone who has played dozens of campaigns Carthage is definitely my favorite. But from the point of view of a beginner/average player Carthage has possibly THE worst starting position. Especially if you play on VH or even H difficulty as you have to outnumber Roman ships.
Please comment your QnA questions below!! I will try and answer as many as possible in the video (which I will record in the next few days), If I can’t for whatever reason I will definitely reply to your comment with an answer 😊 Notes on this video (spoilers!!): I put the Seleucids above a few other factions mainly because they do have some well developed settlements at the start, whereas Parthia, Numidia, and Spain do not. I put Germania above Scythia only because they have a more diverse army suitable for any situation. Although Scythia is better in the open field, Germania is better at taking/defending settlements which makes them marginally better in my opinion.
@@randomname2159 Thank you, I've never played those games before. For now I'm focusing on the older games but maybe I'll expand my content in the future!
15 years ago when played the game, i only got world domination with seleucids because i exploited their chariots/war wagons and i murdered all of my grown citys
Great vid! I played a long campaign (10 years or so ago) where the Ai Scythia actually killed Armenia and then took on the Seleucid Empire and then conquered Egypt. Probably one in a thousand chance
@@beautifulaffliction1742 bigotry. the number one reason why everyone is better then everyone else. also i can see that major powers do play a bit in the middle east.
19 - I never use the Bull Warriors - too expensive and by that time I've usually got the game won. 18 - They can't build Paved Roads, irks me to no end considering how advanced they are otherwise. 17 - Early Archer recruitment is pretty great and once you get ahold of Carthage, you start snowballing pretty quick. 16 - Damn fine late game units, but starting infantry is quite lacking - Militia Hoplites are basically Pink Pyjama Bois that can form a Phalanx. 15 - I like to block-off the Scythians with forts in the mountains - less I have to deal with them, the better. Parthia and Pontus provide relatively soft early targets as long as you're not reckless. 14 - No cav spam, no archer or phalanx spam. You can't start any further away from the Wonders. With no main strength, you'll have to rely on morale damage to get things done on the battlefield while keeping your squishy generals out of harm's way. This is NOT a noob friendly faction. 13 - This might be a harder start than the Seleucids since you start bordering Rome, but knocking them out early is preferable to dealing with them mid to late game. 12 - ELEPHANTS! WOOOOOO! You essentially have fast-moving siege equipment, one of the best starting settlements, a foothold on Sicily and Numidia is essentially a punching-bag. 11 - The only Barbarian faction that can build siege equipment, making them fairly unique and interesting. Thrace, Scythia and Macedon are fairly weak starting opposition as well. 10 - My fav faction to be honest - decent start on the Black Sea, decent unit roster and I love the color :) 9 - They're my most hated faction and I've never had a start with them that I've found anything other than annoying. I know they have upsides but I've never enjoyed playing as Pontus. 8 - You START with the best Wonder in the game and can quickly take #2 and a couple others very early. You can recruit the best mercenary units in the game right away. You can recruit SPARTAN HOPLITES. Your central location also means you can cripple the Romans and Egypt fairly early before they can really get rolling. Love these guys. 7 - Who doesn't love roleplaying as Alexander? 6 - Perfect campaign for when you're sick and just want to coast through the game. 5 - BERZERKER BOIS! WOOOOOOO! They have my fav unit in the game and I love the way their army evolves as it techs-up - it's more defensive in the beginning and more offensive once you're fully upgraded. It's also the only faction where I use ALL of the different religious buildings instead of just spamming the same one everywhere. 4 - Another evolving faction like Germany, the way you play the army changes as you tech-up. You start with two Wonders and can quickly access the rest. You also start with some of the best settlements in the game. 3 - I'd honestly put them at #2 - Patavium is one of the 10 best settlements in the game and the opposition makes them pretty noob friendly. You can roleplay as Caesar if you want, too. 2 - I'd put them at #3 due to their fragmented starting position, not to mention the 1st settlement the Senate wants you to take is Syracuse - a city with Hoplite bois and proper stone walls. They're the hardest start of the 3 Roman factions. 1- The Senate will tell you to conquer the best region in the game and PAY you to do it, and they come with Juno - the best religion in the game. No question that they're #1.
You missed Germania's most unique and important asset: Fear causing units that can rout a roman legion with one fearsome charge. First line: Night raiders-Chosen Swordsmenx2-Berserkersx2- Chosen swordsmen x2 Night raiders Second line : Schreeching women-x2-2-4 Chosen Archer warband-Screeching women x2 2 Barbarian cavalry/noble cav on each flank. Warcry charge first line, night raiders go and flank, when the charge ends, turn on screeching women ability .
Ah, finally, the best RTW youtuber returned! As for the question: would you like to try some mods? Not necessary the big and scary one but something like Mundus Magnus that only changes the map by adding tons of rebel settlements and moving some starting positions a bit (Parthia finally makes sense!). Also some versions of it add new small units making weak factions stronger.
Nice video- great to see people are still putting a lot of effort and thought into this classic game! The strengths of the factions really depends on the unit size. Rome is always going to be strong on any size, however the skirmish factions eg Egypt/Britannia/Parthia etc become very powerful on normal settings. With the campaign included, I'd definitely rank the Rome factions as the strongest in terms of playability. Julii probably as the overall most powerful, just on the basis of the weak factions Gaul/Germania/Spain to the North. Keep up the great work looking forward to your future videos!
Dacia seems to me broken that they can recruit Archer units in the main settlement from beginning its so OP on early battle againts other barbaric tribes
Archers and cavalry are so busted in this game. So many units in this game have low amour, range fire mow down troops like no other. Even light Cav charge knock over bodies, so easy to use any Cav to zerg swarm one side wing and cause chain route, anything other than phalanx and good spear have nightmare agasint Cav, and cav have low upkeep
They should've made it a mercenary unit that you can recruit from time to time instead of them having them early game. I don't know how good archers are for the auto reslove but Dacia out of all the barbarian factions is the one that conquers the most and usually survives for a long time.
Q and A question: I have a theory that RTW's simplicity in looks and in mechanisms is why one can easily let his imagination go while playing, much like while playing with legos, the player creates the "story" of the game while doing a campaign. What's your opinion on that?
That's funny I've been having the same thoughts. The clear, simple nature of the unit design makes it really easy and clear to role-play, along with the map being straightforward looking. I was thinking about this when playing med 2 and rome. Med 2 has much more detailed models that look great but the simple nature of the rome models makes them stand out in my head more. If that makes sense. They're more iconic I think is what I'm trying to say. And the remaster fixed the clone problem. Med 2 has some amazing looking stuff too though don't get me wrong.
Great video! I would put Egypt at #2 personally, but that's largely based on how I tend to find them when I'm playing as a Roman faction: by the time I get down that far (even with the Brutii), Egypt has freakin' snowballed. They've busted up the Seleucids and all the neighbouring rebels, they're heading up towards Parthia, Pontus is under siege already, and sometimes they've even moved west to challenge Carthage. My Roman faction campaigns almost always turn into a fifty-year-long slog with Egypt on one side and Britannia on the other.
Lugotorix I love your content so so much I was just wondering if you would ever do a Seleucid empire campaign on the channel anyway keep up the good work bye.
Hearing you say that Egypt is the most powerful non-roman faction makes me feel useless because my Egypt campaign was a failure jajaja Congratulations on the 10k suscribers Lugotorix, here's a question for the Q&A: When was the first time you played rtw and which faction did you played first?
I found Romans to be powerful in terms of versatility and tough basic infantry. Hastati with their shield can deal with early game cav or infantry charges very well. Deadlocking enemy with them makes for brutally efficient tactics without too much micro. Other factions are so specialized, that someone is bound to counter them easily.
I've played this version since it was released back in 04/05 Lugotorix is pretty spot on here. Brutti have the best position by far. The only folks they need to worry about is Macedon as Julii have to deal with Gaul but I prefer Scipii. I like their position of being on Sicily. You get a naval boost too. You can rule Med seas very quickly with Scippi. I'm quite brazen I will send an army to Kathos straight off the bat and get it settled Kydonia. At that point you have a foothold in Greece without having to initiate a war. Gets some elegancies. I will usually side with Macedon over Greece because you have to take their settlement on Sicily. Love this game I am so surprised but happy its get getting remastered .
For an expert player, Parthia, The Seleucids and Armenia move up significantly. Expert Rankings by campaign difficulty/late game potential: 1. Roman Julii (I pity the Barbarians against them...yeah, easiest opponents and best quick expansion opportunity of the three Roman factions) 2. Egypt (Easiest starting position in the game + have a better roster than Greece in a lot of ways with better chariots and better cavalry- their phalanxes are a bit weaker but they have a good roster) 3. Macedon (most centralized starting position in the game and has a great roster from early to late game- your a bit surrounded but that's not the end of the world for you because your army can deal with that better than the Seleucids could) 4. Roman Brutii (Less easy than the three above, but still rather easy and you are pointed towards all 7 wonders early on, but your enemies are definitely tougher) 5. The Greeks (They go this high because their infantry is so good to the point they almost don't need cavalry. But they are the only faction that can boast that, plus of the "split" factions, they have the most manageable situation) 6. Carthage (this is the first moderate difficulty campaign because your situation is not nearly as good as Greece to start with units that can't stand up to anything but Numidia and Spain, and they are the least of your concerns. Although Elephants are your great equalizer) 7. Seleucids (They go all the way up here because they are not dogged by Armenia's economic woes at the beginning, and they arguably have the most diverse unit roster in the game of good solid troops) 8. Roman Scipii (Unfortunately the Scipii are the most likely to struggle the most in the Roman Civil War, and aren't pointed towards the most chance to expand, so winning as the Greeks, Carthage, and even the Seleucids is easier for an expert player) 9. Britannia (Safest starting location in the game, but their unwieldy unit roster can trip up expert players and chariots are overrated) 10. Armenia (I put them this high because they have the best late game of any faction in the game, but getting out of the blocks could even trip up the most experienced players for this faction) 11. Pontus (I put Pontus lower than Armenia because their late game is just not quite as good, and expert players know to get there) 12. Germania (Unfortunately the barbarian factions really suffer in this one, regardless of player skill. Britannia was placed higher because of their unique starting position, that's it) 13. Scythia (Struggle with Infantry but the best players can thrive with this faction given they have one of the best Cavalry rosters in the game, plus for one unit, Axemen aren't bad as an infantry unit) 14. Parthia (Quite an improvement from an average player's ranking, but their infantry woes still count against them, and because their infantry is worse than Scythia, they go here. However once they can get a few level 3-5 settlements, they become quite a bit easier for an expert.) 15. Gaul (You are in a worse position than the Seleucids to start and you lack the same late game army the Seleucids and Armenians have and are held back by a Barbarian faction limitations. Cavalry gets unevenly balanced in these ratings, and Gaul just doesn't have the same stuff) 16. Thrace (Weak early game, less than impressive late game+ they can only reach a tier 4 settlement, or tier 4 improvements in most huge cities (I forget exactly. Early borders are a problem. Dacia is kinda weak but you have no answer for Horse Archers of Scythia to start) 17. Spain (Terrible split up empire with no infrastructure, terrible early game, although their unit roster is quite interesting and has some good in the late game, especially with Infantry. Also your generals bodyguards are Carthaginian, I believe. The only advantage is that you don't have any powerful neighbors) 18. Numidia (Worst Starting economy, but that can change early on because you have a profitable neighbor in Carthage. Also a rather weak unit roster. Not much that most players can do with it, besides Legend) 19. Dacia (Worst starting position in the game and not good economically. They have some good techs early on that help to a degree, but their cavalry are outclassed by Scythia, Infantry by Thrace and Macedon, and those are your neighbors. Too many powerful neighbors and a rather limited roster make them the hardest for an expert)
Fully disagree with Dacia being the hardest. Their roster is one of the simplest but it is extremely effective. Chosen swordsmen +chosen archers has to be one of the most cost effective combos in the game and it stands its ground all the way up to the most elite units. Even on VH/VH, it takes a while for AI to get to the elite units doom stacks and by that time, your empire should be large enough to simply steamroll everything. On lower difficulties you can play as you want but on VH/VH, the early game is indeed tricky. As long as you don't fall into the trap of expanding to the very poor regions in the west or worse, turtle; you are fine. Scythians will never attack you unless you leave settlements undefended and Thrace will be friendly towards you early game (like any faction, they will not resist the temptation of a free settlement so always have some garrison). Germany and Macedon will be very aggressive towards you from the start. You can abandon the crap settlement in the top right and delay the fight with Germans for a bit, but Macedon, despite being surrounded by Romans and Greeks, will make their life mission to take you out first in every single campaign. The way to play Dacia correctly is pretty straight forward. Use the stupidly immense advantage you have early on: ARCHERS from turn 1. Literally all your neighbors have units that are extremely vulnerable to archers; and your warbands are more than enough to counter cavalry heavy comps of Macedon. You literally queue a bunch of archers and a few buildings with starting money (you will go negative anyway), take everything you have turn 1 and go straight for Macedon, reinforcing with the archers. Play the battles smart, abuse the extreme levels of damage archers do early on, and protect them with your warbands. After you take the first 2 Macedonian cities, they will not be able to throw those full stacks at you every couple turns. At this point, you consolidate your economy (the 2 settlements will get your economy rolling) and get some garrisons everywhere, in order to avoid surprise attacks. Next, you either finish off Macedon or go murder Thrace real quick (Thrace is even more vulnerable to arrow fire than Macedon). Afterwards, you take the whole Greece before Romans get strong and at this point the game is over, nothing stands in your way, as you start spamming chosen/chosen full stacks and you can easily invade Italy.
That's a good counter argument. Knowing that Numidians need to take Rome to win the game and most of their troops suffer outside of the desert- I think there can be a case that Dacia is actually easier than Numidia overall. Maybe the early game is tougher, but overall you might be right. Good argument!@@jonsnow7092
Plus chosen swordsmen are probably second or third or fourth best on walls (depending on your playstyle) behind Roman Cohorts and maybe Spartan Hoplites and maybe Sacred Band. They might be better than Hoplites. @@jonsnow7092
In fact you can make a case that anyone of my bottom 5 is the toughest. I can see the argument for Gaul (no early archers). I can see the argument for Spain (no great troops until you get level 3 settlements). Thrace has units that are vulnerable to archers and cavalry, and your neighbors have a mix of that or both. Numidia just has IMO the weakest unit roster in the game but not the worst starting position. Dacia competes with Armenia for worst starting position, and doesn't have the same late game as Armenia for a player. There's really a case for all 5 of those. The ones above the bottom 5 have something that clearly stands out about them- Parthia has excellent cavalry, for instance, and doesn't have the strongest or most aggressive neighbors, at least initially.@@jonsnow7092
Your playstyle seems very similar to mine with Armenia. I bum rush the Seleucids, spam Horse Archers, and try to take Antioch in the first ten turns. At most points the Seleucids will have built a cavalry stable and you can start spamming the beautifully magnificent Cat Archers. Amass 10-15 in each stack and even the best Roman armies will melt because they are broken in melee combat as well.@@jonsnow7092
My first campaign was as the Julii, then I tried as sparta and unlocked selucia. Boy, the combo of silver Legionaries and heavy cataphracts is a beautiful hammer and anvil which breaks enemy formations and then runs them down, basically ruining an army in a single engagement. While the phaylx and archer combo makes street to street fighting almost easy.
@@overboss9599 I agree the main problem I ran into was when I got around to the Romans occasionally I want it to be lazy and auto resolve but that’s just not an option with the Romans I could never trust auto resolve to go in my favor. I think part of the reason I like the Seleucids is because of the challenge though you can very easily end up fighting wars on all fronts and turning that around it’s just so satisfying.
Just now started total war Rome. And I'm in love with it. Been wanting to play total war games for years but never had a platform. Until they allowed it on Android. I play on a S10+ and it's smooth and super fun
Excellent ratings and explanation. I've been aware of you for some time but this one gets you liked and subbed. It is very difficult to rate certain factions and I believe your reasoning is sound. As for those who say RTW is 15 years old there shouldn't be average players I have two points 1. Some people absolutely can suck after playing a game that long and 2. There are still plenty of people new to the game who are learning. I actually value the Scipii temples over the Brutii after years of contemplation. Imho gold weapons and armor and unquestioned naval dominance are ever so slightly better than an xp bonus, but the difference is razor thin. I do believe your ranking is correct because Greece is such a gold factory and Rhodes is only a step away. Two questions, how old were you when RTW was released and how old when you first played. Sorry for the massive post!
I agree the Roman factions are basically the same, their starting positions and the senate missions focusing the player a certain direction do create small differences. I also prefer the Scipii temples and I have in the past just ignored the senate as the Scipii when prompting me to take Carthage out. I also like to cut off the Brutii and try and rush Apollonia. It's a bit of a greedy play, but if it works it mostly shuts them down and now _you_ get to benefit from that prosperous region.
Thank you for the sub and I’m glad you enjoyed! Yeahh most of my guides are for people still learning the game so I wanted to make a ranking mostly for them, but I do think I’ll make one for more experienced players too. Honestly the difference between the Roman factions is very minimal, but I think the best thing about the Brutii is the territory they expand in to. Sure facing the Macedonians and Greeks in tricky early on, but once you have that economic gold mine, along with the wonder of the world, I believe you can start to properly see the strength over the scipii and particularly the Julii, scipii are still my favourites though haha. Thank you for your questions too!
Germania doesn’t have Druids, they have Screeching Women who aren’t as good. Doesn’t matter though because their phalanxes that shouldn’t even exist and their Berserkers make them ridiculous. As a British player I’ve found it is possible to beat German phalanx armies but it requires a lot of tactics and a specific army build (50/50 mix of Light Chariots and Head Hurlers). I find the Romans easier to fight than the Germans in the early game with either Britannia or Gaul, because you can train Swordsmen from your capital right from the start and Swordsmen are a direct counter to Hastati. Germans on the other hand get phalanxes right from the start which can only be beaten with Light Chariots/Head Hurlers for the Britons (who are mid-game units) and Foresters for the Gauls (who are late-game)
Yeah ennit, why do the germanic spear warbands have the ability of highly trained disciplined troops. Considering how in RTW they portrayed the barbarians as just savages, more or less.
Hey Lugotorix, thank you so much for your content - great quality and effort ! Also you are quite the most accurate researcher and presenter of the RTW on this platform for me - without passionate work like you do, it would be hard to make people understand our commitment to the good old times of RTW and CA! Keep it up and all the best wishes from an bavarian Barbarian who whishes to spreed the great culture of RTW and hellenic values onto the normies ! IN GLORIE DIVINITAS ! ;_)
I've tried a Armenia campaign because of this video and i love them. There army works amazing and is diverse enough to work in almost all cases. Horse archer catas will win you the game.
I got bored one time and gave Briton half of the world’s territories spanning from Scallabis to Seleucia. I assassinated their leader, heir, and fought their last member in the seas. The whole entire map turned gray and the other factions scrambled their forces trying to grab new territories. War declarations kept popping up per turn because some armies would cross paths with one another trying to claim rebel territory
What’s weird is that while I recognize that Roman units can steamroll Briton and other barbarian factions, the only time I’ve beaten the grand campaign on harder difficulties is with the Britons.
What makes me so happy about this video is the fact that there is still a very strong following RTW, and that so many continue to play the game today considering how far graphics and other rts games have come out. I really do hope they do another revamp of RTW by keeping most of it the same with the exception of updated graphics and maybe an even larger map.
Like you said, for the average player this list makes total sense. If it were for a more pro player, any faction with horse archers or phalanx's are true god status. Can't tell you how many greek playthroughs I have won with basically just phalanx by using the underhanded method of backing them into a corner or having them plug breeches in walls.
Hi! The maintenance of the egyptian units is rather high. I also hated the fact that early game the generals are part of chariot units and had a tendency to die because of it. Other than that it's a really nice faction to plan for both beginners as well as more experienced players. Great units and lots of temples to pick from and also the academy to create good governors. Back in the day I mostly liked playing the gauls and carthage. Gauls are fun because early game you have to play barbarian cavalry a lot but you have to switch to foresters later on. Not easy and really cool! And carthage because you have to focus on economy early on with units that are not the greatest. Later on there are far better units but they are expensive in maintenance. It's really difficult to pick a favorite faction and in my opinion that's what makes this game great. The units from different factions are really quite different and force you into playing the factions differently. Later total war games had more different units but those units all to often were mainly different in name. Without a doubt the most hilarious and fun unit to play were the germanian beserkers. It's difficult to play with them but if you do it right these guys are ultimate killers. Nostalgia. TY!
I disagree with two of your points: - Britannia is too low on the list. They have the safest starting position in the game and their chariots rule the other barbarians. - Julii should be #2. Scipii have way more trouble in the early game and after they conquered Carthage they have a lot of empty desert around them. And if they are slow (we are talking about average players here) other factions do actually steel parts of their desired territory.
In my most recent single player roman campaign Spain conquered all of Iberia and Gaul up to Denmark and was sending me multiple full stacks of bull warriors - for a while it was a total nightmare to deal with
Although I love playing as the Britains, as they are my favorite faction in the game, I would definitely have to say that the Egyptians have a much better roster. I remember when I was playing as the Britains in a campaign where I was trying to take over the entire map. I had crushed the Romans very early on so other factions had the ability to actually grow and set up infrastructure. I had taken over the entire map apart from modern day Russia and Asia. The Egyptians had taken over the entirety of Asia apart from some regions in modern day turkey, which still belong to the Greeks. By the time I had declared war on them they had several full stack armies that they threw at me every turn. Now, prior to facing the Egyptians I had a winning strategy that I never needed to change up until then. The strategy was simple, I would send my light chariots to harass their infantry and cavalry and get them to break off from their formation, where then my heavy chariots would completely route them and decimate them with ease. Anything that remained after my light chariots ran out of ammunition I would send my chosen swordsmen to instantly route. This worked against everyone except for the Egyptians. I very quickly found out that my winning strategy was very ineffective against them. The Egyptian chariots could very easily out shoot my British light chariots and chariot on chariot melees are very indecisive and wipe out both units, so I couldn’t simply rush my chariots against their Calvary and expect an easy win. Their bowmen are arguably the best in the game and without the ability to effectively match it in a skirmish due to a lack of foot bowmen means that I cannot play defensively and need to be on the offensive even if I am at a disadvantage in numbers or quality.
Issue with Dacia is you’re between a lot of bigger, stronger or richer factions and they hold the lands that’ll make you money. There’s also a chance Rome might bee line for you, it’s not worth planning around because it’s unlikely so it does hurt if they do
Pontus is my favourite civ and arguably the most underrated. I just really like how the start off the early game with jav cav and basic infantry but if you get the western antanolian Coast you can rake in trade money and shift you're strategy in mid game with powerful cataraphct cav, phalanxs, chariots and powerful mercs.
They're not my favourite faction, but their starting position is definitely a big bonus. I would disagree on the strength of their early armies though. It's not like with (say) the Greeks. The Greeks have a tougher time at the start but they also have better early game units.. so I guess it could be considered a toss-up between those two. If you prosper as either I do think the Greeks are probably better, it's just a bit more difficult to get there (that and I may be biased as I do like the Greeks, it's by no means a clear call).
I recently started to watch your videos, now I subscribed with joy. Amazing content, and I do appreciate your oratory. I noticed how you always spend some minutes in all your faction guide videos saying how bad the peasants are 🤣. My question is: will the Armenia campaign continue? Blesses to you.
Agree mostly, but I don't believe Scythians or Dacians should be this high up, especially considering you were looking at this from the perspective of an average player. I believe horsearchers need a lot of micro and understanding when and where to attack, and the Dacians only have like 2 good units on their roster, which need a lot of time to build up to in order to be able to recruit them. Parthia on the other hand I believe is a bit easier for an average player (despite the lack of infantry and reliance on horsearchers), because their starting position right on the edge of the map is easily defendable as you only have to focus towards one direction - west.
Yeahh I’ll admit possible Dacia is a bit too high. For me Scythia is good for an early player because of the factions that are around, barbarian factions with slow moving heavy infantry troops means that the horse archers don’t need to be micromanaged that much. For example if you face germania and their phalanxes, you can take out a huge army by just setting your horse archers to skirmish mode and sitting back, you don’t even have to press any buttons to wipe out a full army haha. Parthia I’ll admit I may have been a bit harsh on, but although they are completely safe from the east, I still think that to the west is a mess. Egypt is strong, seleucids have a good army, and Armenia can be annoying if thy catch you out when you’ve moves your armies out
Numidia is worse than Spain, in my Opinion. They have comparably terrible economy and units, but as Numidia you'll have to deal with powerful factions like Egypt, Carthage and Scipii early on, while as Spain you should be able to take some easy territory from Gaul.
Yeah, but Numidia has tier 1 archers, better access to the mediterrean, if you sacrifice/Abaddon Siwa you will just have 2 fronts. Sicily and Tingi with the Spanish. Egypt will not go for you as Numidia if there are 2 rebel desert provinces and will do it's own thing in the east. Beating the hastati and wardogs with a mixed army of archers, long shield/Camels and desert Spears is highly possible. All your units that you shall use are fast moving and good morale and stamina. Bringing the fight to the heart of Italy it gets harder, but your navy is the same as Carthage, so pincer movements are possible. You just have to take Carthage for profit, and expand into Sicily. Spain has no other options than to tech up to long shields and bull warriors and mine silver. No grain, weaker naval presence, Gauls to beat. And you can put nothing to beat the British chariots. Numidia has Spears and fire arrows to handle elephants and chariots.
Congrats on 10k! First video I watch of you but it's always cool seeing new youtube channels grow I think this video could have been better with previously recorded footage of each faction, on the campaign map or battle map. Just more pleasant to watch overall
I think you emphasize too much on starting location. You can play the game and let parts of your empire crumble, its okay. You don't have to be a pro player and defeat every army with 10:1 ratios using peasants and militia cavalry. The easiest way to avoid a bad starting location is to simply move, or shift your battle lines. Take the Seleucids. Just let them have Hatra, Secelucia and even Antioch if it's too much trouble for your skill level, some factions start with much less so losing a couple settlements is not going to break you. Pump all your effort into fighting Greece and Pontus. If you get aggressive with them and take advantage of the excellent mercs in Anatolia you can sweep them out just using auto resolves. Then just take a few islands, Rhodes is great for money, and you are pretty much set to turtle or be aggressive. I think you also under estimate their unit roster strength, the only roster that beats it are the marius romans, and that's debatable considering the romans have poor anti cav infantry (read non hoplite) and they lack a real strong defense to an elephant/scyth chariot charge followed by cataphracts. I think something you should pay more attention to in a ranking like this, would be not just their roster, but how quick they get their better units. If your focus is on the early game, then the roman factions should be somewhere in the middle of this ranking. And the greek factions should be like number 1. Within ten turns they can have 4 units of armored hoplites, multiple more normal hoplites, and cretan archers with a couple cav support. Like no other faction can make and support such a strong army so early as the greeks, not even their neighbors. Armored hoplites + cretan archers is a game breaking mechanic against the AI. *edit* Also, you don't mention the different general units, which makes a pretty big difference in the early game. The greek factions have shit tier generals, the eastern ones are the best- start out as strong as a roman general but can also fling javs and turns into a cataphract after the marius reforms. Also egypt, really good early general unit, turns into shittier than greek generals.
Thank you for the feedback it’s interesting to see the perspective other people look at it from. Tbh there were so many factors to consider here that it’s very difficult haha, I can certainly say I like the Seleucid army though (and actually recently in a video where I was comparing the Hellenic factions I said they have the best army for that culture). I didn’t really think too much about generals and time it takes to recruit so that’s certainly interesting :)
Indeed he focus overwhelmingly on the start position, i think he evaluates according to the AI achievements and failures. Of course the Seleucids gonna be viewed badly if we rank it according to miserable AI (the ai autoresolves makes their units weak especially if barely outnumbered)?but yeah the Seleucids have the Best Army, the only counter could be the fire pigs (all Roman factions have them) the Seleucid, like the Macedonians have the best Melee Cavalry in tbe game so they could easily outmaneuver the Romans bevause as you said the Romies don’t really have anti-cavaly (They lose their Triarii)
@@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014 They have counters, just not the best one which is a line of hoplites units with their bristle facing towards the charge. Even the weakest hoplite unit will crush scyth chariots into dust, its like they switch to lava pikes and melt any chariot. Elephants do fare better against hoplites, but not much, and if they get engaged in any prolonged melee they are toast as well. I don't ever build pigs because they seem like a meme unit to me, they don't even have a 100% guarantee to do the one job you bring them for. I think dogs do a similar job, but also have the added benefit of doing actual damage to troops. Their best counter to elephants specifically is a couple artillery pieces like scorpions or ballista. Every shot has a really good chance of forcing the elephants into a panic, or just outright ending them. The problem is they don't have a stable line to protect these pieces. And if its a player vs player scenario, they are generally going to be smart enough to hit your line taking the least amount of accurate shots. And finally, the triari are actually half decent against normal cav in a prolonged melee, I would much prefer them over say a militia hoplite in most situations (not against chariots) the problem is they lack the cohesion a pike unit has and frontal strength that negates charges. They do end up with lesser spearman in the reforms that function similar. But by that time, they have their super cav units, so its just better to build those to counter traditional cav units. I usually make sure to hire every greek hoplite merc I can get when I'm playing the romans. One unit can be spread 2 man thin, and overlapped in front of a 2-3 legion units, to give their frontline that needed bristle effect.
my personal favorites: 1. Seleucids. flat out strongest roster in the game even if a few units take some getting used to. good silver colors. extremely rewarding if you survive early on. strongest cavalry, almost the strongest pikes, eles. just incredible, again if you can survive. 2. Carthage. roleplay wise, love kicking the roman's ass. beautiful white and blue colors. fantastic late cav makes up for the lack of archers, and you can hire horse archers as mercs anyways. also Elephants. great start position as the only strong people near you are the romans. blitz them and you're gravy. 3. Armenia. Incredibly underrated and incredibly strong. Basically Carthage without the eles for me. 4. Macedon. Same level for me as the Greeks, but you have good cav which opens up alot more options. my playstyle is defensive so i like the various pike options. 5. Greeks. amazingly tough hoplites. my playstyle is defensive and they are some of the toughest defensively. heavy peltasts are nice if you want to be a bit more offensive. cav is trash but mercs exist to fill in gaps. great color scheme as well. 6. Thrace. like i said i prefer defensive infantry over horse archers so these guys are next. Build up a bit and you can kill anyone who comes near you. Germans would put up a fight but rows of phalanx pikes would kill everything they have. fill in your roster gaps with mercs. favorite color scheme, with their sky blue uniforms. 7. Pontus. great infantry and cavalry. 8. Gaul. Mix of funny naked men running around, with the tough later infantry and druids. excellent late cav. just blitz the Romans and you're gravy. plus love their green colors. 9. Germania. great roster. but a bit overrated. i like the more pike-orientated factions 10. Egypt. Overrated and ridiculous if you know anything about history but still can be fun.
In barbarian invasion, and also in medieval 2 game files, there is the Marián reform and it is off by default, do you know what will happen if it is enabled?
First video I see from you. I've played thousands of hours of this game back in the days. Overall, I agree with everthing you said. Will follow for other videos! Thanks!
Some notes for avg player like me: Parthia is very hard indeed. Imagine your only strength is cavalry, and you are surrounded by factions with anti-cavalry units 😅And you still need to make progress ASAP, otherwise egypt will get too strong or even Rome will get there to take cities from Pontus side. Numidia has weak economy, but with your starting army you can just take Carthage in a few turns and the problem will be completely solved. Seleucids and Britannia - not agree with their place here, they are strongest for avg player from my exp. Britannia can just make no-brain attacks and win every fight, Germannia included. You can complete campaign (50 cities) by 242 BC just rolling over. Seleucids might be hard for your first try, but for 2nd and all others it is very easy, when you know what to expect. Basically yes - cities are spread out, so you need to consider that and make cities self-sustain with training units every turn. And Seleucids have the best economy early game, which will allow this to work. In about ~10 turns you can just attack all neighbors with 3-4 different armies. So in the end Seleucids are not so hard - just train units and press attack, it is not rocket-science, and do not expect other factions to be peaceful 😄 Carthage - your initial army on the island with greeks and Rome is enough to take all cities there. Then it is all about having better ships than Rome - you can destroy their armies in see. Don't be in rush with counter-attack after that, because if you'll take, for example, capital of Scipii, then you will have to defend it there in place instead of see-battles, so go for it only when you are really ready (e.g. you have 2 full armies for Rome side). Scythia is kinda ok, but for avg player it should be placed below Pontus for sure.
When did you start playing RTW? and do you think you will ever do videos on Empire? and dont forget to keep up the killer work I absolutely love your channel and I hope you keep it up
U LEGEND BRO IM GLAD THERES PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO STILL LIKE AND PLAY THIS GAME ATILL AND MEDIEVAL.. OLD SCHOOL CAMERA AND CONTROLS. PERFECT AND SUPER EASY..
I wish the remastered would add more units to every faction. Just imagine, the flavor that would bring to an already awesome game. Each faction has at least 2-3 of one of the following. Light, medium and heavy sword, spear, pike, axe, cavalry, archer, chariot, horse archer and elephant. I guy can dream, can't he?
I think it is only remastered version not a remake. But it will support modding tools and workshop on steam, so what You wish for will happen, later than sooner, but still.
This is how i ruled with parthia. 1.Early in the game capture the hanging gardens wonder. You have to improve the economy early with capturing some settlements. 2. No infantry. Only horse archers and later cataphracts. If there is a stone wall city, use onagers to bring down the walls. Then take the city with cavarly. No fight on the walls.
@Sufian Hashashin If you love Spain, why not recreate the Spanish Empire in my realistic map of the world for Age of Empires 2 like I have? Also, the other day I conquered China from Luzón, the Spanish dream, after Japan offered an alliance if I gave some tribute. That was in my Far East map.
Spain actually can be pretty awesome, you have a good starting position, navy can solve most of the distance problem. You have amongst the best temple in the game, scrutaii with both temple upg can beat any Roman unit pre marian
hey! Would you be interested in trying a mod that adds three different campaigns to the game (with new factions, units, cities, maps, etc) without overhauling it?
I’ve never been a horse archer eastern empire kind of guy but I recently started playing Armenia a few times on mobile and I actually think it’s a top 5 faction. Horse archers are very OP if you have a lot and I just use horse archers/cataphract archers with a general and wipe any army off the field. No infantry just recruit mercenaries when besieging.
@@helikos1 Town watch and any equivalents are having a hard cap on how much they can add to the public order. Something like 80%. I have seen squalor hitting 110%.
@@marciusnhasty That's news to me, having said that why pull a front line army just for public order issues? This is in reference to "Hernan Reipp's" comment.
Thank you!! I always have a lot of respect for mod teams, it takes a lot of hard work and expertise to create a mod and it's an important part of the community :)
I have some questions for the q&a Where are you from? How old are you? When and why you started to play Rtw? What others games you play besides Rtw? BTW, congrats for 10k subscribers and keep uo the good work
Selucids are a top 3 for me, strong phalanx, strong legionaries, fields archers and some of the best cavalry in the game. Rating some of these factions higher than them makes minimal sense to me even with the starting position to consider
In the right hands Seleucids are top 3. But in the hands of a beginner, their start can be so brutal you die before ever getting to those options (which happened to me the first time I played them, the only campaign I ever died). And because a player has to survive with their shitty early game units, I fully understand why the Seleucids would be ranked quite low.
Might be worth dividing this into a tier list instead? So you can pair together those who are basically the same. And then it's also visible all together on one chart. And can go to these slides in between talking about the specific civs and the overall tier list pic. Interesting stuff. Crazy to think people are still talking so much about this game in 2021. Just got back into it.
Have played as Julii many times over the years. The Scipii can be hamstrung very early on by capturing Caralis from Carthage. That alone pretty much stops them in their tracks. The Julii can also build themselves an early economic foundation by quickly moving east after the initial moves north and seizing Segestica and Salona then quickly heading west and taking Narbo Martius then Massilia whenever possible. The mining income from Segestica, Salona and Narbo Martius will go a long way towards at least keeping something coming in when all goes into the red. Also note. When you take Narbo Martius you can expect nonstop battles around that area against both Spain and Gaul until you capture Osca and Lugdunum.
