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As soon as I saw the list I was like “Baktria!” and then was kind of surprised that you mentioned them. They’re exactly like the Russians in Napoleon where they get an irrelevant corner of the map and really just have to expand in one direction, plus they both have really powerful late game units such as the unicorn artillery for the Russians and the baktrian assortment of units including war elephants, cataphracts and heavy cav, horse archers, heavy melee infantry, and heavy pikes. I love playing both.
Title: Top 5 Under-Rated Factions 5. Rome: Total War 4. Rome 2: Total War 3. Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms, Americas campaign 2. Total War: Attila 1. Medieval 2: Total War Yep, I have to agree. Medieval 2 is a hella underrated faction. Whenever I play Medieval 2 as Medieval 2, I do a full map clear. I don't see too many people picking Medieval 2 when they play Medieval 2, though. There's just too many people playing Warhammer 2 when they play Medieval 2 :P
@@largeorbofpossums9466 To be honest, Warhammer 2 is the most fun TW game I have played. And I played the games since Rome. It is subjective opinion. And please shoot me in the head if its a joke comment, please and thank you.
@@ghailanemirsyaputra7918 I bought Warhammer 2 on steam, only to discover that I have to get WH 1 in order to play the dwarf and orcs, and I just never bothered with it:( Played Rome total war instead, it is still my favourite total war.
@@ghailanemirsyaputra7918 WH would be an option if not degenerative amount of DLCs without which you barely get half of content for the game. I'm not gonna pay 120€ on top of 60€ game. They lost their mind with these prices
Ya know Melkor, like you i’ve played rtw for more than a decade and never really looked it up on youtube. At first i was very into legendoftotwars channel and not so into yours. However, over time i kept going back to your page and now I can say your page is the #1 page. I feel that legends is a bit negative while urs is always positive and more passionate. Regardless, just wanna say u earned a sub from me. I know its not a contest between ur channel and his but figured id throw it in there.
Sicily is an amazing faction to play. You start in the middle of the Mediterranean , in Italy which has high income cities. You're an Italian-Norman of sorts meaning you get Italian style militia units and awesome Italian crossbow units but also unique amazing heavy cavalry like Norman knights. You're really near non-Catholic lands so you can get a Crusade up and done in a few turns. There's a lot to love here other than starting near the backstabbing Venetians.
I totally agree with you on Pontus. I think they are a unique fusion of east and west in Rome total war. I hope you consider them for a roleplay playthrough similiar to what you did with Carthage.
Well I don't think Pontus is underrated, many players back in the day would play as Pontus online. As well as people having fun with them through unlocking them. It is also a reason why they were part of the DLC for Rome2. It is an interesting faction. And I loved that they got their original colors back when they initially were made yellow in Rome2.
Pavise spearmen aren't any better than armoured sargents, but the rest of Hungary's roster is pretty great. I don't understand how CA determined "lacks offensive infantry" to be their weakness; they have DFK, DCK, and battlefield assassins.
I would put Poland in med2 as a honourable mention. A lot of people say it's shit but when you get to the mid game they get good knight and light cav units. I think the gameplay is quite enjoyable because you are surrounded by enemies and you're the second to be hit by Mongols
I find if they survive the early stage of the campaign, Poland generally become a very strong faction in the middle and late stages. That’s when their good cavalry and heavy infantry units come into play. They often get crushed in the early game, though, when the AI controls them.
Just stumbled over your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos. I can remember I've had memorable campaigns with Pontus, baktria and Sicily. So I agree with a lot about your list. Keep up the good work man
I remember having a lot of fun as Sicily in medieval 2. Their unit roster is one of the best, & if you expand into the weaker territories first, by the time you come up against equal or superior military forces, you've got such a financial edge that it won't matter. They're also closer than most to the east, so when the crusades are called you can get there first every time without much trouble
Emania Jr Yeah, the AI never seems to take advantage of the HRE’s unit roster like a good human player can. It’s a great faction on paper, but the AI rarely does well with it. Plus, lots of their units have the two-handed glitch.
I am actually pleased with your selection this time. I do not usually play the mainstream factions and was surprised to see you named nearly all I play regularly LOL. Especially pleased with Sicily. I couldnt agree more.
PONTUS IS ABSOLUTLY OP. The only campaign I played as Pontus was delicious. Pontic Light and Heavy Cavalry combined with phalangites and a good quantity of Rhodians and Cretans are amazing. I remember a battle at the Isthmus of Corinth where I destroyed 2 Scipii armies (full stacks) with a single army of mine. And the next turn they came back with 2 more armies. Greece was full of "site of a famous battle". It was actually pretty rare a battle where my infantry had to take part.
What about Numidia in RTW? Fearless soldiers with amazing hats and towels, incredible starting location complete with lots and lots of sand. Their economy is robust with lots of camels and their unforgettable desert religion that everyone WISHES they could convert to in real life
Baktria is my favourite faction in Europa Barbarorum, their roster there is just so versatile and colorful, not to mention their upgraded General's Bodyguard, that unit is so powerful. Plus you get way more room to expand than in Rome 2
With rome 2, Bactria is definitely the most underrated faction. It's in a part of the world where everyone fights with mostly cavalry, while Bactria has good counters to cav spam. And they have 2 provinces meaning food isn't an issue. The next 4 in that game are; Kush (spice trade, very similiar to Egypt, in a corner of the map that provides alot of food). Iceni (cultural affinity means they can trade with people who should dislike them). Nervii in caesar in gaul (proof that it's not just a roman bias dlc). Egypt in imperator rome dlc (basically a buffed version of grand campaign Egypt). Gallic rome in empire divided and the iolel in rise of the republic would be honourable mentions.
100% agree with bactria, fighting all the way to the mediterranean is surprisingly enjoyable even if you fight alot of missile cavalry, I think it's great becouse even if you are technically Greek you still get access to elephants, heavy cav and other juicy units that make your battles pretty entertaining
When you finally reach Mediterranean shore, it's a very refreshing feeling. It's like you been fighting the toughest enemies in the worst terrains and the poorest regions, then you finally made it and see all these infantry civilizations in their flatland terrain and rich cities, and you are like "The East sends its regards"...
I am rather new to the total war franchise, but after reading up a bit about baktria i went with them for my bery first grand campaign. And you are absolutely right. After some growing pains it is a very fun faction to play as. Keep up the good work, loving the videos Melkor
I think Pontus is overlooked because the Devs made it look more middle eastern than Hellenic. Sicily is also a great campaign. Strong Norman Knights, decent gunpowder units, and with a strong Papal alliance, you can dominate Italy while expanding into Byzantine and Muslim territory.
I know it doesn't concern all the native factions in the America's campaign, but the Apachean tribes and the Chichimecans have the ability to learn from their enemies: by defeating cavalry or musketeers/arquebusiers, they can adopt cavalry or the Thunder Braves, making them easily the most powerful native faction. The only real big deal about the Native factions is that gameplay-wise, most of them feel completely similar (except for the two i just mentioned), and som are purely reskinned clones like the Aztecs and the Mayans.
For me, Hungary in Medieval 2 blew my mind when the first time I picked it. It is overshadowed by Russia for conservative player, Byzantium for more challenging player, and Poland for a masochist.
Eastern Rome in Attila is pretty great. Building up giant armies to fight Sassanid doom stacks is fun as hell. Sicily is definitely underrated, Norman knights will STOMP almost every other unit in the early game, and conquering the Mediterranean as them is fun
I think the AI is the main reason a lot of people don’t play Pontus. I mean come on they spam out eastern spearman stacks, their Pikemen are only half as big as the normal pikes ((until you get bronze shields)), and really they’re not very good early game. Sure once they get going they’re super powerful but from the peek human players get fighting them they just seem like Parthia without horse archers.
I fixed it and set pontic Phalanx the same number as makedonians and others. Furthermore, they've the same shield defense as the Royal Pikemen which it's not correct and I fixed it as well.
I’m surprised the Eastern Roman Empire is on here, they were my first ever Barbarian Invasion choice when I first got the game and I remember really enjoying it. I recently did another playthrough of ERE and I loved it! Fighting the Sassanid Empire and the barbarian hordes is fun as hell. Also they got some of the best units Legio Lanciarii and Cataphracts, I don’t see why anyone would overlook them Backtria yeah I can see why they are overlooked I personally think their flag looks stupid that’s why I never play as them lol
I would have loved for Americas campaign where the Tlaxcalans should have an option if they ally with the Spanish they get a series of missions from the Spanish. Should they choose to fullfil these achivements they get rewarded by being give small amount of old world technology and the ability to eventually recruit europeanised units that while inferior to european counterparts one on one are far more numberous and have the strengths of the older native units of being cheap, fast moving and good stamina
Just finished a short campaign for Sicily on hardest difficulty. If you can manage to build up enough of an army you can simultaneously take Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Florence(if the pope hasnt already sniped it), and Venice within 10 turns. After that you are pretty much unstoppable. Edit: turn 1 set your capital to Naples, convert Palermo to a city, take a token force to conquer Cagliari and Ajaccio before the Moors get to them, so you can have 2 castles for recruitment just off the coast.
I think Armenia in Rome: Total War is also underrated. They have an interesting position on the map with several directions to expand in and have a great army roster, with better looking units than Parthia. They have some good infantry - heavy spearmen and imitation legionaries - which puts them way ahead of Parthia. They have both excellent missile cavalry and heavy cavalry in the form of cataphract archers and cataphracts respectively, and the first tier generals bodyguard unit are superb light cavalry. The only downside compared to Parthia is the lack of elephants, but that's an acceptable trade off for good infantry I think. Their army composition is flexible to deal with different enemy types. Armies full of hoplites or barbarian infantry can be dealt with by using missile cavalry-focused forces, while Parthia and Scythia can be countered with a combination of phalanx spearmen and cataphract archers. I feel like the superior missile cavalry is what would put Armenia slightly ahead of Pontus. Very fun campaign.
i wouldn't put Armenia ahead of Pontus, their legion infantry is a principes clone, not a early legion clone like the seleucids, their phalanx is decent I'll give them that but it also takes a long ass time until you can get them, even more until you can get them in a reasonable time frame. Their strength is in their cavalry and horse archers, everything else is meh and won't survive in the late game.
@@vlads3283 Compared to Parthia, their infantry is god-like though. Lol. The only reason I put them ahead of Pontus is the better missile cavalry, which gives them greater flexibility. Pontus - great infantry and heavy cavalry. Armenia - decent infantry, great heavy cavalry and great missile cavalry. That extra versatility is why I think Armenia is the best of the non-Seleucid/Egyptian eastern factions.
@@blakeprocter5818 Compared to Parthian infantry barbarian warbands are godlike. I quite frankly prefer pontus to armenia, mainly because my playstyle involves more heavy infantry than Armenia can offer.
@@vlads3283 Fair enough. I do like my infantry armies as well. I used to hate missile cavalry until I played a Scythia campaign and came to realise how powerful horse archers are when used properly. The cataphract archers are the primary reason I value Armenia highly. If Pontus had a good horse archer unit (I know they can use Scythian mercenaries) then they'd be better by far.
My favorite faction is the Lakhmids in Attila, but I dont see people talking about it much. I had an epic game playing as them, first 60 turns I defended my cities and laid siege to their capital 2 times, after all the slaughter I decided to retreat into the desert and abandon my capitol. After many years of regaining power hiding away in the desert I attacked them in rear from the sea. Eventually this became my first world conquest in attila total war.
Thrace in rtw, decent rosta early access to two of the best Merc pools and a really challenging starting position. My favourite playthrough on very hard
Baktria starts in a safe position and has a great variety of units. You want pikes and artillery? Foot archers? Horse archers? A hoplite anvil and cataphract hammer? War elephants? Baktria has it all.
Can't really agree with ERE being underrated in RTW:BI. They are honestly one the stronger if not the strongest faction in the game. They are challenging in a way that huge hordes start really close to their borders and as they go further there will be even more hordes knocking the door. Plus there are Sassanids and treacherous WRE that won't let you have a breather. Basically, ERE is a high risk/high reward faction that is also not as frustrating in managing itself as WRE. Now the one faction which does go as underrated yet powerful is Sassanid Empire. Their unit roster isn't that rich as ERE, they don't have a horde mechanic and they practice a religion exclusive to them, so every new non-Zoroastrian province will cause troubles. However, it does bring quite a lot of challenge and while not having a massive unit roster they do have some extremely good units. Bringing down ERE, converting its people to Zoroastrian faith while fighting off hordes is not as trivial tadk as one might have initially thought.
Just a few days ago I finished my Sicily campagin and it was fun.I wanted to restore the western roman empire, started whit Italy then Afica,Spain,France and England :D Whit Italy secured i got the money and the Norman knights are just savage
Sicily is my favourite faction in med 2! I would also suggest Wales in the Britannia expansion as most people would choose England, but wales has good units and an interesting script
I really thought that the White Huns of TW: Attila would be here, since they have the most blatantly overpowered unit in the entire franchise and get overshadowed by their partners the Black Huns. I'm not dissapointed with the Venedians being mentioned though...
Bactria also gets no public order penalty from religious differences. Add Pikemen, Persian Archers, Elephants, Cataphracts and Horse Archers to that and you can steamroll the whole world easily.
I think the main issue people don't like sicily as much is because there aren't any neighbouring rebel settlements so you either have to march through other factions territories or go overseas. Also their starting economy is the worst out of the italian factions because Naples and Palermo aren't very developed compared to Genoa, Milan and Venice.
I took control of Anatolia and set sail to Greece asap to hold down the Romans. By the time I set my pontic feet on Italy the Marian Reform took place, but they didn't have enough time to take advantage of it. I advanced until Tarsus, and set some forts at the Cilician Gates, Issos, and the mountain ways which connect to Assyria, in order to gain time if an invassion from there comes. Armenia was my ally and they eventually betrayed me, but I was recruiting armies to attack them by that time, so they were a piece a cake.
If you go to war, the pope will tell you to cease hostilities, probably. Or he will excommunicate you. Given that it takes 2 turns to get into a settlement, usually you cannot take too many christian settlements early game. However, if you use a cheap balista to knock knock down the gate in one turn, then you can get in there and take the settlement before the pope can send you his threat.
Long live the Exiled Prince! Baktria has always been my favourite faction in rome 2, they have a very good location in wich you can just push one way without been worried about being backstabed from behind, you ahve a powerfull economy, you negate completelly the culture penalty, allowing to conquer as much a you please, your roster is very balanced with good units in all tiers of infantry, yet not as good as specialized nations, you can make it so you have a fairly decent army that plays to the weaknesses of your foes. Yet your main strength is in cavalry. Very powerfull shock cavalry, not to mention the armored indian elephants that you can get on your generals from turn 1, and they can make the early battles all by themselves with no problem. Hell now I want to play with them. Again.
I like playing as Pontus on the battle map, but I've found it really hard to ballance public order and the economy while playing them. Maybe I just don't know how to manage them right.
Armenia is literally a better version of Parthia, you just trade off War Elephants for Cataphract Archers, Heavy Spearman, and Armenian Legionnaires......way better balanced army you can't do better than tier II infantry with Parthia makes them totally unplayable to me I love cav but I need at least something a little better than Hillmen for infantry or that campaign is getting stale in a hurry
Baktria's great but - in campaign, only - the most underrated Rome 2 faction is Pergamon. Yeah, their roster is uninspiring, but their campaign trait is *fantastic* and due to their campaign trait they can easily afford mercenaries to round out their armies and they have easy access to a good variety of them. On top of that Asia may not be one of the best provinces in the game, but 2 wonders plus marble makes it very good.
It's the only one I always go back to. Never gets old. My favourite TW of all time. The expansions are also killer. Teutonic and Britannia being amazing games if they were standalone.
Not sure you’ll get this, but I always actively avoid playing certain factions. I never play any form of Rome except maybe the byzantines, I never play England Spain or France, especially not England, and I always go for underrated factions. Lizardmen felt like they would be the most underrated out of the starting four for me in Warhammer 2, then I fell in love with their lore, and the rest is history
The problem with Sicily is that you don't get to fight the Sicilians. Besides the economy, one of the main appeals as playing the Milanese is fighting the Sicilians over Corsica and Sardinia. The AI Milanese don't tend to go for those islands as much, so there's less to contend with as Sicily. edit: Though I do definitely underappreciate Sicily's Norman Knights.
I like the eastern Roman Empire because it is kinda like you can after you beat the Sassanids you can then take over Rome and other land s like what Justinian tried to do
I don't think I would put Norman Knights above Teutonic Knights. Teutonics have 2 more on the charge bonus, and their secondary is effective against armor. The only thing Normans have over them is 1 more defense skill and a slightly lower recruitment cost.
I will strongly disagree that Baktria is an under-rated faction. They are VERY popular when people ask about what campaigns to play as etc on Reddit. Also they are a very popular pick in Rome2 Multiplayer as well. For sure not an overlooked faction. Great video none the less and thanks for the content :)
even though spain has gunpowder they never survive in any of my americas games, in fact they seem to follow a standard pattern: spain allies aztec enemies, aztecs get wiped, tarascan and tlaxcala one of these becomes a vassal of the other, this combined force destroys spain, the overlord gets victory condition if I don't stop them.
pontus have fomible jav cav and thrir pikrs pretty much thr same as selucids, nut lake the fomideble fast meele cav of mecedon and lack good archers (like all hellenic factions)
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Top 5 best siege weapons?
I’m so glad someone finally mentioned Pontus.
Lol you mean POINTLESS
Shut
As soon as I saw the list I was like “Baktria!” and then was kind of surprised that you mentioned them. They’re exactly like the Russians in Napoleon where they get an irrelevant corner of the map and really just have to expand in one direction, plus they both have really powerful late game units such as the unicorn artillery for the Russians and the baktrian assortment of units including war elephants, cataphracts and heavy cav, horse archers, heavy melee infantry, and heavy pikes. I love playing both.
Same, its actually my fav tw rome 2 faction. Also the first one I ever played.
One aspect why these factions are overlooked is probably also because their history is a bit less known.
Never thought about that, but yep, it's probably true also : )
Funny, as those are the nations I usually look for to play as.
Title: Top 5 Under-Rated Factions
5. Rome: Total War
4. Rome 2: Total War
3. Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms, Americas campaign
2. Total War: Attila
1. Medieval 2: Total War
Yep, I have to agree. Medieval 2 is a hella underrated faction. Whenever I play Medieval 2 as Medieval 2, I do a full map clear. I don't see too many people picking Medieval 2 when they play Medieval 2, though. There's just too many people playing Warhammer 2 when they play Medieval 2 :P
Too true. The fantasy setting of the war hammer games just don’t appeal to me but they seem to appeal to most people playing total war now.
@@largeorbofpossums9466 To be honest, Warhammer 2 is the most fun TW game I have played. And I played the games since Rome. It is subjective opinion. And please shoot me in the head if its a joke comment, please and thank you.
@@ghailanemirsyaputra7918 I bought Warhammer 2 on steam, only to discover that I have to get WH 1 in order to play the dwarf and orcs, and I just never bothered with it:( Played Rome total war instead, it is still my favourite total war.
You didn't watch it
@@ghailanemirsyaputra7918 WH would be an option if not degenerative amount of DLCs without which you barely get half of content for the game.
I'm not gonna pay 120€ on top of 60€ game. They lost their mind with these prices
Ya know Melkor, like you i’ve played rtw for more than a decade and never really looked it up on youtube. At first i was very into legendoftotwars channel and not so into yours. However, over time i kept going back to your page and now I can say your page is the #1 page. I feel that legends is a bit negative while urs is always positive and more passionate. Regardless, just wanna say u earned a sub from me. I know its not a contest between ur channel and his but figured id throw it in there.
Great choices, I like your point about the Sicilians placement. Norman knights are definitely one of the coolest looking units in any of the games too
Sicily is an amazing faction to play. You start in the middle of the Mediterranean , in Italy which has high income cities. You're an Italian-Norman of sorts meaning you get Italian style militia units and awesome Italian crossbow units but also unique amazing heavy cavalry like Norman knights. You're really near non-Catholic lands so you can get a Crusade up and done in a few turns. There's a lot to love here other than starting near the backstabbing Venetians.
I totally agree with you on Pontus. I think they are a unique fusion of east and west in Rome total war. I hope you consider them for a roleplay playthrough similiar to what you did with Carthage.
Maybe not a RolePlay, but for a Stream, maybe : )
@@MelkorGG would be equally entertaining. 👍
Well I don't think Pontus is underrated, many players back in the day would play as Pontus online. As well as people having fun with them through unlocking them. It is also a reason why they were part of the DLC for Rome2. It is an interesting faction. And I loved that they got their original colors back when they initially were made yellow in Rome2.
I think a really underrated faction is Hungry in M2TW, they have some pretty cool spear men, nice cavalry, and a very unique starting location.
Pavise spearmen aren't any better than armoured sargents, but the rest of Hungary's roster is pretty great. I don't understand how CA determined "lacks offensive infantry" to be their weakness; they have DFK, DCK, and battlefield assassins.
I like them for their good horse archers with catholic knights
Hungary is my favorite faction. You want horse archers and knights? Got it. Want dismounted knights? Got it. Very well rounded faction in my opinion.
Hungary got fked by the game designers, their assassin unit is much weaker than the Muslim version.
@@nomooon Their feudal / chivalric dismouned knights are also weaker than western counterpart. Well, their description kinda hints at it.
I would put Poland in med2 as a honourable mention. A lot of people say it's shit but when you get to the mid game they get good knight and light cav units. I think the gameplay is quite enjoyable because you are surrounded by enemies and you're the second to be hit by Mongols
Poland is Seleucid 2.0
I find if they survive the early stage of the campaign, Poland generally become a very strong faction in the middle and late stages. That’s when their good cavalry and heavy infantry units come into play.
They often get crushed in the early game, though, when the AI controls them.
I had fun as Poland, massed their heavy javelin cavalry, and felt like a boss, until the Mongols hit me...
Their early noble and crossbow cavalry is fantastic.
Just stumbled over your channel and I have to say I really enjoy your videos.
I can remember I've had memorable campaigns with Pontus, baktria and Sicily. So I agree with a lot about your list.
Keep up the good work man
Welcome.
And Thanks, I will : )
I remember having a lot of fun as Sicily in medieval 2. Their unit roster is one of the best, & if you expand into the weaker territories first, by the time you come up against equal or superior military forces, you've got such a financial edge that it won't matter. They're also closer than most to the east, so when the crusades are called you can get there first every time without much trouble
The most over rated is next. Hands down.
I can't really think of many overrated factions. Some could certainly be considered worse than they look, but not really overrated.
HRE in medieval 2.
And
Hmm
thats it.
Probaly one of Empires factions like france and Spain.
MarkGhost Productions Rome TW and R2 TW: ROME
@@zerosuitsamus2340 which rome in 1. Because the Scipios arent that overrated.
Emania Jr Yeah, the AI never seems to take advantage of the HRE’s unit roster like a good human player can. It’s a great faction on paper, but the AI rarely does well with it. Plus, lots of their units have the two-handed glitch.
I must agree, sicily is really powerful and love to play as them.
Norman knights are easily the coolest looking dismounted early knights, plus Sword and Buckler men! I love em.
I am actually pleased with your selection this time. I do not usually play the mainstream factions and was surprised to see you named nearly all I play regularly LOL. Especially pleased with Sicily. I couldnt agree more.
Sicily is a great faction!
-A Scipii fan
Loved Baktria from the start! Glad to see they get some love in this video.
Wales has a fun unit roster in the Britannia campaign.
Massalia is an amazing faction in Rome 2. Good hoplites, celtic warriors, MLG levy spearmen.
PONTUS IS ABSOLUTLY OP. The only campaign I played as Pontus was delicious. Pontic Light and Heavy Cavalry combined with phalangites and a good quantity of Rhodians and Cretans are amazing. I remember a battle at the Isthmus of Corinth where I destroyed 2 Scipii armies (full stacks) with a single army of mine. And the next turn they came back with 2 more armies. Greece was full of "site of a famous battle".
It was actually pretty rare a battle where my infantry had to take part.
What about Numidia in RTW?
Fearless soldiers with amazing hats and towels, incredible starting location complete with lots and lots of sand.
Their economy is robust with lots of camels and their unforgettable desert religion that everyone WISHES they could convert to in real life
The legend says they are still protecting their 5 grams of gold with desert infantry up to this day.
For Rome 2, it should have been Cimmeria.
I do like Sicily, it’s the ultimate crusader exp in med 2, can start crusade on turn 2, and carve out the KoJ, or Antioch!
Baktria is my favourite faction in Europa Barbarorum, their roster there is just so versatile and colorful, not to mention their upgraded General's Bodyguard, that unit is so powerful. Plus you get way more room to expand than in Rome 2
With rome 2, Bactria is definitely the most underrated faction. It's in a part of the world where everyone fights with mostly cavalry, while Bactria has good counters to cav spam. And they have 2 provinces meaning food isn't an issue.
The next 4 in that game are;
Kush (spice trade, very similiar to Egypt, in a corner of the map that provides alot of food).
Iceni (cultural affinity means they can trade with people who should dislike them).
Nervii in caesar in gaul (proof that it's not just a roman bias dlc).
Egypt in imperator rome dlc (basically a buffed version of grand campaign Egypt).
Gallic rome in empire divided and the iolel in rise of the republic would be honourable mentions.
100% agree with bactria, fighting all the way to the mediterranean is surprisingly enjoyable even if you fight alot of missile cavalry, I think it's great becouse even if you are technically Greek you still get access to elephants, heavy cav and other juicy units that make your battles pretty entertaining
When you finally reach Mediterranean shore, it's a very refreshing feeling. It's like you been fighting the toughest enemies in the worst terrains and the poorest regions, then you finally made it and see all these infantry civilizations in their flatland terrain and rich cities, and you are like "The East sends its regards"...
4:21 Melkor is probably the number 1 player in the world of Farmville in Facebook
I am rather new to the total war franchise, but after reading up a bit about baktria i went with them for my bery first grand campaign. And you are absolutely right. After some growing pains it is a very fun faction to play as.
Keep up the good work, loving the videos Melkor
I think Pontus is overlooked because the Devs made it look more middle eastern than Hellenic. Sicily is also a great campaign. Strong Norman Knights, decent gunpowder units, and with a strong Papal alliance, you can dominate Italy while expanding into Byzantine and Muslim territory.
I know it doesn't concern all the native factions in the America's campaign, but the Apachean tribes and the Chichimecans have the ability to learn from their enemies: by defeating cavalry or musketeers/arquebusiers, they can adopt cavalry or the Thunder Braves, making them easily the most powerful native faction.
The only real big deal about the Native factions is that gameplay-wise, most of them feel completely similar (except for the two i just mentioned), and som are purely reskinned clones like the Aztecs and the Mayans.
Actually the reason why Pontus does so well when played by the ai is because chariots are OP in autoresolve, and they tend to recruit them alot.
Sicily is strong and fun, and doing a Norman re-invasion of England is hilarious.
Siceelee vewry undewreeteed, i agreee! I also absolutely love your accent!
For me, Hungary in Medieval 2 blew my mind when the first time I picked it. It is overshadowed by Russia for conservative player, Byzantium for more challenging player, and Poland for a masochist.
Anjay
I loved the venedians in Attila. I did my only almost world conquest int Attila with them.
Eastern Rome in Attila is pretty great. Building up giant armies to fight Sassanid doom stacks is fun as hell. Sicily is definitely underrated, Norman knights will STOMP almost every other unit in the early game, and conquering the Mediterranean as them is fun
cool video melkor!
I think the AI is the main reason a lot of people don’t play Pontus. I mean come on they spam out eastern spearman stacks, their Pikemen are only half as big as the normal pikes ((until you get bronze shields)), and really they’re not very good early game. Sure once they get going they’re super powerful but from the peek human players get fighting them they just seem like Parthia without horse archers.
I fixed it and set pontic Phalanx the same number as makedonians and others. Furthermore, they've the same shield defense as the Royal Pikemen which it's not correct and I fixed it as well.
I’m surprised the Eastern Roman Empire is on here, they were my first ever Barbarian Invasion choice when I first got the game and I remember really enjoying it. I recently did another playthrough of ERE and I loved it! Fighting the Sassanid Empire and the barbarian hordes is fun as hell. Also they got some of the best units Legio Lanciarii and Cataphracts, I don’t see why anyone would overlook them
Backtria yeah I can see why they are overlooked I personally think their flag looks stupid that’s why I never play as them lol
Scotland; all you need to do is recruit pike militia, double stack them, and place mercenary spearmen on the flanks
I would have loved for Americas campaign where the Tlaxcalans should have an option if they ally with the Spanish they get a series of missions from the Spanish. Should they choose to fullfil these achivements they get rewarded by being give small amount of old world technology and the ability to eventually recruit europeanised units that while inferior to european counterparts one on one are far more numberous and have the strengths of the older native units of being cheap, fast moving and good stamina
Sicilian knights are awesome. Your knights are more Norman than the English Norman roster!
Well they are Normans as well after all!
Just finished a short campaign for Sicily on hardest difficulty. If you can manage to build up enough of an army you can simultaneously take Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Florence(if the pope hasnt already sniped it), and Venice within 10 turns. After that you are pretty much unstoppable. Edit: turn 1 set your capital to Naples, convert Palermo to a city, take a token force to conquer Cagliari and Ajaccio before the Moors get to them, so you can have 2 castles for recruitment just off the coast.
I think Armenia in Rome: Total War is also underrated. They have an interesting position on the map with several directions to expand in and have a great army roster, with better looking units than Parthia. They have some good infantry - heavy spearmen and imitation legionaries - which puts them way ahead of Parthia. They have both excellent missile cavalry and heavy cavalry in the form of cataphract archers and cataphracts respectively, and the first tier generals bodyguard unit are superb light cavalry. The only downside compared to Parthia is the lack of elephants, but that's an acceptable trade off for good infantry I think. Their army composition is flexible to deal with different enemy types. Armies full of hoplites or barbarian infantry can be dealt with by using missile cavalry-focused forces, while Parthia and Scythia can be countered with a combination of phalanx spearmen and cataphract archers. I feel like the superior missile cavalry is what would put Armenia slightly ahead of Pontus. Very fun campaign.
i wouldn't put Armenia ahead of Pontus, their legion infantry is a principes clone, not a early legion clone like the seleucids, their phalanx is decent I'll give them that but it also takes a long ass time until you can get them, even more until you can get them in a reasonable time frame. Their strength is in their cavalry and horse archers, everything else is meh and won't survive in the late game.
@@vlads3283 Compared to Parthia, their infantry is god-like though. Lol. The only reason I put them ahead of Pontus is the better missile cavalry, which gives them greater flexibility. Pontus - great infantry and heavy cavalry. Armenia - decent infantry, great heavy cavalry and great missile cavalry. That extra versatility is why I think Armenia is the best of the non-Seleucid/Egyptian eastern factions.
@@blakeprocter5818 Compared to Parthian infantry barbarian warbands are godlike. I quite frankly prefer pontus to armenia, mainly because my playstyle involves more heavy infantry than Armenia can offer.
@@vlads3283 Fair enough. I do like my infantry armies as well. I used to hate missile cavalry until I played a Scythia campaign and came to realise how powerful horse archers are when used properly. The cataphract archers are the primary reason I value Armenia highly. If Pontus had a good horse archer unit (I know they can use Scythian mercenaries) then they'd be better by far.
Their starting towns are garbage. Really have to expand into some valuable lands quickly.
Wait people don't like Sicily? They are one of my go to factions when I return to medieval 2
Currently playing as Pontus. Like spamming hoplites and cappadociaan cavalry. Eastern infantry are the meat sheild units.
please do a rome totalwar pontus playthrough it would amazing or a medevial two sciliy playthrough
A Stream of it will happen someday : )
Sicily is my go to faction, but if dont crusade or hit northern italy early you run out of money in the mid game.
My favorite faction is the Lakhmids in Attila, but I dont see people talking about it much. I had an epic game playing as them, first 60 turns I defended my cities and laid siege to their capital 2 times, after all the slaughter I decided to retreat into the desert and abandon my capitol. After many years of regaining power hiding away in the desert I attacked them in rear from the sea. Eventually this became my first world conquest in attila total war.
Thrace in rtw, decent rosta early access to two of the best Merc pools and a really challenging starting position.
My favourite playthrough on very hard
as a slavic man i really wanted to try out the slavic dlc for attila. got it, played as the venedians, had a blast. recommend
Baktria starts in a safe position and has a great variety of units. You want pikes and artillery? Foot archers? Horse archers? A hoplite anvil and cataphract hammer? War elephants? Baktria has it all.
Can't really agree with ERE being underrated in RTW:BI. They are honestly one the stronger if not the strongest faction in the game. They are challenging in a way that huge hordes start really close to their borders and as they go further there will be even more hordes knocking the door. Plus there are Sassanids and treacherous WRE that won't let you have a breather. Basically, ERE is a high risk/high reward faction that is also not as frustrating in managing itself as WRE. Now the one faction which does go as underrated yet powerful is Sassanid Empire. Their unit roster isn't that rich as ERE, they don't have a horde mechanic and they practice a religion exclusive to them, so every new non-Zoroastrian province will cause troubles. However, it does bring quite a lot of challenge and while not having a massive unit roster they do have some extremely good units. Bringing down ERE, converting its people to Zoroastrian faith while fighting off hordes is not as trivial tadk as one might have initially thought.
Who
Just a few days ago I finished my Sicily campagin and it was fun.I wanted to restore the western roman empire, started whit Italy then Afica,Spain,France and England :D Whit Italy secured i got the money and the Norman knights are just savage
Thats great and all. But what is Obamas last name? Thats what is important.
PS: I am excited for the stream :)
Sicily is my favourite faction in med 2! I would also suggest Wales in the Britannia expansion as most people would choose England, but wales has good units and an interesting script
I really thought that the White Huns of TW: Attila would be here, since they have the most blatantly overpowered unit in the entire franchise and get overshadowed by their partners the Black Huns.
I'm not dissapointed with the Venedians being mentioned though...
0:35 Wait, inst that the description of the Seleucids? Lol
When will you do the age of vikings mod for Attila as Danes
Next Week : )
Bactria also gets no public order penalty from religious differences. Add Pikemen, Persian Archers, Elephants, Cataphracts and Horse Archers to that and you can steamroll the whole world easily.
man bactria is such a steamroll and a powerhouse, siciliy i also like playing
I think the main issue people don't like sicily as much is because there aren't any neighbouring rebel settlements so you either have to march through other factions territories or go overseas. Also their starting economy is the worst out of the italian factions because Naples and Palermo aren't very developed compared to Genoa, Milan and Venice.
I’d love to see a Let’s Play with Pontus. Maybe a house rule is you can only expand west, until Rome turns up?
I took control of Anatolia and set sail to Greece asap to hold down the Romans. By the time I set my pontic feet on Italy the Marian Reform took place, but they didn't have enough time to take advantage of it.
I advanced until Tarsus, and set some forts at the Cilician Gates, Issos, and the mountain ways which connect to Assyria, in order to gain time if an invassion from there comes. Armenia was my ally and they eventually betrayed me, but I was recruiting armies to attack them by that time, so they were a piece a cake.
Baktria is by far my favourite faction in total war rome 2 one was one of the most fun campaign I ever had
what's that about a ballista at the sicily part? Is that an inside joke or is that actually a thing with the pope?
If you go to war, the pope will tell you to cease hostilities, probably. Or he will excommunicate you. Given that it takes 2 turns to get into a settlement, usually you cannot take too many christian settlements early game.
However, if you use a cheap balista to knock knock down the gate in one turn, then you can get in there and take the settlement before the pope can send you his threat.
Long live the Exiled Prince!
Baktria has always been my favourite faction in rome 2, they have a very good location in wich you can just push one way without been worried about being backstabed from behind, you ahve a powerfull economy, you negate completelly the culture penalty, allowing to conquer as much a you please, your roster is very balanced with good units in all tiers of infantry, yet not as good as specialized nations, you can make it so you have a fairly decent army that plays to the weaknesses of your foes. Yet your main strength is in cavalry. Very powerfull shock cavalry, not to mention the armored indian elephants that you can get on your generals from turn 1, and they can make the early battles all by themselves with no problem.
Hell now I want to play with them. Again.
Yeah, Pontus rocks once they get going. Do more coverage!
i play the chimec tribes for america so i still have gunpowder and i am interested in their history
Bactria was one of the most dominate factions since it’s release
You should do cover medieval 2 mods.
I like playing as Pontus on the battle map, but I've found it really hard to ballance public order and the economy while playing them. Maybe I just don't know how to manage them right.
Parthans from the original Rome are pretty under rated, but that missile cavalry is dominating.
Armenia is literally a better version of Parthia, you just trade off War Elephants for Cataphract Archers, Heavy Spearman, and Armenian Legionnaires......way better balanced army you can't do better than tier II infantry with Parthia makes them totally unplayable to me I love cav but I need at least something a little better than Hillmen for infantry or that campaign is getting stale in a hurry
Papal states?
Pontus are my favourite Rome 1 civ for some reason
Top 5 barbarian factions in Rome total war & then do barbarian invasion next! :)
Baktria's great but - in campaign, only - the most underrated Rome 2 faction is Pergamon.
Yeah, their roster is uninspiring, but their campaign trait is *fantastic* and due to their campaign trait they can easily afford mercenaries to round out their armies and they have easy access to a good variety of them. On top of that Asia may not be one of the best provinces in the game, but 2 wonders plus marble makes it very good.
Is Med2 worth playing never played but loved all of the total wars since Rome
Yes. Most would say it is THE Total War game to play. : )
It's the only one I always go back to. Never gets old. My favourite TW of all time. The expansions are also killer. Teutonic and Britannia being amazing games if they were standalone.
Yes but how to unlock Pontus
Could Scotland possibly count? Bad cavalry and archers, yeah, but they’ve got top-tier infantry that can dominate when played intelligently.
I think so
Also they don't have gunpowder units except for bombards
Like Byzantium
What a coincidence, I'm playing a campaign as Sicily, haha
Not sure you’ll get this, but I always actively avoid playing certain factions. I never play any form of Rome except maybe the byzantines, I never play England Spain or France, especially not England, and I always go for underrated factions. Lizardmen felt like they would be the most underrated out of the starting four for me in Warhammer 2, then I fell in love with their lore, and the rest is history
i played a dei bactria campaign it's amazing i remade the seleucid boarders
I can’t play as Bactria anymore. My faction leader’s spouses keep dying every few turns.
The problem with Sicily is that you don't get to fight the Sicilians. Besides the economy, one of the main appeals as playing the Milanese is fighting the Sicilians over Corsica and Sardinia. The AI Milanese don't tend to go for those islands as much, so there's less to contend with as Sicily.
edit: Though I do definitely underappreciate Sicily's Norman Knights.
I’m surprised Eastern Rome is on here, they’re probably my favorite faction in both Atilla and Barbarian invasion.
In ETW Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth most underrated faction
I like the eastern Roman Empire because it is kinda like you can after you beat the Sassanids you can then take over Rome and other land s like what Justinian tried to do
I like the Mayans and Apaches myself in the Americas
I don't think I would put Norman Knights above Teutonic Knights. Teutonics have 2 more on the charge bonus, and their secondary is effective against armor. The only thing Normans have over them is 1 more defense skill and a slightly lower recruitment cost.
Yes bactria is like the seleucids only a better position
I became aware of the existance of Baktria thanks to Europa Barbarorum and its was one of the reasons I bought Rome 2 xD
I will strongly disagree that Baktria is an under-rated faction. They are VERY popular when people ask about what campaigns to play as etc on Reddit. Also they are a very popular pick in Rome2 Multiplayer as well. For sure not an overlooked faction. Great video none the less and thanks for the content :)
ARTILLERY ONLY
Rtw 2 iberian factions Are very underrated imo
Idk it seems like people play the apache and the Aztecs in M2 Americans quite a bit, they’re much more interesting than the Spanish in my opinion
The Venedians: the faction for Farming Simulator fans of Total War :)
Pontus Roleplay campaign when?
Not as a RolePlay, but certainly as a Stream : )
@@MelkorGG ;(
even though spain has gunpowder they never survive in any of my americas games, in fact they seem to follow a standard pattern: spain allies aztec enemies, aztecs get wiped, tarascan and tlaxcala one of these becomes a vassal of the other, this combined force destroys spain, the overlord gets victory condition if I don't stop them.
pontus have fomible jav cav and thrir pikrs pretty much thr same as selucids, nut lake the fomideble fast meele cav of mecedon and lack good archers (like all hellenic factions)