Best Faction To Join

Nords or player faction.  Simply to play on foot.

I've joined Rhodoks in my latest game but I use Khergit Cav (usually lancers), Swadian/Rhodok Infantry and throw in some mercenary crossbowmen for my army. I like working off the strengths of the different factions.

It really depends on the concept you're looking at here. If you want to be a viking, join Nords. If you won't make up your mind you can always create your own faction and conquer the world.

HugMe said:

If you want to be a viking, join Nords.

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If you're not into doing the whole silly Viking looter thing, then join either Rhodocks, Swadians, or Khergit. I can't seem to pretend to get interested in joining Vaegirs, although I don't mind recruiting a few.

My current group is torn between siding with Rhodock or Khergit, but there's still a chance I may choose Swadians when the time comes to make a decision.

Nomad, Steppe Child, Poacher - a 3-Steppe process to making a Khergit horse archer.

in what? normal battles or sieges? khergits and nords(respectively)

I think best faction iş vaegir if you know what to do,its best faction

I honestly find the Rhodoks to be my favorite due to their peaceful nature (in the games I've played at least), decent infantry, and superb crossbow men.

The Rhodocks are anything but "peaceful" in my current game.  At one point, they were at war with the Nords, Khergit, and Vaegirs simultaneously.  Now they're down to just one war.

I'm playing as a member of Swadia this time, but fielding an almost entirely mounted army composed mainly of Khergit troops (one of my castles was formerly Khergit), with a small band of 5 Swadian Knights and a few more Men at Arms for punch (any more than 5 Knights might as well be called "cheating").  My garrisons are a bizarre mix of Swadian foot troops, captured and converted Nords, and freed Rhodocks, with small numbers of freed Vaegirs and Manhunters, plus a couple of token peasant farmers and women to tend the place.

It's actually surprising that a Khergit army can assault a (non-Rhodock) castle at "reasonable" odds well enough, but more surprising how pathetically they defend it.  On offense, they pick the defenders off the walls at range, and the Lancers are armored and shielded well enough to conduct a serious assault.  Problem is, when the initial shock wave of Lancers runs out of men, the rest of the army is a bit soft and squishy.  Generally, by that point however, the opposing force is thoroughly pin-cushioned.  On defense, the combination of lack of shields, too few hard-hitting melee weapons, and decent armor for most of the troops is usually fatal.

Granted, the Khergit aren't the "ultimate army" by any stretch, but extremely effective at drawing off elements from a much larger group of warbands and destroying them piecemeal in the open field, with or without the help of other factions' troops.  A typical foot army might have no other choice than to engage all of those warbands at the same time.

Rhodocks seem to be the best on castle defense, Nords on castle offense, Khergit in the open, and Swadians as a decent compromise in every respect except those overpowered Knights.  I've yet to find a "strength" to the Vaegirs, although they seem to have an average example of just about everything.

Well I am an all melee guy, and using only melee has won be many battles. Though strategy is a huge key in battle, and it can really change the odds in battle. Since the enemy AI is so easily distracted, you can make yourself (Or your army) the meat shield to heavily reduce their numbers, and melee works best with this tactic. So best faction(s) for melee? Nords/Swadia. Nord huscarls are by far the strongest unit in warband when it comes to melee. With very good armor, and weapon skill, they can plow through enemy lines. Swadia is good because of their knights. Their knights are the best ranged-melee unit in the entire game. They are also heavily armored and they have good weaponry. One time, I won a battle against an enemy Lord and an "Angry" village which totaled up to around 100-120 troops. MOst of them being farmers. I had an army of about 50, 10 being knights, and about 15 being Man at Arms. The rest were footman. I know I helped by killing a big majority of them - but I won the battle with only about 7-10 losses, and in my opinion that's amazing.

Though really - in my opinion I suggest Nord Huscarls if you want to do sieges, and Knights if you want to kill enemies on open terrain, though I suggest you keep it half-half.

-Swadians:Very strong cavalry
-Rhodoks:Very good defenders and strong spearman
-Nords:Very strong infantry
-Sarranids:Good cavalry and average infantry and archers
-Khergits:Almost every Khergit unit have horses but they are not very good at sieges
-Vaegirs:Strongest archers and average cavalry and infantry

I suggest to join the Kingdom of Swadia or Kingdom of nords
I have made my own kingdom and i have conquer all the Calradia

sorry for my bad english

I'm a Nord at heart but 2/3 of my troops are vaegir, I like vaegirs because their cheap and easy to train, although huscarls are definitely the best melee troop in the game.

I just noticed I never posted here, oh man...

I usually go Nord or Vaegir. The Nord Huscarls are strong enough to just smash through anything, though they need some leadership against heavy cavalry. Those of them who have shields tend to be very good with them and cover a lot for those who don't. All in all, a bit boring.

Swadians are even more boring if you go for the knights

Vaegirs can become quite boring too. With a medium strength infantry block, those archers will mow down everything without a shield and half of those with. Sieges are especially painful to watch, I don't really have to shoot anything, they are fine without my help. That is, untill the quiver is empty. If you don't mind attack/withdraw/attack/withdraw/attack untill everything has been shot and the melee troops charge out to get within range, it's fine. If you prefer to actually take the walls, go with the Nords.

My 30% of my army is Nords My 10% are Mercenaries and the rest is Swadians

Hey

Best Infantry- Nord Huscarls which in a fight and sieges are Decimating, the best time to use them is on a siege, although Rhodok spearmen aren't far behind, Rhodok infantry are an effective counter to a Cavalry charge Vastly reducing casualties from Swadian Knights.

Best Ranged unit- Rhodok Crossbows are best Crossbows and Vaeger archers are the best archers, Just what you prefer , Archers can fire slightly Faster but Crossbowmen do more Damage so i preffer Crossbows defending my Castle and Archers fighting with me.

Best Cavalry- Swadian Knights (I have tried collecting an army of complete Knights which lead to me creating a strong kingdom on hardest difficulty although on a siege you lose many and it is very irratating so in peace you must train archers and inf for guarding and attacking Castles, but just knights is an Option. They are best used to charge in , pull out and regroup and charge again. Although if Khergit horse archers are used properly they can be an effective force but if they get into combat they usually die quite fast.

I'm going to go with Nords. They have the best melee, which is useful in sieges and open battles, and aren't full of bandits like the other factions. Also, they are constantly at war, which is good for improving.

Rhodok Sharpshooters
Nord Huscarls
Vaiger Knights (easy to train)
Khergit Lancers (easy to train)

I could develop my best tactics with a Rhodok army (or Rhodok-style civilization in mods).

Their one and only weakness is versus horse archers in open field, but with a large percentage of crossbowmen they could still have a chance.

The main idea is to have a big infantry force with a 2/3 to 1/3 shot to pike ratio for the fight, and a tiny cavalry force (including yourself) to harass the enemy.

Against a cavalry faction, let their cavalry charge into your infantry (preferably not on the flattest area of the map) and get massacred by your pikemen. Your missile troops are also decent hand to hand fighters as they have shields. You can use yourself and your tiny cavalry force to "direct" the enemy cavalry charge to do the smallest damage on impact.

Against an infantry faction, put all your infantry on a hill, have a good horse, a shield, a one-handed weapon and two slots of throwing weapons (javelin-style preferred). While the enemy infantry charges, you circle them counter-clockwise (so your shield protects you from their missile troops). Even if you do nothing but circle them, it has 3 great effects which can achieve you a victory with almost no casualties while otherwise you would have lost:

1. Their missile troops will fire at you, not at your army. (And miss, as you are circling them at a safe enough distance) Otherwise, the first wave of enemies would be killed without any casualties from your side, but the next waves would kill a lot of your troops which were only wounded in the first wave. So you have to limit the incoming fire your troops receive.

2. They will be turning at you, and raise their shields against you, so your crossbowmen can fire at them from the side or back without the shields blocking the bolts.

3. They will move slower, so your missile troops have a lot more time raining death upon them.

Meanwhile you can pepper them with javelins if you want, and maybe take a few javelin throwing cavalry (e.g. you companions) with you. Why not a bow? Because your primary job is to be a decoy target, so it's good to have a shield.

Merge the lot into one army.
Rhodok and Nord footman.
Swadian Cavalry.
Khergit, Rhodok and Vaegir Archers.
This means you have the best of each kind of troops.
I only have vanilla so no idea on (sarrinids?)

I'm like Gappydave; I take Lezzalit's advice.  Mixed troops.  Each faction's troops excel in certain conditions.  The problem is, not all of your fights will be in those conditions.  Say you go with a force of Swadian knights...they're pretty much rendered useless in the mountains of the Rodoks, and those crossbow men will cut you to shreds.  Same token, those crossbows are pretty much useless in the fields of the Kergs, whose mounted archers will ride circles around them.  Litterally. 

definently swadians