Medieval 2 Factions - Ranked Worst to Best

Ranking Medieval 2 Total War Faction, Vanilla and Kingdoms, from Worst to Best, based of entertainment value. Tier List.
From Vanilla, Britannia, Americas, Crusades, and Teutonic Campaigns, each faction now is ranked.
Who will take number 1 spot, and the bottom spot, England, Denmark, France, HRE, Byzantium, Scotland?
I am MELKOR, a Comedy Channel that focuses on Rome and Medieval 2 Total War. Expect things like:
What your Favourite Rome Total War Faction Says About You?
Medieval 2 Portrayed by SpongeBob SquarePants
General History Memes
AI Only Campaigns + RolePlay Campaigns
Goofy Mods
And the Revolution of getting these classics Remastered!
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For the RP Campaigns and Series Let's Plays.
Discord: / discord
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Enjoy : )
#Medieval #Total #War #Ranking #MELKOR

[@MelkorGG]

New microphone. What do people think? Won't be perfect yet. I need to work on the settings more and stuff. : )

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

sounds the same ngl

[@masonmcconkey1192]

I think it’s sounds better a bit less muffle static noise on the mic definitely a improvement

[@michaelaburns734]

Amazing

[@thecrazytophatman7304]

Mic sounds very similar

[@ryancarpenter7625]

Sounds good

[@stephenjones9840]

The reason Venice don't feel like a trading power is because sea trade is bugged. The Venetians are supposed to get a trading headstart as they have immediate access to a merchants wharf. Problem is trade routes are bugged and spawn on the port tech tree not the sea trade tech tree.

[@Inquisitor_Vex]

How they still haven’t fixed that., idk.

[@Parvian93]

They won't fix it. Mod it yourself, there are good Guides Out there.

[@RyanWilson-qy7kb]

@@Parvian93 The mod is called vanilla kingdoms and it fixes literally everything, I recommend you try it out for a true vanilla experience with all the dlc factions on the base game map. It makes a very fun campaign. It's like tasting food after eating only sand your whole life. In my opinion it's medieval 3. It's finished too, and doesn't crash

[@Parvian93]

@@RyanWilson-qy7kb oh nice, i will try!

[@RyanWilson-qy7kb]

@@Parvian93 I wish someone told me about it hahaha

[@mastermops.4703]

They are "Okay" Puts them in "Good"

[@jamesnincross]

I love missile cav. They add such a different dynamic to a battle. You've either gotta have counter missile units or they'll chip away at you, which is historically accurate.

[@The_Custos]

Agreed

[@____-sj5vi]

I like having elements of missile cav to my army, but fighting with just missile cav and a few militia spearmen is annoying

[@Pemmont107]

The easy counter to missile cavalry is simply having some good archers.

[@The_Custos]

@@Pemmont107 yes, but some missile cav are very good at killing archers, like jinete or hungarian nobles.

[@21Arrozito]

You can destroy decently sized stacks with a stack of missile cav, even if the enemy had spears. They chase you all over the map and tire themselves out while taking arrows. You can split the army up and charge infantry sections from behind and break morale. Then when they rout you can chop them down. It's even better if turn off fire at will, then you can conserve your arrows and use them for targeted volleys on infantry with their backs turned. In my Turks campaigns I just keep a full stack if missile cav with a general to fookin' annihilate crusader armies.

[@21Arrozito]

Bruh, Turk campaign is one of best. You're in the middle of everything, you got crusades and mongols going through your territory. You have to take Constantinople, you can fight in the mediterranean, and you get some of the best gunpowder units and missile cav. Turks are a blast to play. They'd be my #1.

[@ivanvoloder8114]

The only thing I like about the Turks rooster are their missile units, everything else is average to me. Their cavalary can't match Russian.

[@pista_kk]

@@ivanvoloder8114 u forgot the janissary unit they r op i literally countered 3 crusaders army's in a row with just janissary's

[@ivanvoloder8114]

The problem with JHI is the same with all two handed infantry in the game. They lose terribly against other standard weapon/shield infantry in 1v1.

[@essaadeel3676]

​@@ivanvoloder8114 the 2 handed bug doesn't apply to the janissary heavy infantry and also you can get the hashashims (which are better than the dismounted feudal knights) fairly early on all you have to do is have 5 assassins and a rebel captain, they also get the qapkakulu which is the best cavalry unit in the game.

[@ivanvoloder8114]

@@essaadeel3676 Tsars Guard is the best heavy cavalary in the game. Hashassim are good but they are few in numbers. You need to stack them in order to beat DFK's. They are a 60 men unit on huge scale compared 120 men of DFK's. When it comes to Jannisary HI they dissapointed me to many times. Besides DFK's aren't the only infantry avaliable to the west. You have dismounted Conqistadores, Sword and Buckler, Armored Swordsmen, Heavy Venetian Infantry, they all demolish Hashassims in 1v1. The only good thing that I find good for the Turks are their archers and their geographical position.

[@21Arrozito]

The native factions are a lot of fun to play. Tactically you have to play extra aggressively, flood the battlefield with fast high morale infantry, chasing down and trapping enemy cavalry with multiple spear units to hold them in place then from finishing them with heavy inf.

[@walter1383]

1:14 But how can the Principality of Antioch be a copy and paste of the Kingdom of Jerusalem when the former was founded in 1098 and the latter in 1099? Justice for Antioch!

[@duncanharrell5009]

Also there is subtle difference. Jerusalem is Calvary heavy. Antioch is infantry heavy.

[@StarRider253]

England, France and the HRE feel the most classically medieval to me. They are my fez

[@sirnick12]

Well if you consider "medieval" to be the aesthetic of north-western medieval Europe and aesthetics of Hundreds year war then yeah they are the most "medieval"

[@cyrusthagreat6649]

@@sirnick12 Problem?

[@michaelhawkins7389]

@@sirnick12 what do you mean?

[@davesmad4646]

@@michaelhawkins7389 he means that there are more than just than the west in the medieval times. There are the Natives of America, Asians and Africans. There are the aboriginal natives and Polynesian tribes. The vikings and Inuits. There were so many more medieval peoples than just the Western Europeans swords and bows.

[@Beencheeling]

Yes, indeed, but in my fez enters the teutonic knights' order

[@danielhughes1711]

“France well they are French” no really I thought they where Russian

[@michaelaburns734]

The French have better Cavalry with armour, The Tsars Guard are decent but mainly horseback riders.

[@BronzetheGolden]

Oh I thought they were latins

[@danielhughes1711]

@@michaelaburns734 I was making a joke I wasn’t talking about units

[@andrewp8284]

That’s an amateur mistake. They are actually sub-Saharan African

[@Anaris10]

@@michaelaburns734 *Cavalry

[@G_Okr]

Be careful MELKOR, the French are French, but so are you!

[@andrewp8284]

Those ‘French,’ the Normans, were *Northmen* by blood though weren’t they?

[@Oscar_Lasco]

@@andrewp8284 The duchy of Normandy was officially founded in 911. When William the Conqueror took England more than 150 years later, the Normans (who were a minority when they settled) were heavily francized and mixed. But the Anglo-Saxons didn't turned Normans all of a sudden. They changed rulers and the aristocracy adopted old French as a language (the lower class not so much) until they didn't. Just like when the Saxons conquered the Romano-Brittons. Or when the Romans conquered the Brittons. Or when the Franks conquered (a part of) Gaul. It's never a demographic tsunami. Rather a minority taking control of the state, sometimes making big but slow cultural changes.

[@Oscar_Lasco]

On a funny note. Had the English kings won the 100 years war and took over France, they would have probably ruled from Paris (wealthier, strategically superior... and sunnier) instead of any English city. And like Richard Lion Heart, William the Bastard/Conqueror or The Black Prince Edward of Woodstock ("hero" of the 100 years war) they would have been talking some kind of old French. I mean, their dynasty name was Plantagenet (a house from Anjou, in Western France) Their kingdom would have turned out to be more French than English as a result. Let's go even deeper: 3 centuries centuries later, the English are fed up to be ruled by these French-speaking kings from the continent. The revolt brews. An heir from a supposedly royal Saxon dynasty is "found". A young sheperdess hears some voices and voilà! France is out. But the French-English kings having preferred to focus on the wealthier and more populous France instead of the isle, the latter's economy and fleet are far inferior to what they were in our timeline. And they're surrounded by colonial powers that have been eating lands, slaves and riches for two centuries. As a result they're unable to catch up with the other countries and the English Empire never rises to dominance. As a conclusion: the English should thank the bloody French for eventually kicking their ass in the Hundred Years War. Good job, Joan of Arc! ;-P

[@Vanderyn]

The video is not monetized, so Melkor puts ads directly into the screen. OUTSTANDING MOVE

[@mu2960]

See I felt like England was a play only once faction. Play once, beat on the French who are getting attacked on all fronts, too easy of a campaign. Russia you need to survive a war with the mongols and the overcome that event to win the campaign

[@SuperJoshdave]

Russia is a slog but a very satisfying one in the end

[@tomweightman3485]

I'm English and must say Portugal is one of my favourite campaign factions, great roster, great position. Can't get my head around the Ok!

[@The_Custos]

Yes, really strong and interesting campaign.

[@Ronga_Xilandi]

I would say it's because, melkor never did a proper go with them or Spain ..

[@conorobrien4046]

They are great if you’re the player, but I’ve never seen Portugal late game as AI

[@The_Custos]

@@conorobrien4046 I've seen it twice in all my years playing. Very rare.

[@Ronga_Xilandi]

@@conorobrien4046 It's rare, only happened 1 time with me, when I was doing a Venetian campaign. Christian world declared war on me early game and I took some time going west and Portugal started to raid my islands so I had to take them out, but the AI never shows "agressive" behaviour for Portugal or Spain...

[@parttimehero8640]

close to a 1000 hours ( including mods ) and not a single England campaign

[@sirpatrick549]

My man!

[@ruas4721]

Scots are the better faction. Full plate pikemen and the cooles knight infanterie in the game.

[@parttimehero8640]

@@ruas4721 Man after people explained to me that you have to win a campaign in order to unlock the other factions, I looked at the scots and their win conditions and said well... sorry England.

[@danielhess1082]

You forgot New Spain....you only focused on Spain from Vanilla. The mechanics for New Spain make it a unique and fun faction. Also I feel of all the native factions the Apache are the most fun, even though they're like Russia from Vanilla

[@andrewp8284]

The biggest gripe I have about New Spain is that in the beginning the pike militia seems to be less than useless on the battlefield, despite how they should act like an “anvil” battle line while swordsmen and conquistadors/other units act like your hammer. They have the unit size to do this, plus the spear wall, while your other units are like 30 sword militia. They’re almost purely a public order garrison unit like peasants, but then their ability to (theoretically) act like hoplites is completely wasted. Just always bothered me. At least if you get them a couple armor upgrades they’re okay. That’s my (probably inaccurate) take lol.

[@ft6408]

The Turks is absolutely good. They have disciplined army and excellent morale. If u cant lose generals early; they fight till the last soldier. It's also very enjoyable to play. They have to fight everyone. Byzantium, Egypt, Venice and Hungary(Late), Mongols, Timurs and Crusaders.

[@FaithfulOfBrigantia]

Portugal is described as "Excellent light infantry and cavalry, lacks professional units". Yet, they literally only have 1 (mediocre) light infantry unit, the Swordsmen Militia (which even Spain has the far superior Sword and Buckler Men) and 0, i repeat ZERO light cavalry units, they have 1 light skirmisher cavalry unit and the rest is heavy cavalry. On the other hand, Portugal has arguably THE BEST professional units in the game. The Aventuros are the strongest pike unit in the game, beating even the more expensive Scottish Noble Pikemen. The Portuguese Arquebuisers are the strongest gunpowder unit in the game, beating the more expensive Ottoman Janissaries in a 1v1 (Janissaries have better stats and range, but inferior morale so they usually route first despite taking fewer losses) The Dismounted Portuguese knights are equivalent to the Dismounted English Knights and the Dismounted French Knights, which are the strongest infantry of England and France (which supposedly have "great late infantry" and the most professional armies) and they beat the more expensive Gothic Knights, in a 1v1 fight. The Portuguese have conquistadors, which can even beat the more expensive French Lancers, the best and most expensive cavalry in the West, (and the Portuguese Knights are one of the most cost-effective heavy cavalry units in the game, only having a slightly worse armor than the French Lancer for a much cheaper price). Portugal also has access to the best artillery guns in the game, the Basilisk. Portugal's missile game is by far their weakest part, they lack any archers whatsoever (other than worthless peasants) and their Crossbowmen options are basic but decent (they have Pavise Crossbowmen, which are a solid unit) So Portugal's *ACTUAL* strengths are: -Outstanding Pike and Shot units, Great Artillery and Naval units, decent Heavy infantry and cavalry. And Portugal's *ACTUAL* weaknesses are: -Complete lack of archers and light cavalry, poor early melee infantry. Compared to Spain, Portugal has superior pikes (Aventuros > Tercios), superior guns (PT Arquebuisers > Musketeers), superior heavy infantry (Dismounted PT Knights > Chivralic Knights) and superior Skirmishers (Lusitanian Javelinmen > Spanish Javelinmen) and more cost-effective heavy cavalry (Spanish Gendarmes are more expensive than Portuguese Knights, despite having identical stats) Spain has superior light infantry (Sword and Buckler men > Sword Militia) and more cost-effective pikes (Although the Aventuros are superior to the Tercios, the Tercios are far cheaper and thus more cost-effective).

[@estiux9183]

Make your next Tier list of The Satainless Steel mod of Medieval, it may be fun to see comments on each faction with their improvements, complications and possibilities

[@usa-acountryoffreedomandju841]

+++

[@King.Leonidas]

yeah the french lancers there are broken

[@DaBigWilliG1995]

Oh aye expect the English guy to say Scotland isn’t the best country to play

[@MelkorGG]

XD

[@lols8844]

Ikr

[@danielkidd1012]

Alba gu brah

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

I really don't like Denmark. Their units are generally too light to make a subtantial impact on enemies, and their starting position leaves Denmark either head-to-head with one of the largest, most powerful factions in the game, or off to go fight rebels in the vast northern wastes. Honestly, I'd rather play as Russia. Spear Militia are surprisingly competent, and at least they stand a chance against cavalry and archers.

[@kwagar9810]

Isn't most of their troops armor pericing though? Danish vikings are a menice.

[@fenrir7878]

I know you're not a fan of missile cav, but Turkey has a really good roster of infantry and archers that are above average. They're no English Longbows, but you don't need train up all that cav if you don't want to. Historically the Ottomans had tons of infantry and seige. Same for Egypt. Russia is a bit harder to defend, but I can't stop saying how much I love the DIsmounted Dvors. THey are the Longbows of the East. And they're armored enough that you can use them as standard medium / heavy infantry. Just need to protect them with spears. If you don't like missile cav, that's totally, a lot of missile cav factions have pretty phenomenal archer and infantry units. Also melee cav.

[@lukecawkwell6222]

I found a way to play as Mongolia on the main campaign and that was quite fun. Made me realize why they are always the richest faction when they emerge. Having no upkeep on their units being the main reason lol

[@davesmad4646]

I didn’t expect such a high Scottish ranking, I usually find Scotland being underrated in a lot of things

[@limbitsafe6620]

they aren't shabby it's just the start is small so most people don't even try

[@ahsanihafizhu]

@@limbitsafe6620 their missile troops sucks

[@limbitsafe6620]

@@ahsanihafizhu maybe you suck at being a scottish patriot🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@danielhughes1711]

The mic is good

[@yevgrafvalkharan3174]

Venice, Sicily, Byzantines, Denmark, and Holy Roman Empire are my top 5. Love the Byzantine units--they only have a few that particularly stand out, but they are among the best units in the entire game, I feel. (At least Vanilla for sure)

[@prussianrocket2702]

Imo Apache is fun to play, you can sense the military advancement of the natives by defeating colonizers.

[@blaisevillaume2225]

HRE was the easiest time I ever had defeating every faction. Gothic Knights and Reiters crush the Timurids.

[@StarRider253]

Believe it or not Gothic Knights are actually worse than a lot of the other knight units, simply due to lacking a shield

[@blaisevillaume2225]

@@StarRider253 It has been so long since I've had a serious challenge playing the game that it really doesn't matter. Their charge is great and, for any cavalry units, the goal is not to send them against cavalry or get them stuck in with prolonged melee. Charge, pull back, charge. Soften enemy units with ranged weapons, get them tangled up with infantry, charge cavalry at the flanks and rear.

[@blaisevillaume2225]

@@StarRider253 I just ran a custom battle of two units of Gothic Knights against two units of Tsar's Guards. I timed it so that one unit of Gothic Knights charged the leading unit of Tsar's Guards and once the second unit of Tsar's Guards got tangled in the melee my second unit of Gothic Knights crashed into their flanks before the first unit of Tsar's Guard could regroup and re-charge. Gothic Knights won. Play it differently and get stuck in a slog, and Tsar's Guard will wreck your units. That's what makes the game fun.

[@newelljoseph5060]

England in vanilla play is a right beast if you move quickly enough. William the Conqueror and his sons are excellent starting commanders and can sweep Scotland off the map and hammer the French without over-extending yourself. England in the Britannia campaign is a right nightmare. Trying manage control over your territory in Ireland, keeping Wales in check, managing a hemorrhaging economy, worrying about Scotland targeting your northern settlements while also wondering when the Baron's Alliance will trigger and decimate the landscape and your spiraling economy Ah what a gem of a game. Never has a stress-induced heart-attack felt so good

[@michaelaburns734]

Great tier list. You put nomadic horse archers below, I actually like how skirmishing by horseback is a great way to chase routing units.

[@godemperorofmankind3.091]

my personal favorites 1. France. Funny accents, favorite color scheme, top tier archers are extremely solid in melee, some of the heaviest and strongest cavalry, decent selection of heavy infantry. surrounded by rebel settlements so fairly easy to build up. You also have good enough city units that you could conceivably play city-only if you really wanted to. 2. Timurids: OP but that's why i like them. steamroll anyone you like with the Elephant gunners and Elephant arty, backed by cheap spear militia and strong foot archers. 3. New Spain: OP but satisfying, blowing up all those funny little men in the New World with Dragoons, Artillery, Musketeers and Conquistadors. one of the most powerful rosters in the game even if you weren't up against weak infantry. 4. Milan. Easiest faction to be city-only and rake in money. great color scheme. great militia and castle troops. only weakness is lack of archers but thats what mercs are for. 5. Apaches: unique in that they can steal tech and get the fantastic Mounted Thunder Braves. you can kill just about anything with a full stack of those guys. plus the unique Warpath power. 6. HRE: funny accents, good colors, and decent roster with plenty of unique infantry and cavalry. reiters can be good if used right, same for hand gunners. You can easily roleplay and restore the old Roman Empire borders. 7. England. OP longbows. good color scheme and outstanding starting position, once you unite the British Isles. solid infantry and cavalry 8. Papal States. Swiss Guard are strong as hell. good color scheme. can concievably be a city-only faction. anyone you attack is insta-excommunicated which is OP as heck. mercs fill in the gaps of the roster 9. Scotland. underrated due to having so many pikemen but i tend to just forgo the pikes altogether and make a load of heavy dismounted knights/noble foot archers. mostly so high cos of their colors and unit designs. 10. Russia. Dismounted Dvor and Dvor can be incredibly strong as they are basically close combat units that can fire a bow at you.

[@cerdic6586]

Pikemen are more or less useless in medieval 2, alas. As are many two-handed units.

[@markusodonoghue8801]

Am I the only person who loves to play Hungary ?

[@nchatz6411]

Is there a Super Fez tier where Rebels go? Also Byzantines are the closest colour equivalent to pyjama boys, dunno why just good.

[@huntclanhunt9697]

Scots would be my favorite if pikes and two handed weapons worked correctly.

[@Juandiegostefan]

byzantium are a Spartans like, they are the best faction yet they always die in the end, btw you should do more tiers melkor, especially for Rome 1 and for Rome 2, im hoping you trash with style all the copypaste factions

[@hannibalburgers477]

"They always die in the end" I get what you mean but "the end" part is generous. They lost Constantinople in less than 50 turns

[@SereglothIV]

As a Polish I think the biggest downside of playing as Poland is that you have to eliminate Hungary for the victory conditions. The Polish and the Hungarians are known to absolutley love each other, who the heck thought that putting that victory condition was a good idea?

[@FF-ds9xw]

I was playing as Hungarian, and sign alliance pact with Poland in M2TW. Unfortunately, Poland declared war on me, adding them as one of my adversary as HRE, Venice, Byzantine, Turk, Milan, and Sicily.

[@littlekuribohimposte]

Egypt would always drop a tier for me because in Vanilla the Pope always calls a Crusade on Cairo, so you are pushed into wars you're probably not ready for just yet.

[@khanhnguyen-tt3ff]

Milan is a bit overpower in this game they the fact that can recruit knight and unmount knight in the city.

[@historyisawesome6399]

Dude I dressed up as a tutonic knight for Halloween one year

[@Baboosky89]

I think the Apache and Chichimec campaigns are pretty underrated and worthy of ok/good and great respectively. Stealing gun and horse technology from the Europeans really adds a whole new dynamic to these factions, especially the new cavalry units you get. The Apache are kinda isolated (until France shows up), but the Chichimecs have a pretty interesting starting location. The rest of the native campaigns are boring as crap though imo

[@todalio9238]

I agree with you! The most memorable campaign I had from Med-2 Kingdoms were Danes and Apaches. It was so much fun owning half the size of the map but going with half naked dudes on horses with stolen guns.

[@thescharfchannel]

I conquered the whole world map with France. Their late period units are amazing. Any faction that has the serpentine cannons, good gun powder/cavalry units is fun to play

[@maurogambarini2440]

Yes you're right, but compared to an English faction, the 2nd one have less cost for upgrade the best unit. The french faction is 1 of the best faction of the game like holy roman empire english turkcs and mongol, I don't like this ranking

[@walterkasica6480]

Great video! Love your work!

[@joeclay9683]

the native factions have a few differences e.g. apache have a crusade-like mechanic called "warpath" which should put them ahead of the god awful tarascans

[@sinandeniz1376]

The Turks obviously wasnt given enough time pal. Yes they're depended on mis cav earlier but then... Mighty Ottoman Empire emerges wow thats the experience right there. Jan. Archers have spikes put them on the front at the deployment stage, then put your jan musketeers which are basicly the strongest most disciplined rifle unit in the game by far and then start the game pull your archers behind your infantry. AND USE THAT GIANT CANNON WHICH ONCE DESTROYED THE WALLS OF EAST ROMAN EMPIRE.

[@sweetandsourivan]

oh, you bested me this time ma man

[@lars9925]

What have you done to my boy Byzantium?!

[@aleaiactaest6503]

I actually enjoy Antioch over Jerusalem. The slightly different starting position is very interesting. As for the native tribes, yeah all of them are boring.

[@wfr1108]

the apache are interesting to me, theyre the only non-sungod tribe, and they're basically completely unique except to some minor similarities with the chichimec roster. Pushing east towards florida through north america is fun, and being from the south it's fun seeing my own homeland in mtw2

[@aleaiactaest6503]

@@wfr1108 apache for me are interesting once. They are like Russia in vanilla, where they are super far from other regions so they take a while to get going with.

[@Cheddar_Wizard]

@@aleaiactaest6503 Agreed, Apache are the only worthwhile tribe imo and are worth one playthrough. I feel like the America’s tribal campaigns would’ve been better, a *lot* better if they were actually true to scale, and the Spanish and other colonies’ troops were a bit more effective against tribal units. Obviously the game’s framework and technology at the time could handle only so much, so it’s forgivable. But I felt like the potential fun in playing a civilization like the Aztecs would be to have a dynamic of truly large, imposing armies vs Colonials with concentrated but deadly troops. Maybe it only sounds good on paper, but I feel like it could certainly be balanced while being very asymmetric gameplay.

[@noone7206]

New mic is hype and also so glad this is coming rn

[@rikk319]

I love playing underdogs--so my favorites are Scotland in Vanilla, and pagan Lithuania in the Teutonic campaign.

[@kalupses8514]

Im a Portuguese viewer and I gotta say this to you 😤: It's okay bro, I also think its stupid we start with Navarro 😅

[@Bdeslaurs]

"I hate missile cav" Anakin Melkor

[@SuperJoshdave]

For me Denmark and Scotland , Jerusalem in crusades. My two cents on France is their Calvary is so much better than everyone around them you run them over and meet small campaign requirements by 50-60 turns

[@sirerot2130]

the Turkish start is complicated, but its place should be in "FEZ", because in middle game or late game, it's a Top 3 Faction, they have very powerful technology, if not superior, for example their Yeniceri (Janissary) are in several types, Archer, Musket, and Heavy Infantry, expensive to buy, but profitable to maintain, which makes them a very powerful long term army, Janissary Musketeers are as good as the Russians' Cossacks, ranked as the best Musketeers in the game, add to that their heavy cavalry and harassment, and you get a formidable army, as do their Hybrid troops, like the Ottoman Infantry, who play with bow and sword/shield, like the Russian Dvor, but much cheaper than the Dvor to maintain and buy, as their stats are slightly lower. not to mention their formidable artillery You can also take Egypt up a notch, if you put the Moors in "GREAT" Egypt is even more powerful in terms of striking power in the long term thanks to its "Tabardariyya", they are resistant to musket ball thanks to their heavy armor, and their damage is incredible, moreover these units are city units, so very practical to protect your city without bringing heavy units from your castle if you need to protect yourself (from a crusade for example).

[@dman1988]

Agree about Sicily. Very underrated faction. Their best units are available early in the game, and their starting position gives you complete freedom. And you have the best castle in the game Palermo.

[@GTAdudex2]

An englishman says he doesn't like any natives... " *massive genocides flashbacks* "

[@JLrapel492]

🤣🤣🤣😂

[@peacefrog929]

Would have made more sense if he was Spanish

[@salgarcia8021]

Played the game since release... thousand of hours played. Venice is the best faction. roster for everything..You can trade or just flat out buy blog city from the HRE..n turn it into a castle. Either consolidate in north italy n go west(favorite strat) or play out war vs one of the weakest cpu held factions n go east. Italian spearmen Pav crossbows Venetian infantry. Cheap n great stats. Core of your army. This is just a simple take...there are more details why they are #1..feel free to ask me.

[@Nuncey]

I’m 2 years late I totally agree with your assessment of Venice. Absolutely my favorite faction of all time and can we please mention the late army and navy of Venice is truly the shining example of a medieval/renaissance super power. Cmon we get Musketeers, Pike militia, Broken lances, STRADS!!!, VHIs, Mounted crossbows, pavise crossbows, excellent artillery armory and one of the best Naval Destroyers in the game the Galleass! Stato da Màr!

[@All41135]

I’m 2 years late but, your mic sounds good !!

[@zord1352]

What's the problem with missile cav? It's just so epic when they demolish armies before the fight starts.

[@zakback9937]

He can't cope with it

[@BaronUltimo]

One of my favourites is Sicily: From your starting position in Southern Italy you may build up a medieval sea empire. Claim the western provinces of the Byzantine Empire, lead crusading expeditions against Egypt and the Moors of Tunis or turn against the coasts of Iberia.

[@abcisawesome3418]

Bit late commenting on this video, but the one rating that shocked me the most was Sicily. Sicily does gain access to higher grade military buildings faster than everyone else and are probably the easiest faction to go crusading with. Outside of that, their economy sucks and it can be tough to expand because you are up against the strongest factions in the game surrounding you. Milan, Venice, HRE, and Papal States to the north, France to the northwest, Byzantium to the east, and all of the iberian factions to the west. Outside of that, liked the tier list. I wonder what you think of my tier list (rated in order): S tier - England, Moors, Spain A tier - France, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Turks, Venice B tier - Byzantium, Denmark, Ireland, Mayans, Novgorod, Teutonic Order, Wales, Lithuania, Holy Roman Empire, Jerusalem, Antioch C tier - Egypt, Sicily, Norway, Hungary, Tarascans, Chiminecs, Apacheans D tier - Russia, Poland, Aztecs, Tlaxcalans Barons Alliance, Papal States, Mongols, and Timurids are all unavailable across all campaigns unless you dabble in file editing, which I don't do. I tried to take the average ratings of how I felt about each faction across all the different campaigns, which was tough. I spent about an hour thinking about how I should rank each faction on this tier list. I considered the starting locations, unit roster for the campaign, and how much I enjoyed playing them and facing the challenges that are presented from start to finish. I hope, by some chance, that you will see this comment and have enjoyed seeing my opinions. I can answer questions as to my thought process about putting a faction in a specific place if you want. Thanks for reading if you saw this.

[@ShuuuuutUp]

Their economy is apart of the fun challenge

[@kurtmcfc1629]

I don't mind your slower more deliberate delivery, but I find myself enjoying the video a lot more on 1.25x Speed. Love the content and the mic quality is great!

[@kingstannisbaratheon7974]

Wales would have to be on the level above Fez, but that's only because i'm Mexican.

[@huguesdepayens807]

You'll never be white.

[@JLrapel492]

🤣😂

[@trevorthai1685]

My fav/best factions are: Vanilla: England (Best secure starting positions, decent melee infantry and funny general speeches) France (One of the most diverse and powerful late game unit rosters with solid archers, infantry and cav) HRE (Teutonic Knights, Reiters, Pikemen and starts off quite powerful in early game) Moors (Good starting location, very OP peasant crossbowmen, Tuareg Camel Gunners & Christian Guard) Spain (Access to Conquistadores, one of the best heavy infantry in the game, good heavy cav, javelins & gunpower and cannon units late game) Venice (Venetian Heavy Infantry & Pavise Crossbowmen are some of the best missile/melee units in the game) Teutonic: Teutonic Order (Units are very professional, well armoured & they look rly badass esp the Ritterbruder) Denmark/Kalmar Union (Diverse roster of early & late game heavy infantry & unique pike units) Crusades: Antioch (Good starting location, very OP Knights of the Holy Sepulchre & Hospitaller units look badASss, their roster is slightly better than Jerusalem IMO) Byzantines (Greek Flamethrowers are super OP, diverse roster of archers and missle cav)

[@atomatlas5595]

The micro phone made YOUR FACE better. It's quite gorgeous Chad now

[@Dani-lu4vl]

Portugal, Venice and Spain are the best factions by far, best infantry, good archery and cav. Best naval and strong economic, Venice have the best start position, with free route to crusades. Venice and Egypt with militia only can destroy all 3 top factions in this video. Late game nothing stop Spain, Portugal, Venice stay close.

[@lars9925]

My Fez: Byzantium, the HRE and England My Great: Milan, Venice, Sicily, Teutons, Jerusalem

[@madwellmusic8995]

Moors, Russia, Turks. Moors are so diverse I can never settle with one type of army due to so many options to counter, skirmish, bait and switch and broken gun powder units. Russia (though the most infuriating), the key is spam spam spam those cheap archers and peasants, ambush tactics with Kazacks and b-line to Bran since its develops 4 times faster under AI control. Once you survive to late game, coupled with armor upgrades they produce some of the best looking professional units in the game. Turks, you have so many options for strategies to expand your empire. Typically, I'll call a Jihad on Baghdad since its further away, Ill work my armies from there and make my way to Antioch. Therefore my armies head back to main territories rather than sending them out further away later on. Then my experienced Jihadists can sweep on down the coast before invading Nicoasia. Not to mention the mercenary pool they have access to theres just really no hope. you can turtle or rush either way, and utilize the map geography to line up Mongol hordes and pluck them off one by one. Ive managed (with a proper governor) Antioch to reach 7500 and not even a huge city yet. I think thats the highest ive ever reached for a settlements income, 2nd being Stockholm as Russia which is a must have settlement.

[@franekzaj4030]

Portuguese is the best faction, except HRE.

[@The_Custos]

🇵🇹

[@buhja543]

i bloody hate playing france. you are constantly attacked by the holy roman empire and milan/venice/papal states/ spain/portugal/denmark. no free time when playing france

[@JLrapel492]

Jajaja

[@jonathan4055]

For a faction ranking a third of them are just thrown in “no” it’s kinda sad....

[@af_baltimore8315]

I know this vid is two years old but man, the mongols + timurids are playable with minor tweaks to code. Super fun campaign with both imo.

[@davidefrancisco5912]

Hello man, Im portuguese. and yeah I think Portugal faction is Ok But as a lot of potencial, but you can't conquer too much too early or you won't be able to secure everything. But our history man, our history is much greatter and richer that you will ever dreamed of :o P.s good vids

[@ErkenbrandsTopGuy]

I'd choose Antioch over Jerusalem because of the drip.

[@germaxes199]

Rome 1 - only Julii, Barb.inv - only Western Rome, Med 2 - only HRE

[@christianarchambault6111]

My dude, all hail the greats!

[@adamcook9641]

Got to agree with Sicily, I loved playing them and re creating the roman empire with them, trying to keep the papal on side till I needed my capital

[@The_Custos]

Yeah, Norman knight as your centurions.

[@aven7gg213]

Idk how good is your micro but you still sound british

[@MelkorGG]

I do still sound British. That's probably because I am still British. No microphone will change if I am, or am not, British. :)

[@Chuck12312]

I haven't played England, but I do say that I always enjoy playing as Milan and France

[@willlastnameguy8329]

You're not being generous with Milan. Their crossbows are awesome.

[@Aravas_Aravas]

Depends man,if you play online everyone picks spain for conquistador,and they banned the elephants, there is no a certain option.

[@yousefshello582]

Your ranking is based upon your opinion, but for the game real statistics, the strongest faction between all of you have mentioned is Spain, and still playing its music in the background btw or portuguese since they have the same culture. It seems you have not really played the Turks, Turks are far more stronger than any eastern and eastern european nations in late game, Janissary alone have hidden armor penetration bonus that can route enemy feudal knight so easly 1v1, Turk as a faction in early game as you said is consistent of caverly archer, in late game it is one of the most entertaining faction ever, you have mutiple factions to counter, crusades to push back and not to mention the balance you have to keep between cities and castles number, each produce unique units capable of fighting and provide interchangable advantages.

[@MelkorGG]

My ranking videos also value campaign start position more than the actual units, as I am a campaign player.

[@wolframsteindl2712]

My favourite factions are definitely Denmark (in both campaigns), the HRE (in vanilla), Teutonic Knights, and Norway (Britannia campaign).

[@cielopachirisu929]

>Apaches in No Clearly you have not experienced the glory that is THUNDER CLOUD TACTICS …that is, spamming Mounted Thunder Braves. Gun cavalry are usually really expensive high-upkeep units, but since the Apache have basically no upkeep they can just spam any unit they want with impunity, which way overcomes their weak-ish economy. Apaches practically invented the Doomstack years before Warhammer TW

[@dopetanks8770]

If u buy the crusaders. Will u be able to have their faction in the custom battle option

[@fenrir7878]

My favorite factions are missle cav factions, especially Turks, RUssians and Byzantines (haven't played Hungary yet), melee cav factions - France, HRE (also Byzantium), archer factions (England). I also love the missile cav factions because they can field all cavalry armies and just put they're infantry to garrison or have them in large, slow moving seige armies. THe cav army fights battles and shadows the seige army, which is the one taking territory. Cavarly armies can ride back and defend against invasion, they're be a vanguard of an invasion, or a harrassing force that ties down enemy troops. I also use them as mobile garrison to take out rebels whenever they pop up.

[@sligacheese6470]

I’ve only used England and Danes. Got a lot further using Danes that’s for sure. They have Viking units ❤

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

Would this ranking depend on difficulty? If so, what is the difficulty setting you have in mind? With regards to Hard Short campaigns, I had the longest/hardest time playing Denmark, and the easiest/shortest times playing as Milan and Portugal.

[@jk2duelingcommentaryandana744]

Turks just being OK is crazy.

[@McHobotheBobo]

Very clear mic, quite the upgrade

[@artoriuscasca424]

Fez teir for me England (vanilla) First campaign I ever did, great roster and starting position plus you can get Sherwood archers 🤣 Teutonic (Teutonic Campaign) Great units,cool atheistic, awesome RP potential of crusading the north. Sicily (Vanilla) excellent unit diversity (Norman knights Muslim archers) best starting location in vanilla imo, can easily gain large amounts of land without upsetting the Pope by going after Muslim factions

[@josh8945]

The disrespect just kept comming more and more to the Byzantines in this video.

[@thedon9247]

you should do a video like this but for Stainless steel 6.4

[@tyler71717]

Ireland is absurdly low, "horseboys" are such a fun unit, as well as the cavalier cavalry.

[@King.Leonidas]

France has better end game archers then england...

[@TheDeadbone1961]

Interesting take on favorite factions! I'm not fond of Hungary or France, but enjoy the Moors and Egyptians. England is a favorite.

[@FurkanTopal]

I'll not watch 20 mins to learn this.

[@MelkorGG]

ok. You can just skip to the end and see, or play it on 2x speed.

[@FurkanTopal]

@@MelkorGG Just write the list man. Or say it quickly in the beginning. Then tap into the details. So make it optional to the viewers, not everyone has time.

[@MelkorGG]

@@FurkanTopal No. Why would I do that. You can spend 5 seconds to click to the end and see. As for time - ok. But a lot of people did have time, and that is just the content style my audience watched. I'm just confused why you stated this. It's like walking into a book shop, picking up every book and stating openly for all to hear "I don't have time to read this", do that for all the books there, and then walking out without buying anything. You don't have to announce it. (Also, I am not offended by anyway. I'm used to far worse. I just find it very odd).

[@FurkanTopal]

@@MelkorGG "You can spend 5 seconds to click to the end and see. " How do I know that it will be in the end? You should mark it in the description or say in the beginning of the video for the people who doesn't wanna spend their time. I was not gonna read the full comment of yours btw for the same reason then I thought if a person spare its time to me I should respect. I disagree your analogy. This video, just seems to be stretched for in vain to earn more money through it. I dislike those kinda videos. I need the main info. And I still don't know the order of the factions list. I wish I didn't comment because it costed me much more time actually.

[@MelkorGG]

@@FurkanTopal Given that almost every other tier list shows it at the end, it is kind of obvious. Also, the last faction needs to be placed on the list - meaning there is no possibility not to show them at the end. I could have said in the pinned comment 'you can click through to the end,' but I was worried people may comment 'I will not spend 10 seconds reading this'. Were you able to click to the end of the video, or do you still need additional guidance?

[@aleriaproductions2869]

Like the Mic 👍

[@chzz4770]

Miss you melkor!

[@kajtekii4666]

"i hate missile cav" bruh

[@Uragan00829]

I hope he said: I hate playing against missile cav", or he will be crusified.

[@dylanmilne6683]

Meme listttttt. If you enjoyed moors try Turks again having the most fun I've ever had in MTW with them hashashin ftw

[@joshuacoleman6245]

Hard to hear the commentary.

[@alexandergray0]

Bro timurids have cannons on elephants ... CANNONS ON ELEPHANTS THEY BECAME A TANK LITERALLY