Top 5 Best Factions - Medieval 2: Kingdoms Total War

Welcome, to a video on my 5 favourite factions in Medieval 2 Total War's Expansion, Kingdoms.
These are taken from all 4 campaigns, Crusades, British Isles, Teutonic and Americas.
I tried to get at least one from each. : )
This is based off of my opinions of how much enjoy them, their starting position, and what makes them stand out.
Discord: / discord
Twitter: / melkor83677456
Patreon: / melkor_yt
Enjoy : )

[@MelkorGG]

This is based off of my opinions of how much enjoy them, their starting position, and what makes them stand out. : ) Which is your Favourite?

[@buraktutun1206]

The Holy Roman Empire.. feels very epic when you play

[@AlexDReyes]

Lithuania in Teutonic and Chichimeca in Americas Campaign are my favorites.

[@lucasstr5653]

The America campain traduction is actually pretty bad in french, so I'm gonna say all this campain is a waste. The Teutonic order is easy but fun to play because of the rittbruger power creep, I made a battle of as much rittbruger as elephant squad, all the elephants left because of "cause fear"

[@Gentlemannus]

Hungary, my fav

[@billb0313]

Scotland in the Grand campaign. Start small. Simple. Fight rebels. Take Ireland. Ally with England to buy time and build up your cash reserve then break the truce and conquer them when their busy dealing with the French. Expand from there.

[@J4R0D]

Apache in the Americas. The only native faction to go "hey, why don't we try to use these weapons our defeated enemies were using against us?" VIOLA! Thunder Braves!

[@hmt4381]

And also they have a system similar to the crusade/jihad.

[@thelaziestguyuveverknown]

@@hmt4381 Warpath. Maybe it's also the reason why the Native American expansion for Empire Total War is called "Warpath"?

[@arazeth5562]

The chichimecs also get cavalry and gunpowder units after defeating them in battle, much like the apacheans. They just don't get mounted gunners.

[@J4R0D]

@@arazeth5562 okay then. MOUNTED THUNDER BRAVES!

[@willhardy870]

@@J4R0D apache troops also have an upkeep of like 10 to 40 or something ridiculously low

[@jotaro2690]

I installed medieval 2 yesterday its amazing

[@MelkorGG]

Enjoy : )

[@aminsrour3284]

kim jong un if you want to spice up Medieval 2 try different mods. Lots of great mods out there

[@absoluteinfinity1197]

there is so many good mods and factions inside each mod you will never run out of fun xd

[@satoshimori5130]

@@aminsrour3284 this seems like a good place to ask this, but do you know where i could find a video or blog or something. that helps a Mac user download mods like third age, and divide and conquer?

[@ms.megalodon3704]

Sator Collins-Forbes steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=601721028 don’t know if you still need this but here you go.

[@rohanhalle580]

Last time I was this early the Saxons still ruled England.

[@thelaziestguyuveverknown]

Pike and shot against the British and French? I just throw waves after waves of Native mercenaries against them xD

[@MelkorGG]

Yeah, that works too : )

[@maarten9272]

That's how I played it too. Get enough cities in the south, then slap a port on all of them to create infinite trade income and lastly spam out a dozen full stack native mercenary armies to overwhelm your enemies.

[@HeliodromusScorpio]

too bad you didnt mention the flamethrower unit that the byzantines have in the crusaders campaign

[@MelkorGG]

I forgot to mention the Flamethrower! Poop. : )

[@yaboiiiogre1332]

I never knew about the hero function in Crusades and that makes me slightly mad

[@jimjoe2849]

@@yaboiiiogre1332 what is that?

[@yaboiiiogre1332]

@@jimjoe2849 In the campaign for the Crusades on Kingdom you would get a ruler that would spawn in a certain year for each faction with a special ability that is useful in battle. The Byzantines for Example had the ability to make enemy units to fight amongst themselves.

[@drarsen33]

On my first play with Byzantium I didnt know about Venice invasion script, but knowing history when new crusade message came I scrambled everything I could and sent it to capitol so I was more than ready

[@rianmulcahy7200]

That’s exactly what I did in my play through as well lol

[@radeczech15]

Lmao guys welcome to the club

[@selder_7]

Played a run with Denmark and took over the whole map, was wondering why the union never happened when I was a good chunk in then looked it up and realised I’d somehow overdone the requirement ages ago, gutted

[@cielopachirisu929]

Personally I love the Apaches. Kind of a shaky start but with lots of room to grow. Once you get horses and gunpowder units, with their negligible upkeep costs very little is stopping you from spamming Mounted Thunder Braves, which can body basically any other unit in the game if you have enough of them.

[@romanbuinyi]

I dont like the fact that in reality, Taraskans was one of the few native american nations that used bronze weapons, but in game they are just clone of Aztecs.

[@herewegoagain1140]

Medieval2 Kingdoms: America when you playing with Spain it's just like playing with any Civilization game when yours technological advance is at last one era ahead xD

[@lucasstr5653]

*cries in teutonic ritterbrüder* lol no this video was cool as always, very good points you had there.

[@absoluteinfinity1197]

sweet video melkor. now this motivates me to play the americas and teutonic campaign!

[@KingMswatiIII]

I love the Byzantines, though I was initially disappointed when I learned that the Byzantine politics didn't cause the enemy units to fight each other to the death.

[@MelkorGG]

Yeah, the Wiki page was a bit misleading XD

[@inaces1]

Great video agree with most. Just a simple observation a plus for byzantium flamethrower and basically unlike in the main game in kingdoms you have all the good part and not everyone hates you.

[@DarthNicky]

This is a pretty solid list Lithuania is one of if not my favourite faction in the game, though I actually really like how it starts off in the middle, having to fight off the Germans and Poles to the west and keeping the peace with Novgorod and the Mongols is something I really enjoy. Ireland is one that I personally find kind of underrated, as it has a solid variety of troops and a clear intrinsic kind of goal, the unity of the island, which most factions kind of lack. One of my favourite campaigns was uniting Ireland, and then spending a few turns just taking islands and blockading English ports as they were withered down by the welsh and scots. Apaches are another interesting faction I enjoyed, although it is difficult to fight the European factions.

[@harrymcintosh9225]

Salohcin I find Ireland the easiest in Britain, apaches I liked at first but it does just turn into spam as you try and use 4000 troops just to kill a Spanish general

[@harrymcintosh9225]

IMO Lithuania is by far the most difficult campaign in all of Medieval II. I’m a pretty good player but this is the only campaign that I’ve actually has to concentrate hard on which is one of the reasons I like it. Like you I also like their unique roster and multiple playstyles so yeah

[@mostar9673]

Harry Mcintosh Rome 1: West Rome is the most difficult campaign by far still imo

[@bazd884]

My favorite is to play England then take them on a crusade. Then build up the Middle East and wait for mongel invasion. English archers with their stake abilities are great fun against massive mongol cavalry armies.

[@stevepirie8130]

Yeah longbows on huge castle or city walls help whittle down those hordes nicely too

[@GIMIJAH]

you f... son of a b... I do the same hahahahaha

[@danielhess1082]

I would probably also include the Apaches in the honorable mentions. pretty much all the native factions in the Americas campaign are pretty boring but the Apaches do have a lot of mechanics in their campaign that make them a lot different. they can go on the warpath which is much like a jihad or a crusade. and when they defeat European armies that have guns and/or horses they can start training mounted and gun powder units

[@endo4137]

I really enjoy playing the moors and doing re reconquista. Once you get iberia you can pretty much do anything in the mediterranean

[@hmt4381]

Venice in crusades(using mod/txt. file etc.)because you are basically the mongols who comes from west and its so fun to play

[@Madmagic]

Wait how??

[@hmt4381]

@@Madmagic as I said you need to either modify the game files or use a mod to play as venice

[@Madmagic]

@@hmt4381 but how :(

[@frozensoul9906]

I didnt know you could convert lithuania into a Christian faction

[@paxromana1841]

6:32 Tecnically there are "Heroes" in Caesar in Gaul, Rome 2 and the Imperator campaigns, undying generals with unque abilities

[@JuanCanuck]

Nice vid. You should make one on the best factions in Stainless Steel mod

[@elguerotapatio9258]

Chichimecas are obscure and unlockable but they're fun, you're pretty given a bunch of breathing room to expand so when you finally reach the Apaches, Tarascans or Aztecs you have the means to defend yourself.

[@richardroberson2564]

I really like the Apache's. It can be such a chill game.

[@satyakisil9711]

The Turks banner beside the crusader in the thumbnail tho XD

[@MelkorGG]

XD It's acutally just a coincidnce that the thumbnail has the other 3 characters next to their faction. Just realsied XD

[@satyakisil9711]

Nice

[@tornelico]

Good video!!

[@kidfromcropu2812]

the most challenging,for me at least,were the turks in crusades,2 front war and both of them are heavy infantry against your light cavalry so sieges are hardly an option,until you get them out of the city and pepper them with arrows

[@fenrir7878]

Wales is a lot like Scotland in the Grand Campaign. It's got like one territory and it's essentially out in a corner of the map. Also, a bit like Lithuania too.

[@TheSunderingSea]

Also Lithuania upon conversion gets Chivalric knights and gunpowder weapons.

[@michaelwalton1450]

Russians! BC of Cossack musketeers. Best missile units in the game. A large city w/ cannon towers, a couple of cannon and 10-15 musketeers is untakeable

[@SultanAlparslan1]

Janissary muskeeter is the best missile unit in game.Although janissary and cossack musketeers have equal range,janissary musketeers' armors are better than cossacks' twice .

[@michaelwalton1450]

In a campaign, CMs are available when the gunpwdr is avail @ any Huge city. W/ JMs you have to have max cities, full devlpd Barracks. That means 3 bldngs costing 36,600G and taking 21 turns...after .they are at Max for a Large city (which, of course, CMs don’t need). 50 JMs would cost ~1,600 each not counting costs for infrastructure blw Hude city. 😂😂

[@michaelwalton1450]

And as to armor, that’s what I love about gp weapons: armor doesn’t mean that much. (1600G per & big delays?) Discipline and training just means closer monitoring in a fight. Put them on a wall and they will shoot as long as the ammo holds out. I just thought 1600G vs 1000G plus CM have 25G advantage in upkeep costs. 😁

[@michaelwalton1450]

And good luck getting those new recruits spread out across the empire, especially when they make the borders grow (or they are not the trouble.) I’m currently making small armies full of JMs, JAs and cannon and trying to send them by sea. Hand cannon suck.

[@michaelwalton1450]

Just had Hungry ask for Ceasefire and ended up giving me Trade and Bran and pocket change to get it. 😁

[@slayer5571]

No matter the faction,you'll never get tired of this game.Same goes for "Rome Total war "

[@LorenTR]

MELKOR, is there a good AI mod for Kingdoms? All mods are for vanilla for M2TW.

[@godemperorofmankind3.091]

mine 1. Spain in Americas. Easy but thats what i like about it. cool looking units, gunpowder, and unique mechanics where the stronger you are, the better units you get. 2. England. again pretty easy once you get going but i like the longbows too much 3. Apaches in Americas, mostly cos of mounted thunder braves. 4. novgorod due to dismounted dvor and start position 5. kingdom of jerusalem due to cool looking units

[@danmolnar6523]

Nice one

[@adanis0197]

Great choices here, i also like the apachean tribes as they steal others technology. Ive playes this game for years it will never get old.

[@wisp6826]

"you can't hit Englishman from there and you call yourself a Welshman?"

[@nehukybis]

2:00 Another faction like Wales: The Marathi in Empire, dwarfed by the Mughal Empire. In both cases, the situation looks much worse than it really is. The trick is to be extremely aggressive and take enemy settlements as quickly as possible, before their much larger economy has a chance to kick in. My only real problem with the Welsh is that their green, red and silver uniforms make them look like Christmas tree ornaments. The only troops that look sillier than the Welsh is the hot pink and purple Lithuanians.

[@fortheorlingas1456]

I made Venice a playable faction in the Crusades campaign. The Knights of St. John in Rhodes.

[@lunsen4023]

doesn´t cesar in gaul also have the hero mechanic?

[@desolatortrooper7196]

One of the best for me is Russia/Novgorod Even if they are weak on early campaign they have pretty good units late game like the Dvor or the cossack musketeer. Their missile units also have very good melee stats. And for once, in a video game, Russia isn't the nation who win by drowing their enemies under the corpse of poorly trained and equiped soldiers.

[@sinndeslebens263]

As I played as Byzanz and the Venice troops were on the march to Constantinopel one of the became a traitor and they fought against each other

[@rebelfriend1818]

total war atilla age of charlemagne has a bunch of playable factions that can become new factions

[@ChaosToRule]

Denmark, Scotland/Norway, Apache, Kingdom of Jerusalem. But reading through the comments I can see that I have to try something different for once.

[@lordgzstg6181]

How do you play this game? I got it with the gold edition on steam but have not figured out a way to play it.

[@masterson0713]

click on it then select play

[@masterson0713]

install it first

[@lordgzstg6181]

@@masterson0713 thanks I will try and see if it works.

[@lordgzstg6181]

@@masterson0713 it worked thanks.

[@masterson0713]

@@lordgzstg6181 seriously?

[@jacobbellayuto9766]

Tlaxcala against Aztecs? (Big vs small)

[@MelkorGG]

Yep, that is certainly one.

[@RocketHarry865]

If only Medieval 2 Kingdoms Crusades had more factions such as Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and Georgia

[@devingendron2287]

7:21 Weirdest moment for me in a scotland campaign that made me stop the game....getting a mission from the Council of Nobles to take Skye. Then putting a spy in the castle and discovering that the governor of the rebel town was Leod. Context, I’m scots...specifically of the clan Macleod of Harris and Dunvegan....Dunvegan being the Castle on the Isle Skye constructed by the Clan’s founder Leod. Neat history, but I couldn’t complete the mission. Too personal.

[@deumevet]

did you try brive him?

[@devingendron2287]

deumevet Aye, no luck sadly.

[@dazhibernian]

Im gutted, upgraded my pc and all stainless steel 6.4 does now is crash. Love this game.

[@Z-AK47]

Hoes come easy

[@dazhibernian]

@@Z-AK47 ...

[@tf2664]

Teutonic Order

[@twztdned]

That’s not sürstromming that’s THE TREATY OF KALMAR

[@MM-gw7ik]

I think Armenia is also a survival faction similar to wales in Rome:Total War.

[@MrRay568]

Am I the only one who thinks the (Pagan) Lithuanians and Aztecs are somewhat reminiscent of the Barbian (Gaul, Germania) and Civilized (Roman, Greek) factions from Rome 1 total war For Example Lith: Low Tech level (Cannot fully upgrade Settlements) (Gets Good units from Temples/shrines to make up for it) Aztecs: (Cannot Build Castles) (Units can come from a variety of buildings) (Good money makers) Edit: I forgot the Fact that the Apaches go through a pseudo Marian Reforms (In terms of getting better units but doesn't lock out the old units) after they defeat enough units from different factions

[@08thking]

Americas campaign is way more fun if you play Aztecs, or other, but not Spain

[@NinjaSushi2]

Scotland was hella fun. Apaches too.

[@calimerohnir3311]

So this was the basis for the Hunter and the Beast DLC? whaddya know

[@jonasjanssens25]

I actually enjoy it a lot more to play as mayans or aztecs and simply swarm the spanish/british/french or let regicide destroy them :p Much more enjoyable :) the lithuanians are cool to play in SS mod of medieval 2, the britannia campaign is arguably the most fun to play, especially if you have a mindset of: kill the english >:)

[@ClamMan1989]

My top five factions in the whole game are Lithuania, Lithuania, Lithuania, Lithuania and Lithuania.

[@armaholic5949]

I love playing Byzantium both in vanilla and with mods. First time I played Byzantium in the crusades campaign I didnt expect the Venetians to arrive but as soon as I saw the notification I fortified the heck out of Constantinople. Then I let them siege it and they abandoned the siege because I had a massive army there. They decided to cross into Asia Minor and that's when I used my fleet to block them as some of them had not passed through. Therefore their army was split in two and I wiped them out easily :) Greek Flamethrower go BROOM BROOM

[@praetorian9823]

“Byzantine Politics” This is far more accurate than it has any right to be

[@yobitchcantfindme5288]

Scotland​ Noble​ Pikemen are​ very​ useless​ with​out​ mods, because​ they​ will​ draws​ out​ sword​ when​ cavalry​ penetrate through​ their​ pike​ line.

[@sketchmandahana]

Best expansion ever

[@buraktutun1206]

Come on SEGA i need medieval 3 !!!!! Even it would be 100$

[@_boney]

try 1212 ad for attila it has a capain now and is realy cool

[@buraktutun1206]

@@_boney i have just downloaded Attila and will try this mode. hopefully it gives me a real medieval feel :d thx

[@marvinm8343]

Byzantines in Crusades. Diverse but average unit roster and even underpowered in the late game. They're my favorite because of the challenge. Not everything is straightforward. You have to be crafty in beating the 4th Crusade. You're outclassed compared to the Seljuks and the Ayyubids. Close second is Novgorod in the Teutonic Campaign.

[@mohamedelhakem3931]

If u want real challenge try turks

[@reeceallen583]

England is a formable nation in Thrones of Britannia

[@nostradamusofgames5508]

considering your accent might me irish or scottish, i am not surprised you like a faction that easily bullies england :P

[@MelkorGG]

XD Just a coincidence I like the factions that attack England in Kingdoms. I am English, from Yorkshire, in the North.

[@strangeperson700]

Sing "I can be your hero" by Enrique Iglesias please. :) I promise you'll get plenty of views.

[@MelkorGG]

I'll pass. : )

[@strangeperson700]

Ican bee yar hehroe bebbeh..... :3

[@maxileyba]

esta genial tu campaña Melkor seria genial ver crusada con reino jerusalem seria una faccion mas geniales en juego.

[@mohamedelhakem3931]

if u want real challenge play as turke that s rough campaign againest antioch and very strong byzantium

[@thomaskendall1766]

Wales is the easiest faction in Britannia 🤷‍♂️ England is overstretched, Ireland has to fight for its island for the first part of the game and Scotland & Norway always fight eachother. As Wales you can easily hit into the richer and lightly defended territories of central and southern England.

[@selder_7]

Not a fan of playing as Wales, the castles being at the back on the coast and the city being the front line feels backward

[@MelkorGG]

Yeah, that is certainly true and annoying.

[@yobitchcantfindme5288]

Norway​ are​ worst, an​ island​ settlement​s​ with​ the​ bad​ economy​ ​and​ your​ only​ way of​ gaining money​ is​ raid​ and​ Scotland​ are​ no​ joke​ for​ you​ because​ of​ William​ Wallace. You​ may​ get​ the​ King​'s​ fleet​s​ army​ in​ a​ few​ turns​ but​ their​ up​ keeps are high​ as​ hell.

[@ashmonkey2572]

I really like you and your videos,but editing is sth you could improve in i think.

[@MelkorGG]

There's only so much I can do with time limits. Each video has to be researched and planned, then scripted, the recorded, then edited, then all the artwork stuff needs to be done ontop of that. And I upload every day. And I have a research masters to do. And general life + my exercise. : ) I 100% agree, but it's all due to lack of time.

[@ashmonkey2572]

@@MelkorGG Its minor anyways. Wish you much luck and success in the future. Keep it up.

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

2:21 celts from barbarian invasion, next to Rome, nowhere to go.

[@AL3S93]

Teutonic campaign is so damn pointless in Kingdoms. I mean, I love this expansion and most of the campaigns (Britannia > Americas > Holy Land >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Teutonic) but the Teutonic campaign gives you a map that is focused on the Teutonic order only. You can't form a nice Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, you can't conquer the whole Scandinavian Peninsula, you can't have a nice German (HRE) empire. You can only establish a big Teutonic knights' kingdom in the region. It's just so claustrophobic, the map. Playing as every faction other than the Teutonic knights feels so shallow because of that. I just hate it. It kills the immersion for me.

[@LorenTR]

Vanilla AI for Kingdoms is too bad. Is there an AI mod for it?

[@hannibalburgers477]

Well, I heard Darthmod mods generally change almost nothing on gameplay while fixing AI. But Med2 Darth Mod is almost impossible to install.

[@user-rm3cq3hv2y]

My favourite factions are Norway(British Isles), two-handed swordmen, the war with Scot, cultural conversion. Roman empire(Crusades), yeah, Roman empire. Ireland(British Isles), useful cavalry, struggle on Ireland, cultural conversion. Lithuania(Teutonic), unique pagan gameplay. New Spain(Americas), excellent troops, firearms.

[@devingendron2287]

4:16 that you can’t advance without going christian really bugs me. I don’t understand the reasoning, only explanations I can come up with are (A) they want to force you to follow history, which matches nothing of how total war plays, or (B) the person who wrote it was a Christian and let that bias their judgement

[@bryguysays2948]

Have you read the instruction manual? Or maybe you got MTW2 on Steam? Anyways the creators of MTW2 wanted the game to be historically accurate as possible...

[@devingendron2287]

@@bryguysays2948 Except when the premise of the game is taking over the world and thus changing history, that goes out the window already. This is a game where you can conquer the world as the Byzantine Empire. They set up historicity at the start, but the story itself doesn’t usually force you to follow history, except in this, where it sets up a dichotomy of “you can only have technology if you go christian.” The only time that compulsion is placed on you.

[@Cynane27]

I love your videos. your accent is a bit annoying tho

[@josiahmontgomery4035]

Thrones of Britannia would later have formable nations but no no really cares about that game soooo

[@user-nb7qi2kz1c]

Hello. I from Russia

[@aaron90omar]

Too bad that Medieval 2 keeps always crashing on me whenever I play

[@MelkorGG]

F

[@aaron90omar]

@@MelkorGG Do you, by chance, have a way to overcome that constant crashing

[@aaron90omar]

@alvi syahri I have Windows 8.1 (although I'm about to upgrade to 10 in about 2 months or so). And yep, I've tried compatibility mode as Windows XP and 7. No success

[@lekalek7142]

Mod1429

[@Zantides]

Is this guy's speech getting worse? lol

[@MelkorGG]

If you keep going to the old videos, to when I had a £5 mic, then probably yes.

[@colonelguiltergr8theart288]

I am from a the deepest part of the middle south, broh. I can *barely* understand a fucking thing you're saying. If the rest of the video turns out to be awesome, I'll be back here eating my words, but until then: God DAMN I do not understand what in the fuck you're saying.

[@MelkorGG]

Everyone else seems to be fine

[@greengiant1017]

Your accent is way too strong..lose unless you won't get many subs..really hard to understand.

[@MelkorGG]

It's called a man's accent, kid. ; )

[@greengiant1017]

@@MelkorGG by your voice tone i guess you are 15-19 years old so you are atleast 3 years younger then me and you call me kid..its funny how ussualy kids starting calling everyone else a kid when they get trigered..good luck "big man" with your "big man'" voice..clown..😂😂😂

[@MelkorGG]

Don't take it personally, I'm from a former Yorkshire mining village. That response is part of our culture. To us, that would be a funny response. And we never change, no matter what is on the line. We don't stuff for money, power or fame - only to prove we are better and more Yorkshire than our neighbours. (I'm 21, Research Masters Student of History)

[@greengiant1017]

@@MelkorGG its fine mate i used to live in Leeds couple years ago when i was working so i know the accent..i am 22by the way

[@MelkorGG]

So you know of our stubbornness : )