Top 5 Worst Factions Medieval 2 Total War Stainless Steel Mod

[@strategydux]

It was harder to decide which are worst factions than best factions lol. As requested this is top 5 worst factions in medieval 2 total war mod stainless steel. It's a little bit longer than previous video.

[@dauntless0711]

The true highlight for Lithuania comes from the Dievas religious building line. If you build a Temple, you will have access to Dievas' Guard. 8 Atk, 20 Def, and a recruitment cost of 1135, but *UPKEEP OF 150!* For the upkeep cost of a mediocre militia unit, you can get some of the strongest heavy cavalry in the game!

[@strategydux]

That is not bad but again. Will you want to spam those guys late game when you fight Lancers :D

[@dauntless0711]

@@strategydux Too bad Lithuania doesn't put similar effort into armoring their Generals.

[@strategydux]

@@dauntless0711 true that bro hahahaha

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Lithuania is the best among the Pagan factions who are the most lacking among the factions (Mongols are more of a challenge faction as their late game and Mid game suffers) good roster and ok late game units, while not the best start they can put up a fight, the Cumans are the worst ones as they not only have to run away from the Mongols but are usually just copycats of the Mongols. (When facing Lancers better use Javlin cav to kill them and armor percing units.)

[@giacomomeluzzi280]

Cumans were a nasty surprise in my Polish campaign. I never fought them before, so I didn't expect that much cavalry and horse archers. I lost a full stack when I tried to push their first army before the reinforcements got to me, my cav failed to kill their horse archers and then everything went to shit. I tried avenging Polish Crassus with a second army, but I fell in the same exact ambush by two stack and lost again. The third time I brought lots of archers with stakes and horse archers of my own. That did the trick.

[@strategydux]

Hahaha as I was reading the comment my toughts were with **archers archers and only archers pref. pavise and some stakes**. Glad you got your triumphant in the end avenging your "Crassus" in the steppes of the East

[@shrekas2966]

Byzantines are pretty hard, but there are glitches. You can make peace on the first turns with the enemies you start with. All in all, byzantines are one of the easiest factions. Kwarezmians can make peace with a glitch with mongols on the first turn and even get money out of it. Really easy. Hardest nations are either cumans or lithuanians. Both on late. They simply don't have updated roster, no late generals or anything. Cumans are a bit easier early on, because of their massive teritory. Lithuanians are easier later, because they have more complete roster. Both of these factions are pagan. No crusade or jihad mechanics.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Byzantines are strong you just need to play carefully and avoid overwhelming yourself or being too passive. Khwarezmians are probably the Hardest but the trick is Make like the Cumans and migrate west towards the Seljuks hopefully capturing Constantinople or Jerusalem depending on the situation. Of the 2 pagans I can say Lithuania has the worser start because you are surrounded by people who hate you but you can manage if you can defeat the Teutons early, while if you play as the Cumans again just Migrate west.

[@IceniTotalWar]

I recently finished a Kievan campaign and it was quite easy. I simply got Alliance with Poland/Hungary. They left me alone and covered my entire western flank. I went after Novgorod/Cumans, took them out easily enough, even getting Alliance with Mongols who helped destroy Cumans. Captured Black Sea ports and never had problem with making money. Not hard at all.

[@strategydux]

Hey, thanks for sharing your strategy. Every faction is playable especially for seasoned players. Some factions are just are easier to play because of the army rooster available for them, geographical position and also the factions near them :D

[@IceniTotalWar]

Absolutely ! since this post i've been doing a personal Kwarezmian Early campaign, good all round roster and i had massive empire and well trained troops and well defended cities before the Mongols even appeared. You just have to learn the factions including strengths/weaknesses of your own and the other factions. @@strategydux

[@nilocaballero6327]

I love the coresmian faction. It reminds me of the old Persian and Sasanian empires and the royal guard in its variant of both cavalry and heavy infantry are magnificent

[@strategydux]

Yea their units have the most flavor out of any faction in the mod :)

[@diguinho6957]

You forgot to mencion the expensive but imortal tanks, the scholarii

[@strategydux]

Yea they are good. But Byzantium wont survive until than so Generals all they have for good heavy cav. But you are right they are good its just sad that faction they face have good counters for them

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Late game unit they are good killing enemy infantry but Lancers beat them so avoid direct combat, though they are good especially defending in the Late Era kill the Seljuks as fast as you can but by Late game most European factions can beat you 1v1 on the field so you have to be defensive by late game and need to use clever manuvering. (While they have a ton of heavily armored infantry they aren't heavy hiting even the Varangian Guard are not that hard hitting especially in the late game so you need to rely on Cav in field battles, Your best anti armor killer is the Flamethrowing Siphanotores but they are very limited and are ranges so on the field of the late game you need to be careful with them)

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

TLDR: Byzantium relys on Hammer and anvil with heavy but not hard hitting infantry and fast early to mid light Cav that are very spamable and can catch pesky Missile cav to mid game are reliable but fall Late game and Good Late game Heavy Cav while flexible mid game by late game the other European factions have stronger options on the field so pick your battles late game.

[@malcoerazo4213]

Byzantium is actually quite easy, just beat the turks a couple times Generals can easily take out 3, 4 units by themselves, and after regaining Constantinople you're pretty much set with the best units in the game From what you say in the video I can tell your mistake is being too passive. Trying to fight those crusader rebel armies WHILE being at war with the Seljuks is just straight up dumb. Gather as many generals as you can and take war to them as early as possible. Anatolia ain't that complicated to regain. Only AFTER dealing with the Seljuks go on to fight the rebels, or Hungary if they already got to Greece Played on VH/VH btw

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Latin Empire wouldn't attack too (being Rebels) so you have time, Hungarians aren't that strong either

[@TPSFANI13]

Just steamroll the Seljuks with Byzantine. Don't be defensive. Forget the rebel cities first as they are strongly garrisoned and they won't be going anywhere, where as the Seljuks will.

[@alessandrobenvenuti6551]

Khwarezmia has the best Muslim army. I like to play them on early era campaign and my god… It’s a constant steamrolling of other weaker factions, using a pretty powerful and professional army since castle level (which is impressive). The economy (except for the start) is never really a problem for them, since their first serious rivals are the Seljuks and your army is significantly stronger than their. Late era is a nightmare, I won’t lie. But it’s still true fun and if you menage to survive the Armageddon (somehow) you’ll be potentially able to be the largest and meanest empire in the east. The only thing is that you have to cheat a lot in order to survive against the mongols, especially at the start. Legend of Total War demonstrated it’s possible, but at what cost?

[@strategydux]

Yea Early game they are good but late game can be a nightmare. There is an option to play late game with Kwarezm easy if you play diplomatic settings on SS module. They have the most flavore for sure together with Turks

[@ayatcha7928]

I would say the north eastern factions in general I don't like. I would like a strong alliance with the Bizantin Empire as Venice, once I have them as allies for 200 turns, and then start buying the settlements.

[@strategydux]

Yea in general they start weak

[@Napoleonic_S]

with HURB submod, most eastern factions are better than the boring bog standard western factions.

[@jorgejustice]

Awesome video! I looked this up because I was trying to see if anybody had issues with Lithuania from the beginning of the campaign game. I played early campaign so it started in the 1100s, and like you said being pagan and being surrounded by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians is problematic. The pope called a crusade against me because I attacked his friend Poland. The only good thing is you were surrounded at first not by enemies, but by rebel castles and cities so you didn't piss anybody off by conquering them. But they are very spread out and most of your infantry and cavalry cost money to keep in the field. You have upkeep free in the cities and castles with certain units, but as soon as you put them in the field it becomes quickly unsustainable to have a standing army. So I found a challenging to play campaign mode with them, but fun. Great post!

[@strategydux]

Thanks for sharing your experience bro. Sorry for late replay i was off the grid. Check Top factions also there are some interesting opinions there as well. Kwarezm is also good (IF YOUR SURVIVE) I am making video about them on exactly that on HOW TO SURIVE :D so stick around will be out in a month or so

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Khwarezmia is a good early game army wise, all round faction for an Islamic faction (great Archer infantry, solid Spearmen, ok Assult infantry and amazing mid game cav like the Gulams and the Noblemen) especially late game Heavy Cav and Armored Horse Archer spam (their late game Horse Archers are also Hybrids) unfortunately you have to survive the Mongols

[@strategydux]

Hey buddy thanks for great comment. They are one of my favorite faction just because of the flavor of them :D. I am making a video on them on how to survive and it is easy to be honest :D you finish the war in first 10 turns max. Stick around video will be out in a month or so :D

[@tyler71717]

I loved playing Khwarez faction, I pushed to crusaders, made ally with seljuks to cross their border, took tortosa from Crusaders, built ships, and took the islands on the way towards greece, took greece, istanbul, and enjoyed Royal Guards :)

[@strategydux]

If you play with "normal" AI which will not backstab setting in SS mod you can actually get peace with Mongols if you manage to nuke their Khan when he kills your faction leader and if you manage to beat 2 armies on river crossing when they try to enter your empire :D Following that you can nuke every1 :D

[@dannyearlreal]

underrated youtuber

[@strategydux]

thanks bro. I am just starting and havent posted much but will soon :)

[@modernrelic7092]

@@strategydux looking forward to more!

[@willc1294]

Lol re. Byzantines early era game - 'they can compete and they are good' - that's an understatement 😂

[@strategydux]

Thanks for comment buddy. Well vs AI it is but if you are playing Turks or Bulgarians you can get them :D

[@IceniTotalWar]

Kwarezmians in early campaign super easy on VH/VH. Late game very hard as you have no time to build up and face the Mongols. Lierally night/day just because of starting date. They do have an awesome army though.

[@strategydux]

I agree with you on this one. There is also an option to peace out Mongols. I will make video about them. They have most flavor out of any faction in the game, and great heavy cavalry also!

[@caseyh1934]

Since the Russian invasion had anyone else been rolling hard with Kiev? I found that while Yes, the are hard to start as once you get there -IF- their units are very good and varied in late game. Play as a mix of HA and heavy cav. What infantry you wanna use are multipurpose. Plus stakes (same as longbows have) with the Boyars is pure GOLD against eastern factions. Especially in siege def

[@strategydux]

I am struggling so hard to get myself to play with any Eastern European faction. They are not the best at anything but can fill the gaps with second place overall

[@BlackMamba-ox5db]

That Kiev has nothing to do with the ukranians, at that time it was just other russian state. It is even called Kievan Rus .

[@spikem5950]

@@BlackMamba-ox5db Wouldn't that state have been what led to Ukraine as we know it today? They even use the same trident as their symbol. I doubt modern Ukrainians were magically conjured up out of nowhere, their origins had to have come from something. I also sincerely doubt the Kievan Rus didn't have its differences from mainland Russia.

[@wojciechleon]

Please watch Making of Modern Ukraine by T.Snyder on Yale KZbin. Moscow took the name of Russia in 1700 and tried to pretend to be Rus successor, while they are more Mongol successors. Ukrainians are definitely the ones who are entitled to Kyivan Rus legacy.

[@spikem5950]

@@wojciechleon I'm not sure if that's really right either, what you're describing is separate from what Ukrainians are today. It was even called the Kievan Rus, Russia's Russified spelling of Kyiv. It sounds like this is trying to do the "Ukraine is actually Russia" thing but in the opposite direction, which still robs the Ukrainians of their actual identity by Russifying them.

[@sebastianbocanegra7420]

how is Byzantium weak lol ?, they are literally the most broken faction in the game. first you can literally just group all your units and retake Constantinople in the first turns, once you have it, you are going to literally steamrolling everybody, you start earning alone around 4000 florins. sack 3 or 4 cities from the turks and build the scholae building. once you have the building is GG. Sparthanii thou vasileos and Scholari are going to win against literally anything until the troops of 1530 enters in the game. and the schollarii only lost to the Last french cavalry that comes around 1550-. without mention that the greek fire unit can literally wipes a whole blob in 1 shot and having 1 in your cities/fortress means that you are never going to lose a siege. you only need hands for the first 20 turns, pass that and is probably more easy than playing with england since even the boats from byzantium are the strongest early on. Edit: Byzantium general is also the best unit in the first 300 turns in the whole game. just check out stats + test it.

[@strategydux]

I agree about their general but I've put them on that spot because they are tryhard faction. You need twice as much effort to make them work than you would other factions and late game they are not that good. Byzantium is a nice faction, better than any eastern faction (beside Turks) but it is just their position, late game and cost per effectiveness which keeps them down. You will waste 50% of time keeping yourself alive while other factions will use that 50% of time to bang someone

[@sebastianbocanegra7420]

@@strategydux again, you are going to literally start steamrolling and not losing sieges against everybody else. by turn 80 you should have retake all greece + Anatolia + Venice. by turn 200 you should have taken already whole italy + hungary and start killing the HRE. and if you want to deal with horse archers beating the mongols and manluks is also easy since you are going to just keep winning in siege defenses because the greek fire unit can solo carry the whole defense .Byzantium is just the whole quality units over quantity campaign, if you are saying they are one of the worst faction is like saying that factions like elves in TA DaC are the worst. you only need to do the opm and congratulations nobody is stopping you.

[@strategydux]

@@sebastianbocanegra7420 yea you can but in my for example seljuk campaign by turn 80 finished the campaign :)

[@sebastianbocanegra7420]

@@strategydux yes but is because the whole jihadd thing, making things move faster and you can also do it in less time in vanilla. Med 2 is an easy game since AI doesnt have +bonus that gets in newer games however the things is that late game in stainless steel is pointless because the game ends before late game units joins the lobby. you saying that seljuk can end before turn 80 just give me the reasson. Byzantium can probably do the whole imperial campaign around turn 150 if orthodox can get the crusade/jihaad thing.

[@strategydux]

​@@sebastianbocanegra7420 I gave an example of seljuks but france or england for example or even hre can do it also :) but the point was that in my opinion Byzantium is in that spot because I feel that they need extra attention, their value per cost stuff are worse and their starting position is worse than other factions have. Not saying you cant win campaign you can its just by the time you consolidate homeland other factions can finish whole map. Thank you very much for your constructive opinion I knew ppl will engage me on Byzantium for sure :D hahaha

[@hochmeisterstrategos6933]

Pls, someone knows if the lithuans on SS can be converted to catholicism like in the Teutonic?

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

No they don't unlike what happened historically so no Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Though on the plus side you can keep all your Pagan Order units. (Teutons are Good in early to Late game so they need to be delt with very early on)

[@hochmeisterstrategos6933]

@@forickgrimaldus8301 yeah bro, I started to think that with turn 220 and without the event appearing yet, I played it with them being my first experience in stainless steel because it seemed to me one of the most difficult, I was happy thinking about the conversion (I´m very religious in the real life) and when I saw that the objective to win the campaign... was to conquer Rome and 50 provinces LMAO... I could already get an idea that the event would never appear. Thanks anyway broo, cheers!

[@strategydux]

Deus Vault bro :D hahaha

[@tonisuihkonen8890]

I must be mad then😂 Cumans on early is pure gold. Bekh Druzhina is the best unit in the game, limited in numbers but combined with all the movement enchanting titles this faction gives you the TRUE horde experience. Also those horse archers can be recruited from large cities making castles useless for this faction. Convert and auto-manage, money never being an issue you can focus on the fun part of the game

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Don't do that last one don't auto manage.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Cumans are really good if you like to micro archer cav, if you are good enough you can kill tons of stacks with minimal loses.

[@90Rush]

@@forickgrimaldus8301 I always turn on the "house-rule" submod, which means you cannot build or train anything without a general unless you auto-manage.

[@stemina32]

Im doing portugal, failed to find an aggrement early with my neighbors and it's hell - trying to save my faction by going to france was also a bad idea lol

[@strategydux]

Hey buddy thanks for comment :D. Hahaha yea it is but Potugal is a great faction to play if you get good early start. You ally France and Aragon and go Bang on Castile and than go for Mores fast :D even try to get trade aggrement with them early to lower the chance of war and than staby staby them from behind :D

[@90Rush]

I don't think you should give Byzantine Roster 3/5 while giving Kwarezm roster 5/5. Scholarii, a unit available a few turns after you recapture Constantinople and rebuild the imperial barracks (which can be done with a good fight with the Crusaders sallying out), can beat Lancers. And to think Byzantine has two units of this monster in early campaign ...

[@strategydux]

This was for late game. Main problem for Byzatine is that their heavy units are worse than other factons here and additionally they struggle against their main rivals which are going to attack them so that context is adding to the lower number. 3/5 is average so it is not bad rating when this is considered :D

[@ChristosGoulios]

desrespecting the byzantines >:(

[@strategydux]

Love the theme and flavor they have :D tough hahaha but against big pumpers not gonna work

[@willc1294]

New mod for Kiev faction improves armour piercing with javelin missiles 😉

[@strategydux]

Thanks for comment bro. I think people underestimate how good javelins can be :D I agree

[@willc1294]

@@strategydux javelins have added bonuses when fighting Novgorod 😂

[@strategydux]

@@willc1294 Hahaha they become guided javelins all of a sudden....hahaha

[@magzamagza6734]

Leon castle good?

[@strategydux]

Not OP but they are decent if you ally France and Aragon you can nuke Portugal in first 5 turns and go full on Mores. You are safe nobody will invade and attack your cities while you conquer africa and get those juicy Crusades :3

[@magzamagza6734]

@@strategydux Germany, Golden Horde, Teutonic?

[@lazaroskordas4397]

you keep on showing units made in a citadel ... how do you even get a citadel in the 1st place? i cant reach the required population to turn fortress into a citadel

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

In this one its cheats for Showcase purposes but in the Mod cap it from some enemy

[@strategydux]

General which is duke of that settlement give it growth bonus but yes, easiest way is to cap it from enemy :D

[@ivanthehighman177]

Byzantine guide?

[@strategydux]

might as well. Have recorded raw material for Kwarezm and French.... but CoH3 is now fresh so gonna focus on that atm :)

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Fight the Seljuks and the Italians on the Balkans before attacking and retaking Constantinople, attempting this would possibly lose you a few cities but its your best shot, after beating the Seljuks or the oppertunity presents itself take Constantinople and the Latin Empire (Rebel) territories, keep in mind its fairly normal most playthroughs to piss off nearly all of your neighbors, Hungaria, Venice and Sicily usually invade the Latin Empire aka your old territories.)

[@SultanAlparslan1]

Many players as me can destroy Mongols in 5 turns with Khwarezmians.Khwarezmians are one of the best countries in mod.

[@strategydux]

What do you do? Assasinate leaders? they kept spawning all the time...

[@SultanAlparslan1]

@@strategydux At the beginning, declare jihad.Create forts around city where you will siege.Mongols sieges forts instead of saving city.You can take cities under mongol's rule. Good bye mongols. I don't need assasination. I fight as man.

[@strategydux]

@@SultanAlparslan1 lol they can not be killed just by capping cities. And they spawn later as well

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Late Era Khuwarezmians are difficult unless you cheese the game by save scumming assassins or exploiting the Mongols Diplomacy AI, the Forts strat is there to slow down the Mongols not Beat them, take out the Seljuks as fast as you can or go south to kill the Ayyubids. They though by Late Game are one of the Best Islamic factions with their Heavy Cavalry and Heavily Armored Horse Archers, they give Seljuks and Ayyubids a run for their Money in Late game, but for early game you need to be very good migrating out of Persia and Central Asia. (Archers and Spearmen are your bread and butter in Early game)

[@vampirehunter8562]

Buraz svaka nacija koja ima bilo kakve horsearchers je lagana za igrat dok francuska i engleska unaprijede zgrade za feudal knights i foot knights ja sam osvojio pola mape dalje samo spamas bilo kakvu vojskui autoresolve jer postane dosadno ez 😂

[@strategydux]

Pa da :D Jesu horse archeri dobri pogotovo kad si player ali AI ne igra kao covjek pa odmah gube vrijednost :D. Sto su mongoli opasni ne radi armije nego radi spama i broken moral jer ne mogu break dok je ziv general hahaha.

[@serhiikorkovetskyi3158]

Kyiv!!!! NOT Kiev. Thanks for a video.

[@strategydux]

You got it!

[@unmaff1n464]

Ты русский что ли ?

[@strategydux]

not ruski

[@TheRealHaans]

Useless out of date info.

[@strategydux]

Hey thanks for taking time to comment. Well yea it is out of date game was out 20 years ago :D This is mostly fan fun faction video for all of us history buffs and RTS ners enjoying the game :)

[@jimcrow582]

I would replace Lithuania with Crusader State = kingdom of Jerusalem.

[@TheTravianhero]

Lol no, I won with the crusader states in 21 turns on vh/vh. They have so much cheap heavy cav early on.

[@jimcrow582]

@@TheTravianhero During Late Campaign started in 1220?

[@TheTravianhero]

@@jimcrow582 yep, just attack Fatimids (Antioch, Damascus) and then Turks straight away. All those cities are super-rich once you sack them you can hire more units and mercenaries. And build houses of hospitallers and templars, they give you heavy cav with the upkeep of ~200. Lithuania, on the other hand, is extremely hard, if you attack Christian nations they will call a crusade on Vilnius around turn 15. Only after conquering Kievan Rus and Russians life gets a bit easier.

[@thepancakemann]

@@TheTravianhero damn chadly.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

No Lithuania is worse by a few reasons. 1. The Crusader States have the Crusader System so they can force the Ayyubids your only real problem to face 99% of Europe. 2. The Crusader States have easy access to 2 of the Richest Cities in the mod Chiro and Alexandria after the Ayyubids collapse makes the game way more easier, your only real problem by then are the Mongols. 3. While expensive most of the Crusader States units are Religious Orders which means they Run at a reduced upkeep and they are very good units even by Late Game only really falling short against other Catholic factions that have a lot of gunpowder and Heavier Cav. (To be fair Lithuania has a lot of Religious Order Units but they are limited in Temples and and are fewer than the Crusader States) Also the Outremerians have a lot more options than Lithuania in their Roster, even by Late game the Crusaders have ton more stronger hitting units like the Templar Guard, the Foot Saint Lazarus Knights, the Templar and French Longbowmen, Late Arcubusiers and the ever reliable Templars, Hospitaliers and Holy Sepulcer knights. The Lithuanians just have Regular Swordsmen, Spearmen, Cav, Gunners and their Temple units but unfortunately only the Deivas Guard are useful by Late Game so the Lithuanians lose a lot more striking power by Late Game than Outremer.