Factions

Rome

Typical build

Generals Bodygaurd/Legatus



3 Syrian Archers (not always nessessary)



4-6 Cheap Cav



Lots of infantry, a mixture of elite and mid tier and maybe even cheap infantry as well

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Carthage

Typical build

Generals Bodygaurd or Noble Cav



3 Cretan Archers



4-6 Hoplites



2-6 Swords



Mixture of mid tier and elite cav



Skirmisher Cav (maybe)

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Barbarians

Typical build

0-3 Skirmishers



1-4 Elite Swords



2-8 Mid tier swords



4 Mid tier cav

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Nomads

Typical build

1-5 elite cav



4-6 mid tier cav



4-10 horse archers

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Parthia & Armenia

Typical build

3-5 Eastern Cataphracts



5-6 Foot or Light Archers



2-4 Hoplites



1-2 Eastern Spears



3 Horse Archers

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Hellenic Factions - Successor Kingdoms

Typical build

1-3 Elite cav



2-4 mid tier cav



4-6 mid tier swords



0-6 pikes



0-2 elite swords



2-5 skirmishers



1 ele/chariot

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

Hellenic Factions - Greeks

Typical build

4-10 hoplites



0-6 swords



3-5 skrimishers



4-6 cav



1-3 elite hoplites

Who are they good against?

Who are they bad against?

So you go into a battle and what do you see? A massive list of factions that can be rather daunting at first. I'm going to take you through each type of faction, their strengths and weaknesses and who they good againstSo I'm assuming most of you will be familiar with Rome as a faction and they're very strong so they are a good faction to start with. They may be over used but its for a reason. Their main strength is infantry with lots and lots of cost effective swordsmen.This is not set in stone at all but this is a very general idea of what to useRome are pretty decent agaisnt any faction in the game but are especially good against spear heavy factionsThey aren't 'bad' agaisnt anyone but they can be beaten by a lusitani player who knows what hes doing and their focus on infantry can be used agaisnt them if the opponent uses skirmishers, elephants or chariots well.The old arch-enemy of Rome and also a pretty decent faction in multiplayer. Their strengths are elite skirmishers, a variety of hoplites and a good selection of cav.They are quite effective against hellenic or eastern factionsThey can be weak agaisnt sword heavy builds but this can be dealt with by skirmishers and elite units like campanian cavI have grouped all barbarians together because firstly it would take ages to do them individually and secondly they all have a similar play style in general. Their strengths are infantry which will form the core of the army and they also have decent spears.Barbarians are fine against other barbarians and they do well agaisnt Greek factionsThey are weak against eastern factions and factions with special units (ele/chariot). They are slightly weaker than Rome but they can definitely win.These guys only have cav so you know what to expect straight away. However their horse archers can be good and heavy cav can be lethal in the hands of a good player. These factions will require good micro to be effective. A lot of melee units have the draco ability which gives them a big advantage while its active.Sword based armiesSpear based armies especially greek factionsThe great empires of the east have brilliant cataphracts and good skirmishers. These should be the focus of your army rather than units like swordsmenThey are quite effective against hellenic factions, carthage and barbariansGreek factionsThese factions have top cav, excellent skirmishers and a variety of possible play styles. You could go with a pike core and let your skirmishers do the killing or go for a sword based army. A lot of them also have access to special units and elite spears.They are pretty good against any faction due to their varied unit rostersThey're not perticularly bad agaisnt anyoneUnfortunatly the rosters of some of these factions are rather limited meaning you are going to be pretty predictable. However Syracuse has some good cav, Athens have good skirmishers and they all have some great elite hoplites that will hold out for ages.Parthia and Nomads, ok agaisnt Carthage and Sucessor KingdomsSword heavy factions like barbarians and Rome