I'm playing as Sparta(yeah I know pretty cheese), they got some really good troops, but their economy isn't that great. Fun to have a challenge though :)

So my fellow duders what are you playing as? Or what faction are you going to choose?

I'm definitely going to start with Rome. It may be vanilla, but it would be wrong to play this game without playing its central faction. My second choice will be Parthia. I had a ton of fun with them in the original Rome.

Haven't gotten the game yet, but I've definitely been thinking about it. If I'm going to pick a faction I want to stick with it for the long haul. Unlike my Medieval 2 where I play a faction for 100 turns then lose the save or switch.

Rome seems like the obvious choice, and I'll want to play it at some point. I feel like that is the safest, but most common faction. Like England in Med 2. And for some reason I really don't want to play the faction everyone else plays.

The Greek City States in Rome 1 were my favorite(Armored Hoplites were legendary), and to this day are the only faction I've fully conquered the map with for any Total War game. Unfortunately that means paying an extra 8 dollars because I didn't preorder.

Rome as the Cornelia

after that I think the Suebi sound interesting and I'd like to play as a Barbarian faction

Rome, and it's awesome. Love the new wrinkles to the game.

I imagine next I'd try Carthage, really trying to rewrite history and wipe Rome out, and then I'd probably give an eastern faction a shot, one that has cavalry archers (my favorite style of army throughout history). Hopefully one of the playables covers that style, I haven't checked.

Rome for me as well. Their unit roster is more diverse and well, ROME!

Rome, because i enjoy kicking over Carthage's sand castle

Egypt, because they ahve crazy unit diversity. Hoplites, elephants, archers, camels, chariots, a lot of good pikes, they even have some barbarian mercenaries.

Rume currently, then probably Sparta for some sweet infantry action. I've always loved the maneuver of playing the Parthians though, and with the smoother unit pathing and response time I imagine cavalry on massive scales will be fun! I'm sure I'll give them a shot as well.

Playing Macedon on very hard difficulty and having a blast; picked 'em due to the way they have expanded the campaign-map so very far to the east. I mean to recreate Alexander the Great's career by tackling the seemingly impossible. That said, I conquered the greek state-cities and made protectorates of them, and after having cleared out the region got REALLY pissed at Rome who'd just snuck in and robbed me of one of the cities that should've been mine. As a result, I attacked the fuckers from the coast, between Carthage and I, they barely have any military strength left. I've just conquered Naples, and have an army standing at the gates of Rome as we speak.

Unsure what I'll do after this; maybe britannica, that'd be fun and very different.

Try Parthia :), they have some really good cavalry, either with lance or bow. Met some of those cavalry they have in eastern Turkey and I lost many dudes to their charges

@do_the_manta_ray: Britannia is pretty awesome in this game culturally. They lack a lot of economy or military bonuses that other factions get, but they actually enjoy conflict, meaning that the more you fight the happier your people are. Easy way to take vast amounts of land and maintain a happy population. Pretty accurate to how the Brits behaved in real history as well.

I'm jumping back and forth between Rome-Julia and the Iceni, playing as Rome is a really awesome, because I've been conquering along a historically-accurate route.

Thanks for the tip man I will next.

Gave up my Spartan game for now. My economy is in shambles, did many mistakes early on, 20+ factions at war with me and my unhappiness is too great :-/. Maybe a silly tip, but dont anger the Selucid Empire early on. Started a new game as Athens, and man this is going so much better. Captured the province Illyria(the balkans), wiped out Epirus and considering going against the barbarians to the north. And people like my a lot better in this game. Is epirus still alive in your games? They been wiped out before turn 5 in my 2 games