Hey all,
I was just wondering what other players use for their starting faction on the italy unification. I started out as Rome my first playthrough with my son (mostly because I was watching a documentary on Roman legions and wanted to see how the units in the game were). It was fun, and challenging.

Hi, just got the game and i decided to pick Taras because i wanted to play with Greeks and because they are kinda isolated. I want to try Rome but only after i get some experience.

I like the Greeks Hoplites but i am missing having archers so i might go with Gailics or Etruscans.

Have you had experience with other Factions? How do they relate with the Romans?

I have tried only 2 other factions: Brutii (Sabellic) and Veneti (Illyrian)
Beginning of the games were very similar, but I honestly wasn't able to get that far into those two due to my main computer crashing. I still have those saves synced, but just waiting for that computer to return from repairs. I will let you know when i get more time into those two. I will say, however, when rome starts to get the hastati units (with me playing as rome), i go more into blitz style of playing as some of the other units can crumble. My main makeup for a group is 2 hastati, 2 or 3 levy for ranged support, and only 1 spear for flanking maneuvers.
I am seriously considering on matching up the hastati against heavy hoplites to see how they fare in 1v1 though. I find it very interesting to see how the units match up to one another, especially with different officers.