I think Rome and Carthage will be medium. Suebi will have an easy start but harder end game. Parthia may be hard, Egypt distinctly easy.

I was on the fence about Carthage, having to go up against the (sure to be) Roman powerhouse early on. But they have a swathe of territory via their clients, pretty secure starting location and expansion into Iberia waiting. I can see it being a Medium rather than Easy rating though, I feel like I over-egged the easys a bit.

One of the barbarians will probably be Hard too, Averni probably.

If it is anything like Europa Barbarorum, Pontus should totally be Hard, if not near on Extreme. Though the fact that this is neither the EB mod and the Seleucids are a raft of client satraps will probably dampen the challenge. Since in EB they would come down on you like a ton of bricks seeking to re-assimilate you. All whilst you have to expand your holdings or contract the size of your army to actually get a budget surplus.

Rome - Hard

Carthage -Hard

Macedon - Very Hard

Iceni - Easy

Arverni - Hard

Suebi - Normal

Parthia - Normal

Egypt - Easy

Pontus - Normal

Athens - Very Hard
Epirus - Normal
Sparta - Very Hard

Parthia might have a hard start, from what we saw in Jack's Macedon playthrough allies and clients jumped in to help out with Epirus, and Parthia is surrounded by Clients of the Seleucids. Might be wisest to go north first, or into independent (but still large) Bactria.

All of the Greek States from the DLC are going to have a tough time of it. Sparta starts without a port, fighting a larger enemy in Epirus but boxed in by Athens to the East, who are a client of Macedon your ally, any aggression towards them will likely result in Macedon bearing down on you too.

Epirus, my vote for hardest, will start with bad relations with Rome. At war with Sparta, an ally of Macedon. It seems likely you'll be fighting Sparta, Athens and Macedon in quick succession, or worse - all at once.

Athens starts with few viable expansion routes and is tied diplomatically to Macedon. You'll have to break free from their bonds but need to build strength somewhere else first.

Rome and Carthage I put as hard I think they are at war from the get go and for them they have to deal with an internal power struggle/Civil war which will make it harder in the late game.

Epirus I think could be normal despite bad relations with Rome to begin with. I don't think the Romes A.I's priority would be Epirus regions. I think Athens would be soft, Macedon would definitely be the faction to watch out for. Epirus has two starting regions compared to Sparta and Athens with 1.

Parthia: I still stand them as normal. they are a cav faction and I think its the eastern faction to stand strong throughout most games you'll play. I believe CA will design them strong from end to finish.

Rome and Carthage I put as hard I think they are at war from the get go and for them they have to deal with an internal power struggle/Civil war which will make it harder in the late game

The game starts about 10 years before the 1st punic war, so they should be neutral at the start, but with war hanging in the air.

All civs will have internal struggles, which will likely become more dangerous when your empire grows larger.

I doubt epirus will have a good starting situation, and I dont know how their roster will be.

As for parthia: It depends on 2 factors, which we cant know untill release. 1 How strong will the seleucid states be and how will they cooperate. 2 unit balance (how effective will the cavalry and horse archers be against for example a phalanx army.

For same reasons I find it hard to assign any difficulty to factions: I would expect the ones that start larger to be easier to build up (better economy from the start, faster army building).

I expect the suebi, arverni and iceni will have quite a difficult time in expanding, which would be accurate. Since their closest neighbours will likely have similar armies in size and type. And now they are real factions, they will also train units, expand their towns etc.

[This message has been edited by Thompsoncs (edited 08-23-2013 @ 06:15 AM).]

The game starts about 10 years before the 1st punic war, so they should be neutral at the start, but with war hanging in the air.

Rome starts at war with the Etruscans, and Carthage with the Turdetani, but it is likely that once they've secured their own regions, they'll be at each other's throats before long.

Parthia: I still stand them as normal. they are a cav faction and I think its the eastern faction to stand strong throughout most games you'll play. I believe CA will design them strong from end to finish.

Bear in mind that at this point Parthia is still a Seleucid satrapy and the 'Parthian' faction is really just the Parni tribe to the north. I imagine that they will indeed be strong, but the starting challenge could be shaky.

That said, Parthia will probably be the Marathas of Rome II...

[This message has been edited by Andalus (edited 08-23-2013 @ 07:18 AM).]

With the latest news -
Seleucids - Medium

I'm loathe to guess them as Hard, when between them and their clients they control 24 regions. Maybe some will soon be revolting against your rule though, to make it a bit more difficult. Wouldn't mind the early stages of that campaign putting down seperatist rebellions in the East.

Rome - Easy - Rome is the central faction, so Rome will be made easy to keep new folks playing the game.
Carthage - Easy
Macedon - Hard
Iceni - Medium (economic struggles maybe?)
Arverni - Medium
Suebi - Medium
Parthia - Medium
Egypt - Easy

Pontus - Medium/Hard - maybe it's just me, but I always struggled when playing as a Cav dominant civilization.

Athens - Medium
Epirus - Hard
Sparta - Balls Hard - but probably super fun. I'm going to try them out on my second campaign.

Seleucids - Medium/Hard - it really depends on how intact the client state arrangements are at the start. If you start out somewhat stable, then medium. But if on turn 2 three of your clients revolt, then suddenly it gets really difficult.

Athens might be medium, considering Sparta can't go anywhere, and might attack from the start. Macedon will jump into the fray then and pull your butt out of the fire, probably gonna be occupied with that for a few years, and in the meantime, i'd suggest expanding over the sea: trade contacts with seleucids/ptolemies, but not both or you'll risk a three way war. Probably capture the coast of Asia Minor to appeal to seleucids, and eventually capture the Greek mainland with the wealth you've attained

Athens might be medium, considering Sparta can't go anywhere, and might attack from the start. Macedon will jump into the fray then and pull your butt out of the fire,

I dunno... I think it could go either way. If you're the aggressor Macedon might not back you as you're attacking one of their allies. And Sparta might not be in so much of a hurry to attack you at Athens as they'll be busy dealing with Epirus. I think the road to victory as Athens lies in grabbing the Greek Islands, Rhodes and Crete, possibly Cyprus too depending on the situation in Egypt. Hard for them, I think, though probably not quite as Hard as Sparta.

Seeing as Sparta has no port and their only way off the Peloponnese is passing by Athens... Seems like Sparta will attack immediately

Nah, they can move their army across the narrow sea to attack Epirus who they start at war with.