Sicily Faction

[The Good]

Welcome to Club Sicilia! I made this thread for the sole purpose of discussing all about the Sicily faction in Medieval II: Total War. We can discuss all sorts of things, the strengths and weaknesses of Sicily, campaign strategies, Multiplayer strategies (Yes, I play Multiplayer ), and more!

Let me begin with a question, what is your favourite Sicilian unit?

Mine would be the Norman Knights (Both Mounted and Dismounted, I consider them one unit), they are some of the greatest Cavalry Knights, and dismounted they are great warriors! Very good unit in my opinion.

Second place would be the Muslim Archers. They are the best Early Period southern European archer unit in my opinion. In Multiplayer, they are very handy!

Third place are the Sword and Bucklermen. The weapons they use, rapiers, are just plain cool, and they have similar stats to the Norman Knights, and have lower upkeep too! They are the only faction apart from Spain to recruit them. (The Spanish version should have been named 'Rodeleros' wich is the Spanish word for them. They should also have named the Sicilian version something in Italian.)


Note: This is also a Total War Center Clan, just for fun really, you can have your name added here, and you will be considered a part of the Club/Clan!

Guildmaster: Lucius Julius
______________________
Members:
Pnutmaster
MattErickson
Hungary Horace
Roshak

Please apply!

[Mythre]

Norman knights are quite good, but my favorite thing about the units of Sicily is the diversity. I mean you got good militias and a very powerful lineup of castle units. I am in the middle of my Sicilian campaign at the moment....... the one thing i will say about it is: I AM COVERED UNDER 10 FEET OF CORPSES!! it is the most intense campaign i have ever played... Right now i am facing the "axis of evil" (thats what i call it anyways.) Venice Byzantium Egypt France Spain HRE Moors and the Turks all against me. (Milan met an unfortunate accident) Venice Byz and HRE are allied and most of the rest are too. The one good thing is i got the pope in my pocket. its fun but sometimes i get tired of all the sieges and fighting almost every turn.

[UhOhIt'sAnArrow]

Yeah I love Sicily, but I have the same problem with them as I do the HRE and Venice. Everyone just wants a piece of them and I end up waging war against everyone. Really kind of makes me mad because I can never choose my enemies or pick my battles.

[Greg89]

Yup, gotta love those norman knights. The only thing that grinds my gear is that I always get quickly bored when playing as Sicilians. This is like the 3rd try, and every time Im almost at the end of the campaign, I bail for no reason. Does anyone get the same feeling that there is something missing in Sicilian faction? Hmm ther other thing is that I hate fighting from bottom to top thanks to Italian peninsula. Overall I like playing Sicilians, but for some uknown reason I get tired quickly....

[Cayo_Julio_Cesar]

I ove the mix, on early age Sicilly is invincible , mounted/dismounted norman knights = best sword infantry and heavy cavalary
Muslim archers = one of the best archers of the game.
Italian Milita: one of the best spearmen of the game

so if you mix this 4 units, nothing can beat you, your knights kill basically anything that your archers hvnt alrdy, and if the enemy charges with heavy cav then the italian militias do their work.

I haven't tried a campaign with them yet however , althoug i like their units i hate the Italian Peninsula position too much factions on a small place.

[UhOhIt'sAnArrow]

On the battlefield they are unmatched. Still on the campaign eventually everyone wants your lands. Venice, Milan, Byzantines, heck Egypt has even sailed out to beat me lol. Hard to contend with when you have to support an army and a navy early on and all you can capture are small towns with no real developmen, which comes out of your bank account

[Oxberger]

I don't like Sicily at all. I think the Norman Knights are over-rated and really aren't that great. They're missle units aren't special compared to Venice/Milan.

[The Good]

I don't like Sicily at all. I think the Norman Knights are over-rated and really aren't that great. They're missle units aren't special compared to Venice/Milan.

True that, about the missle units at least. The Venetians get Venetian Archers, and the Milanese get Genoese Crossbowmen, which just about equal the Muslim Archers unit in effectiveness, although Milan is a little more overpowered.

I disagree when you say that Norman Knight units are overrated, however, you can never have enough Normans in your Sicilian armies.

[Cayo_Julio_Cesar]

I don't like Sicily at all. I think the Norman Knights are over-rated and really aren't that great.

Historically, when Emperor Alexius of Rome asked the Pope support against the infidel, in what later we would call "crusades", he only wanted the support of the norman knights "the fiercest men ".

He had already battled them on southern Italy, and saw the fiercest men on earth,but not only warmogering vmonsters on increadible armours that had the dissscipline of Caesar's Legions , but also the ferocity of a viking , the armor of the most advanced of the western europeans and the tactics of a strategos, indeed some say he only wanted some norman knights to command on hes own to reconquer Anatolia.

So they aren't overrated on early age, and England should have them also, but since this is an english game and they already had too much powerfull units, giving them this unit would just debalance the game, yea even more.

[trench]

I like Sicily becasue I get to force everyone to enjoy my artist studios.

[STReetSamurai]

Sicily is alright...and for the mass of enemies bearing down on you? get a full army and sack each of their capitals. Thats what I do when factions piss me off. And remember to burn down all the building on the way out.

[MattErickson]

I love Sicily. They're one of my favourite factions and I love the starting location, Palermo is a great capitol that can be easily defended.

I'm currently playing them with SS 3.2 and I get constant invasions from France, Spain, and the Moors, I've been allied with Milan and Venice, although Venice attacked me but I offered ceasefire and got an alliance later on. They're awsome, I even liked them from RTW. Fighting the Carthaginians and the Spanish Barbarians as the Scipii.

The normas are definatley some of the greatest units in the game and I stock up on them for sure, along with muslim archers.

A reason I like them is because they are so diverse like the Byzantines. There are muslims, christians, and others.

[Captain Crimson]

Sicily sucks imo. I'd rather take Hungary as an early game faction in multiplayer (feudal knights and nobles, yaaar.)

CC

[tony_blair_doa]

the only problem with the italian factions in general is that their campaigns are too easy. coastal regions for good ports/trade,banks too. Brilliant militia means you can't be defeated in seiges unless you have been caught with your pants down (love that term). With a unit or two of dismounted norman knights on the wall nothing will take your city, add to that muslim archers. While they are truky one of the best factions this is there problem
Its simply far too easy to win with such a powerful faction,especially if you don't annoy the pope and let the enemies get themselves excomunicated for attacking you. Just bunker down and counterattack when you've killed off the seiging forces. I'm afraid to say they are just too good to be a challenge

[Pnutmaster]

Here's one for Club Sicilia!

A few reasons why I absolutely love this faction...

• For a player with no desire to blitzkrieg all of Europe by the 12th century, Sicily's starting position is ideal. There's nothing like the feeling of securing Sardinia, building up Naples and Palermo, preparing three separate invasion forces for the glory of the deHautevilles, and launching them simultaneously towards Venice, Tunis, and Corinth, respectively.

• They are, at their core, Normans. Personally, I find their roster lacking, but Pro Deo et Rege solves that problem in every way possible

• Of all the vanilla skins, I found theirs the most agreeable (probably due to the fact that they are closest to the color of the rebel skins and therefore less glaring)

• As I have stated before, I am part Sicilian. Not a Guido, or a wannabe Mafioso, but a Sicilian--a descendant of the Spanish, Norman, Arabic, Greek, and Italic inhabitants of Sicily. That is one badass bloodline, if you ask me

[MattErickson]

Same, I am half Sicilian, on my mother's side and I have family in Catania.

Anyways, although they are good one thing I have problems with them is at the start, money. I have ALWAYS been bad with managing my money and get relativley low on funds, a lot. Once I started expanding and turned the two island forts into cities I boosted by trade and along with Bari, and Naples I can usually stabilize myself. Palermo isn't doing to bad either, already a citidal and brings in a steady income.

[Sher Khan]

If only Muslim Archers could have shields. That's all I can say about Sicily. Everything else is arse.

[Hungary Horace]

Can i be in the club please

Norman Knights kick booty. You get them early on which is good cos later they have don experience. I have two mounted units with 2 gold chevrons and 3 dismounted units with 2 silver chevrons. Also they are don for crusades - I have a general with 10 chivalry because I called a crusdae on Cordoba and took Granada on the way with another crusdaer army - the boats move really fast with a crusader army in it! I also have a general with 10 dread - use a one charge unit - almost breaks any unit due to him being relly scary.

Also I have a knights hospitalier HQ in Tunis or Algiers ( can't remember which one, the one nearest to Sciliy.

One question - Palmero, Castle or City? - I have it as a Citadel now.

[Captain Crimson]

Can i be in the club please

Norman Knights kick booty. You get them early on which is good cos later they have don experience. I have two mounted units with 2 gold chevrons and 3 dismounted units with 2 silver chevrons. Also they are don for crusades - I have a general with 10 chivalry because I called a crusdae on Cordoba and took Granada on the way with another crusdaer army - the boats move really fast with a crusader army in it! I also have a general with 10 dread - use a one charge unit - almost breaks any unit due to him being relly scary.

Also I have a knights hospitalier HQ in Tunis or Algiers ( can't remember which one, the one nearest to Sciliy.

One question - Palmero, Castle or City? - I have it as a Citadel now.

Cavalry armies own sicily, no matter how many norman knights you have. In multiplayer, of course. Vanilla AI is just so awful, it's not worth mentioning in any comparison.

CC

[Socal_infidel]

They are, at their core, Normans. Personally, I find their roster lacking, but Pro Deo et Rege solves that problem in every way possible

Hey, just saw this! Thanks for the compliment for my mod!

Back to the topic at-hand. I am a HUGE Sicily fan. May not be the "best" faction out there, but there's just something about thier Norman lineage. Fascinating cast of characters!

I usually role-play them, making sure I send Robert Guiscard and Bohemond on a little trip to take Dyracchium and generally butting-heads with the rest of the Byzantine Empire.

And then have Bohemond drop everything once the First Crusade is called and send him on the long overland trek to the Levant and go about establishing the Principality of Antioch there!

Fun faction! Rich history! Restore the glory of the deHautevilles!