what is the best faction?

[spear54]

personnaly out of all the factions i think russia is the best.people argue that the russian ecoenemy starts bad i but if you can bolster econemy in trade. also declaring war on prussia in the first turn gives you more regions quickly to use since prussia not that hard to beat. second you have time and space if a war goes badly. and due to the vastness of russia its hard to attack plus attrtion.also beating the otttaman army is not that hard sine they have bad genreal and to much orta peasent leavy.once whiping out two gret powers just invade austria from both sides.on the way make a lot of vassals to bolster econemy and to act as buffer states. with two great powers dead its not that hard. also vassal mean you get 50% money plus money from trade. after that defeat denmark and sweden and just march west. reason its my favorite is cause of easiness anf fun even in very hard. however im sure your all gonna argue but it will be fun to hear other reasons.

[Doom]

There is no best Faction, depends ho you'd like to play,

Britian: Strong navy, has a channel to keep france at bay and time to prepare.

France: Many units, diverse, Power house.

and of course, Russia: Austria and Prussia as meatshields. Huge. Bonus with winter, - with winter against enemys.

[LSD]

Why anyone would choose anything but France is beyond me. They have the largest selection of units, the largest selection of historical (and powerful) generals -- they have everything. They even sound good when you click 'em.

I'd have liked to go with only playing Britain as i did in Empire, but in Napoleon they're not quite as fun to play as. They have a tiny selection of units (like every faction that isn't France), and they don't have any form of naval superiority in terms of what they can recruit. Remember HMS Victory? Oh, sorry, i forgot that she existed during the 18th century, but not in the 19th century when, you know, she was in a bit of a famous battle.

Now we're left with the same selection of naval units as every other faction (besides getting a selection of 6th rate frigates, rather than a corvette or brig).

At least we have the Peninsula Campaign with the 95th Rifles and everything... That was fun

[Half Life Expert]

playing as the coalition offers a wide variety of challenges that you wouldnt face as the french.

for example, When playing as france, you really dont have to worry bout the ottomans, as russia, they are a primary threat

[lubi125]

Why anyone would choose anything but France is beyond me. They have the largest selection of units, the largest selection of historical (and powerful) generals -- they have everything. They even sound good when you click 'em.

I'd have liked to go with only playing Britain as i did in Empire, but in Napoleon they're not quite as fun to play as. They have a tiny selection of units (like every faction that isn't France), and they don't have any form of naval superiority in terms of what they can recruit. Remember HMS Victory? Oh, sorry, i forgot that she existed during the 18th century, but not in the 19th century when, you know, she was in a bit of a famous battle.

Now we're left with the same selection of naval units as every other faction (besides getting a selection of 6th rate frigates, rather than a corvette or brig).

At least we have the Peninsula Campaign with the 95th Rifles and everything... That was fun

You traitor! lol

Seriously though, I think it depends on your play style.
France is well-balanced
His Majesty King George III's army seems more oriented towards shooting and range combat (excellent line infantry)
Austria has very strong skirmishers
Ottomans seem a bit melee oriented.
etc.

I can't say for everything as I mostly play as Great-Britain, hope this helps

[Marshall Davout]

France is the best. In the Napoleonic era, it was still way more powerful than its enemies.

[ingro]

my favourite one is prussia, if you manage to not get conquered in the first turns, you can create a very good economy and army, and then you're almost unbeatable eheh

[Vader]

All factions have their pros and cons. I despise Austria and have never used them in a campaign. Prussia has good skirmishers and their infantry is above average. Russia's howitzer arty is unmatched. Britain has a superior Navy (duh). France hands down has the best everything, minus naval units and howitzers.

[Charliequin]

France's cavalry (generally) has higher stats than everyone else's cavalry, (their shooter cav can go toe to toe with heavy cav and lancers) and the old guard is the only unit that I've seen that intimidates other units. That's a pretty big advantage, based on the fact that if you have any equal unit match-up with old guard, the old guard will win. As far as the online battles go, France has advantages that other people don't have. I prefer to play as England, because their line infantry is the best line infantry, but the only thing that the brits have that may go toe to toe with the old guard is the coldstream, of which you can only get one, and they will still lose in a one on one. We'd all like to believe that the game is balanced, and it's a great game, but in the context of battle, France just has too many advantages to compete with. If you have two equal players, and one of them is France, France will generally take the win. This is just in battles, as I don't have a huge amount of campaign experience.

[E'dollo]

If I were to sum up one faction being the best, I'd say Britain. They can match France in Infantry and Artillery, and are only a bit behind in Cavalry. Then France, then Prussia, Austria, Russia. Every faction has something good going for them, but I think GB and France stand out from the crowd a bit.