Total War Game [Insert name here].
The Kingdom of Italy, The Inheritors of Rome.
A curious nation, one that is pretty much the Rome of the Era, depending on the start date either being the West Rome experiance, where you either die or rise to Glory that matches or even exceeds Rome. Or being THAT ONE BOSS of the era, Benefiting from the 'Return of Roman Engineering' as the Wonderkund king brings the word into a new age, turning Italy into once again the home of the best engineer in the whole world. Their forces to start with are little better than militia, and at the start are basically screwed the moment they get in a fight, with the navy that exists, but later becomes skilled soldiers armed with masterwork Luciano weapons.
Fortunately, considering the nonexistent economy to start with, and the incoming invasion, the militia starts their long string of upgrades very fast, with some really powerful ones such as the multi-barrel design that first surfaces as Jon Charles Severin's personal weapon, and those his unit wields. Something which between Venice's starting facilities, exceptional leadership, and glorious gun techs, are singlehandedly responsible for giving an actual chance holding the sea even in the Brutal Legendary Difficulty, thanks to the holy trinity of buffs, tech, and leadership ensuring they could hold their own. And yet, the biggest advantage is that the fleet, even at the very beginning, has already started to transition away from the boarding and into cannons, which plays right into the strengths of Italy, thanks to their ever-growing buffs to gunnery, and simply better gunnery that is a trademark of later eras. On the ground, the start is a bloody mess, making up for poor overall quality with guns, which thanks to the starting innovations, aren't simply cannon fodder. But the tide starts to turn with the boosts and improved units from further tech work, and German volunteers bridging the gap enough to stand a real chance, if a little slower to get the ball rolling than the navy.
Battling against them early on is tough, but positioning is everything. For in sea it's all about trying to close the gap and board before the Cannons blast apart too many boarders to be able to handle the relatively less skilled but still Luciano gun armed sailors. In the ground, hills and terrain are often critical, because while their troops are able to somewhat compete in gun duels, they really don't have any real melee skills, meaning melee cav can be devastating if well positioned at said early stage. In sea later on, it's still much the same, just scarier everything, as even boarding gets harder thanks to the guns. Still the best choice, but definitely not as much of a weakness anymore. In the ground, the army gets some CQC, but their sheer firepower means the moment it turns into a pure shooting match, you lose. While you start getting some of the things Italy has enjoyed for a while, they are pretty much eternally five steps ahead, short of some hack or exploit. Something which makes them basically THE BOSS FACTION of the game, forcing inventiveness, and often careful use of the few edges you have to have a chance.
Some special units they have are revolver cav, a relatively early unlock that uses the multi-barrel design to disregard reload rate for an insane burst DPS, using mobility to weave in and out of range till they deplete their ammo. A later one are elite horse skirmishers using specialized light rifles to harass the enemy, using range and mobility to stay away from retaliation, and strike. In the ground, things are relatively simpler, until near lategame. For they bring out specialized guns such as the shotgun, a design that trades range for far higher ability to deal damage, being an ambush unit that can't get many shots off before it goes to their mediocre melee stats, but a few is often all they need. Just be careful to not catch your own in the line of fire. With sharpshooter units, by far the most expensive, being skirmishers that are basically snipers, that fire at a rather impressive fire rate for their role, being the Elites due to the effort to grove the internals. Though Speak Thrice, the prototype rifle that to a degree, was the first of said type of gun, it having been effected by the stories surrounding it, has somewhat inflated capabilities reflecting the Company's leaning towards the stories and myths of the era. Of which, the heroes tied to this faction, including the wielder of Speak Thrice, are enough to deserve their own entry, and serves as a big part of how they could possibly survive in the hardest setting, against the biggest and strongest starting faction in the game.
A/N: A little something. And yeah, with the dice, we are probably the West Rome equivalent. Just substitute fires everywhere with little forces to respond, with one giant superpower, and an utter mess of an army that is expected to fight one of the best in the world.
