Poles/Strategic Overview

Faction Overview	Strategic Overview	History
*Strong defensive faction, with the ability to create a strong economy. Good infantry.
*Poor navy, siege and cavalry; lack of technologies and Wonders restricts gameplay greatly; possibly the weakest faction in all of Swords of the Prophets .
Like the vanilla Persians of Rise of Nations, the Poles can set the second settlement they build as a secondary capital that must be captured along with the primary one to force a Capital defeat, but given how costly settlements are in New World Empires, how this ability can be fully utilised remains to be seen.
The mainstay of Polish tribal forces lie in two areas: infantry, and mercenary units. In the former, the Poles enjoy the use of two backbone units: Ratniky, and Axe Wojaky. These two units have their own quirks, being that Axe Wojaky are slower on foot, but are tougher -- a full 65 more HP compared to garden variety Militia which only have just 105. This makes Axe Wojaky more resistant in infantry scraps, and actually makes them very dangerous to archer civs, such as the Indians, Persians or Britons who rely on foot archers to maintain some infantry supremacy. Ratniky, on the other hand, aren't really as strong as common Spearmen, but have one main benefit: they can kill off most Dark Age unique melee units with ease, meaning that they are extremely dangerous to melee cavalry factions. Units such as the Magyar Kiseret, Byzantine Spathatoi or the Avar Nobles just don't stand a chance if they are ordered to attack a body of Ratniky, so the Poles - like the Varangians - have some means of fending off the best units that can be fielded by some factions. However there is one big downside: the cavalry component of the Poles simply is weak, and the naval forces even more so. The Poles only get War Canoes, which aren't very powerful against factions such as the Chinese or the Saxons who have better warships, and while the Poles do possess some cavalry units, they don't truly stand out. Konnica, while tougher and faster, has an attack debuff versus all mounted units, while the Horse Druzhina is mediocre at best, its only main benefit being its more Metal-heavy cost. So while Poland can create a hill of Wealth through savings accumulated from Horse Druzhina and its ability to spawn free Caravans, the upshot is that Poland also gets some of the worst mercenaries especially where cavalry is concerned.This is mitigated by Polish access to German mercenary crossbows, but all of these weaknesses mean that Poland is suited to defence, not attack.
In short, playing as the Poles can be a challenge: they are more than a match when it comes to turtling, but have no means of breaking out, except if they have a strong economy that can funnel enough Wealth into mercenaries, and yet these aren't simply enough. On the other hand, the lack of Wonders and technologies (now more important because of the restricted nature of Wonders) means that assymmetric strategies -- wonder rushing, non-military victories - are actually harder to achieve. The Polish faction thus