Creative Assembly wants to know which factions you wish to play as in Total War: Medieval 3, but whatever you do, don't ask to play as the Pope

All eyes may currently be fixed upon Total War: Warhammer 40,000, Creative Assembly's ferociously ambitious foray into the 40k universe. But it's worth remembering that the more traditional side of Total War is looking pretty exciting too, as CA is returning to one of Total War's best settings in Medieval 3.

Medieval 3 is much earlier in development than ol' Total Warty K, but the CA has been surprisingly open with the community about its development thus far, regularly showing the game off in preproduction livestreams. Now, it's also fielding opinion on which factions should be playable in Medieval 3, asking fans to complete a survey about which nations, dynasties, and city-states they want to control the destinies of.

This comes courtesy of Creative Assembly's most Medieval 3 blog, which delves into the developer's faction-based decision-making process. According to creative director Leif Walter, three factors go into deciding whether a faction should be in the game. These are how well known the faction is, how unique its starting situation is and how distinctive its "potential mechanics" could be.

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Naturally, there are some factions which Creative Assembly considers "locked in" by default. These are England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Sultanate of Rum. Where CA wants player input is on the smaller factions of the Middle Ages. How keen are you to play as Italian city states like Venice or Milan, for example? Or Kingdoms of Scandinavia? Or Muslim nations like the Almohad Caliphate or the Fatimid Empire?

Creative Assembly lists all the factions it is considering making playable in the article. There are some potential factions that CA rules out, such as the Russian Principalities, the Mongol Empire, and the Papal States. Apparently, the latter is particularly desired among Total War fans, but Walter says that Creative Assembly "discussed internally that this playstyle would be so unique and special that it would reduce focus of development too much."

Of course, the faction I'm most interested in playing as from the list is Scotland. Partly because that's where I live, but also, I think you could make an interesting mechanic out of the Scottish clan system, which developed through the medieval period. Dealing with new clans emerging, trying to stop them from infighting and stealing cattle from each other in order to deal with larger threats (mostly the English), seems like it'd be a fun and distinctive challenge.

Whichever factions end up in Medieval 3, however, you can bet that I'll be playing it whenever it launches. But I'm happy to wait, not least because Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is on the horizon. CA's sci-fi strategy got a fresh showing at this month's PC Gaming Show and, judging by what CA has revealed so far, is shaping up to be a dream 40k experience.