Alexander: Total War

[frogbeastegg]

A thread for the Alexander expansion. All Alexander related tips and strategies belong here.

[ezrider]

I ordered the Eras set just yesterday as a good example of impulse buying. €50 from play- can't wait to get it tho because then I can play alexander and post my strats.! I wonder if its possible to actually apply HIS tactics to the game? 'twould be only fitting.

[Diadochoi]

Fired it up yesterday... this is my first time playing a side that relies heavily on phalanx units, the lack of mobility is going to be tough to get used to. Alexander's also thin on the archery side (at least initially). So far I've been taking more casualties than I'd like because the Persians can bomb away without fear of reprisal while my phalanx groups advance.

[Kambyses]

Hello everyone;
I have big problem installing "Alexander".It need patch 1.5/1.6 ,So I did the following deeds :

1.Installed both ROME:TOTAL WAR and RTW:Barbarian Invasion.The version of my RTW is 1.3 and RTW:BI is 1.4 at the end of this step.

2.As mentioned in Support section of www.totalwar.com ,I installed patch 1.6.

3.When I tried to install patch 1.6 ,It sends a Massage and says "This patch will only upgrade version 1.3 to version 1.5. You can download patch 1.3 from www.totalwar.com.":dizzy2:

What can I do? How can I install "Alexander"???:embarassed:

Here is the link of Total war support:

http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?page=/en/support/index.html&nav=/en/8/

I will appreciate for any HELP:help:

Thank you
-Kambiz

[econ21]

I wonder if its possible to actually apply HIS tactics to the game?

Yes, it is almost required to apply his tactics. A solid wall of phalanxes can engage at the front - they can steamroller any infantry and most cavalry except the 2HP generals. The Companions, especially Alexander himself, should smash in from the flanks. Everything else is either ineffective - the hypaspists are horribly vulnerable - or just icing on the cake.

[phred]

- the hypaspists are horribly vulnerable -

I second that.
I've seen them rout everyone in the street during a seige (including immortals), but by the time I brought phalangists up behind them they were reduced to nothing and routing, and the phalangists had to finish the seige.

[Bombasticus Maximus]

Can someone post a link or pm me the link to the alexander intro movie.

[rotorgun]

Hi all,

Just a dumb question but, is Alexander Total War only available as a download from totalwar.com?

Appreciate it.

[phred]

Alexander is available as a download or as part of the Total War Eras collection.

[rotorgun]

Alexander is available as a download or as part of the Total War Eras collection.
Thank you phred. I'll get to the Total War site and order it soon.

[rotorgun]

Well I went and ordered Total War Alexander, and have played a few turns of my first campaign. So far, a little strange after playing RTW. I also played the Battle of Cheronea, which I have yet to win. I just don't quite know how Alexander and his Companions can expect to win in hopeless frontal charges against the rather ahistorical huge numbers of Sacred Band Thebans. Correct me if I'm wrong. but wern't they only about three hundred in number? The three units in the game represent about more like 1500-2000 in relative terms. In actuallity, they were really just a small contingent of the Theban army. Alexander's contribution to the battle was his breaktrhough in the center in a gap that developed between the Athenians and the Thebans, brought on by Phillips adept ploy of feigned retreat with his right wing. This is difficult to achieve in the game because of the huge morale penalty suffered by the Macedonians if Alexander doesn't immediately attack the Sacred Band. The army just begins to come apart! Here is a simple representation of the battle. As you can see, the Sacred Band was virtually ignored until after the defeat of the main body.

https://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4083/chaeroneamap6ti.th.gif (https://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chaeroneamap6ti.gif)

As far as the campaign is going, I have used Alexander's army to conquer Illyria to secure my northwestern frontier, and am now engaged in a small war with the Trhacians with Parmenio. I found it wise to pull out of Asia Minor until the Thracians are pacified. I haven't got much money left, and so I must conquer to afford any upgrades. So far, it has been challenging. It will be a race to attain the thirty provinces in 100 turns.

[ezrider]

*I was wondering if Frogbeastegg could move this post for me.

I ordered Eras collection from play and I'm now wondering if the versions of the games will be the newest versions, bug free and patched.
Also, what the difference is between having a Gold edition of MTW/RTW and having the 2 games and their addons as separate items?

It was the impulse thing I've done in ages. Due this week

[ShinKamiizumi]

RTW no BI with the 1.3 and 1.5 patch installed and play it daily. Today I purchased and downloaded the Alexander expansion but after unpacking the installation archive I get an error message: "No prior installation of rome total war was found. Setup will now terminate."

RTW is located at C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War on my hard drive. Any ideas as to what could be the problem?

I had relocated some files after a hard disc recovery and so I'm guessing my registry wasn't correct so I made a fresh install from RTW to 1.3, 1.3 to 1.5 and then the Alexander Expansion and it solved the problem.

[Ludens]

I ordered Eras collection from play and I'm now wondering if the versions of the games will be the newest versions, bug free and patched.
Yes, they should be, but there is problem with M:TW Gold that gives compatibility issues in MP: basically the game says it is M:TW 2.0 (M:TW + VI unpatched) while it should be (and appears to be) M:TW 2.01.


Also, what the difference is between having a Gold edition of MTW/RTW and having the 2 games and their addons as separate items?
None whatsoever, except for above caveat.

[rotorgun]

I've been playing for about 30 turns so far on Med/Med since it is the first campaign. The game is definately taught due to the amount of territory one has to cover in order to keep pace with the historical Alexander. :sweatdrop: So far, I have fought about 65 battles, many of them small scale with the barbarians and rebels of Illyria, Thrace, and Scythia with my rear area forces. Most of the set piece battles and sieges have been with Alexander's main army or with Parmenio and the follow on forces. That's sort of how I've divided the Persia expedition; having a force to guard Alexander's back has proved to be a valuable aid, as the Persians tend to send large armies to try and cut off his supply lines. I just finished sending off a huge full card army attempting to relieve Issus with Parmenion's force, but lost him in the process. I'm contemplating reloading my save game after that one, and had to do so earlier when I lost Alexander in a minor battle when he charged some Immortals head on. It is game over if he dies, so I had to cheat a little.

As far as territories gained, I have cleared all of the Balkans up to the Black Sea, captured all of Anatolia, the coastal cities of Palestine, Thebes in Eygypt, and am besieging Memphis. Even though this seems like alot in 30 turns, it is not. I've already had three messages from the advisor reminding me that I'm behind schedule. Another problem I have is that in order to keep the pace, one must conquer in order to fund the constant supply of mercenaries that Alexander must have to keep his drive going. As in history, you need to finance your army by conquest just as Alexander did. So far I have only allowed two cities to survive without plundering them completely, altough I did enslave the populations for resisting the son of Ammon.

At sea, the Persian navy is slowly becoming only a nuisance. At first they are a worry because they can strike hard at your few ships, but once you have begun to capture their ports they no longer have facilities in which to repair. The AI helps out a bit with an ocasional storm at sea. I was actually able to go on the tactical offensive a little and take out one of his smaller squadrons that got within striking distance of my Sparta based ships (2 Triremes and 1 Bireme). The Persian navy is gradually becoming a mere shadow of itself.

Well, that's about it for now. I've got to get back to work as I am at the jobsite writing this. Take care all, and may Zeus be with you!

[rotorgun]

Here's another update on the campaign, for anyone interested. It's now about turn 53, and I've still a long way to go towards the 30 required provinces. I have 18 under my control streching from Babylon west to Greece, including Scythia. I guess you might say that after 40+ turns that 18 provinces is good, but I am still behind schedule. So far the sieges have been over fairly quickly.

That is one feature I like about using the Alexander character, as he seems to get a sort of siege bonus in how fast the Macedonian army can build siege equipment. The other faction members, except for Parmenion I think, don't seem to be able to build them as rapidly. It does help, because Alexander cannot afford to dally too long by starving out the garrisons. This makes for some very taught and bloody sieges, as one might expect when a large garrison is present. I was a little disappointed with the siege of Babylon, as Darius was the only unit present, and he was easily killed by hordes of Hoplites and Cavalry in the city square. I didn't even use the main army, but a detachment from my northern flank under the command of a junior faction leader.

Alexander's main force has now caught up with them, after securing Egypt and Petra, and now stands poised for the expedition to head east. Ecbatana is his next goal, then I will move on to Bactria, where a huge force is gathered. I have made use of about three spies ahead of my advance to give warning of approaching forces. I also make great use of mercenaries as I move from province to province. It is the only way to supply Alexander's fast moving army.

I have been forced to make liberal use of extermination in order to raise money, and feel that it is a bit ahistorical, as Alexander, while not afraid to use such methods, often would prefer surrender or a more diplomatic approach to sieze the cities. I often wish that there were diplomats in the game to simulate this. I also feel that there should be some ballistas or onagers included, as we know that the Macedonian army, trained so well by Phillip, did use them in history.

The one thing that is modelled well in the game is the decreased importance of the vaunted Persian fleet, once all their Mediterranian ports are all captured. The mostly Bireme force is soon wittled down by storms, clashes with rebel fleets, and combat with the small, but increasingly effective, Macedonian fleet. All this is as it happened in history. I would like to see the siege of Tyre represented better in the game. That required Alexander to make use of the mercenary Phonecian fleet to neutralize the Persian advantage, while building a mole from the mainland to the island city. In the end, it was a lucky seaborne raid by the Hypastpists and Phalangites, supported by shipborne siege artillery, that took a section of the wall and enabled the capture of the city. I guess this was a playability decision for the CA team during the design of TWA. All in all, however, it has been a fun game.:2thumbsup:

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto -
It sounds from your description that Alexander has a bit of a different feel, campaign-wise, from RTW. Though the combat portion of the game has similarities. No onagers, no ballistas, no diplomats? Argh. They're part of the fun, not just part of the history! In fact, I wish RTW had developed better dialogue in the diplomacy, and more diplomatic options. I would love to see Pompey put in an appearance in RTW too. I suppose I should consider downloading RTR if I want that kind of realism, eh? But I'm wishing I could hire mercenary Spartan hoplites too, in RTW. Pipe dream without a mod. :)

Alexander was a huge builder and a huge influence on culture. Are these things a part of the game? Do you get to manage cities? Is there a limited number of "family/faction" members, and can you replace them? Or are the number of generals fixed? Just curious.

If I get the game, I will have to order the eras package; assuming it is a package with real CDs. I only have 56k modem, and I don't want to sit for hours on end waiting to download @ 31200K speeds. :wall: I know, I know, I'm a dinosaur.

Enjoyed reading your posts. Tell us more when you can.

Guyus

[rotorgun]

Roto -
It sounds from your description that Alexander has a bit of a different feel, campaign-wise, from RTW. Though the combat portion of the game has similarities. No onagers, no ballistas, no diplomats? Argh. They're part of the fun, not just part of the history! In fact, I wish RTW had developed better dialogue in the diplomacy, and more diplomatic options. I would love to see Pompey put in an appearance in RTW too. I suppose I should consider downloading RTR if I want that kind of realism, eh? But I'm wishing I could hire mercenary Spartan hoplites too, in RTW. Pipe dream without a mod. :
Yes, it would have been nice to have a more expanded diplomacy feature, such as negotiating the detaails of a diplomatic agreement, ie. what trade goods are to be exchanged, what type of military support can be expected, or even mariage agreements to seal an alliance as in MTW, etc. All in all, CA did a pretty good job of keeping the game playable, don't you agree?


Alexander was a huge builder and a huge influence on culture. Are these things a part of the game? Do you get to manage cities? Is there a limited number of "family/faction" members, and can you replace them? Or are the number of generals fixed? Just curious.

These are interesting questions. As a matter of fact, city management is quite possible along similar lines to RTW, with the exception of rather more Hellenic temples and troop types. I haven't checked for a technology tree yet, but the problem for the Macedonians is lack of money at first, as I mentioned in my posts. This has to be made up by conquest, just as the historical campaign was financed. As for faction/family members goes, you start off with Alexander, Parmenion, and two others. As the game progresses, one is flooded with a host of characters to adopt about every 3 or 4 turns or so. There are also a number of offspring produced by the married family members. I haven't lacked for generals, but I still have quite a few cities without governors. It calls for some creative management to keep the cities from rebelling. I also recommend building sewers and public baths when populations begin to rise, as plauge breaks out quickly if you don't in the larger settlements.


If I get the game, I will have to order the eras package; assuming it is a package with real CDs. I only have 56k modem, and I don't want to sit for hours on end waiting to download @ 31200K speeds. :wall: I know, I know, I'm a dinosaur.
Undserstandable.


Enjoyed reading your posts. Tell us more when you can.
Guyus
Your very welcome. I'll be a bit busy for the next few days, but I'll try to get back the game soon. Thanks for the complement.

PS: I do wish that one could play the campaign as the Persians. It would be fun to try and defeat the greatest (arguably) military commander of all time!

Nike!

[Guyus Germanicus]

Thanks, Roto. You answered several questions I had about the game. I wasn't sure that you couldn't play Persia, but you answered that one too.

Yes, I do think RTW is excellent. I've been obsessed with it since I bought my Gold Edition copy in April. It just appeals to me on so many levels. I marval that anyone could have thought up the game, let alone designed it, and with the features it has. I've only had two bad encounters in the game. One was when I was playing the Brutii faction. I was well into a long campaign and I had one army besieging Nicomedia. A Pontic faction member attacked my army with just his personal general's bodyguard and I had to fight him and the sallying garrison from inside the city. I beat both armies and as soon as I left the battle screen to return to campaign mode, the game locked up. I tried a "do-over" and it happened a second time. The second problem happened in the same kind of setting. I was early into a game with the Seleucids. I attacked the garrison in Sidon, besieging it. During the "interim" turn, two small Egyptian stacks attacked my besieging army, so I had to fight off three stacks in the battle. I won the battle and as soon as I started to return to the campaign map, I was thrown out of the game. Those are the only two bad game experiences [knock on wood] that I've had. Except for some minor glitches I've noticed - like the game quotes referring to Publius Syrus as Publilius Syrus - I don't have any particular complaints. It's hard to develop software this complex without any glitches showing up. I'm a computer programmer, so I should know.

On sewers and public works, when I was first learning the ropes in RTW, I discounted the value of public works in my building itinerary. But public order issues are of prime importance in my campaigns now. One city that has constantly been a thorn in my side regardless of which faction I take [mind you, I haven't tried Spain or Gaul yet] is Corduba. Public works has to be a constant priority there, and I usually am required to post some general there who has a few laurel leaves on his influence bar just to keep the mob happy. I hate the idea of having to withdraw from a city, reconquer and then exterminate to regain public order. To me that's not strictly historical behavior.

""I should not please to be king, if I must therefore be pleased to be cruel."
-- Publius Syrus :)

Just looking at some of the advertisments for Alexander, the Persians seem to have some varied and very interesting units. Sorry you can't take them as a faction. Reading some other posts on the new game I got the impression that Alexander's army definitely has some vulnerabilities.

Post more when you can.





I noticed from your id that you're from Tennessee. Is the Guild predominately UK'ers? Are we US players a minority? Again, just curious.

[SkyElf]

RTW no BI with the 1.3 and 1.5 patch installed and play it daily. Today I purchased and downloaded the Alexander expansion but after unpacking the installation archive I get an error message: "No prior installation of rome total war was found. Setup will now terminate."

RTW is located at C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War on my hard drive. Any ideas as to what could be the problem?

I had relocated some files after a hard disc recovery and so I'm guessing my registry wasn't correct so I made a fresh install from RTW to 1.3, 1.3 to 1.5 and then the Alexander Expansion and it solved the problem.


The game Uninstall did not work for me either! :wall:

You need Barbarian Invasion and the !.6 update to install. I started fresh install did a major registry removal then game with a MOD to start fresh, then Rome Total War update 1.2(don't need to install other patches (1.3 and 1.5) Barbarian Invasion and the !.6 update for that game. There is a total direction posted some were I have it some were if you need URL!

:2thumbsup:

[SkyElf]

I just installed the game finally yesterday! Had surgery to right hand today so it's a little hard left handed. They indicated the game was mod able took a look at save game file and it looks Greek to me! My one thought so far was that Alexander is a little cash strapped, and you don't have the capability to build any horse espcial Companions or phalangists/pezetaeri at Pella. King Philip had conquered gold and silver mines in area West of Macadonia at Amphipolis and Philippi which is not shown in game! He used this mines to build and pay for Macedonian Regular Army, plus Cretan Archers, Slingers, only the Agrianian Javelmen Units are build able at Sparta! Were is the Macedonian seige train which carried main parts in baggage train. Alexander is know for his great use of seige warfare in History! Now the missile troops were not in such large numbers as the Persians, but Alexander did have some at the start of Campaign. I was wondering if any Moders have bought and checked out if game is mod able yet? I would like to see more cash at start or the capability to build main units at Pella, Companions, Phalanx, etc. The one Greek city Sparta is a major cash drain to your economy. Note Sparta never did join the Hellenic League at all. The rest of Greece supplied money troops, ships which he later disbanded because it could not contest the seas with Persian naval units. After he took all the coastal cities and captured Persian treasury after 1st main battle with Darius money problem got better. Alexander did not go around in slaving every city population to keep war going finacialy! The Greeks in Asia Minor to the most part supported Alexander to the most part. I could go on but I'm tried. Alexander the Great History Nut by the way!

:help:

[Guyus Germanicus]

Thanks for the background material in your post, SkyElf, on Alexander. I've read Arrian and Plutarch, but little else. (history major in college) I should probably get a more current bio. Would love a suggestion if you have a recommendation. :book:

In RTW you can mod your starting cash "in game" by hitting the ESC key, I believe, and typing in the appropriate instruction. (I've forgotten what it is, but I've used it once, just for grins.) Thought maybe Alexander would have an "in game" mod capability since it's the same company, and it's tied to the RTW code "umbilical."

[Byzantine Emperor]

My Alexander has stopped working! When I click the shortcut it goes to a blue screen crash! :help:

[SkyElf]

My Alexander has stopped working! When I click the shortcut it goes to a blue screen crash! :help:


I have not seen this problem yet althought I have not been playing with my new install to long yet! But you might need to follow Wartrain instructions (Thanks Wartrain for the Instructions) to fix your problem here is the URL I talked about in a earlier post!

http://rtw.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=3,3340,,all

It worked for me and I have backed up Rome Total War to a 1.2 install for when I'm ready to reloading others Mods that I played!

:2thumbsup:

[SkyElf]

Another thought came to me is you need to install Windows Media Player the file name is version 10 at least I believe I installed the new beta 11 version: "wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu"

Here is the url: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=4

Or you have a Video Card Issue I remmber checking out Preference File

STRATEGY_RESOLUTION:1024x768
STRATEGY_MAX_RESOLUTION:1280x960
STRATEGY_32_BIT:FALSE
BATTLE_RESOLUTION:1024x768
BATTLE_MAX_RESOLUTION:1280x960

My the Gods of War Smile Upon You!
SkyElf

~;)

[rotorgun]

Thanks, Roto. You answered several questions I had about the game. I wasn't sure that you couldn't play Persia, but you answered that one too.
You're welcome.


A Pontic faction member attacked my army with just his personal general's bodyguard and I had to fight him and the sallying garrison from inside the city. I beat both armies and as soon as I left the battle screen to return to campaign mode, the game locked up. I tried a "do-over" and it happened a second time. The second problem happened in the same kind of setting. I was early into a game with the Seleucids. I attacked the garrison in Sidon, besieging it. During the "interim" turn, two small Egyptian stacks attacked my besieging army, so I had to fight off three stacks in the battle. I won the battle and as soon as I started to return to the campaign map, I was thrown out of the game. Those are the only two bad game experiences [knock on wood] that I've had. Except for some minor glitches I've noticed - like the game quotes referring to Publius Syrus as Publilius Syrus - I don't have any particular complaints. It's hard to develop software this complex without any glitches showing up. I'm a computer programmer, so I should know.
This happened to me a few times, so I looked at my video options, and realized that I was asking a little too much of my video card. What edition of Windows are you running? I had great troubles with the game crashing when I was using Windows ME. It just doesn't have the Cache to run more than about 512 of RAM effectively. When I finally made the switch to XP I no longer had that problem. I just had to adjust my video options for optimum performance for my Radeon 128 Meg card.


I hate the idea of having to withdraw from a city, reconquer and then exterminate to regain public order. To me that's not strictly historical behavior.
I agree, but this is only a game, and therefore not a strict historical interpretation. These types of events did happen in history however, as a study of the period will reveal. The seige of Jerusalem comes to mind, and man did the Romans make that city pay! Alexander too, was known to be very unforgiving to those cities that resisted his demands for surrender. Thebes, Tyre, Gaza, are just a few settlements that experienced his wrath.


""I should not please to be king, if I must therefore be pleased to be cruel."
-- Publius Syrus :)
So those were his actual words? How tyrannical! It sounds like Marie Antionette with her "Let them eat cake" remark.


Just looking at some of the advertisments for Alexander, the Persians seem to have some varied and very interesting units. Sorry you can't take them as a faction. Reading some other posts on the new game I got the impression that Alexander's army definitely has some vulnerabilities.

Yes indeed, and an astute player could very well defeat them with the right use of those units' capabilities. As always, a hoplite army is very vulnerable to flanking, skirmishing, and attacks on the line's cohesion. The difficulty would be neutralizing the Macedonian cavalry. While they are very strong, they are not invincible. I have had some very close calls when engaging superior numbers of Persian cavalry supported by their spearmen. One they are defeated, and they must be quickly so, than the Phalanx is too slow to react to the fastmoving Persians.



I noticed from your id that you're from Tennessee. Is the Guild predominately UK'ers? Are we US players a minority? Again, just curious.

I not sure if they predominate, but CA is a UK based company, and so there are many who hail from there. It is truly an international organization, as one can see by perusing the posts. I would maybe direct this question to one of our gracious moderators, who are ever helpful in answering our many posers.
That they do this of their own free time is much appreciated by all.

Well, I hope that we may continue our conversation soon. I have enjoyed your questions. You remind me of my good freind Seamus Fermanagh, who always manages to spark my limited intelect.

Until another time.

[Guyus Germanicus]

What edition of Windows are you running? I had great troubles with the game crashing when I was using Windows ME. It just doesn't have the Cache to run more than about 512 of RAM effectively. When I finally made the switch to XP I no longer had that problem. I just had to adjust my video options for optimum performance for my Radeon 128 Meg card.



Concerning my occasional computer problem, so far I have discounted it as being a problem with my PC. But I could be wrong. I purchased my Dell w/Windows/XP Media Center just a couple months before I bought RTW. I have 1G of Ram, and I kicked up my virtual storage memory to 2G. Never can tell, though. I may need to tweak something.

It might be fun one of these days to have members of the Guild hold some kind of "live" get-together or seminar. Probably a pipe dream. Maybe even dangerous. Some of us would have to travel a great distance. But I would love to watch some of these serious veterans play the game and learn from their techniques.

I can't imagine trying to help manage a website and hold down a day job at the same time, let alone still have time to play RTW. So I'm impressed that our moderators show so much dedication to the Guild.

I want to purchase Alexander when it comes out in the Eras package. I don't mind having an extra copy of RTW in cd form, since I expect I will wear out my current CD from "sword arm" overuse.

Your friend Seamus is one whose posts I pay particular attention to.

I like the UK flavor of the Guild and its membership. But I have enjoyed some recent posts from folks in Spain and Portugal. Some young guy, STW, from Spain posted a screen print of his Egyptian occupation of Greece and the money amounts he was producing in the Greek cities were just awesome. A 6000+ amount from Athens!! I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen his screen shot. I have topped 4000+ just once out of Athens but nothing close to what this guy was getting.

See you around.
Best wishes,
Guyus

[BlueRobin]

A guide to the Historical Battles in Rome: Alexander.

Note: all notes from memory, probably got the enemies wrong for each battle and certainly can't remember unit names.

Enjoy :)

Battle of Cheronea

Take charge of Alexander and his cavalry. You are up against the Greek's right wing and their pink yet tough brigade of Sacred Band.
First of all, yet they have point sticks and yes you are going to have to charge your cavalry into them. Yes it is going to be messy!

I did try exploiting the gaps that open up in their advance but this doesn't quite work for me, especially when charging in wedges to further break the line.

Charge your front row of cav at the opposing infantry. Leave Alex where he is for now. Back the front row up with the back row, pref in the flank and rear if you can find the right gap. The centre row of Greek infantry will veer to one side to support your charge. This is the gap you shoudl get Alex through and support from their enemy's rear. Charge and disengage Alex (as highlighted above). I did this a bit with my other cav but tended to give Alex priority.

I ended up with four cav units of about 5-10 men a piece, with Alex down by about 40%.

You now need to support Phillip. I went after the Missile units harrassing the lines but disengaged. Go after the enemy general! Then whilst getting rid of those pesky missiles once oand for all, keep an eye on what Phillip is doing and support his support. Those Greek hoplites will have the upper hand over your Macedonian forces if you don't sort them out. Don't risk head-to-heads, always flank but never so in a tight, messy spot where their rear is not clear or supporting hoplites can come in. Better still hoplites on the move are easier to charge in the side and rear.

Granicus

A river battle. Yuck! The opposing Persians have arguably better and more useful units; heavy cav (Bactrians), missile cav, phalanx and missile infantry. You have heavy phalanx, lighter spears, one light cav, one heavy cav, Alex, one creeeetian archer and two javelins. The Persians won't cross the river so you will have to.

Okay head-to-head you will lose! Not onyl are you down on superior forces, the enemy when nearing their bank will step out and kill you all. The crossing defaults to column formation you see so things are excerbated.

How did I do it? Firstly I counted on the fact that some of their units would follow me back across the river if I attempted a crossing. I used my most armoured Cav unit in a loose formation at each crossing point and upon crossing just the point of the enemy's bank, the opposing front line cav came to meet me. A speedy 180 to my troops and yes the unit followed all the way up the hill to my phalanx. I ah-thankyou and goodnight (silly exploit). They lost some heavy Bactrian cav, which would seriously otherwise hinder your advance over the other river bank.

I then attempted to get my heavy phalanx infantry across the river. This failed. However this did have a good indirect advantage - the enemy repositioned their infantry fruther back up the bank and in a standard line formation. I was able to get Alex around their right flank (your left crossing point) because thier infantry is slow. Went after the remaining cavalary (mostly missile units), the generalissimo and you have have the odd heavy cav remaining. Get your heavy cav across; here I think I went over on the other flank. Have both of these units (Alex and your heavycav) support each other and you should then have a bunch of of phalanx units left over.

Alex is like a magnet for some of these pikey (hehe) phalanx so just walk about and have them follow you. Their flanks are exposed, their general dead or gone, they are tired and demoralised. You can take them on if you wish.

Run past them in the opposite direction to which they are heading, turn around and cut across into their rear. As above, never do so in a tight-messy spot where their rear is not properly defined or supporting enemy phalanx can assist. Routing is further speeded up if you use your backup cavalry.

Note: your lighter cavalry unit can be bought into assist. Whilst harrying the enemy, get your remaining infantry who will not be unmolested by your actions.

From here, you be able to rout the pikeys one by one. Job done.

Halicarnassus

This is a standard siege battle against stone walls. You have one siege tower with a ladder ready each side. Some enemy units will be on the walls. On your left and centre mainly archers, with very long-range and surprisingly accurate hot arrows (mardians?). Worse than Cretians imho. On your right guarding the gatehouse a couple of sickle-armed units, then a gap than an archer unit at the further most right. They enemy have further infantry in the town itself (more anon).

You will notice that the towers on the wall are less frequent. However their archers more than make up for their absence. Your left most ladder if engaging the left wall will get totally shot up; its a useless cause trying. However this may take some of the archer firepower away from the siege tower, which I engaged to the left of the gatehouse. The right ladder should be largely unmolested. Your should prioritise heavy units here to take on their infantry. However get the odd heavy up the siege to reinforce then flank.

NOTE!!! The enemy will sally their cavalry. This caight me out so you may have to advance your infantry in a line toward the walls to fight them off. our only cav unit is Alex but he should be used judiciously to help. The enemy general also sallies so get Alex after him!

I got a reduced infantry force down by about 50% at the end of claiming the walls, however the enemy really only had about 5-6 phalanx units left and two of those horrible archer units. Using caution and skill in the face of numerically better forces it was close but I overcame. You can advance either side of the government building to the settlement's centre square.

Issus (not yet won my this Robin)

Another river battle. However here it seems you may be able to cross at any point along your battle line. You are outnumbered, outgunned and your retreat cornered. However Darius the King of Perisa is leading the enemy this time due to your successes and Alex doesn't want to pass up this opportunity to get Darius.

The Issus Question then. How to win may be gleaned by listening to Brian's battlefield introduction and from history, be that the battle itself or from Time Commanders when killing a certain someone seemed like a good plan...

If you look at the battle on wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...s_%28333_BC%29) you will see that that Alex went after Darius himself, who fled the field and left the Persians in full rout. Killing the head of the Persian empire may just be enough for the superior enemy forces to go yellow.

Let me know eh?

[BlueRobin]

Could I be cheeky and ask that all the above non-strategy discussion be moved off this strategy guide thread please?

Sorry :embarassed:

[BlueRobin]

Battle of Issus

Thanks to faisal with whom I had an offboard chat via PM. Time to goad Darius.

Another river battle. However here it seems you may be able to cross at any point along your battle line. You are outnumbered, outgunned and your retreat cornered. However Darius the King of Perisa is leading the enemy this time due to your successes and Alex doesn't want to pass up this opportunity to get Darius.

First things first. There are three peltasts units on your side of the river and to your right. Send Alex and the adjoining cav oafter them, then come back.

This time you cannot feint retreat back across the water or thos earchers will mow you down. The key is getting to Darius. A risk strategy but one that works and is close to the history books. Get Alex over the crossing at the right most side. Wheel right and head up the hill to the woods. You will prbably have some archer follow you. Take them out.

This seems to set off a script action where as actually happened Darious sends his right flank across the water. Lots of horrible Bactrian heavy cav. You may wish to redeploy some phalanx toward the left flank or you will be flanked. Bring over any spare cav to help out.

With the above ensuing, Alex can chase down soem more enemy light infantry. About now with the Bactrians in flight, Darius commits everything to a river crossing. Fortunately his phalanx are in slight disarray so you will scrape through by the skin of your teeth here. (Note even if your (phalangist) phalanx is decimated, the long pikeys they have make excellent poke-him-in-the-side weapons). I got my archers to rain fire down on Darius mid-stream. Didn't seem to have much effect (but worth having a go). Mid-stream, get Alex to the centre on the emeny bank then go after Darius. Darius then hot-tailed it by doing 180 back to where he came from and commenced skirmishing. Eventually Darius got himself in the corner of the map and I killed him. Okay so he escaped in real-life :)

You now need to deal with the rest of the infantry who will be tired and demorialised. As abive, careful application of your dimished forces will rue the day.

Next, the Battle of Gaugamela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaugamela). ~:eek:

[rotorgun]

These may help a little to understand the Battle of Issus and the tactics used.

https://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5387/issos0jt0.gif (https://imageshack.us)




https://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7917/issos1kr0.gif (https://imageshack.us)




https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5396/issos2gb2.gif (https://imageshack.us)




https://img71.imageshack.us/img71/1941/issos3ng9.gif (https://imageshack.us)




https://img61.imageshack.us/img61/6708/issos4dt5.gif (https://imageshack.us)



https://img104.imageshack.us/img104/7912/issos5tc5.gif (https://imageshack.us)

These break the battle down into its seperate phases. I followed a similar tactic as Alexander's, but failed to let the Persians be drawn into the river as recommended by BlueRobin. This led to the destruction of my force on the left and in the river, but I still managed to get Darius. I was defeated though, as Alexander was the only unit left on the opposite side of the river. He was doing right well for himself for awhile, but losing to many companions in the process, so I conceded.

Hope these will help. I also have some pretty good Guagamela scenes as well.

[BlueRobin]

Guagamela - am I right in thinking you may have to rout/kill all three general units? Haven't managed yet to kill Darius in the rout so perhaps that's it.

At least I know the AI can flank :(

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto-

Very interesting map displays. I found them very affirming in a personal sense. I think I was selling myself short on understanding ancient battle tactics. In general, I think I have a better grasp than I thought I did. It affirmed that I'm doing some things right in my own campaigns.
One thing I don't understand and perhaps someone can explain - why does Darius position himself and his personal cavalry guard in the center of his line? Did he do so to keep communications & morale up with his line? To keep cohesion? I would have thought that he should have positioned himself on his own left where Alexander did make his own push, and where the Persian line began to rout since that side was weak on cavalry.
Was the Persian cavalry just a weak sister to Alexander's cavalry force? I'm ignorant in this area, so wouldn't mind being enlightened on the historical points.
Was inspired to pick up a more recent history on Alexander's campaigns, so I bought a copy of Robin Fox's book since it was in a Penguin classics paperback, Oliver Stone's endorsement notwithstanding. Hope that was a reasonably good choice.

[Alien_Tortoise2345]

My preferred strategy is as follows:

A: Conquer the Illyrians and Scythians first. Get to the latter's capital via ships.

B: Ignore Anatolia for the time being. Use ships to reach Egypt with a large force. The 2 cities there should be fairly easy to take. Now build up forces for a while there. Then attack Tyre and move from their into Anatolia and attack each city in turn, with the help of troops shipped in from across the Black Sea (not Aegean yet). The bulk of the Persian troops in Anatolia seem concentrated on the west coast so this shouldn't be too difficult.

C: Try to bypass Persian armies as much as possible.

So far I have been able to conquer everything Wesy/North of Persepolis except Tyre which the Persians have reconquered and are very tough to budge. I don't have enough turns at this stage to capture the other cities. I will have to return to my (many) earlier savegames though (I had Egypt and all of the Balkans and the Northern Black Sea coast at this stage) and should make progress if I pass out Persian armies instead of fighting as much as possible.

[Alien_Tortoise2345]

Oh another thing, only when you capture Anatolia should you move lots of troops across the Aegean.

[gardibolt]

Granicus stymied me quite a few times until I took the hint from how the initial setup appears. I took all my phalanx and spears, and my missiles, and attacked the leftmost group of defenders, using Alex to rally anyone who routed. Eventually, they killed that group, and I then raced the cavalry up that side. From then on, I just used basic hammer and anvil, using the surviving spearmen to catch a phalanx and then whack it with the cavalry. Took a while, but it did the job. No exploit required, other than the basic fact the enemy spears move slowly enough that the cav can do whatever they want.

[rotorgun]

To Alien_Tortoise2345,
Intersting approach, but I think the better way is to multi-task a bit more. Using the other faction members to clean up Ilyria, Dacia, and the Scythians leaves Alexander and Parmenion to perform the sweep through Eygypt and Anatolia. This should quicken the pace of conquest, which needs to be rapid to provide the funding needed. Once Anatolia is conquered than the separate armies can mutually support one another. I like the idea of taking Eygypt first, as this seems more efficient. I have often wondered why Alexander apoted an "Anatolia first" strategy. Perhaps he needed to in order to keep his Pan-Greek alliance from coming apart. Politically, he was commited to freeing the Greek cities in Anatolia from Persian oppression. One isn't restricted by this in the game, so your idea warrants thinking on.

To Guyus Germanicus ,
I believe, from analysis of Persian tactics, that the King's role was to manage the use of reserves during the battle, as well as providing morale benefits. I don't think the Persian army, which was accustomed to a considerable amount of skirmishing prior to the clash of the main battle lines, ever quite expected the speed of the Macedonian attack. Daruius, who probably realised from reports that his infantry could never hope to compete with the Phalangites, planned to win the battle on the flanks first, and then commit his center. Alexander, who prized the initiative, would not allow this. As the Persian cavalry were also more skirmisher types, with the exeption of the Bactrians, they were not as well prepared for melee combat as were the Companions.

To BlueRobin,
I haven't played Guagamela yet in the game. Have you seen the Persian order of battle yet? Here's a couple of images for consideration.

https://img253.imageshack.us/img253/548/gaugamela1sy8.gif (https://imageshack.us)

https://img306.imageshack.us/img306/515/gaugamela0sh2.gif (https://imageshack.us)

Does the game model the historical order of battle well?

[BlueRobin]

Lovely shots - I had an idea how the battle went sio it spurre dme on to try another tack.

Guagemela

Toughie this one. Set on a wide open sandy plain, you are probably outnumbered by at least three to one. However Darius' Persian infantry are in the main low quality spears though the line is twice the length of yours. He does though have quite a lot of heavy cavalry. You have the foling: Alex, 2x Companion Cav, 1x Aliied Cav, 5xPhalangists(heavy phalanx), 1x Hypasist (medium spear), 1x Archer.

As said above, just running out and behind enemy lines with cavalry to cut down Darius does not work just for the plain fact that you need this mobility and manpower of the cavalry to deal with what is coming toward you. I wimped out and played on Easy after a few failures.

I stood my ground. Darius will commit his right flank en masse then left. The quandary is this, you do not have enough units to properly bow your line back as shown in the above graphic. Do you split your lines and leave your centre exposed? Do you portect you centre and potentially leave units out of the fight?

Try to commit, extract, reform, flank. Their right flank ends up as an amorphous blob so not all their fighting forece is effective. Sound use of force will get units routing. However it will be tough and watch your back.

Meanwhile on the right flank and as is documented as happening, commit Alex's unit and his adjoining Companion Cav unit to the opposing heavy cav and deal with this threat. You should have enough time for Alex to rout his unit, then go after Darius. Meanwhile the other Companions on own their own and will have hold the fort until Alex gets back. You should end with these two cav units in the flank and rear with a large number of enemy weakish spears, which you can deal with by one unit supporting the other. Hurry because you'll need to get to your front lines, where you are gradaully becoming over-run, and into the back of the opposing heavies.

Remember to prioritise where possible targetting of generals then heavy cav.

Again, a battle where you just scrape through.

Next is another battle ofrdng a river, this time against the Indians and yes again you are outnumbered. Fortunately they seem to have left a crossing upstream unguarded...

[rotorgun]

About Guagamela,
Indeed it must be difficult to emulate the Macedonian battle plan in detail without the second phalanx of Greek Mercenary Hoplites behind. A key component of their flank defense was to refuse both flanks with combined arms teams of cavalry, light infantry, and skirmishers. Too bad that the game does'nt reflect this. I don't see how anyone could win regularly in any setting besides easy. I have yet to win any of the historical battles in medium. I think it is because the Persian units are given too many extra capabilities such as experience chevrons and such. They are a bit ahistorical IMO. In any case I'll still enjoy the challenge.

Well... back to the fight at Issus!

[Pannonian]

One thing I don't understand and perhaps someone can explain - why does Darius position himself and his personal cavalry guard in the center of his line? Did he do so to keep communications & morale up with his line? To keep cohesion? I would have thought that he should have positioned himself on his own left where Alexander did make his own push, and where the Persian line began to rout since that side was weak on cavalry.

Among the Greeks, the position of honour was the right, possibly to anchor and minimise the rightward drift of the phalanx. Thus the Spartans would fight on the right wing of any Peloponnesian force while the allies occupied the left. Thus Philip took the right at Chaeronea while Alexander took the left. Thus Alexander took the right at Issus, while Parmenion took the left.

Among the Persians, the position of honour was the centre, where the commander could be seen by and inspire the whole army.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Among the Greeks, the position of honour was the right, possibly to anchor and minimise the rightward drift of the phalanx. Thus the Spartans would fight on the right wing of any Peloponnesian force while the allies occupied the left. Thus Philip took the right at Chaeronea while Alexander took the left. Thus Alexander took the right at Issus, while Parmenion took the left.

Among the Persians, the position of honour was the centre, where the commander could be seen by and inspire the whole army.

Interesting, Pannonian. So, it wasn't just a morale/command & control issue, but an "honor" position, as well. Many thanks for that tidbit of information. I guess real honor goes to Alexander, for he collapsed the Persian left and had Darius hustling for the rear. Front and center seems to be a "too vulnerable" place for a leader to be, especially for a cavalry unit where, if the lines come together, maneuverability drops to zero, nullifying the strength of the cavalry.

Very interesting thread. Makes me want to get the game all the more. Nice charts from Roto, too. A lot of history books don't have visual aids this good. :)

[BlueRobin]

Hydaspes

This forms the last Historical Battle in Alexander.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hydaspes for reference.

There are three fording points. The ones on your centre and right have opposing enemy forces. The left-most fording point is some way off but is unguarded. On your right ford, you have two heavy phalanx (phalangist) and one light allied cavalry. At the centre, two more phalanx with a mardian acrher unit to its rear. The bulk of your force is just off the left ford.

The enemy has fielded an impressive force of spear, missile units, chariots and elephants.

Your main force consists of about three phalangists, three lighter hypasist spear, one horse archer, two companion cav inc. Alex and one javelin unit.

First of all, move your centre and right flank to join up with your left ford crossing force - you need all the men you can muster. The AI didn't take the opportunity to cross with no opposing force remaining.

Once the crossing takes place, the enemy will move. There are two things you will need to deal with. To your left, there is a small force hiding and they will advance. The enemy will also despatch half his forces from his riverbank deployment forming the bulk of his offence.

I deployed the phalanx perdendicular to the river bank so that the right could not be flanked. Horse archer and archer units did not cross and were positioned just forward of my line; this confers a position where they can fire into the side of the enemy where their armour is weaker. I placed my spears on the left flank backed by companion and allied cavalry. This left flank should be slightly cranked back so as to deal with the small force heading your way.

This small force is easily dealt with. What you should be worried about is what is heading toward you from the riverbank detachment. The front line consists of two 60 strong elephants units interspersed with chariots. I foudn targetting the elephants with my javelin equipped units (inc. those spears) was largely ineffective. They will trash your phalanx and cavalry is slight ineffective also. My tactic was to surround the elephants on all sides with any units I could spare. Any flanking with cavalry has to get past the chariots first, positioned on the flank. Be wary that the second lie of the enemy is infantry and behind that will soon be his second half of the river force.

Once the elephants have been despatched with, their advantage was lost but my phalanx was depleted. Try to reform lines and use cavalry in flank of oppsosing spear units. Try also to target their pesky archer units. There is seemingly a lot and they are all literally smelly girls!

[BlueRobin]

Once complete, you get a nice little "Outro" video again narrated by Brian Blessed explainig Alexander's position, attitude toward Poros the Indian king and how he returned to Macedon (or rather in the end didn't himself)

I think CA really did something neat here with including more set battle pieces. More of the same please. They're good if you just want to sit down for half an hour. A campaign can while away more time if you are not careful!

Well onward with the campaign. I am Captain Slow when it comes to blitzkreig so I will probably fail :ahh:

[rotorgun]

Hey there all,

After a break on the campaign due to life intervening, I was finally able to get a move on for a few turns. I am now down to about 35 turns left, and I have taken Persepolis in the south, and then moved Alexander's army north to take Ecbatana during the previous turns. It takes longer to move in central Persia, as the road system is quite primitive. I have fought two major battles, and one minor with the Persians, only two involving Alexander. I was able to get two more field armies into the theater from Anatolia, and they are now poised assist Alexander in his conquest. One army is in the south, and will move along the coast and take any cities on the move. The other is close to Alexander's force, and will assist in the campaign in the north. Bactria is in my sights, as it seems to contain the largest contingent of Persian troops left to the crumbling empire.

Pitched battles seem to favor the Macedonians, as long as one keeps one's head during the battles, and uses the right combination of tactics against the mostly lighter Persian units. Even Hoplites are good enough to use against most of the Persian infantry. When fighting the Immortals, I find it better to close the distance rapidly so as to minimise the time they can use thier bows. They will often try to work towards your flanks to engage your lighter infantry and your cavalry, as they are quite effective against them. Don't understimate the Kardaces as cavalry killers as well. I have had several horse outfits devestated by them in extended melees.

All in all, if one can create a gap in the battle line, then that's where to send Alexander and the Companions. I like to go for the jugular, and take the enemy general out as quickly as possible. If he is a unit less vulnerable to cavalry attack, then I use a combined arms approach. This is what the Hypaspists are made for-moving like light infantry, but hitting hard like heavier types. They can often be used somewhat like legionaries, as they have a fire at will ability that can be used before they charge. It's not automatic, so you'll have to manage them a bit. Fixing the target for outflanking by the heavy horse is how I tend to use them. Of course the main Phalanx units are irresistable on the advance. I have seen whole lines of Persian infantry begin to break up once they engage, especially if the Macedonian cavalry is moving around in their rear.

I still don't know if I'll have enough time to finish the campaign in the alloted times, but I am having a blast trying.

Regards to all,

[phred]

I still don't know if I'll have enough time to finish the campaign in the alloted times, but I am having a blast trying.


If you're running short on time, make sure you spam spies and have them explore ahead of your armies so you can plan your route to all the cities you need to conquer.
I ran out of time my first try, because I was aimlessly wandering eastern persia looking for the cities to take.

[rotorgun]

If you're running short on time, make sure you spam spies and have them explore ahead of your armies so you can plan your route to all the cities you need to conquer.
I ran out of time my first try, because I was aimlessly wandering eastern persia looking for the cities to take.
Ah yes....of course you are right. As a matter of fact I currently have about three spies working ahead of the main armies. Do you think I should produce more? My general policy is to use two to scout my main avenues of approach, and one to enter into any city I intend to besiege. In this way I gather intelligence on Persian strength and potential reinforcements, while occasionally being rewarded with open gates at some settlements. Thanks for the input. I hope to present a more comprehensive guide in future oncwe I've completed at least two campaigns.

Respectfully,

[Jango Fett]

its really frustrating for those historical battles..which i really enjoy anyway..that they give you such small unit sizes..a phalanx with 66 men at the battle of issus really didnt make sense to me its pretty frustrating when they dont hold for 1 minute because 66 men die pretty fast...im pretty sure historically they held out for more than 1 minute...is there a mod which increases the unit sizes? because i would like to play that battle with more men in some units. now i understand the unit size is small because darius is meant to have a larger army..but still couldnt CA have just made both armies bigger at least then a phalanx would hold longer with 200+ men..and it would play out more like a real battle...what are your thoughts on this? and let me know if there is a mod or something...or better yet a way to skip this battle..id like to fight the gaugamela historical battle, but cant get past the issus one.. i try to play it the same way that alexander fought it, its not paid off over 20 tries.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto -

Your spy deployment sounds fine. I have found it helps to have one spy watching your rear or your "supply line" as well, especially if you're moving off from a city you captured a few turns ago. In Vanilla RTW I have experienced a number of occasions where one of the AI factions tried to sneak units past my main spearhead army to attack a city in my rear. The AI hides them in "ambush" posture. Very annoying. So, watch your back, big guy.

[rotorgun]

Roto -

Your spy deployment sounds fine. I have found it helps to have one spy watching your rear or your "supply line" as well, especially if you're moving off from a city you captured a few turns ago. In Vanilla RTW I have experienced a number of occasions where one of the AI factions tried to sneak units past my main spearhead army to attack a city in my rear. The AI hides them in "ambush" posture. Very annoying. So, watch your back, big guy.

Great idea Guyus. I have also been building watchtowers in each province when I can. This eliminates the need for expensive spies, but Alexander has to move so fast that I often have to leave this to follow up faction leaders.

@ Jango Fett, check out Blue Robin's post #30 of 07-14-2006 for a pretty good battle plan for Issus. It had me stymied for a bit until I tried this approach. It takes a bit of micromanaging, and using the pause button alot, but the ideas outlined in that post are sound doctrine. As for Guagamela, I still have yet to win that one, and I am playing it on "easy" settings. :wall:

Good luck,

[Guyus Germanicus]

Finally got my copy of Alexander from Amazon, the ERAs package. It loaded without a problem. Started my first campaign. My goodness! Moolah problems right off the bat. Sparta is a fiscal blackhole as the game starts. I have acquired two new faction members to act as governors. The Thracian/Illyrian problem was easy enough to resolve, but I'm paranoid about the casualties I'm taking with my cavalry. Don't know how I'm going to finance this campaign except by slash and burn combat. And how to replace casualties from my Companions? :inquisitive:

I've been letting the phalangists bear some of the main brunt of fighting. What good fighters they are! And setting the Hypaspists (sp?) on "fire at well" seems to be doing well. Truly they can shower javelins on an opponent. I should be able to move the campaign across the Hellespont tonight after work. I'm going to need every denarii I can grab from extermination or Alex ain't gonna make it very far. :sweatdrop: So I definitely see what you other Alexander players have been dealing with.

The little handbook that comes with the ERAs package says that Alexander players will need to depend on mercs more than in vanilla RTW. But, good grief, you gotta have money to buy mercs.

In the real campaign Alexander was able solve many of his money problems after he took Babylon. Does that play out similar in the game?

So, I guess, tonight I'll face my first Persian army. In my first move I brought Parmenion back across the Hellespont to assist in the barbarian roundup. There were some intimidating looking Persian stacks on his side of the straits.

Roto mentioned in his posts about his use of spies, but I'm scratching my head wondering how I'm even going to afford them at this point. :)

No panic mode yet. It's still early. Looks like this will be fun. It's definitely different from RTW in terms of pace.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Well, I faced my first Persian army last night. Then I faced another, and then another, . . . then another. :dizzy2: Relentless suckers.

I crossed over the Hellespont last night and took Halicarnassus. Plundering that city gave me a much needed cash infusion. From there I was able to stabilize Sparta with bigger and better temples and reduce the fiscal drain there a bit. But even then, my finances are still a slow bleed. I had to drop Parmenion back to Byzantium (?) for two turns because a huge Scythian army was approaching bent on plunder. I was able to recruit two spies in my cash infusion and recruit some light cavalry from Halicarnassus and one unit of Scythian Heavy cav, replenish my Hypaspists (good fighters, they), and rebuild my Phalangist units. I've 86 turns left and I'm sure I'm behind shed-yul. Alexander has the city just east of Hali besieged. Huge stack in residence there. The Dahae have Issus besieged, but there are two huge Persian stacks in the neighborhood, and I don't think the Dahae will do me the favor of reducing them before Alexander approaches.

more later . . .

[rotorgun]

After reading Guyus's last two posts, I realised that I haven't updated my campaign report in awhile. Hmm....where to begin? I guess I'll start with the current situation and how I arrived there. I am down to 13 turns left to go, and poor old Alexander is getting on a bit, but still fighting hard. Currently he is engaged in recapturing Bactria, which rebelled as he attempted to assist one of his nobles in a battle against the Dahae faction leader and his army. The events leading up to this have been fraught with excitement.

If there is one piece of advice that I can leave everyone, it is not to bypass them as I did for your follow up forces to deal with. Although I have conqured their settlement of Nisa, they have caused me many casualties in the process. If it weren't for the fact that I save my game before each autosave when cliking the hourglass, this game would be over. The Dahae live in a very moutainous region on their southern border, with the terrain becoming more desertlike north of Nisa. My strategy was to use two armies, one striking through the valley towards the settlement, while the other did an amphibious end run through the Caspian Sea to draw the enemy away from Nisa. The spy I sent detected no less than six Large armies lurking in the valey with another three or so in the north. (Where did such a poor nation get such large armies I do not know!)

The plan went well, a little too well for my northen strike group. After finding a good position in the desert hills, this army was attacked by five armies in succession during one end turn click. The best part, although I was in complete awe, was that it won every encounter! It was whilttled down to a corporal's guard by then, but nontheless was victorious. This made the taking of Nisa much easier, as I only had to deal with a half srength garrison.

Then the Dahae did something really strange. Their two reaiming large armies began heading east, away from their homeland! It was almost like watching a Horde as in BI. I still haven't figurwed out why they did not attempt to retake their town, because it would have been easy for them. My southern strikegroup was much depleted after the bloody siege, and my norhtern group had retreated to the ships and headed home for replenishment. The only thing I can figure is that Alexander's army was in the process of trying to recapture Bactria and the AI wanted to try and take him out before he moved on to India.

Needless to say, Alexander chose to break off the siege and meet them in the field. As it took a bit of time for the Dahae to get to Bactria, I had time to bring another army north to assist Alexander. After Alexander defeated the first smaller army, which was made up of mostly retreating remnants from previous battles, the main force approached. Alexander caught them flat-footed in the the hills with his reinforcements catching them in the flank. Although I lost another faction leader in the process, the Dahae were destroyed. Only one group remains, and it has holed up in the mountains north of the Hindu Kush. This leads me to a question.

Does anyone know how to get into India? I have sent spies and cavalry out to look for entry points along the river and in the mountains, and I still have not found a way in. It is perplexing. Didn't Alexander go through the Hindu Kush to get there? As soon as Bactria is raised to the ground, I am heading for India. I just can't figure out how to get there. Maybe mighty Zeus will reveal a way to me.

@ Guyus Germanicus: I see that you are experiencing the early game problems of lack of finances. This will be eased as you conquer each settlement, but you must use the exterminate option. Your money difficulties will be soved, for the most part, once you capture the larger cities. Issus and Memhpis gave me a boost, but Babylon and Persepolis will solve many of your problems. You will not be able to build as much as you'd like to each turn, but it should be enough to barely hold you empire together. As for spies, at first I only created one to send ahead of the main army. Only later was I able to afford more than that.

Regards,

[Vanka_GROZNY]

After reading this section beat Alexander on med/med in 45 turns.

Thanks alot rotorgun. :)

My only complain is the main map. Looks like CA dev's play too much Civilization.

Rotorgun: You can't invade India, campaign ends when you capture 30 settlements, including those in objectives screen.

[rotorgun]

After reading this section beat Alexander on med/med in 45 turns.

Thanks alot rotorgun. :)

My only complain is the main map. Looks like CA dev's play too much Civilization.

Rotorgun: You can't invade India, campaign ends when you capture 30 settlements, including those in objectives screen.

Your very welcome indeed Vanka_GROZNY,

You are right about India. I didn't know it at the time, but the Dahae had a small settlement way north of Bactria that I was unaware of. I wondered where the remnants of the last Dahae army I defeated went to. After moving a really quite unremarkable force there; 3 Hoplites, 1 Podromoi, 1 depeleted Rhodian Slinger, 1 Hypaspist, 1 Agrianian Skirmisher and a rather unskilled Faction member; the Dahae came out to meet me in the field with their meager forces of 2 Spearman, 1 Swordsman, 1 Barbarian Cavalry, and 1 Tribal Slingers, 1 Archer, with thier sole remaining faction leader as a reinforcement. It was a bit dicey, as I had my forces divided into two groups, but once I had thier Generals beat it was no contest. The settlement fell by default, upon which followed the Victory speech by Brian Blessed. (Great voice he has!) I sure wish that I could have gone on to India in any case.

Well, now I 'm going to begin compiling a strategy guide for this game. I would be greatful for any suggestions by the other players on what to include. Please PM me any time with your ideas.

Regards,

[Guyus Germanicus]

@ Guyus Germanicus: I see that you are experiencing the early game problems of lack of finances. This will be eased as you conquer each settlement, but you must use the exterminate option. Your money difficulties will be soved, for the most part, once you capture the larger cities. Issus and Memhpis gave me a boost, but Babylon and Persepolis will solve many of your problems. You will not be able to build as much as you'd like to each turn, but it should be enough to barely hold you empire together. As for spies, at first I only created one to send ahead of the main army. Only later was I able to afford more than that.

Regards,

I was hoping to hear someone say that about the money situation. After reading Robin Fox's biography of Alex, it was my impression that if I could take Babylon, the bazillion "denari" of the Persian treasury would become available to fund the balance of my campaign.

I didn't play Alexander over the weekend so I've nothing to update right now. My companion cav are down to one slightly undersized unit and I'm rather dependent on the light cav I'm producing in Halicarnassus. But I really need to press on and take Issus for my next large cash injection. I want to keep a good set of phalangists and Hypaspists in my army. So, I've been trying to show a little care in my field tactics. Some of these battles just cover so much ground on the battle map that control becomes problematic at times. The Phalangists stand their ground well, the hypas (as stated earlier) have been excellent fighters for me. I wish I could replenish my heavy cav more readily.

Picked up an excellent book this weekend by Victor Davis Hanson on ancient Greek military tactics. He talks about the technical developments in greek warfare over time. He has a couple excellent graphics on Gaugamela and Issus, the troop dispositions and the progression of the battle. Thought I might learn something in the reading. Also, got a copy of Peter Green's bio of Alexander. It's on my reading list for the near future. And I ordered Edwin Yamauchi's book on the Persian Empire in Biblical Times. Highly respected scholar and the subject matter intrigued me.

Roto - your idea of a guide sounds good. And, I'll watch the Dahae behaviour to see what they do with me. I posted one of my spys along the Black Sea coast (near Odessa) to watch for any more Scythian "hordes" approaching the homeland.

[rotorgun]

@ Guyus Germanicus:

I know what you mean about the Companion Cavalry. It is regrettable, but you won't be seeing any of them for quite awhile. You will be able to purchase a few as mercenaries when you get further into Asia, but I don't remember exactly where. I thought that it was strange that they would be available as mercenaries, when the designers didn't have the stables for them in Pella. (Perhaps it was a balance issue) I was surprised to find out that some Thessalian cavalry was available near Pella and Sparta, of all places, so I purchased them and sent them to Anatolia. They never did reach Alexander, so next time I'll remeber to send my faction members out to purchase them when money is at hand. I'm still not sure if the limits are per area, or for each faction member as he arrives in a new area, when buying mercs. I finally was able to build one racecourse in Babylon which provided Companions about halfway through my campaign.

Sounds like you have a great game going. I hope my posts are helpful to you as I always find it good to seek advice from others as well. (Hence my signature quote)

Good Luck

@ Blue Robin:

I finally found a decent approach to winning Guagamela without losing most of my army in the process. As I looked at the graphics I posted earlier a bit closer, I noticed that the Macedonians made a much more oblique approach then I first imagined. It's almost as if they were trying to defeat the left wing of Darius's army before thier own left wing was engaged seriously. So I treid this in the game, slightly modified due to the lack of a second hoplite array, and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

As you discovered a "scripted" response to your tactics at Issus, the Persians seem to have one in this battle as well. During the opening stage of the fight, after commanding all the Phalangites to go to standard formation, I simply select the entire Macedonian army and group it. Then I select a point far to the left of the Persians and use the mouse to drag the entire group there facing the Persian line at about a 45 degree angle. The mouse will give you a preview of what your line will look like before releasing the right click. Be sure to only do this when the entire army is grouped or it will not keep in formation when they arrive. After the command is given, click the run icon and let them get into position. A little rearranging and regroping can then be done once there, such as grouping all the Phalanx units and cavalry as you preferr, etc.
I like to strech my phalanx units out to about a three or four line depth, while refusing my left flank slightly with one or two of them. This gives your left flank a little more time and makes the Persians have to move more to get at them.

Once they arrive, and even before they all get into line, the AI seems to be a little confused at first, but soon will begin moving thus:

The Bactrian cavalry, supported by one Horse Archer will immediately begin to charge your right flank. This is where Alexander and one of the Companions are stationed, so that plays into your hand. I engage the Horse Archer with my Cretan Archers while Alexander, the Companions, and the Hypaspists defeat the Bactrians. About this time you'll notice that Darius and his bodyguard, supported by the line of Immortals will attept to charge your right flank Phalanx line. This is where you should break the best part of his army, but one must be on the lookout at the left flank, which will now be engaged by a fierce combined arms attack by the main Persian Infantry, supported by the Scythian and Hyrcanian Cavalry. While the Cavalry can be dealt with by your own, they will be outnumbered doing so, and will usually be drawn into fighting with some of the abundant Spearmen-these will actively seek out your Horse Units purposely once they are tied up with the enemy Cavalry.

If things are going according to plan on your right, Darius will be either dead or fleeing, while most, if not all of his Immortals will be routing. There will be little time to chase them however, as Alexander and his hard fighting Companions will be needed to aid the left flank before it crumbles. As you have said in an earlier post, it takes a bit of quick manuevering (thank God for the pause command) and keeping one's head to beat off this wave of attacks, but it can be done.

I was sure to fight this battle the same way to check out how the Persians respond, and I found that they will do so pretty much all the time. It was a great relief to find the right set of tactics that works. It was also gratifying to know that a variation of Alexander's original plan is what it took to find those tactics. May the God Nike attend us all!

Regards,

[Byzantine Emperor]

I said that my Alexander wasnt working a while back, but now it does. Weird...
I didn't do anything to it...

[Guyus Germanicus]

Arghh!!! :furious3:

I had Alexander besieging Lampsacus, and last night I tried to pick up where I left off. I had siege engines built and started the combat segment to take the city. The general gives his little pre-battle speech and then as soon as the speech ended and the camera rose up to panorama the army and let me start deployment, my game locked up. I tried three different times to recover, changing the way I entered the combat, but couldn't get past the lockup!!! :wall: The camera took me up into the sky, and the cursor started duplicating itself. The narrator's voice continued, but I lost control of the screen and cursor. I had to dismount the disk, and ctrl/alt/delete so I could take the game down. It appears that CA has some kind of autosave done automatically when there's a lockup like I had. So some of my moves just prior to the combat were saved even though I had to disengage using Windows. Both my stack and the Persian stack were huge and I was using large military unit sizes. But I use large unit sizes all the time and seldom have a problem. Couldn't tell what my problem was - whether it was a memory issue or game settings, or just a bug. I have almost all the CA recommended optimum settings invoked except for unit size, which I set on large (cavalry units - 54 infantry 80 or 120 depending on type). I've got 1 gig of memory and 2 gig virtual memory for paging. So, I didn't figure it was that. Computer is new since February. I welcome any thoughts from you all. The game is saved from that point, so I can retry anytime. But darn, I hated to drop that campaign to a game quirk.

It appears I'm just going to have to start over a new game, which I did last night using smaller units size, (hate that), but after a couple turns I just wanted to go back to RTW for awhile and play one of my vanilla RTW games. I had put a lot of work into the Alex campaign and just didn't feel like getting into another from scratch. But I'm not giving up.

Am surprised, Roto, that you can purchase companions as mercs in Alexander. I'll take them however I can get them. I will also watch for an opportunity to grab up the Thessalians. Coincidentally, (perhaps ironically), in my current vanilla RTW game, I'm playing with Macedonia. And have just reached the point where Sparta and Thessalonica are producing Phalanx pikeman. Thank the gods for their cavalry depth. The Levy pikeman are numerous but not very resilient in combat. Macedonia doesn't produce any jav-cav which are a nice to have (even against the Romans). And thank goodness for Cretan archers. Their longer range missiles really give me an edge with some opponents in lieu of no jav-cav.

I will return to Alexander, but it may be a couple days since life's obligations are intruding at the moment. I'll keep my eye on this thread for campaign updates. Am interested how you contributors are doing.

[rotorgun]

Hello all,

I'm just checking in while away from my home computer to see what's new. I see not much is happening, as everyone must be kinda busy with work, etc.

@ Byzantine Emperor,

Glad to hear that you got back up and running. It is strange that it wouldn't work before, but now it does without making any changes. Maybe your computer was trying to run some other program that conflicted with the game at the time. I ocassionally have his problem with my anti-virus program intervening at the wrong time. I also find AIM to be a bother while in the middle of a game. Perhaps it was something like that.

@ Guyus Germanicus,

Maybe you don't have all of the required patches downloaded for your vanilla RTW for ATW to work properly with it. Have you had any similar episodes like this with your copy of RTW? I used to have problems like this when I was using my 64 meg graphics card, but this stopped being a problem when I switched to a 128 meg Radeon.

I have also started a new Alexander campaign, but will have to probably start over as well. I tried an Egypt first strategy, thinking that I could gain an advantage by not having to move over the same ground twice, as in the historical approach. It has become a disaster. Not only is Alexander's army cut off from any reinforcements from home, but has also been whittled down by an agressive AI strategy of attrition. I tried to use Parmenio's small force, reinforced by what few units could be gotten from Pella, to take Illyria and Thrace out of the game. Without Alexander's army to aid them, this too has been far too costly, even though Parmenio has been successful. All this while the Scythians are already sending down raiders down the coast.

In only ten turns, Alexander's expeditionary force has been reduced to less than half of its former glory. This is the first time that any money has been available to buy any reinforcements, due to the fact that it has taken too long to subdue the northern tribes. After three major battles, one against Darius himself, and two seiges, the last to take Memphis, the main army is now holed up in the city, which is about to become besieged by a large full stack Persian army. Even if I temporarily move Alexander out to buy the available reinforcements, these will not be enough to fend off such a force from taking the city. I may be able to destroy everything in the city and then abandon it, but it will still be vulnerable in the open-perhaps more so. It is a dilemma of biblical proportions. What does anyone recommend?

Well, as usual I've gone on far too long. I hope everyone has a good week. I'll be out of pocket, so to speak, for the entire weekend. I guess I'll see you all later.

Regards,

[Guyus Germanicus]

Maybe you don't have all of the required patches downloaded for your vanilla RTW for ATW to work properly with it. Have you had any similar episodes like this with your copy of RTW? I used to have problems like this when I was using my 64 meg graphics card, but this stopped being a problem when I switched to a 128 meg Radeon.


Roto -
To answer your questions: No I've never had a problem in vanilla RTW. I did download release 1.6 for RTW/BI because I was one of those Gold Edition purchasers from North American who got the RTW release 1.4. So I downloaded 1.5 and 1.6, but installed 1.6 since I had the Gold Edition and I believe 1.6 includes 1.5. Right? But, I had to download those updates to install the Extended Greek Mod. Alexander is doing something quirky for me in every battle sequence. When the general finishes his pep talk and the camera starts to lift up to panorama the scene, the camera turns completely around to show the ground behind the army instead of what's in front of my army. Apparently, I'm missing something.

I have 128 MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 Radeon X300 SE. My XPS 400 Dell is less than 6 months old.

In any case, I started a new Alexander game, but I switched to smaller size units. This timeI fought through and took Lampsacus. Am still money pressed. Sinope and Issus are next on the menu. Was able to purchase some good cavalry mercs in Thessaly. Have got a young four star faction member who should be able to keep the Scythians at bay while Parmenion and Alex go for the big targets. Capturing Issus should help considerably.

You sound like you're in a tight spot in your current game. I certainly don't know how to help you out on that one.

[Guyus Germanicus]

I reloaded everything - RTW, BI, patch 1.5, patch 1.6, Alexander - in that order. I suspect my Alexander problem will go away.

[rotorgun]

As I have a bit of time before starting work today, I thought I might use a bit of it to write a post. After some deliberation, and not much at that, I decided to delete my second campaign and begin a new one again. The "Egypt first" strategy was a dismal failure. Alexander's army, after destroying a number of structures in several cities to come up with the cash to purchase some mercenaries, was able to defeat the Persian army that threatened Memphis. After the battle there was not enough left to make a decent corporal's guard, so I ended it.

I began a new campaign with a more convetional strategy and am now doing fairly well. It has been about 40 turns now. Alexander is aged 39 and is master of all the Balkans, Anatolia, Egypt, Palestine, and has captured Babylon, Hatra, and the settlement north of Hatra which name I do not recall at this time. Gaining Babylon has put the economy back in the black for some time, as it is a great cash cow. Halicarnasus, Issus, and Memphis help keep you out of the woods, but Babylon is key to success. Extermination of all captured settlements has been the policy.

As for the military situation I have three main armies: Alexander's force at Babylon in the east, a full strength army moving in support of his rear, and a strike force building to invade Scythia's last territory in the north. I plan on an amphibious invasion here supported by troops from all over Anatolia by land to distract the Scythians from my true purpose. All in all, it has been a better go around this time. I don't quite know how I could have moved any faster up to this point, with all of the sieged required, but perhaps someone could elaborate on how to do this. I am playing on Med/Med with no advice from the AI (except for when I ask for it) and feel that I have moved as fast as I could without leaving behind a trail of revolting cities.

Well...I have to get ready for work now, so I'll bid everyone a fond adieu.

[gardibolt]

I reloaded everything - RTW, BI, patch 1.5, patch 1.6, Alexander - in that order. I suspect my Alexander problem will go away.

If you're still having problems, try this: reload everything EXCEPT 1.5 in the order you stated. 1.6 incorporates 1.5 and people have reported issues if they install both 1.5 and 1.6. If the problem goes away, then never mind. :juggle2:

[Orb]

Has anyone tried running RTW with the Alexander exe. (Copy the exe and add '-mod' to the shortcut line.

[Diadochoi]

I just picked this up again... I've been running the campaign traditionally so far, going through Asia Minor and working towards Egypt currently. I have only had 1 really close battle thus far, but, like everyone else, I'm having money and supply issues. I'm finding the Persian navy to be more than a nuisance, as I can't reinforce Asia Minor due to several massive squadrons of Persian ships are patrolling the straights. I'm trying to build a fleet in order to secure the straight, but it's not easy with limited resources

[UltraWar]

Just got Total War Eras for £34.99 just now... I will start playing Alexander soon :2thumbsup:

[rotorgun]

I finally was able to complete my second campaign last week. As I mentioned earlier, I used the traditional strategy for the most part. The main departure from my last game was my approach to the Dahae. As they had a significant number of armies massed north of Ecbatana, east of the Caspian Sea, I used Alexander's force supported by another faction leader's army, both near full strength. My goal was to take the Dahae settlement of Nisa while engaging any counterattacks by the numerous Dahae large stacks. As a departure from the norm, I sent Alexander's force on an amphibious end run by ship to take Nisa from the north while guarding Ecbatana with the other force. I thought for sure that the Dahae would send all their minnions after Alexander, but to my suprise, most of them just sat staring at Ecbatana until it was too late. Alexander grabbed the city by storm through the gates left open by the spy sent ahead to do so. After this, the Dahae did something rather strange.

Assuming that they would try to hole Alexander up in the rugged terrain around Nisa, I was utterly surprised when they started running pell-mell through the eastern passes towards Bactria. It was at this time that my two armies began a running game of tag with the Dahae, they trying to avoid battle, the Macedonians trying to engage them two on one, or two on two to avoid the inevitable attrition. It was touch and go for a bit, but I managed to manuver two large Dahae armies into attacking both Macedonian armies in the mountains east of Bactria. To my astonishment, the entire Bactrian garrison came out to join them as well. I thought about withdrawl at first, but realized that Alexander and his reinforcements both had positional advantage in that they were on higher ground. So despite the 1-1 odds, I accepted battle and virtually annihilated all three enemy armies as they attempted an uncoordinated uphill attack. It was really quite satisfactory, to say the least.

Once the battle was over, Bactria fell easily, followed soon thereafter by the rest of the Persian settlements in the area. The few remaining eastern cities fell to two additional armies that I was finally able to form while Alexander conquered the north. The last settlement fell with 15 turns left to play. I don't know how I could have moved any faster, as some have been able to do in this game. I am not the best strategist in the Forum I'm sure. Slow and steady, like Longstreet and Montgomery, is my style.

One thing I've learned from both campaigns so far. It is almost mandatory to use the historical path of conquest that Alexander used, with some differences allowed for the AI's responses. I aslo have found that it is imperative to exterminate the settlements captured in order to have the money to supply the advance. I tried just enslaving some cities and it always left me cash-strapped, not to mention the increase in unrest and rebellion brought on from being in such a state.

Good luck to all,

[gardibolt]

The historical battles seem bafflingly tough. I tried Halicarnassus at M about 8 times and was slaughtered at the center square every time, even when I slightly outnumbered the enemy when I got there. I switched to Easy and it was far too easy, carving up the enemy with virtually no loss at all. Some middle ground would be nice.

Issus is rather stumping me since I'm trying the tactic of suckering the Persians to cross the river, but even on Easy the Greek infantry immediately rout on on contact, leaving the cavalry on the opposite side of the river to be slaughtered. I can't imagine what it's like at harder levels.

Haven't tried starting the campaign yet....is it just as difficult as the historical battles, or more like standard RTW?

[Roy1991]

The campaign is pretty difficult, but that's because of another reason (even if you exterminate every city you capture, you usually will have no money).

The battles in the campaign are extremely easy - all the Persian infantry routs within 5 seconds of making contact with your phalanxes.
When fighting against a full Persian stack, you'll usually lose only like 100 men, while they lose 1500-2000.

[CaesarAugustus]

Haven't tried starting the campaign yet....is it just as difficult as the historical battles, or more like standard RTW?

I found that the campaign, while challenging, was easier than the historical battles. Im also stuck on issus.......no suggestions for that.

[snorky]

when i began my campaign i first concentrated my full strength on the nothern tribes. and then after that i joined the army in the persian region to drive the persian army's back but they soon gathered a large force led by king Darius himself. so after a long battle i was not only victory's but king Darius had died on the battle field. my campaign with Alexander has passed hatra but now i have to face 1000 of barbarians to continue. though i managed to beat e few army's i fear that it will take to long for me to take on all those barbarians one at a time. and i now have not much more then a 500 men so i could not possible take them on all at once. and hiring mercaneries isnt an enough because this far in the east i cant hire much more then a few light infantry.
so im a bit puzzled how i should advance

[rotorgun]

when i began my campaign i first concentrated my full strength on the nothern tribes. and then after that i joined the army in the persian region to drive the persian army's back but they soon gathered a large force led by king Darius himself. so after a long battle i was not only victory's but king Darius had died on the battle field. my campaign with Alexander has passed hatra but now i have to face 1000 of barbarians to continue. though i managed to beat e few army's i fear that it will take to long for me to take on all those barbarians one at a time. and i now have not much more then a 500 men so i could not possible take them on all at once. and hiring mercaneries isnt an enough because this far in the east i cant hire much more then a few light infantry.
so im a bit puzzled how i should advance

It sounds like your strategy is good so far. Have you been exterminating the populations of the settlements that you've captured? That's about the only way to get enough money to recruit mercenaries to strengthen your army. It is a key facet of the game for this mod. Check out some of the earlier posts from myself and some of the others for tips on how to proceed. Have you thought of advancing into Egypt yet? You will gain a goodly amount of cash from the cities along the coastline as well. Capturing Babylon and Persepolis will give you quite an economic boost also.

Good luck,

[snorky]

Well i have 2 army's one going trough egypt and other with Alexander went past the greek cities along the persian coast though bought army's have made great progress, as i said Alexander is now hold up by a few cities pas babylon by a hole load of barbarians. but it ist a lack of gold that stops me its al lack of good mercaneries al i can get is some light caverly and light infantry and i dont see how im supposed to used along to my phalanx.

[rotorgun]

Well i have 2 army's one going trough egypt and other with Alexander went past the greek cities along the persian coast though bought army's have made great progress, as i said Alexander is now hold up by a few cities pas babylon by a hole load of barbarians. but it ist a lack of gold that stops me its al lack of good mercaneries al i can get is some light caverly and light infantry and i dont see how im supposed to used along to my phalanx.

Light troops, such as skirmishers are excellent for screening the front of your Phalanx as it closes with the enemy battle line. Don't let them stray too far ahead, but leave them in skirmish mode so they will get out of the way of any cavalry or infantry that attempt to engage them. When this happens, move them behind your Phalanx but within missle range of the enemy formations. Leave them in "fire at will" mode with skirmish mode turned off. They will continue to pour javelins into the ranks of the enemy while your heavy infantry mellee. This doesn't work as well with slingers beacause they will fire into the backs of your own troops, causing casualties. Slingers must be deployed more out to the flanks once the enemy closes, where their missles will hit the enmy in the flank.

Light cavalry, or "Jav Cav" can be used to guard the flanks, attacking the enemy light cavalry, or even used behind the formation as described above (although this negates their superior trait of speed and mobility) The Jav Cav can also be used to engage enemy Chariots in the skirmish and fire at will modes. They will keep them tied up until your main battle line can win the engagement. Once the enmy line begins to break up and flee, light troops make good pursuers of the routing units, as they have a good turn of speed.

I hope this helps a bit.

[gardibolt]

I started the campaign last night and was shocked at how quickly money burned away. It seems to me it might be a better idea to spend all of your money the first turn and then slog away in debt for a dozen turns or so. Thoughts? Better to buy mercs or build income properties? I thought someone mentioned that income-buildings are broken in this expansion so there's no point to investing in ports and roads and traders, but maybe I misremember that.

[rotorgun]

I started the campaign last night and was shocked at how quickly money burned away. It seems to me it might be a better idea to spend all of your money the first turn and then slog away in debt for a dozen turns or so. Thoughts? Better to buy mercs or build income properties? I thought someone mentioned that income-buildings are broken in this expansion so there's no point to investing in ports and roads and traders, but maybe I misremember that.

It is true that you will be on poverty row at least until the taking of Halicarnasus and Issus. That is why you must buy what mercs you can at first (and modestly at that) to bolster Parmenio's and Alexander's forces. Take little time to build income buildings at least until you are in the black. I tend to always exterminate the settlements, destroy the former temples and shrines, build the recommended Greek temples, and build roads as soon as I can. The lack of roads, especially in Anatolia and Persia, is a definate obstacle to your moving reinforcements from the homeland or the conquered regions to support your drive. As far as ports went, I tended to use the captured Persian one's to neutralize the Persian navy, as did Alexander.

Later in the campaign, after the capture of Babylon and Persepolis, one can contemplate building some income related buildings, as it does help keep your growing populations from completely rebelling. I found myself buying mercenaries almost constantly, and building what structures I neede to get the types of forces I lacked, especially cavalry. The Persians have such a monopoly on these at first, and the Macedonian Companions are always at a premium. Thessalian cavalry are an excellent second choice, but these can only be got from Macedonia, and then shipped to Anatolia, then force marched to catch up with the advance. Podromois, Thracians, and Greek Allied cavalry will all do you good service, but will need to be replenished constantly. I also used the ubiquitos Persian Spearmen as often as I could. Properly supported, they hold up fairly well against the enemy horse, allowing your Phalanx to deal with the Immortals, and better Persian units.

If there is one aspect of the campaign that is the most challenging it is logistics. It is a constant juggling act from start to finish, and I feel has made me abetter player all around. It as definately prepared me to play better as the Carthaginians in RTW, because they start off in a similar fashion-cash strapped, enemies everywhere, a homeland far from the action, and with a few good type units to begin the campaign.

Cordially yours,

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto -

Perish the thought, but, do the cheats work in Alexander? I suppose one could take some of the money pressures off by giving yourself an extra 20k denarii to pad the treasury. That would probably be ahistorical, eh? :dizzy2:

Reading your post reminds me that I need to get back to Alexander. I have been playing the Macedonians in RTW and have been learning, courtesy of some excellent posts by our friends Seamus F. and Master Empirate, how better to employ phalanx units. I think I might be able to get a better handle on the Alexander battle fields now against these huge Persian armies.

In my early sallys with Alexander before I had my tecnical glitch I was experiencing those cav/cash shortages you describe. The Scythians hanging in the background north of Macedonia can be really distracting to your campaign too. Had to have Parmenion drop back to cover my rear upon occasion, and he really needs to be marching with Alexander for flank protection and replacements.

Wish the RTW Macedonians had hypaspists.

[gardibolt]

I think I'm going to start over on this campaign; I knew there were money issues, so I had been thinking I could save my money to buy reinforcements later on, especially after the income screen told me I'd have a 3100d profit, but I ended up with an 8000d loss. It didn't help that my second siege went all wonky and all I had was blue sky before me and no men and no fort to attack, so I had to burn two turns leaving the battle and re-besieging. :oops: So I'll try again with a spend, spend, spend attitude out of the gate and see if that helps.

[rotorgun]

If one looks at some of the earlier posts in this thread, you'll see how various people approached the problem of money. You will go in the red at first, and it will cause you some worries, but don't sweat it too much. Clear the Balkans first, then the Scythians, which will not take your entire force, but it will require taking on some armies at close odds. Make sure you keep a good save before and after any major battles in case it all goes wrong, for at least you can try to salvage a particularly bad turn if need be. That's part of the fun of this mod-having to risk all many times in order to achieve the victory goals.

As far as the use of cheats, I'm not sure? It would be a bit helpful to have a larger bank account in the beginning, but remember, Alexander began the historical campaign deeply in debt. He was relying on the pillaging of the Persians to pay for his adventure. I do think that there should already be the buildings needed to replace the main units in the army, ie. Phalanx, Companions, Hypaspists, etc. As it stands there is really no way to replace them until you begin capturing some of the more advanced cities in Asia. Alexander didn't begin using Persians in the ranks of the Phalanx and Companions until he had conquered the Bactrians. I also think it a bit ahistorical as we know that some Phalanx and Companion units were left behind to garrison Macedonia and deal with the rebellious Greeks, Illyrians, and Thracians to keep them in line. Sparta should also be left neutral, but is part of the territories owned by Macedonia in the game.

[SkyElf]

As I indicated earlier in a post! "My one thought so far was that Alexander is a little cash strapped, and you don't have the capability to build any horse especially Companions or phalangists/pezetaeri at Pella. King Philip had conquered gold and silver mines in area West of Macadonia at Amphipolis and Philippi which is not shown in game! He used this mines to build and pay for Macedonian Regular Army, plus Cretan Archers, Slingers, only the Agrianian Javelmen Units are build able at Sparta! Were is the Macedonian seige train which carried main parts in baggage train. Alexander is know for his great use of seige warfare in History! Now the missile troops were not in such large numbers as the Persians, but Alexander did have some at the start of Campaign. I was wondering if any Moders have bought and checked out if game is mod able yet? I would like to see more cash at start or the capability to build main units at Pella, Companions, Phalanx, etc. The one Greek city Sparta is a major cash drain to your economy. Note Sparta never did join the Hellenic League at all. The rest of Greece supplied money troops, ships which he later disbanded because it could not contest the seas with Persian naval units and was a money drain. After he took all the coastal cities and captured Persian treasury after 1st main battle with Darius money problem got better. Alexander did not go around in slaving or murdering every cities population to keep war going financially! The Greeks in Asia Minor to the most part supported Alexander and just paid the taxes to the new Hellenic League and had new pro Govenorships, and Military commanders and garrison troops established. I wonder who did there research?

From what I can see this game has a number of game flaws which I hope they fix with a new patch!

[rotorgun]

Indeed SkyElf, you are correct, although I'm not to certain about the taxes going to the Hellenic League. Perhaps they made it there through Macedonian hands first, but it is not my main point. I think that the designers may have not had a vehicle for reproducing the exact circumstances of the historical campaign, and therefore had to make some concessions for playability. I am not well versed enough to attempt modding on my own, or I would definately experiment with adjusting the game. I hope that eventually someone with the ability will try, but that will only come if enough people are playing the game.

Interesting comments BTW. I had forgotten that you wrote this post some time ago. We certainly did not mean to exclude your opinions in any way. I hope you are still enjoying the game in any case.

Cordially,

[rotorgun]

Indeed SkyElf, you are correct, although I'm not to certain about the taxes going to the Hellenic League. Perhaps they made it there through Macedonian hands first, but it is not my main point. I think that the designers may have not had a vehicle for reproducing the exact circumstances of the historical campaign, and therefore had to make some concessions for playability. I am not well versed enough to attempt modding on my own, or I would definately experiment with adjusting the game. I hope that eventually someone with the ability will try, but that will only come if enough people are playing the game.

Interesting comments BTW. I had forgotten that you wrote this post some time ago. We certainly did not mean to exclude your opinions in any way. I hope you are still enjoying the game in any case.

Cordially,

PS: Oops! Double post. My apologies.

[Biggus Diccus]

I must say I am having a absoulte blast with this campaign so far! I just had to buy it after reading this thread. Haven't had much experience with phalanx on the battlefield so far so this is quite fresh.

The first turn I moved most of my forces to Asia Minor and moved the stack in asia minor in ambush-position behind the river. This to ensure that an ambush is a river battle. Pressing 'end turn' the AI is ambushed and I fight a river battle with the main persian stack in the area, totally annihilating it and loosing just 20-30 of my troops.

I lay siege to both the major cities the same turn, and exterminated them the second turn. I have recruited all mercs so far, and I'm planning on having a adopted family member take care of the barbarians in the north with troops recruited from the two starting cities.

Further on I think I'll divide my efforts and send one stack east and another south to Egypt. I'll use another family member to 'mop up' smaller towns and stragglers. I plan to use spies to scout ahead to be able to choose my battles to minimize losses.

Btw: does anyone know if mercs take their share of the loot like they did in BI?

[gardibolt]

Clever work on that ambush strategy. I went straight for Halicarnassus to besiege it and was utterly destroyed by the two full stacks that attacked my half-stack (not with Alexander). So I only have 4 territories and 87 turns to go; I question whether I can make it, especially since it has taken forever to get a force to Scythia.

[Biggus Diccus]

Update: At 95 turns left I had taken Issus and Sinope, but was facing 4 full persian stacks camped together near the bridge at Issus. There was no way I could win a attack because I'd have to fight 2 or 3 stacks simultaneously (I suck with phalanx on offense). So I decided to camp Alexander with a decent army at the bridge near Issus and the other family member at the bridge near Sinope. The next turns the AI attacked both bridges several times resulting in a couple of heroic victories for me where most of the losses on my part was caused by enemy archers.

After that I sent Alexander south and the other stack east. At 86 turns left I have exterminated Memphis and Babylon and sieging Suza and Rhacotis. My cash-flow is at last positive and most of my elite forces are intact. I have checked the state of the persian army in the faction overview and they are down to half, which means I can probably steamroll the rest of the game.

I have also crushed Illyria and am about to crush the rest of the barbarians now.

I think my strategy to bypass enemy forces and just lay siege to the cities has done the trick for me. Because the AI will send a stack to attack and the city forces will sally, and I could fight defensive battles.

Using spies and retraining troops instead of recruiting is vital. The Macedon Hypaspists are pretty decent troops, large size, fast moving, throwing spears, bonus vs chariots, armed with spears so they get a small bonus vs cav. But since they are spear they suck at melee. But since Macedonia have no decent melee troops I send the hypatists to capture the walls during sieges. In regular battles I use them as flankers and skirmishers. The Agrarian Javelinmen are pretty redundant imho.

[SkyElf]

Alexander was the head of the Hellenic League so all of the cash would go to him of course!

[Bombasticus Maximus]

I wonder if it's possible to play as thrace in the game... or even india :idea2:

[Ludens]

I wonder if it's possible to play as thrace in the game... or even india :idea2:
Not in the campaign. There are Barbarian (including Thracian) and Indian factions available for custom battles, and presumably for MP, though.

[gardibolt]

Once I finally made it to Scythia and took the capital, my financial situation has much improved; I've been making a profit each turn but only just got back into the black, being 12,000d down at the worst. I was well on my way to seizing all of Anatolia last night when we had a power failure. :oops: I hope the last autosave wasn't corrupted....I didn't have the heart to check and see (and it was after midnight anyway).

Still not sure if I can manage this; 80 turns to go and still only 7 territories, but now with some money I can at least start pushing forward a little harder. I got the message from the Scolding Lady that I'm not moving fast enough at turn 80. It takes forever to move any distance, though.

I have a cavalry unit with a single solitary man with two silver chevrons--I've been nursemaiding him along for ten turns until I had some money; I'm hoping that I can retrain him to get a full unit of those. :) Unless they've fixed that little glitch....

[gardibolt]

The Agrarian Javelinmen are pretty redundant imho.


I think they work great behind my line of phalangists. They soften up the enemy so that they often rout on contact with the long spears.

[Biggus Diccus]

I think they work great behind my line of phalangists. They soften up the enemy so that they often rout on contact with the long spears.

The Agrarian Javelinmen are nice to have with the javelins, of course. But I'd rather bring Hypaspists which are just as good with javelins, and they are good in melee as well.

Update in my campaign: Suza, Rhacotis and Petra are now mine. And Alexander got lucky and hired a unit of mercenary Cretan Archers in Egypt
:2thumbsup:

I'm now teching in Babylon to get Companions, and I'm building Paved Roads everywhere to speed up troop-movement. Looking good so far.

[snorky]

yeah i have sucsesfuly completed my campian though i find it strange that i got a message every 10 turns that is was running out of time will i finished with 43 turns left. i wonder if this was just to keep the game exiting or that is just finished my campian in really fast at the last

[Biggus Diccus]

yeah i have sucsesfuly completed my campian though i find it strange that i got a message every 10 turns that is was running out of time will i finished with 43 turns left. i wonder if this was just to keep the game exiting or that is just finished my campian in really fast at the last

LOL I controlled around 20 territories when the advisor started to nag about me being behind schedule at 80 turns left. Finishing the campaign was just a bore though, with 4-6 rebels popping up every turn... The first 10-15 turns were the most fun.

[Claudius the God]

Guagemela for dummies:

If you can't win this battle in a fair fight, this is what I did after several losses using various different tactics, including the one mentioned earlier in this thread...

As you start, immediately get all of your units to walk (there's no need to run) backwards to the corner of the map behind you. As you get to the corner, you can use the battle map barriers to protect your flanks. Some would consider this cheating, but after repeatedly losing the battle, I would use this tactic to give you some advantage.

Sort the five units of phalanx in a single line guarding position, with space on either side for cavalry units to charge through. Put two units of cavalry (including Alexander) on either side to fill up the space between the phalanx line and the map barriers, but have the cavalry slightly behind the phalanx line for charging room. Place the archers behind the phalanx line, use the archers throughout the battle to rain fire arrows on elephants and generals. the spearmen with the javelins also should go behind the phalanx line, save up the javelins for the elephants if possible (if fire arrows don't make them run amok).

Now the battle should be easy... just let the enemy attack, die on, and run away from the phalanx, and use the four cavalry units to protect the flanks and to run down enemy archers and cavalry archers when necessary. you also have the extra spearmen for support if necessary, but I didn't need them too much...

10-20 minutes later you should get a large green line of dead bodies and a Heroic Victory!

[gardibolt]

Clever tactic! Now all I have to do is figure out how not to be slaughtered at Issus so I can get to Gaugamela....:book:

[Diadochoi]

LOL I controlled around 20 territories when the advisor started to nag about me being behind schedule at 80 turns left. Finishing the campaign was just a bore though, with 4-6 rebels popping up every turn... The first 10-15 turns were the most fun.

Agreed, I just finished the campaign and had similar thoughts. Once you control Asia Minor, you have a) crushed the heart of the persian army and b)you pretty much have enough cash to get rolling, and after that it is more logistics than anything.

Two things bothered me about the end of the campaign: that Persian city in India you can't get to (why even have a city over there if its not playable territory? Minor gribe but irksome after you have been tracking down every green flag you can find for dozens of turns)

Also, the Dahae (sp?) were ridiculously easy to defeat. All my battles with them consisted of watching them crash into my phalanx, rout, then following up with cav to finish them off. I had 3 heroic victories in one turn with one army at one point... not good.

[gardibolt]

Two things bothered me about the end of the campaign: that Persian city in India you can't get to (why even have a city over there if its not playable territory? Minor gribe but irksome after you have been tracking down every green flag you can find for dozens of turns)


Might that be to make sure that the Persians are never eliminated?

[Diadochoi]

Might that be to make sure that the Persians are never eliminated?

I got the "Persians are eliminated" screen after I had captured their last non-Indian city, with the Dahae still remaining. I guess that could just have been a bug though.

[Aleric]

Personally I'd like to mod this game so the maps bigger and make persia playable but make all the factions harder to fight againist. Persia have some cool units.

[gardibolt]

Having just rebuilt my computer, I decided on a whim to reinstall this and try again. It's kind of a hoot. The advisor keeps nagging me that I'm behind schedule, with 12 territories and 58 turns to go. But I've take a different tack this time, building five armies up and I'm now sending them out in many different directions, so I'm expecting to hit 30 without much trouble.

I tried a bridge defense near Issus using the U-shaped tactic other people have extolled,using three phalangists with javelins behind them. The full stack of Persians crossed the bridge, hit the phalange, immediately routed, and my cavalry mopped them up---final score 1508 kills for me, 0 kills for Persia. Whoa....I've never had that lopsided a victory...I guess it IS a good tactic.

[Severous]

Im playing Alexander when I get the time.

https://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9339/alexander5bigbattle4le9.th.jpg (https://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alexander5bigbattle4le9.jpg)

Didnt get any lopsidded victories like the one in the post above
https://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7697/alexander5bigbattle8finqq9.th.jpg (https://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alexander5bigbattle8finqq9.jpg)

Not yet. But I know the bridge in question. :2thumbsup:

[gardibolt]

Finally got around to finishing the Alexander campaign (at 4 AM Monday...good thing for holidays), and it was pretty entertaining. Cavalry was more OP than it should be, but that made for amusing moments as Persians were flying everywhere. Even though the Dahae were pretty soft (other than the sickle warriors, who routed more of my men than I could afford to lose) it was still plenty terrifying to see all those stacks after stacks after stacks.....

Apparently the crazy woman harps at you being behind schedule every ten turns, no matter what you do. I had 29 territories, including all the necessary ones with 20 turns to go, and I still got the message that I was no good son of Ares.

[Severous]

Biggest battle of my Alexander campaign:

https://img169.imageshack.us/img169/666/alexander31dahaebattle1bi5.th.jpg (https://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alexander31dahaebattle1bi5.jpg)

https://img81.imageshack.us/img81/4600/alexander32dahaebattle2qk1.th.jpg (https://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alexander32dahaebattle2qk1.jpg)

^gardibolt
Yes. Those Sicklemen of the Dahae were the toughest they had. They were often the last of the enemy units to rout. Also that woman advisor ....she had a go at me 20 turns in and Im storming along. No way im going to run out of time.

[Hasdrubal]

A basic strategy that has served me well:

Solid line of phalangists/hoplites with skirmishers behind. Heavy cavalry on flanks. Advance phalanx line forward to pin enemy battle line. Use cavalry to destroy enemy cavalry then take their main line in the rear.

This will usually give you a quick and easy victory. :laugh4:

^ Phalanx
] Cavalry
+ Skirmishers


]]]]]] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [[[[[[
+++++++++++++++++++

Also, if the enemy attacks, it will be like banging your head against a wall! With pointy sticks in it, no less :wall: :thumbsdown:

[Negator_UK]

Starting the game on VH/VH, I found it difficult, primarily because although I can play RTW on this level I had no idea how fast I needed to develop my empire and I hate long games that only tell you have lost at the end.

This put me off the game. I nearly gave up but I needn't have worried as there was actually plenty of time - for those in a similar dilemma there follows a brief timeline of my first (successful-ish - needed a couple of reloads) game.

My basic tactics - I suck with phalanxes so use wall of Hastati, oops, I mean Hypaspists, and pepper the enemy with thrown spears, then send in the Cav. You can't always do this, but its good when you can.

[Negator_UK]

(SPOILER ALERT - if my last post encouraged you, don't read on, go back and play until you become despondent again !!):wall:

Timeline.

Turns 1-4: Loaded Parmenion and most of the small leaderless stack onto ships and headed him for Tanais. Left 1 ship in Sparta harbour (important). Took Epicurnus with Alexander leading the rest of the troops, then headed them for byzantium. On Turn 1 spent all my money building at my two start towns (making sure Pella has a port) and stacked up training about 5 Hypaspists at Pella. After turn 1 you will be in debt come what may, so spend, spend.

Turn 5. Parmenion takes Tanais, Alexander besieges Byzantium.

Turn 6. Alexander takes Byzantium.

Turn 8. Alexander takes Halicarnassus. Empire debt wiped and now making money overall, just about.

Turn 10. Alexander on Halicarnassus bridge ready to get bashed by some Persian fullstacks - hard without archers !

Turn 12. He bashed one stack , but two more didn't attack, just hung around Lampsacus, so spied-up that town and attacked town in same turn via open gates.Took town from small garrison then defended against the two big stacks - Killed 3400+ in one battle. Most important battle of whole campaign, it was downhill after this. Parmenion arrives near Halicarnassus on the ferry from Pella.

Turn 13. Alexander takes Issus.

Turn 15. Parmenion takes Sinope.

Turn 17. Alexander takes Tyre.

Turn 19. Alexander takes Petra, Parmenion takes Amida.

Turn 20. Parmenion takes Hatra. Antipater of Demetrias boards a ship (actually 4 ships) at Halicarnassus with 3/4 of a stack, bound for Egypt.

Turn 21. Alexander takes Babylon.

Turn 22. After a harrowing voyage (Persian fleet still 2x Macedonian) Antipater arrives in Egypt. Cleans underwear, hires mercs. Then spy opens gate and Antipater takes Rhacotis.

Turn 23. Antipater takes Memphis from Rebels that had taken over from Persians.

Turn 24. Alexander takes Suza. Parmenion besieges Azara.

Turn 25. Alexander takes Persepolis. Parmenion dies OF OLD AGE at 51, owww ! His faithful army takes Azara.

Turn 26. Alexander takes Carmana.

Turn 30. Alexander takes Tabae.

Turn 33. Alexander takes Multan and Quetta.

Turn 35. Alexander takes Pura. Carpus of Piraeus commences seige of Ecbatana.

Turn 41. Alexander takes the ferry to Nisa, but the spies don't open the gates. He spends a nervous turn building rams within strike range of 2+ Dahae fullstacks.

Turn 42. Carpus takes Ectabana, Alexander doesn't get whacked by the Dahaens (don't know why) and takes Nisa. He doesn't execute the spies because the game won't let him.:whip:

Turn 43. Menidas of Enna takes Balkh.

Turn 44. Instead of fighting, all the Dahaens start retreating... Alexander sets off Northeast from Nisa.

Turn 50. After a dash across the desert and a battle with a Dahean stack, Alexander beseiges Kucha.

Turn 51. Alexander takes Kucha - 6+ stacks of Dahaens on the road from Bactria to Kucha become rebels - phew ! :sweatdrop:

Turn 52 - Menidas takes Bactria with about 5 stacks of his buddies. One of them, Aischylos of Dyrrachium then goes south with 3 of those stacks and a load of spies (open gates 114%) and takes Bannu.

Game Over. Now I'm off to play something that lets me use Archers !!

Cheers.

[namcod]

Hi, My Name Is Namcod And I Molest Cats In My Spare Time. Oh, And By The Way, Please Ban Me.

[SkyElf]

Sorry, namcod but this is not the place to ask such a question!! :oops: :whip:

I believe that all of the members of the Guild own a legal copy of the game Alexander: Total War! If you like the Total War game system you need to support it buying a legal copy of the games or all that you might illegally own. :idea2:

Sincerely,
SkyElf

[Severous]

I got Alexander in the 'Eras boxed set'.

I would not recommend paying much for Alexander. Only one faction and a linear campaign play means its lacks replayability.

Try ebay.

I completed my one play of Alexander in June. A write up with pictures is here:
http://rtw.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=10,5930,,all

[TosaInu]

TEST POST.

[Quintus.JC]

Want to get that game!

[The New Che Guevara]

Alexander is available as a download or as part of the Total War Eras collection.


I got it as part of Rome: Total War anthology. £14.00 from Game

[The New Che Guevara]

How about the campaign battles? I got to the second one and keep getting slaughtered

[Spartan198]

Does anyone know if it's at all possible to conquer the Indian province? In my first campaign,it was rebel,but in the second it was Persian-controlled.

[mrdun]

Looks like you found the relevant thread Vladimir

[Ludens]

Does anyone know if it's at all possible to conquer the Indian province? In my first campaign,it was rebel,but in the second it was Persian-controlled.
It's not possible unless you mod the game. Sadly, the Indian faction is not present in the campaign, only the historical and custom battles.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I'm thinking about getting this game, but from what I've read, it's just a big race to conquer the world before Alexander dies. :( However, Brian Blessed is the narrator. That's cool. :)

Raise your hands up if you like I Claudius!!!!

[Roman_Man#3]

Not to mention a couple of big mods are for it or can be played on it.

EB, XGM, LOTR - TW v.2.

[bonzeben23]

hm, sounds like the phlanax warriors are easy to move if you set them on "loose" then put them in a run and when your about 20-30 meters away from the enimie to stop them and then set them to tight formation.

[The New Che Guevara]

Might that be to make sure that the Persians are never eliminated?

Nope, the persians can be eliminated.

by the time I got to India, it had rebelled leaving the persians with only a few cities left, which were rapidly decreasing thanks to my armies. But it is possible to destroy the persians. I ended up not killing the Dahae, but just stealing a weakened city (which was part of a persian rebellion) leaving the Dahae with 1 last settlement in that top right corner.

oh, and India. If you could get a subterfuge over there, you might be able to bribe them, but what are the chances of that?

[axel]

Hi,

is alexander total war also a expancion for Rome total war gold edition?? or only for rome total war with the patches and BI

[BlackKnight1234]

Hello everyone;
I have big problem installing "Alexander".It need patch 1.5/1.6 ,So I did the following deeds :

1.Installed both ROME:TOTAL WAR and RTW:Barbarian Invasion.The version of my RTW is 1.3 and RTW:BI is 1.4 at the end of this step.

2.As mentioned in Support section of www.totalwar.com ,I installed patch 1.6.

3.When I tried to install patch 1.6 ,It sends a Massage and says "This patch will only upgrade version 1.3 to version 1.5. You can download patch 1.3 from www.totalwar.com.":dizzy2:

What can I do? How can I install "Alexander"???:embarassed:

Here is the link of Total war support:

http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?page=/en/support/index.html&nav=/en/8/

I will appreciate for any HELP:help:

Thank you
-Kambiz

You need download patch 1.3 first after that patch 1.5 and install

[mido_cyber_boy]

It is so much fun reading your posts.. I finished the campaign in 87 turns... :egypt: Im now playing the historical battles... Chareonea was such simple one, Granicus pissed me off, these Sycthian Horse Archers wiped my spearmen, they even killed Alexander without melee :wall: . I bypassed it finally by editing the battle files giving my phalangists level 3 armour and weapon. They broke into all Persian lines. My cavalry had to chase the horse archers only...
In Seige of Halicarnassus, I cant deal with the horse archers and Barcanian Horse Men.. I have only Alexander as Cavalry and he cannot chase the horse archers quickly... I dont know what to do...
Please help!!!
Thanks In Advance...

By the way this is my first post...

[mido_cyber_boy]

Update... Finally victorious at Halicarnassus and Issus. Now the big day at Gaugemala!!!
Shall post walkthrough for winning Halicarnassus and Issus later.
Thanks

[iHelp]

I really like this game, am trying to beat it with all of the factions available. Macedon and Persia are both very challenging nations to play as. Boy, if you think Macedon has early economic woes, you better fire up a campaign as Persia. You'll have -100,000 gold in about five turns, all because of the insanely large amount of troops you have. I also beat the campaign as the Dahae, which was a thriller of a game. My next campaign is as Thrace; I've already managed to destroy the Macedonians, but Persia is who I'm fretting over. My only concern is the map, which could have been a lot better in my opinion (by the by, if the modding community has produced another map, please link me to it). I also don't see the harm in adding India, I mean they already had them set up with a faction symbol and all (probably put more work into them than the barbarian factions), all they need to do is add like two more cities in India, insert them into the campaign and voila. :dizzy2: But overall, it's a fun game with a nice and challenging AI. :2thumbsup:

[gollum]

Welcome to the org iHelp, enjoy your stay. My main grievance with Alexander is that its exclusively a rush game - but of course that does not prevent it from being enjoyable.

[iHelp]

Thanks mate.

Well, I can see where CA is coming from. If they're trying to emulate Alexander's relatively quick conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, the game should be fast-paced. Some prefer it this way, with an emphasis on each and every battle, yet some prefer the way RTW's earlier installments were like, on more of a grand campaign level. To each his own, I guess. :juggle2:

[gollum]

Absolutely, not questioning anyone's way to enjoy.

:bow: