Views on Carthage in rome 1 and rome 2

[Project Spartan]

So what is your view on Carthage in rome 1 and rome 2! I personally enjoy using Carthage in rome 1 there pritty all rounded! and in Rome two they look awesome so far im excited to use them!

carthage video

[ReluctantSamurai]

In RTW 1 there was far too much redundancy in Carthaginian infantry (Libyan Spears, Peoni Spears, Sacred Band), the omission of a vanilla archer unit, redundancy in the elephant barracks ("baby" ellies, war elephants, armored ellies), and a rather poor choice of temples for such a historically important faction.

All that said, it's still fun to play Carthage with the multi-front war against such differing enemies (Numidia, Rome, Spain, and Gaul).

[Myth]

Sacred Band are among the better infantry out there. AFAIK they are better than Silver Shield Pikemen, so that's something. Sacred Band Cav and Elephants are also great. Overall, vs. the AI you can use them quite effectively. If you take out Rome early on (pre-Marian), you have it made.

[ReluctantSamurai]

AFAIK they are better than Silver Shield Pikemen

I'd have to look the unit stats up but offhand I'd suspect they are similar, but.......

......Silver Shield's have 121 men to a unit, IIRC (in normal size) while Sacred Band have 81......

[Tsar Alexsandr]

I'd like the recruitment system to be different. Like how some mods have "Area of Recruitment." It'd be useful for Carthage though. African and Iberian mercs. And maybes some Gauls if you settle in those areas, re-create Hannibal Barca's army!

[ReluctantSamurai]

The best merc unit that Carthage can recruit in it's starting territories, IMHO, is the Spanish Mercenary...essentially Scutari. You get a decent javelin unit that can hold its' own in melee combat. I like to use them to screen my ellies from suicide heroes who think they can charge elephants and live (the Roman Triarii and Auxillia come to mind) just because ellies are classified as cavalry and those units have a "bonus" against cavalry......

Militia cav have a limited value early-on, but I find slingers to be well nigh on useless seeing as they have to be in front of your battle line to not cause self casualties (and lord knows you have enough of that problem even with archers). Hoplites are redundant once you get to Peoni Spears and there's no point in recruiting ellies since you can build them yourself.

Barbarian cav are also useful early on, but are not as good as Long Shields and certainly inferior to Sacred Band.

[GigeliusMinimus]

That's all true but most mercenary units are of little use later in the game, especially if you encounter post-reforms Romans. The only ones I can think of that can match top tier troops are Cretan archers and elephants for the factions that can't recruit them.

[ReluctantSamurai]

most mercenary units are of little use later in the game, especially if you encounter post-reforms Romans

I would have to disagree with this.

The Spanish mercs (Scutari clones) can hold their own even against cohorts with some exp. chevrons and armor/weapon upgrades. Particularly when fighting Romans, these guys can break up those suicide charges against your ellies from Triarii or Auxillia. Merc Cretans need no explanation....they decimate Roman Archer Auxillia.

Merc Bastarnae can be devastating if used properly, and those guys can hustle across a battlefield that would leave just about any other foot soldier in a "tired" condition, and arrive in merely a "winded" condition. And they seem to have a knack for killing enemy generals, in my experience...

Steppe factions have access to Sarmatian heavy cav which have a charge bonus exceeding even my beloved Cataphracts.

And for desert fighting, it's hard to not like Arab Cavalry. Good morale and very fast...the only unit other than Macedonian Light Lancers that can catch routing enemy generals or cavalry. And besides, what's not to like about scimitar-wielding maniacs