Parthia

[frogbeastegg]

Guide.

[GodsPetMonkey]

Parthia –

I. Introduction
II. General Strategies
III. Money
IV. Battles
V. Sieges
VI. Mid to Late game


I. Introduction -

Parthia is the ‘major’ eastern faction, being the only one that CA made unlockable. It relies almost entirely on cavalry, which is both good and bad. The good is, this includes cavalry archers, the bad is a lack of heavy infantry hurts every now and then. The aim of a Parthian army is speed and range despite having War elephants and 2 types of Cataphracts, horse archers are going to be the most potent weapon at your disposal.

Any suggestions or corrections are welcome

I personally run the game with a few modifications.

Move Speed mod – I put in some small penalties of my own

Kill speed mod – Reduced the attack speeds to 50%. I have tried, and didn’t like the double HP mod, and whilst this isn’t perfect, it slows down combat with out shifting the rock-paper-scissors balance.

Parthia now has Cataphract Archers – Never could work out why they didn’t in the first place.

Parthia now has eastern heavy infantry – Whilst I rarely use them, its nice to have something to man the siege engines and doesn’t run at the first sign of an arrow.

By adding those 2 units, Parthia becomes very Armenia like, and while I didn’t want to subtract from their uniqueness, there is still one key difference, Armenia gets legions, and heavy infantry is something you will really miss, especially after playing the Romans or Barbarians. You don’t have to play with these changes, they only make life a little easier, but neither shift the balance in any major, or even moderate way.

I play at Very Hard/Hard difficulty for the Map/Battles. Lesser campaign battle difficulties would be the best way to make the game easier, especially in the diplomacy side of things. Egypt may even keep an alliance.

II. General Strategies

As Parthia, the biggest problem will be money. Despite the intro money, the only thing flowing through your lands is sand. Be prepared to do a lot of tax-rate tweaking to maintain a balance between money and growth. Its imperative that you keep as many family members as possible in garrison. As you will be hard pressed to field more then one ‘killer’ army, as too many of your best offensive units will drain the treasury in a matter of years, this isn’t so hard. I play with one designated general (to start with) in charge of my main army, try to get plenty of the extra movement ancillaries for him, he will be doing a lot of marching.
First up, there are 2 nearby rebel provinces, either bribe them, or attack them. Arabia will take a long time to grow into something useful, so just put a minimum garrison there and let it make some money. Atropatene is more useful, mostly because it separates you from Armenia. Take them both, and make sure you build roads early (build them everywhere!) the East is a big place, and it takes an infuriating amount of time for you to move up re-enforcements to the Mediterranean, once you start fighting there.
Your first target should be Armenia. Right from the start, make alliances with everyone, especially Egypt, the longer you can play them off, particularly against Seleucia, the better. Make an army, your starting Cataphracts are an obvious inclusion, but add in as many horse archers as you can, even bring some down from Campus Sakae if you feel the need for them. Bring along some foot archers and eastern infantry if you have some to spare, or bribe of few rebels on the way, they will help to boost your numbers, a field battle is unlikely at this stage and foot archers can be very useful in early sieges against wooden barriers. If you are willing to wait a little, and hope that no-one attacks you first, you can aim for some Persian cavalry, which can be great in melee (remember to turn of skirmish though, I have made the mistake of leaving it on a few times, and they don’t seem to be able to fight properly, even if cornered, with it on).
After Armenia has fallen, Seleucia should be at war with Egypt and losing (as they always do). Try to grab Babylonia, especially for the Gardens wonder, as you will probably be bleeding for cash by now, and it’s a very handy boost. After this, work your way west. I’ll cover mid to late game later in this guide.

III. Money

The Parthians are in dire financial problems right from the word go, you have to be REALLY careful on your building selections for some time. It also means you can’t support many armies, a good idea is to have one main army, and a supporting one of a smaller size. Don’t bother building up trade in your far eastern cities, they don’t seem to have much to offer to trade to each other, and the Silk Road line of buildings is to expensive for now, and doesn’t pay off on the first level.
As you expand, especially towards the med, you will pick up a few provinces. Try to worm your way towards Egypt, which is a cash cow, and grows like mad too (which is why its so damn powerful, all the time!).
I try to balance out growth and taxes, and aim to get two cities up to Huge City (and Camel Cataphracts). Most of your armies will be Persian cavalry as well as Cataphracts, and a few elephants, both Large City level units, which is pretty easy to achieve, you may as well tax the crap out of cities after they reach this stage, even if most of your units are cheap upkeep.

IV. Battles

Battles are very different from the other factions (except the modable to be played Armenians and Scythians, but even they have some half decent infantry). Its all about the cavalry, particularly horse archers, which are nothing short of devastating, especially after a little experience.
Some general tips –
I know its obvious, but avoid melee at all costs, even with their nice melee attack stats, Persian cavalry (and Cataphract archers if you mod them in) will be eaten by any half decent infantry. A very much at-a-pinch move.
Keep skirmish on at all times, except when they are forced into melee. The skirmish engine is a lot better then that in MTW, which makes massed horse archers even more devastating. You can micro your Cataphracts and not worry about anything else.
Forget infantry. Except for sieges (covered later) and city defence, they will just slow you down.
War Elephants are essentially walking arrow towers, even after the first patch. Charge them in if you want, but it’s a waste of a good harasser. I make them stand in the middle of my deployed line, and whilst my archers flank, they sit their shooting away. When the enemy is broken and half routed, charge them in for a laugh. Beware though; elephant’s aren’t so good vs. later game troops. More then once some over enthusiastic armoured hoplites have given my silver chevron elephants a nasty surprise.
Make sure your general has a cherigon or equivalent. I find that most of my friendly fire casualties heal with one of them around, and you will have a lot of them in some battles.
Keep your horse archers in loose formation. This helps reduce their friendly fire casualties, and helps against the best counter to them, archers.
When auto firing, units don’t take into account nearby friendlies, so make sure your archers aren’t firing before sending in the Cataphracts, otherwise you might lose as many expensive horses as the enemy looses cheap infantry!

I use similar deployments for both offensive and defensive battles. My ‘standard’ line up is (when grouped) –

1 * 3 War elephants [E]
3 * 3 Persian Cavalry [P]
1 * 3 Cataphract Archers [A] (substitute Persian Cavalry if you prefer)
2 * 2 Cataphracts [C] (of either type)
1 * 1 General [G]

I generally deploy them like this.

.....PPP...EEE...AAA....
PPP.....CC.G.CC.....PPP

The archers attack from the side, the elephants hold, and the Cataphracts charge where needed, normally chasing down enemy cavalry sent after my archers. It’s the same in defence, except the enemy makes it easier by coming to you. You can really set up some nasty cross fire as they approach your elephants, with pretty much a constant stream of arrows hitting on 3 sides. Rarely do any enemy infantry make it to my elephants line before routing.

Now, heres something very important. Something that makes the Parthians the bees knees, the Parthian shot. It’s why you leave four archers set to fire at will all the time (except in very rare circumstances, normally to do with friendly fire). Its great watching your archers shoot away at targets they pass on their way to where you told them to go, it makes skirmish even more powerful, as they shoot their chasers whilst they run away. And, when the enemy starts routing, just send all your archers to the point at which they are leaving the map, and they will start shooting those poor cowards on the way. Whilst horse archers are powerful in their own right, Parthian shot is why you don’t need any infantry, why use something to protect and pin, when you can kill whilst moving to safety. Its almost unfair.

V. Sieges

Sieges are where the Parthians hurt, and try as I may, I can’t find a way to pull off a non-phyyric victory.
Against wooden walls, its easy enough, walk up to them, and shoot anything stupid enough to be defending close by, ram your way through, then kill at your leisure.
Against stone walls though, your lack of heavy, or even medium infantry becomes all to evident. The arrow towers hurt a lot, and if they have some archers on their walls, its going to be hard to approach them with anything. I have tried sapping the walls then covering my advance with elephants. The elephants live, but once in the city, it just gets worse. With nowhere to manoeuvre, the horse archers are at the mercy of the defenders, and Cataphracts are to expensive to bring in huge force. If your enabled heavy spearman, you could try a Greek like hoplite attack, but they are weak on the offence, and will be eaten by any decent infantry (like legions). Most of the time, I just starve them out. To do this, hire some mercs, and put them on siege duty. Try to draw their garrison out first, and obliterate it with archers in their backyard, then just wait the 8 or so turns, which is infuriating, but with a decent army roaming nearby, the city wont be relieved by an external force.
I normally enslave when I capture, it boosts my core cities pop, and reduces negative effects in the city I just took, that’s a win/win!

VI. Mid to Late game

The mid game depends a lot on how the dice have fallen. It’s a given that Egypt will be powerful, and will make for your hardest opponent pre-Rome, it took me about 20 years to take Antioch and Sidon from the Egyptians, but those 2 cities gave me enough funds to fuel a second major army. The main challenge is not that they will butcher you with superior units, far from it, they just have an endless supply. On the whole, their cavalry is pretty poor, and infantry succumb to arrows in their hundreds, the only real threat is their archers, and they normally get a face full of Cataphracts.
Taking Egypt should resolve most of your financial problems, but unless they are in a nasty war with the scipii in the west, expect it to take some time. After Egypt has been crushed, you can either take the rest of Asia Minor, or head west into Africa. If you go the Asia route, there’s a good chance that the Greeks still exist, finally some foes that cant fight back. They lack cavalry, and their hoplites are well armoured but to slow to prove any challenge. Threat them as a warm up for the final show, Rome. Most likely you shall meet the scipii or brutii first, but once one goes to war, expect the other front to flair up. By now you should be the king of the eastern med, I personally think Greece is a nicer target then Carthage, but either way.
The Romans are a hard team though, the toughest infantry in the game, very good ranged unit, and a moderate selection of cavalry, but most important of all, by the time you meet them in battle, they will have a killer economy, so expect droves and droves of cohorts. The only time I ever ran out of arrows was in a battle vs. the Romans. Don’t let their lack of spears tempt you to go Cataphract crazy either, upgraded cohorts can kill them if they stop their charge, and vs praetorians or urban cohorts things can get very nasty. Stick to collecting their richer holdings, although money shouldn’t be an issue anymore, it denies them valuable denarii, and will help with a few more armies.

[Doug-Thompson]

A well thought-out guide, GodsPetMonkey.

The Seleucids don't defend Seleucia in the opening moves, for some unimaginable reason. Taking it in the early turns eases the money problems.

[HopAlongBunny]

I might have to try this faction again.

I went after the practically undefended wonder in the first cpl turns. Soon after, Egypt showed up on my doorstep and declared war; followed by Armenia; followed by Scythia.

Had some nice battles, but it was just a (frustrating) downward spiral.

[sakuraoni]

I also have noticed that early in the game you may want to make a dash to get coastal provinces (most ideal would be the caspian sea ports which connects to the med. sea). By gaining trade access that way, you can greatly improve your cash flow, then use the funds to finance your way on egypt and the seleucid empire. I havent got past that part yet but will inform ;)

[Doug-Thompson]

I might have to try this faction again.

I went after the practically undefended wonder in the first cpl turns. Soon after, Egypt showed up on my doorstep and declared war; followed by Armenia; followed by Scythia.

Had some nice battles, but it was just a (frustrating) downward spiral.

@#$% Egyptians.

I posted a long rant on another thread about how much I hate the @#$% Egyptians. Kill 1,000 and another 1,000 jump up, of better quality than the first bunch.

I had to declare war on Armenia just so I can conquer their provinces to get enough revenue to support my war on the @#$% Egyptians.

The @#$% Egyptians can't be strong everywhere. The fighting so far has been in the Palmyra-Damascus corridor. Lately it shifted to Bostra-Arabia.

I'm going to put an all-cavalry army where it can threaten Damascus, Jerusalem and Bostra at the same time, with plenty of spies. Let's see if the @#$% Egyptians are strong enough to guard all three. I'll attack one and won't care if I can maintain the siege or not. I'll just draw the @#$% Egyptians into a fight and whip them piecemeal. If I take a town, I'll burn it down. I'll also launch a smaller force at Petra.

I assume the AI will spam fleets in the Red Sea again, but if they don't or if I can get around them, I'm going to cross that sea and put a bunch of cavalry in the Nile valley.

When I finally break the @#$% Egyptians, I'm going to put their cities to the torch just out of principle.

[Emperor Mithdrates]

@#$% Egyptians.

I posted a long rant on another thread about how much I hate the @#$% Egyptians. Kill 1,000 and another 1,000 jump up, of better quality than the first bunch.

I here yuh buddy. those friggin Eygptions just wont leave me alone.

I stopped playig on medieval total war because they kept bugging me and got RTW but then as the selucides they just wouldnt leave me alone. They're not even a proper eygptions. Theyre the old cuts of the old greek empire.

wooo, go Greece.

[GodsPetMonkey]

I might have to try this faction again.

I went after the practically undefended wonder in the first cpl turns. Soon after, Egypt showed up on my doorstep and declared war; followed by Armenia; followed by Scythia.

Had some nice battles, but it was just a (frustrating) downward spiral.

I know what you mean, Egypt is by far the hardest faction you will face, mostly because they outnumber you totally and completely, and you dont have the cash to upgrade your cities to super unit factories.

In my current Parthian game, which most of that quide was based on, there are about 10 great battle markers in Syria alone from me battling them, several times I would attack their army in my turn, then in theirs they would attack with another, a great bloody war that was, it wasnt untill I was able to push them down to the nile that they were finally broken, and that took 50 years. You would seige a city to find they have 5 full stacks of troops marching towards you.

Its also one reason why I went for Armenia rather then Seluecia straight off, those north provinces are normally safe (Pontus rarely bothers me) and can keep you afloat whilst you and egypt exchange blows down south. Another reason is that Egypt and Seluecia had a alliance for the first 10 years of that game, and some very large stacks kept walking up and down my border, I wasn't willing to provoke them. Should they go to war straight away, a quick grab would be a good idea, but hope they dont feel like some retribution.

[Marshal Murat]

Ahh, parthia.
Just as the horse riders, I use them to raid (namely thous #@!*% Egyptians)cities, mostly I'll conquer them, exterminate, get the bag of the buck.

Selucia is a nice prize.
Armenia is very anti you, so go and burn thier eyes out. Pontus is a good ally. However Seleucids are practically dead. Feed on thier carcass. Pontus and the desert are buffers, keep cavalry patroling the area. Scytia can match you with cavalry so block all the mountain passes to them with mercs. Very effective.

A interesting story, I got a army of Scytian, Sarmatians, and Parthians into Roman lands. The hastati, Princpes, and Triarii are chewable. Heavy infantry are easy prize, so the Greeks are no problem. However archers are havoc.

Get your cavalry archers pumped out as much as your money allows. With alot of them, you can spread them out. I like to micro my troops to one units against larger armies, and just arrow them and then withdraw, until you can get a huge army of horse archers, then just pummel thier carrions with arrows, and once thier broken, charge.

Careful with the Egyptians chariots, they can almost match your HA speed, and have almost twice the firepower.

[lismore]

Thanks that was a really interesting guide.

For my Parthia campaign I modded in some Judean Zealots. They look the same as Numidian desert warriors but they give the persians more options for foot troops!

[sebas_man]

I went bankrupt with these bastards !!!

[Craterus]

The answer to backruptcy is conquering and setting up some trade routes.

And use the horse archers, they are your friends..

[pezhetairoi]

Sebas: they do that, yes. Go the whole hog... use your starting treasury to pump out HA. queue them up so you get a steady supply for the next 10 turns, then besiege all the nearby cities with 2 HA units and let them sally out at you. Then shoot them to pieces :) With 2-3 HA a city you should be able to take 3-4 in one breath once your building is completed. Then, just wait (or keep conquering) until your treasury goes back into the black. Exterminate some.

[GrandInquisitor]

i'm curious about some opinions for my strategy, which has taken a lot of refining. i guess i'm not much of a blitzer; it takes the fun out of it for me, but there's nothing wrong with it. i like to make a sort of mobile fortress when using parthia. that way my enemies have a chance. beginning i do bum rush armenia, seleucia, and tribus alanni; there's no way around that for me. i avoid arabia, since it usually provokes egypt sooner than i like. my next move is to take palmyra. from there, i basically send out units of horse archers to harry enemy armies while i heavily fortify my cities (well, as much as parthia can). that way, when i go on campaign, i don't have to worry about egypt sneaking an army in through arabia and catching me with my pants down. picking off smaller armies gains experience, and sacking towns along the mediterranean coast -- in as much as RTW allows -- gives money (while not having to worry about defending them if it's impractical at the time). eventually, i have veteran armies to consolidate, a very firm eastern foundation, and a glorious series of wars ahead. it's meant for more patient-types, like myself, but i've found it very interesting many times. any opinions?

[Hanno]

I've always enjoyed playing Parthia because its the closest you will get to playing the Persians on vanilla RTW.One thing that always bugged me was the lack of infantry Parthia has,sure there calvary is brillaint, the combination of horse archers and cataphracts and Elephants is unmatched, This never really bothered me until one day on the mods forums I saw the Extended Greek Mod which I downloaded. It was pretty much the same as vanilla apart from the Greeks had a more diverse selection of Units,Rome was jst one factions no longer 3 families and the senate, the map went more eastwards into India and the Parthians had the Heavy Spearman that Armenia has and the famous Persian Immortals which teamed with the original cavalry selection was unstoppable.I soon missed the original RTW and scrapped the mod and went back to vanilla but someone said on this forum that they added cataphract archers and the heavy spearmen to Parthia and if there is any kind of mod to add the immortals and the spearmen tell me please.

Cheers.

[Ludens]

Hello Hanno, welcome to the Org . This forum is for discussion of Parthian strategy, so your question would be more likely to be answered in the Entrance Hall or the R:TW Mod Discussion.

[Hanno]

Thanks I'll have a look there

[Master Young Phoenix]

I tried Parthia (vanilla RTW) a few times, but, despite my fondness of (missile) cavalry, it never stuck... I found it tedious at times because you can't autoresolve against a 1-3 peasant rebel army if you are fond of your horse archers... the AI can't use them at all...

I tripled Game speed most of the time I fought those measly rebel armies, as you can easily beat them with a few horse archer cohorts on Cantabrian Circle, I can't understand why the AI uses most special abilities (flaming munition, phalanx, war cry) but NEVER EVER the cantabrian circle. It's one of the best special abilities in eastern factions. If the AI would use the Circle, I'd be autoresolving a lot more against those tedious rebel peasants.

I got frustrated by the lack of money and the resulting slow development... you always get in the red with parthia whatever you try, and only your trade rights and map info offer some solace. And off course, that money needs to go to more diplomats or you'll be in the red every other turn no matter what.

It a hard start with parthia, even on medium difficulty, and I haven't been able to keep playing this faction for more than ten game years before I decided to do some other faction...

[Hound of Ulster]

Build all-cav armies and take Babylonia right away. Don't piss off the Egyptians, crush the Selucids and the Armenians.

That said, if you want a good TW experience with the House of Arsces, play the mods Europa Barborum or Rome Total Realism. The map in vanilla RTW does not serve Parthia well.

Oddly this is not an issue for the Sassinsids in BI. They kick butt no matter what.