Alexander: Total War

[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.

[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

[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?

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. 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

[Ludens]

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

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. 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.