Saba Military Tactics...

[Miaow]

Personnally, I don't think you need to go to such lengths, unless you play VH battles. The Sabaean roster is very monodimensional, but what it does it does well. I wouldn't want to use Saba in MP, it's too easy to counter, but in SP it's quite adequate. I don't really have issues killing phalangitai, heavy cavalry is by far the biggest threat to the Sabaeans. Besides slingers—which are incredibly overpowered in an unmodified EB—you get the Arabian Acher-Spearmen, which are extremely cost-effective since they are first-rate archers (only surpassed by Cretans and Caucasians) and have spears, rather than knives like most archers, for melee. The archer-spearmen are litterally the only unit you need to conquer the Eleutheroi on the Arabian peninsula and the only unit, IMO, you should train in the early game.

I rather disagree about not disbanding units in your starting army—the Arabian Light Cavalry in particular will really hurt your treasury and is pointless against the rebels, its only strength is being lancers (which you don't need as the rebels can be conquered with almost only missile combat and very few losses). Arabian Light Infantry is more expensive than the archer-spearmen and much less useful (essentially only worth it if you need elephant killers), so best to disband them too and hire archer-spearmen instead.

As Saba, you have infantry that is relatively fast with good stamina and alot of good, cheap missile units. You shouldn't be in melee against the enemy heavy infantry until the quivers are empty, and then, they should be tired out and swarmed from multiple directions. The AI isn't very good with dealing with units manoeuvering to threaten several directions, so this is fairly easy to achieve, as long as you can deal with its cavalry.

Latter in the game you have cost-effective quality medium infantry in the Red Sea Hoplites that can hold a line if needed and is good at beating off cavalry. The medium cavalry and noble infantry is pretty good also, but can't really be used as other faction's elites are, as they're still just medium troops; generally I prefer the cheaper Ethiopian Horsemen as lancers. The Ethiopian Swordsmen make for great flankers but they die fairly easily as well. Ultimately, you have African Elephants and African Bush Elephants (but not African Towered Elephants, sadly) and various regionals (Hoplitai will fight for anyone) if you want or need a more conventional army.

[ibn Abihi]

Hello ibn Abihi, welcome to the .Org and to EB .

That's a very nice first post. Personally, I think that blitzing tactics are a cheesy way to win. On the other hand, the Saba don't have a lot of choice. You have to take out the Ptolies quickly, otherwise they (and their new best friends, the Seleucids) will spam you to death with phalanxes. Either way, the rest is good advice.

Thank you for the warm welcome :) You are right, and I was trying a couple of times to not use blitzkrieg but after all that was all that worked... Maybe if I would be really, really good in battles as Miaow below, I could win by gradual expansion. Might try it in my next Saba campaign :)

i only found one error

when fighting on bridges try and place slingers and archers hitting the enemy sistematically on their right...

Right, shoot from right, I will try this, thanks!

Personnally, I don't think you need to go to such lengths, unless you play VH battles.

Not sure I understand this.

...you get the Arabian Acher-Spearmen, which are extremely cost-effective since they are first-rate archers (only surpassed by Cretans and Caucasians) and have spears, rather than knives like most archers, for melee. The archer-spearmen are litterally the only unit you need to conquer the Eleutheroi on the Arabian peninsula and the only unit, IMO, you should train in the early game.

You might very well be right. For some reason I preferred combination of infantry and archers, but if you say they are only surpassed by Cretans and Caucasians (what about heavy Syrian archers?), I might try to use them more.

I rather disagree about not disbanding units in your starting army—the Arabian Light Cavalry in particular will really hurt your treasury and is pointless against the rebels, its only strength is being lancers (which you don't need as the rebels can be conquered with almost only missile combat and very few losses). Arabian Light Infantry is more expensive than the archer-spearmen and much less useful (essentially only worth it if you need elephant killers), so best to disband them too and hire archer-spearmen instead.

Yep, I agree about the Light Cavalry. But I disagree about Light Infantry vs. Archer-Spearmen. My point was to conquer Arabia as quickly as possible. Disbanding troops, and then training new ones would delay me and cost more (the upkeep difference is marginal).

Latter in the game you have cost-effective quality medium infantry in the Red Sea Hoplites that can hold a line if needed and is good at beating off cavalry. The medium cavalry and noble infantry is pretty good also....

I like native armies, so I was sticking to noble infantry in later stages. What do you think about their cost-effectiveness?

Thanks a lot for the tips guys!

[moonburn]

shoot on their right so try and place your units shooting from your left

their right arm carries the weapon and their left the shield you must shoot them where they are shieldless

[Miaow]

You might very well be right. For some reason I preferred combination of infantry and archers, but if you say they are only surpassed by Cretans and Caucasians (what about heavy Syrian archers?), I might try to use them more.

Well, in terms of pure archery stats, the Arabian Archer-Spearmen have 5 attack and very long range, with a good supply of arrows. The only archers in the game to have 6 attack are Caucasians and Cretans, both with great range as well. Some of the steppe foot archers and the Heavy Persians have 5 attack with the same or slightly better range, so I'd put them and the Arabians just below the Cretans and Caucasians; the Getai elite archers, Numidians and Ethiopians also have 5 attack but slightly less range, they're still good archers though. Syrians have (in an unmodified EDU; alot of people like improving them) only 4 attack, albeit with the same long range; the strength of the Syrians is that they are the most heavily protected foot archers, so they can win archery duels against most others and can double up as infantry, but they'll usually kill less enemies than better 'pure' archers.

It's also worth noting that Ethiopian Archers are not too expensive, only lose out on range slightly to the Arabians, and their sidearm has AP and good lethality, albeit low attack value. They require a higher level MIC, but can be a good addition too, mainly later on when you may need to mop up armoured units in melee, after softening them up with missiles (although, they are alot less effective in melee against the lightly armoured Eleutheroi units, and they don't have the light_spear attribute for fighting cavalry). Sabaean archers are even cheaper but ultimately, with less range and attack value and only a knife for melee, they're just not good archers by Eastern standards.

Yep, I agree about the Light Cavalry. But I disagree about Light Infantry vs. Archer-Spearmen. My point was to conquer Arabia as quickly as possible. Disbanding troops, and then training new ones would delay me and cost more (the upkeep difference is marginal).

The thing with the Light Infantry is that their javelins have very short range, they only carry 6 of them, and they have the same attack power as the Archer-Spearmen's bows, and seemingly longer animations. Unless you use them on elephants (or chariots), as a missile unit they are horrible. You do need some infantry to tie up enemies in melee at times, while your Archer-Spearmen move to their flanks/rear; but you start with some Ethiopian Spearmen who'll do that better, and don't forget you have the general's bodyguards, the heaviest infantry in Arabia by a very long shot. In my opinion, the Arab Light Infanty are really weak and they cost more than the Archer-Spearmen...

I like native armies, so I was sticking to noble infantry in later stages. What do you think about their cost-effectiveness?

Well, Red Sea Hoplites come from your native barracks in Diamat and Erythrea :)

The Noble Infantry is pretty good and they'll beat the Red Sea Hoplites in a melee, besides having javelins (and a bonus against elephants). However, the RSH are as survivable—more so against missiles, in fact—and alot cheaper. The Nobles are a good unit, worth their price-tag, especially as they have exceptional morale, so they can be relied upon to fight against desperate odds or when terrifying units, like elephants, are present, but for an army that is still largely based on movement and missiles I find the RSH are a great 'anvil' unit. The problem with the Nobles is that they're fairly expensive (not much in the absolute, but by Saba's standards) and they won't radically change how you fight, since they can and will lose to quality heavy infantry, and they're not phalanx-killers on their own. They're both spearmen who can deal with cavalry, which is—IMO—the biggest threat to the Sabaeans. Phalangitai and regular heavy infantry tends to just be too slow.