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Thread: Armenia

  1. #121
    Barbarian of the north Member Magraev's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    That should do it. Cut (don't copy) Armenia from unplayable to playable.

    You did make a backup - right?
    Nope - no sig what so ever.

  2. #122
    Beware! Relentless Looter! Member Flavius Merobaudes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Did you delete the spaces that remain when you copy and paste? Might just be a typing error.
    Does it give you a report? Then the document name and the line should be mentioned in it.

    You really only have to alter descr_strat. Just make sure the formal syntax is correct. You have to delete that one empty line that happens to be there... Hope this helps.

  3. #123
    Been there, conquered that.... Member Darkvicer98's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    If you have Barbarian Invasion installed as well it doesn't let you play as most of the unplayable factions. With BI it's version 1.3, so Patch RTW to v1.5.


    Cry HAVOC and let slip the dogs of War!

    A brave man may fall,but he cannot yield-Latin Proverb

    Arms keep peace-Latin Proverb

  4. #124
    Beware! Relentless Looter! Member Flavius Merobaudes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by Darkvicer98 View Post
    If you have Barbarian Invasion installed as well it doesn't let you play as most of the unplayable factions. With BI it's version 1.3, so Patch RTW to v1.5.
    Always thought with BI would be version 1.6.
    I got BI and it works for me...

  5. #125

    Default Re: Armenia

    huh. all right, i will download 1.5 sometime soon. thanks for the help guys

  6. #126
    Been there, conquered that.... Member Darkvicer98's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by Flavius Merobaudes View Post
    Always thought with BI would be version 1.6.
    I got BI and it works for me...
    BI is v1.6, with it installed RTW is v1.3. So you need to patch it to v1.5.


    Cry HAVOC and let slip the dogs of War!

    A brave man may fall,but he cannot yield-Latin Proverb

    Arms keep peace-Latin Proverb

  7. #127

    Default Re: Armenia

    all righty then...it worked! yay. with all the eastern factions i seem to get nothing but heroic victories since i only take like 2 casualties... eastern factions are fun

  8. #128
    Knight of Fable... Member Mek Simmur al Ragaski's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Peace Maker my file looks like this:

    campaign imperial_campaign
    playable
    romans_julii
    romans_brutii
    romans_scipii
    egypt
    seleucid
    carthage
    parthia
    gauls
    germans
    britons
    greek_cities
    macedon
    pontus
    armenia
    dacia
    numidia
    scythia
    spain
    thrace
    end
    unlockable
    end
    nonplayable
    romans_senate
    slave
    end

    I am able to play as any faction. Are you sure that you changed the correct file? You cannot play with the romans_senate or slave factions because they need heavy modding i think...
    *EDIT* sorry this no longer needs to be here i had some kind of computer glitch, ill just leave it here so that if anybody is having problems they can read it too.
    Last edited by Mek Simmur al Ragaski; 12-12-2008 at 17:30. Reason: Sorry my computer glitched
    'It is not anger that drives me to destroy the Egyptian empire, but the promise of gold, a throne, and of all the ruling Pharaoh's concubines in a single night'
    -Me sacking the Egyptian cities...

  9. #129
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Armenia

    I had played every faction but Armenia....until just recently. I must say, the difficulties getting off the ground are daunting at the least. I had to reload several times before I learned how to balance income with the troop numbers. My first problems were having too many troops and going broke in a hurry....a classic case of having to do more with less

    But once I rolled Pontus out of existance, and kicked the Greeks out of Pergammon, things began to look up. Parthia made some threatening gestures early, but a quick sally by my faction leader into a commanding position convinced them to go elsewhere and they never came around again. In fact I made them an ally and fund them periodically so they can continue to pester the flanks of the Seleucids (who are now down to their last city) and the

    The balance of troops is nice (though I'm not sure how much of the roster is historical) and cataphract archers OWN chariot archers! I've fought Egypt with just about every faction there is, I always dealt with chariot archers using foot archers deployed to the flanks and light cav to chase them back when they get too close. With cat archers, you can simply assign one to each chariot archer and then go about the rest of the battle Losses were typically 4 or 5 cat archers per unit.

    In any case, my armies are currently driving towards the Nile Delta, and the Seleucids are holed up in Seleucia. I will probably gift it to Parthia (along with several of my most eastern provinces) after the Nile is overrun and expansion heads west.
    High Plains Drifter

  10. #130
    Corrupter of Souls Member John_Longarrow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Something you will find very useful is sending CAs against the Legions of Rome. You've got fire power, speed, armor, and hitting power on your side. Unlike normal heavy cav, you can let your's sit back and fill the legions full of arrows before you charge in to crush them.

    About the only problem I've had with CAs is fighting heavy phalanx troops. Once I run out of arrows, things don't go as well.

    Too bad I can't port the Armenian troops over to M2TW though... I'd LOVE to fight the Mongols with CAs!

  11. #131

    Default Re: Armenia

    to deal with pikemen or most anything with a phalanx, you need 2 troops. Find a way to isolate them, and get one cataphract in front of him and one behind. Then chage both of them at him at the same time, and at the last second, pull back the one that's facing the speas. he'll get smashed in the back, then charge in with the first cataphract while withdrawing the second. Repeat until the unit is dead.

  12. #132
    Corrupter of Souls Member John_Longarrow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Peacemaker

    In small numbers, phalanx troops are easy to deal with. They only become dangerous in numbers. Fortunately I can kill a lot of phalanx troops with arrow before I even have to charge. The problem is normally having fewer CA's than enemy phalanx units.

    6 CA's VS a general and 19 hopolite's generally turns into a very long and drawn out battle. In these fights exhaustion of the enemy troops does wonders.

  13. #133

    Default Re: Armenia

    I started a campaign on M/M just to check out this faction. Parthia accepted an alliance and held it 'til i got enough money to bribe a complete huge army of theirs (incl. the 2 starting cats) and crush them with it. Pontus went first, after that it's all against egypt. Massed HA own almost everything in the field not built as a tank. Hopefully egypt will be gone before it techs to pharao's guards. Stone walls could become a problem, since wall-stormers come late and the worthwhile mercs in this area are cav.
    3 words fit every situation: THIS IS SPARTA!

  14. #134
    Corrupter of Souls Member John_Longarrow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    If you can get your barracks to the third level, you get phalanx troops that are equal or better than just about any other phalanx troops out there. At the fourth level you get legionares.

    So far the most fun thing about playing Armenia is being able to build just the army you want for any given situation. Against Greece/Macedonia, you can send in superior phalanx troops with legions guarding the flanks. Toss in a few archers / Cataphrac archers and you can face them with a better version of their own forces.

  15. #135
    Praefectus Fabrum Senior Member Anime BlackJack Champion, Flash Poker Champion, Word Up Champion, Shape Game Champion, Snake Shooter Champion, Fishwater Challenge Champion, Rocket Racer MX Champion, Jukebox Hero Champion, My House Is Bigger Than Your House Champion, Funky Pong Champion, Cutie Quake Champion, Fling The Cow Champion, Tiger Punch Champion, Virus Champion, Solitaire Champion, Worm Race Champion, Rope Walker Champion, Penguin Pass Champion, Skate Park Champion, Watch Out Champion, Lawn Pac Champion, Weapons Of Mass Destruction Champion, Skate Boarder Champion, Lane Bowling Champion, Bugz Champion, Makai Grand Prix 2 Champion, White Van Man Champion, Parachute Panic Champion, BlackJack Champion, Stans Ski Jumping Champion, Smaugs Treasure Champion, Sofa Longjump Champion Seamus Fermanagh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by Headhunter242 View Post
    I started a campaign on M/M just to check out this faction. Parthia accepted an alliance and held it 'til i got enough money to bribe a complete huge army of theirs (incl. the 2 starting cats) and crush them with it. Pontus went first, after that it's all against egypt. Massed HA own almost everything in the field not built as a tank. Hopefully egypt will be gone before it techs to pharao's guards. Stone walls could become a problem, since wall-stormers come late and the worthwhile mercs in this area are cav.
    THough expensive to repair when you are done, sapping can drop the biggest walls and generic rental eastern infantry do just fine with pick and shovel -- far better than they do in a scrum.

    Then you can cavalry your way through the breach. Not pretty, but it will work.
    "The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman

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  16. #136
    Askthepizzaguy Fan! Member Emperor of Graal's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Do HA form worse in a City than outside because they can't retreat as easily?

  17. #137
    Senior Member Senior Member Quintus.JC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Personally I think Horse Archers almost completely lose their value in city fights, espeically the lower-tier ones. HA relies on their range attacks and their ability to remain out of enemy reach with superior speed. It is very difficult to use them well in cities.

    One useful trick I use against HA armies are to let them have a settlement, then keep them under seige and assult them while they're still inside, this way even a few units of militia hoplites is able to masscre a whole stack of powerful HAs. This is particular useful with factions such as the Seleucids with enemies such as Parthia and Pontus, and their ability to train Militia hoplites and Pikemen early on.

  18. #138
    Corrupter of Souls Member John_Longarrow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    HA's generally do worse because it is much easier for infantry to get under some cover and out of direct bow shot. HA's also have a much harder time keeping range open since they have a lot of buildings getting in the way, thus making it very hard for them to line up flanking shots on enemy units OR avoid being flanked themselves.

    A lot of intantry that is considered almost useless can cut down HA's caught in a city street.

  19. #139
    Senior Member Senior Member Quintus.JC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    The single biggest reason why Horse Archers becomes useless in city fights is because of the loss of mobility. Most horse archers generally follows the rule that 'If they can't catch you, then they can't hurt you', using their superior mobility to stay out of harms way and inflicting heavy damage to their opponent at the same time. Lower-tier Horse Archers are extremely weak in melee, and are as good as dead against any form of spearmen in cities. Powerful armoured cavalry fare better then HA, but even they lose their magic in the narrow city streets. Cavalry's biggest weapon is its mobility and charges, Cataphracts are especially true to this, these cavalry are capable of routing units with one single charge, crushing their opponents under the sheer weight of their armour is not a problem for them. But even they can't generate the momentum without speed, and horses simply cannot use their speed to their full advantage in cities.

    All in all, horses and chariots are not designed to fight in cities.

  20. #140

    Default Re: Armenia

    The only HA unit that can fight in cities is the Cataphract Archer, except against chariots, of course. Counter-charging light cavalry is sweet indeed.

    But now, something else concerns me, and that is the fact that vanilla HAs have been able to kill one or two of my Cataphract Archers per volley! Doesn't that huge armor rating count for something against arrows??

  21. #141

    Default Re: Armenia

    Ohh Armenia, a land of drunks, gold, mountains and teal. A most unique and engaging campaign which I reccommend to anybody. Perfect Armenian army would include a row of pikes, flanking legionaires, CAs and mopping up light cavalry backed up by a decent general who will become legendary. Have fun.

  22. #142

    Default Re: Armenia

    Overview

    - Armenia has some good troops, and their only real unique unit is a Cataphract Horse Archer. One of the most useful units in the game. An Armenian army should always have about eleven of these, and you should make these as soon as you can make them. Armenia has Cataphracts too, good all-round units, good support for your Cataphract Horse Archers. The Legionaries are good too, and are the main-line infantry unit for Armenia. They've got some good early-stage units too, and the army they start with, is a good one for conquering. Heavy Spearmen are also a very good allround unit, with a phalanx. Armoured well, good attack, nothing wrong with this unit.

    - Armenia's situation is quite good. They do not need to fear Scythia, as they don't travel that far. Parthia isn't much of a problem, just put 3 peltasts in Artaxarta and you'll be fine. Just try to make an alliance, and you're OK. Pontus is weak at the start, as they Pontic Heavy and Light Cavalry, can't match up against your Horse Archers. You do have some mountain problems in the start, so it's a bit difficult to really travel far at the start.

    - Armenia's economy is one of the best in the game. You do start quite low, yes. But capture the two Pontic cities (shouldn't really be difficult) and you've got a huge trade boom. Sinope and Kotais will have a good sea trade, and both will be bringing in about 600, even on VH/VH. Mazaka will support Sinope with land trade too, so that will bring in some. Artaxarta will support Kotais with land trade too, just as Mazaka does with Sinope. Also, the Black Sea is a sort of big mini-Aegean sea. And it's Armenia's first goals to conquer that area.

    Conquering

    Well, Armenia's conquests are easy, especially at the beginning. Send ALL of your troops, including one family Member, to the Pontics. Hire Sarmatians, to have something to break the Pontic Heavy and Light cavalry, in case they want to go in melee with your Horse Archers. Take Sinope first, as it will enable you to build more Horse Archers early on. Get Mazaka too.

    Now, defend your territory for a couple of turns, build some more Horse Archers, and focus on economy. Get some money until you have 10000, and take Hatrawith about 7 Horse Archers. Shouldn't be too difficult, against those weak Seleucids. When you have Hatra, use it as a buffer against Egypt. Build up more, and capture Tarsus. Also with some Horse Archers. Use this as a buffer against Egypt too.

    Now, Pontus has had time to build up near the Greeks (mainly in Nicomedia) but they are too weak now to pose a real problem, so use them as cannon fodder for your Horse Archers, to let them gain experience. If they DO pose a problem (IE, they use their Pontic Light (and possible Heavy) Cavalry as hand-to-hand cavalry, rather than missile cavalry) Sarmatians will be your solution. Somehow, Pontus is very weak against Sarmatians, so use this to your advantage. At this stage you should have all provinces of Turkey, including your original towns, except Sardis, Halicarnassus, and Pergamum. Take Sardis with some Horse Archers, and Eastern Infantry, to deal with the last remains of the Seleucids. I usually bribe Halicarnassus, and install some peasants. Or you can just conquer it if you want. Pergamum might pose a problem, as Greece will very often make lots of military droppings there (I mean with ships, I'm not talking about things that come out of someone's anus) so try to kill the Greek fleet, before taking Pergamum. By this time, you have a booming economy, and right at this point, Egypt will attack either Tarsus, or Hatra. Now, make peasants in all Anatolian towns, and send ALL you're worthwile troops to the danger area. Make some troops in Artaxarta, Kotais, Sinope and Mazaka. Make them breed hordes of Horse Archers.

    I usually have two armies of 20 Horse Archers standing by once I am offensive against Egypt, just in case, becouse Egypt is a real backstab faction. The only thing they do in the game is backstab. I've experienced it as Seleucids, Numidia, Parthia, and as Armenia too. So, have these Horse Archer-only armies standing by, to crush these Egpytians. Conquer the remains of the Seleucid empire. And conquer the large Scythian town, so you can start surrounding Parthia, and start attacking them. Parthia has Horse Archers too, but at this stage, you should have Cataphract Horse Archers. Really good troops against the Parthians, your treatment for those nasty Parthian Camel Cataphracts, or Persian Cavalry. Just try not to fight, just lay siege, and hope they don't break out. If they do, spread out your units, and keep all non-mounted units in the back. When you have the Middle East, make a HUGE offensive army and swep over Egypt. Use Horse Archers now as your main unit, rather than Cataphract Horse Archers, becouse of the Desert Cavalry (The most irritating unit in the game). Get Memphis first becouse of the Piramids. Get Siwa and Cyrene.

    Now, just sit back, and let money flow in. Be defensive, prepare to make an army to take Greece, and to overthrow the Scipii in Africa. The Romans are weak to Cataphracts, so make more Cataphract units, rather than (Cataphract) Horse Archers for a while. Just conquer away, let the Romans form testudo (computer rarely does it, but do try ) or not, and crush them. March onto Rome, or try conquering the world before taking on Rome, it's a lot more fun seeing a map with all provinces belonging to your Faction. Walk into Rome, be victorious. Drink some wine, amuse yourself with the Senate. Kill some Romans. Or eat them, like Hannibal (Lecter, not the Carthaginian one )

    Buildings

    What? Buildings? We live in tents.. why would we need buildings? Nah, you need them, especially ar Armenia. Your very first goal when having a town, is to obtain a Trade building (more of a route, but... never mind). They give a huge boast to land trade. And in some situations, it makes land trade a lot more profitable than Sea Trade. Having the Aegean Sea fully built with the best trade route, and Dockyards, even on VH/VH, some towns give 6000 revenue. Too huge for words. As for shrines and temples... I don't really care. I just randomly pick one for each town. As Armenia, shrines/temples aren't really my problem. Close your eyes, click, and see what temple. Done. With Armenia there is no real temple set-up. Well, you know your main goal, economy. But what about military? Hm, I'll give you some nice little towns, wherein you need to focus more on militray, rather than economy : Antioch, Memphis, Carthage, Athens, Campus Getae, and Campus Sakae. That's it. Boom your military there, and you will have good points from which you can build forces, to spread out, or to conquer with.

    Fighting as Armenia

    Hm, Armenian fighting isn't as easy as you think. You might think : Oh yeah, just let those Horse Archers fire, set them to Skirmish Mode, and I'll be okay... no. Basically, Skirmish mode means moving backwards... and when your Horse Archers get to the edge of the battle map... ýou get lots of Armenian blood on the ground... So, put them OUT of Skirmish mode, and learn a lot with Custom Battle, on how to maneuver your Horse Archers, to make them more effective. I usually let them walk in sort of zig-zag patterns, that usually works very well. Somehow it makes them VERY effective, espeically against enemy cavalry.

    When being chased by cavalry, run away, and let another Horse Archer unit follow from behind. This way, the enemy cavalry will be fired on from two sides. Which breaks morale, and makes them rout faster. Armenia's infantry usually consists of Eastern Infantry, or Armenian Legionaries. Don't use Hillmen, they are very sucky units. Anyway, your main Infantry force is meant to be an anti-cavalry force. That's it. Enemy infantry won't even get a chance to fight, as your Horse Archers shoot them to shreds. Your infantry will cut up enemy cavalry, when surrounding. That shouldn't be too difficult with Eastern Infantry. They have good defence, so the can hold out long enough so that they can wrap around enemy cavalry. Don't use Peltasts or anything as Armenia, they're useless to Armenians. Stick to cavalry and infantry, and you're okay. USe your Cataphracts to punch a whole into enemy lines, Cavalry, Missile, or Infantry, they will nearly always win. Their charge bonus and armor will do their job. Heavy Spearmen can be used too, if you want. But the slow phalanx doesn't really fit in with the fast way of Armenian warfare. If you're going to use them at all, put them out of phalanx formation.

    Here is a little addition from Muagan_ra:

    "I find a good strategy for any Archer Cavalry (AC) nation; the 'eastern' nations with horse archers, and Pontus and Egypt, is to run your AC (HorseArchers or maybe CataArchers) down both flanks fo the main enemy formations, not so much to inflict casualties, but to break them up. Enemies will normally try to chase you off, and in this way, you can disorganise their formation, whilst at the same time you should be moving your main infantry line (Heavy Spearmen in Phalanx) forward in a single line (with gaurd mode off), and they should then be much better positioned to engaged the disorganised enemy (provided the AC distration worked.) Even if it dosn't work, the AC's will do casualties, and draw their attention from commanding at the front line.

    Either way, Armenian legionarries should be used to flank around the Phalanx Line, whilst you're Cataphracts do the normal job of protecting your flanks from enemy cavalry and then swing around to envelop when the threats to your flanks are nuetralised."

    It achieves a kind of "Cannae" style Double Envelopment, if you do it right.

  23. #143
    Could be your God Member Abokasee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Armenia... man its been a while since I played.
    First thing: Build roads, throw away some of those peltasts they drain your income.
    Second thing: Parthia is your friend in this campaign. Kill Parthia - land is far more valuable than a ally that will never turn up to a fight in RTW.
    Third thing: No friends. By all means except those trade rights, but in the mean time make sure your expanding... pontus will probably try to slap you but you should be ready to take it to the ground quickly.
    Fourth thing: Seleucid and Egypt must by conquered. These two are sizeably largey than you... the former is weak but can be a monster if you dont start going gladiator on its ass from turn one of your war with them. And the later is always a monster - has a pre-disposed habbit of massing armies mainly made up of low quality troops... about 5 stacks worth of them - so get those Heavy spearmen out early!

    Remember these and you should take Turkey, Egypt and parts of Iraq/Persia with little trouble (other than you know, fighting 5+ stacks of Egyptian Peasants and Nubian spearmen). Once you have the entire income and man power of those lands no one can match you. Yes no one. Except maybe X vs Roman in Autocalc sieges where numbers are equal.
    Now with transparent layers!

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  24. #144
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    I went back and read through all of the posts in this guide. Lots of good ideas but a bit lacking on how to fine-tune Armenia to maximum potential. Many of the posts recommended going to war with Parthia early. While certainly a viable option, I feel that it only serves to make your campaign more difficult. My reasoning goes something like this:

    1. The most difficult aspect of starting an Armenian campaign is money. Kotais and Artaxarta are poor, and you don't have a lot of starting cash on hand.

    2. Going east against Parthia will net you two provinces exactly like the two you start with...poor. And now to make matters worse, you've doubled the amount of border you need to defend.

    3. The only province the Parthians have that's worth anything is Susa. If you manage to take it, as well, you now have a very long border with the Seleucids and will very likely get drawn into a war with them soon. If they get overrun by the Egyptians quickly, then you will be into war with them very shortly. You want neither of these things to happen in the first 10-15 yrs. of your campaign as you simply will not have either the units, nor the money to compete.

    Going north into Scythian territory is an even worse proposition unless you plan to go all the way around the Black Sea by taking all the coastal provinces. Takes too long unless you hop onto a fleet and cut across. The main drawback is that you are going in the wrong direction from your principal foe.....Egypt. The longer you take to get to them, the more difficult your campaign becomes. It's for this reason I reject the northern route.

    Then there's the suggestions to take Hatra. But Hatra is a slow-grower in terms of population, and if you don't have Seleucia as well, it's difficult to defend. In addition, you will be at war with either the Seleucids or Egypt, or both. Not a desirable situation early in the campaign. You have neither the money, nor enough cities at 6k to begin cranking out Cataphract Archers, and will more than likely get swamped by Egypt.

    Which leads us to Pontus, Anatolia, and beyond. This is where the main thrust for Armenia should be, and in subsequent posts I'll explain how to do it, and why this route presents the best opportunity for Armenia to become a dominant power in the Middle East in a relatively short period of time.
    Last edited by ReluctantSamurai; 03-12-2012 at 01:27.
    High Plains Drifter

  25. #145
    Member Member Sacred Band's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Agree with about everything Samurai writed. Armenia starts off poor, expands into poor lands until you get to Egypt and to modern Turkey. Their starting troops are also crap (hillmen come on...) excepting HA. Also there is nothing to conquer in Scythia. Lots of land to cross, little money, poorly developed towns and always so annoying all HA armies.
    When the CA and Heavy spearmen come to fray, Armenia's full potential is revealed

  26. #146
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    PART I

    Before I begin to lay out my campaign strategy for Armenia, a look at their troop roster might be in order. Armenia has a very balanced roster if….. you can get developed to the point where your mid-to-high level troops are available.

    At the start of the campaign, you will have horse archers, eastern infantry, and not much else. You begin with a heavy cataphract unit and it will be a long time before you can train any new ones, so use it wisely. There are several peltast units….I suggest you disband them immediately and never, ever, train any more. You are a horse archer faction, not a clan of spear-chuckers…foot-skirmishers are a waste of precious resources for Armenia.

    You will have only Eastern Infantry early on. Three things can be said for these: they are cheap to buy, move very quickly over desert terrain…….and they die by the hundreds. But this will be all you have available until you can develop a city to 6k, when you then are able to build barracks for training Heavy Spearmen. Never, ever, train Hillmen. They have all of the disadvantages of Eastern Infantry (poor morale, weak attack/defense), and none of the advantages (mass and speed).

    When a city reaches 12k, you will be able to build barracks for training Armenian Legionnaires. Not really sure if they are historical or just the game devs trying to compensate for the overpowered Roman legionnaires by giving access to them to several other factions. In any case, AL’s are roughly equivalent to the Roman Principes, and not as good as Early Cohorts. With armor and weapon upgrades, they can be a formidable unit on the battlefield.

    Armenia gets a vanilla archer unit. I would suggest you use these only for city defense, where they are reasonably effective. Putting them into a field army is a waste of time and resources. You have a better alternative in Cretan Archers once you move into Anatolia.

    Now to the real reason for playing Armenia…..horse archers!

    At the start, you will have a weak, but very serviceable horse archer unit available. Three things to be said about these: skirmish…skirmish…skirmish! For anyone who has fought against a horse archer faction, you know what a pain-in-the-a$$ these units can be. Well here’s your chance to turn the tables. If you don’t like micro-managing units, then Armenia is not the faction for you. Due to their rather weak melee stats, you don’t ever want your early horse archer units engaging in hand-to-hand combat unless it's to run down routers. If they get backed into a corner or up against impassable terrain, they are dead. Avoiding this requires you to move each of your horse archers on the battlefield. Putting horse archers into a city defense is not to be recommended unless you have absolutely no choice. Horse Archers are all about mobility, the ability to ride around enemy unit flanks and rear while making pin-cushions of them. Narrow city streets negates this advantage. Likewise, using them to assault a city is bad for the very same reasons. They can be of use early in the game when most eastern towns have wooden walls that horse archers can shoot over. But once into the streets, they are vulnerable.

    Once a city reaches 6k, you will be able to build barracks for one of the arguably best units available in RTW…..the Cataphract Archer. These guys are simply a joy to use, and use them you will have to in order to expand your empire. So what is so special about Cataphract Archers, you ask? Well, you get three very good traits all rolled into one unit: the ability to skirmish while making pin-cushions out of your enemy at the same time, heavy armor…which allows you to out-shoot virtually every other archer unit in the game, and the ability to go over to melee when necessary…due to the high defensive value, and good hand-to-hand stats. Cataphract Archers will quickly become the mainstay of your field armies once you can get your cities to 6k population.

    The one shortcoming of Cataphract Archers is their rather low charge bonus of 3. Not good enough for breaking tough, heavily armored line infantry. So enter the heavy Cataphract. These guys are TANKS with a capital T. Very high melee stats for attack and defense, and a charge bonus of 15….one of the highest in the game. Heavy Cats will make you forget all about those high-priced Armored Elephants! Cats are faster, have a higher charge bonus, and better melee stats. Once you use these, ellies will become a thing of the past!

    As for the navy, you get the standard biremes/triremes/quinquiremes for a port, shipyard, and dockyard respectively. I would suggest you not build any navy, whatsoever, until you have control of all of Anatolia. The principal reasons being your primary opponents ( the Greek Cities, Seleucids, and Egyptians) will have rather large navies to contend with, and you will most likely have a lack of funds to prosecute both a land war and one on the seas. This will change, later on.

    The mercenary pool available to Armenia is quite good. Sarmatian heavy cavalry are available until you can start training heavy cats, Cretan archers will become a mainstay of your assault armies, Bastarnae heavy infantry are a good alternative to Eastern Infantry and Heavy Spears and seem to have a knack for killing enemy generals, elephants will be available once you move into the Middle East, as well as one of the best light cav units (IMHO) in the game….Arab Cavalry. I love these guys for their ability to run down routing enemy generals and cavalry…the only unit capable of doing so in desert conditions. Besides, scimitar-wielding maniacs have always been a source of enjoyment for me!

    So there you have it. Armenia. Arguably THE best horse archer faction, with as balanced a roster as any faction you can play. In my next post I will cover battlefield tactics, the use of temples, and finally a campaign strategy that can have you becoming THE premier force in the Middle East before you set out to crush the Romans. The Pharoh had best start making preparations for walking the Paths of the Dead, right now!
    Last edited by ReluctantSamurai; 07-06-2012 at 20:34.
    High Plains Drifter

  27. #147
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    PART II

    Next up for the guide, a few words about temples.

    As temples go, Armenia has two good ones, and a third that would have been so much more useful had the devs applied their temple effects more consistently. A word on that later.

    A previous poster made the remark that you could choose temples for Armenia simply by closing your eyes and clicking on one. I would suggest that you will not be very pleased with the results using that method (for Armenia or any other faction).

    First up is Vahagan, which is classified as one of the “forge” temples (gives exp/weapon/armor upgrades). Compared to similar temples of other factions, Vahagan is one of the most useful temples in the game, IMHO. You can upgrade it to level 4; you get a 20% Happiness bonus; and starting at level 3 you get a +2 exp bonus along with weapon and armor upgrades. When combined with a foundry, this allows silver weapon and gold armor levels. I do find it strange, however, that for a faction that depends heavily on the bow, Vahagan doesn’t confer any archery bonus. When compared to other factions “forge” temples, Vahagan measures up well. Teutatis (Spain, Gaul) can only be improved to level 3 and they provide 5% less happiness as a result. Zalmoxis (Dacia) also can only be improved to level 3 and as part of the inconsistency found in RTW temple design, is the only “forge” temple not to grant an experience bonus. Go figure…Only Vulcan (Scipii) and Hephaestus (Seleucia) can be considered better than Vahagan, both by the virtue of having a 5th level which gives a 10% bonus to law and an extra 5% bonus to happiness above that granted by Vahagan.

    The traits conferred by Vahagan are all good. Brave is the trait and from level one to the max level, all give a morale bonus (+1 to +4) and a popularity bonus (+10% and +20%).

    Being a “forge” temple, you will want to use this temple for all of your major training cities, which I will cover in the following strategy section of the guide.

    All-in-all, Vahagan is Armenia’s best “all-around” temple.

    Next is Armazd, classified as a “leadership” temple. This will be your temple of choice for cities that will require severe population control (like Tarsus and Jerusalem) by virtue of its 20% bonus to happiness, and 20% to law. This compares favorably to Athena (Greek Cities) and Jupiter (Julii) which are only slightly better (+35% to happiness, +10% to law) due to having a level 5 available.

    Traits conferred by Armazd are mostly good: Strategic Skill, which gives a +1 to +3 command bonus at increasing levels; and Trusting, which provides an influence bonus but at the cost of increasingly poorer personal security at the higher levels (but that’s what you make good spies and assassins for, right?)

    Last up, and the one the devs made a major mistake in designing IMHO, is Anahit. Anahit is classified as a “fun” temple and is virtually identical to other factions “fun” temples in every respect but one….population growth. Osiris (Egypt), Bacchus (Julii), and Dionysus (Thrace, Seleucia) all have a 1% population growth bonus, but Anahit has none. Now if you’ve ever played any of those other factions, you’ll know that you rarely need to apply a growth bonus to any of your cities or cites that you capture over and above what you can get from ancillaries (Architect, Grain Merchant, Overseer). But for Armenia, there are a whole slew of cities that need a major growth boost, including your two starting cities of Kotais and Artaxarta. Also on the list are Mazaka, Ancyra, Damascus, Palmyra, and Bostra, all of which are what I call “slow-growers” which will never reach the 24k level without the help of ancillaries AND a family member with the Grower or Architect trait. You need both, either one alone will not do it….this I know from experience. Modding in a 1% growth bonus for Anahit (along with its 40% happiness bonus) would make it a far more useful temple for Armenia. As it is, it’s useful to get a city to 12k, but no further. I would highly recommend tearing it down and replacing it with either Vahagan or Armazd once a city reaches the 12k mark as the traits conferred by it are all bad….some very bad. Why not capture Seleucia with its farm production bonus, you say? That's certainly a viable solution but....you will be letting yourself in for an extreme headache in population control for Tarsus and Jerusalem (both of which have a built-in unrest of 35%) and eventually the three Nile Delta cities (two of which already have a grain bonus driving population numbers up). All of these cities will end up in the 30-32k mark in population before they stabilize at ZPG, so driving those numbers higher for the sake of getting some back-water cities to 24k is not worth it, IMHO. Giving Anahit a 1% growth bonus like the other "fun" temples allows you to control which cities get the boost rather than universally applying growth to all cities which the "Hanging Gardens" do.

    Traits conferred by Anahit include Drink, which except for Social Drinker (+1 Command) all decrease command, management, and influence skills. Gambling at all levels decrease trading skills and make your general easier to bribe. Arse at all levels decrease influence. Girls at low levels increase troop morale (what were the devs smoking when they came up with this one??) but at higher levels decrease troop morale and decrease influence. Perverted at all levels is very bad for influence, not a trait you wish for potential city managers.

    So there you have it, a guide to Armenian temples; two very good ones, and one that would be far more useful with a bit of modding. In my strategy section, I will give my suggestions as to which cities should get which temples, and why.
    Last edited by ReluctantSamurai; 06-17-2012 at 22:19.
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  28. #148
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    PART III

    Now for the meat of this guide…strategies.

    There are four directions to prosecute your campaign, and I will touch upon each of them.

    I’ll begin with one of the more popular campaign starts, judging by previous posts, that against Parthia. I don’t recommend this approach for the simple reason that Parthian lands are just as poor as your starting two provinces of Kotais and Artaxarta. You have to go all the way to Susa to capture a decent sized city that can be brought up to 6k population quickly so you can start producing heavy spears and, more importantly, cataphract archers. To make matters worse, you now have a very long border with Seleucia, and will likely get drawn into a conflict with them, and soon after, the Egyptians. Both of these factions have very large coffers, and can out produce you easily. Matters get much worse if Egypt overruns Seleucia quickly as often happens. In the few campaigns that I tried the “eastern approach”, Pontus and Egypt form a temporary alliance and now you have to take on not only the Big E, but you will have Pontus prowling the mountain passes of your homelands with hordes of Eastern Infantry and Pontic Cavalry. While possibly exciting, this campaign path is only for those very experienced at horse archer tactics, and who enjoy fighting endless stacks of Egyptian gold and Pontic blue.

    The next most popular campaign seems to be against Seleucia. Most posters seem to like taking Hatra first….don’t. Hatra is one of those “slow growers” that takes a long time to populate…as it should. It is, after all, a poor desert settlement. Now if only the devs had given the Anahit temple a 1% growth factor like all other “fun” temples, things would be much easier. So therefore, the next best thing is to hit Seleucia first, with its Hanging Gardens wonder that will boost food production in all your settlements…a good thing in the beginning, a real pain in the rear once you capture cities like Tarsus, Jerusalem, and the Nile Delta cities, two of which have cities with grain-driven populations. In my campaigns, Memphis and Alexandria both reach ZPG somewhere in the high 30’s to 40k without the Hanging Gardens bonus. Even with the loyalty boost from the Pyramids, I’d hate to have to try and control populations over 40k. Let Seleucia go rebel after the Selkies are eliminated. It gives Parthia something to do, and keeps you from getting migranes trying to control runaway populations. In any case, I don’t recommend this approach either, for the simple reason that you are letting the Big E pick all the best fruit. By that I mean Damascus, Antioch, and Tarsus. And more than likely you will be faced with the same situation as the previous campaign…fighting Egypt and Pontus both. Only this can get worse if Parthia joins the fun against you. If you like tough fighting on multiple fronts, choose this campaign.

    I’ve seen a few suggestions to head north against the Scythians. If you plan on migrating your faction to other lands, then this would be the direction to choose. Both Tanais and Chersonesos have grain-driven population growth and would make a great starting base for an eventual advance into the Balkans and beyond. Another plus is that you will come into contact with the Romans (the Brutii most likely) and can start working on eliminating at least one of the Roman factions much sooner than normal. Don’t even think about heading for Campus Alanni or any other of those steppe settlements…they are just too far away to be of any significance, and being that you cannot build paved roads (another oversight by the devs, IMHO; if you can build stone city walls, you can pour a gravel bed and lay out road pavers; it surely takes far more engineering to build walls with crenellations, buttresses, archways, etc. than it does to lay road pavers…and I’ve done both of these so this is just my opinion…a faction should have stonebuilding for both roads and walls or neither) it takes forever and a day to move troops to and from these settlements. So the pluses for this campaign are: a refreshing change from the same-old-same-old, opting out of the whole Middle East cauldron, a quicker approach to the Romans, and access to the rich land of the Balkans and Greece. The down side is that there will be noone to oppose Egypt in the Middle East, and if you decide to invade the Big E at a later date, things will be as bad as letting the Romans run amok unopposed…endless stacks marching in your direction.

    And finally, my recommended campaign...heading west against Pontus, ASAP. This path is the quickest way to getting Armenia on its way to being THE dominant power in the Middle East, and these are the reasons why…

    First, you eliminate a possible future Egypt-Pontus alliance, but more importantly, you capture rich port cities like Sinope, Nicomedia, and eventually Pergamum, and then Sardis and Halicarnassus. If you’ve ever looked at the financial details of your empire, you’d see that port trading far outstrips all other forms of income….COMBINED. Yes, that’s right…more than taxes, mining, and corruption (sometimes you make more than you lose!) combined. You get control of cities that will reach 6k and eventually 12k very quickly which means more income and barracks that can produce cataphracts, spears, and eventually your navy. You also gain access to a much better merc pool that has Cretan Archers and Bastarnae Infantry. You remain on the north side of the Caucasus Mts., safely out of reach of the Big E…for the moment. By the time they finish off Seleucia, you’ll be ready for them and can begin prosecuting a campaign into the former Seleucid territory and beyond.

    So…at the very beginning of your campaign, disband those useless peltasts, gather all your horse archers, your lone heavy cat, your best family members, and a few Eastern Infantry and head down the Black Sea coast to Sinope. This will be your first target. Your object, after laying siege to the city is not to fight a siege battle, but to lure a free Pontus stack into trying a relief attack so you can fight a battle in the field where your mobility counts. The reason for taking the heavy cat unit is explicitly for killing Pontic generals. Try not to get them into melee combat with other ground units…yes they will more than likely win a one-on-one with Eastern Infantry but their numbers eventually get too worn down to be effective “general killers”. It usually takes several battles to reduce the early Pontic hordes, but keep at it….eventually Sinope falls and now you have a new capital!

    This is not without danger, of course. If Parthia makes a concerted effort using its two heavy cats to siege Artaxarta, things will become difficult. You can do two things, however, to lessen the threat. Wrap Artaxarta in stone as soon as it’s available, and line it with archers. These are easily had by bribing local brigands which almost always contain one or two archer units. They are cheap to bribe, and make a good deterrent to Parthian incursions. I had one campaign where Parthia did lay siege to Artaxarta, but were driven off with the loss of both their heavy cats as well as a couple of family members (vanilla archers can’t destroy a heavy cat outright, but knocking off 6-10 horsemen at each attempt to break the siege eventually gets them) and they never came back again.

    After Sinope, head immediately for Mazaka, which by now, should be lightly defended, depending on how your battles around Sinope went. After Mazaka, head for Nicomedia, and then Ancyra (if Pontus managed to capture it). Your first choice in temples for Nicomedia and Sinope should be Vahagan, as these two cities will be major recruitment centers for some time. Mazaka can get Vahagan, as well, but this is not as important as the first two.

    At this point, you will now start attracting the attention of the Greeks who may begin sending marauding parties of hoplites in your direction. Good. You intend on sacking Pergamum anyway, so let them come. Thankfully, you will not likely see any Armored Hoplites, so your horse archers will rule the battlefield. Once you get enough Heavy Spears and recruit a few Cretan Archers, take Pergamum, and then declare war on Seleucia by sacking Sardis. Now it’s just a short hop down to Halicarnassus and voila…you now control two of the seven “Wonders”. To this point, there’s been absolutely no need for a navy…you’ve been prosecuting a land war and don’t have any use for shipping…until now. At this point also, the Big E will probably be in the final stages of eliminating Seleucia, and they usually have several very large naval stacks that will need to be dealt with. I begin by creating a Black Sea fleet safely out of reach until I can assemble a stack of triremes and at least one or two quinquiremes. This is sufficient to decimate any fleet Egypt sends your way, and if you are lucky enough to get an initial ‘sea master’ you might even see a “heroic victory” or two.

    Cats are expensive (1170 denarii without governor or ancillary benefits for archers, 960 denarii for the heavy cats) and take two seasons to train, so you are unlikely to have more than three or four in any of your armies at this point. However, you have three easily defended bridges in the vicinity of Mazaka (usually the first target) and your Cretans will decimate Egyptian infantry while your cats have the chariot archers for lunch. This is why you choose Vahagan for your training centers. Once you get it to level three, you start getting the +2 experience bonus, and combined with an armory (at this point), it makes your life much, much easier.

    After wiping out Egypt’s initial onslaught, you can now begin to think about going on the offensive. Tarsus and Antioch will be your first targets. Once these are captured, the writing is on the wall for the Pharaoh. Tarsus, with its built-in 35% unrest should get Armazd for law and order, and Antioch gets Vahagan. At this point, I move my capital to Antioch in preparation for further moves into the Middle East.

    If you should come across the Egyptian temple of Horus in its temple city form….keep it! This is one of the few exceptions I make concerning other factions temples, which is usually the very first building I tear down upon capture to help with culture conversion. Horus, at level five has 5% better law and happiness than Armazd, grants very good management traits to family members, and to top it off , when combined with a foundry will upgrade heavy weapons AND missile weapons to gold status, something Vahagan cannot. Most commonly you’ll find it in Sidon, Jerusalem, or the Egyptian capital of Memphis.

    By now you should be virtually rolling in denarii. With all the port trading and the “spice/silk road” trade, you won’t be able to spend all the gold you are now making. If you’ve seen any of my screenies from my Armenian campaigns, the denarii can get up into the millions!

    Which now means that you can begin to turn your eye further west into Greece, if you so desire. Byzantium makes for a good initial foothold, and it’s just a short hop across the Dardanelles. Nothing the Greeks, Macedonians, Thracians, or Romans have can match up to you. The Romans, Greeks and Thracians are too infantry-heavy…you can ride circles around them while making them into pin cushions or simply trample them with a heavy cat charge, or both! The Macedonians have decent cavalry but usually rely too much on the light lancers to be of any threat, and they don’t produce enough Royal Pikes either, which is their best phalanx unit.

    At this point, I’ll leave you to decide which direction to head. All your main rivals are now long gone…Seleucia, Pontus, Egypt, Parthia if you so desire….and now Rome awaits…….
    Last edited by ReluctantSamurai; 06-17-2012 at 22:21.
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  29. #149
    Dark Lord of Sith Member Big Bird Hunting Champion, Squid Hunter Champion, Simpsons Shooter Champion, Fun Surfing Champion Darth Feather's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Nice. I had another reason to attack Pontus. This is because their infantery to begin with is as bad as the Armenian early infantery, but their cav is way inferior to armenia's cavalry.
    Last edited by Darth Feather; 06-13-2012 at 11:12. Reason: typo
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  30. #150
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    While it's true that early Pontic cavalry is not so great, Pontic Heavy Cav can be a pain if you have only vanilla horse archers. Later Pontic cavalry is actually pretty good, IMHO. Besides the Pontic Heavy Cavalry, they get a Cataphract Archer, and Chariots, neither of which is easy to deal with. Their advanced roster is similar to Armenia in some respects (Cat Archers, Legionaries, and they get a Phalanx spear unit if my memory serves....
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