View Full Version : Where to expand with Saka?
I am now playing a Saka campaign and, as usual, started to expand south and destroyed Bactrian. But now I have 2 choices: remain east conquering rebel sentlement and (after/at the same time) attack AS. I also ask me why not abandon all east cities and go to Ptolomaic lands, they are very rich. I could go greece (and all those gold mines), Minor Asia...
What do you all think? Tell me a place with good chance to earn easy money and stabilish myself.
Haven't played a nomadic faction in a long time, but isn't there a province or two with the nomad resource around Getai's starting lands? Might make Greece the best bet, since you could conquer north and be able to recruit more of Saka's non elite cavalry.
On the other hand, I migrated to Carthage as the Sauromatae and had a lot of fun. Used Numidian cavalry as my fodder to back up the elite cavalry I could build by settling...
gamegeek2
05-20-2011, 16:08
Gandhara! Big money there.
athanaric
05-20-2011, 16:18
Gandhara! Big money there.
Also, extremely good recruitment options for Saka. Probably the best for any faction in any region.
Cute Wolf
05-20-2011, 23:31
teleport to Ireland :grin:
Big money in Gandhara? youre kidding me...i am talking serious, i don't know if i should spend money in my cities and remain east or go west...
CashMunny
05-21-2011, 11:24
Big money in Gandhara? youre kidding me...i am talking serious, i don't know if i should spend money in my cities and remain east or go west...
Uh, Gandhara IS big money. Not sure what you mean... Go southeast into India, capture Sindh, Gandhara, and uh... the other one... I want to say Taxashila? Then go westwards either against the Sauromatae or the Arche. I'd recommend defeating the Sauromatae and expanding across the steppes, because you can keep the Arche at bay with a few halfstacks of HAs, and the Sauros don't usually ever attack you until you attack them first as Saka, so you can take 2-3 settlements before they can respond, and even then they're distracted by Hayasdan, Getai, and Koinon Hellenon usually so you can make quick work of them.
gamegeek2
05-21-2011, 18:16
Taksashila = capital of Gandhara. Has 3 mines, I think, and amazing recruitment. One of the best cities in the game.
athanaric
05-22-2011, 10:17
Taksashila = capital of Gandhara. Has 3 mines, I think, and amazing recruitment. One of the best cities in the game.
It has only one mine, which is always upgraded by the time you capture it though. Plenty of other resources as well. Sattagydia and Sindh have two mines each, also upgraded.
Sindh has the worst recruitment options of the three (still pretty good though, with Guild Warriors and Elephants and all that), but is the strongest in economical terms because of the two mines plus the possibility to build a level 2 port plus some other goodies.
strategos roma
05-22-2011, 12:14
Just started a Saka campaign and started by killing off the Parthians then going really deep into the AS. I've now got Assak, Margiane, Apameia, Hekatompylos, Marakanda and Alexndreia-Eschate and am moving on Gabai while planning an invasion on Bactria seeing as their main army is beseiging some slave city in the steppes. Didn't bother with any slave cities; too hard to take with their HAs. I've now got the reforms but no idea how to get the new units; can anyone help me out there? Some advice on their government options and building tree would also be much appreciated.
You should read about them searching topics. There's a walkthrough with the first few turns teaching how to get green economy fast.
To get the reformed units you need to build an allied government. Build Indigenous Sentlement to enable Allied Government. Then build the barracks for local soldiers. The reforms enable the use of these local soldiers.
I have a problem. All my nobles and HA are at east conquering those cities with gold mines. To secure my border against AS I had to train levy troops (greek levy spearmen and persian archers) and fortify Persepolis.
My problem is to train Saka Heavy Hoplites (those after reforms) at Persepolis, I cant build Allied Govern there, only nomadism and pastoralism are available. RV says I can train Indo-Saka units at Persepolis but I cant do it.
It's not easy defend a city with levy troops and I am being sieged every year. What to do?
strategos roma
05-23-2011, 00:36
You should read about them searching topics. There's a walkthrough with the first few turns teaching how to get green economy fast.
To get the reformed units you need to build an allied government. Build Indigenous Sentlement to enable Allied Government. Then build the barracks for local soldiers. The reforms enable the use of these local soldiers.
Thx mate. So all the reform units need the allied gov, even the late Saka catas? Also, how do I get client rulers?
@ xzGAB: Have you buit the Indigenous settlements building?
@ strategos roma: Nomadic client rulers require a fix. Check the tech forum for 1.2 fixes.
Yeah, I sell enemy govern, build Indigenous Sentlement and the Allied building doesn't come. Migration is still out there. Is this a bug? I just took Gabai and the same happened: build Indigenous and Allied doesnt show up.
Saka catas replace the general armored nobles. Your general will not shoot anymore, but will be heavier and the new weapon to replace the bow, very good at mellee (use Alt after the charge).
But this will not occur with Saka reform, but with generic reform. Saka reform only enable you to use regional soldiers
Maybe it's the mixed hidden resource kicking in. Not sure if that hinders allied gov. though. Can anyone confirm?
Yeah, I sell enemy govern, build Indigenous Sentlement and the Allied building doesn't come. Migration is still out there. Is this a bug? I just took Gabai and the same happened: build Indigenous and Allied doesnt show up.
My 1st time with them - I have the reforms, and have conquered south and west all the way to Persepolis - yet the ONLY option for an allied gov (and hence to build proper foot soldiers) is in Baktra. Has anyone any idea just where you can build allied govs as Saka (I'm guessing in Pakistan and the Indus)? Defending Persepolis with just generals and horse archers (and winning heroic victory after HV) is getting a little stale.
Taxshala (or whattever is the name of the city) and the other 2 cities east can have an AlliedG. I saw tha maps and Persepolis is marked as a mixed city, so we cant have AG there. Baktra isnt the only place to recruit reform soldiers, you can train them at Kophen too. According to the map after Persepolis we dont find mixed cities, so I hope my Saka Heavy Hoplites can be recruited there.
I am planning to conquer AS and change my style of fighting. I want to have 2 armies of campaign. One with saka hoplites as infantrymen supported by archers and maybe cheap HA and 3 or 4 heavy horsemen. This will be my main army and will be supported by another "old style" cheap HA half stack with 3-4 heavy horsemen. Blitz and conquer.
Drewski, dont forget to conquer the 3 cities at east, they all have very good gold mines. Dont forget the 1.2 fix too. It is not easy to maintain public order because of the distance to capital, so a client ruler is very important
Taxshala (or whattever is the name of the city) and the other 2 cities east can have an AlliedG. I saw tha maps and Persepolis is marked as a mixed city, so we cant have AG there. Baktra isnt the only place to recruit reform soldiers, you can train them at Kophen too. According to the map after Persepolis we dont find mixed cities, so I hope my Saka Heavy Hoplites can be recruited there.
I am planning to conquer AS and change my style of fighting. I want to have 2 armies of campaign. One with saka hoplites as infantrymen supported by archers and maybe cheap HA and 3 or 4 heavy horsemen. This will be my main army and will be supported by another "old style" cheap HA half stack with 3-4 heavy horsemen. Blitz and conquer.
Drewski, dont forget to conquer the 3 cities at east, they all have very good gold mines. Dont forget the 1.2 fix too. It is not easy to maintain public order because of the distance to capital, so a client ruler is very important Don't worry, I have the fixes but thanks for mentioning them ;)
Where can I find this map that you mention?
Yeah. I know all about the Indus cities, but all have at least 2 elephants (3 with an elephant general if he/they are still alive), plus Infantry Guild Men- until I can afford an army with some foot skirmishers etc., they are really tough asks to take.
I'm trying this, because I started a Sauro campaign recently, and frankly found it mind-numbingly boring (all HA armies are basically one tactic, abuse the ais idocy while running away, then charge with FMs). At least I got the hang of the different govt. types.
Saka interested me because I didn't know they could quickly get "traditional" type of armies, which mixed with their insane FMs, makes for some interesting battles and tactics. I think I'll start again, and not bother blitzing all the way to Persepolis this time.
EDIT: Never mind I found a map -its here (https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/511/hrnomadmixed2cv.gif/) if anyone else wants it
strategos roma
05-24-2011, 13:36
I managed to get out of debt and finished building the final level of barracks in my capital but some of the units listed on the EB website were missing. I couldnt any catas but did find an unit called armoured bodyguards, which I thought were same as my FMs, only to discover that they didn't have any missiles and were actually catas. Is this normal?
Btw, after killing of the Parthians, their remaining fm who became slave suddenly had their bodyguards changed to Brihentin. Anyone seen this before?
their remaining fm who became slave suddenly had their bodyguards changed to Brihentin. Anyone seen this before? oh, yeah many times :(
Btw, after killing of the Parthians, their remaining fm who became slave suddenly had their bodyguards changed to Brihentin. Anyone seen this before?
Exactly the same thing happened to me....
I killed off the Pahlava AND The Bactrians insanely early in my 2nd Saka try. Bactra had a full stack sieging Kophen,and I attacked a half stack in Baktra, with just 3 generals, and they had another 3 quarter stack in relief. My spy opened the gates, and I thought "what the heck, lets kill as many as possible then run away". Miraculously, one general occupied the town square---3.00 and counting down- I managed to use the other two generals to blockade the approaches, and the relieving army were 15 seconds too late :) Baktra dead....
Pahlava left one city almost completely unguarded, so I attack a turn or two later and took it. To my horror, a full stack appeared by their last remaining city, but then proceded to march upon the one I'd just conquered (doh), which allowed a heroic victory by just one FM and a unit of HA against the few units garrisoned there. Pahlava dead.
But now HUGE problem. The Hay never attacked the AS. Pontus have just signed a peace treaty with the AS. So the AS attack me, and immediately sign a peace treaty with the Ptols (I mean come on - "Hey Ptols, lets stop fighting over all these valuable middle eastern/anatolyian cities, some upstart Horsemen have just conquered a couple of tiny valueless towns in the middle of nowhere, let's fight them instead!")
Taking out both Pahlava and Baktra by 268BC, means that the AS become just too powerful, with too few enemies....
AS become just too powerful, with too few enemies
The problem is AS have good units after persepolis. The small villages at the border with Baktra (your early targets) are badly defensed but cities near the heart of the AS are very well defended and your arrows will kill only shooting at the backs of the enemy. Saka infantry and superarmored FMs (after generic reform) are very important now
kill only shooting at the backs of the enemy if at all :( - TAB
Cute Wolf
05-26-2011, 13:44
if at all :( - TAB
something worse, have you seen AS TAB SPAM? they're actually worse than Argyraspidai spam because they can't be killed via normal archery ways, and will rip the hell out of you in melee
yeah, had that, especially annoying when you just trained a bunch o Cav archers(as KH) and try to get them into the Field when you get caught at a ford deep in hostile territory! maaan I had to send a new stack to get an ample number of steppe raiders in the field :/
that was close to beeing the first Heroic Victory for the AI ^^
When faceing TABs you really need some AP units, or at least phalangites.
moonburn
05-27-2011, 13:06
thorokitai annoying bullduzorers after the arche reforms those dudes just refuse to die :|and they have thicker armour then most of ww2 tanks
strategos roma
05-27-2011, 13:11
What is TAB SPAM?
TAB is the acronym for the elite Seleucid Thorakitai Agematou Basilikoi which are covered from head to foot in mail armour. You can imagine the sheer futility of shooting at them with your HAs...
I've also wiped out Parthia and am now seiging Baktra. The AS isn;t too strong...so far Susa, Ekbatana and Persepolis are still only lightly held and no spamming of elites or indeed any sort of troops anywhere, so I think that after overunning what remains of their far east provinces I can take a break and really consolidate my gains and maybe invade India and those slave villages in the middle of nowhere.
If they are so heavy they should tire fast. Can't we use this against them?
yeah tho even tired tin cans need an opener to get in - and in this case have spears so will take some of your lancers with them should you decide to charge them with cavalry. So unless you have slingers(or AP javelins in their back) you'll suffer mentionable casualties.
they have whooping great 19 as armor value, that (by far) the highest value for all infantry units(some elite units have 14 but the mainstray is far below that), which is actually even more than your bodyguards (at least that's what the unit list says, gotta check that later on) and is only surpassed by cataphracts and elite cataphracts with values between 20 and 30
The Vasci man-tanks (Dosidataskeli) are better (23 armour, 18 moral instead of 16) but disabled since 1.2 because the AI would spam them and steamroll through europe.
And they were actually only ONE unit of elite guards of one Tribes leader. I've intentionally left them and their Irish brethen out of my post because of that
CashMunny
05-29-2011, 14:35
U meen yn rill lyfe oar yn da gaem cus da gaem daey liek a trupe u cen reakrut too dew sum batles yn stuf ya naw meen
U meen yn rill lyfe oar yn da gaem cus da gaem daey liek a trupe u cen reakrut too dew sum batles yn stuf ya naw meen
What the hell is this language?
CashMunny
05-29-2011, 19:40
What the hell is this language?
You mean in real life or in the game because the game they like a troop you can recruit to do some battles and stuff you know what I mean?
Sometimes my half retarded brother Luey from down the street likes to steal my internets, it's not his fault his teachers didn't understand how to tell him math and his adopted uncle Harvey beat him until he was black and yellow.
stratigos vasilios
05-30-2011, 08:53
You mean in real life or in the game because the game they like a troop you can recruit to do some battles and stuff you know what I mean?
Sometimes my half retarded brother Luey from down the street likes to steal my internets, it's not his fault his teachers didn't understand how to tell him math and his adopted uncle Harvey beat him until he was black and yellow.
I sincerely hope your joking. As a clinician, using the R word in practice would land me in huge trouble.
CashMunny
05-30-2011, 11:28
I sincerely hope your joking. As a clinician, using the R word in practice would land me in huge trouble.
My half retarded brother Luey is half retarded, I don't understand what you mean. He was diagnosed with HR-ism by his mom Placid Bill Hickok, who happens to be the fastest shot in the east.
stratigos vasilios
05-30-2011, 14:12
My half retarded brother Luey is half retarded, I don't understand what you mean. He was diagnosed with HR-ism by his mom Placid Bill Hickok, who happens to be the fastest shot in the east.
We're told to use more appropriate terms such as intellectual disability, people with impaired cognitive funtion or mental retardation (note the word mental before retardation). There seems to be an associated stigma with the word 'retard' and it is a broad term which can be used incorrectly to encompass a range of intellectual disabilities. As far as I am aware, there is no classification as 'half retarded' in any form/type of intellectual disability.
Now I think we should get back to topic.
Atraphoenix
05-30-2011, 16:06
Haven't played a nomadic faction in a long time, but isn't there a province or two with the nomad resource around Getai's starting lands? Might make Greece the best bet, since you could conquer north and be able to recruit more of Saka's non elite cavalry.
On the other hand, I migrated to Carthage as the Sauromatae and had a lot of fun. Used Numidian cavalry as my fodder to back up the elite cavalry I could build by settling...
I had tried Saba!
DRAGONS ON ARABIA LOL!!
Mate, never mess with your nomad kins, the rest world no match for you if you know how to micromanage battles with nomads....
CashMunny
05-30-2011, 20:03
As far as I am aware, there is no classification as 'half retarded' in any form/type of intellectual disability.
Ok well tell that to poor Luey. He can't do any maths and his brain is all stupid inside it like it was a scrambled egg inside a parfait made from the tears of grown men and the sweat of elderly babies.
But he can do pianos and he's the best at Pac-Man everyone gives him all their dollars to do pianos.
sound like He's sort of an autist...
oh but back to topic... eh...
Mate, never mess with your nomad kins, the rest world no match for you if you know how to micromanage battles with nomads.... Very true Fighting horse Archers is no fun!! well unlessyou've got moreArmored horse archers than he's got unormal ones :D.
Too bad about your brother, but you should not talk like this about him, it is not a funny thing to have autism. I sense some bullying. Was he diagnosed by a doctor?
stratigos vasilios
05-31-2011, 07:49
Ok well tell that to poor Luey. He can't do any maths and his brain is all stupid inside it like it was a scrambled egg inside a parfait made from the tears of grown men and the sweat of elderly babies.
But he can do pianos and he's the best at Pac-Man everyone gives him all their dollars to do pianos.
I wouldn't do that. It's not in my scope of practice nor would it be any practitioners to do online in a forum. Describing his brain, as you did, is an inappropriate way to recognise and support his condition. Please show some courtesy to those with an intellectual disability.
Definately now back to topic.
I've had some unsuccessful runs as Saka before. Common agreement is to get into India asap? Or Baktria first?
Definately now back to topic.
:yes:
Atraphoenix
06-01-2011, 00:22
I've had some unsuccessful runs as Saka before. Common agreement is to get into India asap? Or Baktria first?
Why not AS? No matter Pahlavs or Sakas I target them at the first sight... India is torture you lack money to hire peltastai to kill the beasts and baktria will give you just a city and lots of casulties....
Even you can try far south like me Arabia :laugh4:
You are nomad you have no permenant residence .... the world is not enough....
CashMunny
06-01-2011, 01:36
That is a weird strategy. AS has fairly poor eastern territories, and Baktria/India are super rich. And I never have trouble with elephants as the Saka, that's what Dahae Skirmisher Cavalry is for. Kill around 10 of the elephants and the rest start to flip out and kill their own guys half the time anyways, so they're not much of a challenge. Indian guild warriors? Die like flies against HAs. Indian Longbowmen? Charge those buggers with your bodyguard straightaway, before they get a chance to let loose a volley from those death machines and you're fine. And the Baktrians use the same troops as the AS basically, so why would you lose many men? I don't understand. But hey, if it works for you, whatever.
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