Sauromatea Economy

[tujo33]

I am looking for some help on the economy of the sauromateas. I am unable to build mines in Gava Saka, but I'm pretty sure the mine resource is there. Is there a reason for this? Also wondering how the add money cheat works as I want to add a small incentive for each won battle (for RPing purposes) since looting battlefields would have been a major incentive for nomadic warbands. Any advice on how to counter Parthian Cataphracts & Armored Horse Archers would great too since only the Sauromatea FM's can hold a torch to these units. Thanks.

[Arjos]

I doubt nomads can build mines...
add_money xxxxxxx is the cheat
From my Sauromatae games: FMs > the rest of the world XD
But is not so nice to have a full stack of them, as for the Parthians, maybe some Messagetae or Alani, anyway the best armoured cavalry you can afford, you might try to tire the cats out...

[Ca Putt]

pahlava simply outgun you, the only thing you can do is beeing a better general than the AI or simply outnumber them withsuperior troops and a better general :D

[tujo33]

I am slowly trying to eat up khiva and just took marakanda from them but they have a stack of 3 Noble Cata's, 2 Dahae Nobles, and 2 Armoured HA's plus some infantry, not sure how I will tackle that one, and still try to keep enough $ to garrison Marakanda. Thanks for the help.

[Arjos]

Another thing you can try is shooting all your arrows and retreat, you can recruit some units each turn to keep up with casualties, but Phalava will eventually have a depleted army...
Anyway when all goes bad just blitz for cities XD

[athanaric]

I doubt nomads can build mines...
All factions can build tier 1 mines. The ability to build them was added to the Nomad build tree in 1.1 or 1.2. Seemingly the team had found supporting evidence (thank God, it's already hard enough playing them).
Gava Saka doesn't have silver or gold though, which means you can't build mines there. It has only copper mines which add to trade income. The starting province of the Saka Rauka has one mining site where you can construct a mine.
Also, Sauromatae have the weakest economy in the game, and are victim to certain unwanted side effects of the recruitment system.

Regarding counter units, the locally available Dahae skirmishers are decent and fast anti-armour units. You should use them in conjunction with heavy cavalry (such as Aorsi or Roxolani Nobles) to counter enemy heavies. They're vulnerable to arrows though.
If you want to field infantry, try using the Slavic spearmen who're better than your native ones (fear effect and so on). Skythian Axemen are also useful vs armoured units. If you manage to somehow get regional barracks in Bastarnolandam or on the Crimean peninsula, you can hire pretty powerful Greek, Dacian, and Germanic infantry. However this requires a foreign, non-Nomadic government to be present in the settlement.

[Arjos]

Nice info thx :)

[Thunder Mist]

pahlava simply outgun you, the only thing you can do is beeing a better general than the AI or simply outnumber them withsuperior troops and a better general :D

Eh. Personally, I wouldn't even bother trying to outfight the Pahlava. Too difficult. It'd be much more rewarding, I think, to gather your armies into a single horde and migrate your people to new and distant lands where the Pahlavan cataphracts cannot reach you.

[Ca Putt]

I was asumeing that he wanted to to beat them, offcource for Sauromatae running away is indeed an option

[tujo33]

I've been able to beat them and take Marakanda now, what I'm struggling with now is the unrest in my cities. Distance to capital is so huge that it's taking the fun away from the game since I can't govern so many cities without huge garrisons and huge costs.

[Blxz]

I've been able to beat them and take Marakanda now, what I'm struggling with now is the unrest in my cities. Distance to capital is so huge that it's taking the fun away from the game since I can't govern so many cities without huge garrisons and huge costs.

Feel free to edit the buildings file. When I was first learning the game I put in a small law or happiness bonus for my faction into the core buildings to offset the distance to capital penalty (which sucks). Otherwise the important thing to do is make sure you only use the most cost-effective units to garrison. No point having cavalry or high quality ground archers doing garrison duty.

[fomalhaut]

WOW so the complaints about the economy are true, Sauromatae really do have a piss poor economy. Not that I don't mind, nor do I think that it's inconsistent with steppe way of life, and it's also a great challenge.

I find myself using a small amount of units and literally just one (or none) Sarmatian bowmen for garrison duties. I truly do just consider the towns in the game to be simply camps, a place to resupply every now and then. I just have the family members of the Sauromatae confederacy and some of their noble retainers whoop on the true threats to the east and south

You honestly just have to roleplay it, know that the Yavanas of the south are your target and where your riches will come from. You will be feasting on the wealth of the Bosphoran Kingdom soon enough, great king

[SwebozGaztiz]

The thing about adding some extra bonus for law and happines is good, im also doing a sauromatae campaign which is in hold at the moment, but basically a good way to get some extra cash is raiding some towns and leave them to to revolt and do that again. If u conquer any seleukid towns remember to destro all the buildings which are not useful for u that will give some cash fast and if there are towns that dont need a garrison dont leave any units. Remember to effectively use ur family members either as admins or warrios(specially as warrios) u can pretty much conquer a big area of land with a few ha and a couple of family members. keep it up and good luck dude!