ReluctantSamurai
06-20-2011, 01:46
@ cowkiller
I hope you don’t mind that I’m posting a reply to your PM here in the forum. I just thought you’d get a more varied input if other forum members chip in with their suggestions.
Here’s how I play the Greek Cities.
First order of business is to kick both the Scipii and the Carthaginians off of Sicily. You have a walled city….neither of them do, so you have an advantage in a siege situation. Recruit every merc available ASAP, and train as many regular hoplites as you can afford (not the militia type). The greatest threat, at the start, is Hanno and his elephants (the Carthaginian army). Let yourself be sieged, if necessary. Your hoplites will be deadly in the narrow streets of Syracuse. You also start with an archer unit. Flaming arrows work wonders at getting elephants to ‘run amok’ killing many of their own soldiers. The Romans at this stage are a pushover. They will have no archers and little if any, cavalry. The Scipii come with Velite skirmishers, and Hastati light infantry. Neither of them very dangerous, at this point. The biggest threat are the Roman generals. Kill them off in battle as soon as you can. Once their armies are eliminated, take their cities. Get a navy going ASAP to intercept the constant attempts by the Scipii at landing reinforcements. If you can sink them at sea, you won’t have to bother fighting them on land. Carthage will rarely try to retake Lilybaeum, so you can land a diplomat near Carthage, make peace, and get trade rights, which will help the finances a lot.
While all this is happening, get a wall around Sparta, put up the Temple of Nike (grants an exp bonus to troops among other things), and get ready to defend Thermon, which is most often the early target for the Brutii or the Macedonians. Get to at least Hoplites if not the Armored Hoplites in your barracks. Either stand well against Macedonian cavalry charges and do well against Roman light infantry, with the armored variety being much better at it. Again, a strong navy will stifle the Brutii if you can prevent reinforcements from reaching Epirus. Both Apollonia and Salona are mere fishing villages, so it will take the Brutii some time to get barracks developed enough for Hastati.
It’s a wait-and-see kind of thing. If the Macedonians get involved in fighting Dacia, Thrace, or both (which is often the case), don’t provoke them just yet. Concentrate on defending Thermon from the Brutii, and then taking Apollonia and Salona from them. Once you’ve done that, and your navy is pummeling anything Roman, you can turn on Macedonia. Be prepared!! You will face hordes of Light Lancers….every Macedonian stack will have 4-8 units of them, sometimes as many as 10. The antidote for them that I use is Greek Cavalry….lots of them. Light Lancers have a deadly high charge bonus of 15, so the secret to killing them is to hit them before they charge! They have rather weak melee stats and light defensive capabilities, so Greek Cavalry will handle them easily if they can catch them before the Lancers charge. Double stack your hoplites, six row deep…one behind another. The secret for phalanx in stopping them is to have overlapping, deep, formations. If the Lancers wedge up and break a unit with the first charge, that unit will have a difficult time recovering and will often rout. That’s why I suggest six ranks (or even seven) instead of the normal five, and stacking another unit directly behind. Once you can break a Light Lancer charge, they are essentially as good as dead and will more often rout off the battlefield.
Over in Anatolia, I usually play a waiting game and develop Pergamum to a high degree. You have great access to Cretan Archers (one of the best archer types in the game), Bastarnae heavy infantry, and Sarmatian heavy cavalry in the merc pool for Phrygia and Galatia provinces. Once I have the Romans on the run and I’m rolling through Macedonia, then I start making advances in Asia Minor.
To sum up, you need a strong navy (get to at least triremes, which requires a shipwright, and then quinquiremes, which requires a dockyard), control of Sicily ASAP, and eliminate both the Scipii, Brutii, and Macedonians before going on a world conquest.
There are lots of specifics, of course, but just bring up your problems and I’m sure you will find lots of helpful answers here.
I hope you don’t mind that I’m posting a reply to your PM here in the forum. I just thought you’d get a more varied input if other forum members chip in with their suggestions.
Here’s how I play the Greek Cities.
First order of business is to kick both the Scipii and the Carthaginians off of Sicily. You have a walled city….neither of them do, so you have an advantage in a siege situation. Recruit every merc available ASAP, and train as many regular hoplites as you can afford (not the militia type). The greatest threat, at the start, is Hanno and his elephants (the Carthaginian army). Let yourself be sieged, if necessary. Your hoplites will be deadly in the narrow streets of Syracuse. You also start with an archer unit. Flaming arrows work wonders at getting elephants to ‘run amok’ killing many of their own soldiers. The Romans at this stage are a pushover. They will have no archers and little if any, cavalry. The Scipii come with Velite skirmishers, and Hastati light infantry. Neither of them very dangerous, at this point. The biggest threat are the Roman generals. Kill them off in battle as soon as you can. Once their armies are eliminated, take their cities. Get a navy going ASAP to intercept the constant attempts by the Scipii at landing reinforcements. If you can sink them at sea, you won’t have to bother fighting them on land. Carthage will rarely try to retake Lilybaeum, so you can land a diplomat near Carthage, make peace, and get trade rights, which will help the finances a lot.
While all this is happening, get a wall around Sparta, put up the Temple of Nike (grants an exp bonus to troops among other things), and get ready to defend Thermon, which is most often the early target for the Brutii or the Macedonians. Get to at least Hoplites if not the Armored Hoplites in your barracks. Either stand well against Macedonian cavalry charges and do well against Roman light infantry, with the armored variety being much better at it. Again, a strong navy will stifle the Brutii if you can prevent reinforcements from reaching Epirus. Both Apollonia and Salona are mere fishing villages, so it will take the Brutii some time to get barracks developed enough for Hastati.
It’s a wait-and-see kind of thing. If the Macedonians get involved in fighting Dacia, Thrace, or both (which is often the case), don’t provoke them just yet. Concentrate on defending Thermon from the Brutii, and then taking Apollonia and Salona from them. Once you’ve done that, and your navy is pummeling anything Roman, you can turn on Macedonia. Be prepared!! You will face hordes of Light Lancers….every Macedonian stack will have 4-8 units of them, sometimes as many as 10. The antidote for them that I use is Greek Cavalry….lots of them. Light Lancers have a deadly high charge bonus of 15, so the secret to killing them is to hit them before they charge! They have rather weak melee stats and light defensive capabilities, so Greek Cavalry will handle them easily if they can catch them before the Lancers charge. Double stack your hoplites, six row deep…one behind another. The secret for phalanx in stopping them is to have overlapping, deep, formations. If the Lancers wedge up and break a unit with the first charge, that unit will have a difficult time recovering and will often rout. That’s why I suggest six ranks (or even seven) instead of the normal five, and stacking another unit directly behind. Once you can break a Light Lancer charge, they are essentially as good as dead and will more often rout off the battlefield.
Over in Anatolia, I usually play a waiting game and develop Pergamum to a high degree. You have great access to Cretan Archers (one of the best archer types in the game), Bastarnae heavy infantry, and Sarmatian heavy cavalry in the merc pool for Phrygia and Galatia provinces. Once I have the Romans on the run and I’m rolling through Macedonia, then I start making advances in Asia Minor.
To sum up, you need a strong navy (get to at least triremes, which requires a shipwright, and then quinquiremes, which requires a dockyard), control of Sicily ASAP, and eliminate both the Scipii, Brutii, and Macedonians before going on a world conquest.
There are lots of specifics, of course, but just bring up your problems and I’m sure you will find lots of helpful answers here.