View Full Version : Hints 4 destroying Ptolemaic Empire/Egypt
scorillo
06-21-2005, 20:49
I have serious difficulties against Ptolemaic Empire....it`s pretty late (26 BC) so they are very powerful....their armies are not that strong against my legionaires...but are MANY!! ...many stupid armies !!...once i slain one full army of theirs...2nd turn another full banner army is attacking me...and so on.Only me (Julii) and Ptolemaic Empire are on the map...While i was busy conquering the world, they become powerful...and now they are the last stronghold against me...making the all map RED !!
Is somebody here who was in my situation ? please HELP..any advice i will consider ~:cheers:
Attack on multiple fronts and use a large number of stacks (armies) in your pushes. Don't let them concentrate their efforts, if you feel your forces are being slowed down, land another army at a different point in their territory to keep them on their toes. In other words keep their forces divided and eliminate them one by one.
scorillo
06-21-2005, 20:59
i hope will work...i`m sick of bribing egyptians to not attack my abroad strategic armies =) cheers ~:cheers:
i hope will work...i`m sick of bribing egyptians to not attack my abroad strategic armies =) cheers ~:cheers:
If that doesn't work explain how it failed, I'm sure someone (if i don't have a clue) will then help out ~:cheers: Good luck in your conquests
professorspatula
06-21-2005, 21:19
Definitely attack on more than one front. And also consider using spies and assassins to reduce the troop building capabilities of large cities you want to take. If they can't build any new units from the nearby cities, they'll need to bring in reinforcements from further away, which gives you time to march onwards, destroy any immediate forces and take the cities.
To be honest though, perservance and patience will be important. I don't think I'd have the patience to try and wipe out the sole remaining enemy, not without auto-resolving most of the battles.
Dutch_guy
06-21-2005, 21:22
wow you managed to get to the year 26 BC ? you really have been playing that game a long time ~:cheers:
my advice would be attacking from different directions , order a couple of army's to invade from the pontus direction , and let other armys land from the western side, ( from carthage / siwa ) also land a couple of army's were they least expect it., like in front of Alexandria.
If you then continue to take their 3 most important citys ( thebes , alexandria en memphis ) you are well on your way in destroying those stinking egyptians !
:balloon2:
My advice is the Usual If you make alot of $ then just bribe the Non-General armies.
I assume at this point you have more or less unlimited money, so begin the strategic bombing:
1. Blockade all ports.
2. Invade with spies/assassins and sabotage the troop and economic infrastructure. Pretty much every city you have that is not making troops should be making assassins and spies (and the boats to transport them) and pumping them towards the Nile.
3. If you don't think you can hold a city, take it, exterminate it, retrain (if you have time), loot it, and leave it. Repeat on another front. Gift cities back to them to prevent rebel uber-peasants, and they will have to spend money to rebuild.
4. Find less defended cities in the backfield to attack or bribe. Burn these as stated in #3.
5. Bribe their generals and use them to create merc armies behind the lines. Definitely buy all mercs to keep the Egyptians from getting them, even if they are just cannon(chariot) fodder.
6. Siege cities whenever possible, even if you can't take them over. Disrupts build queues and econ.
Against Egypt, no tactic is too cheesy or underhanded. Use wardogs, elephants, onagers, whatever you have to do. They deserve it! ~;)
I've said it before in other threads, but don't make Hannibals mistake. Its the cities that count.
You can win all the battles you want in the field but if you don't take the cities you're gonna lose in the end. Add Onagers to a few armies and land them next to cities. You can avoid a siege that way and immediatly attack the city before Egypt can react. As you take cities you can also whittle down their armies if you want. But if you don't take the cities, they'll simply rebuild whatever you destroy in the field on their next turn.
Elmar Bijlsma
06-21-2005, 22:48
Tactically, use ranged combat. As much Cretan archers as you can get. Six per army is about all you need. Get a number of your most powerful melee troops. Behind these you place 6 onagers. put those on flame and watch approaching or defnding Egypians melt away. Deal with the remnants that get close with the Cretans placed just in front off the onagers (take skirmish off). If you feel you can't stop them before they reach your onagers place your melee troops infront of the onagers instead and place Cretans behind the Onages. Yes, gamey as Hades and I didn't use this tactic since the first campaign but darn it's effective.
scorillo
06-21-2005, 23:03
well....i hold the Asia Minor...and some ex-Parthians cities near the Caspic Sea,....i also hold Damascus,Sidon here i`m stuck,....like i was said..large egyptians armies are coming from south....i have 2 full banner armies...one is out fighting in east near India and Ural Mountains...and with the second (wich includes 10 urban cohorts) i try to make my way in south....i always train them after battles to have 20 full units per army.Both are balanced with good XP and armour.With this army i can beat 2-3 full egyptian armies...after that i must train them....and so on
You guys are right, i must have more armies,and i should send one army in africa to,but i think it won`t last long because i don`t hold any cities there to train them....even so...i must make a direct hit in a huge city, so that can have urban or army barracks at least....I`ve counted,Ptolemaic`s hold over 20 settlements...including all the Arabia Peninsula.They are streching from Lupcis Magnus in Africa to India.My weastern africans settlements are attacked in every turn , so i allways train the soldiers...this way, the cities cannot grow up until i can build an advanced barracks type.So eastern way is the only chance,in east i`ved build everything that it could be build from the building browser.I`ve tried....i brought armies from Greece, from Spain,even "eagles" from Rome...but no use
My financial situation is good,but not that good....i have about 1,2 milion dinari but is getting lower with 4000-5000 every turn because of my large armies.anyway...i will begin bribing cities to finish this campaign in a way or another
I HOPE ! i will manage to destroy the ptolemaic`s on the battlefield so i can be ruler of the world...despite is a very hard job...i never got this far...but i want to finish the campaign until 14 AD ..so far so good ~D ~:cheers:
thanks 2 everybody :bow:
Make a beeline for Memphis.
Not holding the Pyramid makes them very screwed public order wise.
Abuse your Post-Marian troops.
Pour full stacks of Urban Cohorts and Praetorian Cav down their throat.
Sack their cities ASAP with many onagers etc.
Don't focus too much on missile troops. The bowmen would likely outnumber you significantly to make this not worthwhile.
Build hordes of heavily armored melee troops and storm away.
With unlimited money, play dirty with diplomats. Have their lands swarming with them, picking off errant stacks.
I remember the one time those Egypitans attacked & I got the enslaved message of my citizens.... after that I raised three Spartan armies, shipped them down there, & sacqued three cities, around six armies, multiple family members, their Pharoh as well, along with over (if I remember correctly, my newest campaign in just six hours I've slaughtered over 40,000 enemies at least), but well over 50,000 of their citizens, in response to them.
Also, I sacqued over 4 of their cities, all over 30K, one previously before the main strike, was a quick response while I was building my Spartan armies, so I'd say the number was a lot higher than what I'm thinking at the moment.
So, slaugher them all my friend, you will get ride of their sorry skins, & you will gain much more money to finish your conquest!
:book:
I've said it before in other threads, but don't make Hannibals mistake. Its the cities that count.
You can win all the battles you want in the field but if you don't take the cities you're gonna lose in the end. Add Onagers to a few armies and land them next to cities. You can avoid a siege that way and immediatly attack the city before Egypt can react. As you take cities you can also whittle down their armies if you want. But if you don't take the cities, they'll simply rebuild whatever you destroy in the field on their next turn.
But u gotta know what was said about Hannibal " Hannibal Knew how to gain Victory but didnt know how to use it."
ChaosLord
06-22-2005, 02:40
I suggest you make a beeline for their core cities. Alexandria, Mephis, and whatever the others are. Split their empire in half and then weather whatever they throw at the newly conquered cities. Once thats done, you should be able to begin taking the rest of their cities. Those cities are the major production/trade/etc.. centers for Egypt. It also has the pyramids, which will help greatly in your conquest. Thats how I did it when I played Scipii, I landed three armies on the shores(2 assault armies, 1 balanced defense army). Took citys with my assault armies while using the balanced army to defend while they advanced, worked pretty well.
_Aetius_
06-22-2005, 12:27
I have serious difficulties against Ptolemaic Empire....it`s pretty late (26 BC) so they are very powerful....their armies are not that strong against my legionaires...but are MANY!! ...many stupid armies !!...once i slain one full army of theirs...2nd turn another full banner army is attacking me...and so on.Only me (Julii) and Ptolemaic Empire are on the map...While i was busy conquering the world, they become powerful...and now they are the last stronghold against me...making the all map RED !!
Is somebody here who was in my situation ? please HELP..any advice i will consider
Its always the same boring problem on this damn game, the enemy isnt particularly skilled or smart hasnt a decent quality army but because no battle is ever really decisive its practically impossible to destroy an empire with hundreds of thousands of men.
No matter how many times you kill 2500 Ptolemys in battle theres another 220,000 to go and they replace the losses immediately anyway.
Thats one of the biggest flaws in the game, as the romans on RTR ive slaughtered over 16,000 Ptolemys in 4 years and their military has declined about half a cm on the military graph.
Therefore I estimate itd take about another 100 plus massive battles JUST to be able to dominate their empire. Battles on Medieval used to mean something, on RTW no matter how big the battle it seldom makes any difference whatsoever.
Did you head straight for the core cities? Kill all the cities and be satisfied by the sight of all their full stacks turning gray.
If you use 1 unit armies on the strategic map as screens, you can avoid fighting many of the battles.
Also, crank out many troops and provided you have far more money and resources, just autocalc them to death.
scorillo
06-22-2005, 17:49
now other problems occured ~:) their diplomats began bribing my non-governators cities...and my armies within disappear !!...It`s hard to bring governors to Asia because most of them are in europe...dont know why the AI put them in europe only....I`ved sacked Alexandria and Memphis but are besieged every turn....Now 2 full banners armies both with generals are attacking Memphis...Does not accept bribe...These egyptians are crazy !!!...I`m attacked on every front with huge armies...don`t know how are so many !!...Now rebelions are agravatting my situation with their rebelions.....I`m bored of playing this campaign !!!!! :furious3: ...next time when i want to conquer the world i should attack first the egyptians and then the rest...anyway it`s 4 BC and egyptians hold 16 settlemets...don`t think i will be able to destroy them until 14 AD...i will quit playing this campaign but i will save the game to be more safe.
Anyway thanks 2 everybody for the help ~:cheers: ....and maybe somebody will revenge me ~:) ...by conquering the world...btw...does someone finished the campaign by destroying all the factions...making the map their colour ??
so u know i`m playing H/M Mundus Magnus mod
and when i think about the realistic story of the egyptians....sorry if i`m wrong but...i know that egyptians were easly conquered, when cleopatra comited suicide,so Marc Antonius gets the land,they were no match for romans.....but this is RTW the GAME ! ~:)
The Stranger
06-22-2005, 18:30
as monk said attack all sides
train well balanced armies with enough archers
if youre a good defender lure them in attacking you
if youre a good attacker, attack them on grounds where you have advantage.
block their harbors and take their large cities as fast as possible this way youll destroy their economy and also their ability to train large and quality armies
Well when the fighting is tough for me, I start taking cities that does not have a large stack nearby sack it throw in a garrison.
After weakening them then I start taking on there full stacks. Egypt has 1 huge advantage in this game, they can always win a war of attririon, that's why you need to avoid large stacks until you've taken enough cities to hurt there treasury.
@scorillo, you have much patience. I only completely conquered the world once and that was with the Greek Cities in 248 BC.
It loses its flavor eventually as it's more or less just a logistics nightmare in the endgame with organizing 10+ armies around and shipping governors/generals towards the front.
scorillo
06-22-2005, 18:40
a short story about Roman Empire and their rulling emperors:
Octavianus Augustus 27 BC - 14 AD - he reastablished the empire order
Tiberius 14 AD - 37 AD - "lex majestates" he indurated the emperor`s authority
Claudius 41 AD - 54 AD - he conquers Thrace and Britannia
Nero 54 AD - 68 AD - he maked a terror regim in empire
Vespasianus 69 AD - 79 AD - he reinforced the empire and hard-set the emperor`s authority
Domitianus 81 AD - 96 AD - despotical reign,Battles with Dacia
Nerva 96 AD - 98 AD - he assigned Traianus as the succsesor
Traianus 98 AD - 117 AD - he conquers Armenia,Dacia :surrender:
:bigcry: ,in his reign the empire knewed the largest extension
Hadrianus 117 AD - 138 AD - he quits conquering,but he reinforced the empire
Marcus Aurelius 161 AD - 180 AD - Roman Empire is being attacked by barbarian nations
Septimius Severus 192 AD - 211 AD - he sets the military monarchy
Caracalla 211 AD - 217 AD - with the "Antonian constitution" he raised the citizens number
Aurelianus 270 AD - 275 AD - he retreats the overrulling armies from Dacia :balloon2:
Diocletianus 284 AD - 305 AD - reinstaured the despotic orientaly type monarchy
Constantinus 306 AD - 337 AD - he recognised the christianity
Theodosius 379 AD - 395 AD - he splits apart the Empire in 2
I`M PROUD TO BE EUROPEAN...SUCH GREAT HISTORY IN THE OLDEST CONTINENT ON EARTH ~:cheers:
I avoid traveling down near the Dead Sea. I land right at Alexandria. Take it, burn it, raze everything, kill everyone. Repeat in Memphis. Take Thebes, it seems to revolt less. Retrain all troops. Let Alexandria and Memphis revolt. Retake them. Reraze them. Kill as if you were creeping death. Then work your way north.
I can't keep Memphis and Alexandria even with garrisons of 1500. Kill, raze, lather, rinse, repeat.
I`M PROUD TO BE EUROPEAN...SUCH GREAT HISTORY IN THE OLDEST CONTINENT ON EARTH ~:cheers:
Um, are you a moron? No offense or anything mate, but think about this... all of the major continents are the "same age", aside of small exceptions such as Hawaii, but that is an island. (but then so is every land mass, since they are "all" surrounded by water)
Europe is not the "oldest continent"... if your talking about the continent that has the oldest known civilization, then you should think about the Asia area, Middle East area, Egyptian area in North Africa, they were around long before the Romans, etc. :book:
scorillo
06-22-2005, 19:39
Um, are you a moron? No offense or anything mate, but think about this... all of the major continents are the "same age", aside of small exceptions such as Hawaii, but that is an island. (but then so is every land mass, since they are "all" surrounded by water)
Europe is not the "oldest continent"... if your talking about the continent that has the oldest known civilization, then you should think about the Asia area, Middle East area, Egyptian area in North Africa, they were around long before the Romans, etc. :book:
OK...
Sorry, I just cant stand certain things; a bad part of my personality, if I see somthing utterly wrong, I have to intervene & explain! :dizzy2:
:duel:
pezhetairoi
06-27-2005, 04:45
You forget, in all of this... Bribing! Strategic bombing and raids aside, bribe! Bribe their diplomats, bribe their armies, bribe everything Egyptian that isn't bolted down to the desert sand! Take down some of their armies by soft words and gold instead of cold steel. That is more important than any force you can use... money has a language of its own, and must be obeyed.
Muska Burnt
06-27-2005, 07:51
build up your fronts against them and in all for each of your huge cities just make a army in each of them just wait the time them just ship all your armies to the port cities first i like doing this so i can capture 3 to 6 cities in one or two turns
I find good way to destroy Pottymatic Gypsies ~;)
Play as them!! ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D ~D
_Aetius_
06-27-2005, 11:11
Constantinus 306 AD - 337 AD - he recognised the christianity
Theodosius 379 AD - 395 AD - he splits apart the Empire in 2
Just a couple of things, Constantine did abit more than just covert to christianity, he gave the empire a binding force that would unite it for over a 1000 years etc.
Also the empire had been split way before Theodosius' time, he was simply the last emperor to rule over a united empire.
Europe is not the "oldest continent"...
Maybe not but Europe is certainly the greatest continent, no other continent has influenced the rest of the world as much as Europe, whereas it isnt the oldest its certainly the most successful.
ChaosLord
06-27-2005, 17:24
Most successful? What about Asia? They've been home to the largest empire, the longest running dynasty(I think), invention of gunpowder, etc... But this is really a silly arguement, continents are just continents, its the nations that matter. And many of Europes nations have been influenced/come from other continents, so the whole thing is moot.
But to get back on subject, scorillo how is the campaign going? You never said wether you were able to defeat the Egyptians are not. Or are your Roman scientists busy developing nuclear weapons to counter the Yellow Menance?
Assassins and spies with the plague should be applied liberally, along with razing every town and hiring all mercenaries before he can get them. It costs him much more to bribe your mercenaries than it costs you to hire them.
mfberg
_Aetius_
06-27-2005, 18:29
Most successful? What about Asia? They've been home to the largest empire, the longest running dynasty(I think), invention of gunpowder, etc...
The largest empire ever seen is the British empire, no asian empire touched and influenced every continent like europe did, the Americas dominated by English, Spanish and Portugeuse (sp?) speaking, Africa, French, English etc.
In this modern world the heart is in Europe, which sprouted outwards to change the world, it cant be denied. It doesnt mean European civilisation is of more value at all, its just Europe has contributed most to the world we see today.
The Mongol empire is the largest continueos land empire but not larger overall than the British.
Coldfish
06-27-2005, 19:14
the Greeks is the oldest known civilisation in the world...and the most advanced..thousands of years ago...so any commentary is useless
Katank had it right, go straight for Memphis. Hold that and most of your Egyptian unrest problems in other formerly Egyptian cities disappear. You won't need the Governors.
Also, you can implement the "forced migration" mod. Set peasant recruiting times to 0. When you take a city, enslave it (eases the unrest by reducing population immediately), and then make one useful unit and fill the rest of the queue with peasants. Next turn you get one useful unit and a half stack of peasants who are no longer Egyptian malcontents, they are now proud Roman peasants, who can be shipped off immediately to build up the populations of "right minded" cities closer to your Capital, or left at home to form an immediate vigilante police force.
You probably have cities like Segestia, Bylazora, Salona, Iuvavum...places that are starving for right minded peasants to do the hard work that the Barbarian peasants formerly did. Turn those formerly Large cities into Huge cities overnight with an Egypto/Roman transfusion!
The Stranger
06-28-2005, 11:40
Just a couple of things, Constantine did abit more than just covert to christianity, he gave the empire a binding force that would unite it for over a 1000 years etc.
Also the empire had been split way before Theodosius' time, he was simply the last emperor to rule over a united empire.
Maybe not but Europe is certainly the greatest continent, no other continent has influenced the rest of the world as much as Europe, whereas it isnt the oldest its certainly the most successful.
it definitly didnt. it only influenced the new world alot. from about 500 bc. not before that no way. africa and asia have influenced the world for milleniums. and europe is loosing its power. asia is rising again while the socalled west is beginning its free fall. where africa and asia were way less an hazard for the enviroment Europe actually destroyed the earth.
The Stranger
06-28-2005, 11:46
The largest empire ever seen is the British empire, no asian empire touched and influenced every continent like europe did, the Americas dominated by English, Spanish and Portugeuse (sp?) speaking, Africa, French, English etc.
In this modern world the heart is in Europe, which sprouted outwards to change the world, it cant be denied. It doesnt mean European civilisation is of more value at all, its just Europe has contributed most to the world we see today.
The Mongol empire is the largest continueos land empire but not larger overall than the British.
in this modern world the heart lies in china and india. why do you think europe is using all its power to block them. they say free trade around the world. but chinese t-shirts are not allowed. the greatest port in the world rotterdam has been passed by 2 harbours while it had the greatest turnover ever. as what europe has achieved has been made possible by the technoligy the saw/stole in other nations. while whe where running around in hides and skins in china they were drinking tea and had paper money. without there discovery of gunpowder we would never conquered africa and america.
The Stranger
06-28-2005, 11:52
the Greeks is the oldest known civilisation in the world...and the most advanced..thousands of years ago...so any commentary is useless
did yuo lost your mind. read the history books. would you call the egyptians non civilised. they builded the piramids. or the persians. not the new but the old ones. or the babylonians and the other peoples from between the 2 great rivers from where CIVILISATION SPROUTED. those greeks where so arrogant they claimed the spot in history as the oldest known civilistion.
1. egypt was older and more advanced at the time greece was populated
2.china was more advanced till 500
3. the people from the eufraat and tigris are reckoned to be the first civilise people in europe maybe the world.
so the greeks are not the oldest most advanced and difinitly not the first civilisation in the world.
Everyone who wants to talk about on early civilizations needs to read "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. Anyone interested in the current European ascendancy in contemporary history needs to read "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" by David Landis. That should give us all the same context. Then we can all have a nice book club conversation.
Aetius the Last Roman
06-28-2005, 19:26
All of this European Jingoism is, to say the least, just obnoxious.
As for the Asian jingoists I say the same.
I love how people judge superiority by regression. Each Civilisation is unique on its own count except on one count, they all fall.
The Chinese, Persian, Mongols, Arabs, Ottomans, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, British, French, German, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and Americans did a lot for the world as a whole but let's face it, comparing each one relative superiority is redundant. It takes the Civilisation in question out of context. For example, imagine if comparing the Mongol Empire to the Greek, impossible unless you have a definitive bias.
And on the modern world, face it guys, its America.
They have the best military (47% of world military spending), the largest economy ($10 trillion) and a global political presence.
China will not be able to compete with America on equal terms at least for the next 2 decades. As for India, given indian politicians nothing might ever happen.
Despite the grandeur of the European Union, Europe does not have anywhere near the power America does. Given, their combined economies have just started to equal America's but all the major countries (save the UK) are facing sharp economic downturn.
P.S I apologise for the many great civilisation I left out in my post and my Asia to Europe pattern (it was just simpler).
The Stranger
06-29-2005, 10:03
also let's face that america has the highest debt (sp?) 1000 billion. their economy is crumbling and their might is too. they're still the most powerful but not for long. europe can't compeat with america on political basis or military but it has 50% of the world market. america only has 20%
The Stranger
06-29-2005, 10:07
also the UK has a very old industry, their coming back but he, america is going down worse than any other of the western countries. face it, the GIANT IS DEAD, it's body just doesnt realise it. China is going to be the new power, maybe not tomorow but it wont take long. Europe fell after the 1st worldwar, america fell on 11 september. china fell 1000 years ago and is coming back. russia fell in the 80's though it was over in 1989. In another 400 years welcome africa boys.
To get this thread back on track, this (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=48001&highlight=egypt) link might help when taking on Egypt.
Let history stays in books and movies...
The greatest empire is humankind itself... Self destruct...
Celt Centurion
07-29-2005, 03:34
i hope will work...i`m sick of bribing egyptians to not attack my abroad strategic armies =) cheers ~:cheers:
For sure,
I don't know why it is, but Egyptians are among the toughest in the system, especially desert axemen, and the hardest to bribe.
pezhetairoi
07-29-2005, 07:32
Desert axemen are not SUPPOSED to be that strong. It's just not realistic. Just mod them, man.
They are not the hardest to bribe. They will corrupt themselves as easily as any other man when they see gold. You just need a lot of money.
On the military side, if you are confident of beating full-stacks, then by all means ignore their armies and besiege their cities. Relief full-stacks will come to their aid, and the garrison will sally out to assist. Just ensure that you rout that army COMPLETELY and the city is yours, and there, they're that much weaker. As Magnum says it well: It's the cities that count, not the battles.
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