Paaaaarrrrtttthhhiiiiaaaaaaaa....

[Gaius Magnus]

I just played a custom battle as Parthia.

Oh maaaaan that took a loooong time.

I played against Macedonia. Macedon had:

1 Armoured General
4 Light Lancers
2 Archers
1 Peltast
6 Royal Pikemen

Parthia (me) had:

1 Eastern General
8 Persian Cav
4 Camel Archers (forgot the name)
1 Eastern Infantry
3 Archers

This was my first experience ever playing as Parthia. No troops on either side had any experience or weapons/armor bonuses, just straight units.

Well, I won.... finally. It took forever. Those stupid camel archers were so slooooow. And not only that, they kept routing over and over again.

The Persian Cav was pretty good, though they are no match whatsoever in melee against the Light Lancers (even a few of them at a time).

One thing I found extremely frustrating was that none of these Parthian cav units (except the Eastern General) seemed to want to obey my commands. When they did obey commands, they were sooooooo slow, expecially the camel archers. I tried turning off Fire At Will and Skirmish to see if that would help them get across the map faster, but it really didn't help all that much. It was difficult keeping them from being pinched by two enemy units because of their erratic behavior.

The Eastern Infantry are a joke. They routed almost as soon as the Royal Pikes touched their shields. I just wanted one unit to protect my foot archers from a possible charge (to give the archers enough time to run), but I might as well have just not recruited them in the first place.

After I eliminated the Macedonian Light Lancers, Archers, Peltasts, and Armoured General, I had to spend forever stringing out the Royal Pikemen one unit at a time so that I could surround them with my whimpy cav archers and charge.

It was a nice learning experience, but I don't think I'll be using a Parthian cav archer army any time soon without some heavier cav units in the mix. What a nerve wracking experience.

Oh, and after the Royal Pikemen had been chasing my cav around the map for a good long while, running much of the time (after the enemy archers, peltasts, Light Lancers, and Armoured General had been eliminated), they were still "Eager, Fresh" and this was a LOT chasing AFTER the main battle. Not only that, but they were almost as fast as my cav units when they went out of Phalanx mode. I was like WTF, mate? ~:confused:

So, what do you think about light Parthian archer armies? Anyone here prefer them?

[Gaius Magnus]

Oh, and another thing...

It was nearly impossible to get my Persian Cav and Camel Archers to charge against the Light Lancers. Even when one unit of Light Lancers was in the middle of 4 or 5 units of Persian Cav/Camel Archers. They just wouldn't do it.

:furious3:

[Silver Rusher]

Parthians? I play as them alot. I have to tell you something though, the best idea for a parthian army is ALL cavalry. I usually use about 6-8 persian cav and 3-5 cataphract units, and that's it. You just harass the enemy with the pcs and then flank 'em with the cataphracts when they are distracted.

EDIT: Changed all "infantry" to all "cavalry"

[Marshal Murat]

They keys for Parthia are
1)Horse Archers
2)Catapracts

Have your archers deploy ahead of the catapracts, shoot the heck out of the enemy. If they are a largely cavalry based army, scatter them then hit with a catapract fist.

If heavy infantry, then have horse archers ride circles, shoot the heck out, distract them, then smash into them with catapracts. If the enemy is a steady sort after the charge (unlikely with 2 or 3 catapracts charging at a time)
press alt key, and go at them with maces (not a very inspiring mace, very 2-D looking)
They rip them apart.

If light infantry, hit them with HA instantly, and then retreat, and catapracts hit.

If an effective mix (probably only in Custom Battles) string them out, and hit the cavalry, then the heavy infantry, then the lights. If you ever get stuck in H2H combat, switch to maces.

I played a custom battle against a roman cohort, post marius legion, parthia had a catapract.
The catapracts charge, hit them, then switch to maces.

[pezhetairoi]

Blue repper, are you sure you turned off skirmish mode and alt-clicked on the light lancers to make them charge? I played so many battles as Scythia before I actually learnt that the way to make them charge was to secondary-attack them...

[Productivity]

Parthia (and Pontus for that matter) really struggle when you take infantry. So don't! Take more cavalry instead, I'm not sure where your thinking about them being slow is coming from, whenver I have used either against my friends, tehre main comments have been how the hell did I get to where I did so fast. Don't be afraid to make your cavalry run, you will need to at times.

[screwtype]

Are you grouping your units? Grouping is quite badly bugged. Units will frequently fail to follow orders when grouped. That may be the problem.

Also, ensure that the "run" symbol is activated when you try to run your cav. I often find that if I pause the game and tell a unit to run, then unpause it, it switches back to walking when it is unpaused.

[pezhetairoi]

remember to press H on the keyboard... using the hotkeys makes it easier. I find it much more efficacious to click on each individual unit in each group and press H in very quic succession or on pause. It seems much more accurate.

[Deus ret.]

I can only second what the posters above me said: Use HAs and Katanks together and if you time it right you will send most enemies to hell very effectively. Elephants are nice but you don't really need them; the same applies to the camels, except if you face a cavalry-heavy army, in which case they excel in their role as cavalry-killers. Almost without losses, that is.
BEWARE of chariots though, they are quite common in the eastern areas. A chariot-heavy army will easily wipe the floor with your cav, and the more easy the heavier armored stuff you field...
For a more diverse Parthia playing experience, try RTR as it adds several at least somewhat useful infantry units to your roster.

[pezhetairoi]

gee, how has this turned from how to beat Parthians into how to use Parthians? :-P

[Slug For A Butt]

I've got to say. I've never been interested in a Parthia campaign. But after hearing you all talk about it, it sounds like a completely different challenge. Almost like, forget everything you think you know about RTW battles. Sounds good, I need a change anyway.

[Gaius Magnus]

I definitely made sure to alt-attack and disable fire-at-will, so it must have been the grouping issue.

I have had problems with grouped units before, but in a different way. After the 1.2 patch, if I command a group of melee cav to attack a unit, half of them will attack whatever unit is closest to them instead of the intended target. I have had some of the units in a group charge straight into a phalanx instead of the cav unit I ordered them to attack. It really is unfortunate, because it makes commanding grouped cav in close quarters all the more difficult. It would be really nice if they could fix that. :dizzy2:

[Gaius Magnus]

Take more cavalry instead, I'm not sure where your thinking about them being slow is coming from,

From the fact that they were pretty darn slow! ~D

[Gaius Magnus]

I just played as Parthia again and reproduced the problem. This time it happened with Cataphracts. They wouldn't run until I took them out of group.

The strange part is that I don;t normally have this problem with Roman Cav, just the problem with them charging at things they shouldn't be charging at. ~:confused:

[CMcMahon]

I'm not a huge fan of the Parthians. Although they start off weaker, the Armenians can field a much better army in my opinion. Phalanxes, clone legionaries, catanks, and catartillery are pretty much unstoppable.

[pezhetairoi]

well well well guess what, in my last battle as the Macedonians (I;m now Armenian, go HA power!) I commanded my group of LL to charge the rear of the enemy (a charge that should've won the battle) and instead of group 1 of LL moving, group 3 of Generals moved instead! I won without much loss, but they had a longer way to go and hit the enemy from an oblique angle, one-at-a-time, generals first. I can't imagine the consequences had the enemy not broken upon contact...

Grouping is FLAWED bigtime. I mean, what, command one group to move and the other moves instead? I had to ungroup the damned generals and regroup them again in order to get my LL to carry out pursuit! This is in a class of its own, completely a different (and infinitely more annoying) than having your units NOT moving.

But I guess as HA it fits their independent nature much better to leave them ungrouped so they can go freelance. Just make sure you disable skirmish and bring them back from the edges of the map if they get chased there.

McMahon, it depends on your preferences. If you are the type who only feels secure if you have a stable base of infantry to manoruvre upon (and tie yourself to, *frown*) then Armenia is for you. But if you would rather run free as the wind on the battlefields of Europe like the clouds of the arrows you fire, then Parthia and Scythia is better for you. Scythia is just only if you a) get perverse pleasure out of conducting army marches 10 turns long, and b) value the 1 attack point advantage Scythians get over the other HA factions (8 vs 7, and buildable at the lowest level barracks, though not technically 'infantry').

bluerepper, about charging at the nearest unit, I believe it has something to do with discipline levels. See, the attributes of the units you have can be seen in the descr_units file, and it is often EXTREMELY profitable to go in there and trawl through for a look to get to know your own units better. Screw the writeup they provide you ingame. It leaves out alternative weapons, morale, training, discipline, weapon attributes like armour-piercing, etc. Read the text file, and you will find entries for training, discipline and morale that will define how your unit behaves. Training defines how well its formation-changing is, how fast it is, the conditions under which it can be conducted. For example, highly trained units like Spartans and Armoureds can change formations fast on the run, while Militia hoplites can't do so as fast, and barbarians almost completely can't and still maintain cohesion...they just sorta fill in the new formation only when they STOP running. Discipline defines how...well, disciplined they are, and this is the value that defines whether or not your unit will charge at the unit you want them to. Low discipline means they get their adrenaline pumping up way too fast and will just strike out at the closest damned thing they see, be it cock-robin or sea urchin. Low-discipline units are best kept faaaaaar away from other units in the middle of manoeuvre. High discipline means that the unit can jolly well be close enough to touch the flanks of your steaming, panting, foaming horse and you'll just ride right by them, unless they try to stick a pointy stick into your horse or you, upon which you will parry or stick'em real good, and ride right by them just like you'd planned to.