advice for Saka Rauka please

[KuKulzA]

So I was Saka Rauka... doing pretty well, struck Bin-Kath (sp?) and then the Bactrians very early on, then took Sulek and eventually I have Gava-Saka, all of the Bactrian lands, Kophen, Sulek, Maormavarga, and Taksashila...

but my horse-army is badly battered so my horde of Yuezhi, Riders, Early Nobles, Dahae, and Horse-Archers made a long pilgrimage back to Chighu and other cities on the way to replenish and retrain...

then the treacherous folk of Pahlava abd Seleukia attack... the Seleucids have taken Bactria and the Pahlava attacked but were repulsed from marakanda...
unfortunately for me, the Selekids have been bringing in those armored spearmen, phalagites, and hoplites, instead of the old Hellenic native spearmen and slingers...


How do I fight a strong anti-cavalry army? Esp. with a weakening economy... the cost of trying to pump out Khotan Spearmen and archers and other levies is destroying my barely breathing economic growth

Would Hindus Longbowmen be able to hold against the spearmen while my cavalry flanks them? How do I train Hindus bowmen? for some reason it won't let me at Taksashila.... even though its an Allied Client Government...
I looked at Hindus Longbowmen stats and while they don't do as much damage in melee as my Saka archers, their charge bonus is 6 and they seemed to hold quite well when i tested them in custom battles...


Quite frustrating, I started getting the hang of nomad armies playing the Saka (after playing Lusotanna, Kart-hadast, and Getai before, and so I was used to infantry fighting infantry... but horse vs. spears? yikes) :wall:


Thank you for reading this and I hope you can help me out guys :yes:

EDIT:
and I admit Saka generals (catahracts) are awesome, able to cut through phalangites, but I usually leave battles against well prepared Seleucids with high casualties even though i usually win... I want to find a way to beat them more efficiently without losing my economy and thus my ability to fight... )

[Tristuskhan]

Ah, Saka bug again! In order to train Indian longbowmen you must be able to build local MIC, and in order to build local MIC, you must change the EDB (export description building). Once done you can train those archers (I did not use them for the moment, so I can't tell you if they are as good as they look) as well as very strong hoplite-like units that should prove sufficient to face those nasty Seleucid stacks. I can send you the proper EDB if you want.
About your economy, nothing to do but attacking, pillaging and looting. With the Saka you won't get a correct income before holding something like twenty provinces... Destroy the Parthians, slaughter the Bactrians, you'll need to concentrate on Seleucids only.

Just a question: where were you able to train Yuezhis?

[KuKulzA]

thanks, so treat it just like a nomad...
list of ways to improve economy
[1]booty (exterminate conquered cities)
[2]trade routes (upgrade trade)
[3]make others farm (farms/pastoral)

sounds good...

and please yes I want to get rid of that bug so bad... :yes:


EDIT: yes I was able to train Yuezhi early nobles
EDIT2: when i took Taksashila I destroyed a greek pacification or controlling type of building....

[Tristuskhan]

Alright, I can send you a mail with the correct EDB, but I need your adress, it seems we can't attach files to an internal message. Just go in the "rome total war/ EB/data" folder, make a copy of the original "description export buildings" text file (because the corrected one may mess up the Sarmatian and Hayasdan building rosters, in case you'd like to have a look at those two factions later) and then replace it with mine. You'll be able to build local MIC (four levels!) and have a very nice unit roster (something like thirteen unit types in Bactra).

Oh yes, something I can't forget, Thank Kaaskop who gave me the tips to change the EDB!

About the greek building you destroyed: no matter, it was useless, and my question was: WHERE were you able to train Yuezhi nobles. Gava Saka?

[KuKulzA]

I was able to train them at Chighu, they didn't work in Sulek but they did in Chighu... that is the only place I was able to train them

you can email me at kukulza28@yahoo.com

thank you

[Tristuskhan]

OMG! The file is too big to be attached to my messages:furious3: !
You can do it yourself with a bit of patience.

First, make a backup of the original EDB: fixing the Saka issue messes up the recruitmen for Sarmatae and (maybe) Hayasdan and you should need it if you want to play those factions -or if you make a mistake changing the game's file.

Then open the game's EDB and go down to the


"building Barracks_T
{
levels muster_field_T militia_barracks_T1 city_barracks_T1 army_barracks_T1 royal_barracks_T1
{
muster_field_T requires factions { pontus, armenia, } and building_present_min_level government govnomad and not building_present_min_level hinterland_reforms1 saka"



It's about the middle of the text file. Then make it




"building Barracks_T
{
levels muster_field_T militia_barracks_T1 city_barracks_T1 army_barracks_T1 royal_barracks_T1
{
muster_field_T requires factions { pontus, armenia, } and building_present_min_level government govnomad and building_present_min_level hinterland_reforms1 saka",


removing the " not" (don't forget to remove one space).

Do the same to the next building levels of "pontus, armenia" (four levels) and you'll be able to build local MIC.

In order to train saka reformed units, you need to remove the (odd) requirement for marian reforms they have, for each level of local MIC. Delete the " and marian reform" (don't forget the space) at the end of each description line. Believe me, it's a bore!
Once done, save and exit. If you made no mistake the gameshould run normally. If you did it won't load, use your backed up file and do it again! Et voilà voilà!

Believe me it's worth the effort!

[KuKulzA]

Many thanks, I will try it soon, and I'll post if I have any issues. Again, thanks!

[Batahr]

Tristuskhan, because it's just a text file, if you zip/rar it, it'll be small enough to e-mail it.

[Tristuskhan]

Uh, really? I'll try so.

EDIT::laugh4: Thank you, it's done, I'm a bit less lame in computer management, now.

[KuKulzA]

i got the email, and backed up the .txt file and copy-pasted the new one in
so far so good, I get to build local levy structures now, we shall see if i can make Hindus Longbowmen and Indo-hellenic units... :D!

[theycallmetighty]

It seems to me like you have the ideal army that the saka could face. Make sure your army is mostly horse- archers, preferably Daha Baexdzhyntae (Dahae Riders) with you bodyguards and some yhuezhi nobles and foot archers. In the beginning of the battle take out what little cavalry they do have by luring them away with your has then surrounding them and killing the with your heavy horse. Then have your horse archer attack the infantry. Make sure to have a group of has shooting at the phalanxes from the front luring them towards you while the other half of your ha's are shooting at their exposed rear then when your out of arrows the enemy numbers should be depleted and his morale low. Then use all your cavalry to charge him, try to isolate his units and charge them one at a time. He should break easily and you run him down with your horses. I use this tactic to great effect against armies that greatly outnumber me. It can be difficult to micromanage it though so pause often.

[Bootsiuv]

The Sakas are brutal. I hate playing bactria and seeing an endless sea of horse archers, early nobles, and kataphraktoi.

[KuKulzA]

It seems to me like you have the ideal army that the saka could face. Make sure your army is mostly horse- archers, preferably Daha Baexdzhyntae (Dahae Riders) with you bodyguards and some yhuezhi nobles and foot archers. In the beginning of the battle take out what little cavalry they do have by luring them away with your has then surrounding them and killing the with your heavy horse. Then have your horse archer attack the infantry. Make sure to have a group of has shooting at the phalanxes from the front luring them towards you while the other half of your ha's are shooting at their exposed rear then when your out of arrows the enemy numbers should be depleted and his morale low. Then use all your cavalry to charge him, try to isolate his units and charge them one at a time. He should break easily and you run him down with your horses. I use this tactic to great effect against armies that greatly outnumber me. It can be difficult to micromanage it though so pause often.
ah my game CTDed a few times and I will start a new campaign soon. But on the matter of armies...

the problem is that my army seemed to have to be in too many places at once, enemies on all sides, and I found myself on the defensive... and my horse-horde was badly reduced in number after conquering so many provinces...
so perhaps it was only a matter of bad-timing that i was being beaten and momentum lost... because prior to my retreat to Chighu for retraining, I had not lost one battle :yes:

like my Shigong (shifu's shifu, shifu being a Kung Fu teacher) once said... "you gotta tenderize the meat" (in referrence to fighting a tougher opponent). So I guess the same goes for fighting phalanxes... me being a smaller and swifter army, I've gotta think like the small fighter I am and be fast and hit them where they can;t attack back