Some questions regarding KH

[Bava]

So, after completing a simply amazing Baktria campaign - if you havent played them in EB yet, start one ... now! ~D - , i consider starting a new one as Koinon Hellenon, with a slower pace and more roleplaying.

It would be very nice if some experienced KH players could help me with some questions:

1. What house rules do you use (direction/pace of expansion, what to do with FMs, where do you build lvl 4 govs, etc)?

2. What does your army look like? An example of a historical greek army would be great, btw, im especially interested in the skirmisher/inf/cav ratio.

3. Does KH have access to the Thraikioi Rhomphaiaphoroi? I had a look at the EB RV and i dont know if they´re the "Elite Thracian Infantry"

4. Is there a way to give the Epilektoi and FM Bodyguards slightly longer spears (like the spartiate hoplitai or thureophoroi) through editing the EDU or other text files?


Thank you in advance,

BB


Edit: Just had a custom battle with KH, there´s something weird about the thureophoroi. They have long spears close-up, but they get smaller when i zoom out. Has this something to do with my video preferences or is this a graphical glitch?

[Landwalker]

3) According to the Recruitment Viewer, KH can recruit Thracian Romphaiaphoroi in Thrakia Hypertera, Mikra Skythia, Odrysai, and Dardanoia.

As to the rest, I have no idea, as I've never played them (did play Epeiros, but if you want a slow-paced early game, definitely don't play that faction).

Cheers.

[Kurulham]

I have two principles when it comes to whom to pick fights with. First is those who pick fights with me. This means that my first priority is to kick Antigonos back to Thrace, and further if he won’t stop poking me. Second is those who pick fights with free Greeks. This means I leave Thermon, Sinope, Pantikapoion, Chersonesos, Trapezous, Kyrene, Syrakousai, Massalia, and Segesta to the Eleutheroi, but suffer no other faction to hold them. Since I play with BI on VH this usually means that I spend most of the game hanging on by my fingernails as everybody and their mother swamps me. But we are the Hellenes. We are the heirs to Achilles and Agamemnon, Leonidas and Xenophon; we are the greatest people the world has ever seen, and dammit, if we must hang on by our fingernails then we will grow claws.

In practice my expansion goes in phases.
1) Consolidation of holdings; this includes taking Chalkis, Korinthos, and Krete.
2) Defeat of the Makedonians; take Demetrias, Pella, Mytilene.
3) and 4) These are Epeiros and the Euxine coast; which comes first depends on whether Epeiros or Pontos is being ruder. Thrace is incidental to the Euxine expansion.

Usually I leave Ionia to the Seleukids as I just don’t feel like tangling with them, but if they and the Ptolemaioi are being sufficiently angry at each other I’ll snap up Ionia, Kyrene, and Kypros. At any rate once I’ve consolidated my holdings around the Aegean and Euxine, my navy should be strong enough to look at rescuing the Hellenes in the west from Karkhedon and the Rhomaioi.

I try to put FMs in ethnically appropriate places; failing that, my generals are usually Spartiatai, my governors Athenaioi.

I’m still trying to find a comfortable army composition for 1.0; in .81 I usually had a core of five or six Iphikratou / epilektoi (now thorakitai) hoplitai, two each of thorakitai, thureophoroi, and peltastai, three or four of some kind of cavalry (hippies xystophoroi if I can get them, hippeis otherwise), and whatever psiloi I could dragoon; sphendonetai were of course a favorite but akontistai have their uses. Sometimes I’d bring along a couple of toxotai kretikoi but I think they’re more trouble than they’re worth, honestly. It’s a little infantry-heavy but I’d rather have too much phalanx than too little; the former has never cost me a major battle while the latter has (actually just did last night). I don’t like relying on mercenaries – we’re Hellenes, other people hire US to fight for them! – but I don’t mind using them for spot reinforcement if I find myself lacking in a particular troop type midway through a campaign.

It can all really be boiled down to: rule Hellada, Hellada rule the waves, Hellenes never never never shall be slaves! XD

[Landwalker]

We are the heirs to Achilles and Agamemnon, Leonidas and Xenophon; we are the greatest people the world has ever seen, and dammit, if we must hang on by our fingernails then we will grow claws.
...
I don’t like relying on mercenaries – we’re Hellenes, other people hire US to fight for them!

Well said. :beam:

Cheers.

[Megas Methuselah]

pffft...

[Bava]

It can all really be boiled down to: rule Hellada, Hellada rule the waves, Hellenes never never never shall be slaves! XD

:laugh4:

Good post, Kurulham, certainly gave me some inspiration.

Here are few ideas I´m toying around with:

After the consolditation phase - taking Korinth, Chalkis, Krete and when the defeat of the maks is forseeable - I want to have a shift from a Sparta dominated alliance to a Athenai - Korinth dominated one. As this could only have been achieved by a very charismatic political figure and a potent military, I think i have to wait for a non-spartan FM with at least 5 influence and/or 5 management and lvl 3 or 4 MICS in both Athenai and Korinth. Then Sparte would rebel (no garrison, setting taxes to very high and destroying all law/health boni giving buildings should suffice, i think), representing the spartan resistance against the new alliance and, after 5-6 years, i´ll try to retake it (heh, i want to have the new agoge system, after all). After occupying Sparte, the destruction of any military building marks the final demise of the "old system", so
they can concentrate on what they have been famous for in the first place: pottery and women choirs.

As soon as all this is accomplished, I think i´ll head west, helping my brothers in Syrakosai and Massalia. And a (perhaps unsuccesful) siege of Karchedon is mandatory for any true Hellen, imho. ~D

After that, Ionia. The fun part...^^

But the army composition is the real headache.
2 Thorakitai, 1 Iphi, 1 thureophoroi, 2 or 3 Hoplitai, 2 cav units, 2 akonkistai, 1 sphendonetai, 3 generals, 1 thorakitai hoplitai and 2-3 mercs seem sensible to
me, though.


EDIT: oh, and thanks, landwalker, for the hint on the RT :bow:

[Landwalker]

EDIT: oh, and thanks, landwalker, for the hint on the RT :bow:

As an aside, now that I understand the program a little better, HK can recruit Romphaiphoroi in those provinces, but only with a Level 5 Regional (not Factional) MIC. Which means, I think, you'll need Type 4 governments, but there you go.

Cheers.

[oudysseos]

Dont go to Ionia!!!! Endless stacks of crap AS and Ptoly units. You'll get bogged down in multiple battles per turn and never get anywhere. Stay out until you can invade with overwhelming stacks of elite units and endless money for mercs and push both AS and Ptoly out in 3-4 turns. I have given up a couple of KH campaigns cos the fights are infinitely repetitive, dull and boring. Go north instead- loads of great Thrakian units, head towards the Baltic. See if you can control the entire Amber Road. But stay away from Ionia- the Graveyard of Ambition.

[Bootsiuv]

oudysseous is right.

Ionia is a deathtrap.

As far as army composition goes....screw Hippeis, they're simply not worth the money IMO. I'd rather have Hippakontistai (sp?) really.

Hippeis blow.

Take Thessalonika and build up your MIC so you can recruit Hippeis Thessalonika. They're far better than Hippeis, and comparably better than Hippeis Xystophoroi, at least as far as I can tell.

Italia is another route for the KH player. Once Epeiros is done away with, a full-on invasion of southern Italy with 4-5 stacks will most likely allow you to defeat the roman legions, assuming their already at war with the Aedui/Arverni and Qarthadastim.

Bootsiuv

[Pharnakes]

Hippeis blow.

Why does american slang have to change so fast? Six months a go you would have said hippeis suck, now its blow, I mean do american fashion dictators have no logical thought processes at all?

[Landwalker]

Why does american slang have to change so fast? Six months a go you would have said hippeis suck, now its blow, I mean do american fashion dictators have no logical thought processes at all?

I don't know where you might be from, Pharnakes, but I (an American) have been hearing "blow" in this context for at least six or seven years.

Cheers.

[Pharnakes]

Six months, six years, whatever...:laugh4:

[antisocialmunky]

Edit: Just had a custom battle with KH, there´s something weird about the thureophoroi. They have long spears close-up, but they get smaller when i zoom out. Has this something to do with my video preferences or is this a graphical glitch?

That's because most of the spear goes into the ground because of limitations with the animations.

[Bootsiuv]

You've never heard blow used in that context before?

Hmmm....Hippeis ar3 t43 sUx0rs!!11!!

Is this better for you? :beam:

[Pharnakes]

No! :laugh4:

Edit: and anyway, they aren't they are pretty bad I'll grant you, but unless they have become dramaticaly worse they still have their uses, you jsut have to use them in small numbers in small armies, where you can give them the level of micromanagment they require.

[bovi]

Hmm... I think you missed a few opportunities to destroy the readability.
H1pp31$ r t3h sUx0rz4!!11!!

[Pharnakes]

H1pp31$ r t3h sUx0rz4!!11!!

No, No, H1Pp£1$ r T3h sU*0rzZzZ!!!!!!eleventeen1!!!!111!!


God, why is there so much spamage tonight?



Edit, my 700th post, wasted in spamage like 99.9% of the other 699...

[MiniMe]

What does your army look like?..

Thus far my KH army looks like... HOPLITAE :laugh4: ALL of them + Spartiatai or Krez general with traits "exelled at agoge"&"good infantry commander" + one unit of slaves named Spendonetai cause these have the sapping ability :laugh4:



....2 Thorakitai, 1 Iphi, 1 thureophoroi, 2 or 3 Hoplitai, 2 cav units, 2 akonkistai, 1 sphendonetai, 3 generals, 1 thorakitai hoplitai and 2-3 mercs seem sensible to
me, though...

Oh dear, you're complicating the issue. Please, go and try ordinary classic hoplitae instead of all these yours sophisticated successor battle formations =)

[Goatus_Boyus]

Kill all other familys bar the spartans!!!...makes for a very fun game