Using Chariots?

Am playing a campaign on Egyptians for first time (have only played RTW sparingly, and only as romans) and would like to know the best way to use chariots.

Charge them into lines? Use them as horse archers? Chase down routers?

As far as now I just let them go cantabrian circle and harass.

But I've had problems with my general unit chariots. They STINK. They won't go cantabrian circle (sicne the "Rally" is the special ability" and they basically just stand around and won't really skirmish that well so they require some micromanaging

SOmetimes (am usign 1.5) they just TOTALLY bug out, and just sit there while a lowly unit of militia hoplites walks right into them and annihalates them. Yes, I once lost a 5 star, faction heir, silver chevron general to a single squad of conscripted hoplites this way, needless to say I quit and reloaded.

So what is the best way to use these guys?

Hi,
Their best use for hand to hand chariots is in the art of flanking and chasing enemy units down when the battle is over. Other than that they are pretty useless. However missile chariots are very useful for harassing enemy troops before they meat your lines. After that the best option is to send them to the flanks and, after that, have them fire their mighty arrows at the enemy from the rear. When their missiles run out the best option is to treat them like hand to hand chariots and charge them into the enemy scum! If these tactics don't work very well then another option is to just position them behind the enemy units. This will have an awfully brilliant effect on the enemy's morale by both having a fearsome unit nearby and having them ready to change into the flanks. If this still does not work then do not fear! By at least 180BC you will get a powerful cavalry general rather than your existing poor quality unit of men. Good luck with your chariots and cheers!

Speaking from the Seleucid perspective, Egyptian chariots (especially the early generals) are exceedingly annoying. ~:)

The melee chariots are ahistorically handy to have around. I speak primarily from experience using the Seleucid/Pontic scythed chariots, but the Egyptian melee chariots seemed comparable to me. I found them to be absolutely perfect rebel-quashers. In armies, they're also useful. Use them on the flanks as anti-cavalry protection (abusing the absurd cavalry-slaying magic the game has endowed chariots with), then as the battle progresses do more or less what you'd normally do with cavalry, only better because the chariots cause fear. You'll get more units routing quicker than you would with pure cavalry, but the chariots themselves won't rack up the kills very quickly - it's best to use them in conjunction with regular cavalry to make sure the routing units are wiped out in a timely manner.

Whatever you do, don't charge your chariots head-on into a phalanx wall on the far side of a bridge! :beam: That's how my Seleucids finally killed off the bulk of the Egyptian chariots in my game...

Hi

Egyptian chariot generals are my favourite unit in RTW. I had played Julii and Brutii before I played Egypt. First encounter and my chariots were toast. So quit and went into custom battle to learn how to use them. Restarted the campaign and gradually got more skilled at using them. Egypt remain one of my favourite campaigns.

Finesse. These guys are not bulldozers, not like armoured heavy cavalry or elephants. Use them like horse archers. Get into positions where you can fire down and into the rear or unshielded sides of your enemy. Be patient. They have lots of arrows. Use them all. Avoid combat unless with weak dispersed light troops or cavalry. If chariots stop in combat they will be toast...especially against phalanx or pikemen.

If chased by cavalry run away whilst firing at will. Dont try to turn sharp corners as you get tangled up. The wheels of chariots are spiked so enemy cavalry that approach from behind whilst you are running will have a bad day...very bad.

But used carefully the generals can melee. Just dont stop. Keep clicking to get the chariots to move to a point thorugh the enemy.

Chariots are bad at street fighting.

Try the Guide section of this forum. There is an Egyptian thread with tactics in it.

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I am playing the Celts in Barbarian Invasion at the moment. Its a different story with their Scotti chariots. Light javlin armed they are cheap and not very powerful. Very little combat with them.
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I find Chariots very annoying. The best way to counter them is spear and arrow but you can never get close enough without them legging it. Only ever use Chariots to break enemy lines, especially Romans, and then flood the gap with your strongest infantry. Then use the chariots to smash into the enemies rear.

Use them to decimate cavalry, and if you can get like armies of 6 to 8 archer chariots, send them out (no backup) around your empire, no seiges, they will decimate almost any army the AI can field against you.

Hi Mav, people seem to only have mentioned the archer chariots which I find a little strange as my most successful campaign is with the Egyptians and a large part of that was my Heavy Chariots.

I didn't much like the archer chariots and prefered merc horses for that job, however, Heavy Chariots seem to be able to decimate light cav, stand up well to Heavy cav ( just keep moving - dont stand hoof to hoof ) , and are great at ruining the lines of the enemy.

Just remember not to click on the unit you want to attack, click behind it, so they run right through them. they have to keep moving or they get destroyed.
Imagine them standing still in the middle of a unit, they would just be climbed on, pulled down and killed.
As a moving target they are heavy, with spiked wheels and an aggressive nature so click behind the target, run through them, then turn wide and click back in front of the target.

I always took them wide whilst my phalanx moved forward my archers firing into the lines, and as the enemy archers dropped behind their lines, my chariots would steam through the flank protecting light cav and decimate the archers, hitting the enemy in the back just before they met my Phalanx.

Lovely.

Good luck.