Printable View
Does anyone else here think that Cataphracts are the best cavalry in the game? I love Cataphracts! They send my enemies cavalry running everytime! (Not too mention infantry.)
Ive beaten the Egyptians, but not Pontus, Armenia, and Parthia. (Although Parthia only has one city left. the most northern one revolted!)
Apsolutly they are the best cavalary in the game.:smash:
Cataphract archers are better, they can kill everything, even armoured elephants are a easy target for them.
Phalanx owns all even chariots and once the selucids have archers (which for me took a while, bloody parthia) you can make the scythed chariots and elephants run amok quick sticks anyway. As has been said the only difficult thing about the selucids is you seem to get it from all angles right from the start but once you fight them off you are in the clear.
Furthermore a lot of the early attacks (Parthia, Armenia and Pontus) seem to involve archercav which is almost impossible to counter with any of your early units. Get used to sending out loose formation peasants as bait.
Seleucid empire is overpowered in my opinon. I mean, they have alexander's phalanx men (in fact they have a silver shield improved version), his great companion cavalry plus the Cataphracts (probably the best shock cavalry in the game) and cataphracts archers, they have hannibal's war elephants, chariots much like egipt's style, a very good heavy infantry unit copied from the romans, i mean, it seems that they decide to join all the great strengths of the other great factions of the game and gave them to a faction with vastly rich territories. With a good start and a well planned strategy, the seleucid empire is a walk...
bzzzt wrongQuote:
Originally Posted by ixidor
i know the armenians have them but not sure who else
however the selucids definately do not
Yeah, i realized my mistake after the reply but since i don't know how to edit my posts, lol...
Achieve member status and the edit button will appear down at the bottom. If you're a decent enough sort, have 100+ posts, and they haven't twigged on you to make the change, just send a PM to Tosa Inu, he'll review and update status.Quote:
Originally Posted by ixidor
The Selkies have lots of choices -- but that can also be a problem. If you get too enamored of the various options available, you may try to put everything in one army and end up with an army that does nothing particularly well. Selkies lack long range archery unless they can purchase enough Cretans.
yeah that sucks that the cretans have greater range than the selucids ... but hey the mercs are loads more expensiveQuote:
Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh
PS, I LOVE FRENCH POODLES. ESPECIALLY THE PINK ONES.
Cretans hold a special place amidst mercenaries; they are the only access to long range shooters for the factions who lacks that kind of shoooting.
Moreover, Crete is located in the middle of the map, with the appropriate logistics, you can get them to the frontline. (have a good city manager stays in Kydonia and scoot for the green guys now and then, ship them to the fighting stack, and have your other half-strength unit of Cretans rest in a city behind the frontline, ready to make up for any casualties.
Sure, the army train is tedious and expensive, but it pays to have those guys on the battlefield.
Yup, Cretan archers rule. To me, they're the best mercenary unit in the game. If properly taken care of, they'll never die and they have super long range with good damage. Time only makes them more and more lethal. I use these to wipe out all of the enemy's ranged units like pathetic peltasts and helpless regular archers.
I don't know how you guys are able to make peace with your neighbors because Pontus desperately wants Tarsis (city west of antioch) and Armenia wants Hatra. They keep sending full stacks to siege these cities. Egypt declares war with the first 3-4 turns.
In the beginning I'm completely outclassed by the enemy armies. They have chariots, invincible Pontus general cavalry (12 attack, 12 missile!! Charge through phalanxes easily and surround the phalanx) and horse archers. I'm reduced to taking Sidon and Jerusalem and defending while building up my cities and get better quality units. After I got phalanx pikemen I pretty much owned them all though. I let them live so I can tech up and use my better units on them.
Cataphracts are pretty good, BUT....Egyptian Heavy Chariots or Pontic Scythed Chariots will grind them into horsemeat in a single charge. Melee chariots destroy horses extremely quickly and with almost no casualties amongst themselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rotc_Railey15
Heck, even the Light Chariots can do it well enough.... much faster for them to grind the katanks down instead of spending an eternity peppering them with arrows.
Quick question and it doesn't strictly belong here but ...
What do you have to do to stop the towers at gates stop firing missles at you?
Is it as simple as marching a unit up the wall and 'capturing' it?
Yep. First soldier through the door (assuming no enemies present) and all of the missile crews immediately switch sides. Remember, however, the AI can do it back to you too!Quote:
Originally Posted by SpartanPhalanx
A while ago i developed a nice battle formation for the Seleucids, but i havent tested it against any human players or anything. Still, it works well aginast AI. I cant remember it too well, but its something like this.
You take 8 units of silver shield pikemen, and array them in a single line. Then, place 2 units of javelin throwers in front, 2/4 units of archers behind. Then you place two units of greek militia cavalry on either side of your pikemen, so youve got a cross shape. You then deploy your general and two untis of companion cavalry on the flank (either or both).
You march everyone forward at walking speed, except the skirmishers who run. Your main block should stop, about halfway between your starting position and the enemy formation. You skirmishers should then be placed halfway between the enemy and your current formation. You cavalry on the flank should be parralel to the enemy formation.
You skirmishers then lure the enemy out of formation. When they charge you, pull them back, and march your pikemen forward. The units your enemy sent to charge you then get minced by your phalanxes. You then position each skirmish unit behind the greek cavalry, so you now have one massive rectangle of troops.
Tie up any enemy units with your pikemen, then send in your general and his companions to hit the enemy in the rear.
Your greek cavalry protect your pikemens flanks from attack, then, after the enemy retreat, chase them down.
This strategy works well when attacking, though i doubt it would work as good as a defensive strategy. (Take more archers and then some legionaries to replace the greek cavalry).
The seleucids are very powerful. You can simply use 1 war elephant and 2-4 cataphracts to route an entire army. The elephant will charge into enemy lines and run back and forth disrupting their formation and lowering their morale while the cataphracts will charge any elite infantry. This will lead to massive routing by the enemy and you can use your generals or some other fast cavalry (like companion) to kill the routers.
I don't really like the companion cavalry as they are supposed to be top tier but their attack/charge is lacking and their defense is so weak plus they don't have "fast moving" I think. Sarmatian mercs are as good if not better than these guys.
Also, does anyone find the shields to be somewhat strange? These pikemen carry tiny shields, which don't really do much except to protect their privates. The Pontus also get phalanx pikeman with something like 5 shield while their superior counterpart, bronze pikeman get only 2 shield but both of their shields look the same size!
Ur northern enemies are jerks, they WILL betray you. so fortify hatra, and prepare to destroy pontus.
Defensive war against egypt can be used for a little, but dont do it forever or they'll get real hard to destroy.
This is more of a Scythed Chariot issue than specifically a Seleucid Empire issue but ... has anyone noticed that during sieges if you are using your chariots in the streets they only need to lose one unit and once they become tired (not exhausted) they run amok. No flaming arrows or pigs or any of that I almost lost an 8 Star General because I had no idea what was going on. I guess I just need to be more careful when using these guys in the streets.
I'll use them defending a square or in the open field -- I will not use them to attack a town. Way too "hiccough" prone.
yeah, Scythed chariots are great in the open field(one of the few things that works well against cataphracts) but they need to keep moving to be effective. It's best to leave them out of crowded city fighting.
It becomes easy once the Egyptians are terminated. That said masses of levy phalanxes with a smaller number of high grade units from Antioch, did the heavy lifting early in the game. If the fight is infantry vs infantry the Egyptians seem to have fairly poor morale.
I'm currently playing seleucids and It's not as difficult as I imagined, considering the fact that they're the first faction eliminated most of the times when you play another faction (but maybe that's to the fact that they really blow on auto-resolve ;)).
In short, all your neighbours are treacherous B-tards, except maybe the greek cities and bridges (any phalanx-using army finds them their most trustworthy ally) I used a diplomat near their Asia Minor town to keep proposing alliances every time Pontus made a move on me and it helped a great deal because pontus allies with the greeks too, an alliance with your enemies allies leads to a ceasefire and you get time to prepare for their next attempt. In asia minor, you should recrute archer- and slinger- mercenaries and militiahoplites.
I put an army with at least 3 hoplite units and some supporting troops (peltasts for extra killing and cavalry for the chase) on the bridge between hatra and armenia... It will chew up the armies they send south.
I'm using quite a few mercenaries and though I have left Susa (Parthia) alone, I took their capital and the Parthain's aren't bothering me no more. I also took the Armenian city next to Araskia 'cause it was barely defended. I put an army (again 3 hoplites, 2 peltasts, 2 peasants and 1 cavalry) on the bridge between Susa and arabia and that has been munching on parthian flesh untill they didn't try again.
On the egyptian front I recruited a big army of spear and pike and drove south, took sidon and Jerusalem and then Alexandria which was surprisingly underdeveloped (not even the basic barracks, but I can now train archers there). Again, bridges have been the most trustworthy ally so far ;)
As the seleucids, you have a very nice income in the first few years, so a while later, you CAN fight a 3 front war. The egyptians are no match, even with their more varied early roster.
I also finally found the value in peasants, and this will hold true for most Hellenic Factions who don't have swordmen infantry in the early game (or at all), Flankers. Teamed with a family member of even militia cavalry, if you can make these fellows get to the rear of the enemy fighting your phalanxes, they are a 100d well spent.
Seleucia is really one of those armies you shouldn't use auto-resolve with... I wasn't a fan of it allready (you inflict way to few casualties on the enemy and the rival family members always survive) but did use it on the smaller rebel armies 'cause after a while, I find fighting just some peasants tedious.... If rebel armies are small and composed of nothing but peasants or other inferior infantry it can turn out allright if you outnumber them greatly.
Actually one fight against rebels I did myself got me a Famous Battle marker. There was a family member involved, the terrain was not in my favour and I had to try it two times before I destroyed them.
That and the fact that the AI can't really cope with being surrounded by four different hostile factions; in my experience it overbalances in Hatra (which only needs to be lightly fortified against occassional Armenian advances) and doesn't deploy effectively in Syria. Usually Syria gets taken by Egypt early on, leaving a pitiful few exposed scraps in Anatolia and a huge stack in Hatra.Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Young Phoenix
with good early plan the Seleucid really is easy. try to keep the Parthian and Pontus expanding else where and concentrate on Egypt and Armenia early on. Pontus naturally left me alone and went to conquer the rest of Anatolia. I paid the Parthians 50 Denari for 40 turns, and inside the 40 turns the Parthians never touched me apart from sending a few occasional spy to Seleucia. Armenia will relentlessly attack Hatra until it falls. They normally come with a family member with a couple of Eastern infantry and some horse archers. leaving a few militia hoplite with a general in there and if they try to break in they will die. The problem is the first time they will try to get in with Rams. after losing this they will simply surround the city and starve you out. while sallying isn't gonna work because of the slow militia hoplite will be half dead before fighting an enemy unit. my solution was to leave 2 Militia hoplite in Hatra. when the Armenians arrive and attack i will try my best to hold them off. it they camp out and try to starve me i let them, after a few turns the city falls. straight away i sent a army consisting of 1 general, 2 elephant and 5 militia hoplite from antioch. Armenian army might be highly moveable in the plains but in the city they can be easily slaughtered by elephant and militia hoplite Phalanx, since flanking wasn't possible. after capturing the city back i left the army and stationed 2 MH garrison and repeated this action when attacked again by Armenia. this worked 3 times more. down in Egypt they came with huge forces, consisting of low qulity troops + mass skirmishers. the Selecuid really lacks good early unit but they still had one weapon that will demolish the Egyptians-Elephants. On turn 1 i built a cavalry stables in Antioch and trained Elephants in masses, supplied with Militia Hoplite from Damasacus, Egypt had the first offencive but was beaten easily. I took Sidon then Jerusalem followed by Memphis, Alexandria and then Thebes. after the Egyptian problem solved i took on Parthia. again fighting in cities so that Parthian horse archer's use could be limited and their cataphracts were tramped by my elephants, Armenia was next then the friendly Pontus. after gainin total control of Asia, Egypt and Anatolia. Alexandria was mass producing infantry, Antioch was concentrated on cavalry while Pergamum was producing missiles. i later stepped into the Balkans and headed into Italy.
Overall the early Seleucid force is one of the worst in the game. only the elephant saved the day and the destruction of all of the Eastern factions i owe it to them, later on i could train Catapharcts, companians and silver shields. that later Seleucid army is just about unbeatable commanded by a exprenced General.
I take my hat off to you QJC you know what you are talking about.
I think everybody has to agree the Seleucid has the most diverse army, and when combined properly is practically invincible. the only problem in the imperial campaign comes early, if Egypt is dealt with then the rest should be a walk.:2thumbsup:
They have Parthian's Cataphracts, Alexander's companion, Hannibal's elephants, Egypt's Chariots, Roman's Legion, Macedonian style Pikemen. Greek basic Militias. What more could you ask for? (apart from Cretan archers, I suppose)::yes:
There is always mercs plus modding:greedy:
I try to recurit mencenary only in desperate situations.
Perhaps this is because I play my battles on Medium, but I found militia hoplites quite sufficient for the defeat of Egypt.
I trained masses of these buggers to defend my cities and supplement the two field armies I had facing the Ptolemaics. When the tide turned and I drove them from the Levant, to exploit the pursuit I went ahead and formed a few armies composed mostly of the hoplites, to run interference and raise hell generally.
These guys proceeded to slaughter every Egyptian army in the desert between Jerusalem and Alexandria. When attacked, no matter the numbers, a simple square would beat back the enemy with severe losses, and I'd resume my march to the next city, where the streets gave me an easy win.
They also proved more than adequate against the Pontians and Greeks, but I had to put more varied units into the field against the Eastern factions. Nevertheless, the militia hoplite is a cheap, easily produced unit that is quite a threat in large numbers, against a stupid battle AI.
Same here, Militia hoplite is the best unit that could be trained out of a basic barrack. They're going to make your backbone of the army early on. but elephants is definetly gonna be needed, just in case.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vitellus