Help. Ptolemaioi are too strong for me

Egypt is usually a push over for me, but I still play 1.0. I dont know how good the green shield guys are. Anyways the key to beating the Ptolemai as Carthage is weaken their economy, theyre one of the richer factions.

Sack Memphis, and Alexandria, keep them if you want, but I usually dont. Let them rebel, Egypt will send armies to retake them, using up money, do this about 3-4 times and Egypt will be crippled. This is how I do it. Once I have all their African cities, I leave them alone, the AS will eat them up.

Then of course later on youll have to take Sidon for your VC, which is where I usually have trouble, if its in AS hands. AS is a tough nut to crack if theyre in the game still.

this is what i use to keep an eye on the ptolemaioi in north africa, in my karthadast game


https://img81.imageshack.us/img81/65...agesan5.th.jpg



all my infantry come from karthadast (i have a bonus of moral of +6 when recruiting in that city)


Two libyan spearmen on each flanks, with two numidian javelimen behind them. Fa and my other cavalry unit on the left flank, elephantes on right flank.
Pretty strong in defense, and easy to break ptolemaic armies (just flank them with the spearmen and the javeliners and smash them with the cavalry and the elephants)

Will replace the liby-phoenician by elite african phalanx , and the libyan spearmen by the reformed libyan spearmen, then, i will make at least 3-4 armies like that, and have each of them walking in parallel as i go eastward, smashing everything that is yellow

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Originally Posted by tls5669

Egypt is usually a push over for me, but I still play 1.0. I dont know how good the green shield guys are. Anyways the key to beating the Ptolemai as Carthage is weaken their economy, theyre one of the richer factions.

Sack Memphis, and Alexandria, keep them if you want, but I usually dont. Let them rebel, Egypt will send armies to retake them, using up money, do this about 3-4 times and Egypt will be crippled. This is how I do it. Once I have all their African cities, I leave them alone, the AS will eat them up.

Then of course later on youll have to take Sidon for your VC, which is where I usually have trouble, if its in AS hands. AS is a tough nut to crack if theyre in the game still.

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Again, wrecking their economy will do NOTHING. Destroying the MICs is the only way to dam the flood.

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Originally Posted by Nachtmeister

Then again, maybe I could even set up something to automatically decrease city level by 1 upon conquest for all level5 - settlements... This would kill public order in the short term but make it much more stable in the long therm and relieve some of the pressure for very rapid expansion.

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No, you cannot destroy or modify the level of any building by script. The only thing you can do is set the "health" of it, which makes it require a 0-turn repair (that is, 1 turn but you can work on another at the same time) for some money. There is no way to get down from level 5 settlement to level 4.

I suppose one way to limit AI town growth somewhat is to first take away 400 population, then put them back in, and finally reduce by 20, or some other numbers that you find to work well. This means that a settlement with less than 800 people will end up at 780 (reduction of population will never take it below 400) and still be able to recruit, while any other one ends up with 20 less. Usually a settlement grows by more than 20, so this would only slow them but not make them stagnate completely.

did a frap video of my last battle against the ptolemaios


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__TbKIkqs8

sadly enough, the video quality is quite crappy , since i kinda choosed the wrong codec

That's a very long line :)

I still say more cavarly, a couple more will do fine. -2 cheap skermishers.

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Originally Posted by NeoSpartan

I still say more cavarly, a couple more will do fine. -2 cheap skermishers.

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was thinking more about putting two late libyan spearmen on each flanks, instead of two cheap skirmishers. You rarely need more then 3 cavalry units in battles

i cant get the late reform guys. i have built the biggest foregin natives-barracks in every city i can. But what is it called again? I can check.

And what is the point about cavalry? I have general + one more cavalry unit, just to hase down the enemy. not to turn the battle. For that i have elephants.

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Originally Posted by ludwag

i cant get the late reform guys. i have built the biggest foregin natives-barracks in every city i can. But what is it called again? I can check.

And what is the point about cavalry? I have general + one more cavalry unit, just to hase down the enemy. not to turn the battle. For that i have elephants.

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Easiest way is to change you change all the cities west of karthadast to lvl 4 cities and make highest level to all of them , then, you need three of those cities (from the faq)

Hold 3 of these cities (Tolosa, Massalia, Segesta, Arretium, Ariminum, Roma, Capua, Arpi, Taras, Emporion, Arse, Mastia, Gader)

Easiest ones to hold are mastia , gader (since you have both at the start) and take arse or emporion for the third one

and you need at least year 235bc

Late libyan spearmen are really worth it, since they are the carthagian version of the torakitai

I have at least 5 of that cities. and 235 bc is long time ago.

but i am ot sure about the upgrading-thing. what do you mean by make highest level to all of them? I think most of them are over 24000 population. But why all of them?

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Originally Posted by ludwag

I have at least 5 of that cities. and 235 bc is long time ago.

but i am ot sure about the upgrading-thing. what do you mean by make highest level to all of them? I think most of them are over 24000 population. But why all of them?

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you need the highest level of foreign barracks in 5 cities

but do i need the highest city level to be able to make highest level foregin native barracks.

Something I did when I fought the endless hordes of the Ptolemaoi was to deploy a large spy network in and around a target city, and wait for the lowest density of enemy soldiers. I then attack with a defensive force - one designed to hold a city (archers, phalanx). The gates will be open if I'm lucky (or if I got so many spies in to the city that the chance to open the gates was >100%), and I take the city in one turn. I then use this city to absorb Ptolemaoi stacks, which, over a period of time will reduce the number of stacks in the world, since they will focus on that city and lose so many men that they can't keep up with recruitment.

Once some other areas clear up, you should be able to then move in with less resistance.

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Originally Posted by ludwag

but do i need the highest city level to be able to make highest level foregin native barracks.

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no, in fact, you can even make last level of foreign barracks in any level of cities (you can even make them before a town reach 2k inhabitants)

but i am sure i have made it in more than 5 cities. but maybe not the once that is required.

I recommend you to not build big elite armies. Its better in my experience to build smaller armies with cheaper troops and instead build many of them. Especially if u are invading a far a way land. If you do that you will be able to conquer many towns at once, and at the same time tackle enemy reinforcements. A big army will just get caught in hundres of battles while not ashieving much - while your smaller armies is much more flexible.

You smaller armies can also be specialized for special tasks. You can have armies specialized in taking cities, fast hunter armies for killing small enemy forces before they stack up into a big once - and so on.

The Ptollies are tough cookies, but they have two weak points, which have been mentioned before: Memphis and Alexandreia. Not only are these their key cities (without which they WILL fall apart, unless they have Antiocheia), but they are usually lightly defended. If taken, the Yellow Fever loses a lot of steam. Just march in and take over everything. Do not fight too hard on those desert provinces, they are nearly worthless; concentrate on the coast and the Egyptian heartland.

yes i have sacked alexandria the third time now. their population is about 400 now becouse they bribe it back without putting a garrison in there. so i can sack it many times. i dont destroy alexanders toom, but everything elese. Memphis has a great army standing next to it.

I have 3 armies. One to viking raid ptolemaioi. One to stand by a bridge and hold off their armies. And one to guard my borders in gaul. They have very much expensive units, but they are special made for their tasks.

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Originally Posted by ludwag

..... For that i have elephants.

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Elephants are slow, expensive, they break your battle lines, demand too much micromanaging, and drop like flies to skermishers. And on top of that, u can loose control of them.

Heavy cavarly is faster, has an extremely powerful charge, that charge has an immediate effect on troop moral and numbers. They can get from one end of the battle lines to the other in a matter of seconds. And they are more resilient under fire.

Oh and so you know... LIGHT cavarly is used to chase down fleeing troops as they are way faster. Heavy cavarly is used to destroy enemy cavarly and hit pinned down infantry in the back.

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Originally Posted by NeoSpartan

Elephants are slow, expensive, they break your battle lines, demand too much micromanaging, and drop like flies to skermishers. And on top of that, u can loose control of them.

Heavy cavarly is faster, has an extremely powerful charge, that charge has an immediate effect on troop moral and numbers. They can get from one end of the battle lines to the other in a matter of seconds. And they are more resilient under fire.

Oh and so you know... LIGHT cavarly is used to chase down fleeing troops as they are way faster. Heavy cavarly is used to destroy enemy cavarly and hit pinned down infantry in the back.

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And shock cavalry only hit pinned down infantry (high charge value, low armor cav) and medium cav chase down light cav (good armor, but low charge bonus and a good base attack). Heavy cav is cavalry with good armor, good charge, and a good base attack for being engaged in melee. Really, I am so much better after reading Konny?'s cavalry guide that its hard to compare. On topic: read the guide. It may give you ways to roll up ptolie forces with good cav. use, giving you few casualties and basically being a great way to destroy the stacks and get some exp in the bargain.