Macedon is fun.
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Macedon is fun.
The greeks like to camp in their territories and amass huge armies. Sink those fleets. Fast. You should've annihilated them a long time ago...now they're a major pain in the posterior because of their AI personality...
They do. In my Seleucid game, by blazing into Greece and taking the isthmus etc., I left Rhodes alone for a few turns. Now it's 265 and Rhodes has a huge stack of various hoplites which might require a half-decent army to whip.
Luckily, Sparta, Athens, Thermon, and all of the former Macedonian cities are mine in addition to all of Egypt and the Parthian cities of Arsakia and Susa.
Being the preeminent power makes it easy. I think I might start turtling now.
Ok. I just got the Brutii as my protectorate for 4000 denarii. Which I thought was some good bargaining.
Anyway, the next turn they declared war on the Greeks (allies of mine) and the Gaul (also allies of mine). Do you think I should hold my protector and drop my allies? Or hold my allies and drop the protector?
I've decided that I will annihalate the Greeks so they are out of the Aegean, but leave them with Rhodes (at which point, they will become my protectorate), but I need the Gaul for my master plan.
Please Help. :help:
and this master plan is?
also keep romans, valuable ally they are.
The master plan is to take the Romans out...
Basically, I go through the "heel" of Italy and through the Julii.
I also need some tactics for fighting the Romans.
Then go wipe out the Romans, and keep Gaul.
Hmmmm, it's a shame I just wasted 4000... Oh well, I guess that is the thing I have to do.
Don't worry about it. Things happen. Stick to your plan and don't waste the money.
Otherwise, consider abandoning the plan and just farm the Romans to become a big empire and then crush them.
It's ok. The Brutii are down to two cities and have about 10 units to protect them. I'm about to knock them out.Then, I might take Sicily; or take Capua, then Rome.
Go for Rome first. Getting Royal Pikemen is good.
Will the Thraicans turn on you first? Because they attacked Balayzora and I got pissed so I sent my best general and take Bzytanium from those treacherous bastards.
They are likely to. When the AI plays alone in Greece, the Thracians usually go after the Macedonians and often cripple them by taking at least their two northernmost cities. Which makes the way for the Brutii even easier because there are now 3 warring factions in Greece. If you are playing Macedon, the Thracians are VERY likely to attack you rather sooner than later. This leaves you two options.Quote:
Will the Thraicans turn on you first?
1) Do a nice blitz and conquer Greece's mainland ASAP. Afterwards you can march your armies north where the Thracians should now be about to attack. Maybe you will lose Byzalora but you can hold them off at Thessaloniki. This option has the advantage of having a free back and a full war chest.
2) You instantly go for Thrace. Taking Tylis and pushing them back over the Danube river should be sufficient to neutralize them. With Campus Getae alone, they are not much of a threat. This way, you get a nice trade province early on without too great an effort (Byzantium) but you have to watch for the Greeks who will eagerly fall into your back if you leave them alone for too long. Myself, I provoked this and had a few nice exciting battles, especially for Corinth.
Thrace attacked me once. I expected this attack and they ran right into my ambushing army. I pounded them and they were practically begging me for an alliance. And now they haven't attacked since. Too busy going at Dacia... and losing!
i suggest blitzing sparta then trying to get peace with greek cities whle you neutralize thrace then you can attack thermon and prepare for the brutii
Total expansion in all directions can work well.
You have enough forces to beat up Greece and Thrace simultaneously while holding off Dacia (which isn't worth fighting for).
I also once managed to get Appolonia before the Brutii even while doing this.
I think you can expand in all directions. But this is not the pure 'blitz' strategy.Quote:
Originally Posted by katank
:book:
It says that you should concentrate on one target at a time and kill it with all your forces.
:juggle2:
But isn't your final objective everything?
But that is multi direction blitz.
Blitz is more about speed and force capable of crushing your enemy than anything else.
I call it the octopus strategy in which you strike out in all directions.
Sure!
But Blitzkrieg is really focusing on one target at a time. Find the weakest point in the defence of the enemy (or the enemies) and attack with everything you have.
Well, this is from TW WW2.
Campaign against Poland,
campaign against Denmark and Norway
campaign against Benelux and France
After that things began to become more and more decentralised. And the problems began. Campaign against Yugoslawia and Greece; campaign against USSR, campaign against Egypt while Britain was not beaten.
Of course you can win if you fight at several frontiers. USA did in WW 2 figjting simultaniously in the Pacific and European theatre. But that was not Blitz
Well, I just started playing. This is my third campaign. (The other two were Brutii and Gaul)
I started by taking Athens in my first three turns. The greeks attacked my that same turn and I took Thermon then Sparta.
I was immediately set upon by the Brutii, and I had to chase them from the east side of the Adriatic, taking Apollonia, Salona and Segestica. This brought me face to face with a powerful Julii, as the Gauls had gone down early. They gave me some trouble, and while this was going on, my Thracian allies stabbed me in the back.
I set seige to Byzantium and the Thracians sued for peace, which I granted as I was still dealing with the Julii. Once they were taken care of, Thrace attacked me again and I wiped them out.
A word about my tactics. I typically used two large cavalry wings anchored on a centre composed of phalanxes and missile troops. I used mercenaries extensively while I built up my cavalry, then a lot of phalanx pikemen for garrison dutias well as my centre. An army thus composed can shred a Roman army twice it's size taking very few casualties.
I also haven't started a single war so far.
After I took Campus Getae, puting an end to the Thracians, I sent my forces south to end the Greek naval menace. While they were en route, Dacia attacked and took Campus Getae, so I returned to the north.
About this time, I managed to bribe a Roman general. I landed him with a single unit of cavalry on Crete, raised a mercenary army, and took Kydonia. He then sailed to Rhodes, hired more mercenaries, met up with a bribed greek army, and took that city. He then took Pergamum as well, all with bought troops.
And I was immediately attacked by an uber Egypt who had swallowed the Selucids whole. They have given my the first real challenge. I have so far taken four cities from them; two bribed, two conquered. The sands of central Anatolia are red with Greek and Egyptian blood, yet my spies that return alive tell me that Tarsus teems with troops, and an endless stream of chariots flows over the passes.
On the plus side, there can be no more surprises, I am at war with everyone around me except my allies in Scythia and Pontus and I'm ready for them as well. The Romans are well contained, as is Dacia.
Well done!
And welcome in the org ~:cheers:
If you go for the Eggies, and you should since they'll come for you otherwise, consider a naval landing far in their back (Sidon, Jerusalem or even Alexandria) rather than taking Tarsus. This way you are likely to encounter very little defence, and it will split the Eggies' forces as well as hurt him...maybe use a suicide squad for this and destroy everything you can get a hand on.Quote:
Originally Posted by roguester
If you advance in Turkey, you will most likely get backstabbed by those treacherous Pontics. Who, when they overcome their crappy starting line-up (especially the early infantry), can and will be a real pain in the ass.
If you do so (very good idea) then try to get Memphis first. You get the pyramids and the Egyptian people will be happy to be ruled from you. And you can take a trip to Graceland ~:cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Deus ret.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deus ret.
A sound idea. I'm not sure I'll go with it though as my armies are already at the gates of Tarsus. I've finally found a way to deal with the chariots, and it has cost me a lot in blood. Tarsus will make a good defensive position, and since Cyprus is lightly defended and blockaded, I'll take that next. Then complete the naval blockade of the eastern Med and see what it looks like from there.
Your straight on plan is more fun in the number of battles you will fight.
However, the landng idea is easier gamewise.
You can frequently cause Eggy armies to march and countermarch on the coast while you take cities in one direction and then another.
Guess which superpower is evolving in the east? Nope, not Egpyt.
It is, in fact, Parthia! They have taken land from Seleucids and Egypt, and this campaign was started before I modded starting money. I really want them to knock Egypt out, but they have sent the brunt of their armies up to Seleucid settlements, which is a shame, because they currently have Egypt on the back foot.
Brutii bribed my city from me, but haven't put any men in there yet.
When assaulting Tarentum, I fought the worst battle I have ever fought. My faction leader died, I lost 500 men, and the enemy only deployed 200 men. This has completely halted my advance, because I need to retrain my entire army.
I've had a look at the Senate army, which I will no doubt face within 10 turns. 4 generals!!!!! And all the units are upgraded. I think I will need reinforcements..
Any tips for taking on these Roman stacks.
congratulations! myself, I've never seen them becoming anything in the direction of dangerous if controlled by the AI. Well, some more colour in the game...and be it purple!Quote:
Originally Posted by Craterus
Since you're Macedonian, it's not too dificult provided you have somewhat advanced troops. Just gather a throng of your best phalanx units (that is, royal pikes if possible but phalanx pikemen should also do), some archers to lure the family and add in several cav units...Greek bodyguards suck, though....and you should be able to defeat them as long asQuote:
I've had a look at the Senate army, which I will no doubt face within 10 turns. 4 generals!!!!! And all the units are upgraded. I think I will need reinforcements..
Any tips for taking on these Roman stacks.
(a) you keep your phalanxes together and prevent enemy flank attacks and
(b) you watch out for their cav. Your aim should be to let them charge frontally into your spears in pursuit of your archers (or general). If you succeed in nailing them in melee you've basically won. Use your own cav for relief charges against those Principes etc. if they hurt your pikes too much ...which they are likely to, not least because of their pila.
Katank has suggested to throw some peasants in front of the pikes just to absorb the pila. See also the Greek cities thread.
When I played Greece and finally attacked the Senate, they had 7 family members in their army, with the faction leader aged 82 supporting the attack from another direction (wonder why he still killed quite a few of my men instead of collapsing from his armor's weight)....I lost half my army but in the end I won. Even without Spartans. Thus, you can do it!
I'm not sure about wasting precious roster space for a couple of peasant units. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
I've been keeping up with the Greek thread because the tactics used for GC are very similar for the tactics that are applicable to Macedon.
I played Macedonia on RTR 5.4. I couldn't bribe anybody. I took out the Greeks quick. I allied with Thrace and Germany and left Dacia alone as they were at war with both of them. Not to mention the threat of Rome. I left Dacia as a buffer for Rome.
Immediately after the Greeks, I went after Pontus where my allies the Egyptians declared war on me. All 3 of us took turns conquering one of the western towns in Asia Minor. Smyrna I think it was. That city changed hands a few times. I destroyed to fully stacked Pontic armies and they were done in the field. Egypt remained however. They didn't have a significant military presence in Asia Minor after I knocked out their first couple of armies. Once I conquered out to Antioch that changed completely. I conquered the Pontics fairly easily. But now Egypt would show me their real power.
They took Antioch from me twice and seriously threatened it a third time. Some mercenary recruiting along with some phalanxes finally secured it for me. My buddies the Parthians declared war on Egypt's Seleucid Allies. No worries there. Armenia and Sarmatia (Scythia in RTW 1.2 I think) left me alone. They were way too weak to do anything.
I spent a good 15 years or so just conquering from Antioch down to Bostra. It was a long gruelling war. Meanwhile, I was building up three armies in the vicinity of Sparta. When ready, I invaded Egypt proper, landing west of Alexandria. I took the entire Nile River area in about 5 turns. They had no troops there. When that happened, Egypt caved. It was all over but the crying.
I was quite proud of myself. I conquered the Eastern Med. I was at peace. Who would be next. Dacia volunteered themselves first. And wouldn't you know after I took the first Dacian town, Rome ante'd up against me. I transferred quite a few armies from Egypt and the Eastern Med provinces to the west coast of Greece.
I was very successful in conquering the central Dacian provinces. BUt they along with the Romans stopped me like a brick wall along the Adriatic coast. I'd win like 3 or 4 battles in a row and they'd finally beat me because they'd wore down my army. Eventually I had a steady flow of replacements flowing to plug the holes after each battle. I managed to get within eye shot of Segestica at which point I launched 3 full armies around the south of Italy and landed them in Rome by sea. Rome fell with a very bloody battle. My 3 armies vs 2 of theirs. All full stacks. And then about 4 units in the Roman garrison. I didn't want to let the AI control my other two armies, but it was too good to pass up. It was awesume.
I never took Segestica. I actually initiated a battle with a Roman Army south of the city before I initiated the battle for Rome. My army south of Segestica got crushed due to my losing track of what my Macedonian Cavalry was doing. By the time I got back to them they were routing. And then, their cohorts engaged my main line on the left flank and routed the extreme left phalanx. I threw theruoprodroi (spelling?) at the left flank as it was all I had to get there. My ballistas were blasting away, but were quickly over run by the enemy cavalry chasing my routers. That was it. The theuroprodroi put up a good fight routing one cohort, but that was because they flanked them. When the next big daddy cohort marched up it was done. I moved the next left phalanx into them and they got flanked and the Cavalry that finished off my ballistas took me in the rear. I had 3 units of Macedonian cavalry left, but they were too far away to get back and help. My line crumbled.
But like I said, I took Rome afterwards, and with my 51st province won the game. Good thing too, because the Romans had like 5 fully stacked armies coming down from northeast Italy to smack me down. After the disaster of Segestica, I only had two fully stacked armies defending the Adriatic Coast. I'd have been able to bring some more in from central Dacia, but that would have left me open for an attack by Sarmatia or Thrace. It was an awesume campaign.
Take one region from thrace and they'll never bother you again. As someone said earlier, don't bother with Dacia till much much later when (if!) they ever tech up.
Macedon is an easy and enjoyable faction to play, mainly due to their fantastic Pikemen and Light Lancers. Beat the Greeks and Brutii early, then you can have fun with the other Roman factions, but watch out for the threat from Pontus.
I left Thrace alone on purpose. I was trying something new. I actually paid them some tribute to see if they would expand into DAcian territory. I gave them a lot of money. They managed to successfully defend their territory from Dacia and make some incursions into Dacian land even besieging a couple of cities, but they never took a Dacian City. Thrace and Dacia were at war the entire game I played. I also paid Germany a tribute. They took some of the northern rebel provinces that Dacia had conquered early in the game, but they never went into the Dacian homeland. They used my money to stomp Gaul and Briton into the ground. Germany got huge in this last Macedonian campaign. I never had to fight them. It would've been a great war I imagine.
Going after Thrace isn't too productive.
Trying to take Byzantium before they do is quite worthwhile though.
In vanilla, in a few turns, Pontus invariably lands a full stack next to Tylis and this keeps the Thracians entertained provided you kept the peace with them until then.
In my current Macedon campaign i let Thrace take Byzantium, then took from them. Then I took Tylis, and they seemed to get the hint. Dacia left me alone for about 50 years, they they attacked Bylazora... I think they'll regret that..
By the way, Germania always destroys Gaul in all my games. If not them, then the Julii.
The problem with Roman factions, is they never use Cav against me, so they never stand a chance against my Lancers and Macedonian Cav.
In my game, the Romans field a lot of well-trained Equites, which can get tiresome. Strangely though, the Romans (SPQR, Brutii, Scipii) are fielding armies of a couple of well-trained units as opposed to massing up troops. Julii have still massed up armies comprised entirely of Velites.
My campaigns it is either the Britons or Germans that destroy Gaul. The Romans use cav every once in awhile, but very rarely do they use archers. I just tear them to shreds with archers when I'm Macedon. Cretan Archers when I have them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Garvanko
When I played Macedon I usually faced Romans fielding balanced armies with about 4 units of Equites max. I rarely used archers on my way to Rome even if I had them (was using them against the Seleucids and Egypt), i preferred to just move into the red zone of Roman armies, form pike square and let them dash themselves to pieces on it.
A question now: Is the fact that pike formations face 5 rows of spears compared to the hoplite 2 rows any advantage at all? I tried modding levy pikemen up to Hoplite stats, the only difference being the pike vs spear, but I didn't see any marked improvement in performance between the two in a unit-on-unit clash.
maybe you should test those pikemen against non-phalanx units. In my impression, phalanx units are not too effective in combat against each other, that should be due to their formation. With pikemen, your 4 frontal rows are fighting (at least in the animation), compared to the hoplites' 2 -- that should make up for a major advantage over non-phalanx units. At least that's how I explain their stats to me, which are always considerably lower than hoplite units of the same level.
if that does help you.... :charge:
well, actually no it doesn't ^_^ I'm even more confused now because I gave eastern infantry spears and phalanx formation, and they beat a pezhetairoi (phalanx pikemen) formation in one-on-one O_o can someone tell me what the HELL is going on? Eastern infantry, even on phalanx, should not beat qualitatively and offensively superior troops...
I know the answer is probably obvious, but I'm having trouble getting my phalanxes to work against barbarians, such as Dacians.
They tend to flank around my main phalanx body, straight into my cavalry. Normally, this isn't a problem, as I tend to countercharge them and rout a few units in the process, but light lancers only come in packs of 14 and I normally lose a few in each charge, so by the end I may only have 3 or 4 lancers left from each squad.
And when I don't have any cavalry, my phalanx is easily flanked and annihilated.. Can anyone help?
Throw back a few phalanxes on the flanks in reserve out of phalanx mode. Slant them slightly so they are protecting your flanks. Once you see cavalry coming just turn on phalanx mode and leave them there. Don't form your phalanx into a single line of advance, that's not wise against Dacians. Alternatively, form your phalanxes into a single line but hire some barbarian mercenaries and put them behind your main phalanx line. Also, do not counter charge your cavalry, but let your phalanxes and mercenaries absorb the shock so the enemy loses his charge bonus. THEN you counter charge. That way you minimise casualties drastically and completely screw up the enemy's morale, especially if you're not doing a frontal countercharge. Your cavalry are least effective when used on cav-cav melee with both sides charging. As Macedon, it is essential that you have a healthy force of melee mercenary infantry when in barbarian areas.
I once fought two Dacian armies with one Macedonian. I had 3 levies, 6 light lancers, 2 generals and 4 barbarians/bastarnae. I offered my 3 levies alone to the first army (the second had not yet arrived), which promptly dashed itself to pieces on my levies while my mercenaries absorbed the shock from the second army's cavalry and my cavalry destroyed the first, putting them in the perfect position to destroy the second army from the rear after my levies turned, just in time to meet the second army's infantry which promptly dashed itself to pieces on it. The trick is, when fighting with phalanx and melee infantry, leave your melees out of the line and put them behind, because the barbarian AI unfailingly chooses to charge melee infantry over phalanx.
And one a final note, you should NEVER enter barbarian territory without cavalry, no matter how many phalanxes you have. That is sheer folly, because the barbs have the best light cav in the game. If don't have any cavalry, your phalanxes can only have the fate of being flanked and annihilated.
I knew I was being stupid :)
Cheers for the help.
Bastarnae mercenaries are pretty decent units, imo.
They're decent units?
Hell, they're more than decent units, they're damnedly good cavalry charge-stoppers. With 2 HP they can last really long and they can take charges incredibly well. Good to use them for general-hunters. SpawnofEbil and jacked, welcome to the Org :-D Forgot to say it the last time so I'll say it now. :) Macedon rocks!
Aye they do.
My favourite tactic is to deploy all my phalangites in a straight line (no surprises) . Normally my enemy charge in a column, so I normally have a few units spare. These guys on the end then wheel around and take down the enemy unit next to them. They rout pretty quickly, even with 2 militia hoplies pulling this off, and then the phalanx at right angles to the main line moves down the line.
Failing that, I get a ton of rhodian slingers and cretan archers and pepper them. I once routed an army using nothing by missile troops and lancers.
That works amazingly well. You can actually do a funnel effect. Have two phalanx walls but inverted. The middle is no phalanx but sheerly missiles with overlapping field of fire.
Behind, horde lancers.
They either engage phalanxes and dash themselves to bits while getting hit partially from the flanks by missiles or go for your missiles and get flanked then charged by mass cav.
Either way is a mass rout.
The flanks need extra guarding though for an inverted line.
The advantage is a clear field of fire for your missiles and sustained attrition.
oh, never used them before
what region can you get them in ~:confused:
The Balkans, and Asia Minor. Bastarnae are especially numerous (comparatively) in the Dacian and Thracian territories.
I guess I never tried to conquer that area
You should...that's the logical area of expansion for Macedon. *nod*
Wow you've been posting quite a bit these days. Only a few days and you're already up to 28 posts.
Alternatively pez, you don't HAVE to conquer Dacia, just make incursions into their territory with your General at Bylazora or Tylis and recruit Basternae every so often.
I prefer to let Dacia make the first move if they want a war with me.
I've started a new Macedonian game, and let me tell you, go for the Romans first. They are a right pain in the behind if you let them grow.
Btw-is there any way to increase unit sizes? Having a squad of 14 cavalry is a bit pointless.
You'll have to restart your campaign for the unit size change to have an effect.
Go to options/settings, havea look around there and you find something that gives the option to change the settings.
P.S. Sorry, I don't know the exact place to change settings.
It's in video settings, under advanced options. There's a unit size option. Alternatively you can edit the unit size in the preferences text file in the RTW root folder.
As for Rome, it's hardly a pain in the a**. Not at all. As long as you catch them before Marius, and you restrict yourself to defensive battles (unless you have a serious cav overkill) you're good to go. With a five-row pike line no legionnaire is going to be able to get through to force your pezhetairoi to use their pathetic daggers. But me, I entered Italy on turn 13, working on a strict timetable.
Dacia... yeah bastarnae recruitment drives are good, but I usually go whole hog and take out Dacia anyway. They're so weak, and they don't have the brains to antagonise Thrace for the sake of sea access, so they don't deserve to live. Darwin, my friend. Darwin.
ROME IS MINE!!!
I won't describe in much detail, you'll see why.
I began the siege, things progressed, I got to the main square, routed, got there again, all my cav routed to Roman generals (57 in one unit!!!), then I had a power cut. Lovely.
Siege of Rome Attempt 2
Went for a different approach this time. Sent some Mercenary hoplites (renamed them Corinthian Hoplites, because that's where I got that unit from) to the gateway. The general charged as planned and was killed. That general unit routed back to the main square with one man remaining. The Corinthians scaled the walls and were enveloped in a grulling fight against some full-strength Principes. Slowly but surely, the Corinthians died, until the final man realised he was completely outnumbered and took his chances against the ground. At which point, I sent my cavalry in (1 general, one Macedonian Cavalry, One Light Lancers, I attacked the one-man general's cav, then went back to the walls to attack the Principes, who had abandoned their vantage point of the walls. Annihalated the Principes, but with heavy casualties. Back to the centre square to take my chances against the Senate Faction leader (57-man cavalry!!), and lost. All the horsemen died. I sent in some more Corinthians, accompanied by Samnites and they set up outside the square. The Roman cavalry wasn't tempted. I charged the Samnites, and they charged back. Samnites routed, they pursued. Pursued right onto my spear points. Rome was mine.
Following the battle, I demanded the Julii become my protectorate, free of charge. They agreed. I now set my sights on Sicily whilst I rebuild my army in Rome, just waiting to attack the Julii.
I'll have to attack fast, because the Gaul are planning a major invasion from the north. I have no generals on Italy, so all my new cities could be bribed by Scipii in a number of turns, but generals are on the way. (I have 6 generals for 15 regions).
So, I think I'll try and cut a deal with the Gaul, I don't fancy their land, I'd much prefer to follow the route of Alexander, starting with the barbarians to the north of Macedon. Thrace and Dacia. Then I'll head east. As far east as possible... ~D
Just a quick feature to get phalanxes into a single line without any gaps:
Go to desc_formations, and edit the single line formation and changed the unit spacing from 2.0 to 0.0.
Now, group your phalanx units and sort them into a single line. With any luck, there should be no spaces between your phalangites, thereby preventing your guys from getting caght in the gaps.
Spawn, I love you. My levies were dying to falxmen because of that. Thank you sooooo much ^_^
Cheers. I knew that would come in useful to someone. It's not without shortcomings though.
For a start, it has this strange tendency to put royal pikemen at the left of your battle line. While this might be ok for some people, it means that due to the insane rightwards shuffle (Which shouldn't even happen with pikemen as they have no shields to hide behind historically) your royals will be easily flanked and it will cost you a lot of money.
well, historically it makes sense since they were the best troops (i.e. they stand the best chance against an enemy, in fact their melee attack is higher than their spear attack) except for the -tiny- fact that they were supposed to be on the RIGHT of the line. But no worries. You can always redeploy them in the right order, then move them forward in that order. That will lock in the battle order when marching, as long as you don't reset the line's width/depth, upon which there's a chance your pikemen will redeploy into funny orders IN FRONT of the enemy.
Last night I decided to start a Macedon campaign to see what they were like. Never tried them before. People are correct. The militia and levy pikemen units are very weak. Even when I double column (column within a column) they couldnt do much good against the enemy. It was the Brutii hastati that gave me the most grief. My men would just fall to them without much effort and/or turn and run away. They couldnt hold against a Brutii cavalry charge neither.
The Greeks have a much better army than the Macedons as well. I havent had a chance to test them against the Thracians. Thrace is allied with me in this campaign. I'm hoping that alliance will hold till I exterminate the Brutii. I beat the Greeks by sheer overpowering numbers and bribing. In fact thats how I been beating back the Brutii. A lot of bribing since my front linemen like to die so much. Luckily I have a very nice stream of cash coming into my treasury. Right now I control all of the Balkans and looking to invade Southern Italy. I finally got archery buildings in two of my cities so thats going to be a big help. I also have the ability to build some phalanx units (third tier phalanx) now so I'm gonna start swapping out my militia and levy pikemen for them. I'm hoping that'll help me out against the Brutii. If not then its going to be a extremely hard fight against the Brutii's two home cities.
I found the Macedon starting cavalry units to be okay but not great. 1 vs 1 against the Brutii cavalry they lose more often than win but against Greek and Rebel units they do the job pretty good as long as I can get directly behind them. Problem is they are good for maybe two charges and then they are too tired to be of much help. Heavy cavalry would be better but dont have any of them yet other than my generals units.
craterus did you finish that campaign yet ~:confused:Quote:
ROME IS MINE!!!
Some minor problems there--generally, you've not been using the strengths of the Macedonian troops, but you're expecting them to hold their own against everything the enemy throws at them without doing some playing-field levelling of your own.
The Macedonian strength lies in the early game not in its pikemen, but in its cavalry. Alexander the Great never intended his pikemen to be the warwinning arm, nor did he mean for them to take the brunt of any attack. It was always his cavalry that struckl the decisive blow, and indeed, it was the cavalry that often opened every battle he fought. It would serve you well to remember that when Macedonian kings began using phalanxes as the strike arm, they got run over by Rome.
Macedonian starting cavalry units, on the contrary to your assertions, are actually possibly among the best in the entire game. You may not have seen this, but Light Lancers have a charge bonus of 15, the highest you will see anywhere. Use this to good effect. Don't expect your LL to hold in a battle--they were not made for that. They are charge machines, so keep charging, withdrawing and charging again. Don't let them get bogged down. My strategy has been to either fight in all-cavalry armies with 12 LL, 4 Greeks and 2 generals in high-manoeuvre battles, or to field a heavy cavalry arm of 6-7 LL and 2 generals and only 4-5 pike units.
If you managed to get your LL into a one-on-one with Equites, then you are a bad general, pardon me for saying so. LLs are best used in bulk--no cavalry force, even if it be cataphracts or generals, can withstand 4 LL units charging at one. Sure the first unit will take losses, but once the other three units pile on they just get literally run over. And the advantage of LL is that no amount of armour-piercing attacks from the enemy will give them any advantage since the LL don't have armour as it is. Which means the LL can never fight at a disadvantage unless you're in forests.
Don't use your cavalry to charge so often. Save them up, only use them when it is urgent, necessary, and when it is strategic. This means you manoeuvre LL in big blocks of 3-4, not as individual units. That way, one huge charge will simply sweep away all opposition. If you do it right, you won't even need to charge a second time, just pursue. Macedonian cavalry is useful to take the brunt of a charge, but you don't get them till late, and they're not that necessary anyway. Ignore Greek cavalry. They are marginally higher-armoured LL without the charge bonus. In other words, they are a step back. With LL you can defeat even Parthia.
In my current campaign I have over 30 provinces, and the bulk of Egypt's armies have been crushed, even though they had liberal bowmen complements. No archers are needed except mobile ones. In other words, get Scythians, Bedouins. Cretans are also useful, but only for their higher attack. Otherwise their immobility is only a burden.
Pikemen are not to be used as battle openers, or aggressive forces. March them towards the enemy by all means, but leave them there in front of the enemy, or order them to march to a point behind the enemy line and make them stop once they join battle.
In military terms Pikemen are to be used only to 'fix' the enemy in place, immobilise him so he cannot redeploy to meet your real threat--the cavalry. While he's busy fighting off your sharp pointy sticks you crash into him from behind and flanks, or frontally if you must. That will break him. Your pikemen are not supposed to fight the whole battle by themselves. They will not hold, even the standard phalanx pikemen. But if you keep this doctrine in mind, you will be able to conquer the world with Levies and Militia, like I have. I am not joking when I say that I am in Turn 40, with the Balkans and half of Italy under my control, as well as parts of Egypt, the steppes and Asia Minor, but I have at the current moment a grand total of ONE phalanx pikemen units. The rest are levies and militias.
Talking about flanks, it is not commonly known that your militia hoplites make good flank guards in a sense. Levies are hopeless in melee attack (2/1 charge) but militia hoplites have 4/1 at least. And they are more manoeuvrable than pikes when it comes to the crunch. That's what Royal pikes are there for in the end--they are meant as flank guards, not as main battle liners.
Greeks vs Thrace? Pure slaughter. For the Thracians, that is. As Greeks you have no choice but to use your infantry because your cavalry is crap, but as Macedonians you have that option.
I'll employ some more L.Lancers in my armies and see how they work out. So far the Brutii have had more cavalry than me so they tend to counter my hit-from-behind tactics pretty good so far.
The front linemen need to hold the line while I work my cavalry though. So far they dont do that very well. Hence my hopes the new phalanx units will do a better job. Now that I have archers this should help the front line hold back the enemy better. Soften them up first at least.
The Brutii are down to their original two cities in Southern Italy so they cant outproduce me anymore at least. Just got to get a small navy put together to ferry my men over. My original 3 unit navy was sunk while I was expanding on land so I need to rebuild it. I didnt think the Brutii would attack them in harbor but they did. Usually the AI ignores ships in the harbor but this time they didnt.
You should've crushed the navies early ingame, and pursued land campaigns only when you have some sort of naval superiority to stop the Romans from bringing over reinforcements.
As to the Romans having cav superiority.... Well, you just have to outproduce them. From my experience Levies can take any cavalry charge unless it's delivered by a faction leader or heir, so I'm sorry but I really don't see why you're having problems that require you to urgently produce phalanx pikemen. As for cavalry charges, try to hold off to the last moment before charging, let your infantry take as much of that as possible. Make them the sacrificial lambs if need be. While the cavalry pursues the routers they will buy time for your cavalry to come up from behind. The AI has a habit of making its cavalry units charge one by one as it is, so it is actually possible to swarm and overwhelm one and most of a second before the AI can bring all its cavalry to bear against you by which time you would have the numerical superiority. Dunno, your BRutii AI seems different from mine which was low-cavalry, high-infantry. But it's worth a try. As is LL are more valuable because you need the speed.
Try to lure the enemy cavalry away from the main formation by swinging wide and rear while keeping your units concentrated and moving together, the AI has a habit of spreading out its cavalry to catch you, and once they divide, you strike and defeat in detail. If you can move the cavalry away there should be a significant advantage to your LL since they can run faster so they can quickly get into the position you need for a charge in flank or rear. And if the AI charges it will only be aiming for one of the units you have in that swarm of LL, so the other 3 have an unimpeded attack. That's a gameplay flaw built into the whole thing, so take advantage of it by overwhelming the AI target selection algorithm or whatever you call it.
No, I haven't played much since that post. I'm just about to kill off Julii. I am sieging Arretium and Ariminium (I bribed Segesta) and I will wait out those sieges. I've found Macedon is a lot better defending. Assaulting a city is hell with Macedon; you have to send cavalry after cavalry if it's a large force to kill.Quote:
Originally Posted by jacked
Also, I have an assassin navigating around Sicily. I've assassinated 3 Scipii family members, leaving two left. Lol, faction heir and leader will be tough but my assassin has 8 points (eyes) and I think he is up to the job. Hopefully, he will not be distracted by his catamite...
I have achieved good results with Royals in towns. They almost block one street alone and thanks to their pikes, most enemies will have considerable trouble to get into melee. As long as your units are upgraded and your general has some command stars, nothing should go wrong. Against the Romans though, you feel the disadvantage of mostly having to wait for the enemy to charge you -- which they do only after having thrown their #%$&ยง-pila in my experience.
And your assassin....don't try to kill the leader and heir while they are in towns or accompanied by larger armies: you'll likely lose him without a reload. Even with my 9-eyed assassin, an attempt on the lonely 3-influence faction leader had a meagre 16% chance of success (ok I didn't know which traits he had...maybe you're better off ~:) ), so I killed him personally next turn.
The Brutii are heavy in hastati and cavalry in this campaign. Never seen them with so much cavalry before. The AI seems to have reduced their archers and put in cavalry. I increased my LLs and it has helped some but their cavalry keep waiting for me to attack with my LLs before they go in. And they arent attacking by single units neither. The AI is actually being decently smart for a change. I'm playing VH/M so maybe thats the reason? this campaign has been a real challenge unlike most of the other campaigns as far as AI play goes.
I also think this game is bugged more than I remember playing it originally. I'm seeing alot of odd things I dont remember from the first play through with it. I just now destroyed the last of the Brutii. I assaulted their home capital city of Tarentum. I got all the way to the main square and killed all their men including the generals. I beat the countdown clock by 10 seconds. I sat back savoring my victory watching the clock tick down and then the victory window pops up. It tells me I had a close defeat. I was so angry I wanted to put my fist through my monitor. :furious3:
I knew I had them beat. No other troops in the city and the game gave them the victory. The city turned rebel since my troops were pulled back. So I figure if the game is gonna cheat then so will I. I saved before the fight like I usually do in case I want to refight a battle for fun or personal experience. So I went back to my saved point. Found the cheat to give me an auto victory to give me the city. I figure I won the city by a fair fight so I deserved it. ~D
I think over time files got corrupted as the game sat unused for quite a while after initially playing it. Lot of bugs I see now I didnt see the first time playing through and the more I save my games the more they seem to get messed up. This is using the v 1.0 game. No patches. I heard something about a save game bug that alters things in some posts so maybe thats it?
What I intend to do is come Friday I'm going to uninstall the game. Defrag the hard drive. Then reinstall the game and patch 1.2. Then I'm going to download RTR 6.0 and try that. Never played the RTR mods and I'm getting bored with the original game anyway. RTR probably keep me preoccupied for a few more weeks before I get bored with it altogether.
Whats a catamite?Quote:
Also, I have an assassin navigating around Sicily. I've assassinated 3 Scipii family members, leaving two left. Lol, faction heir and leader will be tough but my assassin has 8 points (eyes) and I think he is up to the job. Hopefully, he will not be distracted by his catamite...
His young boy toy.
I forgot to to say something about the naval warfare in this campaign. Basically its a non-issue in this case. I only need to ferry troops over from the Balkans to either Southern Italy or Asia Minor. A single ship can most times slip right past an enemy's armada and deposit troops. Which is what I did in Southern Italy against the Brutii.
I didnt want to go through Northern Italy because the Gauls are staying friendly and I didnt want to fight them as well as the Romans. The Julii have been attacking by sea but after the initial full stack they landed its just been three unit armies which I can handle now.
I didnt bother to build up a fleet since its easy to move my troops overseas in this campaign. It saves me time and more importantly precious resources. Considering I cant get the Greeks or any of the Roman factions to a ceasefire it just isnt worth trying to build up a huge armada to fight them all when I can slip a ship or two through their constant moving about. The AI seems to put too much resources into navies in this game and its actually good in some cases, like this one, because the ships for the most part dont help them and only burn up denari they could otherwise put to better use.
I did however build three new ships at Thermon to replace the ones I lost and used them as my transport to Italy. I could have done it with one ship but I wanted t make sure they could survive one attack in case of interception. Turns out I didnt need three though. One trip is all that I needed and the ships made it back to Thermon afterwards anyway. Lucky for me the AI navy is acting as normal. Useless for the most part.
your game sounds screwed. As to the cavalry though, the enemy always waits for you to charge first, which is why you have to draw them away from the main formation. The disadvantage of waiting is that you lose the initiative. So make them react, make them go where you want to go. Lead them by the nose.
True, but i'd build up a couple of strong fleets once you get to higher tech levels and send 'em on expeditions, either to blockade ports, support troop carrying vessels or sink enemy ships..Quote:
Originally Posted by Skott
But depends on the favtion and your finances, of course.
Yeah. As Macedon my first priority was to expand agains the Thracians while building a grand fleet. With the grand fleet's completion coinciding with the destruction of Thrace I then open hostilities against the Brutii as a secondary front while I mopped up Byzantium. Then I transferred hostilities to the Brutii while the Balkans became my second front, and then things got hairy. Now I have three grand fleets wandering around, one with all triple-gold ships, one with all triple-silver and one with all triple-bronze, reflecting their completion dates... I have complete naval superiority. No fleet with the sole exception of the Carthaginians can defeat me, and even the Carthaginians will have a hard fight when they decide to open hostilities because I'm raising a fourth fleet and my triple gold and silvers are already in the western Mediterranean.
Macedon has the potential to be a major seafarer. If you get command of the seas you can launch amphibious invasions to open subsidiary (and more profitable) theatres of war like, Egypt and Italy, and you get more strategic options e.g. landing where the enemy is least equipped to expect you.
Dont think I'll need to worry about a navy in this campaign. Once I finish off the Julii (two towns left) I'll take out the Thracians and then the Greeks in Asia Minor. Wont need a navy for the Thracians and I just need to ferry over two armies for the Greeks. One for mainland Asia Minor and one for Rhodes. Assuming the Greeks are still about by then. Then its game over. I dont plan to play the campaign longer than that.
All of Italy is mine now. Julii, Brutii, and Senate factions destroyed. Only Romans left are the Scipii and they arent a threat. They launch small 3 or 4 unit raids at Croton every three or four turns but thats it. Not sure what territories they have but I'm guessing its probably just Sicily.
Now I can turn my attention and resources towards Thrace. They been a faithful ally since the beginning but its time to remove them. Looks like they took only one territory from the Scythians (Campus Sothii) so I'll make it a quick blitz into their lands. Then I'll invade Asia Minor and take out the Greeks.
The Gauls have been at war with me for a while but they cant do much against my cities. All have stone walls and a few archer units to keep invaders out.
I'm suprised how little fighting there is going on between the various factions. Most of the factions are unallied and not at war for the most part. Kinda strange to see so little fighting. I'm 28 years into the timeline but in other campaigns I have seen alot more fighting by this time. Its like everyone is building up and watching me or something.
~:cheers:
That's a nice way to put it. The official definition (I didn't know what it meant) is: The younger partner in a homosexual relationship (young boys).Quote:
Originally Posted by gardibolt
On the Scipii..
Is this a 1.1 bug. Because its just farcical.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skott