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Good first post ATE. Welcome to the forum :2thumbsup:
An unusual approach.
Definately right about the cash from Greece. And the Bowmen...they are excellent. Even better, ive heard, when you can build the more advanced bowmen.
I see your faction leader is called.."the infantryman". Is it all those archers ?
You and I played very differently. My leaders gained cavalry commander traits from the all the chariots and desert cavalry used.
Wow, that sure is a lot of archers. That is a good strategy Monarch, but what happens when there are a lot of heavy roman infantry and Roman heavy cav or they get smart and use a testudo. I think you might have to add some more variety to your army pretty soon. Perhaps some chariot units and spearmen could help. Form a wall with your spearmen and then take out their cav with your charriots and then bring your bowmen and around and fire on their rear.
Not excactly. One line, cover flanks with a few phalanxes, and all the bowmen in a line right behind it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Monarch
Like this:
G
x x
ppppppppppppppppppppppppp
p bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb p
X is whatever tropp i want to get rid of, a worn out merc or a small leftover from previus battle. I use them to break up formations. If they run from side to side, they take most of the hits from velities, and hold back the legions to give the bowmen a chance to go their work.
G is my general. Since i use a defensive stand, and put my back to the red line, the only option is to place him far away. But i found this to be very helpful, as half the Romans descide to chase him instead, as if they wish not to rout my weak phalanxes :)
So 1 or 2 units running in front of the line, and 1 (or as many as you have) chariots behind the enemy, not to kill, but to mess up their line.
The next city i besieged was Rome (i'm at work, don't have screenshots). S.P.Q.R Attacked me, and threw a full stacked army at me. Approximately 4 pricepes, 5 hastati, 3 velities, 4 triarii, and some cavelry. Using the defensive stand, and with their lines broke, they didn't hit me full force (which would have eradicated me, nile spearmen sucks). I won the battle with low casulties, and Rome is now mine... MINE! ;)
Is Scipii in greece unusual? They have attacked corinth 3 times so far.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiberius
Limited ammo! I play "by the rules". What is your definition of super-heavy infantry? Pricipes? Hastati? The principes are harder to kill, but in this case, i used 6 x bowmen, and 2 x cretan archers. They DO take casulties, and the strategy with holding them back a little longer, they get slaughtered.
Well thank you :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Severous
My 3 generals are all "the infantryman". I'm not sure why, but have not yet purchased any cavalry, only used the 2 chariots i stared with. So my lines are always infantry and bowmen.
There ain't any testudo 12 years into the game :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyranus
Kill of the Romans before the reforms. Cohorts are scary...
A little nuisance about the bowmen... their aim is bad, they are unable to fire a burst without placing a few shots in the back of the phalanx-line... But who cares when the other 1900 shot pound the ememy :2thumbsup:
O sorry, I didnt realize that you were only twelve years into the game. I just assumed that you meant legions by "super heavy roman infantry". Well you could still use what I said above.
I've never used that many bow, but the "thin line of spears and firepower backing it IS a personal fave. Works best on a hill so that the archers have more range and a less fratricidal shooting window. Always take the bows off fire-at-will when the opponents reach heavy jav range -- too much fratricide else. You can often target the second line for more fun while your spears cope effectively with the weakened initial rush.Quote:
Originally Posted by ATE
An all-bow army can actually do well against the Mac's and Greeks in the early game. Lancers/Greek cav drop quick to concentrated bow fire and the phalanxes are so slow that you have time to kill the cav and still get them. ATE'll have more trouble with Thrace (Falx & Bast are fast with decent morale) or 3rd tier Romans (Princ and Tri last much better than Hastati, plus Rome will be fielding at least some archers in place of velites).
ATE, be aware, strategically, that you will be facing Parthians, Armenians & Seluc's all at the same time with this strategy. You'll be well-funded, but have to process a lot of enemies from 240-200 B.C.
Hello again,
Errr... guess who was playing the 1.2 version of the game :embarassed:
I have re-started the campign, now playing 1.5. Sorry for the screw up guys!
Unfortunately, the game-update made the game laggy on my laptop. Half a year ago i became the dad of THIS little timestealing cutie, so I haven't been able to play as much as needed to get as far in the 1.2 campaign.
The whole "go straight for greece"-strategy is valid for just about any other faction as well. I used it on my last Julii campaign also, but with the other roman factions backing me up, it was a lot easier. I played it to world domination.
Now, as Seamus pointed out, I'm at war with half the world. The greeks, Mac's, Romans, carthegenians, and the selucids. I allied with parthia, but they are moving troops around on the border, and have just begun moving them towards Jerusalem... Backstabbing I DOWNLOAD PORN ON MY MOM'S COMPUTER.
I don't think i will have Rome by year 251 this time. The Romans got stronger I guess, they are almost impossible to rout after the update. Also, the bowmen has been reduced to normal size units (160), so the phalanx/bowmen strategy is no longer strong enough to withstand a Roman assualt.
So I did as suggested by Tyranus, and added variety to the army. 1 - 2 axemen, and 3 - 4 chariots. Besides from that, same strategy, I use the axemen to draw fire and stur op the lines, and the chariots to attack from behind/take out cavelry.
I'll post screenshots and give a more detailed description of the first 20 years when i conquer Rome again... If the little brat gives me a break :)
// ATE - So ends the bloody business of the day!
I actually found everything easier on RTR....Quote:
Originally Posted by LestaT
Rome? As Egypt by 251bc? Please do tell how you did that...unless it's on E/E or something...:inquisitive:Quote:
Originally Posted by ATE
Not to be a thorn in anyone's side, but this Egypt thread has me a little baffled...Quote:
Originally Posted by Grand Duke Vytautas of the Lithuanians
You say it's the easiest faction in the game and then say that you play on "fair" medium/medium settings.
Just put it on H/H or VH/VH. Saying that you find m/m to be "fair" implies you've struggled on the higher difficulties which would make Egypt not that easy :2thumbsup:
Another one... :wall:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamba
No kidding it was amazingly easy...you chose EASY/EASY!!!! What would lead you to believe that this was going to provide a hard challenge?
I can assure you, despite your opinion, that VH/VH is just a tad more challenging than E/E...
Shouldn't that be obvious? :laugh4:
Again...how on EARTH could that be done in a matter of what, 30 turns? I just don't see that as physically possible without a mod or cheat of some kind. And to have almost 30,000 denarii SAVED ? Was the army free?Quote:
Originally Posted by Severous
6 months of game playing several hours most days.
In that last turn Army and General wages were running at €70k per turn. So it wasnt free. Income at €170k. Paid for by an empire built for best finances..I rarely build military buildings. Taxes very high and public order of 70% (red face) is acceptable.
There any many posts on this forum as I went through this campaign. They will give a better idea of campaign strategy than that post above which was about battle tactics.
No mods or cheats. Plenty of exploiting of the AI. I can take a couple of hours to play a single battle.
Apologies on the implication...
I've looked around some of your other threads/posts and have to say, you really do know this game forwards and back. I won't question you again :2thumbsup:
You have however, gained another "student" of war lol...
Let me start by asking my first question which you already touched on, even though it's not really what this thread is about (although it's not entirely off-topic): 70% happiness/red face is ok? I thought that 80% was the lowest you could go...
This would have a much different effect on my game if I could be working with 70 instead of 80...if you include 4 or 5 cities all in the middle east, that's a half a stack a turn I could be moving to the front in that region, that I'm not now because of keeping the garrions up and keeping happiness at 80...
:wall:
Hi WarMachine420
Sorry to be slow responding. Just back from vacation.
75% Public order = blue face. No riots
70% Public order = Red face. But no riot.
65% Public order = red face & riot. If left rioting more than one turn you run the real risk of rebellion and losing control of the city.
The danger of running at 70% is there is no room for error, or change. If an enemy inserts a spy causing more unrest or your population grows causing extra squallor then your 70% city could become 65% (or less) and riot unexpectedly.
On occasion when I know I cannot achieve 70% public order I will raise taxes to very high, withdraw the garrison, and let the city (on 0% order) riot for one turn. Then next turn do my best to achieve that 70% public order. Rinse and repeat it reduces population, achieves good tax income, helps governors traits..but risks building damage and governor death.
:2thumbsup:Thanks for the reply and hope you had a good vacation...I myself took a little 1 week trip too, which led to the end of my Egypt campaign :skull: (Britons now and going well).Quote:
Originally Posted by Severous
I've fiddled around with public order more. I never knew you could push it as far as you can...your advice on this alone has upped my game quite a bit.
Another thing: What about population as a barb faction? (do you play mostly barb factions?) I have like 5500 in londonium and a scattered 800-2400 everywhere else. I don't want them to outgrow my ability to build...I'm actually in a real military style economy with a GREAT slave and goods trade. Is it even worth building up most cities with a barb faction? My priority thus far has been keeping some cities as mainly income/trade cities...keeping the capital as an "everything" city...main producer, highest pop, etc, and keeping other cities primarily as military cities supported by some growth. My money is always low...because I usually balance it off to spend it as it comes in...saving a turn or two when needed...my biggest campaigns have yet to come (still at war with Gaul, 252 bc, crushing them though, I'll post pics later...I've taken like 9 provinces...read my thread on amazing battle heroic victory).
Thanks again for your previous advice and thanks in advance for any advice you can provide now and in the future.
p.s. Thanks for the great counter-terrorism. As always, proud to have you as an ally.
:2thumbsup: :balloon2:
You might want to be careful about raising the taxes and then just leaving I did that once and the city rioted and they had uber units like gold cheveroned peasants, naked fanatics and milita cavalry.
current campaign map (will continue playing later on tonight) and pic of another battle of mine that wound up with a historical marker (3rd). The chariots were in defense on this one.
just thought I'd show this.
https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...sindefense.jpg
https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...420/Newest.jpg
https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...420/Newest.jpg
https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...sindefense.jpg
Couldn't you have posted bigger screensshots. You know you don't need to make images smaller for imageshack, it will prowide you with a clickable thumbanil
I can assure you that I didn't do it to frustrate you. If I could've I would've.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4th Dimension
I'm not using ImageShack, I'm using PhotoBucket becasue ImageShack wasn't working yesterday (got an email today from them explaining that this was the problem).
you have links to the pictures anyway...can't you resize them then? If not...ok, I'll figure it out and the pics I post tonight/tomorrow AM after I play will be resized.
Again, apologies on the size but I didn't do it on purpose.
You saved them as a full sized screen right? I use photobucket and it always has full sized shots if I either post the image or the link.
Hi
The advice on public order is relevant to all factions. However, as BH Goalie points out, playing so close to the riot point (65% or less) means players need to regulary check each town to ensure all is ok. I personally check every unit, agent and town, every turn before I press the end of turn button. It takes me months to play a campaign.
Barbarian faction city management discussion would be best in a thread of its own in the RTW forums. But I cant answer that anyway as im part way through my first and only barbarian faction campaign...Gaul. Havnt reached any city limits yet.
Screenshots. Always good things to have. I use Imageshack and prefer it when others do so. Their thumbnail links dont have any resizing problems when uploading or viewing. Imageshack is playing up still today..I just tried to upload one and had problems initially.
Heres an on topic picture. From a since finished Egyptian campaign. The chariot generals are really powerful. Here 100 men took on 800 Carthage men(including elephants)...battle odds calculated at 1:3 against...and won.
https://img115.imageshack.us/img115/...pcisij2.th.jpg
Some thoughts on generic Egyptian strategy (not tactics)
I. The Seleucid Empire
Jerks. Don't know when trade is a really neat thing. My second Egypt game was purely to have a western sweep across Africa, but that got nixed when the Seleucids thought war would be fun.
a. De-Port Campaign- obtain local command of the sea. Egyptian ports in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Siwa (captured in strategy mentioned later), Sidon, and Salamis allow for a quick augmentation of Egyptian sea power when needed. One big thing about RTW, everyone likes the Meditterranean. Denying its use to the Seleucids will render them impotent. If there is a sizable and annoying Seleucid fleet, simply put all your ships into fleets that carry your men.
b. The Pincer- Strike at Antioch, and then Tarsus. You can ignore Hatra and probably Damascus. Supplement this by an 'amphibious' offensive into Asia Minor.
You want to come after Seleucid beach property from both directions. You can come from Cyprus, Alexandria, wherever but bring the pain. I had a sizable force in Cyrene so I hopped from Cyrene to Halicarnassus and on to Sardis from there which netted two wonders and ran across mostly rebel resistance.
c. Hang'em out to dry. If you don't like Parthia next door, leaving Hatra and Seleucia isn't a big deal.
II. Maximize Wealth and Earning Potential
By gathering the Seleucid ports you have already followed this step. Crete is also a necessary element. Send diplomats out much earlier than actual fighting and trade with every you can.
a. Pick the apples- Petra, Bostra, Palmyra, and Dumatha can be ignored during the Seleucid war, but they are cheaply won afterwward and add to the income. This can be left to 'task groups' rather than a full fledged army.
III. Grow the Western Front- Siwa right away then put Watchtowers all over Libya when you can. Keep the bottleneck closely watched for the Scipii or Carthage. Cyrene becomes the cornerstone of defense of this area. I was able to reach out for Lepcis Magna and Thapsus with some amphibious reinforcement, but traded Thapsus with the Scipii constantly. I was fine with this-- my buffer was well established.
IV. Use Communications to strike into the interior. There are troop trains present in several parts of the map. For Egypt, three are most important.
Jerusalem-Sidon-Antioch-Tarsus (with a siding at Damascus, and maybe Palmyra) Antioch becomes your natural base to strike Armenia (through Hatra) and later Parthia and mop up the Seleucids. Tarsus offers possibilities against Pontus. (A train is where units can reach one city from another in one turn). The second train is Sparta-Corinth-Athens-Larissa or Thermon-Apollonia which will bring you through Greece from a strong attack on Sparta. The final stroke is the road to Rome-- Tarentum-Capua-Rome and points beyond. With forces based in Apollonia, you need a big fleet to survive long enough only to get to the port of Tarentum.
V. Don't Forget to bring your Sword with you. This is no pilgrimmidge, it looks easy but only the tactician will get past the dangers. For tactics, I would read the posts that proceeded this one. Fight and bribe as you see fit.
VI. Review
a. Grab the Seleucid ports---Gain the command of the Eastern Med
b. Trade and Accumulate
c. Protect the West.
d. Strike from Points of strength using the Roads
e. Fight like a general who reads and learns from those proceeding tutorials written by people with more posts than me.
A shimmering Pharaonic Empire awaits you, and so do misplaced Nubian spearmen (I can raise Nubian spearmen in Ireland? Those Irish-Africans are a tough breed)
I share many of Natasen's sentiments. Though I've noticed, when I play with the Seleucids, I think the Egyptians are jerks. Funny how that works. :) I do love playing as the Seleucids because of their unit depth and variety.
After owning RTW and playing constantly now for almost five months (I'm a charter member of RTW-holic's anonymous) I started my first Egyptian campaign the other night. Gosh, what lucky stiffs these guys are! They have only one serious front at the start of the game and that's the one they share with the Seleucids. The Numidians are no threat. So, I slowly built up my strength taking Bostra, Petra. I got alliances right away with Parthia, Pontus, and Armenia. Knowing by experience of the Seleucids geopolitic isolation - (they can't get good alliances and usually end up in a four or five front war with all their neighbors) - the Egyptians have a gravy geopolitical situation. The cities in Egypt-proper grow like weeds. You can get good population growth which means good tech development. Their cities make good cash too. Egypt can grow their navy strong early. Much of the naval action (outside of rebel pirates) is in the Aegean and Ionian seas, so you can develop in quiet isolation from major enemies. Salamis has no early threats, so I don't need to garrison it with much. Even when I play Seleucia, I can't usually get to Salamis with a serious force until after I've pushed Egypt out of Palestine and beaten off the immediate Armenian and Pontic threats.
So, when war breaks out, Egypt's strategy can be very focused, and I target my schwerpunkt for Antioch without fearing too many distractions. Damascus is easy to pinch off making the drive on Antioch - their key city of production - easier as your flank is covered. (Parthia is not a big threat and looks for an alliance with you early on.) You can grab Palmyra, and Hatra (if you want - the Armenians like that city) as the opportunity arises. My campaign has only been interrupted when one of my allies becomes allied to Seleucia. Then my relations with Seleucia go to automatic cease fire (until they blockade one of my ports again, which they invariably do - the AI seems stupidly obsessional on that point. Then their alliance with my ally falls apart and we're back to the infantry war again.)
I had one 16 yr old faction member take a little trip to Crete to buy some archers (usually two units are available.) Cretan archers have longer range than factional archers. I've been able to bleed enemy armies significantly before having to close with them with the Cretans. I'm making an amphibious assault on Halicarnassus. If the Greeks get snitty and challenge you, Rhodes is easy pickings and yields big trade dividends when captured. The natural route of conquest from there is Asia Minor, then Crete, then Corinth and Greece proper, then the Brutii realm on the Italian boot, then Rome. That seems to be the route that I've taken in my Seleucid campaigns. Carthage tends to be too far away to justify a large military expedition, while Corinth, with its public-order-bonus ancient wonder, needs to be a part of your general campaign strategy in your drive to Rome. As your empire expands and cities get larger where public order becomes a concern, having Corinth is very helpful.
I've found that I use my Egyptian chariots more as archer skirmishers. I tend to fight in the Greek style with phalanxes predominating. And I try to build up cavalry to match the Greek cavalry of Seleucia rather than chariots. You will definitely need good cavalry when it comes time to face the Roman factions. Anyway, that's my perspective on Egypt at the moment. Perhaps as I play this faction more, my opinion will change on some things. But, gosh, compared to taking Seleucia, these guys have a breezy opening game. No worries at all. Of the main playable factions, the Greek cities, Carthage and Seleucia seem to have the most challenging opening positions in terms of potential enemies. Seleucia's money position is slightly better than the other two. The Greeks have a shortage of military tech depth. But they have Rhodes, and Athens is a reasonbly easy grab. And if Macedon causes problems, Corinth is in your front yard. Parthia has no money, but doesn't have to face a five front war. But . . . I haven't played the Gauls, Brits or Germans yet, (and don't really have a desire too, at this point - lack of good cavalry is discouraging the attempt.) So, maybe I should just shuddup. :)
Hi all,
After getting sick of being poor, I decided to be tempted by the lure of infinate wealth as an Egyptian.
So here I am at the beginning of my journey, and my first question that I havent spotted so far is regarding Memphis and Thebes - why do they have Port options on the little lake to their right? is this a bug, or does this actually pull in some trade from somewhere ??
Thanks.
Yes, huge heaping buckets of money. :yes:Quote:
Originally Posted by bedlam28
You have to have Petra and Bostra, though. I find that for some reason Memphis's port is useless (you'd think it would trade with Bostra's, but it isn't in my game), but the Thebes-Petra-Bostra trade is booming.
excellent, thanks jhhowell :2thumbsup:
Stumped:
Playing = XGM (RTW 1.5 Base) with vh/vh
I cannot get the Ptolemies over the hump.
I tried a passive strategy, taking rebel towns for expansion and counter-attacking when attacked. For a while I controlled all of the Eastern Half of African, Tarsus, Antioch, Sidon, Hiero, Palm, Bostra, Petra. Despite this, the Selkies (and later the Pontics as well) kept sending full stacks to tear me apart. I beat them virtually every time, especially at bridges, but take modest casualties -- doesn't help. The Pontics and Selkies seem to be able to replace their full stacks (-6 Pontic, 8-12 Selkie) faster than I can replace my 200 casualties per win -- and develop their cities so as to have 3rd tiers to my 2nd. I can barely fund my 1 full stack, 1 half stack, and modest garrisons. Winning 13 times in 15 I was still attritioned into collapse.
I tried a go after Selkies first strategy -- which hammered them back nicely and took out most of their heavy stacks. But I couldn't even afford to keep more than a half stack defensive army (in addition to my deep strike army) in the field and Pontus and Armenia both came in against me in support of their ally. Again, the attritition goes against me despite victories and then I'm in the red economically.
What is the deal? I'm no Craterus the Cavalry Lord, but I am not a schmo at this.....:wall:
Blacksmiths. Light Chariots.
I won the short campaign and kept playing just for the challenege of facing the romans. But guess what? No decent spears. Stupidity with their cavalry.
Light Chariot archers backed by a handful of mounted axemen. Wipe Out Romans. Twice. Thrice. Decide to try BI...
One weakness I found with Egypt is to attack them as a Julli-or-more-north-faction in campaings. I was the Julii and the Egyptians were losing a huge war against the house of Scipii. I sent a full army of praetorian cohorts, heavy cavalry, a great general and decent archers to smash the Egyptians and gain some land there. As soon as I had won one battle, laid seige to a town and besiege two maybe three docks a diplomat came and asked for a ceasefire. For this ceasefire you can put the price extremely high asthey will only offer once, I think I got 10 or 15,000 denarii out of that small attack 9and at that time it was still early in the game and I was getting into debt). This also works with Greek cities.