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Craterus, I have a question. I have read in this thread about the strength of the Macedonian Cavalry. Is it possible to rely on cavalry to win battles or should the armies be infantry based? I am asking this to you since you are a great cavalry commander. Cavalry were used as auxiliary troops so I have never tried it, but I do wonder the possibilities.
Historically, what made the Macedonian army so powerful was the effective use of combined arms. They had good infantry and powerful cavalry, and used them in hammer-and-anvil tactics to defeat their enemies. This you should try to do in game as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Seyfullah
The latest patches have dimnished the power of cavalry, so relying soly on them to win the battle is going to be expensive. I usually find it works best to have between one-third and half of my army consisting of pikemen, about one-third cavalry and the rest skirmishers. The pikemen form a line to engage the enemy infantry while the cavalry deals with enemy cavalry and then hits their flanks. The skirmishers are mainly there to drive of the enemy skirmishers and provoke their cavalry in an unsupported charge.
I haven't actually played with the latest patches, and if cavalry are a lot weaker then relying on them will probably cost me. This is quite worrying because it means a big change in my style.Quote:
Originally Posted by Seyfullah
I ALWAYS take infantry to a battle, but I use them as support troops and they rarely see action unless they're needed.
The possibilities are there, and cavalry can be very effective, you just have to know how to use them.
Fun thread, I had an almost 10 month break playing RTW but when they got the 1.2 patch out and B:I out I had to reinstall. Lo and behold, I'm reading the book Alexander by Pressfield which inspired me to pick Macedon. This far I only played one evening, currently engaged in a three front war with the Romans (Brutii), Greeks and Dacia and haven't lost a single battle. Medium/Medium, I thought I was rusty so I didn't want the weird morale bonuses the AI gets otherwise.
Got one heir/general killed while fighting the Brutii on a city gate when they invaded Greece, bad mistake and careless on my part, but somehow in a wonderous manner my whole army rallied and annihilated them to a man.... never seen such, almost everytime my general gets slaughtered the fight is over but my phalanxes and lancers somehow regrouped and made a slaughterhouse of the field. Wow.
This far the light lancers have been a wonder, they don't have staying power but who cares, just charge, withdraw, flank, repeat...
This far it feels Macedon has real striking power fast if you play your first turns right and become a true force very quickly. For some reason I've been unable to get almost any peltasts or merc archers in this far, maybe bad building decisions but as I said I was rusty, and the merc hoplites don't really strike me as a wonderful unit.
But goddamn, I tried the Alexander tactics in a few fights, i.e. strong phalanx center, left wing auxiliary cav etc to hold the enemy wing, strong right wing with your most powerful cav which will break through the gaps and absolutely wiped the field of any resistance.
Lets see how it goes after the Romans get better units. Also I used to play VH/VH if at all so maybe I took too easy settings despite my long break.
I'm playing Macedon on RTR VH/VH its been a great game and I currently own everything from Illyria to Syria (eastern asia minor is in Pontic hands), which in RTR constitutes a hell of alot of provinces.
To summerise, a quick, brutal but ultimately successful war with the Greeks brought about the conquest of all the Greeks in the Balkans within a decade. During which time I also occupied the only Ptolemaic province in Europe after they attacked me.
I planned on consolidating, but the Seleucids were hellbent on war so I was forced to invade Asia Minor very very early on, it seemed the endless stacks of seleucids would overwhelm me but I gained a toehold in the north west and constantly reinforced my position. During 20 years of warfare western Asia Minor was mine and i'd conquered territory from Illyria in Dalmatia and had sporadic warfare with Thrace.
These 3 wars continued pretty constantly for decades, I suffered reverses such as the total annihilation of a stack when the Thracians cavalry flanked my position and charged my centre. Also the Seleucids crushed another stack outside Nicomedia, but by now my economy was booming so these losses were swiftly replaced and the Thracians were slowly being absorbed.
Success against Seleucia speeded up dramatically as central Asia Minor was seized many Seleucid stacks were swept aside along the way including the vital province of Galatia, with its gallic influenced troops.
Around this time 220bc or so, my army in the east was 50% mercenaries, mostly Galatians and Cretans, the further east I was forced to go the more mercenaries were in the army. I pushed deeper into Seleucid territory seizing Tarsus and then moving still further taking Antioch and 4 nearby settlements. I even went further east and briefly besieged Babylon but was forced to retreat. Now my eastern army is almost entirely made up of Persians and Galatians as Macedonian troops are so far away its hard to get regular native reinforcements so far east, besides the mercenaries and Persian troops etc are doing brilliantly. By 200bc all of Asia Minor except the east was mine and I had a permanent presence in Syria.
The greeks still lived in Sicily, with their 1 province Syracuse, I got an expedition together and besieged the city, I stormed and only lost out when the time ran out, I had 1 man left to kill :wall:. I was further angered when Carthage besieged Syracuse whilst my army was unable to react. So I in hindsight rashly attacked the Carthaginians and they retreated, this wasnt a big deal since peace was made with Carthage soon after, but my alliance with Rome was broken and war followed. Syracuse was taken anyway and the Greeks dead. :skull:
180bc is pretty much where im at, I have extended far into the north beyond the Danube and the war with Rome goes on, despite the fact ive smashed 8 stacks without losing a single one of mine. They persist on attacking me.
I plan now to march east and take Babylon and Seleucia crippling the Seleucids before pre-empting against the Ptolemies and capturing Cyprus which is the key to there economy with its 3 cities. Furthermore absorb Rhodes and Lesbos which are still in Ptolemaic hands from the beginning of the game. Oh yes and of course my plans are well under way for a formal invasion of Italy, I already have 2 province in the south but im massing 3500 men for the invasion, the target Rome itself.
Update on my campaign, first of all, I have no idea where you other guys got all the money from at the start, I've 20 gold at most after each round and for a while it was a bit rough as I've had to replenish armies with mercs which took alot of my infrastructure development out. Also since I'm at war with nearly every neighbour they frequently block my harbors or siege cities which sucks money out of my war chest.
Then again I didn't read the thread much, just went to do it my way, eliminating Greece from the peninsula (they still have Sicily and Rhodes with big stacks awaiting for a landing) and then Thrace attacked. By my last post, I had already wiped them out and was in a war against the poor Dacians I tried to co-exist peacefully with.. Alas, in vain.
I exterminated them all, which might've been a mistake maybe... the towns produce nothing, they would have been good targets for training generals and a buffer between me and Germania. But they just refused to yield no matter what I tried. Now I control the empty Thracian/Dacian wastes with a few tough garrisons in the ready if Germania tries something funny.
On my mission to destroy the Greek completely I crossed over from Byzantium, at which point the Greece allied with Pontus who throw masses of men at me. However they were not powerful enough to penetrate a phalanx/peltast line and survive the following flank and rear charges by my light lancers and other cavalry I picked along on the way. Some pretty epic battles took place with thousands and thousands dead.
This all the while fighting with the Brutii and Julii in the west. I have camped in Segesta and pump new forces to repel their landings on the coast, which they do regularly. I'm not even trying to hit Italy, just keep the coast clear and any invading Romans in check.
I've been using a Macedon style battleline all the time when suitable, with strong (well... as strong as I can get with only semi-developed cities) deep phalanx middle, a left flank that can hold its on against cavalry or spears (mercs and cav mixed) and the most powerful cavalry massed on the right wing, poised to envelope and rout the enemy with one huge charge which either flanks or envelopes their center. I bet this would've not worked so well on VH though, as some pointed out militia hoplites and levy pikemen tend to rout for no reason very quickly. On medium they are both mostly solid enough as long as you hold their flanks protected and keep them on a deep coherent formation.
Allied with Gaul to spite the Romans, and Scythia just so I don't have to mind the empty north-east wastelands.
Egypt, as usual, is emerging as a powerful force in the south, rolling over everyone. I'vet yet to see more than a few of their diplomats but I pose this question to you Macedon players:
How the hell will I deal with their chariots?
I know its going to happen sooner or later. Infact after dealing with Pontus for good and taking the last Greek outposts, I have a mind to attack the middle-east, like Alexander, and I know what's waiting for me over there. Its scythes on wheels. The game is nearing 235BC so mere light lancer charges will not do it all anymore. I'm already having trouble with principes and such landing on the coastline between Segesta and Salona and losing quite a few cavalry units to beat them back. Nothing a few flanking wedges of lancers can't handle but you get casualties fast the moment the fight stalls into a melee, at which point you should pull back at once for another run but while multitasking several different fronts in the battle you sometimes forget to do it ASAP.
edit: I have to say I love the phalanx center & cavalry enveloping tactics. I have _some_ peltasts and archers in each stack, and have enjoyed using ballistas to rout enemies attacking over the danube or in Ponthia, but this far I've seen my phalanax center rout only a couple of times, when fighting against such overwhelming odds I had no chance to keep their flanks covered or turn around fast enough to face the flankers. They are truly a calming force in my center I can rely to repel almost anything thrown at them as long as their sarissas and spears are pointing in the right direction, a massive force of Dacian and Ponthic infantry have both rushed my phalanx front and oh my oh my... I hardly suffered any casualties at all since they can't get near enough to use a sword or a short spear before being ground down by the constant pummeling beat of the Macedon lance.
Playing Pontus, I found the Eggy chariots a pain. The Heavy ones were actually pretty easy to deal with; they could usually be goaded into charging pike-points, just buried under an advancing wall of pointy things, or shot to bits. But the archer versions are a bit of a major pain, especially when there's the rest of the army (Pharaoh's Bowmen are... not nice) keeping you from just sending some disposable Peltasts to keep them busy while you demolish the rest. It's usually impossible to engage the archer chariots with suitable troops so long as the Pharaoh archers are active, and conversely you can't really clear out the foot archers with cavalry as long as the chariots hang around ready to rip your horses to bits.
Aside from using Scythed Chariots as chariot-hunters (obviously not an option for Macedonians), I found artillery to work suprisingly well. At least on Hard the AI seemed quite hesitant to assail a properly supported pike line, and while it dithered trying to decide what to do lobbing rocks onto its fancy wheels and shiny archers stacked the deck nicely.
Heavy infantry mercs were a pretty good chariot-killer too as long as the things deigned to come close (and event the archer kind are often surprisingly willing to try a massed charge); both Thracians and Cilicians seemed to do a pretty good job (one bunch of the latter lasted some three battles before being depleted to uselesness). Even the puny Eastern Infantry seemed to do pretty well especially when "braced", presumably by the virtue of pretty decent defense score, spear bonus and sheer numbers. 'Course, those guys aren't that useful against most anything else but at least they're more mobile than phalanxes...
Hmm! Never thought of artillery to deal with chariots but this sounds like something that could work. I just have to make sure I have my infrastructure ready enough to actually build some decent artillery before I invade the Eggie territory, from the few fights with Ponthian chariots I know the units that finish the battles for me, i.e. Macedonian/Greek/Lancer cavalry with their flank/rear wedge charges will suffer horrendous losses against massed Eggie chariots.
Maybe build a solid phalanx front of the best fitted units I can get, get some archers behind them and then nuke the chariots with arty as they approach.
Some peltasts could serve as a nice distraction, taking the brunt of a possible chariot rush and then withdrawing after throwing a spear or two. Poor guys, they will suffer massive casualties but then again, what are skirmishers for...
Man, I hate the Eggies and their super-units :mad:
Let the Egyptians attack you and deploy at the back of the deployment square. That way, they'll come to you, and it gives you a chance to use your artillery on their chariots. :idea:
In my experience it was usually enough to simply deploy into the basic phalanx fortress line with the artillery right behind the pikemen in the center, flanked by archers. On the average the Egyptians seemed *very* hesitant to engage the Phalanx Pikemen head on (no wonder; my experience suggests longer pikes are seriously bad news to fight against), leaving the artillery free to bombard them while the AI tried to figure just how it was going to try to crack the formation.
Often, after eating enough rocks and commonly losing many of its chariots to stones, pike-points, arrows and peltasts (who are in my experience a fairly effective way to lure chariots into pikes), it simply decided to take a hike and withdraw. At which point I of course cheerfully obliterated as many retreating units as I could with cavalry, the Pharaonics and particularly Bowmen being singled out for special attention.
Worked on the attack too. Doing a proper creeping "parade attack" (as I liked to call them already in MTW) which scares the AI into withdrawing is pretty tedious, but wins battles with minimal casualties. Good for holding territory against those annoyingly endless piles of armies the Eggies like to throw at you. If you have HAs - the mercs available on the eastern and southern Black Sea coastal area work fine - you can even inflict some decent casualties in the process.
The AI is "learning"... Well, not really, but I had a day of fun wiping out the last Ponthians and their chariots, Royal Phalanx with some experience & armor just stop them like they hit a wall of steel, nothing gets through, I won't even take casualties while the chartiots crumble into pieces. In one battle a single Phalanx unit got almost 500 kills, and that's without chasing anyone at any point, just thursting their lances at the AI infantry and chariots trying to get past them.
Then suddenly in a few battles after the AI got clocked it used some kind of type of evil new flank/rear charge with the chariots. My own cav counter-attacked and I was able to chase them off but with horrendous losses, I lost 6 units of lancers in a single fight. YIKES! The evil AI targeted the units with exactly the weakest defend stat on my flank and burst through. Skimmers or archers had no chance to survive for a second or two, barb infantry with a good commaner was able to hold on untill my own heavy cav got in the mix. And like someone pointed out, counter-attacking with bactrian or thracian mercs helped a bit.
Be as it may that was only Ponthia that had over-expanded I had to deal with, now the Eggies started a war with me one turn after Ponthia was wiped out by me, without any other provoaction.
Ugh, I hope the Germans (former Ponthian allies) don't attack me as well, I have my hands full with all the roman factions and now Ponthia is gone but changed to Eggies... damn, I'd rather fight the Ponthians...
edit: I got a good force of artillery in Anthens, but for some reason, the same round the Egggies attacked my onager city was hit by the plague, so they're out of use for a while... goddamn,
The plague fleet is on the move. Take that you charioteering weasels.
Charioteers... the AI is trying to play clever and flank my Phalanx (appears that on almost every difficulty the AI will think twice about charging a unit of Royal Phalanx frontally) fortress and I don't have my Onagers with me yet to bombard them since my Onager producer (Athens) got the plague. My archers are doing a nice job reducing them but they move so fast they are out of range half the time.
If I load my Onagers into ships and carry to them to the midde-eastern fields of war they'll just spread the plague to my cities and armies over there, right, correct me if I'm wrong.
This vexes me and I want to punish the "wise and belligerent" Pharao a bit. Killing his best general near Antioch is not enough, not by a long shot.
So what is this plague fleet? A little jest you can play on the AI many of you might've heard of already. Since I can't send my Onagers into Egypt untill the damn plague ends, I had several spies gather in Athens, get infected with the plague and loaded them into the menacing "plague ship" that was guarding the Athenian port. Then I drew a few powerful, separate fleets of ships from Sparta and Thermon to run escort for the plague ship so I will, by Zeus, get my agents into Egyptian soil even if they try to intercept the one carrying the plague carriers.
And when they get there, they will infiltrate all their major cities, and the spies all being plague carriers... Death WILL stalk the lands along the Nile, even if my armies are still parked near Antioch. I hope I can get the Pharao infected too, but in a year all their major cities and provinces along the Nile should be fighting the plague whilst trying to out-produce and out-fight my Macedon elite on their northern front at the same time.
Take that, you [snip!].
EDIT: Please mind the org's language rules. froggy.
EDIT: Hahahaha, all their cities far enough from the battle front are stricken with the plague. And excuse my bad language, froggie.
If I could "pipe in" here with a comment or two about defending against chariots. When I played as the Greeks I learned to keep a couple of Phalanx units in reserve on the flanks behind my skirmishers and archers. I would deploy them in a longer line, about three deep, to give wider coverage. This way, when the charioteers tried to charge my skirmishers, I would retreat them behind the Phalanx units and let the Egyptian "Panzerwagenen" meet my line of spears, all the time behing peppered with javelins and/or arrows.:wall: Only when they broke and began to route would I commit my cavalry, which was stationed behind the flanking phalanxes. Sometimes I would leave some mercenary "javcav" outward on the flanks to harass their archer chariots.
As far as the plague ship concept goes, I found it amusing. The nasty little Egyptian court could stand a few deaths in the family. I guess the Pharohs never learned from their experience with Moses.
Plaguing the Egyptians is, I agree, only fair payback for the non-ptolemaic anachronism ogres they are in the vanilla game.
Loved the close to your Brute campaign, Rotor', apparently my reply was snarfed by the cyber-gnomes. It was a good climactic moment.
Good effort on chariot-killing. Same tactic usually works for charging cav as well. I've found chariots pretty fragile, especially the Brit version, the moment they stop. For a few seconds they stall as they roll over some unit, and in that moment a counter attack by non routing nearby infantry will usually smash them up pretty well.
-- Seamus Fermanagh, Magisterum Equitum to Rotorius Brutus Princeps Senatus Dictator.:2thumbsup:
Hi,
I started a Macedonian campaign two days ago, so far its going well, i took Athens quickly, but am now under attack by the Brutii, the Dacians, and the Greeks similtaniously, although ive been able to repulse their attacks so far.
I really like the Macedonians cav but i have a question: is it best to use line or wedge when charging? Until now ive been using wedge during a charge, and then turn it off afterwards. Is this the right way?
As for my taste I like to use light Macedon cavalry in a line formation. they are lancers so their first hit is doing the most damage. Pull them out of the enemy soon after they hit them, because their skills and weapons in close combat are very worse. Pull em back, then charge again. The usual tactic is to hit and run.
Macedon cavalry you cannot build from the start on, they are more heavy than the cheap lancers are. I use them often in a wedge formation charging just after the lancers had hit the enemy. They can fight in any formation, but using a wedge will break many enemy formations. You can turn the formation after you already engaged into normal modus. They fight pretty good in close combat. You start the campain with only 2 of these, so watch good for them as it will take some time until you have buildings able to replace the losses they had.
Didn't have any time to play for a week but now played a couple of more nights. Still having trouble with the Eggie chariots, I will try the sarissa winger tactic rotorgun suggested next. Problem is, I'm campaigning so far off from my homeland I've had to use far too many eastern and barb mercs as my "troops of the line" and they get annihilated. Not that I'm losing battles that often, it just comes so very, very close very often. They put up a hell of a fight, those Eggies. I hope they lost a few characters on the plague though, I was able to re-infect their major cities for about 10 years on row with this one crazy 60 year old spy who would not die of the plague himself no matter what, but was a carrier all the time. Hah.
Also I know I'm a bad diplomat in this game but damn, after the B:I version and patch, every AI faction hates me even more then ever, no amount of money or gifts will give their friendship, so now I'm reduced to turning Egypt, Italy, Germania Major, the Gaul territories and practically everything else into a salt wasteland. I don't even want their crappy provinces but they insisnt on attacking my borders no matter how much gifts I shower them with.
My current "major" campaign is turning the NW forests of the game map, infected by endless full stack Briton armies, into unpopulated wilderness. I have three columns of Greek trained units romping over in a wedge on the strategic map, and just exterminate anything I encounter, tear apart every city, when they they rebel (I let them on purpose) exterminate again and leave only smoldering ruins behind me.
Damn barbarians.
The Egypt campaign is taking ages, mainly because I decided not to strike their heart (Memphis, Alexandria) with fleets filled with crack troops, like I posted before I just keep them suffering from the plague and slowly work myself southwards, currently sieging Damascus and Seleucia.
I am not exactly an expert, but I find wedge useless because it doesn't have the same frontage as a two or three-line formation and it doesn't compensate for that by giving a lot of penetration. However, I haven't used it since the 1.3 patch (and before that I barely used it either) so maybe things are different. It is usefull for quickly turning a line-formation into a collumn and getting in between and past enemy units.Quote:
Originally Posted by poweraxe
It helps to angle them about 30 to 45 degrees from the main Phalanx Taxis(Battle Line. Of course, this is just one variation. You can modify it as you need to. I used Onagers behind the main line when available and Heavy Peltasts when I developed them. If you can afford the Cretan Archers then buy them. They are the best light archers in the game, and are the only ones with range enough to counter the dread Pharoahs Archers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ligur
Definately send an amphibious force to attack these cities.(After the plague has run its course) If you look at some of the posts from the Brutii thread, Seamus Fermanagh gave me some outstanding strategy advice concerning these Egyptian towns. (That is why I recommend him for election as Hegemon of the Grecian League) Taking Memphis, Alexandria, and Thebes will bring you enormous wealth, and cause much heartache to the Pharoah, who will have a difficult time keeping order in his remaing provinces. Capture the Pyramids and the Egyptians are in your back pocket. Be sure to keep the pressure on in Coele Syria; a two front war creates some difficulties for the enemy. If you can, blockade all of his ports to put economic pressure on him as well. The Greek Cities are a naval powerhouse, if you've managed to capture them early in the campaign. Put those Athenian helots to work transporting the house of Macedon and avenge Alexander against the issue of Ptolemy.Quote:
The Egypt campaign is taking ages, mainly because I decided not to strike their heart (Memphis, Alexandria) with fleets filled with crack troops, like I posted before I just keep them suffering from the plague and slowly work myself southwards, currently sieging Damascus and Seleucia.
Dromos(Charge at the run),
Rotorgun
Unlike most other people, I didn't bother with Egypt or even Pontus for that matter. I took non-Egypt Africa, Italy, Greece and the barbarian lands North of Greece and Italy.
I played a couple of more nights and the plague still hasn't ended, this one 60+ year old spy just refuses to die of it and keeps infecting all their cities. Laugh. Then I went into some sort of berserker rage mode and found out why I didn't play at medium last summer, the stupid Romans and Britons absolutely feel they need to attack me so I annihilated several full stack armies with 100 and at best only 7 casualties, while the enemy suffered more then 2000 warriors sent to Hades. The AI actually attacked my main battle line head on several times... what the heck? Against veteran, well armoured Phalanx? Pure slaughter. But this stalled sending a force of marines to the heart of Egypt, as I need my new troops to fight in Europa.Quote:
Originally Posted by rotorgun
As for the Eggies, since I captured all of the Greece during the first 10 or so years, I'm a naval and economic powerhouse, which means I control the seas, which means I've blockaded all their ports almost instantly when they started a war with me, which again means I haven't seen much of their feared chariots lately and they are facing some severe problems with production. I actually burned a few of their cities and abandoned them to start a revolt so I could train my troops slaughtering their gold shield peasants even better.
I think I'll do it the "hard" way and just use my troop training center in Antioch to gather troops and send more waves in, I currently have 4 stacks pummeling their way in, burning everything east of the Nile and they're doing just fine. My onagers and Cretan archers destroy any missile troops, and then I walk my Phalanx Taxis on them and grind my way through, while lancers sweep in from the right flank and wipe them out in one terrible charge of "dragons teeth" wedges.
Hooray.
Question: why do people include Onagers in their army unless you're looking to bring down some heavy fortifications?
In field battles the damage they cause, at least when you count the kills, is quite meager. A lucky shot sometimes knocks out a general or two, but often a unit of archers would do a lot more damage than a unit of Onagers, measured in kills at least.
I still haven't figured out what to do with those things, except bomb Eggy chariots from afar or bring down walls, otherwise they are quite useless for me or am I doing something wrong?
I like using onagers for the moral effect (frightened by artillery). I suppose archers with fire arrows could do the same, I don't know the stats. But of course the onagers have a much longer range and the just look cool. If the enemy is far enough away i'll use fire "bombs" for even more affect. The more I can frighten and enemy the easier they are to deal with.
There are three reasons to include Onagers in a field army.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ligur
1. If the enemy forces have Onagers in their order of battle, it is good to have them for counter-battery fire. It's bad for the troops morale when they are being bombarded and the enemy is not.:no: :skull:
2. If the enemy has sizable amounts of heavy infantry, especially phalanx capable types, it helps to break up their cohesion prior to their closing with your infantry. They make good targets as they are slow moving. This works well for elephants as well, although they do tend to move a bit faster. Using them against moving skirmishers or cavalry is wasteful I agree.
3. If you are going to conduct a siege, which is self explanatory.:wall:
I guess a fourth reason could be that it is just impressive to watch those Great Balls of Fire heading downrange. I also find some great satisfaction whenever I can get behind the enemy's main line to take his out.:2thumbsup:
Sounds like fun Ligur. I can sometimes be resolved to stubborness too. There are some great river defense lines around Antioch where one can lure the desperately aggresive Egyptians to battle. Just be sure to have some heavy artillery to combat those Pharoah's Archers. They will make mincemeat out of any standard archers in the game. They remind me of the Elite Byzantine Infantry in MTW that are also bow equipped.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ligur
What are the Parthians and Pontics up to in your game? Watch your back with those factions. They can put up a tough fight to a Phalanx type army as you know.
Yes siirreee. When the Romans started pushing in from the Italian peninsula especially the Brutii kept sending naval armies on the shore near Salona with up to four Onager batteries each. They were usually enable to land a few shots on my Phalanx front... before my Light Lancers swept in from the right flank and destroyed them. It is very satisfying. The stacks they landed with were always too small to prevent me from enveloping them from the right flank with the speeding Lancers. With the Onagers gone, the Brutii found themselves between a wall of pikes backed by elite archers, and a formation of Lancer wedges BEHIND them. It was, invariably, nasty... for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by rotorgun
For some reason the dread Pharaoh's Archers have been giving me very little trouble, but then again, my own have been trained to a very high level in a temple of Artemis somewhere and provide deadly coverage, and my Lancers usually run through the PA's quite fast when and if they manifest. Which is rare, probably as I explained before, I cut all their trade at once when they declared their moronic war on me, so that with infecting their heartlands with the plague has kept their production pretty meager. The first few battles were quite rough but after that, I'm facing dregs of their best troops that managed to flee some earlier battles, peasants and cheap spears mostly now. Tee-hee.Quote:
Originally Posted by rotorgun
The Ponthians do not exist anymore. They started a war with me earlier when I was occupying the last Greek colonies. The Greeks allied with them as some sort of last resort move and I found myself under attack by Pontus, and exterminated them by using cavalry and heavy inf mercs mostly. There is a post above which details some of my actions with them. At first they rushed in at my Phalanx in a couple of bridge battles and I utterly pulverized everything they threw at me with deep formations, then it turned into open field battles which resulted in thousands of casualties. Heavy merc infantry holding the left flank and counter attacking with my heaviest and most devastating cavalry wedges charging from the right flank (picture a huge oceanic wave, and replace the spray and foam with dismembered limbs, flying bodies and bloody carnage) ended up carrying the day for me in the end most of the time.
A surprisingly easy war to win in the end. There were some utterly massive battles with up to 4000+ dead around Ancyra and Sardis but my generals came through against some pretty nasty odds, mostly thanks to the annihilating Light Lancer wedges which I used to charge, withdraw, charge, withdraw, ad infinitum. Horrible losses for me too but they carried the day almost every time, then went home to retrain and were back in the field in no time with fresh troops.
Oh and I allied with Armenia since Egypt was giving them some sort of trouble, so they protect my NE border just fine, I haven't actually even seen the Parthians yet. I think they have something like two provinces in the far east edge of the map and are a non-factor. I just hope the Armenians won't backstab me.
my way to deal with chariots, while playing as Brutii, chage em with velites or light auxilia, there amazing against chariots. I don't really see the need to use onagers unless attacking a city or fort. If a unit is marching, and the onagers shoot at them, the artillery will always overshoot. In my experience, onagers can only work if the enemy are standing still. You could buy 2 archers instead of an onagers, and get 4x the kills
I have just started a Macedon campaign, my first time with this faction. I have quickly massed and taken athens, and hope to attack Thermom and Sparta the same turn in a few years. I am considering allying with Thrace and letting them take over Dacia, maybe with some of my funding. That way I can advance into Turkey and make the Aegean profitable. Any thoughts on my diplomatic strategy or what I should about the romans would be much appreciated. Thanks, Glaucus
Glaucus.. Im pretty much using the same strategy as yours. Ive taken Athens, Sparta, Thermon and Byzantium.
Thrace and Dacia will stab you in the back, so tread carefully.
As for the Romans.. they won't ally with you, so get as much trade from them as possible before they attack - which they will, most probably at Thessalonica. Im looking to defend Greece from the Brutii, while launching a campaign on Asia Minor with all its riches and wonders.
I'm turning my gaze north, as Dacia and Thrace both attacked me unprovoked. I took Tylis from thrace after they attacked me at Byantium. An army of dacians got killed charging into spears at Bylazora. I eradicated the romans from the mainland greece using light lancers, phalax and levy pikemen, and quite a few diplomats who helped lighten my purse. Should I launch an attack into Italy, or move north into Dacia further, or into pontic land, though I think the Greek Cities and them are fighting it out over Ancyra? I think I should let pontus take all of turkey, land an army at Tarentum, and kill the Brutii hopefully. Then I can sue for peace with the Scpii/Julii/SPQR. I doubt they'll except, but if they don't they'll be sorry. So I think north is the place for me.