Sauromatae help

**duncan.gill** · 07-14-2008, 13:42

I have started a Sauromatae game and have been going well - busted out of the steppes in the direction of the Hai and in a few decisive battles have destroyed them.

Then the Ptolemies who I had been allied to turned on me, sacked one of my cities (which I quickly reclaimed). I then went an beseiged one of their cities and a relief army comprised of an assortment of units (pikemen, two or three generals, a couple of slingers, medium cavalry, heavy spearmen etc) came to their aid.

The battle was 2:3 in their favour - I thought that it would be a walk in the park given that the computer tends to underestimate HA and I had been thrashing the Hai with 1:2 odds with my near full stack of Sauromatae Fat Aexsdzhytae (with most units having 2+ silver stripes and being led by a very experienced FM).

I got owned. The terrain did not help - if was fairly mountainous however my HA's arrows were almost totally ineffective and they ended up getting caught in melee by some of the infantry (including one of the phalanx units - even though I had skirmish mode on).

I wanted to see if I could redress the situation; I reloaded and retreated my units to a bridge when the Ptolemies then tried to attack me across. Their family member lead the charge - even though I had the entire army firing soley at the FM unit it was able to cross the bridge and engage in melee with my HA without taking even 20% casualties. WTF?? I am confused because this is totally different to what happened with the Hai (where my HA would often whittle heavy cavalry FM's down to nothing in short order).

Can anyone advise me what I am doing wrong? I am playing on EB 1.1 and have the mini-mod pack installed. I don't know if skirmish is not working the best (being chased down by a phalanx is humiliating). Any suggestions? I also thought that perhaps having the cheapest HA is where I am going wrong (i.e. I would never dream of having my core army comprised of celtic levy spearmen or the like). Any suggestions?

**Hegix** · 07-14-2008, 15:36

Skirmish works fine as long as you check up on your units now and then. Some times they get stuck on the battlefield border or when another unit is blocking their flightpath. As for shooting, always use manual fire and only shoot at the enemy when their backs are turned. This makes even a simple battle take ages to play, but at least you will win.

**Havok.** · 07-14-2008, 23:03

try to bring the fight to some kind of plains? like those between the mountains near armavir and mtskheta, that could offer you some ground to kill 'em

**tapanojum** · 07-15-2008, 03:29

with HA's, terrain and weather is important. Large open plains or mountain positions with you on top of the hills are awesome! If the weather is raining, it hinders your HA's ability to shoot.

**Havok.** · 07-16-2008, 00:51

I did not knew the rain effect on arrows

although it does make sense i thought that wasn't one of the RTW mechanics

i love EB

**jhhowell** · 07-16-2008, 01:32

Not sure how you were able to kill Hai bodyguards with archery, their armor should have been too tough for that. Ptolemy FM are less heavily armored than Hai, but still too much to be worth shooting at with arrows (slings work very well, though

); I'd say reserve him for your own FM.

As others have said, you have to shoot phalanxes and other decently armored infantry from the rear or right flank. Spread out your HA, and one group or another should always have a good shot. The enemy slingers will be your only real danger; other than that I think you're correct in expecting an easy Heroic Victory.

Nothing wrong with relying on the basic HA model. It's also worth having a few tougher units in addition to your FM to handle melee duties. The various flavors of steppe nobles all look good for that role.