Ptolemaioi tips?

[DisposableHero]

Just after getting the Marian reforms and fighting a war against the massive Arche Seleukia, I had a sudden desire to play as the Ptolemaioi - for reasons I can't explain. I haven't been much interested in the Greeks, and didn't think much of phalanx warfare (too much time tearing them to shreds, I guess).

But I played a couple of turns and fought two battles and actually pretty well enjoyed myself, so I think I'm going to continue. I tried using logner lines of phalanxes in rows of 5 or 6 and this seemed to work pretty well.

I think I'd also like to RP this game a lot more than my Romani one, but I know woefully little abotu the Ptolemaioi, so could anyoen give me tips on how I could do this, as well as army composition and tactics?

[Maion Maroneios]

Hello DisposableHero, glad to hear you enjoy the Ptolemaioi.

There are quite a few things I can tell you, as I have almost exclusively played the Diadochoi kingdoms, including of course the mighty Ptolemaioi. I can start with a few things about the kingdom itself.

First of all, it was Megas Alexandros' favourite land (Aigyptos - Egypt). He was proclaimed Pharaoh by the locals themselves, after he ''liberated'' (actually just marched into Aigyptos, only to be accepted as such) them from the Persian Empire. After his death, Ptolemaios I took Aigyptos as his realm and kept the title of Pharaoh, passing it from father to son. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was very rich, both beacause of it's trade, the bright minds it prduced and the fertile lands of the Neilos river. The land itself wasn't called the ''breadbasket'' of the Mesogeios for no reason. Its army was a typical ''Alexandrian'' one, meaning they depended heavily on phalangitai, which formed the backbone of their armies. They also had access to local Aigyptian infantry and light cavalry, but also Erythraian, Aithiopian and Arabian units. These troops are represented with a variety of good units available to you, which you can check out in the Recruitement Viewer. Historically, the land was constantly threatened by rebellions when the king's armies where far from their homelands. Another thing that troubled the Ptolemaioi, was the lack of elite Alexandrian heavy infantry, like the Hypaspistai, Peltastai Makedonikoi and Argyraspides. These where claimed by the Seleukeidai and Makedones themseles. This means that you won't have any access to these units, which you may have encountered during your wars against the Seleukeidai. Fortunately, you do possess other types of elite heavy infantry, innovations of the Ptolemaioi to counter the enemy Diadochoi, represented here by units such as the Basilikon Agema and the Klerouchikon Agema.

As for playing with them, I have some suggestions for you. Firstly, in order to represent the constant fear of rebellions, you can always have a semi-full stack or something of the like present close to your homelands, as if to protect you and keep order. One thing you will imediately notice, is that your position on the game map is very good, as the only factions that will practically bother you are the Seleukeis. This means that you can focus completely on the Arche Seleukeia from start, without having to worry about other hostile factions. Turn taxes to Very High, build markets, roads, ports and the like and you will see that you will make quite some profit even from the very start of your campaign. Gather you forces in the Levant from the very start, along with an ale FM and start fighting your Syrian War against the AS. You would want to take Antiocheia from them also, as it's one of the biggest cities and will have developed infrastructure early on. It is also the base of operations for the Seleukeidai, so taking the city will be a great blow for them. Don't rush things, plan your attacks and make sea raids along the Anatolian coast if you wish, or just launch attacks from the eastern shores of Anatolia in order to claim the land. As for the south, train a light army consisting of Akontistai (2-3, as to counter the Elephantes of the Eleutheroi), Pantodapoi, Pantodapoi Phalangitai, along with some missile units. With this army, you can deal with the southern rebels and claim all the lands of Upper Egypt.

After you get a solid foothold of the Levant and Anatolia (along with it's precious mines), cash will be flowng in like a flood and you will be able to train better units (provided you have build your infrastructure). After that, you can do whateaver you wish, either go for AS homelands (Mesopotamia), or you can play referee in Hellas. After that, your options are endless and are up to you, though you should chose wisely. Turn fow off sometimes and keep evry faction in check. If one gets too powerful, give gold to lesser factions in order to counter them.

As for army compositions, if you do some searching I'm sure you will find some good army compositions, but if you experiment enough you will find the one that suits you best.

I wish you the best of luck and lots of fun,
Maion

[Aemilius Paulus]

For your phalanx units, you can use the Machimoi Phalangitai (Machimoi Native Phalanx), which are cheap, but still have the most important attribute of a phalangite: a long pike. I have noticed that phalanxes are very much deadly in EB, more so than in RTW. I have also found out that for some reason, it is practically impossible to get through the front wall of spears of a phalanx in EB.

I was playing as the Romani once and I was in a battle against Seleukids. They had 4 Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Hellenic Native Phalanx) with zero exp./weap./armour, which are pretty much equivalent to Machimoi phalanx, among other units. Eventually I routed and destroyed most (except their cavalry) of the other units and was left with the four phalanxes. I sent four units of 2 exp/1 weapons&armour Principes to charge the front of each phalanx as well as 2 Greek Classical Hoplites and 3 Triarii with same weapons/exp/armour to fully envelop the phalanxes. The result was shocking. Those lousy Pantodapoi left each unit of Principes with only about 25 men each (from starting 82 men - large unit scale). After that battle I usually whittled down the Seleukid phalanxes with slingers or cavalry (charging in their backs).

If your economy is doing well, then you can recruit something better, but otherwise stick with Machimoi phalangites. Just be careful, because their morale isn't one of the best. For cavalry, it is best to use the Prodromoi (Successor Medium Cavalry), which are cheap, fast, have good stamina, powerful charge and are relatively easy to replace. Make occupying Ankyra your priority, for it offers one of your best choices for an elite heavy infantry unit that your faction mostly lacks - Galatikoi Tindanotae (Galatian Wild Men), a counterpart of the notoriously famous Gaesatae. You might also consider taking Tylis where you can recruit the AP Thraikioi Rhomphaiaphoroi (Elite Thracian Infantry) which will come quite handy when you're facing those heavily armoured Seleukid elites. Be sure to use plenty of Sphendonetai (Hellenic Slingers) who mow down just about anything with their AP missiles and one or even quite possibly two Cretan Archers per stack for fire arrows. Don't forget Machimoi, the sword infantry unit that is, not the phalangites. These lads have 9 AP attack, 18 defence, two 5 attack, 45 range javelins all for only 1173 mnai, which you can use when you're in a pinch.

I would recommend having a general, 5 phalanxes, 4 heavy infantry (preferably sword infantry), two Prodromoi, one archer unit, and 6 slingers in a full stack army. When your economy improves you can start recruiting Mistophoros Strategos (Hellenistic Mercenary General) which I personally prefer to normal cavalry for their ability to regenerate. They are also much heavier than the Prodromoi. If you don't like having do many slingers, substitute them with an extra cavalry unit as well as some more phalangites and/or heavy infantry.

When you are very wealthy, you can get the elephants, which will rout levy armies in couple of seconds, especially when used along with fire arrows, Tindanotae as well as with the Rally General's ability, which lowers enemy morale while raising your own unit's morale. I use the ability whenever an enemy unit starts wavering (just be sure to have your general close to the wavering unit).