KH army choices

[Novellus]

Hmmm. So maybe thorakitae hoplitai should hold the flanks instead of the javelin thorakitae? I'm playing a real tough war against Rome on one side and the two big successor empires on the other.

The Thorakitai Hoplitai are very versatile and one of my favorite units to recruit when I plan on fighting battles where I'm outnumbered. The reason for this is because they have good morale, good attack, and can hold a line against several non-phalanx types. The reason I prefer them over the Thorakitai Hellenic Spearmen is because the javelins don't do the type of damage that I want. Enemy morale seems to recover quickly after the javelins are thrown, even if they strike in the rear of the target. And the Thorakitai Hoplitai don't seem to do the best job at killing off the enemy soldiers in comparison to their Thorakitai Hoplitai variant. It's mainly because of the AP Kopis swords that do the damage, and when guard mode is taken off, they not only engulf flanks, but hack them up. Spear units tend to be much slower at this task when speed is a necessity in some battles.

In Asia Minor, I've held out against Ionians and routed a superior Ptolemaic army thanks in part to the Thorakitai Hoplitai. And their area of recruitment is fairly broad as well. And when fighting against Romans, the units will hold the line even against the Triarii. I believe I've held off their Pedites Extraordinarii as well before, but I would advise keeping an extra unit of cavalry nearby to charge them as the Extraordinarii also have the AP Kopis swords.

By the way, both the Successor Armies AND the Romani ABSOLUTELY HATE the Hippeis Xystophoroi (Greek Noble Cavalry). They are recruitable in the Italian peninsula and parts of Asia Minor. In Italy, take Syracuse and you'll be able to recruit them quickly. And if the Romans have Taras, taking that city will allow you to recruit and retrain them there as well. In Asia Minor, you'll have to take a while to build up the MICs to retrain cavalry. But Pergamon is a very good choice for this. Mytilene does not have cavalry units available like Pergamon, but they have the Thorakitai Hoplitai (you should be able to train Thorakitai Hoplitai by the time you have a MIC sufficient enough to train cavalry in Pergamon).