What makes playing Saka the hardest faction in the game?

[vartan]

I believe the hardest faction is the Haysdan. Hardest I have undertaken in any case.

I'm going to have to agree with Macilrille. Most of my time playing EB has been as the Hai. The reason it's so hard to play as the Hai, more the case in MP than in SP, is the fact that we Hai have what I like to call "The Worst Units in the History of Mankind." As Usher would say himself, the Hai "got it bad."

EDIT: Saba may actually be the worst in MP; I forgot to mention this!

[Julianus]

I always think leading a HA army and shooting down all those tin cans must be cool.
But after giving the nomads several tries I find that I just don't have what it takes to command those damn HAs...
Especially when fighting another HA-based army all those ponies run wild across the whole battle map, I just cannot grasp what the hell is going on...

[gamegeek2]

I'm going to have to agree with Macilrille. Most of my time playing EB has been as the Hai. The reason it's so hard to play as the Hai, more the case in MP than in SP, is the fact that we Hai have what I like to call "The Worst Units in the History of Mankind." As Usher would say himself, the Hai "got it bad."

EDIT: Saba may actually be the worst in MP; I forgot to mention this!

Their infantry are rather sub-par for the most part, but they have strong, capable horsemen. I could put up a fight with them, if it were possible to reinstall EB on my comp (can't fix the directx problem, no matter what I try)

[A Very Super Market]

The Saka are hard because there is seriously nothing of use in your immediate vicinity. You need to capture some far-away cities and sack them to sustain your economy, unless you feel like disbanding all your good units and making 10 mnai a turn selling goats.

[Zradha Pahlavan]

Saka have it relatively easy with regards to their military (early horsemen eat infantry for breakfast and can usually digest most other horsemen, late infantry just plain kick arse) but they have a horrible money situation. Sauros have a money problem too, but there is enough easy prey around to make up for it eventually. Sort of.
Hayasdan has an annoying position but they have better access to major bread-winners (Babylon, Pontic areas) and they also have horse archers.
Saba is the worst though. Their specialty is skirmishers and light troops (oh boy, that'll go far) and they get to be playmates with both of the regional superpowers (AS, PM) or just one ultra-powerful superpower, depending on how the game goes.

[artaxerxes]

For me, it is usually the money situation that can make me give up a campaign early. Playing as Carthage or Macedon, fx, came as a relief after trying to master the AS, Saka or Pahlava economies. Nothing can kill a campaign easier than being dead in the water with no income and no army to change the situation. Saka are worse than other factions with money-problems (AS fx aren't exactly poor, they just have so many fronts to invest in) because they have no money-making heartland of any value whatsoever

unless you feel like disbanding all your good units and making 10 mnai a turn selling goats.

that is so unbelievably funny, I actually fell out of my chair laughing :D

[Tuuvi]

I'm currently in the middle of a Saka campaign and I agree that the hardest thing about playing them is the lack of a good economy. What I did to overcome this problem was build pastoralism whenever possible. By carefully budgeting your money and saving up for caravans, markets, farms, roads and Druvaspa religious buildings you can slowly build a decent income. The only problem with pastoralism is you will not be able to recruit your basic HA's, but you will be able to build walls and recruit foot archers and saka spearmen, which make it easier to defend your settlements.

[athanaric]

I'm going to have to agree with Macilrille. Most of my time playing EB has been as the Hai. The reason it's so hard to play as the Hai, more the case in MP than in SP, is the fact that we Hai have what I like to call "The Worst Units in the History of Mankind." As Usher would say himself, the Hai "got it bad."

Hai units are good; they are just very expensive compared to others. Infantry is versatile, but costlier and more restricted by AoR than Roman and Greek infantry; cavalry is strong but a lot more expensive than Parthian or Nomad cavalry.

I'm currently in the middle of a Saka campaign and I agree that the hardest thing about playing them is the lack of a good economy. What I did to overcome this problem was build pastoralism whenever possible. By carefully budgeting your money and saving up for caravans, markets, farms, roads and Druvaspa religious buildings you can slowly build a decent income. The only problem with pastoralism is you will not be able to recruit your basic HA's, but you will be able to build walls and recruit foot archers and saka spearmen, which make it easier to defend your settlements.

Exactly. You have to decide between greed and cavalry unit availability, and with me, greed comes out on top. That's the main difficulty I see, actually (apart from massive unrest due to cultural penalty - hopefully EB II will provide more options for Saka (as in eventually becoming more civilized with a better build tree).

[Tombles]

Interestingly, although Saka units generally have a higher range than Pahlava or Sauromatae, they also have fewer missiles- 30, rather than the usual 40 for steppe cavalry. The only Saka factional unit with 40 missiles is their basic horse archer, which sacrifices its ranged advantage over the other steppe factions in order to carry more missiles. This puts the Saka at a disadvantage in fighting Seleukid phalanx spam, and arguably in shootouts with the other steppe factions.