I want to try a horse army.

[yutterh]

So what is the best faction to do this with? I was thinking the selucids with their cataphracts but the beginning is hard for them so i wasnt sure. I know the egyptians have godly chariots but I jsut want to try steamrolling everynation with an army of horses.

[ReluctantSamurai]

You've already named the two easiest factions to play from that part of the world....the Egyptians and the Seleucids. If you want to play as one of the Horse Archer factions, Scythia or Armenia are your best bets. Parthia rates, but is harder than the other two, IMHO.

but I jsut want to try steamrolling everynation with an army of horses.

You can attempt that with just about any faction.....just recruit only cavalry units

On the games harder settings, you won't be getting too far with just cavalry, as they are not so good for assaulting cities..................

[Cretan]

So what is the best faction to do this with? I was thinking the selucids with their cataphracts but the beginning is hard for them so i wasnt sure. I know the egyptians have godly chariots but I jsut want to try steamrolling everynation with an army of horses.

I think it depends on the type of Cavalry you prefer to use, If you want to avoid Horse archers i suggest Seleucid they have a very good selection of mounted units including Cataphracts, Companion cavalry, Armored Elephants, and Greek Cavalry.

Pontic, Armenia, and Parthia armies are mostly composed of ranged cavalry, even their Generals use a ranged weapon which i personally diden't like. Of course you can Alt+click for melee, but it can get messy and you might find your own troops dieing from friendly fire.

Same could be said about Militia cavalry, they have a tendency to shoot themselves and/or friendly troops if not payed strict attention too.

Horse Archers are a pain to fight because they use skirmish attacks the whole time and they move very fast. But they also take a long time to kill other units as opposed to Melee cavalry.


Regards starting locations, Parthia is quite hard because their empire is split up and vulnerable to attack.

Selecuids are in a vulnerable spot and share borders with Pontic,Greek cities, Egypt, Armenia and Parthia, but their forces are much more consolidated. By turn 10 you will most likely be at war with all of them, but don't let that worry you. Seleucid have a very strong economy and have a good number of starting settlements.

From turn 1 you should already be organizing small armies to take the rebel settlements Dumatha, Palmyra, Nicomedia, Halicarnassus, and Ancyra .. once these are secured you will have the economic infrastructure to fight off any and all attacking factions.


In my Seleucid campaigns i found it wise to wipe out, or weaken all the factions that have access to Cataphracts before they develop themselves as they pose the biggest threat, but don't worry they will come to you. :)

Combined forces: Sure its possible to defeat the whole map with pure Cavalry armies, but if you don't want to get your men slaughtered while charging them into Pikemen i suggest recruiting Cretan archers mercs, they are one of the few Archer units with maximum range missiles and are invaluable to your army, treat them well and level them up and they are lethal in battle. They can be recruited from regions such as Phrygia, Peloponnesus, Attica and nearby regions. From memory they spawn once every 3-4 years.


I recommend Seleucid for Cavalry based armies, they are the most fun and diverse in terms of units. They are imo the most powerful faction in the game (if played by a player) useless if played by the Ai though.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Yutterh,

Cretan suggests the Seleucids, and they certainly offer some good cav options. If you've mod-ed the game, the Macedonians also work well for this. I like mixing light lancers with Macedonian cavalry. Of course, post-Marian Roman factions offer you three different units of heavy cavalry for some serious stomping power. If you haven't tried this, try stocking up on equites just before the Marian reforms kick in. Equites are faster than your post-Marian heavy cavalry and will give you some pursuit capability.

Personally, I'm fond of the Carthaginians. Round shield and long shield cavalry, with elephants and sacred band heavy cav can give you a serious cav army. The combat casualties you suffer in round shields and long shields can easily be replaced in most cities once you get the cavalry stables built. So you can easily restock. Elephants and sacred band are a bit more problematic when it comes to restocking the unit after combat as not every city can recruit elephants and sacred band require the top of the line royal stables to recruit them, and those will only be found in 'huge' cities that have built out to royal stables on the building schedule.

My only problem with cataphracts is that they're a bit slow and have limited stamina. You can certainly break some infantry lines, but I wouldn't call them serious swarm material. But . . .that's just my opinion. To each his own.

[Quirinus]

Another thing the others have not mentioned (I think) is that Armenia gets cataphract archers, which are simply awesome. They are slower than regular horse archers, but then again they are also a lot more heavily-armoured. So you can count on them to win horse archery duels, while you can simply charge any light/medium cav or archers that threaten you.

Also I agree, Carthaginian cavalry are pretty deadly as well. Massed round shields can be very cost-effective.

If you like barbarians try the Scythians, they can retrain their basic horse archer in the lowest-tier barracks, which makes steamrolling the lightly-armoured Germans very easy. They also get Scythian Noblewomen (or something like that), a superior heavy horse archer unit later on.

You can even go cav with the Romans, post-Marian. Just make sure you go growth in at least one of your Italian cities so that you get the reforms sooner, the Romans' pre-Marian cav blow.

There are plenty of good cavalry factions, so it really depends on what culture you like, and who you like to fight.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Horse Archers are a pain to fight because they use skirmish attacks the whole time and they move very fast. But they also take a long time to kill other units as opposed to Melee cavalry.

I would like to point out an advantage (among several others) that horse archers have over melee cavalry. While chasing a routing or retreating unit, or any other unit that turns its back to your HA unit, you will be delivering missile fire to the rear of the enemy unit where they don't get the benefit of any shield bonus and subjects them to morale penalties.

Equites are faster than your post-Marian heavy cavalry and will give you some pursuit capability.

I did this all the time when I played Roman factions

Another thing the others have not mentioned (I think) is that Armenia gets cataphract archers, which are simply awesome.

These are my favorites! Chariot Archer killers, excellent ranged attack, and can go over to melee when necessary because of good A/D melee stats. They're almost obscene, really

There are plenty of good cavalry factions, so it really depends on what culture you like, and who you like to fight.

The best advice of all!

[yutterh]

Thanks guys sounds liek the carthaginians, scythians, and armenians are up my ally. Now abouot teh cataphracts for seulucide empire when do i get those?

[Cretan]

Thanks guys sounds liek the carthaginians, scythians, and armenians are up my ally. Now abouot teh cataphracts for seulucide empire when do i get those?

To recruit Cats you need to build Elite cavalry Stables, to unlock that building you need the following:

Large city - requires 12,000 population
Cavalry Stables

Something to note, its a good idea to make your military cities in regions that have Elephants in them, such as Antioch as to take advantage of the full tree of units. (Armored Elephants)

Also make sure you have Shrines/Temples dedicated to Hephaestus to get the weapon and armor training bonus.

To speed up the process of upgrading your cities, have Governors only in your Military powerhouses and when conquering cities Enslave them and you get a nice bonus to population in those respective cities.

This is great for advancing your technology in military relatively quickly, giving you an edge over your enemies.

[Tsar Alexsandr]

They've all got different benefits. Scythia is pure cavalry, and they have good cavalry too! So it'll be a total immersion for you if you choose them. Scythia has a good intro level horse archer, and a heavy armored horse archer as well, with long range missiles! Scythian Nobles are a great unit. They only take one turn to make, unlike cataphracts and Scythia's Scythian Noble Lancers, but have high hand to and and missile attack. As well as high defense. Unmatched in defense by any and all horse archers except Armenia's Cataphract. (It is worth noting Scythian Nobles look awesome too..... XD )

Next are the Eastern factions, Parthia and Armenia. Parthia and Armenia get the standard horse archer unit, (Not as good as Scythia's intro level one btw.) but they also get Persian Cavalry and Cataphract Archers. Persian Cav belonging to Parthia, and Cataphract Archers belonging to Armenia. They both have long range, good defense, and good attack. They're flexible too, well able to engage in hand to hand. The Persian Cavalry has good stamina though, and I prefer it for that reason. However, the Cataphract horse archer is the most heavily defensive ranged cavalry unit in the game. Nearly as good as a regular cataphract in every way. (It takes 2 turns to make though....) Oh, Parthia get elephants. :D Not a bad thing to have in your armies at all!

Carthage has great cavalry. As do Macedon and the Selucids. (As well as Pontis btw for it's Pontic Heavy cav armed with javelins and it's Cappadocian Cavalry.) But this nations rely a lot more on mixed units tactics than the others I mentioned. Which can be a lot of fun. Macedon is a great faction for it's Light Lancers, Macedonian Cavalry, and Companion Cavalry. But you'll need to bring your pikes and other troops too. Like Parthia, the Selucids and Carthaginians also get elephants. But unlike them... they get a wider selection of elephants. They can build the intro level one's pretty soon into the game, and have access to the mighty armored elephants.

[placenik]

For steamroling Schytians- they face western faction which don't have a match for horse&bow, having infantry based rosters. Basicly, what can kill you, it can't catch you, what can catch you, it can kill you...
At the east only real horse faction is Parthia, having no decent infantry to field, (it is recommended to abandon your northern province), but lack of temple bonus on exp/weapon/armor can hurt.

[Cretan]

For steamroling Schytians- they face western faction which don't have a match for horse&bow, having infantry based rosters. Basicly, what can kill you, it can't catch you, what can catch you, it can kill you...
At the east only real horse faction is Parthia, having no decent infantry to field, (it is recommended to abandon your northern province), but lack of temple bonus on exp/weapon/armor can hurt.

I don't understand why Parthia diden't get Temple bonuses, i suppose they are not a very main-stream faction but they should definitely have this.

Though if you really wanted to you can Mod this in relatively easy by adding the bonuses to buildings in Export_descr_buildings.txt

[placenik]

I don't understand why Parthia diden't get Temple bonuses, i suppose they are not a very main-stream faction but they should definitely have this.

Though if you really wanted to you can Mod this in relatively easy by adding the bonuses to buildings in Export_descr_buildings.txt

I know, but you have to pay for being only monotheistic faction

[Tsar Alexsandr]

They get a bonus for the settlement. + to law and happiness I thing. They worship Zarathustra I think. The retinue "Priest of Zarathustra" is pretty useful as well. +1 to command, +1 to management, and another +.

But it would certainly be nice to get a more practical military application bonus. Like a plus to weapons, or experience. Captured temples of other factions have those bonuses sometimes. Like the Selucids temples of Hephastus.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Parthia is a bit more difficult than Scythia or Armenia, IMO. Mainly due to a very poor starting economy, but more importantly, no place to go to improve this situation except Seleucia.

Armenian lands are just as poor, and the vast steppes of Russia are in the same shape with the added penalty of simply huge distances to travel. That leaves only the Seleucids.

By itself, it isn't such a big deal running circles around hoplites and dealing with the pesky militia cavalry, but coming down out of the mountains will bring you into combat with the Big Yellow Machine sooner or later, and my experiences were sooner.....and long before I could get ellie's and cats.

I'd rather play Numidia than Parthia, even though HA factions are my favorite

[Tsar Alexsandr]

I like a good HA faction myself lol. :D

Yeah Parthia does have the Selucids and Egyptians to contend with. Which reminds me, Egypt is a decent cavalry faction in it's own right. Desert Cavalry are good anti-armor troops, Nubian Cavalry are a flexible unit, and Nile Cavalry are decent heavy cavalry. Chariot's are also a lot of fun. Especially the chariot archers.

Egypt's main strength though is of course it's wealth. Egypt can afford to lose battles, and it's unit's aren't bad if used properly. Fortunately the AI can't do that properly... or you'd be in a lot of trouble as Egypt is very wealthy indeed.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Parthia is a bit more difficult than Scythia or Armenia, IMO. Mainly due to a very poor starting economy, but more importantly, no place to go to improve this situation except Seleucia.

Armenian lands are just as poor, and the vast steppes of Russia are in the same shape with the added penalty of simply huge distances to travel.

I've played Parthia a few times. Tough early going to be sure. They have no real good infantry unit to speak of, and you have to exercise serious prudence with their economy. If you can get Seleucia on the cheap, you have a decent chance to move forward. The Hanging Gardens wonder gives your farm profits a nice boost. Concentrate on farms early and you have some cushion money. But truly, as you pointed out, they have only one direction they can expand - west. Armenia has one good infantry unit that I wish CA had assigned to Parthia as well - the heavy spearmen. Otherwise, the eastern factions have to get creative when beseiging cities with serious garrison strengths.

I tried playing Armenia once, but was having trouble getting their home cities to grow. They stagnate quickly. So to truly expand, they have to grab some solid urban prizes like Hastra and Antioch to get to their higher admin building levels. Parthia starts to take off once you have Seleucia, Hastra, Palmyra and Damascus. Then you can move on Jerusalem and Antioch. The key to success, I believe, will rest in your producing a solid force of Persian cavalry and gain lots of experience chevrons on your standard horse archers.

I will say this for Parthia's vanilla spearmen unit - if you can armor them up a bit, get them a few experience chevrons, etc., they will be effective enough for urban street fighting when paired with some hillmen units. You will suffer serious casualties. But your cataphracts come in handy here by circling around the rear of your urban enemy and slamming into their line. Then, too, there's always the alternative of mercenary hoplites.

Guess I'm drifting off topic.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I've played Parthia a few times. Tough early going to be sure. They have no real good infantry unit to speak of, and you have to exercise serious prudence with their economy.

And seeing as how they don't get a 'growth' temple, the "Hanging Gardens" is the only alternative to growth. And crappy infantry is permanent with Parthia, so I always go for the ellie's as quickly as possible, to compensate.

I tried playing Armenia once, but was having trouble getting their home cities to grow.

You will hit the wall before 24k even if you choose the Temple of Anahit (which is what I do for Artaxarta and Kotais). For me, I don't care that it happens. I've long since moved into Asia Minor (and move the capital to Sinope, early on) so I only need those two cities to get to the level of producing CA's, for which 12k is enough. With heavy spears and CA's it's enough to counter anything Parthia might send if they're so inclined.

[Lucius Verus]

Pontus, armenia, parthia, scythia or Seleucids are good factions for horse army

[Bilgediver]

I love playing as Armenia, Early Horse Archers would usually allow me to quickly expand east and take out Parthia's capitol, then move south to Hatra, eventually winding up in Antioch. Once you take Antioch, you can rapidly build up your forces AND economy. Be careful about the South-Eastern Black Sea shore, Pontus LOVES to advance up there, especially once you take Kotais. HA's just rack up the kills against Eastern Infantry, especially once they turn their back on them.