Egypt

[4th Dimension]

Couldn't you have posted bigger screensshots. You know you don't need to make images smaller for imageshack, it will prowide you with a clickable thumbanil

[WarMachine420]

Couldn't you have posted bigger screensshots. You know you don't need to make images smaller for imageshack, it will prowide you with a clickable thumbanil

I can assure you that I didn't do it to frustrate you. If I could've I would've.

I'm not using ImageShack, I'm using PhotoBucket becasue ImageShack wasn't working yesterday (got an email today from them explaining that this was the problem).

you have links to the pictures anyway...can't you resize them then? If not...ok, I'll figure it out and the pics I post tonight/tomorrow AM after I play will be resized.

Again, apologies on the size but I didn't do it on purpose.

[Goalie]

You saved them as a full sized screen right? I use photobucket and it always has full sized shots if I either post the image or the link.

[Severous]

Hi

The advice on public order is relevant to all factions. However, as BH Goalie points out, playing so close to the riot point (65% or less) means players need to regulary check each town to ensure all is ok. I personally check every unit, agent and town, every turn before I press the end of turn button. It takes me months to play a campaign.

Barbarian faction city management discussion would be best in a thread of its own in the RTW forums. But I cant answer that anyway as im part way through my first and only barbarian faction campaign...Gaul. Havnt reached any city limits yet.

Screenshots. Always good things to have. I use Imageshack and prefer it when others do so. Their thumbnail links dont have any resizing problems when uploading or viewing. Imageshack is playing up still today..I just tried to upload one and had problems initially.

Heres an on topic picture. From a since finished Egyptian campaign. The chariot generals are really powerful. Here 100 men took on 800 Carthage men(including elephants)...battle odds calculated at 1:3 against...and won.

[Natasen]

Some thoughts on generic Egyptian strategy (not tactics)

I. The Seleucid Empire
Jerks. Don't know when trade is a really neat thing. My second Egypt game was purely to have a western sweep across Africa, but that got nixed when the Seleucids thought war would be fun.

a. De-Port Campaign- obtain local command of the sea. Egyptian ports in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Siwa (captured in strategy mentioned later), Sidon, and Salamis allow for a quick augmentation of Egyptian sea power when needed. One big thing about RTW, everyone likes the Meditterranean. Denying its use to the Seleucids will render them impotent. If there is a sizable and annoying Seleucid fleet, simply put all your ships into fleets that carry your men.

b. The Pincer- Strike at Antioch, and then Tarsus. You can ignore Hatra and probably Damascus. Supplement this by an 'amphibious' offensive into Asia Minor.
You want to come after Seleucid beach property from both directions. You can come from Cyprus, Alexandria, wherever but bring the pain. I had a sizable force in Cyrene so I hopped from Cyrene to Halicarnassus and on to Sardis from there which netted two wonders and ran across mostly rebel resistance.

c. Hang'em out to dry. If you don't like Parthia next door, leaving Hatra and Seleucia isn't a big deal.

II. Maximize Wealth and Earning Potential
By gathering the Seleucid ports you have already followed this step. Crete is also a necessary element. Send diplomats out much earlier than actual fighting and trade with every you can.

a. Pick the apples- Petra, Bostra, Palmyra, and Dumatha can be ignored during the Seleucid war, but they are cheaply won afterwward and add to the income. This can be left to 'task groups' rather than a full fledged army.

III. Grow the Western Front- Siwa right away then put Watchtowers all over Libya when you can. Keep the bottleneck closely watched for the Scipii or Carthage. Cyrene becomes the cornerstone of defense of this area. I was able to reach out for Lepcis Magna and Thapsus with some amphibious reinforcement, but traded Thapsus with the Scipii constantly. I was fine with this-- my buffer was well established.

IV. Use Communications to strike into the interior. There are troop trains present in several parts of the map. For Egypt, three are most important.
Jerusalem-Sidon-Antioch-Tarsus (with a siding at Damascus, and maybe Palmyra) Antioch becomes your natural base to strike Armenia (through Hatra) and later Parthia and mop up the Seleucids. Tarsus offers possibilities against Pontus. (A train is where units can reach one city from another in one turn). The second train is Sparta-Corinth-Athens-Larissa or Thermon-Apollonia which will bring you through Greece from a strong attack on Sparta. The final stroke is the road to Rome-- Tarentum-Capua-Rome and points beyond. With forces based in Apollonia, you need a big fleet to survive long enough only to get to the port of Tarentum.

V. Don't Forget to bring your Sword with you. This is no pilgrimmidge, it looks easy but only the tactician will get past the dangers. For tactics, I would read the posts that proceeded this one. Fight and bribe as you see fit.

VI. Review
a. Grab the Seleucid ports---Gain the command of the Eastern Med
b. Trade and Accumulate
c. Protect the West.
d. Strike from Points of strength using the Roads
e. Fight like a general who reads and learns from those proceeding tutorials written by people with more posts than me.

A shimmering Pharaonic Empire awaits you, and so do misplaced Nubian spearmen (I can raise Nubian spearmen in Ireland? Those Irish-Africans are a tough breed)

[Guyus Germanicus]

I share many of Natasen's sentiments. Though I've noticed, when I play with the Seleucids, I think the Egyptians are jerks. Funny how that works. :) I do love playing as the Seleucids because of their unit depth and variety.

After owning RTW and playing constantly now for almost five months (I'm a charter member of RTW-holic's anonymous) I started my first Egyptian campaign the other night. Gosh, what lucky stiffs these guys are! They have only one serious front at the start of the game and that's the one they share with the Seleucids. The Numidians are no threat. So, I slowly built up my strength taking Bostra, Petra. I got alliances right away with Parthia, Pontus, and Armenia. Knowing by experience of the Seleucids geopolitic isolation - (they can't get good alliances and usually end up in a four or five front war with all their neighbors) - the Egyptians have a gravy geopolitical situation. The cities in Egypt-proper grow like weeds. You can get good population growth which means good tech development. Their cities make good cash too. Egypt can grow their navy strong early. Much of the naval action (outside of rebel pirates) is in the Aegean and Ionian seas, so you can develop in quiet isolation from major enemies. Salamis has no early threats, so I don't need to garrison it with much. Even when I play Seleucia, I can't usually get to Salamis with a serious force until after I've pushed Egypt out of Palestine and beaten off the immediate Armenian and Pontic threats.

So, when war breaks out, Egypt's strategy can be very focused, and I target my schwerpunkt for Antioch without fearing too many distractions. Damascus is easy to pinch off making the drive on Antioch - their key city of production - easier as your flank is covered. (Parthia is not a big threat and looks for an alliance with you early on.) You can grab Palmyra, and Hatra (if you want - the Armenians like that city) as the opportunity arises. My campaign has only been interrupted when one of my allies becomes allied to Seleucia. Then my relations with Seleucia go to automatic cease fire (until they blockade one of my ports again, which they invariably do - the AI seems stupidly obsessional on that point. Then their alliance with my ally falls apart and we're back to the infantry war again.)

I had one 16 yr old faction member take a little trip to Crete to buy some archers (usually two units are available.) Cretan archers have longer range than factional archers. I've been able to bleed enemy armies significantly before having to close with them with the Cretans. I'm making an amphibious assault on Halicarnassus. If the Greeks get snitty and challenge you, Rhodes is easy pickings and yields big trade dividends when captured. The natural route of conquest from there is Asia Minor, then Crete, then Corinth and Greece proper, then the Brutii realm on the Italian boot, then Rome. That seems to be the route that I've taken in my Seleucid campaigns. Carthage tends to be too far away to justify a large military expedition, while Corinth, with its public-order-bonus ancient wonder, needs to be a part of your general campaign strategy in your drive to Rome. As your empire expands and cities get larger where public order becomes a concern, having Corinth is very helpful.

I've found that I use my Egyptian chariots more as archer skirmishers. I tend to fight in the Greek style with phalanxes predominating. And I try to build up cavalry to match the Greek cavalry of Seleucia rather than chariots. You will definitely need good cavalry when it comes time to face the Roman factions. Anyway, that's my perspective on Egypt at the moment. Perhaps as I play this faction more, my opinion will change on some things. But, gosh, compared to taking Seleucia, these guys have a breezy opening game. No worries at all. Of the main playable factions, the Greek cities, Carthage and Seleucia seem to have the most challenging opening positions in terms of potential enemies. Seleucia's money position is slightly better than the other two. The Greeks have a shortage of military tech depth. But they have Rhodes, and Athens is a reasonbly easy grab. And if Macedon causes problems, Corinth is in your front yard. Parthia has no money, but doesn't have to face a five front war. But . . . I haven't played the Gauls, Brits or Germans yet, (and don't really have a desire too, at this point - lack of good cavalry is discouraging the attempt.) So, maybe I should just shuddup. :)