The Seleucid Empire

**RollingWave** · 02-24-2005, 16:56

I concur, as long as you take some measure to make sure their moral don't go down too soon, milita hoplit is arguablly the best lvl 1 infantry around... and defending (or assaulting) a city street with phalanx is very good

**The_Emperor** · 02-25-2005, 17:59

Man, as the Selucids all i can say is, I love levy Pikes!!

Levy Pikemen have saved my butt many times. (especially during a city assault)

Plonk a Levy Phalanx in the street, suddently the entire army is held up! (with the exception of quality cavalry like Cataphracts, but you only need an extra unit behind the first to kepe the roadblock in place).

**RollingWave** · 02-25-2005, 20:08

Currently starting my first Selucid Campaign on H/H...

At start everyone except the Armenians allied with me... my starting leader died of natural causes in the first 3 turn (grrr why alwys happen to me??) and early on rebels poped up left and right... so was basically rebel hunting for a while...

Then I realize the obvious... Alliance aint worth a dime as Pontus Armenia and Egypt hit me all at once... I barely held off Pontus and Armenia with mercenary army (as they were hitting isolated and underdeveloped provinces) and build up a more reliable core army in Antioch to push against the Egyptian.

Somewhat to my luck, after sacking their first city then crushing the counterattack army, the Egyptians acturally agreed to became my protectrate if I give them that city back o_O!!!! obviously 1 city to keep my worest potential enemy off my back is good.

Then amazingly the Greeks hit me with a full stack o_O WTF, then I checked the faction and to even bigger surprise the Greeks are acturally the leading faction o_O, but thx to stupid AI seiging skill I acturally manage to held off the full stack with only 400 men. (the greek family member lead the charge... into 3 stack of hoplits in the city square... needless to say the rest didn't feel like fighting much after that..)

Now with my back secured I'm begining to move against Pontus, I got them down to 1 city now, if i can bring Asia minor under me quickly i should have little trouble in steam rolling those damn Armenians and Pathians (Amusingly Pathia have not attacked me yet.... though we are no longer allied as i broke off with them when they attacked Scythia)

Thoughts so far..... the AI's is retarded in seige assult.... i had one fight where the AI acturally did something smart... rushed my infantry as I tried to move my phalanx outside the walls with a huge number of eastern infantry and managed to overwhelm my phalanx... just when i thought the AI acturally did something I would do he then parked he's whole army outside my walls and let my towers and archers shoot them to hell -.-......

I still dont' get the hang of using scythed chariots.... they seem to run amok or die a lot easier than elephants while they also trample ur own guys easier (as they are faster) why is their defense so low that makes little sense when the rider appears to be fully armored...

Although Milita hoplite/Levy pike and greek archers aren't very spetacular, combined together they still make a extremely solid basic army.. getting archer in most city is a abosalute priority if ur going to survive the defensive phase (and to acturally have something to work with on offense... ur not going anywhere against horse archers without ur own archer however crappy they may be.

**Stlaind** · 02-25-2005, 23:25

Originally Posted by RollingWave

I still dont' get the hang of using scythed chariots.... they seem to run amok or die a lot easier than elephants while they also trample ur own guys easier (as they are faster) why is their defense so low that makes little sense when the rider appears to be fully armored...

Best use i've seen is killing off my own generals - rushed one out of a city to knock off some militia cav (what all chariots seem good at is killing cav) and watched helplessly as they routed came back to my town center and instantly ran amok killing both the generals I happened to have there.

**RollingWave** · 02-28-2005, 11:49

Lol same, i've had my own general died to amok scyth a few time...
But another funny as hell situation was why I besiged Ankora, Pontus had like 800 men, 2 scyth chariot, a general and afew Pontic light cav along with a load of eastern infantry and hill men... i immideatly send my 2 unit of archer along with 1 unit of merc bedoiun camel archer and pelted one scyth chairot with fire arrow... it ran amok after just 2 volly.. as the Pontic army tried to move from the walls back to the town center, it killed more than 60% of their army (the other chaiort unit ran amok too ) and their general.... that's gotta be one of the easiest seige i've ever done.

**The_Emperor** · 02-28-2005, 12:21

I still dont' get the hang of using scythed chariots.... they seem to run amok or die a lot easier than elephants while they also trample ur own guys easier (as they are faster) why is their defense so low that makes little sense when the rider appears to be fully armored...

Do not underestimate those Selucid Scythed Chariots... In my Greek cities campaign I had a lot of trouble when a couple of Scythed Chariots got behind my defensive line and started carving up my missile troops and cavalry. (to make matters worse a unit of Elephants joined in as well)

I was outnumbered 2 to 1 at the start of the battle anyway, and most of both selucid armies were comprised of Militia Hoplites. (compared to my armoured ones)

The first army was easily routed and driven from the field, but the second army arrived too quickly and before I could turn and face them two units of scythed chariots and one unit of elephants got behind my lines... They wiped out all my cav and missile troops and consigned my general to an early grave.

Fortunately they couldn't very well hit my armoured hoplites from the rear because the Ornagers were in the way (even if the crews did get massacred).

My veteran armoured Hoplites did carry the day when a couple of them turned and formed a second front against the enemy.

Needless to say I lost half my army, but when the dust settled I had slain over 2,000 men.

They might not be as powerful as Elephants, but they can sure cause some havoc when used right. Still it was a nice move by the AI.

**RollingWave** · 02-28-2005, 12:47

After using them more, i realize their potential, they are faster than elephants and they will mow the enemy down much faster.. where elephants usually require u to have some calvary back up or a infantry wave support to make the charge really count, the chariots will often destroy the enemy all on it's own, however their tendency to run amok at the slightlest wind still make them quiet problematic... (though i guess due to their speed.. u should just simply put them even farther back in ur line and perform a wide angel flanking manuver.)

**Ghostmonkey** · 02-25-2005, 20:50

Originally Posted by The_Emperor

Man, as the Selucids all i can say is, I love levy Pikes!!

Levy Pikemen have saved my butt many times. (especially during a city assault)

Plonk a Levy Phalanx in the street, suddently the entire army is held up! (with the exception of quality cavalry like Cataphracts, but you only need an extra unit behind the first to kepe the roadblock in place).

Same thing goes for city assaults too. Just clog up a street or two with pikemen and nothing will stop you. The only problem here is that time constraints may require a more wasteful strategy.