Macedon

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Ouch that sucks Quirinus. Any hellanic faction does not like barbarian units.

I think you are mistaken. I find barbarian units to be exceptionally easy to take on, at least as easy as the roman armies. Once their infantry is pinned down by your pikes, they are as easy as anyone to flank. There is one exception thought. Scythia...In that case you are absolutely correct. Pikes find it just a little hard to out maneuver a horde of horse archers.

[mrdun]

I think you will find I am NOT mistaken. Barbarian units such as falxmen are a lot quicker and can break up your formations and outmanouvre long pikes.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

True, true. Especially if the falxmen are being commanded by a human.
But your strategy of out maneuvering the pikes is not unique to only barbarian factions. Romans, Pontus, Egypt etc, are all effective against the pikes, if they use the pikes slowness to their advantage.

Let me clarify my original post. You are not mistaken in saying barbarians have an advantage over the hellenes. Once the pikes are out maneuvered, they're toast. But to say that advantage is unique to only barbarians, is incorrect.

[mrdun]

I'm sure other units can get under the Hellanics' skin aswell although I was just going on the barbarian's attacking values.

[Punicus]

Just so everyone knows, I didn't read many of the previous posts before posting this strategy, so if it seems like I'm just repeating a lot of stuff, sorry.

Hmm, Macedon doesn't seem too challenging, at least in the campaign I'm currently in. Right off the bat, Greece took an army off from Sparta to I'm guessing Syracuse (does this usually happen?), leaving the a small force inside. I quickly took advantage of this and rebel-controlled Athens. Light Lancers are pretty decent cavalry with that powerful charge, and I can't stress enough the value of low-tier hoplites in comparison to low-tier units of other factions.

The economic situation of this faction is beautiful. Athens is a money making powerhouse, it never fails. From here on what I plan to do is take all of Greece, then focus in on the Brutii. Once I've conquered them and the rest of those Romans, I should be so rich that the rest of the campaign will be easy pickings. The difficulty is H/H is anyone is wondering.

[Quintus.JC]

On my current Macedon campaign on H/H I’m also finding it really easy, despite having war with 4 factions (Brutii, Greece, Dacia, Thracians) and have only 1 ally. Is it just me or do Greek cultured factions have better family members with good traits more than any other faction. I took Sparta on turn 4 and rules Tylis, Crete, Athens, Byzantium plus all of my original cities. The money is flowing from all directions, despite having several full stack armies. The temple to Ares and Artemis really helped my troops a lot. I’ve been on the defensive a lot but now planning to hit the Greeks and Brutii on the counter. Thrace is no more a trouble after losing Tylis. I intend to leave them so they could be a buffer against Dacia and the Scythians. The Greeks have 2 full stack army parked outside of Thermon and the Brutii also have 2 stacks outside Apollia. They’re just staring at each other. I urged them to go to battle several times with my diplomat. They demanded cash in return and I did, but none of them is keeping their promises. I was hoping they would fight so I could take the cities when they have been weakened, but now decided to just take them anyway. Antigonus is still alive and well at 79. My faction hire has 9 stars in command and 8 in management. I’m planning to go into Italy soon with Royal Pikemen and Macedonian cavalry. It all looks pretty good so far.

[Punicus]

Interestingly enough, the Brutii decided to not show the Greeks any attention at Thermon despite the fact that they are extremely weak at the moment. They went directly for Thessalonica (sp?) but suffered a big defeat and at the moment have no troops on the peninsula. Thrace, however, decided it would be convenient to attack Bylazora at the same turn, but they shouldn't be any trouble (the army they are attacking with is quite small).

Usually a situation where I'm at war on a couple fronts would be scary (not literally) but since I'm getting so much money, I'm not worried about it. I'm constantly making new units and teching up so I shouldn't have any problems once I've taken a Thracian city and kicked the Brutii out of Greece.

[mrdun]

Just so everyone knows, I didn't read many of the previous posts before posting this strategy, so if it seems like I'm just repeating a lot of stuff, sorry.

Hmm, Macedon doesn't seem too challenging, at least in the campaign I'm currently in. Right off the bat, Greece took an army off from Sparta to I'm guessing Syracuse (does this usually happen?), leaving the a small force inside. I quickly took advantage of this and rebel-controlled Athens. Light Lancers are pretty decent cavalry with that powerful charge, and I can't stress enough the value of low-tier hoplites in comparison to low-tier units of other factions.

The economic situation of this faction is beautiful. Athens is a money making powerhouse, it never fails. From here on what I plan to do is take all of Greece, then focus in on the Brutii. Once I've conquered them and the rest of those Romans, I should be so rich that the rest of the campaign will be easy pickings. The difficulty is H/H is anyone is wondering.

Complete duplicate

[coalition]

hey tere guys, vh/vh and things being going pretty welll, took a break from medieval total war 2 but i prefer rome, alot more interesting. Theres 1 thing i do have to complain about the macedonians, arent the royal pikeman suppose to be hyspadist? or however you spell it lol.

[whtdoesitmatta]

Ok, I am trying to Defend Macedonia from all invaders after seeing Serverous do it Germania, but I am keep getting destroyed early.

Basically the rules for this are
-Give Byzalora to Dacians or Thrace depending on who wants to ally with you.
-Take Athens.
-Then hold and defend these 4 provinces for the rest of the game.
-I am not going to attack or capture any enemy outside of lands.
-Politically I will be good...no attacking unless I am at war with that faction.
-I can declare war via a diplomat if another faction steps foot onto my soil.

Basically what keeps happening is Greece and the Brutii ally,and Destroy me, as my pikeman cannot fight 1v1 vs either hastati or Hoplites.

Please help.

[Craterus]

Use the early Macedon cavalry (light lancers), your early pikemen should never be in an extended battle so you need to use anvil-hammer cavalry hit and run tactics.

Haven't played the game (or posted in the guides) for 2 years but hope this helps

[The Wandering Scholar]

Spam pikemen with very long spears and light lancers (Gyras is a good general early on) plus buy some archers.

[whtdoesitmatta]

Problems are:
What is Hammer and Anvil tactics?
Cretans spawn too slow.
And the Pikemen can't touch Armoured hoplites, and have a very hard time with hastati and Hoplites.

[The Wandering Scholar]

Hammer and Anvil tactics are when you tie up their infantry with yours and flank them, oldest trick in the book.

You can open up descr_mercs and increase spawn rates if you so wish. If i Was to do that I would increase the cost and upkeep, it wont seem so much of an exploit then.

Like my previous post said use very long spears, they cannot touch you. I beat a unit each of Spartans and Armoured hoplites on normal size with three levy pikemen:

use their 60 numbers and stretch them out, you can easily flank them then. Kind of like holding your nephew at arms length, not quite as easy as a little toddler.

[Paradox]

Hammer and Anvil tactics are when you tie up their infantry with yours and flank them, oldest trick in the book.

You can open up descr_mercs and increase spawn rates if you so wish. If i Was to do that I would increase the cost and upkeep, it wont seem so much of an exploit then.

Like my previous post said use very long spears, they cannot touch you. I beat a unit each of Spartans and Armoured hoplites on normal size with three levy pikemen:

use their 60 numbers and stretch them out, you can easily flank them then. Kind of like holding your nephew at arms length, not quite as easy as a little toddler.

How do you increase the spawn rate and modify the cost/upkeep?

[Hannibalbarc]

To increase the spawn rate go to descr_mercs and edit this,

unit merc cretan archers, exp 0 cost 750 replenish 0.05 - 0.08 max 1 initial 0

if you changed it to this,

unit merc cretan archers, exp 0 cost 750 replenish 0.1 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1

They would spawn much faster, of course you don't have to change the numbers exactly to what I changed them too but you get the idea.

[coalition]

Use the early Macedon cavalry (light lancers), your early pikemen should never be in an extended battle so you need to use anvil-hammer cavalry hit and run tactics.

Haven't played the game (or posted in the guides) for 2 years but hope this helps

haha craterus ^_^ hows the cavarly commanding going? lost your touch? or you too busy playing medieval 2

[The Wandering Scholar]

Yh Craterus explain yourself you m2 splitter you!!

[RLucid]

The problem in zama was that hannibal, in my opinion, didn't adapt well to the fact that now he was the one in superiority in the infantry section by quite inferior in the cavalry section, his strength for over 18 years. Some say he tried to create a bait to take scipio's cavalry out of the battle. If he did it, he was not very smart, he had the prove in Cannae that cavalry can destroy the cavalry's army

Scipio was a great general and took every leaf out of Hannibals book. Due to curiosity by Hannibal (wanting to meet Scipio) he was able to choose the campsite and the ground; I think Hannibal probably wanted to assess Scipio's likely weaknesses (having used impetuosity against previous Roman Generals for example). Scipio made sure on day of battle, Hannibals men were weakened by hunger and thirst, having to wait long time having stood to early, whereas Scipio's troops were well prepared.

Then he had a plan, which worked, scaring off the Elephants, so most of them turned back on Carthaginian lines. Due to Javelins and noise, fleeing they disorganised the superior Carthaginian cavalry on the flanks, and Scipio pounced, managing to rout a superior Cavalry force because the horse were spooked, and in no condition to fight. Then the 1st line, was defeated, but to avoid disorganisation of inflexible phalanxes, they weren't admitting men back through. Those skirmishers, peltasts, archers, slingers attacked their own line desperately, in order to break back out of anger.

Big mess, bad job for Phalanxes, let Romans get in close and cut them up, where spears too unwieldy. 2nd line defeated, repeat, 3rd line won't let them through no gaps... big mess. 3rd line at disadvantage and then surrounded.

If you use Elephants, it's always going to backfire at some point, and Zama was Hannibal's day for a debacle.


On the advice given here. If you stick archers in front of your Phalanx, I wonder how they get out the way of oncoming troops. Playing with Romans and having Velites out front, I found using the Quincunx was essential to give them lanes of escape, and gain maneuver space, for 2nd/3rd line to counter attack, hitting the right spots with the right unit matchups.

Perhaps having some Falxmen near archers with a Phalanx in reserve, able to move forward, can allow some pores in the Phalanx line. You wouldn't need to be aggressive with those troops, just have them guarding, any attempts to attack flanks of Pikemen. These reserve troops, would be handy in exploiting any success achieved by the pikemen and be faster at following up.

[Randal]

Just a note or two... Scipio's cavalry at Zama was superior to Hannibal's, and more numerous as well, thanks to the defection of Massinissa and his Numidians.

Also, in the infantry battles it was a close thing when the exhausted Roman lines engaged Hannibal's veterans in the third Carthaginian line... had the Numidians returned a bit later Hannibal might well have won, albeit just and in a slogging match far less elegant than his famous victories.

[LedZeppelin87]

The Macedonians are one of the minor factions, so they are not unlocked when you win the game as one of the Roman factions. However, they are perfectly playable and it is simple to edit the game to unlock them.

Go to the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign

Open up the text file entitled descr_strat

At the beginning of the file, it lists which factions are unlocked, which factions can be unlocked and which factions cannot be unlocked. Change this section so it looks like the following:

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
greek_cities
romans_senate
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
scythia
spain
thrace
numidia
britons
end
unlockable

end
nonplayable

slave
end

It is a good idea to back up this text file before you edit it in case you make a mistake. When you have edited and saved it, load up the game and start a new campaign. All 16 factions will be playable, but you might experience some peculiar side effects if you lead the senate. I owe a beer to the person who figured the above out.

How do I save the changes? Say's I do not have permission. How do I get around it?

[Quintus.JC]

Shouldn't happen normally, try asking in the Apothecary for answer.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

How do I save the changes? Say's I do not have permission. How do I get around it?

I think you have to edit it in notepad and paste it back in...not sure.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Right click on the file descr_strat, go to properties and uncheck read only.

[mido_cyber_boy]

Macedon is one of my favourites. They are even better than Greeks because:
1. They get the pikemen with much longer spears than those of the spears,
2. Intially you are much more in advantage and can get rich quickly...

Playing battles as macedonians, I always win them even when the odds are against me... The most effective tactic I found useful while facing large armies is forming your phalnaxes in a octagons or hexagons (because huge armies can engulf you) and leaving your missiles and general in the centre... If you have any cavalry, I keep them away from battle, only using them to rout missile and mop down routing enemies... Congrats Heroic Victory

[IceWolf]

They don't have anyone to use on walls though. Which gets to be a problem in late game when you're on the Italian penneinsula or in the lower part of the Greek penninsula for that matter.

Icewolf

[Quintus.JC]

Macedon is one of my favourites. They are even better than Greeks because:
1. They get the pikemen with much longer spears than those of the spears,
2. Intially you are much more in advantage and can get rich quickly...

Playing battles as macedonians, I always win them even when the odds are against me... The most effective tactic I found useful while facing large armies is forming your phalnaxes in a octagons or hexagons (because huge armies can engulf you) and leaving your missiles and general in the centre... If you have any cavalry, I keep them away from battle, only using them to rout missile and mop down routing enemies... Congrats Heroic Victory

Actually the biggest advantage the Macedonians have over the Greeks is probably their superior cavalry. Also the Greeks start in a better position to get rich than the Macedonians, though both will probably get rich anyway, providing they stay out of trouble with their neighbours.

[Verjigorm]

After playing more of Macedon, I think that the temple thing does improve your weapons directly-- a Large Temple of Artemis (+3) produces gold-sword Archers and Peltasts. I haven't gotten much further in the game yet (I've been playing the Greeks instead ) so I still have no idea what a +4 or +5 would entail.

Anyone knows the answer to this?

I've got a Greece game going right now, and I have a temple of Artemis in Larissa for +2 to Missile attacks, and my archers are comnin' out with Missile 11(7 base +2 from Armorer, +2 from Artemis, right?). They stil don't really do anything impressive, but I'm waging war against the Egyptians, so whatta ya expect?

[gollum]

The Greeks have no advantages over the Macedonians in term of position, as they get blitzed out of existence in Greece proper in the first 3-4 turns. After that the Macedonian player should do well to throw the Brutii in the sea, then taking a small hiatus in calming the obnoxius Thracians by taking Tyflis and Byzantium, before proceeding across the Adriatic to batter the Brutii, then the Senate and then the Julii and Scipii in Northern Italy and Sicily respectively. As these developments take place the Macedonian player can also land in Asia Minor to give a good beating to Pontus, and get the ludicrus and wonderful cities on the coast, including Rhodos that provides a Colossal trade bonus. After that, his main worry would be probably a long attritional war against Egypt, which he will win to some cost, depending on his skill.

Overall, Macedon's central position along the most trade rich routes is key.

[Tsar Alexsandr]

Macedon is a great faction. Your starting position is good. Your lands can become very wealthy. Your pikemen make a great phalanx. Used properly, you can even defeat the mighty Spartan's with your pikemen. You also get some great Hellenic cavalry! Macedon's Light Lancers are good light cavalry, and the Macedonian Cavalry are a well balanced cavalry unit that will serve you well throughout the game. Macedon can also recruit Ballista which I find useful for taking down large masses of troops. Notably, masses of Roman legionaries.

What you need to do is build up your armies, and your cities. War will come from every direction, and you need to take your early steps preparing for it. Your goal for the short campaign is to destroy or outlast the Greek Cities, and Thrace. So you know these guys will cause you trouble. The Brutii also have plans on your land. Make sure to expel them as soon as possible! You will be told the odds are against you in your battles against Rome. But you'd better believe you will have war with Rome.The Brutii are relentless, and the Jullii may settle in lands near your northern border. They too might come after you in your lands.

Your first priority should be the Greek States though. Once Sparta and Thermon are yours, then you've just about united Greece and Macedon under one Hellenic leader. The Brutii arrive soon. A few turns into the game, and I opt to go for them before I deal with Thrace. Thrace can be dealt with quick enough though. Make sure Byzalora can defend itself from the Thracians. If you can reinforce it from Thesolonika than that's a bonus.