Egypt seems really strong

**ranpiz** · 10-11-2004, 19:54

playing vh/vh as scipio i was unable to win any battle against them when the ratio was 1:1 or 3:2

maybe i'm using the wrong troops? (legionaries, roman cav, archer aux)

the armor upgrades dont seem to exaust my troops or anything.

plus...uhh..how do you kill chariots? even archer chariots own my heavy cav when and if i do catch them. the general chariots are death machines.

even if my general was superior it just didn't seem to matter, their axemen, archers, and chariots just seem like super soldiers of death.

finally i started surrounding their armys with 3 of mine so i'd have 2 suicidal AI general-lead forces to help me out and that seemed to work quite well.

i'd really like to know if theres any good tips on how to beat them with even armies though.

vh/vh difficulty, not sure what kinda bonuses it gives the computer but i figure it just evens out the fact that i have a general with stars and they dont.

**Red Harvest** · 10-12-2004, 05:50

They are tough, that's for sure. You should try fighting them as Numidia on vh/vh, ouch! They have handed me my hat several times. Many of the Egyptian units are oversized. Their elite bowmen are phenomenal. The armour and shield stats are inflated or wrong for several key units, and the chariots move like horse archers. They also seem to have a ton of money...

**Excalibur Bane** · 10-12-2004, 06:19

Yeah, I got my ass handed to me several times by the Eyptians as the Scipii. Much the same scenario as your talking about, often I outnumbered them. I lost with a mixture of Praetorian Cavalry, Urban Cohorts and Archer Auxilia. The chariots didn't do much damage though. I boged them down very quickly so they couldn't run my infantry over.

It was the damn desert that was against me it seemed. Those Pharohs Bowmen are killer. They decimated my poor Archer Auxilia down to a man. I don't recall exactly what he had, but I had 6 Urban Cohort, 6 Praetorian Cavalry, 6 Archer Auxilia, a couple of heavy Onagers and a general. I ended up coming out with around 800 losses and only 500 kills and I had a ratio of 3:2. I remember the battle distinctly because after it was over, the reminder my army apparently tripped, fell into the sea and drowned.

**ChaosLord** · 10-12-2004, 08:08

Well, I fought(and conquered) them on hard battles, not very hard so this might not be too useful. But the two main army setups I used conquering the Egyptians were.

My Balanced/Seige Army:
1 General
7 Legionary Cohorts
6 Archer Auxilla
6 Legionary Cavalry

My Harasser Army:
1 Roman General
9 Legionary Cohorts
10 Roman Cavalry

I built them all in places with Vulcan Pantheons/Foundries so they started out 2 exp and gold weapons. The trick with the Egyptians is dealing with their Chariots so your cav can do its work. Usually unless it was a heavy archer army i'd charge me Legionaires into their axemen to hold them, then run cav along back charging into flanks/chasing after general and chariots. The best way to deal with their chariots is deep formations of infantry preferable, cav if you must, the Chariots are only deadly so long as they can isolate the units, otherwise they're easy to take out.

Their bowmen were never a real big problem for me, I close into battles quickly. Only time I engaged them in archer fights if my balanced army outnumbered their archers and I was on defense. But, anyway, thats how I did it. I'm not sure how much harder the comp is on very hard but hopefully someone will find this useful.

**Mayfield The Conqueror** · 10-12-2004, 16:00

The computer does a horrible job screening your cavalry, even on Hard difficulty. send a few units to do an end around on their missle troops and run them over like the dogs that they are. But the Chariots are always a pain for me unless I throw some Cavalry at them immediately.

**Krusader** · 10-13-2004, 09:57

Egypt seems to be overpowered.

Desert Axemen have same armour stat as Armoured Hoplites? Isnt there something wrong here?

Havent faced the Egyptians as Romans yet. Although when I play as Seleucids, I got enough cash and Scythed Chariots are created on one turn, that I often sacrifice my chariots to take out the Egyptian ones. The Egyptian chariots will win, but they will have so few chariots left, that they will rout quickly.

**USMCNJ** · 10-13-2004, 10:32

the best way to defeat chariots (from my experience ) is by using phalanx. make sure you form them up atleast 5 deep. make sure they don't hit your rear.
Never persue chariots, they have those blades on the side and will kill your troops

**Suladan** · 10-13-2004, 11:02

Agreed. Desert Axemen are absolutely overpowered. 11/5/2 armor/skill/shield (18 total). They are bare-chested and wearing kilts. They certainly don't rate 11 armor. The Nile Spearmen are actually wearing light woven armor on their chests and their stats are only 3/5/5 (13 total).

I can only assume the 11 is a bug or typo. They should be 0 in armor, and bump up their skill or hit points if necessary for balance. As they currently stand, arrows bounce right off them (remember, they're practically naked and carry a very small/crude shield)

**Suladan** · 10-13-2004, 11:12

Originally Posted by ranpiz

vh/vh difficulty, not sure what kinda bonuses it gives the computer but i figure it just evens out the fact that i have a general with stars and they dont.

Also, be aware that Very Hard difficulty level gives the computer very significant bonuses to its troops' combat effectiveness, while your general's stars only affect your troops' morale (unlike MTW).

**Doug-Thompson** · 10-14-2004, 04:06

@#$% Egyptians

Parthians with a few mercenary camels and desert cavalry kill them by the bushel, but the @#$% Egyptians just rebuild. Parthia's undeveloped economy makes it hard to keep up the fight. One significant defeat would kill you.

**Red Harvest** · 10-14-2004, 05:00

The Pharoah's bowmen often kill 10-15% of a unit PER VOLLEY at long range on vh/vh. That's one unit targeting one unit. And they can definitely melee...these aren't the sort of guys you take down quickly with a light cavalry rush.

**smoothiemaker** · 10-14-2004, 06:14

my experence with egypt is use partia
use there spera and hill men to attack the ax men from the front and the spear men from the back use cataphraks to take out achers and use horse achers in the saport of the infintry

**praetorians cavalry** · 10-14-2004, 13:00

I already played as the Seleucid andfought against Egypt. I only play on med/med so I have time for mighty elephants.When those beast present in battle, they cut down every chariot fairy easy.Their chariots rush into my infantry formation,I bring the elephants as a shield.Soon all chariots flee.The only thing troubles me is chasing those cahriot archers.If you dont have elephants,I think skirmishers and spearmen can hold the line.