Sapping

[Maltz]

Sapping alone doesn't do any good because the arrow towers were killing machines. Siege tower + sapping is the way to go. Using a siege tower to send up troops to capture the arrow towers just beside the sapping point, then one can easily pass the entire army through.

[Doug-Thompson]

Sapping alone doesn't do any good because the arrow towers were killing machines. Siege tower + sapping is the way to go. Using a siege tower to send up troops to capture the arrow towers just beside the sapping point, then one can easily pass the entire army through.

Or just gallop through the sap with cataphracts.

Parthians aren't all that popular and have weak siege, but I've been amazed at how well they can take a town with heavily armored, fast (compared to infantry) cataphracts. They can get out of tower range and into the town quickly. If there are enemy spears about, Persian cavalry horse archers take care of those.

I really need to confirm that post about how cataphracts can use the mace as their alt-attack, which has a bonus against armored troops.

[Bhruic]

Of course, if you really want to do it right, you use cataphract archers from Armenia. Great armour, so few takedowns from the towers, decent hand-to-hand, should they need it, but archery to handle any slow units.

Having played both Parthia and Armenia, I prefer Armenia, although I like Parthia's starting location.

Bh

[LordKhaine]

I agree that the Parthians are greatly underrated for sieges. Your war elephants can deal with wooden walls no problem. And you can always sap through walls with a few mercenary units. And if you're really needing some help with sieges, remember Parthia can make onagers. Towers are very easy to take out with onagers I find (though gate houses are a lot tougher).

But back to the topic... sapping is hugely powerful. I rarely bother using ladders and siege towers now, it's easier to sap through and bundle in with your shock troops. You can then move infantry in to clear the towers if need be. Sap points should use up far more build points, it's too easy now to simply make a bunch of sap points in a turn and attack. Sapping, while powerful, was hugely time consuming in real life.

[Bhruic]

I use to always use just sapping, but that was with mostly cavalry armies (with mercenaries to handle the saps). Infantry is too slow getting through the holes, and will get shot up by the towers.

Plus, in my Thrace game, I found the computer was pretty stupid about choosing the sap points. Put them on opposite walls of a corner tower. So once the walls went down, the tower was impossible to capture, as you couldn't get there (and no "door", as it was a corner). I decided to reload that one, as there was no way I could get my army through without taking heavy losses. If I get stuck with that situation again, I'll use the siege tower first, and do the saps after.

Bh

[Brucca]

Had a sap collapse on the sapping unit causing 80% casualties and loss of sap. Ticked off because I had used Praetorians - note to self: use cheap expendable infantry to sap .

[aw89]

didn't know they could colapse... it makes sense though.