i hate chariots!!!

[RollingWave]

luckily all the factions that get flaxman don't get chariots :P

what faction you playing as though? usually a good phalanx formation easily smash them (against the AI ofcourse.. against human it's usually the other way around.) if ur playing non phalanx faction like Romans though, best idea is to charge them with lots and lots of cavlary + dogs.

Seriously though... a good mass chariot charge in the right condition will beat the living hell out of anything except maybe elephants.... in my selucid game i had quiet a laugh combining chariots elephants and mass calvary in a single charge... i didn't even care for the mass phalanx the AI kept using... they still go strait throught.

[Spartan117300]

dont we all, i usually play as greeks and since they have virtually no cav and only cretan archers, my phalanx based army has been wiped out by ppl who seem to use nothing but chariots, just use velites, or any kind of javelin throwing troops to counter them

[Someone Stupid]

I just avoid fighting such units unless it is on my terms. Before I attack Egypt I make sure i have at least 5 to 6 experienced assassins with some spies. They penetrate the land and wait. I send a diplomat to Antioch with the huge walls (along with an army or two with Heavy Onagers) and make some ridiculous demands to accept or they'll be attacked. Then I attack and take Antioch that turn hopefully. I also have diplomats beforehand getting good relations with their northern neighbors to increase the pressure from the north since they'll usually attack them if the offer is good enough. This forces egypt to empty out a lot of units in their capitol to reinforce the northern cities and meet other nations armies. That very same turn I have navies offshore which then blockade their ports. I then start sabotaging archery ranges or cav buildings - generally I focus on one or the other (mainly PB) as fighting only one type of those nightmares is okay since they'll come to you making it easier since you have a city to hide behind or in. After a couple years of holding Antioch I send a couple armies to take the pyramids only via ship by the 4th to 5th turn. That then drops their ecomony further and I can hide behind the walls of the city. I'll then hold the pyramids, keep my blockade up, and whatever assassins are left I have on the coast where I'm most likely to catch a general (and a chariot that means). I keep my spies roaming the cities to make sure they aren't able to rebuild facilities to build PB's mainly. I build and ship a couple more armies over and what I'm mostly encountering then is regular bowmen along with a lighter screen of chariots and some nile spearmen and such. Not nearly as deadly and easier to go on the offensive against. Generally that is about 10-12 years fromt he start of the offensive. Until then I hold myself up in the two cities and keep a blockade on them.

For city defense, if they send onagers with chariots... I'm happy. Chariots die quickly in city streets against masses of legionaires or if necessary, town watch to abosrb the impact followed by my Gladiators running in and taking the chariots out rather quickly. If they send what PB's they have left, I just keep my army back far neough that my wall defenses will pepper them if they want to try and reach me. If they break through the walls I then let the soldiers come to me. A few well placed unts gets you behind any spearmen, the chariots can be dealt with by town watch followed up by Gladiators once they slow to a halt. Any PB's which are harrassing me then get charged by my light cav (Alt clicked attack) if they haven't chosen to retreat the cav will generally force them to route, albeit at heavy losses.

I've just found going against Egpyt without economic warfare to prep them is near suicidal. PBs and chariots are devastating, period on vh/vh. You'll need a solid navy along with seasoned assassins and with generally friendly relations or good defensive positions with others around your main provinces to allow your other holdings to ship reinforcements into antioch and the nile delta constantly. Gladiators especially since they won't be able to be immediately built and are necessary for chariots - though regular spearmen auxilla work well enough and are readily available. While fighting Egypt this way is time consuming and can be expensive in the cost to assassins as they eventually will begin to faul missions and die regardless of exp and expensive in maintenance as a navy to blockade egypt and still maintain some control over your own coast is expensive. Once they are beaten though those cost get recouped rather quickly thanks to the economy of the region.

I generally use a couple numidian mercs and a couple cav auxilla to keep chariots busy enough when I'm attacking in the field to get a gladiator unit or two into the fray to clean up. Though before the gladiators hit I'll charge a depleted ammo cav unit into them to stall the chariots and prevent them from turning and steamrolling my gladiators/reg auxilla before they can use their nice bonuses against them. This usually results in a route of the cav, but it does result in the routing of the chariots as well once the gladiators or spearmen hit. So it's a fair tradeoff to me. The rest of the infantry and mostly normal bowmen can be handled like you'd handle any other phalanx heavy army. Force the phalanx lines to deal with heavy masses on the sides which usually opens a hole up in the middle. Since all but your general in terms of cav will be towards the edges, they generally split. That along with a couple Cretans or an Onager unit or two will help thin the middle before you force them to split or after just to weaken the center units incase they catch on to your general running the gap. Once that happens shifting a unit to the center to hold them in place (at losses) while my general charges headlong past the front line and into the archers (regular, PBs are dealy to generals in my exp.). Once they route if I'm having problems with the infantry I'll charge them into where I'm having the most trouble then generally pull him back for the duration to go after routing units. I'll also use the onagers to keep any PB units left under duress if they seem to be a bigger issue than the front line.

I don't use bribing for the most part as it just doesn't seem all that realistic - although my my knowledge of ancient warfare isn't what I'd like it to be. So if this was common I may start using it to some degree. I only use cash when asking for peace or other diplomatic initiatives.

[Old Celt]

Dealing with any chariots as Roman factions isn't that hard. You have all the resources you need, starting with cheap expendable Velites. You can always smother them if you are willing to throw away enough cavalry. I think other civs like Greece, or Gaul could have extreme difficulty with chariot archers.

[Kraxis]

Greece get the quite powerful Heavy Peltasts, they should make the chariots go away like a bad headache.