Scythia

[Viking]

.

Anyhow, for Scythia, always micro a few units of noble cavalry or HHMs around and actively intercept the enemy cav before they even come close to hitting your HAs.

I typically let the HAs stay on skirmish and make my melee cav actively hunt the enemy melee cav with the first opening I can get

I typically let a unit NA get hunted, often by the enemy general, while I send 4 other units of NA hunting the hunter( ), then I turn my hunted unit and charge it towards the hunting unit while the rest of the NAs do the same = dead general in no time!

You need temples of Api to get the womens, pez.

[pezhetairoi]

I got the sacred groves, I have the option to build HHM but never built them :-P As for noblewomen...sacred circles? Cos I've never seen them around.

[Viking]

Yup, that`s right. Sacred Circles= Noble Women.

[pezhetairoi]

Gah.Isn't it ironic, Api is goddess of fertility but the places where I build Api temples are the ones with low population? o_O Never got a chance to build sacred circles of api, now that I check my old savegames.

[katank]

Not so ironic. These people worship fertility when they are infertile.

To everyone, HHMs are incredibly useful as anti heavy cav. Their armour piercing is awesome. They function well as HA guards.

The only problem is not instant retraining. However, 3 turns of building to retrain is still quite good.

I never found noblewomen worth it though. Less fire power and armour than noble archers.

[pezhetairoi]

they say the noblewomen have only one advantage: speed. Fastest cavalry in the game. So they say, but I've never seen for myself and I've never had the time to digress from my Greek campaign to try them out in custom battle.

[IliaDN]

I think noble men are better.

[Craterus]

I never built noblewomen, why would I? Noble men outclass them in almost every stat.

[katank]

They are fast and they don't get caught on corners of map easily etc. However, 2/3 of the person power as well as lower armor makes them worse.

Similarly, noble archers are retrainable at any that you capture with reasonable development immediately while noblewomen require at least 6 turns of building to retrain.

[crazybastard]

why is it that the scythian leader starts out so freaking old?
He dies in like 6 turns
and there are like no children in my family
I guess it's pretty darn cold up there, but please make some freaking children for my empire's sake
and why does Russia has to be so freaking big???????

[Craterus]

Zipoetes isn't old. He was still alive when I accidentallly overwrote my game. That was about 255bc. He was in his late 70's at that point, I think.

He was still alive when I owned Campus Sake, Campus Sarmatae, Campus Alanni, Campus Getae, Tanais, Chereseneos, Campus Scythii, Domus Dolcis Domus, Themiskyra, Vicus Gothii, Vicus Marcomanni and Vicus Vendae...

Anyway, you have Palacus and Partatua and a few adoptions come along if you conquer quickly.

[katank]

Conquering quickly is usually a recipe for many adoptions. Don't sweat it though. Always turn on manage all settlements and you don't really need many governors at all.

I will often have no FM's governing at the beginning of the game as they are more useful as generals. Governors are only useful for bringing in lots of slaves to quickly grow a town.

[crazybastard]

I now own 3/4 of russia (the 1/4 is own by those f*&^ing parthians) and the black sea and the brutii just broke the alliance and stab my back. I killed wave afte wave of romans (usually they outnumber me 3:1) and more and more just keep coming! What is wrong with them!?

[katank]

Nothing, this is what they do best. Italy is fairly rich and has decent population growth so you'll see many stacks from them yet.

Smash into Italy and sack their cities, only fighting the armies you have to will end this deluge.

[pezhetairoi]

...wow, no one's said anything on this once-hot thread in months. What is going on? I'm thinking of repeating my Scythian campaign, but this time without unlimited ammo. Woohoo. What do you do after your HA run out of ammo, anyways?

[Deus ret.]

simple: retreat and wait for another battle to empty your quivers once again. If you cannot retreat any more without being annihilated...make your demise a glorious one. You can do awesome things simply by maneuvering your cavalry, especially the excellent Scythian HAs. Good stamina, extra defense....lure and outmaneuvre the enemy and smash their backs and flanks with your heavy cav, provided you still have some left. Thanks to the stupid AI you may even win when you least expected to.... and if you lose: that's the way history goes. A decent defeat here and there contributes greatly to enjoying the game, IMHO. Don't worry, maybe come back with a better army and crush them. I never played with unlimited ammo, so I'm used to it.

[pezhetairoi]

nonono, when I once tried to white-flag my principes to see what would happen, they just kept running along the map border instead of crossing it. I fear that might happen if I tried to withdraw my HA to fight another day--they'd just run along the map border until time ran out, meanwhile getting slaughtered.

[Deus ret.]

hmmm I had that problem too when attacking an enemy with two armies from different sides of the battlefield. the second one, without family member, would retreat at exactly the same spot where the general's units would. naturally and because they are so well-programmed, their path led them straight through the enemy lines, which I realised too late...instead of retreating to a safe haven, they immediately got transferred to heaven.

usually (i.e. only one army) your units retreat to where they came from. you have to memorize their starting location and safely maneuver your troops near it before ordering them to retreat.

that said, unit behaviour while retreating still is sometimes quite odd.

[pezhetairoi]

I guess with HA you can make it work easier than most other factions. It also means reinforcements are that much more difficult to withdraw for other factions. I've finally made use of the withdraw command, but only as Armenia.

[Eddie Kite]

SPQR .. I cannot remember is Latin I think but a search would find I think.

SPQR stands "Senatus Popolus Que Romanus" - Senate and People of Rome.

[Eddie Kite]

[QUOTE=Franconicus] My chief builds two fortresses against the Parthians and then follows the HA. The foot archers go into the forts.
QUOTE]

Why fortresses ?
Foot archers on bridge are enough, not ?

[Franconicus]

[QUOTE=Eddie Kite]

My chief builds two fortresses against the Parthians and then follows the HA. The foot archers go into the forts.
QUOTE]
Why fortresses ?
Foot archers on bridge are enough, not ?

Eddie,
took a while until I found the old post.
I do not think that one unit of foot archers could stop the enemy too long without fortifications. They cannot stand an cav attack.
I wanted to change the garrison to peasants after a while. The forts are just to gain time.

[Elephant]

Hi, everyone!

I am new to this forum, but have played the game for 3 months now (although I am still a newbie because of my excessive use of the pause button. )

But I have a question: Are those Scythian Nobles really that good?

I mean, I have always hired Sarmatian Mercenaries during my Parthian campaign, but despite that impressive Charge Bonus, they still die so fast upon impact without taking much lives with them!

If people kept on saying they are so good, how the hell do you use those guys anyway? They sometimes just won't charge, and is left to fight the enemy with the measly hand-to-hand damage!

[Deus ret.]

But I have a question: Are those Scythian Nobles really that good?

I mean, I have always hired Sarmatian Mercenaries during my Parthian campaign, but despite that impressive Charge Bonus, they still die so fast upon impact without taking much lives with them!

Welcome to the guild, Elephant! Just let me spread my humble opinion.

First, if you don't charge Sarmatians right at a unit's front, be sure they will take lives with them. No dishonor to my Sarmatians!! Admittedly they die quickly (also due to them being a preferred target for enemy archer fire), but they are a unit of premium shock cavalry. Usually a flank charge into a pinned average unit should be enough to rout them. If not, turn away and re-charge!

Secondly, the Nobles ARE that good: With them, you have a unit of not-too-expensive and retrainable Sarmatians (which requires just lvl 2 stables) as well as the possibility to build them in a town with a Kolaksay shrine. Adding the Armourer bonus will provide them with a nice boost: +4 each to attack and defence, including 1 armor to better withstand archer fire. They totally RULE!

If people kept on saying they are so good, how the hell do you use those guys anyway? They sometimes just won't charge, and is left to fight the enemy with the measly hand-to-hand damage!

Alas, you're right ...this is a commonly known rtw bug ... its worst effects should be offset when you switch off group commands, ordering every unit to charge (and re-charge, Sarmatians et al. are not made for a prolonged melee) separately.

[Elephant]

Alas, you're right ...this is a commonly known rtw bug ... its worst effects should be offset when you switch off group commands, ordering every unit to charge (and re-charge, Sarmatians et al. are not made for a prolonged melee) separately.

Thank you for welcoming me!

So THAT's the way you make people charge? Hmm, looks like I will need to keep that in mind next time. Hope it's not cheating for using the pause button so much.

[Craterus]

No, I use pause a lot, I don't consider it cheating. But that's 'cos I micro-manage (groups seem to mess up for me.)

[pezhetairoi]

you can't group-manoeuvre for HA factions. Liberal usage of the pause and plenty of micro-management are necessary to get just the right angles and positions. Pausing is not cheating :)

[Craterus]

I don't think I'd survive as an ancient commander, without a pause button (or Bernards watch!)

I don't do very well online and you can't pause there, without all playes consent.

[pezhetairoi]

It's much more frenetic on MP, agreed... which is why I can't survive there as a horsearcher faction.

[Elephant]

(Sorry, double post.)