Chariot

[Shadow]

Playing as the Scipii and current at war with Egypt so any ideas to take out those annoying chariots?

[Epistolary Richard]

Skirmishers, massed archers and phalanxes if you've got any mercenary hoplites.

[Franconicus]

Just play Britannia with their chariots. It is not easy to stop them. Here some tipps:

1. Use some range units, like bowmen to fight them from the distance. With Greece I faught Parthia this way. Lots of archers and javelins.
2. Try to stop them. Use deep infantry formation. Some cheap infantry can do the job - peasants or militia - just to absorb them. Have good spears behind. Then kill them with arrows, swords or cav.
3. Never try to fight them with your cav as long as they are mobile.

Good luck!

[Mahrabals apprentice]

I have a question on fighting chartiots

Velitates and light auxillie have a bonus fighting chariots, does the bonus apply to melee attacks, missile attacks or both?

[lars573]

Missile attack for sure.

[Viking]

Velitates and light auxillie have a bonus fighting chariots, does the bonus apply to melee attacks, missile attacks or both?

It applies to missilie attacks, don`t think it applies to melee, if it did then that would probably be a bug wich I suspect to exist.

2. Try to stop them. Use deep infantry formation. Some cheap infantry can do the job - peasants or militia - just to absorb them. Have good spears behind. Then kill them with arrows, swords or cav.

That is the best tip of `em all. Missiles will easily miss mobile chariots.
Once the chariots are trapped in melee they`re doomed.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Eastern Mercenaries are good, they are cheap, numerous for mercenaries and have a lot of men in each unit. Just mob the unit(s) of chariots and have some archers help out and you will do just fine.

[Kekvit Irae]

Archers do a good job, especially with fire arrows. If you cant do that, mass groups of mercenaries and rush them en masse where they cannot use their most devestation abilities (their knockdown via charge) in a mass melee

[Armoryk]

I've had luck with Gladiators and Velites/Light Auxilia against Chariots, backed up by archers (Cretan, Roman or Auxilia) with flaming arrows.

The Gladiators, and later the Arcani also, use "stop, drop and roll" techniques against the chariots, especially good against the Scythed or Heavy types. Zoom in on a battle between Scythed chariots and Gladiators/Arcani to see what I mean. You'll see them on the ground and think "damn they died easy...thought they had a bonus against chariots." But you'll see instead that they pop back up again after the chariot goes by and now they have the chariot flanked.

Also, they don't rout as easily as regular infantry (I've seen gladiators fight to the last 2 men without routing or "fighting to the death", whereas Eastern Mercs will flee after losing 2 men out of 120 to chariots), and they don't mass up for easy plowing like spear troops. This helps to pin the chariots down for missile fire or cavalry charge. Once they are embroiled with infantry and under missile fire, you can run em over with your horses from the rear.

Soon you'll see those little chariot wheels rolling off by themselves while the chariot, horse and rider lay in a crumpled heap behind.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I have not had that problem with Eastern Mercenaries, it may be because after I upgraded I switched to Huge unit size. In Huge unit size cavalry and chariots are less effective because the cavalry can't just roll from one end of a unit to the other as easily and the units are deeper.

[pezhetairoi]

In high-risk battles like those in which you use EI to stop chariots, I would keep the general right behind the critical EI formations. After, as long as the chariots are free to move your own cavalry are immobilised. So why not put your cavalry where they're are useful?

Also, with regards to the bonus against the chariots, read the Brutii thread... there's one entry that hints that the bonus may apply to melee combat too.

[Garvanko]

I hate chariots. I find them completley unmanageble. And killing them off is a pain too.

[Franconicus]

I hate chariots. I find them completley unmanageble. And killing them off is a pain too.

Once you get used to them they are great. They eat away cav units and they break any formation. They really decide the battles.

[Shadow]

Thanks alot people armed with all this information I believe Egypt can be defeated without too much of a trouble

[Watchman]

I've absolutely butchered an Egyptian HC troop with a single unit of lousy Numidian Mercenaries - you know, those melee attack three loinclotch peltasts. They lost about five men in the process.

I would actually hazard a guess the "mount bonus" thingy most specifically applies to defense and melee attacks - I have no trouble seeing how the unencumbered, fleet-footed javelineers could swarm around elephants with virtual impunity (chariots I'm not nearly as sure about), but rather more envisioning how they'd have a markedly better time hitting the damn thing at range than, say, archers in similar conditions. Though I'll give you the rather slow but heavy javelin ought to have a lot easier time getting through the big critters' hides to the squishy innards than your average fast, light, high-energy low-momentum arrow...