Should I use Spartan Hoplites en masse?

[bippukt]

Hi!
This is my first post here.

I started a campaign(med/med) with Greeks( Playing non-Romans for the first time) and now both Sparta and Syracuse are in a position to train Spartan hoplites.

But looking through their stats(Very high upkeep), I am in a bit of dilemma as to whether I should train a lot of Spartans or instead train loads of Armoured Hoplites supported with a few Spartans. My income is about 17000+ and I am giving tributes to my allies to keep my cash below 50k. I am around 259 BC and the Romans and Macedonians are almost completely destroyed. So I was also thinking as to whether I should go after the Seleucids or the Thracians. (Both are near my full stack armies). And Egypt seems to be itching to attack me (Has brought big army adjacent to Rhodes). Any suggestions what to do next, or about the Spartans. By the way, I found that playing with Greece is really easy once you got through the tough initial years. The AI doesn't have a clue as to what to do against the Armoured Hoplites. Waiting to hear from you guys.

[Jason]

Well I would build an army of armored hoplites supported by spartans. The armored hoplites defense numbers are better (although the spartans have 2 hps instead of just 1 like the AH). Armored hopolites are also easier to retrain when you loose them. Spartans make for a really good flanking unit though as you lack good calvary.

As for who to attack I would claim modern day turkey first as they have those extra wonders (hallirnacus if you dont already have it and salmis I think). I would wait to go to war with egypt if you can as they have a pretty hefty navy and dont hesistate to use it against you.

[Kekvit Irae]

Hi!
This is my first post here.

I started a campaign(med/med) with Greeks( Playing non-Romans for the first time) and now both Sparta and Syracuse are in a position to train Spartan hoplites.

But looking through their stats(Very high upkeep), I am in a bit of dilemma as to whether I should train a lot of Spartans or instead train loads of Armoured Hoplites supported with a few Spartans. My income is about 17000+ and I am giving tributes to my allies to keep my cash below 50k. I am around 259 BC and the Romans and Macedonians are almost completely destroyed. So I was also thinking as to whether I should go after the Seleucids or the Thracians. (Both are near my full stack armies). And Egypt seems to be itching to attack me (Has brought big army adjacent to Rhodes). Any suggestions what to do next, or about the Spartans. By the way, I found that playing with Greece is really easy once you got through the tough initial years. The AI doesn't have a clue as to what to do against the Armoured Hoplites. Waiting to hear from you guys.

Well Armoured Hoplites, while a bit inferior to Spartans, do have one advantage: one turn training, whereas Spartans require more time to train. This means that you can churn out much more Armoured than you can Spartans. Personally, I suggest either Sparta or Syracuse to train Spartans, and the other to train Armoured, and mix them when you have enough for an army

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

If you're at war with the Selucids and they have tons of silver shield's, I'd probably build a few. Not too many, about 15 units total, just enough to engage their armies while you flank them.

[Mahrabals apprentice]

Well I would build an army of armored hoplites supported by spartans. The armored hoplites defense numbers are better (although the spartans have 2 hps instead of just 1 like the AH). Armored hopolites are also easier to retrain when you loose them. Spartans make for a really good flanking unit though as you lack good calvary.

As for who to attack I would claim modern day turkey first as they have those extra wonders (hallirnacus if you dont already have it and salmis I think). I would wait to go to war with egypt if you can as they have a pretty hefty navy and dont hesistate to use it against you.

I defiantely agree with the armoured hoplites supported by a few spartans, however, in my experience, war egypt asap, the longer you leave it the harder it gets, they seem to have a never ending supply of stacks.

[professorspatula]

As well as what other people have already said, make sure Syracuse and Sparta both have Temples of Nike. These give up to 3 experience level bonuses when a unit is trained, and it makes sense for your two Spartan Hoplite producing cities to have these bonuses. You might as well send out the Spartans with some experience under their belt. And Egypt is a faction that will become a giant if it's progress isn't checked as soon as possible: consider taking Cyprus if they still have it. But you might as well finish off the Thracians. One less faction to deal with early on makes things easier.

Have you got your foothold in Italy yet though? Spartans and Armoured Hoplites will easily destroy the Roman Republican armies and once you have Italy, and Rome, you're laughing. I actually abandoned my campaign at that stage. Thirty to forty years in and I was ludicrously rich and powerful.

[bippukt]

Thanks for all the great advice. Well, I decided that since I had too much money, I will produce as many Spartans as I could, well, around 25-30. I alrady have something like 50 armoured hoplites and now the campaign seems too easy.

@Professorspatula, I have awesome temples of nike and armourers in both sparta and syracuse, so I am getting the best Spartans. Thanks for mentioning that point. Experienced spartans are just great, I mean they are nearly unbeatable. By the way, as I mentioned in my original post, the Romans were already almost dead when I posted this thread. And yes, I agree with you, the campaign seems too easy now(250BC). I guess that I will beat the egyptians and the seleucids. By the way, the Gauls and the Grmaninas have ganged up on me and I am facing waves of their assaults. But their warbands and swordsmen rout as soon as they come near my Armoured. I guess I will abandon it after defeating Egypt and play as Carthage next. It ought to be fun. Bye then!