Sauromatae

[Mujalumbo]

So, yeah, I can't seem to make any headway with these guys. Does anybody have any strategy and battle tips?

Maybe I just suck with horse archers.

[Greek_fire19]

Delete all your units and build walls. If yu're playing on hard/very hard the walls are crucial, cus most rebel bands are all horse archer in that area, and they'll usually not be able to attack you. After you've done that and more or less secured yourself you can concentrate on building roads/markets etc, you have 4 cities, which is more than most barbarians, so if you build a farm and a trader in all of them plus link them with roads, you'll be getting a tidy income. Dont forget to set up trade agreements with armenia, parthia and the seleucids.

[Elthanas84]

In my oppinion you should get your army together and rush the AI, because disbanding units will throw you back really hard. Mass recruit Archers with 0 Upkeep. I was able to get two expanding armys.
In my campain I prefered to move south/west because there you can wipe out the AI armys with nearly 0 own losses later. Ignore the moving rebels if you don´t have to fight them and NEVER attack them yourself. Let them attack you!!! This way they often won´t even shoot and run straight to you for Melee. If your army is up a Hill, it is really funny to wath them do their job.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Delete all your units and build walls. If yu're playing on hard/very hard the walls are crucial, cus most rebel bands are all horse archer in that area, and they'll usually not be able to attack you. After you've done that and more or less secured yourself you can concentrate on building roads/markets etc, you have 4 cities, which is more than most barbarians, so if you build a farm and a trader in all of them plus link them with roads, you'll be getting a tidy income. Dont forget to set up trade agreements with armenia, parthia and the seleucids.

As a nomadic faction, you won't be able to build walls in the next patch unless you have nomad settlements, by the way. Just giving you some warning in advance.

[QwertyMIDX]

You also shouldn't have any unit with 0 upkeep...

[Elthanas84]

You also shouldn't have any unit with 0 upkeep...

Hehe, I really wondered this, too. Because this makes playing with yuezhi and sauromatae as really the easiest faction

[Elthore]

is this a bug or intentional?

[QwertyMIDX]

The 0 upkeep units? Just a messed up ownership line I'd assume...If someone gives me the unit name I'll try and figure it out.

[Mujalumbo]

Subeshi Archers for the Yuezhi.

I don't have the name of the foot archers for the Sauromatae.

I disbanded all of my starting units in my towns, and sent family members to each town, acting as garrison and guv'ner. This got my cashflow problem under control. (I really didn't want to disband the starting foot archers; they would've been a good, cheap garrison.) Roads and temples helped out. Eventually, due to family members coming of age and some key adoptions, I was able to form a core of "heavy" cavalry along with the few horse archers I could afford. I took Tanais after a bloody fight.

I had one guy who Lived On The Move, so I knew I had to send him out to get some command stars; so he'd take over command from his family members whenever I went into battle with them. Worked out OK, between retraining and killing rebels, I got him up to three stars, and silver chevrons for my horse archcers. Then the Hayasdan started sending men into my domain. Hmmm, suspicious...

They attacked by seiging the southern-most starting city. I sent my three-star general and his army of family-member-heavy-cavalry and horse archers. Victoly! I sent them south into Hayasdan lands where they destroyed a tile of land, and things really took off. The biggest money-drain was now living off somebody else's lands and a town to the west rebelled to my faction. I sent a family member over to that town, left a small garrison, and used the remaining forces that rebelled to bring other tribes into my domain (two more, I believe, the ones to the north.)

That's where I'm at now. I've sacked Armavir, but maintaining a garrison is too expensive. I brought my anti-Hayasdan army back for refitting, and suddenly cash was tight.

I'm in the 240's B.C. I can build the Daha and Skuda Baexdzhyntae horsies, the Sauromate Fat Aexsdzhytae horsies, and the Rauxsa-alanna Baexdzhyntae (lancers). Hm, dunno about them. Stat-wise, they're one armour point better than my regular horsies, but have a 63 charge. Then again, I heard the charge stat means puck-all, so, I dunno... Are they any good? (For charging, I mean.)

Edit: OK, I'm having trouble figuring out what to build. What's the difference between Warlord's Horse Herds and the Nomadic Settlement chain of buildings? I'm guessing that, unlike the other 'barbaric' factions, the Sauromatae and Yuezhi have two choices when it comes to "governments." I'm guessing the Nomadic Courts line of buildings are prerequisites for the Nomadic Camps line of buildings, which allow you to train the horsies. What about the Nomadic Settlement line of buildings? (One of the Sauromatae's starting towns has a Nomadic Large settlement, yet I can't recruit anything there. Is this intentional, or do I just not get it?)

Edit: spelling

[Steppe Merc]

There are two choices, unfortanetly in the OB they were not properly represented. They will be in the up coming patch.

Here's the deal (but it correct in OB):
Camps can be built in nomad and mixed provinces. These are the nomadic buildings that your average horse archer can be recruited in, up to high medium levels.

Courts can be built in nomad and mixed provinces. The nobles can be built here. They require Camps.

Settlements are built in normal or mixed provinces (as long as camps aren't built here). It recruits foot units, like spearmen (archers are available, but they also are in camps).

Herds are in normal or mixed provinces, and are the settled nobles units (same ones as in Courts) that are trying to continue the cavalry tradition.

[Mujalumbo]

@Steppe Merc

Awesome. I kinda got the impression there would be contention between the nomadic tradition and the settlers. For instance, you get "Lives on the Move" guys who are basically useless as guv'ners. I haven't gotten anybody with the "settler" trait, forgot the name, sorry; the trait where the guy basically wants to settle and farm.

I hope the Sauromatae foot archer upkeep is fixed; it really hurts not having a unit to use as a garrison. Using the 0 upkeep foot archers don't feel right to me; too much of an exploit.

Aside from that, the only other thing on my Sauromatae-wishlist is something different for a family member's bodyguards. I know the Pontic general is a placeholder; does an OK job for now.

I also like the placement of the Roxolanni lancers in the mid-to-upper levels of recruitment. Nicely depicts the slow transition from pure horse-archers to the inclusion of armoured lancers.

Now fix my archers and my generals!

[Malrubius]

We'll also be tying these buildings into the Nomad and Settled traits, as well. By building certain buildings, or sitting in a town with them, a general can acquire the Settled trait. Other buildings can help retard the settling down, or even reverse it.

[Mujalumbo]

Most excellent. :)

If a non-faction family member joins your family (through, say, bribery), do they keep their specific traits? (I could see bribing a KH general from Krete who examines donkeys teeth a little too closely and talks really loud, for instance. Can't see the Sauromatae making enough cash to do it anytime soon, though... makes me kinda wonder what the Hayasdan were thinking when they declared war on me.)

I've played a little further. I'm at 237 B.C., and cash is tight again. Does the Forager trait work?

When that first town rebelled, I got a bunch of horse archer units that cost 500+/turn upkeep! So, I'm phasing them out with the javelin-armed horse-skirmishers. It's slow going. All of the Baexdzhyntae horsies cost a pretty penny a turn, too. So I'm sticking with my regular Fat Aexsdzhytae horsies for now.

To be honest, I still don't know what to make of the Roxolanni lancers. They're basically horse archers without the speed, and a high charge stat. I've used them to route the Aspet cav. (with moderate losses)... so, I guess they're not so bad. Hayasdan has an armoured horse archer that cleaned their clocks, though.

Incidently, I have Large Settlements in my starting settler town and in the town on the eastern most shore of the Black Sea, and I still can't recruit any infantry.

[Steppe Merc]

The costs are off for a bunch of the units, and it will be adjusted.

As for the Lancers, pretty much all of the Sauromataes units will have the bow, even the Roxolani Nobles. They come in handy when you start to face some infantry or heavier cavalry. They also (should) survive longer in a shoot out against other horse archers.

[Mujalumbo]

One other thing, all my Large Towns can build a "Should not be visible" which grants a 5% happiness bonues.

In the building browser, a Healer building requires a "Should not be visible."

[Mujalumbo]

The costs are off for a bunch of the units, and it will be adjusted.

Cool, cool.

Will the cost of entry level horse archers be adjusted for the Hayasdan and Pahlava, as well?

[Steppe Merc]

Cool, cool.

Will the cost of entry level horse archers be adjusted for the Hayasdan and Pahlava, as well?

Yes, the costs will be fixed. Not sure if it will be in the next release, but they will be.

[Mujalumbo]

OK, one last question: when do the Sauromate reforms roll around?

[SpawnOfEbil]

I was doing fine in my Sarmatian campaign, then the bloody Hayasdans invaded with a half stack (more than anything I can throw at them). Worse, I can't retrain troops or recruit new troops in conquered provinces, even with a Warlord's Camp/Court/Horse Herds.

This should be fun

[Steppe Merc]

Yeah... next patch that will be fixed, now all of the recruitment is screwed up.

[Satyros]

I 'm ( still ) playing 0.81a , VH/M , with Redmeth's money script on .

I disbanded my whole army ( except for a unit per city - garisson) and after Tanais I headed east as soon as I had 4 generals .

Winning heroic victories by destroying sallying troops I conquered a couple of cities ( at the moment I don't remember even one name - bloody Rangers , ΠΟΥΛΑ ΠΟΥΣΤΗ ΡΑΛΙΣΤΑ ),as soon as I started earning money ,I attacked Pahlava with my generals , took me the Gava-Alana (?) or smth .

Continued defending said town from Pahlava , allied with Saka , Saka further punishes Pahlava , beats them down to one city .

Continue to build up , after some 30 turns with 2 gold mines and a healthy economy ( around 4-5k per turn ) I beat the crap out of the Skythian rebels , AS attacks , too late to do any real harm , beat them down repeatedly outside the walls of .... the southern Sauromatae city which has a gold mine .

Allied with Bactria and Ptolemaio , the attack AS , AS leave me alone for a while , I now can produce Aorsi nobles as well as Sauromate nobles , they don't come cheap but at least they don't die when someone farts next to them , as is the case with most of cheap horse archers .I limit the use of the nobles in defense only , in my lands where they can be easily retrained ( I have a thing about losing men ) and continue to expand steadily to the southwest .

I only attack with my Generals , they have 0 upkeep , and they replenish their losses by themselves , for free . Oh !Also they are immortals .

Mind you , this is my first successfull atempt in the Wasteland with the Sauromatae after about 7 or 8 complete disasters .

Satyros