An invasion of Egypt, battlefield style.

[Dayve]

In my Roman campaign with the early troops I've been beating 20 unit stacks worth of them in a seasonally basic. With some Galatians and Companions mixed in. Allot of the first stacks having 3 gold chevrons worth of experience. It’s a tough fight but I've been winning. Although my Roman troops have to go back home to Italy after every couple of battles to retrain. I'm happy with them staying as they are.

When you say early troops you must mean stackfulls of early triarii because these Kleurchoi agemata guys will rip through early hastati and principes, and with 3 gold chevrons there's no way, sorry. I've had one unit pinned down by three units of Pezhetaroi, fighting with swords, thrown all my akontistai javelins into their BACKS, charged them with Hypaspistai and cavalry at the same time, caused 50% casualties and STILL they turn around and start to rip through my cavalry and hypaspists, i don't even want to think about what a 3 gold chevron unit would do.

[Dooz]

What battle difficulty are you playing on Dayve?

[Sdragon]

Just a historical formation I used. Had 2 units of early Triarii and yes my Hastati and Principes(sp?) got ripped up often. First couple of battles I lost till I got things together. I had about 3 units of Numidian cavalry (Much none cavalry that I would have liked but not much choice in Africa) with 2 of Equites with general. 3 units unload Javelins and then everything piles in. They don’t break first time so pull back when you start getting hurt. Once they show their backs again charge again. Should be enough to break them if the general isn't near by.

Its easier if the enemy have cavalry since they die so quickly and the general/captain is a part of the unit, it makes the rest of the army far easier to break. Then once its down to their experienced troops just mob them with loads of troops, once your behind them the early Romans with a bit of experience can grind them down.

If they decide to fight to the death just pull back so they can rout and chase them down. I have never seen the uber pikemen fight to the last even with full experience. A tip with early Romans is to stay on guard mode so they don’t all pile in. Fewer troops are getting pikes in the face that way and they can hold for ages. Heck, doing that the Rorii(sp?) can hold for some time.

Yes if there are lots of highly experienced enemies on the field it can get close. Just peal anything that isn't pikemen away from the main force and destroy them, after that your cavalry and slingers can do what the heck they like.

[Dayve]

Well my slingers have been depleted after years of campaigning and in a siege battle i forget to move them from the gate and the enemy charged in and cut them down entirely so i have barely any left. I'm playing on medium battles wonder... Hard would be a bit too difficult. Also, out of 8 units of phalangites in each army i started with, 6 units were taxeis, only 2 pezhetaroi in each stack, most of which are now dead.

[Clovis]

I've found the Kleurchoi Agemata to be really tough, but not unbeatable. As Macedon, I try to pin them with those black shield phalanxes and them use theuropodi (sp?) to hammer the flanks. I also try to isolate them and spread them out chasing cavalry.

As a note, I play with medium battle difficulty

[Dayve]

That's mostly what i'm doing Clovis, but the Ptolemies have some o0ba generals, 5+ command stars the lot of them, and they don't seem to be attacking me, they wait until the battle is almost over! The AI showing some intelligence for once, and causing me many problems! I love it.

Anyway, a quick update.

[Sdragon]

That’s a shame, the slingers are great for weakening the high experienced uber pikemen when shooting from behind. (Ironically kill more per shot than Javelin throwers who have more attack power and more attacks since they have more men.) Plus slingers with some experience take Companions down easily. Their general can charge and die, and stand still and have a much slower death, if you run out of ammo he'll be almost alone and will fall to a cavalry charge. Without him those pikemen won’t stay around if things get tough.