Alexander: Total War

[rotorgun]

These may help a little to understand the Battle of Issus and the tactics used.



























These break the battle down into its seperate phases. I followed a similar tactic as Alexander's, but failed to let the Persians be drawn into the river as recommended by BlueRobin. This led to the destruction of my force on the left and in the river, but I still managed to get Darius. I was defeated though, as Alexander was the only unit left on the opposite side of the river. He was doing right well for himself for awhile, but losing to many companions in the process, so I conceded.

Hope these will help. I also have some pretty good Guagamela scenes as well.

[BlueRobin]

Guagamela - am I right in thinking you may have to rout/kill all three general units? Haven't managed yet to kill Darius in the rout so perhaps that's it.

At least I know the AI can flank :(

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto-

Very interesting map displays. I found them very affirming in a personal sense. I think I was selling myself short on understanding ancient battle tactics. In general, I think I have a better grasp than I thought I did. It affirmed that I'm doing some things right in my own campaigns.
One thing I don't understand and perhaps someone can explain - why does Darius position himself and his personal cavalry guard in the center of his line? Did he do so to keep communications & morale up with his line? To keep cohesion? I would have thought that he should have positioned himself on his own left where Alexander did make his own push, and where the Persian line began to rout since that side was weak on cavalry.
Was the Persian cavalry just a weak sister to Alexander's cavalry force? I'm ignorant in this area, so wouldn't mind being enlightened on the historical points.
Was inspired to pick up a more recent history on Alexander's campaigns, so I bought a copy of Robin Fox's book since it was in a Penguin classics paperback, Oliver Stone's endorsement notwithstanding. Hope that was a reasonably good choice.

[Alien_Tortoise2345]

My preferred strategy is as follows:

A: Conquer the Illyrians and Scythians first. Get to the latter's capital via ships.

B: Ignore Anatolia for the time being. Use ships to reach Egypt with a large force. The 2 cities there should be fairly easy to take. Now build up forces for a while there. Then attack Tyre and move from their into Anatolia and attack each city in turn, with the help of troops shipped in from across the Black Sea (not Aegean yet). The bulk of the Persian troops in Anatolia seem concentrated on the west coast so this shouldn't be too difficult.

C: Try to bypass Persian armies as much as possible.

So far I have been able to conquer everything Wesy/North of Persepolis except Tyre which the Persians have reconquered and are very tough to budge. I don't have enough turns at this stage to capture the other cities. I will have to return to my (many) earlier savegames though (I had Egypt and all of the Balkans and the Northern Black Sea coast at this stage) and should make progress if I pass out Persian armies instead of fighting as much as possible.

[Alien_Tortoise2345]

Oh another thing, only when you capture Anatolia should you move lots of troops across the Aegean.

[gardibolt]

Granicus stymied me quite a few times until I took the hint from how the initial setup appears. I took all my phalanx and spears, and my missiles, and attacked the leftmost group of defenders, using Alex to rally anyone who routed. Eventually, they killed that group, and I then raced the cavalry up that side. From then on, I just used basic hammer and anvil, using the surviving spearmen to catch a phalanx and then whack it with the cavalry. Took a while, but it did the job. No exploit required, other than the basic fact the enemy spears move slowly enough that the cav can do whatever they want.

[rotorgun]

To Alien_Tortoise2345,
Intersting approach, but I think the better way is to multi-task a bit more. Using the other faction members to clean up Ilyria, Dacia, and the Scythians leaves Alexander and Parmenion to perform the sweep through Eygypt and Anatolia. This should quicken the pace of conquest, which needs to be rapid to provide the funding needed. Once Anatolia is conquered than the separate armies can mutually support one another. I like the idea of taking Eygypt first, as this seems more efficient. I have often wondered why Alexander apoted an "Anatolia first" strategy. Perhaps he needed to in order to keep his Pan-Greek alliance from coming apart. Politically, he was commited to freeing the Greek cities in Anatolia from Persian oppression. One isn't restricted by this in the game, so your idea warrants thinking on.

To Guyus Germanicus ,
I believe, from analysis of Persian tactics, that the King's role was to manage the use of reserves during the battle, as well as providing morale benefits. I don't think the Persian army, which was accustomed to a considerable amount of skirmishing prior to the clash of the main battle lines, ever quite expected the speed of the Macedonian attack. Daruius, who probably realised from reports that his infantry could never hope to compete with the Phalangites, planned to win the battle on the flanks first, and then commit his center. Alexander, who prized the initiative, would not allow this. As the Persian cavalry were also more skirmisher types, with the exeption of the Bactrians, they were not as well prepared for melee combat as were the Companions.

To BlueRobin,
I haven't played Guagamela yet in the game. Have you seen the Persian order of battle yet? Here's a couple of images for consideration.





Does the game model the historical order of battle well?

[BlueRobin]

Lovely shots - I had an idea how the battle went sio it spurre dme on to try another tack.

Guagemela

Toughie this one. Set on a wide open sandy plain, you are probably outnumbered by at least three to one. However Darius' Persian infantry are in the main low quality spears though the line is twice the length of yours. He does though have quite a lot of heavy cavalry. You have the foling: Alex, 2x Companion Cav, 1x Aliied Cav, 5xPhalangists(heavy phalanx), 1x Hypasist (medium spear), 1x Archer.

As said above, just running out and behind enemy lines with cavalry to cut down Darius does not work just for the plain fact that you need this mobility and manpower of the cavalry to deal with what is coming toward you. I wimped out and played on Easy after a few failures.

I stood my ground. Darius will commit his right flank en masse then left. The quandary is this, you do not have enough units to properly bow your line back as shown in the above graphic. Do you split your lines and leave your centre exposed? Do you portect you centre and potentially leave units out of the fight?

Try to commit, extract, reform, flank. Their right flank ends up as an amorphous blob so not all their fighting forece is effective. Sound use of force will get units routing. However it will be tough and watch your back.

Meanwhile on the right flank and as is documented as happening, commit Alex's unit and his adjoining Companion Cav unit to the opposing heavy cav and deal with this threat. You should have enough time for Alex to rout his unit, then go after Darius. Meanwhile the other Companions on own their own and will have hold the fort until Alex gets back. You should end with these two cav units in the flank and rear with a large number of enemy weakish spears, which you can deal with by one unit supporting the other. Hurry because you'll need to get to your front lines, where you are gradaully becoming over-run, and into the back of the opposing heavies.

Remember to prioritise where possible targetting of generals then heavy cav.

Again, a battle where you just scrape through.

Next is another battle ofrdng a river, this time against the Indians and yes again you are outnumbered. Fortunately they seem to have left a crossing upstream unguarded...

[rotorgun]

About Guagamela,
Indeed it must be difficult to emulate the Macedonian battle plan in detail without the second phalanx of Greek Mercenary Hoplites behind. A key component of their flank defense was to refuse both flanks with combined arms teams of cavalry, light infantry, and skirmishers. Too bad that the game does'nt reflect this. I don't see how anyone could win regularly in any setting besides easy. I have yet to win any of the historical battles in medium. I think it is because the Persian units are given too many extra capabilities such as experience chevrons and such. They are a bit ahistorical IMO. In any case I'll still enjoy the challenge.

Well... back to the fight at Issus!

[Pannonian]

One thing I don't understand and perhaps someone can explain - why does Darius position himself and his personal cavalry guard in the center of his line? Did he do so to keep communications & morale up with his line? To keep cohesion? I would have thought that he should have positioned himself on his own left where Alexander did make his own push, and where the Persian line began to rout since that side was weak on cavalry.

Among the Greeks, the position of honour was the right, possibly to anchor and minimise the rightward drift of the phalanx. Thus the Spartans would fight on the right wing of any Peloponnesian force while the allies occupied the left. Thus Philip took the right at Chaeronea while Alexander took the left. Thus Alexander took the right at Issus, while Parmenion took the left.

Among the Persians, the position of honour was the centre, where the commander could be seen by and inspire the whole army.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Among the Greeks, the position of honour was the right, possibly to anchor and minimise the rightward drift of the phalanx. Thus the Spartans would fight on the right wing of any Peloponnesian force while the allies occupied the left. Thus Philip took the right at Chaeronea while Alexander took the left. Thus Alexander took the right at Issus, while Parmenion took the left.

Among the Persians, the position of honour was the centre, where the commander could be seen by and inspire the whole army.

Interesting, Pannonian. So, it wasn't just a morale/command & control issue, but an "honor" position, as well. Many thanks for that tidbit of information. I guess real honor goes to Alexander, for he collapsed the Persian left and had Darius hustling for the rear. Front and center seems to be a "too vulnerable" place for a leader to be, especially for a cavalry unit where, if the lines come together, maneuverability drops to zero, nullifying the strength of the cavalry.

Very interesting thread. Makes me want to get the game all the more. Nice charts from Roto, too. A lot of history books don't have visual aids this good. :)

[BlueRobin]

Hydaspes

This forms the last Historical Battle in Alexander.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hydaspes for reference.

There are three fording points. The ones on your centre and right have opposing enemy forces. The left-most fording point is some way off but is unguarded. On your right ford, you have two heavy phalanx (phalangist) and one light allied cavalry. At the centre, two more phalanx with a mardian acrher unit to its rear. The bulk of your force is just off the left ford.

The enemy has fielded an impressive force of spear, missile units, chariots and elephants.

Your main force consists of about three phalangists, three lighter hypasist spear, one horse archer, two companion cav inc. Alex and one javelin unit.

First of all, move your centre and right flank to join up with your left ford crossing force - you need all the men you can muster. The AI didn't take the opportunity to cross with no opposing force remaining.

Once the crossing takes place, the enemy will move. There are two things you will need to deal with. To your left, there is a small force hiding and they will advance. The enemy will also despatch half his forces from his riverbank deployment forming the bulk of his offence.

I deployed the phalanx perdendicular to the river bank so that the right could not be flanked. Horse archer and archer units did not cross and were positioned just forward of my line; this confers a position where they can fire into the side of the enemy where their armour is weaker. I placed my spears on the left flank backed by companion and allied cavalry. This left flank should be slightly cranked back so as to deal with the small force heading your way.

This small force is easily dealt with. What you should be worried about is what is heading toward you from the riverbank detachment. The front line consists of two 60 strong elephants units interspersed with chariots. I foudn targetting the elephants with my javelin equipped units (inc. those spears) was largely ineffective. They will trash your phalanx and cavalry is slight ineffective also. My tactic was to surround the elephants on all sides with any units I could spare. Any flanking with cavalry has to get past the chariots first, positioned on the flank. Be wary that the second lie of the enemy is infantry and behind that will soon be his second half of the river force.

Once the elephants have been despatched with, their advantage was lost but my phalanx was depleted. Try to reform lines and use cavalry in flank of oppsosing spear units. Try also to target their pesky archer units. There is seemingly a lot and they are all literally smelly girls!

[BlueRobin]

Once complete, you get a nice little "Outro" video again narrated by Brian Blessed explainig Alexander's position, attitude toward Poros the Indian king and how he returned to Macedon (or rather in the end didn't himself)

I think CA really did something neat here with including more set battle pieces. More of the same please. They're good if you just want to sit down for half an hour. A campaign can while away more time if you are not careful!

Well onward with the campaign. I am Captain Slow when it comes to blitzkreig so I will probably fail

[rotorgun]

Hey there all,

After a break on the campaign due to life intervening, I was finally able to get a move on for a few turns. I am now down to about 35 turns left, and I have taken Persepolis in the south, and then moved Alexander's army north to take Ecbatana during the previous turns. It takes longer to move in central Persia, as the road system is quite primitive. I have fought two major battles, and one minor with the Persians, only two involving Alexander. I was able to get two more field armies into the theater from Anatolia, and they are now poised assist Alexander in his conquest. One army is in the south, and will move along the coast and take any cities on the move. The other is close to Alexander's force, and will assist in the campaign in the north. Bactria is in my sights, as it seems to contain the largest contingent of Persian troops left to the crumbling empire.

Pitched battles seem to favor the Macedonians, as long as one keeps one's head during the battles, and uses the right combination of tactics against the mostly lighter Persian units. Even Hoplites are good enough to use against most of the Persian infantry. When fighting the Immortals, I find it better to close the distance rapidly so as to minimise the time they can use thier bows. They will often try to work towards your flanks to engage your lighter infantry and your cavalry, as they are quite effective against them. Don't understimate the Kardaces as cavalry killers as well. I have had several horse outfits devestated by them in extended melees.

All in all, if one can create a gap in the battle line, then that's where to send Alexander and the Companions. I like to go for the jugular, and take the enemy general out as quickly as possible. If he is a unit less vulnerable to cavalry attack, then I use a combined arms approach. This is what the Hypaspists are made for-moving like light infantry, but hitting hard like heavier types. They can often be used somewhat like legionaries, as they have a fire at will ability that can be used before they charge. It's not automatic, so you'll have to manage them a bit. Fixing the target for outflanking by the heavy horse is how I tend to use them. Of course the main Phalanx units are irresistable on the advance. I have seen whole lines of Persian infantry begin to break up once they engage, especially if the Macedonian cavalry is moving around in their rear.

I still don't know if I'll have enough time to finish the campaign in the alloted times, but I am having a blast trying.

Regards to all,

[phred]

I still don't know if I'll have enough time to finish the campaign in the alloted times, but I am having a blast trying.

If you're running short on time, make sure you spam spies and have them explore ahead of your armies so you can plan your route to all the cities you need to conquer.
I ran out of time my first try, because I was aimlessly wandering eastern persia looking for the cities to take.

[rotorgun]

If you're running short on time, make sure you spam spies and have them explore ahead of your armies so you can plan your route to all the cities you need to conquer.
I ran out of time my first try, because I was aimlessly wandering eastern persia looking for the cities to take.

Ah yes....of course you are right. As a matter of fact I currently have about three spies working ahead of the main armies. Do you think I should produce more? My general policy is to use two to scout my main avenues of approach, and one to enter into any city I intend to besiege. In this way I gather intelligence on Persian strength and potential reinforcements, while occasionally being rewarded with open gates at some settlements. Thanks for the input. I hope to present a more comprehensive guide in future oncwe I've completed at least two campaigns.

Respectfully,

[Jango Fett]

its really frustrating for those historical battles..which i really enjoy anyway..that they give you such small unit sizes..a phalanx with 66 men at the battle of issus really didnt make sense to me its pretty frustrating when they dont hold for 1 minute because 66 men die pretty fast...im pretty sure historically they held out for more than 1 minute...is there a mod which increases the unit sizes? because i would like to play that battle with more men in some units. now i understand the unit size is small because darius is meant to have a larger army..but still couldnt CA have just made both armies bigger at least then a phalanx would hold longer with 200+ men..and it would play out more like a real battle...what are your thoughts on this? and let me know if there is a mod or something...or better yet a way to skip this battle..id like to fight the gaugamela historical battle, but cant get past the issus one.. i try to play it the same way that alexander fought it, its not paid off over 20 tries.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Roto -

Your spy deployment sounds fine. I have found it helps to have one spy watching your rear or your "supply line" as well, especially if you're moving off from a city you captured a few turns ago. In Vanilla RTW I have experienced a number of occasions where one of the AI factions tried to sneak units past my main spearhead army to attack a city in my rear. The AI hides them in "ambush" posture. Very annoying. So, watch your back, big guy.

[rotorgun]

Roto -

Your spy deployment sounds fine. I have found it helps to have one spy watching your rear or your "supply line" as well, especially if you're moving off from a city you captured a few turns ago. In Vanilla RTW I have experienced a number of occasions where one of the AI factions tried to sneak units past my main spearhead army to attack a city in my rear. The AI hides them in "ambush" posture. Very annoying. So, watch your back, big guy.

Great idea Guyus. I have also been building watchtowers in each province when I can. This eliminates the need for expensive spies, but Alexander has to move so fast that I often have to leave this to follow up faction leaders.

@ Jango Fett, check out Blue Robin's post #30 of 07-14-2006 for a pretty good battle plan for Issus. It had me stymied for a bit until I tried this approach. It takes a bit of micromanaging, and using the pause button alot, but the ideas outlined in that post are sound doctrine. As for Guagamela, I still have yet to win that one, and I am playing it on "easy" settings.

Good luck,

[Guyus Germanicus]

Finally got my copy of Alexander from Amazon, the ERAs package. It loaded without a problem. Started my first campaign. My goodness! Moolah problems right off the bat. Sparta is a fiscal blackhole as the game starts. I have acquired two new faction members to act as governors. The Thracian/Illyrian problem was easy enough to resolve, but I'm paranoid about the casualties I'm taking with my cavalry. Don't know how I'm going to finance this campaign except by slash and burn combat. And how to replace casualties from my Companions?

I've been letting the phalangists bear some of the main brunt of fighting. What good fighters they are! And setting the Hypaspists (sp?) on "fire at well" seems to be doing well. Truly they can shower javelins on an opponent. I should be able to move the campaign across the Hellespont tonight after work. I'm going to need every denarii I can grab from extermination or Alex ain't gonna make it very far. So I definitely see what you other Alexander players have been dealing with.

The little handbook that comes with the ERAs package says that Alexander players will need to depend on mercs more than in vanilla RTW. But, good grief, you gotta have money to buy mercs.

In the real campaign Alexander was able solve many of his money problems after he took Babylon. Does that play out similar in the game?

So, I guess, tonight I'll face my first Persian army. In my first move I brought Parmenion back across the Hellespont to assist in the barbarian roundup. There were some intimidating looking Persian stacks on his side of the straits.

Roto mentioned in his posts about his use of spies, but I'm scratching my head wondering how I'm even going to afford them at this point. :)

No panic mode yet. It's still early. Looks like this will be fun. It's definitely different from RTW in terms of pace.

[Guyus Germanicus]

Well, I faced my first Persian army last night. Then I faced another, and then another, . . . then another. Relentless suckers.

I crossed over the Hellespont last night and took Halicarnassus. Plundering that city gave me a much needed cash infusion. From there I was able to stabilize Sparta with bigger and better temples and reduce the fiscal drain there a bit. But even then, my finances are still a slow bleed. I had to drop Parmenion back to Byzantium (?) for two turns because a huge Scythian army was approaching bent on plunder. I was able to recruit two spies in my cash infusion and recruit some light cavalry from Halicarnassus and one unit of Scythian Heavy cav, replenish my Hypaspists (good fighters, they), and rebuild my Phalangist units. I've 86 turns left and I'm sure I'm behind shed-yul. Alexander has the city just east of Hali besieged. Huge stack in residence there. The Dahae have Issus besieged, but there are two huge Persian stacks in the neighborhood, and I don't think the Dahae will do me the favor of reducing them before Alexander approaches.

more later . . .

[rotorgun]

After reading Guyus's last two posts, I realised that I haven't updated my campaign report in awhile. Hmm....where to begin? I guess I'll start with the current situation and how I arrived there. I am down to 13 turns left to go, and poor old Alexander is getting on a bit, but still fighting hard. Currently he is engaged in recapturing Bactria, which rebelled as he attempted to assist one of his nobles in a battle against the Dahae faction leader and his army. The events leading up to this have been fraught with excitement.

If there is one piece of advice that I can leave everyone, it is not to bypass them as I did for your follow up forces to deal with. Although I have conqured their settlement of Nisa, they have caused me many casualties in the process. If it weren't for the fact that I save my game before each autosave when cliking the hourglass, this game would be over. The Dahae live in a very moutainous region on their southern border, with the terrain becoming more desertlike north of Nisa. My strategy was to use two armies, one striking through the valley towards the settlement, while the other did an amphibious end run through the Caspian Sea to draw the enemy away from Nisa. The spy I sent detected no less than six Large armies lurking in the valey with another three or so in the north. (Where did such a poor nation get such large armies I do not know!)

The plan went well, a little too well for my northen strike group. After finding a good position in the desert hills, this army was attacked by five armies in succession during one end turn click. The best part, although I was in complete awe, was that it won every encounter! It was whilttled down to a corporal's guard by then, but nontheless was victorious. This made the taking of Nisa much easier, as I only had to deal with a half srength garrison.

Then the Dahae did something really strange. Their two reaiming large armies began heading east, away from their homeland! It was almost like watching a Horde as in BI. I still haven't figurwed out why they did not attempt to retake their town, because it would have been easy for them. My southern strikegroup was much depleted after the bloody siege, and my norhtern group had retreated to the ships and headed home for replenishment. The only thing I can figure is that Alexander's army was in the process of trying to recapture Bactria and the AI wanted to try and take him out before he moved on to India.

Needless to say, Alexander chose to break off the siege and meet them in the field. As it took a bit of time for the Dahae to get to Bactria, I had time to bring another army north to assist Alexander. After Alexander defeated the first smaller army, which was made up of mostly retreating remnants from previous battles, the main force approached. Alexander caught them flat-footed in the the hills with his reinforcements catching them in the flank. Although I lost another faction leader in the process, the Dahae were destroyed. Only one group remains, and it has holed up in the mountains north of the Hindu Kush. This leads me to a question.

Does anyone know how to get into India? I have sent spies and cavalry out to look for entry points along the river and in the mountains, and I still have not found a way in. It is perplexing. Didn't Alexander go through the Hindu Kush to get there? As soon as Bactria is raised to the ground, I am heading for India. I just can't figure out how to get there. Maybe mighty Zeus will reveal a way to me.

@ Guyus Germanicus: I see that you are experiencing the early game problems of lack of finances. This will be eased as you conquer each settlement, but you must use the exterminate option. Your money difficulties will be soved, for the most part, once you capture the larger cities. Issus and Memhpis gave me a boost, but Babylon and Persepolis will solve many of your problems. You will not be able to build as much as you'd like to each turn, but it should be enough to barely hold you empire together. As for spies, at first I only created one to send ahead of the main army. Only later was I able to afford more than that.

Regards,

[Vanka_GROZNY]

After reading this section beat Alexander on med/med in 45 turns.

Thanks alot rotorgun. :)

My only complain is the main map. Looks like CA dev's play too much Civilization.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rotorgun:

You can't invade India, campaign ends when you capture 30 settlements, including those in objectives screen.

[rotorgun]

After reading this section beat Alexander on med/med in 45 turns.

Thanks alot rotorgun. :)

My only complain is the main map. Looks like CA dev's play too much Civilization.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Rotorgun:

You can't invade India, campaign ends when you capture 30 settlements, including those in objectives screen.

Your very welcome indeed Vanka_GROZNY,

You are right about India. I didn't know it at the time, but the Dahae had a small settlement way north of Bactria that I was unaware of. I wondered where the remnants of the last Dahae army I defeated went to. After moving a really quite unremarkable force there; 3 Hoplites, 1 Podromoi, 1 depeleted Rhodian Slinger, 1 Hypaspist, 1 Agrianian Skirmisher and a rather unskilled Faction member; the Dahae came out to meet me in the field with their meager forces of 2 Spearman, 1 Swordsman, 1 Barbarian Cavalry, and 1 Tribal Slingers, 1 Archer, with thier sole remaining faction leader as a reinforcement. It was a bit dicey, as I had my forces divided into two groups, but once I had thier Generals beat it was no contest. The settlement fell by default, upon which followed the Victory speech by Brian Blessed. (Great voice he has!) I sure wish that I could have gone on to India in any case.

Well, now I 'm going to begin compiling a strategy guide for this game. I would be greatful for any suggestions by the other players on what to include. Please PM me any time with your ideas.

Regards,

[Guyus Germanicus]

@ Guyus Germanicus: I see that you are experiencing the early game problems of lack of finances. This will be eased as you conquer each settlement, but you must use the exterminate option. Your money difficulties will be soved, for the most part, once you capture the larger cities. Issus and Memhpis gave me a boost, but Babylon and Persepolis will solve many of your problems. You will not be able to build as much as you'd like to each turn, but it should be enough to barely hold you empire together. As for spies, at first I only created one to send ahead of the main army. Only later was I able to afford more than that.

Regards,

I was hoping to hear someone say that about the money situation. After reading Robin Fox's biography of Alex, it was my impression that if I could take Babylon, the bazillion "denari" of the Persian treasury would become available to fund the balance of my campaign.

I didn't play Alexander over the weekend so I've nothing to update right now. My companion cav are down to one slightly undersized unit and I'm rather dependent on the light cav I'm producing in Halicarnassus. But I really need to press on and take Issus for my next large cash injection. I want to keep a good set of phalangists and Hypaspists in my army. So, I've been trying to show a little care in my field tactics. Some of these battles just cover so much ground on the battle map that control becomes problematic at times. The Phalangists stand their ground well, the hypas (as stated earlier) have been excellent fighters for me. I wish I could replenish my heavy cav more readily.

Picked up an excellent book this weekend by Victor Davis Hanson on ancient Greek military tactics. He talks about the technical developments in greek warfare over time. He has a couple excellent graphics on Gaugamela and Issus, the troop dispositions and the progression of the battle. Thought I might learn something in the reading. Also, got a copy of Peter Green's bio of Alexander. It's on my reading list for the near future. And I ordered Edwin Yamauchi's book on the Persian Empire in Biblical Times. Highly respected scholar and the subject matter intrigued me.

Roto - your idea of a guide sounds good. And, I'll watch the Dahae behaviour to see what they do with me. I posted one of my spys along the Black Sea coast (near Odessa) to watch for any more Scythian "hordes" approaching the homeland.

[rotorgun]

@ Guyus Germanicus:

I know what you mean about the Companion Cavalry. It is regrettable, but you won't be seeing any of them for quite awhile. You will be able to purchase a few as mercenaries when you get further into Asia, but I don't remember exactly where. I thought that it was strange that they would be available as mercenaries, when the designers didn't have the stables for them in Pella. (Perhaps it was a balance issue) I was surprised to find out that some Thessalian cavalry was available near Pella and Sparta, of all places, so I purchased them and sent them to Anatolia. They never did reach Alexander, so next time I'll remeber to send my faction members out to purchase them when money is at hand. I'm still not sure if the limits are per area, or for each faction member as he arrives in a new area, when buying mercs. I finally was able to build one racecourse in Babylon which provided Companions about halfway through my campaign.

Sounds like you have a great game going. I hope my posts are helpful to you as I always find it good to seek advice from others as well. (Hence my signature quote)

Good Luck

@ Blue Robin:

I finally found a decent approach to winning Guagamela without losing most of my army in the process. As I looked at the graphics I posted earlier a bit closer, I noticed that the Macedonians made a much more oblique approach then I first imagined. It's almost as if they were trying to defeat the left wing of Darius's army before thier own left wing was engaged seriously. So I treid this in the game, slightly modified due to the lack of a second hoplite array, and was pleasantly surprised by the result.

As you discovered a "scripted" response to your tactics at Issus, the Persians seem to have one in this battle as well. During the opening stage of the fight, after commanding all the Phalangites to go to standard formation, I simply select the entire Macedonian army and group it. Then I select a point far to the left of the Persians and use the mouse to drag the entire group there facing the Persian line at about a 45 degree angle. The mouse will give you a preview of what your line will look like before releasing the right click. Be sure to only do this when the entire army is grouped or it will not keep in formation when they arrive. After the command is given, click the run icon and let them get into position. A little rearranging and regroping can then be done once there, such as grouping all the Phalanx units and cavalry as you preferr, etc.
I like to strech my phalanx units out to about a three or four line depth, while refusing my left flank slightly with one or two of them. This gives your left flank a little more time and makes the Persians have to move more to get at them.

Once they arrive, and even before they all get into line, the AI seems to be a little confused at first, but soon will begin moving thus:

The Bactrian cavalry, supported by one Horse Archer will immediately begin to charge your right flank. This is where Alexander and one of the Companions are stationed, so that plays into your hand. I engage the Horse Archer with my Cretan Archers while Alexander, the Companions, and the Hypaspists defeat the Bactrians. About this time you'll notice that Darius and his bodyguard, supported by the line of Immortals will attept to charge your right flank Phalanx line. This is where you should break the best part of his army, but one must be on the lookout at the left flank, which will now be engaged by a fierce combined arms attack by the main Persian Infantry, supported by the Scythian and Hyrcanian Cavalry. While the Cavalry can be dealt with by your own, they will be outnumbered doing so, and will usually be drawn into fighting with some of the abundant Spearmen-these will actively seek out your Horse Units purposely once they are tied up with the enemy Cavalry.

If things are going according to plan on your right, Darius will be either dead or fleeing, while most, if not all of his Immortals will be routing. There will be little time to chase them however, as Alexander and his hard fighting Companions will be needed to aid the left flank before it crumbles. As you have said in an earlier post, it takes a bit of quick manuevering (thank God for the pause command) and keeping one's head to beat off this wave of attacks, but it can be done.

I was sure to fight this battle the same way to check out how the Persians respond, and I found that they will do so pretty much all the time. It was a great relief to find the right set of tactics that works. It was also gratifying to know that a variation of Alexander's original plan is what it took to find those tactics. May the God Nike attend us all!

Regards,

[Byzantine Emperor]

I said that my Alexander wasnt working a while back, but now it does. Weird...
I didn't do anything to it...

[Guyus Germanicus]

Arghh!!!

I had Alexander besieging Lampsacus, and last night I tried to pick up where I left off. I had siege engines built and started the combat segment to take the city. The general gives his little pre-battle speech and then as soon as the speech ended and the camera rose up to panorama the army and let me start deployment, my game locked up. I tried three different times to recover, changing the way I entered the combat, but couldn't get past the lockup!!! The camera took me up into the sky, and the cursor started duplicating itself. The narrator's voice continued, but I lost control of the screen and cursor. I had to dismount the disk, and ctrl/alt/delete so I could take the game down. It appears that CA has some kind of autosave done automatically when there's a lockup like I had. So some of my moves just prior to the combat were saved even though I had to disengage using Windows. Both my stack and the Persian stack were huge and I was using large military unit sizes. But I use large unit sizes all the time and seldom have a problem. Couldn't tell what my problem was - whether it was a memory issue or game settings, or just a bug. I have almost all the CA recommended optimum settings invoked except for unit size, which I set on large (cavalry units - 54 infantry 80 or 120 depending on type). I've got 1 gig of memory and 2 gig virtual memory for paging. So, I didn't figure it was that. Computer is new since February. I welcome any thoughts from you all. The game is saved from that point, so I can retry anytime. But darn, I hated to drop that campaign to a game quirk.

It appears I'm just going to have to start over a new game, which I did last night using smaller units size, (hate that), but after a couple turns I just wanted to go back to RTW for awhile and play one of my vanilla RTW games. I had put a lot of work into the Alex campaign and just didn't feel like getting into another from scratch. But I'm not giving up.

Am surprised, Roto, that you can purchase companions as mercs in Alexander. I'll take them however I can get them. I will also watch for an opportunity to grab up the Thessalians. Coincidentally, (perhaps ironically), in my current vanilla RTW game, I'm playing with Macedonia. And have just reached the point where Sparta and Thessalonica are producing Phalanx pikeman. Thank the gods for their cavalry depth. The Levy pikeman are numerous but not very resilient in combat. Macedonia doesn't produce any jav-cav which are a nice to have (even against the Romans). And thank goodness for Cretan archers. Their longer range missiles really give me an edge with some opponents in lieu of no jav-cav.

I will return to Alexander, but it may be a couple days since life's obligations are intruding at the moment. I'll keep my eye on this thread for campaign updates. Am interested how you contributors are doing.

[rotorgun]

Hello all,

I'm just checking in while away from my home computer to see what's new. I see not much is happening, as everyone must be kinda busy with work, etc.

@ Byzantine Emperor,

Glad to hear that you got back up and running. It is strange that it wouldn't work before, but now it does without making any changes. Maybe your computer was trying to run some other program that conflicted with the game at the time. I ocassionally have his problem with my anti-virus program intervening at the wrong time. I also find AIM to be a bother while in the middle of a game. Perhaps it was something like that.

@ Guyus Germanicus,

Maybe you don't have all of the required patches downloaded for your vanilla RTW for ATW to work properly with it. Have you had any similar episodes like this with your copy of RTW? I used to have problems like this when I was using my 64 meg graphics card, but this stopped being a problem when I switched to a 128 meg Radeon.

I have also started a new Alexander campaign, but will have to probably start over as well. I tried an Egypt first strategy, thinking that I could gain an advantage by not having to move over the same ground twice, as in the historical approach. It has become a disaster. Not only is Alexander's army cut off from any reinforcements from home, but has also been whittled down by an agressive AI strategy of attrition. I tried to use Parmenio's small force, reinforced by what few units could be gotten from Pella, to take Illyria and Thrace out of the game. Without Alexander's army to aid them, this too has been far too costly, even though Parmenio has been successful. All this while the Scythians are already sending down raiders down the coast.

In only ten turns, Alexander's expeditionary force has been reduced to less than half of its former glory. This is the first time that any money has been available to buy any reinforcements, due to the fact that it has taken too long to subdue the northern tribes. After three major battles, one against Darius himself, and two seiges, the last to take Memphis, the main army is now holed up in the city, which is about to become besieged by a large full stack Persian army. Even if I temporarily move Alexander out to buy the available reinforcements, these will not be enough to fend off such a force from taking the city. I may be able to destroy everything in the city and then abandon it, but it will still be vulnerable in the open-perhaps more so. It is a dilemma of biblical proportions. What does anyone recommend?

Well, as usual I've gone on far too long. I hope everyone has a good week. I'll be out of pocket, so to speak, for the entire weekend. I guess I'll see you all later.

Regards,

[Guyus Germanicus]

Maybe you don't have all of the required patches downloaded for your vanilla RTW for ATW to work properly with it. Have you had any similar episodes like this with your copy of RTW? I used to have problems like this when I was using my 64 meg graphics card, but this stopped being a problem when I switched to a 128 meg Radeon.


Roto -
To answer your questions: No I've never had a problem in vanilla RTW. I did download release 1.6 for RTW/BI because I was one of those Gold Edition purchasers from North American who got the RTW release 1.4. So I downloaded 1.5 and 1.6, but installed 1.6 since I had the Gold Edition and I believe 1.6 includes 1.5. Right? But, I had to download those updates to install the Extended Greek Mod. Alexander is doing something quirky for me in every battle sequence. When the general finishes his pep talk and the camera starts to lift up to panorama the scene, the camera turns completely around to show the ground behind the army instead of what's in front of my army. Apparently, I'm missing something.

I have 128 MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 Radeon X300 SE. My XPS 400 Dell is less than 6 months old.

In any case, I started a new Alexander game, but I switched to smaller size units. This timeI fought through and took Lampsacus. Am still money pressed. Sinope and Issus are next on the menu. Was able to purchase some good cavalry mercs in Thessaly. Have got a young four star faction member who should be able to keep the Scythians at bay while Parmenion and Alex go for the big targets. Capturing Issus should help considerably.

You sound like you're in a tight spot in your current game. I certainly don't know how to help you out on that one.