what the hardest faction to be in EB

**skuzzy** · 01-31-2007, 00:28

Pontos is damn hard from the start and even in prolonged play doesn't get all that much easier for a good while. It's hard sitting next to an already established empire that turns on you quicker than a superstar ninja.

**Zim** · 01-31-2007, 01:36

Well, I haven't played every faction, but I have managed to lose both a Casse and a KH game, so i'd say them.

My Averni game, on the other hand, was tough at first and easier once I got rid of the Aedui. My Roma game seems fairly easy right now, but I'm mostly playing it to have my revenge on Macedonia for kicking my butt when I played the Greeks.

**soibean** · 01-31-2007, 04:01

Casse is only hard for so long as it takes you to wipe out that initial Rebel marauding army, then you just take over a few small garrison cities and slowly build up your economy. Not a campaign for the impatient.

Hayasdan was very hard as the Seleukids continually spawned random armies from the fog of war every other turn.

Id like to think that the Iberian and Arabian factions are hard but I am waiting to .9 to try them

**fatsweets** · 01-31-2007, 06:29

Surprised Pahlav hasn't been mentioned as a hard faction to play. I've tried them 3 times and gave up every time because of nonstop harassment by baktria, seleukia and the rebels to the north, not to mention very poor cities. The only time I made any constant progress was by cheating but I still gave up because I don't like to cheat.

**Barnabas** · 01-31-2007, 07:44

Pontos is the hardest I've played. Things are very difficult for them due to having to choose sides between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids very early, and with a frisky Makedon, you'll be sweating for a couple decades at least. The middle game is fairly easy as Pontos, though still challenging. The late game is very hard, because the unit roster is lacking in high end units at the present time. In short, as others have said, your armies will be full of mercenaries or conscripts from type IV MICs.

**Kull** · 01-31-2007, 08:20

Originally Posted by fatsweets

Surprised Pahlav hasn't been mentioned as a hard faction to play. I've tried them 3 times and gave up every time because of nonstop harassment by baktria, seleukia and the rebels to the north, not to mention very poor cities. The only time I made any constant progress was by cheating but I still gave up because I don't like to cheat.

Here's the trick - Blitz the Seleukids immediately and don't let up until you have taken from them a ring of cities that will form the core of your new kingdom. Make peace with Saka and then assemble all the units you can muster on the border and then take Antiochiea Margiane. Exterminate the population (you can't afford to leave big garrisons behind) and then do the same thing to Asaak. Immediately go south and take Hekatompylos, Apameia, and finally Zadrakata. This is your core. And the key is that you can defend it with the only army you can afford - about half a stack - so long as you keep it positioned roughly between Hekatompylos and Apameia. It is brutally tough, but this move will stun the Seleukids and they won't be able to throw really big stacks at you for 10 or so years. That should be enough time to build up the economy and prepare for the next campaign...but you can figure that one out.

The military component of this strategy is to build up about a half stack of archers with a few family member generals. You should not have a SINGLE spearman in your whole army. Now normally in any battle against infantry and cavalry, an archer army is dead meat. But here the trick is to use your general unit cav to annihilate the enemy cav who won't be able to resist attacking your "defenseless" archers, and then to split up the enemy infantry and wipe them out one by one. Also, you want them to attack YOU as much as possible, preferably when you have the high ground. The key to success is the Parthian General Cataphracts. They are tanks. You will laugh at archers and all enemy cavalry (except other Cats).

Now it should be noted that this strategy is not truly historical. The Parthians *should* use less powerful Cats and a lot of horse archers. And they probably will in the next big release (not the patch, tho), as we are reworking a lot of the numbers. That said, the key fact is that arrows will beat spears if you play correctly, and that WAS true for the Parthians versus the Greeks.

**fatsweets** · 02-01-2007, 04:50

Thanks Kull for the strategy, I'll try the next time I play Pahlav. The price for a decent army with Pahlav is so much that it's a real downer when Seleucia and Baktria are sending large armies at you almost every turn with good quality troops and cavalry when the only armies Pahlav can afford are archers, it seems you have to cheat with the add_money command to have any sort of chance with Pahlav because with the poor cities their is no time to build at all when you are fighting 2 large nations. Sorry for the run on sentence, I just wish the 2 cities you start with were not so poor.

**Kull** · 02-01-2007, 05:28

Originally Posted by fatsweets

Thanks Kull for the strategy, I'll try the next time I play Pahlav. The price for a decent army with Pahlav is so much that it's a real downer when Seleucia and Baktria are sending large armies at you almost every turn with good quality troops and cavalry when the only armies Pahlav can afford are archers, it seems you have to cheat with the add_money command to have any sort of chance with Pahlav because with the poor cities their is no time to build at all when you are fighting 2 large nations. Sorry for the run on sentence, I just wish the 2 cities you start with were not so poor.

The other critical element is you must maintain your alliance with Baktria at all costs. They should remain allied even after you sneak attack the Selukids...in fact all your starting allies should ditch the Seleukids and remain loyal to you. And do not hem the Baktrians in by taking the Seleukid city just south of their capital. The alliance won't long survive if you and Saka are their only neighbors. And be prepared to go into debt for a loooong time. Line up some archer units in the build queues at the start, because those will be the only units you get for a very long time.

**Zim** · 01-31-2007, 07:52

Originally Posted by soibean

Casse is only hard for so long as it takes you to wipe out that initial Rebel marauding army, then you just take over a few small garrison cities and slowly build up your economy. Not a campaign for the impatient.

Hayasdan was very hard as the Seleukids continually spawned random armies from the fog of war every other turn.

Id like to think that the Iberian and Arabian factions are hard but I am waiting to .9 to try them

Really? In my Casse campaign there were multiple marauding rebel armies. *shudder*