what the hardest faction to be in EB

[Kull]

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]

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]

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.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I must say Casse. I played them for forty turns before I could take over another powerful rebel province. Even worse, after that, huge stack of marauding rebels came charging from the north covered in their blue paint wanting revenge. The evil creatures stormed my capital and my other city and it was all over very, very quickly. Terrifyingly hard campaign, it was fun while it lasted though.

[Kralizec]

Casse is slow to start off, but afterwards it gets easier. I should know, I played them zealously for a long while.

For your units:
You have plenty of units at your disposal that, when encouraged by champions (calawre and midlanders at first) or your chariot general, are true workehorses. Units like Clyddabre (or Kludobro, wich what they were called in 0.74), Lugoae I use zealously. I also include 2-4 Belgae Batacorii each battle, wich are amazingly solid for their price. Of course, once you're up against the Romani Triarii you'll need better, like those Golberi Curoas (Gallic mercs) or Gaestatae
Those celtic slingers don't look impressive (they have no AP), but they're dirt cheap and you'll encounter plenty of unarmoured enemies.
I had trouble with chariots at first, but after that I never had trouble with their unit roster.
(there are also useful units to recruit in Caledonia and Hibernia)

As for the campaign map, type 2 and 3 governments all confer a 10% public order bonus. Because of that I imagine that the Casse have an easier time controlling their territories then some other factions.

...

I didn't find the Pahlava starting position to be easy, but that may just be because I'm not used to using horse archers anymore

[Boyar Son]

How 'bout the Greeks? they seem pretty hard.

And while your at it try and have a secound Megas Alexandros conquest, this time you conquer macedon.

Or another Trojan war wouldnt hurt ( exept maybe your hero's)

[Mamba]

From what I played, the Sauromatae are extremely hard.

Their only choice for expansion pits them against horse archers, which aren't that easy to deal with using other missile units.