Hayasdan Guide request !

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

268 BC, i controll Kotais, Mtsketa, Armavira, Ani-Kamak, howewer my army is composed of very bad units, those kind of Caucasian Levies wich are unable to put up a decent fight against anything but rebels. (i play M/H with house-rules, never attack unless attack, never break alliances unless betrayed, etc).

I am planning to take Trapezus, but it will require a large army as it is very well defended.

I am afraid that eventually the Seleucids will invade my poor kingdom....
And even on equal terms, lack of phalanx and strong infantry could prove disaster for me. They are faring well against the Ptolemies and eventually will invade me. Not to mention i am unable to raise anykind of decent infantry or cavalry...

I request someone put up a Hayasdan guide... at least for surviving the Seleucids.

[Elminster12]

The trick against the Seleukids is to keep a very close eye on them and make use of your cavalry. Your infantry is best-suited to chase down skirmishers and hold a phalanx. Slingers and foot archers are also your friends....

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

But cavalry is damn expensive ! I managed to get some scythians in Kotais (they rock), but the simple recrutiment is well over 1000 Mnai

Hopefully, with the capture of Trapezunt i will be able to make some boost on my little empire.

It seems that the only VALID direction for expanding is west, towards the Black Sea coast.. if you are lucky you may be able to capture Sinope before Pontus is moving in, ... east is very poor, those caspian sea settlements are well guarded and poor as welll. Supplyes will run low until you get there, and there is no city to camp during the winter.For the sake of men`s morale Do not deserve throwing away the troops to get there.

[JeffBag]

Maybe you should stop expanding and get to fixing up your provinces. With your capital and the two nearby cities all with mines you should find 1000 mnai easy. You really need to develop your provinces because your tier 1-3 cannot even hope to draw with their tier 1-3. Horse archers are low tier, and you can use your generals as cataphracts, but you need to be able to finance those horse archers. Then you can pull off the classic Eastern strat: Horse archers + Cataphracts = Heroic Victory.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Hmm, unfortunately only Kotais can recruit Horse Archers for now, in the regional barracks.

I have attempted entering Pontus_Paraetolia region, and the advisor warned me of war with KH. Yet still, i continued. KH was to farr and to busy to face me. Faced an ambush by some rebel skirmisher army in the deep forests just of the shore. Probably some wild tribesman, i never even see them well in the dense wood, but yest still i scatered them with the General unit. Howewer my skirmishers had some heavyy losses. Than i attacked the settlement. It was a close defeat. Armenian levy infantry units don`t stand a chance even against the classical hoplites. They get slaughtered... or better said, butchered by the 8 star enemy general hoplit unit! But gladly i killed him. It was quite a nice loss afterall... I am sure that even the lowest quality hoplite can defeat with no problem an unit of Nizag Gund...not to mention Kavkaza sparabara....

I gathered some Pontic Doriforoi mercs... damn expensive for such crap units, but the second time i managed to storm the garrison. Scythians helped me alot... actually, they cost alot to build, but theyr upkeep is managable (around 242 Mnai).

268 BC and stil no Seleucid attack. Bactria, Pahlava and Pontus all declared ostilities towards them, but to this moment none dared to chalenge to an open fight the big grey beast I choosed to keep the alliance with AS as the Ptolemies really made no progress against them (they have captured Bostra, but large AS stacks are on the move !). Some Seleukids stacks roam in the area close to the Caspian Sea... really, i am afraid ! Maybe gifting them should postpone the inevitable war ?

[Mordecai]

A tribute may work. But you will have to fight them eventually. But 268 is still very early in the campaign. You can tell when the AS is going to attack when they start sending diplomats to your towns. As for infantry, well what can I say. I would recommend Nizag Gund to be the main of your infantry armies until you can recruit the elites. Scythian archers are pretty good too.

[Morte66]

Another way to deal with the AS is to just get out of Dodge.

[dumuzi]

To chip in myself, ive played several campaigns as Hayasdan, and definitely agree that they are a little too difficult to play as. I think the problem isnt just the Seleucids (who--with eastern tactics and good generaling--can be beat) but is also the fact that by the time you conquer them you have to deal with the Ptolemies. In my campaign i managed to take a lot of Mesopotamia and chunks of Syria: the AS situation was under control. But then the Egyptians (with whom i had an alliance) decided to eradicate me. Ive found that this usually happens because of the AI system of RTW. No matter how many alliances you have, you often find yourself at war with more than one neighbor. Playing as a smaller country, it makes the game very difficult.

[Sarkiss]

Ptolies and AS are making a sandwich out of me in my current campaign
next time i play, as son as new build is released, i will go south east towards Persepollis and not anywhere near (beyond Karatiokerta) to Ptolies. as soon as you get a common border with them they are back stabbing

[Landwalker]

Just thought I'd chip into this old thread my own request for a "formal" Hayasdan guide. Not so much a military manual, but I would love to see a "Getting Started" guide in the same vein as the stickied guides for the Romani, Casse, Sweboz, etc. I'm trying to start up a Hayasdan campaign myself and it's... intimidating.

Cheers.

[tapanojum]

I'm playing VH/M and am finding myself constantly attacked by HA attacks from the north *Those General HS Cav are so freaking tough* AS declared war on me in 271bc, and half rebel stacks lurking around attacking every once in a while.

I was on defense for about 10 years, each turn fighting 2-4 battles. After the AS lost around 15FM I was able to break through and expand south. At the same time I ended up attacking Pontus and got their capital and Sinope. Now I find myself at a halt. Not enough income to continue any campaigns any further, and large enemy stacks all around my borders. Time to fortify my positions and build those dang mines!

The Bodygaurd Cavalry are the only things keeping me alive. I ussually start off by having my general run on the perimeter of the enemy forces waiting for a good time to strike at the weak spearmen and missiles. Ussually after a few attacks I can distract a decent size chunk of the enemies army into following my General while my main army engages a now smaller enemy force.