So... Has anybody succeeded as Hayasdan yet?

[dominique]

I'll give a try tonight!



Sincerely, I sympathise, I was roughed out from my Arverni game recently. and I still resent it. I was doing good, I had conquered the Aedui except for Mediolanum, i owned Massalia and Emphorion and I was allied to the Romani and Qarthadasti. All was going great when... The perfid poeni backstabbed me, followed by the Romani.

Ok, I said to myself, I can pull it off... Then a stack of Sweboz appears at my northern frontier and BANG. The trumpet sounded the traitor's charge.

I had to fight 5 stacks with only 2 on three fronts. No hard maths there.

I still wonder what I have done wrong. It was one of my best starts ever. Good nice victories, good RP, good diplo, nice empire building. Then bang. Finito la revolution.



I'm still unable to think to play a gallic faction.

I'll try Hayasdan to see.

[Dayve]

I'll give a try tonight!



Sincerely, I sympathise, I was roughed out from my Arverni game recently. and I still resent it. I was doing good, I had conquered the Aedui except for Mediolanum, i owned Massalia and Emphorion and I was allied to the Romani and Qarthadasti. All was going great when... The perfid poeni backstabbed me, followed by the Romani.

Ok, I said to myself, I can pull it off... Then a stack of Sweboz appears at my northern frontier and BANG. The trumpet sounded the traitor's charge.

I had to fight 5 stacks with only 2 on three fronts. No hard maths there.

I still wonder what I have done wrong. It was one of my best starts ever. Good nice victories, good RP, good diplo, nice empire building. Then bang. Finito la revolution.



I'm still unable to think to play a gallic faction.

I'll try Hayasdan to see.

Trust me, Hayasdan are 100x more difficult than Averni or Aediu. When playing as those guys you need to leave a big buffer of rebel cities between you and everybody else, especially the Sweboz. Just pound the Aediu enough so that they can still send armies your way but have no chance of succeeding anywhere. In the meantime you build up roads and farms and at least one expensive barracks until you reach a point where the money is coming in hard and you can build naked madmen or something tough and become capable of fighting even a 3-front war.

[dominique]

Trust me, Hayasdan are 100x more difficult than Averni or Aediu. When playing as those guys you need to leave a big buffer of rebel cities between you and everybody else, especially the Sweboz. Just pound the Aediu enough so that they can still send armies your way but have no chance of succeeding anywhere. In the meantime you build up roads and farms and at least one expensive barracks until you reach a point where the money is coming in hard and you can build naked madmen or something tough and become capable of fighting even a 3-front war.

I KNOW! I've won the Getai, the Makedonian, and approx 1 year away from winning the Roman. Arverni should have been easy. I've done everything you described. On of my army had 3 gaesetai and 3 Batacorii. It should have been Ok. It didn't. I was stuck in a maneuvering campaign in northern Italy, I've razed Segesta and Arriminum, but I just couldn't pull it back since it was stopping 2 stacks. The other stack was trying to control the Carthaginians and the Sweboz but running around like crazy around Gaul. My huge problem wasn't the battles, I won them. I had no revenue since my trade went down. My problem was the churn. I was losing 100 guys per battle, with no cash to replenish. I've beat the Cartaginians good, I've made the Romans cry, but the Sweboz put their spear between my ribs real good.

I think I should have left Mediolanum alone. Everything went crashing down after I sent my army there...

Anyway, I think I've got the right stuff to make an armenian empire... I'll give it a try. If i'm a buffoon, I'll make you laugh with my pathetics attempts at empire building.

[Dayve]

Anyway, I think I've got the right stuff to make an armenian empire... I'll give it a try. If i'm a buffoon, I'll make you laugh with my pathetics attempts at empire building.

Sounds good. My record was 4 cities with them, then the grey death raped a city with my 4 generals (all with silver chevrons) who were holding my 'kingdom' together. After that all i could muster were raw spearmen with no chevrons or armour upgrades and a general who couldn't run a hotdog stand, let alone an army... If 4 units of spearmen and 1 unit of archers can be called an army.

[Watchman]

Stone walls are your friend.

[Dayve]

Stone walls are your friend.

So is the money it costs to build them...

[Watchman]

So is the money it costs to build them...

Given how much of a "force multiplier" they are for those cheap-ass Caucasian levies you're going to have to use for garrison duty anyway, I'd say that 3200 and six turns was a worthwhile enough investement. Plus at least the H campaign AI seems to regard them as something of a deterrent.

[dominique]

Anyway, I think I've got the right stuff to make an armenian empire... I'll give it a try. If i'm a buffoon, I'll make you laugh with my pathetics attempts at empire building.

Ok, I've started it.

I've looked around the map, checked the financial report, concluded that I needed more than some hillbilly villages to survive.

I went east.

Phraaspa.

A large town.

Bingo!

I'm still reeling in debt (-15000!), but I've now a positive balance.

Oh man, it's a stressing game that one. The "damocles over your head" feeling is incredible. You look at your objectives, you look at your ennemies (how will I beat a 4-5 phalanx army is still a wonder!) and you know you don't have what it needs to do it, unless the gods want it so... Sweaty palms and curses garanteed.

[Sarkiss]

Ok, I've started it.

I've looked around the map, checked the financial report, concluded that I needed more than some hillbilly villages to survive.

I went east.

Phraaspa.

A large town.

Bingo!

I'm still reeling in debt (-15000!), but I've now a positive balance.

Oh man, it's a stressing game that one. The "damocles over your head" feeling is incredible. You look at your objectives, you look at your ennemies (how will I beat a 4-5 phalanx army is still a wonder!) and you know you don't have what it needs to do it, unless the gods want it so... Sweaty palms and curses garanteed.

have fun

[MiniMe]

In my KH campaign AI is very successful as Hayasdan.
And: I must admit they give me much more trouble than Grey death, Yellow thieves, White pacifists and Red weaklings (yep, I'm that able diplomat and a good neighbor).
And: AI is surprisingly good in the battlefield with these armenian units. He is:
1. wiping out my cretan snipers first;
2. outflanks me;
3. shoots my armoured boyz in the back;
4. charges and withdraw charges and withdraw charges and withdraw till my boyz are dead dead dead.

In fact I'm so impressed of AI Hayasdan tactics that when I see Hayasdan late bodyguard unit on the battlefield I turn computer off and run to bedroom for shelter.

But I don't hate them. I respect them. It is Yellow thieves whom I hate, Yellow thieves who bought off my whole Turkey in less than four years without a single fight with my glorious epileptic infantry.
One fine day Alexandria will burn burn burn. Burarum.
Spartans don't read, they don't need to read, they are happy with comixes.

[Dayve]

They're doing good on your game because they're getting 35k a turn at the start for only having a crappy village.

[Fearless Samnite]

alright......my interest is peaked......i'll play hayasdan on vh and see what all this interesting challenge is about

look forward to it