Eastern factions. Help me pick

[artavazd]

So that must be the true reason nobody likes and plays poor Ptolyes...
Not that I ever considered to play as them, and ever will.

Also Armenia

[mrtwisties]

As is evident from a lot of my posts, I've recently started playing with the Saka and am really enjoying it. It's a very different experience from almost any of the other civilisations that I've played, and I highly recommend it if you'd like to try something new.

For me, the biggest advantage is the Saka generals. Of course, they're great (virtually free) armoured cataphracts, and therefore very useful on the battlefield. But it's the traits and ancillaries that the Ksaya Saka Rauka get that are the real kicker for me. They get innate movement bonuses (like "lives on the move" and "horde chief"), they get even more movement bonuses when you move them around fighting a lot (like "rider" and "brutal"), and you start off with one drillmaster and two quartermasters that you can pass from general to general.

I have an all cavalry army led by a general that is a horde chief (+80%), good attacker (+10%), famous rider (+20%) and ruthless disciplinarian (+10%) with an understanding of logistics (+10%). He is also brutal (+10%) and enthusiastic (+5%), and is accompanied by a drillmaster (+25%) and quartermaster (+10%). To see this guy blitz his way from Seleukeia to Pella in just a few turns was truly a thing of beauty. Incidentally, his son looks like he might wind up being even faster.

When you have generals like these, it's possible to take a different, dare-I-say-it buccaneering attitude towards the game. No more methodical, Roman-like imperial expansion. You travel the world winning glory and looting the cities of sedentary agriculturalists. Feel like seeing the Pyramids? Then let's blaze our way through the Levant. Where next? The Caucasus? I've heard that England can be quite beautiful in summer...

You won't get much of a sense that you're recreating the Persian empire with these guys. Bringing the civilised world to its knees is more like it. But if you're after an exciting, bloody game where personalities loom large and every battle counts, look no further than the Saka.

[MerlinusCDXX]

As is evident from a lot of my posts, I've recently started playing with the Saka and am really enjoying it. It's a very different experience from almost any of the other civilisations that I've played, and I highly recommend it if you'd like to try something new.

For me, the biggest advantage is the Saka generals. Of course, they're great (virtually free) armoured cataphracts, and therefore very useful on the battlefield. But it's the traits and ancillaries that the Ksaya Saka Rauka get that are the real kicker for me. They get innate movement bonuses (like "lives on the move" and "horde chief"), they get even more movement bonuses when you move them around fighting a lot (like "rider" and "brutal"), and you start off with one drillmaster and two quartermasters that you can pass from general to general.

I have an all cavalry army led by a general that is a horde chief (+80%), good attacker (+10%), famous rider (+20%) and ruthless disciplinarian (+10%) with an understanding of logistics (+10%). He is also brutal (+10%) and enthusiastic (+5%), and is accompanied by a drillmaster (+25%) and quartermaster (+10%). To see this guy blitz his way from Seleukeia to Pella in just a few turns was truly a thing of beauty. Incidentally, his son looks like he might wind up being even faster.

When you have generals like these, it's possible to take a different, dare-I-say-it buccaneering attitude towards the game. No more methodical, Roman-like imperial expansion. You travel the world winning glory and looting the cities of sedentary agriculturalists. Feel like seeing the Pyramids? Then let's blaze our way through the Levant. Where next? The Caucasus? I've heard that England can be quite beautiful in summer...

You won't get much of a sense that you're recreating the Persian empire with these guys. Bringing the civilised world to its knees is more like it. But if you're after an exciting, bloody game where personalities loom large and every battle counts, look no further than the Saka.

yeah, with Saka it's more like kicking off the Mongol invasion 1500 years early.

[mrtwisties]

yeah, with Saka it's more like kicking off the Mongol invasion 1500 years early.

Absolutely. And until Genghis: Total War comes out, it'll do nicely.

[kambiz]

Mongols

[mrtwisties]

You're only saying that because they did awful things.

...

Which is a pretty good reason, I guess.