Parthia: A helping hand

[Horst Nordfink]

I have recently started a new Parthia game for my latest AAR, the first time I have ever played as a nomad faction. I have found it very interesting and somewhat different from the Hellenistic factions I usual play.

The thing is though, I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm not entirely sure whether I'm supposed to be building nomad or settled buildings, or what difference these buildings make.

Any advice on this faction would be most welcome!

[anubis88]

i don't know much about it but i did start a pahlava campaign so i can tell you what i've noticed. I almost always built settled comunities and buildings and found that i don't have dahae troops, and i also had more foot infantry than in my nomadic province of nisa. I also couldn't build walls when i had nomadism which was a real problem since Nisa got sacked twice by an army i didn't see.

I don't remember much alse though

[Horst Nordfink]

So settled provinces can't make Dahae troops but nomadic provinces can't build walls? Hmm.

Which governments are which when I conquor a new city? I can't figure out which level is which.

[Sarkiss]

So settled provinces can't make Dahae troops but nomadic provinces can't build walls? Hmm.

Which governments are which when I conquor a new city? I can't figure out which level is which.

cant help much, havent played them since 1.0 came out. i assume you did see Parthian building tree?
https://www.europabarbarorum.com/downloads_guides.html

[Horst Nordfink]

I didn't even know that page existed!! This may prove useful in future! Cheers!

[burn_again]

Have a look at the Pahlava gouvernment map in this thread: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=88708

I'd recommend to build pastoralism in all provinces that can later be upgraded to reformed pastoralism. It takes a really long time but it's worth it. I would build nomadism in Antiocheia-Margiane and the 2 northern baktrian provinces, they will already have walls so that shouldn't be a problem.

As Pahlava my armies consist almost only of Parthian Horse Archers. They are cheaper than Dahae and also available with pastoralism. They are you're weakest horse archers, but if you spam them they can beat almost anything.

[Seluceus]

Use settled communties and more importantly reformed pastoralism in almost all captured AS provinces because when you fight AS you need to find the right balance between horse archers and phalanx. Their armour is way to strong to just shoot up and the phalanxs can pin them in position so you can get behind and fire. But if its Pandopodai then fire away!

[struckat]

So I am in the year 220 BC and have built reformed pastoralism in several cities along with advanced settlement, what else do I need to do to start building barracks?

Sadly I am too stupid to understand the building tree PDF.

[fatsweets]

Playing Sauromatae for my first 1.0 campaign I learned quite a bit about nomadic governments. Nomadic governments are for those who love cavalry fighting and the nomadic way. I am an infantry commander at heart, that is the way I like to play RTW, so it was very difficult for me to adjust to a cavalry commander. But I learned that Pastoralism is the way to go unless you love cavalry and that is the way you love to fight battles. Pastoralism gives you more infantry and defensive walls, which I find necesary to defend your provinces and eventually win your campaign. So I suggest you pick pastoralism, unless cavalry is your way of fighting.

[Horst Nordfink]

I've been struggling getting used to fighting with Horse Archers. It's a lot different from my usual Phalanx based fighting tactics, but I'm enjoying it a lot. I just wish that AS and Baktria would leave me the hell alone for 5 minutes. I have to fight at least one battle every turn.

[clench]

Hey guys, I did quite a bit of playing in a Parthian campaign lately.. my campaign is now somewhere around 200BC and I've taken out Seleukia and Armenia completely. I have all the land from the starting provinces to Jerusalem, Bostra, and Tarsus being the further reaches. While I do agree with the majory, always build advanced settlement and reformed pastorlism, a nomad settlement or two can really help save time with retraining. I find that a smaller, more well rounded cavalry force performs better than a larger single unit type (standard ha spam). Im allied with Baktria and at war with Ptolomai and Pontos. Sarmatian and Saka are fighting over the Steppes with Baktria and Pontos has Anatolia locked down. Rome has some of the worst expansion I've ever seen, barely making their way out of Italy into Illyria and Carthage is dominating Iberia and North Africa + islands.

The starting force you get is basically what I used the entire game, their experience and well being key to the early game. Also, send all of your spies to the same city at the same city and try to get some of the Seleukid cities near you to rebel so you can take them without breaking the alliance. My army generally consisted of 3-4 family members, the early generals are supremely flexible and the late generals are probably they strongest heavy cav in the game, about 4 light ha and 4 medium ha (Dahae or Medium Parth Nobles), and 2 cataphract archers. With this force and the proper tactics you can make waste to Seleukid stacks and with the right mix of spys and a combo of nomad and advanced settlements you can do it non-stop to retrain before battles.

In battle, you want to run your generals around the enemy to grab their attention and pelt them non stop in the flanks till your archers run out of arrows. Usually at this point I'd retreat my light archers, unless I really needed the extra punch, and start charging the flanks with your medium, heavy, and general cavalry. After taking all the arrows, the units tend to rout quickly, especially if you end up isolating and killing their general first. Use your general cavalry to take the brunt of any charges as they retrain automatically and charge your more expensive calavry only at the best possible time and try not engage in melee for long. A massed charged from multiple sides will send even the Seleukid silver shields running. Before long Seleukid stacks will become more of a chore than a challenge, especially when your main force has silver and gold experience levels. The key to defeating the Seleukids is to blitz them when you declare war on them and try to take as many cities without pissing them off through rebellions. Never stop attacking and use your pure cavalry army's mobility to your advantage. Don't be afraid to retreat from battle to save your cavalry, somtimes unloading your arrows then retreating is the best tactics for dealing with large, phalanx heavy stacks. Hope this helps.

[pezhetairoi]

It certainly feels strange to me to be building pastoralism all over the place as a nomadic faction. I rely on retraining depots, so why are people advocating pastoralism? Wouldn't that dry up your supply of HA? I've never really played a nomadic faction for more than 10 turns (the revulsion at having to switch from my usual balanced-army tactics was a little too much to bear, though it's up from 3 turns' tolerance in the past) so I don't really get the practical reasons why. Can someone help?

[burn_again]

I rely on retraining depots, so why are people advocating pastoralism? Wouldn't that dry up your supply of HA?

Well, as Pahlava you'll get most of your HA troops also with pastoralism plus you can later upgrade your settlements in seleucid territory, so pastoralism makes much more sense in all provinces that can be upgraded.

[struckat]

Yes you can still train the horses in most with pastoralism. There is a certain point where you can build a factional MIC. I have been looking forward to Persian Hoplites and Babylonian spears. So far no MICs have shown up, does anyone know what you need to buildto get them?