What faction to play as?

[PershsNhpios]

I suggest the Getai, I find them very easy to play with.
Their troop selection is quite vast due to the amount of auxiliaries available.
As for myself, I decided to forsake the victory conditions, (So as not to become embarrassed in a war against the Republic), and conquer the black sea.
So far, I have from Tanais counterclockwise to Byzantium, I own from the countries of the Bastarnae south to Demetrias.
All of the Hellenes and the Makedonians, 'dance to my tune', and I have found this goal very gratifying, as it has led me into war and diplomatic situations with many different factions.
Currently I am, by navy, landing and bypassing Kotais with a large army, and attacking Armavir.. in order to keep clear of the Seleukids until Parthia grows strong enough.

My method of attack with the Getic Kingdom and it's allies is usually thus;
I have one general with the cavalry, (Consisting of many Skythian archer allies and, now that I am richer, some of my own Tarabostes in support.), ride against the enemy army or town.
The horse archers will attack and kill well over a third of the army, without losing any themselves, the Tarabostes reinforce this.
If they attack a town, I make sure it will sally upon me, so that the destruction can be as fulfilling.

Then my regiment battalion usually consists of 1-2 Heavy Getic Phalanxes, 2-4 Light Phalanxes, 2-3 Skythian Axemen/Classical Hoplites/Drapanai/Bastarnae, and 3 Bosphoran Archer allies.
The latter being now my most favoured unit, thanks to their superb ability in flanking also.
A major defeat has only occurred as I was conquering the Crimea, and I came without cavalry against the large army of Bosphoritai.
The arrows rained so thickly I peered through them to see my ranks!

Here is my recommendation of the Getai then, once I have control of the Black Sea, I intend to launch a heavily guarded scientific expedition in order that my more educated Getic citizens can study the Great Pyramids.
Once I have acquainted myself with the locals in Alexandria, the goal for me faction is to have African Elephants serving in the army in Kilikia!

[Markus_Aurelius]

So far I am enjoying the Saba very much. But i can see alot of trouble brewing in my future. I managed to take the 4 settlements around the coast pretty early on, making full use of my Archer spearmen, damn good soldiers. Im building mines as was the advice of the "How to play Saba effectively thread" and im rdoing pretty good, very fun, hard to stop playing. I notice all my troops have very very low defence ratings and am wondering if anybody has any advice on how i should go about beating the Yellow and Gray deaths? Im thinking i should try and get some phalanx's of my own, if thats even possible, are pantodipoi or whatever phalanxs recruitable by the saba? or am i f***ed haha

[NeoSpartan]

Im thinking i should try and get some phalanx's of my own, if thats even possible, are pantodipoi or whatever phalanxs recruitable by the saba? or am i f***ed haha

Mercenaries although now they are pretty expensive to buy so u better take good care of them.

[Imperial Fist]

Try every faction u want, all r interesting, but dont try the romans. U just get ordinary units at the beginning, especially a crap of cavalry(except eqvites extraordinari). Compared to the "almighty greeks" your core army is bunch of amateurs. Then ull get some nice reformes if u manage to activate them. Past-reform units(i mean the marian and the augustan) are a bit better, but only a bit.

[Pezlu]

Actually I'm playing with the romani and their units don't seem that bad... if used properly of course. I'm in Polybian times now, but I'm still using the camillan units that where still around when the reform happened. Effectively.

Maybe they are not as powerful as the elite units of other factions, but Roman's elite units are pedites/equites extraordinarii after all... and before Marian times you have to rely a lot on locals, since you can have romans only in italy; so you can get some good troops here and there (ok, not many; but still there are Neitos and Brihentin only a few provinces north...).

About roman's cavalry: equites romani suck, i agree, but the roman army is mainly based on heavy melee infantry and that makes a good work.

[Imperial Fist]

Actually I'm playing with the romani and their units don't seem that bad... if used properly of course. I'm in Polybian times now, but I'm still using the camillan units that where still around when the reform happened. Effectively.

Maybe they are not as powerful as the elite units of other factions, but Roman's elite units are pedites/equites extraordinarii after all... and before Marian times you have to rely a lot on locals, since you can have romans only in italy; so you can get some good troops here and there (ok, not many; but still there are Neitos and Brihentin only a few provinces north...).

About roman's cavalry: equites romani suck, i agree, but the roman army is mainly based on heavy melee infantry and that makes a good work.

I am or better was playing romani until today. As a romani fan i should like them, but unfortunatly i dont.
I have given up playing because i just got pissed off by 2 facts:
1. and most annoying: the reform conditions for the romani.
Ok polybian reforms r eazy to get, but when it comes to marian reforms the porbs begin. I have 5 plebs on the whole map and only 2 of em r sharp/char/vig.
Only 1 guy has everything u need to iniciate the reforms and the the thing with 45 provinces is also done. What happenes? Nothing for about 4 years nothing( and i was already in 159bc). To conquer 90 provinces is just nonesense! I dont wanna fight in asia minor and send reinforcements from italy(what takes u 1 whole year fromt taras harbor) or just use mercs or regional auxillia.

2. I just cant emagine how the hell some light troops like orindary iberi caetraii(or compareable) r able to cut princepes xp 3 bronze chevrons into pieces. I know they use ap weapons, but what has that to do with balance?

Ill try to play as romani again, but in 2 or 3 weeks or so.

[Pezlu]

I am or better was playing romani until today. As a romani fan i should like them, but unfortunatly i dont.
I have given up playing because i just got pissed off by 2 facts:
1. and most annoying: the reform conditions for the romani.
Ok polybian reforms r eazy to get, but when it comes to marian reforms the porbs begin. I have 5 plebs on the whole map and only 2 of em r sharp/char/vig.
Only 1 guy has everything u need to iniciate the reforms and the the thing with 45 provinces is also done. What happenes? Nothing for about 4 years nothing( and i was already in 159bc). To conquer 90 provinces is just nonesense! I dont wanna fight in asia minor and send reinforcements from italy(what takes u 1 whole year fromt taras harbor) or just use mercs or regional auxillia.

2. I just cant emagine how the hell some light troops like orindary iberi caetraii(or compareable) r able to cut princepes xp 3 bronze chevrons into pieces. I know they use ap weapons, but what has that to do with balance?

Ill try to play as romani again, but in 2 or 3 weeks or so.

I don't have many problems with principes... Yeah, they are not the best heavy infantry around, but they do their job fairly well...

I saw the requirements for the marian reform and I agree, you need A LOT of luck to get them. Unless you know exactly what affects the assignment of the necessary traits, like becoming consul, and have time (and will) to work on the few generals that could become "Marius". I have seen a few other posts with people who had some difficulty getting the reform so it's probably not just an impression... it is really that difficult.

I'll see...

[beatoangelico]

2. I just cant emagine how the hell some light troops like orindary iberi caetraii(or compareable) r able to cut princepes xp 3 bronze chevrons into pieces. I know they use ap weapons, but what has that to do with balance?

roman infantry is not meant to beat everything on 1vs1, it's a reliable, cheap, all-round infantry that excells at stabilizing the front, allowing multiple flanking actions

[konny]

I agree that the Roman Reforms are a bit hard to get, in particular compared to the easy way the other factions get their Reforms. I would strongly recommend to alter the conditions by hand when playing them (for example, I had tied them to the number of provinces owned only, according to about the number of lands the Romans historicaly held when reforming their army).

2. I just cant emagine how the hell some light troops like orindary iberi caetraii(or compareable) r able to cut princepes xp 3 bronze chevrons into pieces. I know they use ap weapons, but what has that to do with balance?

The Roman units are not bad at all.

The Camillan Hastati are cheaper and, due to their AP-Pila, better than the Pletastai (would be the Greek equivalent to them). The Camillan Principes are not of the best units, certainly.Their underhand spears and loose formations forbids to use them against Hoplites and Phalanxes and makes them inferior to swordfighters. They are best used against Celtic spearmen or other underhand spearfighters, and of course cavalry. The Camillan Triarii are amongst the best Hoplites in the game. They are much better than Haploi and Classicals (or the Karthagian equivalent) and do outnumber elite Hoplites, which can anyways only be recruited by KH.

Of the Polybian units, the Principes are certainly the best; forerunners of the later Reformed Cohorts. Provided you don't let them fight against serious odds, they should be able to fight everything down. That is save for heavy cavalry, for that your best unit in Polybian times are the Triarii.

In elite the Romans can muster the allready mentioned Extraordinarii and, in the early game, the Samnitici Milites. Both are able to force their way through every foe, even phalanx when taking heavy casualties into account. I use them very much in assaults on towns. In street fights 1on1 they can take the full advantage of their heavy armour, AP swords, dense formation and large shields.


Cavalry is the downside of the Roman army; but that's ok. The Romans do not field a Hellenistic Successor army and they are not the only one lacking decent horsemen (ever played the Sweboz!).


Now to your particular problem: Iberi Caetrarii are amongst the best units in the game. They look like nothing but 200 men, not to bad armoured with AP swords can make mincemeat out of most units. When playing Karthago one should always have at least two of them in the line up. Let them loose on the flanks of the Ptolemaic phalanxes and you'll see all those shining Agema melt away like snow in the desert. From my Romani and Karthagian campaigns I have learned to respect them as much as Gaesatae and would only attack them with superior numbers and supported by cavalry.