Page 2 of 9 FirstFirst 123456 ... LastLast
Results 31 to 60 of 251

Thread: Parthia

  1. #31
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    Just skirmishing. Leaving the "skirmishing" and "fire at will" buttons on. I'll clarify the post.
    Last edited by Doug-Thompson; 10-28-2004 at 22:35.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  2. #32
    Member Member todorp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    au
    Posts
    175

    Default Re: Parthia

    I just did a Parthian campaign H/H. It was a great fun until I captured 10 cities and then it become very easy. This means I was very poor and had a very hard time before I got 10 captured.

    My strategy:
    1. I focused on making money. I made 3 diplomats and send them to sign trade treaties and sell maps to every fraction. One went north around the black sea to Europe, one west into Asia Minor (Turkey) and one South West. The maps sell for around $6,000-$7000. This income kept me going, until I captured a port city.
    2. I captured 3 rebel provinces next to Parthian: Dumatha, Palmira and Phraaspa.
    3. Now the fun/bad luck started J, Egypt allied with Selucia ?!?!?, attacked and took Palmyra from me.
    4. I pumped only Horse Archers HA.
    5. For many long turns I was on the defence, barely hanging on. Each year I defeated one full Egyptian stack in the Arabian deserts. My general become 10 star general in the process. I need to give good marks for the Egyptian AI. The first armies were mass infantry with a chariot general. After being annihilated by my HAs, the next Egyptian armies were mass of cavalry, chariots and archers. I was poor and couldn’t replace high loses. Thanks to my super 10 general and the 3 silver chevron HAs I managed to win.
    6. Quietly after 30 turns managed to build a second much smaller army, then attacked and sucked Babylon, extracted nice $10,000. The Selucian armies are 90% phalanx and build my experience. Then the wheels started rolling. Conquered Hastra (Assyria) and finally Antioch (Syria).
    7. After the suck of Tarsus (Cilicia) I could build at last PA (Persian Archers) and a 3rd small army to block the mountain pass north west of Tarsus. My second already very experienced army wheeled south and hit the Egypt along the sea: Sidon, Damascus, Palmyra and Jerusalem. My fist army moved east and sucked Bostra.
    8. Egypt still managed to produce 2 or 3 full stack armies and then went out of steam. My Arabian army finished off Egypt and captured Petra, Alexandria, Memphis, Thebes, Siva and Cyrene. Salamis on Cyprus remained Egyptian. On the east I bordered the Roman Scipio fraction.
    9. My Babylonian army turned back and finished off Selucia: Sardis and Halicarnassus. I started building a full stack navy.
    10. Greeks attacked me, I give poor marks for the AI on this one. Greeks were in war whit all the Roman fractions, Pontus and Macedonia. Their massed phalanxes were slaughtered quickly by my PAs.
    11. At 232BC I had $200,000 in the treasury and making $5,000 per turn after the expenses. The rest of the game was trivial. I could build what ever I want, catafracts and war elephants, but I didn’t. I kept on building PAs.

    Last edited by todorp; 10-30-2004 at 01:33.

  3. #33

    Default Re: Parthia

    @ GodsPetMonkey,

    could you tell me where you got hold of the eastern heavy infantry, and catapract aracher mods from? I have looked every where and i just cant find them anywhere. thanks.

  4. #34
    Clan Takiyama Senior Member R'as al Ghul's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    ignores routers who aren't elite
    Posts
    2,554

    Default Re: Parthia

    Parthia rules!
    I'm currently playing Parthia on VH/VH. And it is very hard.
    I played four or five other factions before and this is yet the most challenging. You face more problems than you can solve. Limited unit roster, bad income, strong neighbours. The only advantage is that your eastern borders are safe, no Mongols approaching for the next 1500 years or so.
    To improve the income I figured I had to conquer pretty fast. From a Seleucid campaign I knew that the region between Antiochia and Sidon is quite rich, including Damaskus and Palmyra. Another way of getting cash is to send out diplomats and sell map info and trade rights. See if you can get 10k from your neighbours and about 20k from factions further away like Greece, Macedon or Brutii. This is pretty much your only income for the first 20 turns, so you have to negotiate the best deals for you.
    With a spy from Susa I pretty early found Seleucia to be empty of troops and started a war on the Seleucids by taking it. The plan was to conquer the Seleucids fast and keep peace with everyone else for the time being. Seleucia's population was enslaved to make my own cities grow and keep unrest low.
    My low number of forces were split between North and South. From Campus Alanni I transported 2 units of HA down to the capitol to strenghten those troops which later marched on Armenia. My second army was collected together from the 2 southern cities. Both armies consisted mainly of HA +the 2 Cataphracts and the Generals that you begin with.
    With Seleucia conquered, income is still pretty low and I had to conquer on. Armenia attacked me, so I wiped them out in a couple of turns. Problem was his HA which are, due to the VH level, better than mine. As if he knew it, he charged them right at me. You have to double-team them or charge your general at them. Once reduced to foot troops the AI will easily break to your arrow-fire. To avoid any siege situations I used a spy to open the gates. Worked every time for me.
    With Armenia gone, Pontus was now my neighbour. During my war with the Seleucids, Pontus allied with them as well as Egypt. The Scyths remained calm after I took Campus ? from them and negotiated a ceasefire. Pretty much surrounded by Pontus, Seleucia and Egypt, I managed to get alliances with Dacia and Thracia which are both battling Pontus now. Mainly on sea.
    The Egyptian and Seleucid invasion armies are early discovered by watch towers and easily defeated by HA-only armies in the desert. As Doug already said, the number of battles in one turn can easily add up to 5-6. Yesterday I accidentally pressed "end turn" instead of "diplomacy" and *zapp* 3 cities are besieged by forces I intended to fight in the open desert. Damn.
    When Susa grew due to enslavement I was finally able to upgrade to Persian Cavalry which is more expensive but has also better stats than HA. It is easier now to defeat the ever approaching egyptians. I don't know where they breed those huge armies.
    Another problem is the lack of family members. Don't know what to do about it, but my three oldest are in their sixties, one is about 50 and two others are around 25. Few of them have management skills but all of them have or had the name-suffix "The Horseman" (translated from German). Governing skills being low and the low number of family members leads to little income. Guess I have to conquer on. There will be no leaning back until either Seleucia or egypt is all mine.
    Tips: Use spys and Watchtowers to control your realm. Use diplomats to bribe those small stacks of rebels. You cannot afford to waste MPoints of your armies and they cost only between 500 and 1000 denari.
    Use diplomats to get money from other factions. This was my only chance to tech up my cities. Switch to PersianCavalry as soon as possible. Use extermination when short of money. Expand your family whenever possible (bribing?) Have Fun.

    R'as

    Singleplayer: Download beta_8
    Multiplayer: Download beta_5.All.in.1
    I'll build a mountain of corpses - Ogami Itto, Lone Wolf & Cub
    Sometimes standing up for your friends means killing a whole lot of people - Sin City, by Frank Miller

  5. #35
    For TosaInu and the Org Senior Member The_Emperor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain
    Posts
    4,354

    Default Re: Parthia

    My god those Egyptians are annoying!!

    In my campaign i realsied what everyone means by the Parthians being hard financially... I found myself scraping every last florin from their lands and regularly selling maps just to stay afloat!

    Ok here's my advice.

    1) Always take out Armenia. I didn't in my first game and it cost me bad when Egypt turned up on my doorstep and Armenia decided to have some fun and invade during the chaos.

    2) After you conquer Armenia move on the Selucids and try to reach Antioch (its a good province), then try and ally with Pontus. This will secure your northern border for the main event.

    3) War with Egypt is inevitable. I tried my hardest to stall it but the moment my spies spotted two large armies heading for Selucia I then realised I had no choice but to fight them...

    So right now while they are heading for Selucia and I am mustering a Horse archer army in defence we will block the river crossing first. Meanwhile I have sent an army to drive south through Sidon and Jerusalem.

    The problem is those Egyptians are as numerous as the desert sands!! I saw another full stack near Sidon! Looks like this is going to be one major war...

    They certainly should be less rich.
    Last edited by The_Emperor; 11-05-2004 at 00:34.
    "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."

  6. #36
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by The_Emperor
    My god those Egyptians are annoying!!
    Or, as I ususally refer to them @#$% Egyptians.

    The first time I ever built elephants was when I had the @#$% Pharoh trapped. I already had more than enough troops to win, but I wanted to see him stomped by a monster, then bury him in the dung. I hired some merc elephants, too.

    =======

    The Parthians can relieve their major money crunch by sacking a major town.

    Easier said than done. Parthia is not exactly known for their outstanding early-game siege. Still, I've sacked Jerusalem before and deleted lots of buildings there. The Egyptians revolted and got a full stack, but it was all gold-chevron peasants. Without any military buildings, that's all the town could make. Having 2,000+ peasants (large size) doesn't do the Egyptians much good. They cost more than 200,000 denari a turn just to maintain and die like flies to HA. I could have wiped them out, but decided against it.

    Another time, I simply besieged the Jerusalem and watched it go rebel.

    ==========

    The one disadvantage of pushing all the way to Antioch is, Egypt will attack Parthia and the Seleucids, too. It's nice to have somebody else to share the misery.

    ==========

    Parthian life is good after the @#$% Egyptians are dead.

    They are richer than the Egyptians used to be. They have HA/Persian Cav, cataphracts and elephants. What's left of the Seleucids and Pontus don't give much trouble while they are being wiped out of Asia Minor.

    There are excellent mercenaries in the former Greek/Seleucid provinces of Asia Minor. These include Cretean archers, hoplites, Thracian mercs, Bastarcian (sp?) mercs -- so much for not having any good infantry. There's plenty of money to pay for them, too.

    Way up north, there's a seeming endless supply of merc Sythcian HA -- as if you need more of those. In the south, there's camel cataphracts.

    My Parthian campaign would be over by now if I'd just push on through Greece, but I want to practice city management, diplomacy and "covert operations" instead. I'm enjoying the longest period of peace I've ever had in R:TW. I completed the conquest of Asia Minor (except Rhodes) by bribing a Greek province there for about $35,000. This avoided war with Greece. The province revolted, and I just bribed it again for another $35,000, and still have $300,000 in the bank. I can't spend the money fast enough. Every city that can build anything is building.

    Bordering factions are: Numidia, which is no threat and at war with the Romans; Greece, which doesn't have much of an army left thanks to my bribes and is at war with the Romans; and Scythia, which is a rump of what it used to be after I bribed away much of their military strength and one of their provinces, and is at war with my allies, the Dacians.

    My faction leader is an Egyptian who was bribed decades ago.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  7. #37
    For TosaInu and the Org Senior Member The_Emperor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain
    Posts
    4,354

    Default Re: Parthia

    Well I pushed to Antioch because it is a well developed city, with a strong income. It was either that or move against Pontus.

    At any rate I was already at war with the Selucids, but they allied with Egypt (just like they did in my previous game). it was much betetr for me to actually gain some lands and an income so i could fight a war with the Egyptians.

    You can't parr them off.
    "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."

  8. #38
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by The_Emperor
    You can't parr them off.
    That's not true, Emperor.

    In my very first campaign as the Parthians (H/H) I got into a war with the Seleucids, taking two provinces from them and giving them some very costly, very early tactical defeats. Then I was attacked by Egypt and was at war with both, and they allied themselves too.

    Then Egypt backstabbed the Seleucids. At first the Seleucids wouldn't accept a ceasefire. I ignored that and acted as if we were allies anyway. I fought Egyptians even when they were on Seleucid territory. I ignored Seleucid armies, which already had their hands full in fighting Egypt.

    After a few years the Seleucid treasury was severely bare. They accepted an offer of a cease fire and trade agreement.

    Then, when I defeated an Eqyptian army that was beseiging the Seleucid town of Damascus, my offer of an alliance was finally accepted. It lasted for many years, long enough for me to capture all Egyptian provinces in the Near East and get into Egypt proper. By that time, a Seleucid stab in the back was too late.
    Last edited by Doug-Thompson; 11-05-2004 at 23:38.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  9. #39
    For TosaInu and the Org Senior Member The_Emperor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain
    Posts
    4,354

    Default Re: Parthia

    Well to each his own.

    For my part I plan on taking all of Egypt for myself... it is just too rich for its own good. Anyways I managed to take Alexandria, Memphis jerusalem and Sidon.

    Now All Egypt has is Thebes and two other towns (Petra and the other one nearby)... They are so dead meat!!

    I won a heroic victory against them with my HA's, I had around 600 men and they faced off against me with 1,500! Their cav died fast and then the Infantry just chased my guys around in a very futile effort!!

    Man I love the new Horse Archer warfare!!
    "Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."

  10. #40
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by The_Emperor
    I won a heroic victory against them with my HA's, I had around 600 men and they faced off against me with 1,500! Their cav died fast and then the Infantry just chased my guys around in a very futile effort!!

    Man I love the new Horse Archer warfare!!

    Now there's something we agree on totally.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  11. #41
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    I normally don't like discussing "favorite" armies, but have found that I'm following a pattern with Parthian armies.

    I'll start out with HA and the starting cataphracts, plus some mercenary camels and cavalry. As I add Persian Cavalry, I'll keep the HA, many of whom are veterans now.

    I'll put one or two HA on each end of a long line. I'll put Persian Cavalry on the inside of those. Then I'll put the remaining HA in the middle. Those HA in the center are backed up by lines of my melee cavalry. If there's more melee cavalry to spare, I'll put some out behind the Persian cavalry.

    The missile cavalry are spread out as far as possible, put in squares with space between them. If I can give the missile cavalry a height advantage by using a shorter line, I will, but that sort of thing is a matter of judgement.

    Deployment's over and the battle starts: The HA on the ends race to get past and behind the enemy. The rest of the front line engages with missiles while the melee cav hangs close, but behind the fighting.

    If the enemy charges the middle, they are surrounded by missile cav and facing my best melee cav. If he charges the Persian cavalry, he risks getting flank-charged by the melee cav in the middle. If he attacks the very ends, he can't catch the HA and risks getting flank-charged by the Persian cavalry and any extra melee cav.

    The goal is to put the enemy in a "bag" of missile cavalry, all of whom are firing. This is possible even when the Parthians are heavily outnumbered because the HA don't have to maintain a continuous line. In fact, a continuous line is just about the worst thing the Parthians can do. Instead, they have some squares that are as far apart as they can be while still supporting their neighbors, shooting all the time.

    The biggest danger has already been described on other threads: The AI sends a melee unit after each of your units. These charges happen a lot more on the harder tactical difficulty levels, when the AI thinks it's Conan.

    The best answer to that is to micro the HA that are most threatened, although the details of that are still new. Somebody needs to break free, get in the middle, and start shooting some enemy unit in the back. Once one part of the enemy's "circle" is broken, the whole formation will begin to collapse.

    ===========

    On campaign on the strategic map, I like to go ahead and besiege a heavily defended town with an all-cavalry army and start building sapping points (assuming that a spy hasn't opened the gates and that those open gates don't have boiling oil.)

    If I can hire mercenary infantry the next turn that can sap, I'll do that. If not, I'll march up some infantry. Slingers, by the way, are somewhat faster than other infantry, and they can sap.

    All that's needed from there is one sap that is somewhere near a decent, wide street leading to the central plaza.
    Last edited by Doug-Thompson; 11-10-2004 at 19:37.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  12. #42
    Clan Takiyama Senior Member R'as al Ghul's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    ignores routers who aren't elite
    Posts
    2,554

    Default Re: Parthia

    I had to give up my first Parthian campaign. It just wasn't possible to defend Hatra and Kotais every year. Palmyra was Egyptian, Damaskus and Antioch were Seleucid and they kept attacking me in Hatra. Pontus, supported by the Seleucids, attacked Kotais frequently. I just didn't make eneough money at a certain point and my diplomats had either died or were bribed. No way of trading maps, retraining armies. You only can win so much battles when outnumbered, without retraining.
    Inspired by Maltz' stories, I started over again.
    I'll spare you the long story and just give you two tips.
    I figured that to conquer quickly I needed more units than I had at Susa and Artaxarta (your capitol). I moved my general and the HA out of Campus Sakae and built a diplomat there. After two turns this diplomat met the Skythians and sold Campus Sakae to them. By this time my campus sakae army was already onboard the single ship you start with and on it's way to the capitol. It's important that Campus Sakae is empty when you want to sell it. Try to get a multi-round tribute from them. Next turn Campus Sakae revolted with 5 units East-Inf and 12 units of gold chevron peasants. I didn't expect this but was happy to have a little inf. garrison. The EastInf was shipped, the peasants disbanded because their upkeep is too expensive, Campus Sakae was sold again. To make it short, it happened two more times. After this northern army from Campus Sakae joined the middle army of Artaxarta, which had in the meantime taken the rebel town to the west, they moved against the Armenians.
    I remember that Campus Sakae was particulary troublesome during my other campaign, as it is so far from anything, doesn't make enough money etc. I guess it was a good idea to get rid off it at the beginning but you may consider to do it only once to increase your forces by a loyalist rebellion.

    My second tip considers the south. It's very easy and a good idea to take Seleucia in the second turn. But after that, try to take Palmyra as fast as possible before anyone else can. This has the effect that 1. Seleucia won't be attacked and 2. Palmyra is quite a comfortable base for a Cav-army. You can reach Damaskus and the bridge to Hatra in one turn. Antiochia, Hatra, Sidon and Jerusalem need only two turns. Reinforcements from Seleucia take three turns to reach Palmyra. And, it's a good territory to hire Bedouin Warriors.
    From this base I try to conquer the 5 surrounding cities. So far I took Damaskus and destroyed almost all military opposition. Jerusalem has 2 units, Sidon 2, Antiochia has 4 and 6 in a fort while a full stack of Hoplites roams around Hatra. It helps to have at least 2 spies around Palmyra.
    I think that once I've take Jerusalem and Antiochia, there won't be much left of the opposition.

    R'as

    Singleplayer: Download beta_8
    Multiplayer: Download beta_5.All.in.1
    I'll build a mountain of corpses - Ogami Itto, Lone Wolf & Cub
    Sometimes standing up for your friends means killing a whole lot of people - Sin City, by Frank Miller

  13. #43
    Member Member lismore's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    109

    Default Re: Parthia

    Thanks that was a really interesting guide.

    For my Parthia campaign I modded in some Judean Zealots. They look the same as Numidian desert warriors but they give the persians more options for foot troops!
    WE WILL RIDE INTO ROME!

  14. #44

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by FEMTO
    @ GodsPetMonkey,

    could you tell me where you got hold of the eastern heavy infantry, and catapract aracher mods from? I have looked every where and i just cant find them anywhere. thanks.
    I could not also find them anywhere or have you had it edit?

  15. #45
    Altogether quite not there! Member GodsPetMonkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    839

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Smart
    I could not also find them anywhere or have you had it edit?
    You have to edit some files to get them in game, export_descr_unit.txt and export_descr_buildings.txt to be precise.

    Check my signature for a link to my unit and building editors. I should make a guide to demonstrate how its done really, its quite popular for the non-modders to just want to allow units to be trained by more factions, and its a dead simple process too.
    Caligula and Hadrian - Unit and Building editors for Rome: Total War.
    Now editing -
    export_descr_unit.txt, export_descr_unit_enums.txt, export_units.txt, descr_model_battle.txt
    export_descr_buildings.txt, export_descr_buildings_enums.txt, export_buildings.txt

  16. #46

    Default Re: Parthia

    How in the blue hell is Parthia supposed to counter those freaky Elephants?? They have absolutely no good infantry (easterners would just die on contact), no javelin throwers (besides ur general). Other than using ur own elephants against them, or running around them trying to confuse them, does anyone have any tips?
    Why cant we just get along???

  17. #47
    Clan Takiyama Senior Member R'as al Ghul's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    ignores routers who aren't elite
    Posts
    2,554

    Default Re: Parthia

    You need to read the How to use Horse Archers-Thread.
    In this thread we collected all our knowledge about Parthias prime unit. Elephants are of course difficult to fight. Your only chance is to seperate them from the main body of the army. Sometimes you can make them chase one unit of your HA round around the battlefield until they're tired and break. Slingers or Peltasts work also to lure them away. Concentrated fire from four sides is a thing that makes Elephants nervous pretty fast, same with chariots.
    When they run amok, they can be killed by Cav charging in their rear. Be careful, though.
    Hope this helps.

    R'as

    Singleplayer: Download beta_8
    Multiplayer: Download beta_5.All.in.1
    I'll build a mountain of corpses - Ogami Itto, Lone Wolf & Cub
    Sometimes standing up for your friends means killing a whole lot of people - Sin City, by Frank Miller

  18. #48

    Default Re: Parthia

    Heh, you guys won't believe what I did. I spend a few turns of the game building up a small force, using what I had to conquer some surrounding territories, especially Babylon. This is done to first get out of debt and accumulate some excess wealth, and maintain a slightly larger army.

    I then, consolidated all of my armies save for a couple peasants/eastern infantry, and moved them west from Babylon to the coast, conquering cities as I went by making sure I had a infantry type unit or two to use battering rams to make access into the city, killing everybody and demolishing every available structure within to not only set my enemies back, but give me a large surplus cash store for the voyage ahead. Once I reached the shore, I built a single boat, and decided to let luck be my guide, on the very perilous journey from the Middle East, to spain where I landed and started making a home for myself.

    All while I was sailing, I was demolishing the previous buildings in my home provinces, and they eventually succumed to rebels and my Armenian neighbors who were previously allies. This actually gave the Armenians a GREAT headstart it seemed, that they never used to get before, and hopefully they are one of the enemies I might have to face in the end game. It also let me avoid confrontations with egypt, and focus my energies on demolishing the Spanish, and barbarians of the west who were unaccustomed to my horse archers. Well, actually the only barbarian enemy I made, who seemed very bitter towards me afterwards were the Britons, and i've been in a bitter feud with them.

    My campaign is on Very hard for campiang, and moderate for battles, because I hated being so penalized and the enemies so bonused, as it was unrealistic. But, so far its proving to be a bit 'too' easy. I'm demolishing several thousand man armies and only losing a few men, usually to friendly fire, and my horse archers are gaining several golden chevrons.

    Its definately different, and it was very difficult to get to Spain to forge a new home for myself, but its proving to be very successful. Even on very hard campaign, spain is a VERY profitable region that is able to support large armies of horsemen, as long as you keep the intial number of enemies down.

    Anybody else tried something like this?

  19. #49
    Lord, Cartographer and Poet. Member King Azzole's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    404

    Default Re: Parthia

    I did the same thing playing as Numidia. Except I sold all my previous citys to Carthage so they could withstand the Scipii. This gave me enough cash to conquer spain ( I exchanged one of my citys and some map information for corduba with carthage to avoid war) and I eventually managed to conquer all spain AND maintain a solid alliance with Carthage, we even have military access to eachothers lands. Lots of fun to "relocate" a faction.
    Charge, repeat as necessary.

  20. #50

    Default Re: Parthia

    Doing what I did, is giving Armenia a fighting chance! I'm so happy at how far they've come. My old watchtowers in the area let me see quite a bit, but I decided to turn off fog of war for a second with a cheat just to see how vast the armenian empire was so far, and i'm quite happy about it. Looks like they're keeping egypt and Seleucia etc at bay. Excellent! Maybe they'll be one of the end game nations i'll have to fight.

    So far, from the looks of it, there's quite a few equally powerful nations in my game so far. But I already knew most of this as 3/4th of the map was revealed to me using numerous map information bribes. Unfortunately, they stopped selling it to me after a while. Heh.

    Oh yeah. I'm Parthia, the purple countries in the west. Opposite side of the map from my starting area =) Armenia are the teal looking guys.


  21. #51
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Re: Parthia

    Well, that's something new.

    All in all, I'd rather take Egypt because of my blind, searing hatred of the @#$% Eqyptians.

    However, I have to admit that the poor barbarian factions don't really stand a chance against well-managed HA, not if you hit them hard before they can obtain Chosen Archer Warbands.

    For sheer fun, though, nothing beats using a bunch of elephants against barbarians. The beasts are a mobile siege train. They're excellent missile archers, too.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  22. #52
    Member Member Piko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Belgium,Bredene
    Posts
    59

    Default Re: Parthia

    i am playing with parthia and i think horse archers are really bad.
    a.if an enem cavalry catches them theyre dead
    b.they can weaken an enemy unit but no way they are gonna finish him off
    and finally c.read a and b again i mean come on!
    anyway after some serious reconsideration i have found that when fighting phalanxes they are deadly but otherwise they s***

  23. #53
    Member Member Piko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Belgium,Bredene
    Posts
    59

    Default Re: Parthia

    okay in my campaign(i play medium/very hard) i've successfully defeated the armenians and started battling the egyptians and seleucids at the same time......HUGE mistake but after winning a heroic battle or 7 they both backed of with me in control of seleucia hatra and antioch too bad that the egyptians and the seleucids allied and retook antioch meanwhile i had destroyed the pontus to the west and scythians to the north (around 244 bc)
    after some more huge losses for egypt and the seleucids they could take tarsus but were stopped and had to retreat.
    my next problem was thrace they caused me much problems and a very costly campaign of 11 years.
    after a string of events i find myself battling a dacian empire with backup (for them) from the julli,fighting egypt in my heartlands and the brutii in greece with the backup of the great gaul empire and britons,can anyone give me advice on wich faction i should destroy first?im now in the year 200 bc.

  24. #54
    Altogether quite not there! Member GodsPetMonkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    839

    Default Re: Parthia

    Quote Originally Posted by shadowstar
    okay in my campaign(i play medium/very hard) i've successfully defeated the armenians and started battling the egyptians and seleucids at the same time......HUGE mistake but after winning a heroic battle or 7 they both backed of with me in control of seleucia hatra and antioch too bad that the egyptians and the seleucids allied and retook antioch meanwhile i had destroyed the pontus to the west and scythians to the north (around 244 bc)
    after some more huge losses for egypt and the seleucids they could take tarsus but were stopped and had to retreat.
    my next problem was thrace they caused me much problems and a very costly campaign of 11 years.
    after a string of events i find myself battling a dacian empire with backup (for them) from the julli,fighting egypt in my heartlands and the brutii in greece with the backup of the great gaul empire and britons,can anyone give me advice on wich faction i should destroy first?im now in the year 200 bc.
    In your case, I would sacrifice the frontiers for the sake of my homelands.

    I presume your fighting in Europe, with European holdings though.

    I would haul my armies back from costly distant campaigns, and try to solve you local problems first, besides, the middle east is very attractive cash wise, so there is no reason why you should favour Europe over it (unless you REALLY want a capital in the west).

    I'd keep one major army in the west though, but on a defensive role, if they are going to take your lands back, make sure they are hurting every step of the way.
    Caligula and Hadrian - Unit and Building editors for Rome: Total War.
    Now editing -
    export_descr_unit.txt, export_descr_unit_enums.txt, export_units.txt, descr_model_battle.txt
    export_descr_buildings.txt, export_descr_buildings_enums.txt, export_buildings.txt

  25. #55
    Member Member Piko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Belgium,Bredene
    Posts
    59

    Default Re: Parthia

    thanks dude it helped me i've now defeated the egyptians and taken the nile delta yay!ive lost my grip on greece but the brutii's forces were decimated along the way!

  26. #56
    Member Member Piko's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Belgium,Bredene
    Posts
    59

    Default Re: Parthia

    you say that europe doesn't give you many riches but athens my last Greecian city reeks in 6000 a season

  27. #57

    Default Re: Parthia

    This is my fifth Parthia VH/VH campaign and finally I've managed to annihilate the last Egyptian remnants which will give me control of all the east.

    My advice is that Parthia like Numidia is a Conquer or Die faction - your starting provinces are too poor and far apart and you have too many potential enemies to allow any strategy other than a mad rush to take as much territory as possible in the first moves.

    So you need to simultaneously attack Phraaspa, Campus Alanni and Seleucia and then immediately go onto to take Hatra and Artaxata as well.

    However even if the Seleucids and Armenians prove pushovers you can still come seriously unstuck when the Egyptians attack you - particularly if they take Antioch and Tarsus from the Seleucids before you reach them.

    The difference in campaign #5 was that I spent everything I could on trade buildings in the early moves and built diplomats rather than troops - these then allowed me to bribe over the Armenian and Brigand armies who while mostly crap eastern infantry and peasants were good enough to storm cities.

    Trade buildings also have the advantage that if you are under siege and are going to lose the city anyway you can destroy them and recoup at least some money, whereas all the farm upgrades you've made just enrich the conqueror.

    Other big difference in this campaign was that I delayed the inevitable Egyptian onslaught by building a chain of double forts (one on each bank) at all the Tigris river crossings as well as at the bridge over the Euphrates between Hatra and Antioch.

    As the AI seems scared of forts their armies just wandered aimlessly up and down the south side of the Tigris for a decade without attacking at all and gave me the time to finish off the Armenians and cripple the Seleucids and Pontus.

    When Egypt did attack, my economy was strong enough to bribe most of their armies and the ones I couldn't bribe were funneled across the one bridge over the Tigris at Seleucia which doesn't allow you to build a double fort - which made them a lot easier to deal with.

    Once I'd taken Antioch, Sidon and Palmyra their economy seemed to collapse and it was then a walkover taking Egypt proper - only problem I experienced at this stage was using war elephants against them, which are just sitting targets for their oversized units of bowmen firing flaming arrows and would run amok without even taking any casualties.

    The one area the move one rush strategy failed was against Scythia where the army sent from Campus Sakae was not strong enough to hold Campus Alanni agianst the Scythian armies that kept appearing - it's now 204 and I am retaking it for probably the seventh or eighth time.

    If you can't hold Campus Alanni you need to build forts in the Caucasus passes or you'll have Scythian raidng parties taking towns like Phraaspa.

    In the end this was actually a big help in that they took it twice and in both cases prompted an immediate gold peasant revolt allowing me to build a full stack of uber-peasant units which routed multiple smaller Egyptian armies and were perfect for storming cities (however this getting awfully close to taking advantage of a bug - should 2000 pop towns be able to raises 2000 men+ peasant armies with upgrades that are actually impossible with a Parthian tech tree twice within a couple of years?).

    Did try the 'sell Campus Sakae to the Scythians, watch it revolt and sell it over again' scam in an earlier campaign but at VH/VH this can totally screw your fragile starting economy - a few moves later I was 10,000 denarii in deficit and never really recovered.

    However it might work if you leave it a few moves until you have enough other cities to keep your economy afloat (you should check how much of your trade is coming from it before selling).

  28. #58

    Default Re: Parthia

    Heh. i tried the relocating tactic for Parthia. So far has backfired totally on me. I had rushed Seleucia, then rushed west, taking Palmyra, Damascus and Antioch, leaving them smouldering wreckages. Then i built a navy, and island hopped my sole army across to Salamis, to Rhodes then to Kydonia. THEN, i island hopped my way to Spain, since it seems such a good idea to get as far away as possible from those Egyptians.

    I swear those Egyptians are annoying... the only way i've been able to defeat them is to concentrate ALL my 10-16 units of horse archers into one position and then harass them like crazy from one side - eventually kills the chariots and the elephants off (stupid multi-hp stats). Unfortunately, on my push across the west, Egypt just took city after city, since i wasn't leaving anything more than a single unit to defend it. I had to rush Salamis as soon as i realised i was about to lose Antioch from a massive full stack Egyptian army with a LOT of chariots in it. For an army built for mobility, i.e. no infantry, that was really bad news.I'm just establishing myself in Spain right now. and see how well i do compared to my other short game with Parthia.

    With my other game, i had taken provinces all the way to Jerusalem (leaving the Armenian homelands and bordering the Seleucids in Hatra). Having just soundly defeated the 2nd last Egyptian full stack army, i'm about to push south and take Egypt. I did that in exactly the same time i took to get my army eventually TO spain (about 80 turns or so. Yes, i'm slow) - and my income, army and tech was in much better shape too. But i guess the moving way was a lot more interesting.


    Edit: In less than 20 more turns, Egypt has now taken over the entire southeast corner of the map and should be about to start pushing into Asia Minor soon. And amazingly enough Gaul did very well and had even pushed the Julii into one city - but then within a dozen or so turns Britain had taken all their homelands and theres only one Gallic province left. Funny how fortunes change at the drop of a hat.
    Last edited by Shadar; 03-27-2005 at 05:28.

  29. #59

    Default Re: Parthia

    i annihilated the parthians long ago in my egyptian campaign and i haven't started a campaign playing as them...
    someone said that they had a 200,000 denarii treasury and were making 5,000 per turn

    i have a 2,000,000 denarii treasury and i'm making almost 50,000 denarii per turn...

  30. #60

    Default Re: Parthia

    i found these alrite but didnt enjoy them that much i made huge armies of horse archers and use to win that way but i got bored quickly
    "Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
    —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
    "I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."
    —Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004

    how stupid george bush is !

Page 2 of 9 FirstFirst 123456 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO