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Thread: Armenia

  1. #151
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    I agree with RS, forget about East or North, go West, young man, go West. I did with just two general and three HA's, and took Sinope, and Sardis after adding a general and HA. Barring Scythed Chariots, if you have one or two generals, Pontus should not be able to cause problems for your armies at that stage. You should build HA's as garrison until you have the money to support a regular garrison. Sally forth if you get put under siege. I almost went East, but then realized that that was not where the money was, so went West instead. North has nothing either, and South will give you nothing but a headache. Scythia may or may not strike for Kotais, so fortify Kotais and Artaxarta to defend you from Seleucid/Parthian/Scythian attack. The money is to be made in Turkey, and then you can strike for Greece to really boost your money supply. Parthia is not worth going after, as anybody who has started a Parthian campaign knows. Preventing their expansion should be enough to weaken them for when you do decide to go after them. It is better to stay on good terms with Egypt as long as possible, which taking Hatra and Seleucia would soon plunge you into war with them, which you will not be ready for early on.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  2. #152

    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by Vincent Butler View Post
    It is better to stay on good terms with Egypt as long as possible
    From what I've seen Egypt likes to expand via Antioch and Tarsus. After that if you're on their border they attack :)

  3. #153
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    After that if you're on their border they attack
    Aye, but the slick part here is that they have to cross one of three bridges to get at you. Unless Seleucia simply lays down and dies, you have some time to prepare. If the money is there, a couple of Cretan's will make your life much easier. You have the "tighter turning radius", so-to-speak, and can block any of the three bridges before the Big E can get there...you can force a bridge battle 99.99% of the time

    A similar confrontation happens when playing Pontus. Those three bridges save your butt until you can crank out enough high-quality troops to take the offensive.

    I did with just two general and three HA's, and took Sinope, and Sardis after adding a general and HA.
    I'm surprised you went after Sardis first before Mazaka and Nicomedia.
    Last edited by ReluctantSamurai; 08-13-2014 at 00:17.
    High Plains Drifter

  4. #154

    Default Re: Armenia

    My experience is coloured by only having played Greece in that area. I got into the habit of tip-toeing around Tarsus til I was ready. Strangely, when the Egyptians did move it was mostly toward Ancyra first.

    Maybe Nicomedia and Ancyra are still rebel?

  5. #155
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    I'm surprised you went after Sardis first before Mazaka and Nicomedia.
    I did not have the army to really take on a full Pontic army (I thought). Nicomedia would have been better, I think I was paranoid about Pontic Heavy Cav (I was later to learn the capabilities of HA's), and was neutral with Seleucia, so to keep it that way for a little while longer I went after Halicarnassus. Dumb move, I know it is bad to split up your empire and I know better than to do what I did. Now I still need to take Nicomedia or Ancyra (both Pontic) to get some trade going. Seleucia attacked my army in the field, I defeated them, so I just went after Sardis while I was in the area, no need to avoid war now. After seeing what that army did, I found out that there is no need to be paranoid about Pontus, generals can take care of the PHC while the HA's deal with the rest.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  6. #156

    Default Re: Armenia

    Well I'm running out of factions to play, so decided to Play Armenia as the last of the HA group.

    When starting a new campaign, I always feel like "My forces are rubbish, my cities are rubbish how on earth will I survive?". This was obviously the case with Armenia with two cities stuck in the middle of nowhere, no one to trade with - and only one rebel-held area to absorb.

    Sometimes foreknowledge is a curse. You KNOW Pontus will quite quickly upgrade to produce better troops - and the chariots can start appearing very quickly. You KNOW the Selucids can outproduce you. You KNOW that to the South the big bad boys in Yellow will be gearing up their Nile-delta Cities to produce troops and you KNOW that it is likely that by the time you get to take on the Brutii, they will have probably taken all of Greece (with their cities able to churn out Principes by the score).

    As to the start - well obviously you take Phraaspa as soon as possible, if only to stop Parthia from doing so. Any city helps your cash flow.

    I then spent the next few turns recruiting peasants and transferring them from Kotais to Artaxarta, keeping taxes there on low, in order to get up to Minor City Status. Money was basically spent on upgrading the buildings.

    Once Artaxarta could be upgraded, I THEN raised taxes there, started recruiting HAs and looked around.

    Scythia is too remote for rapid economic expansion, the Selucids would be easier to attack when Egypt came Knocking, so that left Pontus and Parthia. In view of Pontus's potential (I had met them when playing Numidia and they were a pain and found playing them quite easy) and that two large cities were available, that seemed the obvious direction to go.

    So the next few turns were based on taking out Pontus - once the two large cities are taken the others are low-level, so I felt that the time had come to take out Parthia - Once Arsakia was taken, I could relax - leaving Campus Sakae on it's own. When Sousa was taken the faction heir was left with one companion to make his way up to the Campus Sakae.

    The problem with Asia Minor is that the towns are absolutely rubbish - even Nicomedia will take some time to upgrade, so it was important to take Pergamum, (war with Greek Cities) which is the only really good town at the stage in the game. From there I moved South taking out Sardis (war with the Selucids), before moving on to Helicarnassus and (most importantly) Rhodes - for sea trade.

    By this stage I began turning out heavy spearmen (great in the far-east campaign for dealing with things that go round on wheels, and much better than other infantry and CAs). When Tarsus and Selucid Fell, it was obviously time to deal with the Egyptians, while building up Pergamum preparatory to crossing the Hellespont.

    My spies had noted that Antioch was now a good city, so my campaign started by capturing the city. The Egyptians responded by sieging it, but a) I had no worries should they attack it as the spearmen would handle any breaches and b) I had some reinforcements on the way, via the capture of Salamis. Once the siege was over, I had no hesitation in moving for Sidon and Jerusalem. In the far east the Egyptians also besieged Selucid, but a strong army took them out. I then made a mistake (of sorts). Another Egyptian army was approaching Susa, so I regrouped and moved to stop them. The Egyptian army retreated towards Dumatha and I accidentally set my army to beseige the town - with the result that I ended up there - with no infantry, and no way of recruiting infantry mercenaries. Fortunately the Egyptian Army attacked, drawing out the garrison and I was able to destroy both and take the city. The army then moved on to Bostra, where the same thing happened.

    SO I now have a funny map position where two Selucid towns (Damascus and Hatra) and one Egyptian (Palmyra) are completely surrounded by my forces. There is still one large Egyptian army unfought.

    I look across the sea to Greece - The Brutii are completing the mopping up of Greece (Corinth and Sparta still to go) and I await to see if they will try and come after me or then start moving up into Dacia. There are a lot of Brutii armies in Greece and if they decide to come across things will get messy as they will simply be able to out-produce me in good troops (of course they have tons of money, but are now spending it) - Macedon is virtually no more - they have one weak town on the Adriatic - and Cyrene - the first time that has happened in my games, but obviously I know it can.

    So my current capabilities now include one city that can build Cataphracts, and a couple that can build Legionarries - do I build Cats or just CAs? And do I build Legionaries (2 goes a unit compared with 1 for Principes) or stick with heavy Spearmen? I always find Roman (pre Marius) forces just melt away under cavalry attacks as they have no spearmen. What I am really looking forward to, if possible) is to capture a city with a large temple of Artemis - +3 for missile weapons for an archery-based faction is ludicrous.

  7. #157
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by weejonnie View Post

    So my current capabilities now include one city that can build Cataphracts, and a couple that can build Legionarries - do I build Cats or just CAs? And do I build Legionaries (2 goes a unit compared with 1 for Principes) or stick with heavy Spearmen? I always find Roman (pre Marius) forces just melt away under cavalry attacks as they have no spearmen. What I am really looking forward to, if possible) is to capture a city with a large temple of Artemis - +3 for missile weapons for an archery-based faction is ludicrous.
    Especially when you consider that Macedon's Artemis temples are for a faction that has only regular Peltasts and Archers as their missile units. Not only that, even their Pentheion to Zeus gives +2 to missile units. Obviously the idea is to get you to use Cretan Archers and Merc Peltasts/Illyrian Mercs heavily.

    I guess tailor your armies to who you are fighting. If fighting Egypt, you want Cataphract Archers and Heavy Spearmen. If fighting Rome or a barbarian faction, you will certainly want regular Cataphracts; make sure to use your alternate attack against armoured units as that mace absolutely destroys legionaries. Even with regular generals such as Rome has the alternate attack is better than their primary attack, and the computer never uses the mace/sword for their cav, at least not on M/M. I would say use Heavy Spearmen as your main infantry, but not a bad idea to bring your legionaries along. They will get an advantage against spearmen, and once you face barbarians you will do well against them; bear in mind your legionaries are equivalent to Principes, I think stats are exactly the same.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  8. #158

    Default Re: Armenia

    Thanks - I now have a VERY interesting position.

    The Brutii sent two stacks against Byzantium and seiged the city until I could land a second army there. I used one of my favourite tactics - which is the suicide battle. Basically you fight and lose a battle close to your town, knowing your forces will retreat back - and then replenish them before the seige starts. I sent two stacks towards Thessalonica and have just encountered 3 Brutii stacks - waiting to see what happens.

    I cleared out the Selucid and Egyptian enclaves and have just taken Thebes (crossing the Red sea to do so). with the announcement that the Numidian faction is destroyed! Siwa has fallen and one has to assume the blues are coming. I have never known them to advance so quickly. (Egypt is down to Memphis and Alexandria).

    The next few turns look to be very interesting - big 20v20 battles. Fortunately my troop centres (Jerusalem, Sidon, Antioch are much closer than the Julii (Carthage/ Tarsus) so I should be able to get reinforcements over. At the moment, I think it is a race to Memphis. If I take it then I should be able to throw the blues back quite easily. I would much prefer one army to seige Thebes - provided another is not coming too quickly.

    Overall, one of the more interesting games played.

  9. #159
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by weejonnie View Post
    I would much prefer one army to seige Thebes - provided another is not coming too quickly.
    Rome is capable of sending an infinite amount of double-stack armies to any given settlement at any time they so desire. Same with Egypt.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  10. #160
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    As to the start - well obviously you take Phraaspa as soon as possible, if only to stop Parthia from doing so
    Interesting, but probably unnecessary. In all of my Armenian campaigns, Parthia mounted an attack on my domain maybe once or twice. Easily repulsed. But...

    ...you had the right idea eventually in going after Pontus, and the rest of Anatolia.

    do I build Cats or just CAs
    You will need both, but Cataphract Archers should take priority early on. They are quite capable of handling themselves in melee, should it come to that, and can take on just about all but the very elite in enemy cavalry.

    Unit choices for armies is, of course, a matter of preference. My choices, as Armenia, fall into two categories by mid-game: roving attack armies comprised of nothing but Cats (both Heavy and Archers), and siege armies comprised of Cretan Archers, Heavy Spears, and Legionaires.

    There is no army, Roman or otherwise, that can withstand an all-Cat army led by a Cavalry General. I take my best generals to head such an army, and they command nothing else. After enough victories, he will eventually become a Legendary Cavalry commander, Legendary Attacker, hell just about Legendary Everything All those bonuses stack, and when added to the pile of chevrons you should have, and gold armor/weapon upgrades...well you get the idea.

    For desert fighting, take advantage of Arab Cavalry. With weapon/armor upgrades, they make an elite addition to any army. In desert conditions, they are the fastest cavalry unit in the game, bar none. They will run down fleeing cavalry units including enemy generals. Besides, cavalry dressed up in green and black and wielding scimitars, is just too cool

    When fighting the Scipii out in the Libyan Desert, build a fort in a convenient location along the way to house replacements. It's a looong way to the nearest city....

    p.s. (you should have read my Guide to Armenia )
    High Plains Drifter

  11. #161

    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by ReluctantSamurai View Post
    p.s. (you should have read my Guide to Armenia )
    Pretty sure I have - I always do background reading before enjoying a new faction.

    Anyway - It is now about 227 or 228 BC - Uncle Marius in the background is no doubt dreaming of how to build the new Roman Armies. (Although in real life they did not kick in until 107bc). The Brutii are extinct and I have taken Capua, Syracuse, Carthage and the City on Sicily above Syracuse from the Scipii - Am now engaged in a naval clear-up of Julii vessels. The Scipii did send various stacks towards Egypt, but they took quite a few turns after I was forewarned they were approaching - and I ambushed them in the desert - usually 3 armies Versus one (with R&R in Thebes). With lots of money coming in, bribary is doing well - I never played the earlier versions so assume it is much more expensive in version 1.5. Just wondering how I shall take out Rome - in the past I have

    1) Bribed the big army - probably D170,000 or so.
    2) River battle on ford on Tiber
    3) Lured the big army away from the City and send in a secondary army with onangers
    4) Just fought the army on the battle plain

    (I am expecting the Julii to send forces down Italy - good fun)

    With regard to troops - I don't bother with legionarries - just heavy spearmen: ideal for towns, where you just stick your cretan archers/ CAs behind them and let them pepper the enemy, courtesy of Thessalonican arrows. (I am also not 'blobbing' Cats, stick 3 or 4 units together and nothing is going to stop them.)

    Some general notes,

    The awarding of experience seems pretty random - I have had a unit kill 200 of the enemy and get no experience whilst another unit in the same battle killed nothing, and no one died, and did gain experience.

    Autoresolve is heavy on mercenaries - it allocates the losses pretty uniformly, so your prized cretan archers suffer much more than they do in real life.

    Some factions take a lot longer to win than others - with Gaul it was relatively easy to take out the Romans before they got strong and the game was over in 55 years. With Armenia it takes a long time to get accross into Italy (or at least I did because my strategy was to take out Egypt first) - I have 45 regions only and whilst getting up to 50 and taking Rome won't take too long (2 Thracian cities are under seige, as is Lillybeum and Thapsus is next on the list - which together with Rome will make 50), obviously I want to clean everything up and make the world Romanless before quitting.

  12. #162
    Senior Member Senior Member ReluctantSamurai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    I am also not 'blobbing' Cats, stick 3 or 4 units together and nothing is going to stop them
    Put 19 of them together with a general and the above 1...2...3...4 aren't necessary. Even Urban Cohorts are toast

    And the expense of such an army is mis-leading. A Cavalry general with movement traits and as many movement ancillaries as he can hold, can fight 4-6 battles on the attack, in the same turn. Cost effective when you consider how many foot-slogging armies you'd need to do the same.

    Autoresolve is heavy on mercenaries
    One should never auto-resolve with any mercs except perhaps Warbands, for that very reason...
    High Plains Drifter

  13. #163
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by ReluctantSamurai View Post
    One should never auto-resolve with any mercs except perhaps Warbands, for that very reason...
    Amen to that. It seems that when I autoresolve with the Warband, they don't take many casualties. All other mercs do. I am more likely to fight battles where I am using mercs for that very reason. Later on, once I have established my cities and I don't need the mercs I have hired to bolster my numbers (usually Merc Hoplites or Peltasts), I combine my mercs and use them to take out random brigand armies. Those battles I do sim because I don't care.

    The mercs I keep with my campaign armies I am very protective of, especially if they have additional improvements such as improved weapons or defense; they rarely even form part of my line, the ones I use the most for line fighting are Thracian/Bastarnae, Hoplites, Scutarii, and Warband. The Warband are so plentiful that I could really care less about them. Usually I keep Mercs in their hiring regions, say mercs from Spain I keep in Spain, because they are harder to replenish. Merc Peltasts are the most common ones I bring with me. They are plentiful anyway.

    I use the Scythian Mercs (as Armenia, Scythia, or Parthia this would be meaningless because you can train horse archers) to rove and take out rebels as well. I can take fewer casualties because I can keep out of reach, and they can travel faster.
    Last edited by Vincent Butler; 02-23-2018 at 20:05.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  14. #164

    Default Re: Armenia

    Ah well - the end of the campaign draws nigh. Some thoughts:

    1) Dacia 'won' the barbarian battle (if you want to call them that), with Brittannia in next place and Spain holding on to their original holdings (+ Corduba). The Scipii took the central town in Spain and have one city in Northwest Gaul.

    2) Armenia is basically all about Cataphract Archers. Once you get them all your troubles are over. TBH I am amazed that CAs are recruitable before Cs.

    3) Taking Sparta and Thessalonica basically make CAs invincible +2 experience and +3 missile weapons (I also run my Cretan Archers and Rhodian slingers through the same mill - those stones and lead shot they throw really hurt.)

    4) With Armenia, I much prefer waiting outside cities rather than storming them - you either get the city or they sally forth and basically get wiped out in an arrow storm. If I do storm then if I don't have to face stone walls, I just shoot arrows. With stone walls I sap so I can get the cavalry in. No doubt with an infantry-based operation, siege towers would be better.

    5) Early in the game you need to weaponise at least one city by boosting its population via peasant transfer. Get that upgrade through and it gives you a tremendous advantage.

    6) Although the advice is generally not to develop farming buildings, I find that this is not a problem. Later in the game it was the only way to increase revenue!

    7) You don't need the temples of law/ happiness in cities unless there is inbuilt unrest (Corduba/ Jerusalem etc)

    8) At the level I play, the Senate Army is basically a paper tiger - all you do is make sure you fight them on the ground you want.

    9) Next stop : Macedon (they always do well in the area in my campaigns & no doubt will take out Italy pre Marius), Egypt (which should be a doddle) and finally Thrace - which is the last hard faction.

  15. #165
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Quote Originally Posted by weejonnie View Post
    9) Next stop : Macedon (they always do well in the area in my campaigns & no doubt will take out Italy pre Marius), Egypt (which should be a doddle) and finally Thrace - which is the last hard faction.
    Macedon always gets wiped out if not controlled by me, under the combined assault of the Brutii, Dacia, Thrace, and Greece. And sometimes Gaul, I have had Gaul decide they wanted to take Bylazora from me. But Warband don't fare too well against Levy and Phalanx Pikemen in a city. I think I have seen get powerful one or two times only. Occasionally, the Brutii are slow to attack them. But if Greece gets to Armoured Hoplites in any numbers, Macedon is Mace-done.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

  16. #166

    Default Re: Armenia

    Well in my game - I went for Byzantium first of all and met a Thracian army with the same objective. They fought and lost badly which basically crippled them (and are now no more) - Then it was Athens (of course) and Kydonia/ Apollonia. (Reasoning that the Brutii would be coming over in numbers so I might as well kill them while they were weak. One problem about the lists screen is that you can tell when a faction gains a province and, especially early, you have a fair idea what it is.) So far it is mainly Light Lancer time. Greek Cities are down to Lillybaun (quite unusual to see them take it, usually the Scippii take Syracuse first). The Julii are sending forces down the east coast of Italy, with the occasional soldier seeing the return journey. You DO need to micromanage the Greek lancers much more than other cavalry as the charge is everything. I have a temple to Artemis on Kydonia for some reason, but otherwise it seems to be Ares all the way - no doubt Zeus as I get further away from the capital. Bylazora has Demeter as the poorest farming area, but the population is now zooming away. I will probably have to destroy it eventually (one thing I did notice - you don't get the farms + production unless you actually build at least land clearance.)

  17. #167
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Armenia

    Sounds like your campaign is one of those that deviates from norm. Those are interesting, and depending on circumstances can be good or bad. Usually Kydonia has Athena's temple, if I remember correctly (or maybe no temple at all?), and you are right, Greece almost never takes Lilybaem. Maybe Macedon hit Kydonia, though that would be unusual as well.

    If Greece has Lilybaem the Scipii might be weaker. Normally I would say that is good for Romans to be weak, but once Greece starts fielding their Armoured Hoplites, watch out. I much prefer to see the barbarians weaken Rome, which if I am not Rome I am a phalanx faction and can thus handle barbarians more easily than I can Rome.

    If you are gaining power, then yes, strike for Rome quickly. Don't let them get powerful. The problem is, at least as far as I have found, I can usually keep two Roman factions weak, but the third always gets powerful. Usually that is due to geography and finances. I concentrate on the areas that make money; in the meantime, Rome gains power where I am not. By the time I am financially able to field three armies to deal with all sections that Rome hits (North Africa, Greece, Gaul/Spain), one Roman faction has gained a lot of power. The nice thing is if you are Greece, you can get to AH quickly, and you are in position to limit the Brutii and the Scipii. It is then easy to head up Italy, but by that time the Julii have gotten strong.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

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