Pahlava Strategy Guide

[socal_infidel]

I was hoping this would be developed more as Pahlava is without a doubt my favorite faction. Am currently in the midst of my first full-fledged Pahlava 1.1 campaign. I've actually found Pahlava a tad more difficult this go-around (last played them back in November with 1.0). There's been a lot of good guides floating around for other factions recently, maybe I'll pitch in more later.

1] You should use the Family Member with his army of a Parthian Horsearcher and Dahae Riders along the southern border to take Asaak. Don't worry about building siege equipment, the AI will sally out the first turn. The battle is extremely easy and you should be able to take it with minimal losses (in my case, zero losses).

I flank the gates with the Dahae Riders and the FM Bodyguard, the Parthian horse archers providing cover fire against the archers who come out first. Then charge with the Bodyguard. Retreat. Charge with Dahaes. The archers will rout. Then out comes the Babylonian Heavy Spearmen. Again soften them up with arrows all around. Then charge with whoever is behind them. So if they advance towards your Bodyguard. Charge with Dahaes.

Asaak will be yours.

2] Take that stack in the Far North and consolidate with the other army in the North. You can either disband the two archers in the northenmost stack or send them to Kiat to act as garrison (which might make sense, since there are no walls there from the get-go).

Once consolidated, this all cavalry army should take Antioch-Margiane. I send two spies here to open up the gates and it usually works. You should be able to atttack and take Antioch-Margiane on the first winter turn.

3] Now what I do now is enslave the population and destroy all the buildings. This gives me the money to develop my other settlements economic and farming infrastructure. For now, I am willing to ditch A-M if I have to. Like in the movie Heat, I am prepared to drop everything and leave it behind if need be. This comes from my experience in my last aborted Pahlava campaign where the A-S was hell-bent on taking it back. Wave after wave. And eventually did.

Plus money is tight in the early-going, and the mnai from enslavement and ransacking the settlement really helps.

4] My next target is Zadrakata or Hekatompylos. Both have mines I believe. So whichever is less garrisoned.

Well that's where I'm at so far. Once I get a little further along, I hope to add more.

Some general tips

1] The AS likes to send FMs and small armies to reclaim their lands. This is the perfect opportunity to build up experience for you horse archers. What I do is use spies as advance scouts to spot these AS armies. Then I send out two-unit hit squads to hit and run these armies. I usually have around 4-5 horse archers along with a FM in my newly-taken settlements.

So what I do, is send out one hit squad, empty quivers, withdraw. Then send out another 2-3 hit squad, empty quivers withdraw. Don't send out family members as they get negative traits if they withdraw. It may be an exploit, but I justify it role-playing wise as these are small hit-and-run raiding parties sent out by the FM to scout and engage if possible the invading armies.

These are stunningly effective. Two units of Parthian horsearchers will kill 125 or so enemy units each. While taking zero casualties if you're lucky. You can take out and entire unit of crap Hellenic Native Spearmen, Skirmishers, or Slingers with just two-units. The next hit-squad will take out the men who heal from each unit from the first-engagement and a chunk of another unit. Really it's just brutally effective.

You'll end up losing a lot more battles then you win. But it's not really a loss if in a single turn, you end up depleting a 600 strong AS army to around 300 or so, is it? Once they're weakened enough you can deploy the whole army (4-5 HAs along with FM) to destroy it.

Using this tactic will build up experience in a hurry. You'll typically get an experience point for every unit every battle (125 kills - zero/minimal losses).

2] It's been said before, but choose nomadism where you can, pastoralism where you can't.

3] Dahae Riders are worth every penny. Horse archers who can charge.

4] Use your family members. Don't let them sit there. They are awesome. Horse archer/heavy cav combo.

5] You have to play out all the battles. And they do require micro-management. But they're fun. Nothing better than watching phalanxes run around like idiots while they're shot to pieces. I turn off fire at will, so I can choose my targets. Although, I'm not sure if this really works, I think they fire at their closest target regardless of where you direct them to fire. But I do it anyway. Whittle down unit by unit.

6] On the two-man hit squads. This is just my opinion and I'm not sure if the engine bears it out, but my feeling is two two-unit squads (say) are more effective than one four-unit squad. I just feel like if four-units are firing away on one target, there will be a lot of redundancy. 400 arrows to kill a 240 unit basic spearmen unit, when 200 arrows (or whatever the actual number is) will do the same. I'd be curious to hear if this is the case.

That's it, for now. I'd love to hear others' take on Pahlava. Without question, they are my favorite faction. I love me the shiny ponies an' bows and arrows. ON TO BABYLON!

[Olimpian]

I'm about 20 years into a Pahlava campaign on M/M and have taken Asaak,Hyrcania,Parthava,Apameia,A-M - in that order.Used mainly the tactics infidel pointed out,with the addition of levies(native spearmen,parthian spearmen) into my armies after about 10 years to use to tie down AS phalanxes and heavy infantry which they start to send after a while,sometimes in relatively large numbers.My hardest fought battle was against a half-stack of AS elites,2 FMs and some archers.I had a half-stack of mostly Parthian HA,1 50 strong FM(faction leader) and 2 native spearmen.Used the latter to bog down infantry while my FM took care of the AS one - Pahlava FMs beat AS FMs hands-down - and HA shot the heavy infantry in the back after bombarding the enemy archers (about 50 men) with no caualties,although they did shoot back.My only casualties were the native spearmen,but those are very easy to replenish,and some FM bodyguards which also respawn.So my tip is use those levies mercilessly to do all the dirty jobs and take casualties,while preserving your HA which will rack up chevrons and become true artillery

Money is always tight,but after you get a few regions from the AS you have enough to build every few-turns and recruit HA and levies,Diplomacy-wise,Saka and Baktria are still my allies,although we have shared a border for some time - they are at war with eachother (and still both my allies ) and too busy to mind me.I think the best thing to do is let them fight and go for AS.My next goal is to reach the south shore of Iran and then India,to make real money.The AS will probably not leave me alone in the west,but their attacks are rather easily dealt with.

My

[Theodotos I]

I'll have a unit guide up for the Pahlava in a week or two. I wrote it out and was just ready to post up when 1.1 came out. So I need to update a couple of things.
BTW, my strategy in 1.0 was to take my three spies and force Hekatompylos, Asaak and I believe Antiochiea-Margiane to revolt. Anyway, I took all those towns without disturbing the AS, and stayed at peace with them till about 240. Good luck, there are many paths to victory.

[Cambyses]

This guide is becoming like some collection of eastern sayings, two or three comments from every participant, very appropriate I think...

Some quick tips I would add.

1. Saka Rauka and / or Sauromatae. Dont make the mistake of thinking you can beat them so easily as the AS or Baktria. Time your attacks carefully - use large armies - bring armoured horse archers - and chose your ground... Better to withdraw than charge up a steep hill.
2. AS and Baktria, as others have said, easy to beat their infantry / melee heavy armies and get heroic victories dotted all over the map. AS once sent a stack containing 5 family members at me, its the only time the battle was challenging. Thy real challenge is the economic one as your settlements are so far apart its hard to reinforce them, so decent armies (that's 5 units or more for Pahlava) need to be maintained in all border regions.
3. Usually I wipe Bactria out early as the provinces have good mine income and geographically it closes off a border for easier conquest in other areas.
4.Generally, avoid ever assaulting a town or allowing your cities to be attacked though, HA on the open plains is your strength, not street combat, so fight everything as a sally.
5. Dahae Riders are amazing value for money. With a family member or two they are all you will need as melee troops - at least in the early game. You can just ignore all the expensive heavy cavalry types - until you fight another cavalry faction that is...
6. In battle, focus your fire on one unit at a time to have maximum impact, as the unit gets smaller your volleys are less effective, so stop shooting when you have killed, say, 80% of the unit and start on another target. For example against a unit of 160 archers, shoot them with everything, once they reach 50 men start directing your fire to the next unit, by the time you have actually done this for all you army (you need to select your units indiviually or they will just fire at the closest enemy) they will have 30 or less troops left, which was your original aim. These small units are then very easy to break with a charge or two. Always start against unarmoured enemies, especially missile troops as they are the most dangerous to you. These can be shot from all angles effectively, including the front. Anybody with a shield, get round the back. Use fake charges to lure enemy troops into facing a certain way. But If they dont turn around, dont pull out of the charge!
7. Study the building tree at length if you want those reforms.

[gamegeek2]

If you ever want to attack a city, GET THOSE MIC THEUROPHOROI! They are basically the best infantry you can get in the area, except for mercenaries. Try to ally with Sauromatae, as they fight with Saka around Gava Aursa/Gava Yugra. Sauromatae tend to go for the western steppes, DO NOT let Saka own the east ones as this allows them to finance cataphracts.

With the new starting wars & alliances, Blitzing Baktria is no longer viable as they WILL ally with the Saka and build their kingdom in Kophen and Taxashila while the Saka keep you plenty busy. The Saka go west and south, you have a lot on your hands, as you're surrounded. You MUST attack in blitzes of 5+ units, otherwise the attack WILL either fail or they'll recapture the settlement. Seleukeia has a lot on its hands, but they are still a formidable foe if given time to build mines and fullstacks. Their fullstacks are not much of a problem for an army of 6-7 units and a family member, but this WILL either halt your blitzes or waste your treasury and population.

Tip 0: DO NOT PANIC!

Tip 1: Use those spies to cause disorder; the eastern settlements start out quite unhappy. If left undisturbed, they WILL stabilize, build mines, and develop fullstacks.

Tip 2: Always be prepared for the Saka to randomly show up with 10 guys. If they capture a settlement, no biggie, but invest quickly in mercs and troops to retake it and use any spares to either repopulate or hit the nearest enemy settlement.

Tip 3: A Saka settlement, though not worth much income, is every bit as dangerous as a walled, mined Seleukid city with a decent army inside. These are vulnerable targets that determine who wins the wars. As most tend to be lightly garrisoned, they are heavily fought over. Since the steppe towns are so poor (economically), every single one counts in the war for steppe supremacy, and one tends to make the difference. The old adage applies here: get there "the fustest with the mostest"

[Atraphoenix]

LONG LIVE THE BLITZKRIEG & ESPIONAGE...

just send your spys to open the gates and let the pahlavan blitz start on arche selucia ....

as far as I experienced AS AI went into paralysis with immediate and unexpected assoults and only it face you seriously when you reach babylonia....

after you reach babylonia take antioche and make alliance with egypt. then start to build pastoralism reforms....

[Jive]

I was hoping this would be developed more as Pahlava is without a doubt my favorite faction. Am currently in the midst of my first full-fledged Pahlava 1.1 campaign. I've actually found Pahlava a tad more difficult this go-around (last played them back in November with 1.0). There's been a lot of good guides floating around for other factions recently, maybe I'll pitch in more later.


Some general tips

1] The AS likes to send FMs and small armies to reclaim their lands. This is the perfect opportunity to build up experience for you horse archers. What I do is use spies as advance scouts to spot these AS armies. Then I send out two-unit hit squads to hit and run these armies. I usually have around 4-5 horse archers along with a FM in my newly-taken settlements.

So what I do, is send out one hit squad, empty quivers, withdraw. Then send out another 2-3 hit squad, empty quivers withdraw. Don't send out family members as they get negative traits if they withdraw. It may be an exploit, but I justify it role-playing wise as these are small hit-and-run raiding parties sent out by the FM to scout and engage if possible the invading armies.

These are stunningly effective. Two units of Parthian horsearchers will kill 125 or so enemy units each. While taking zero casualties if you're lucky. You can take out and entire unit of crap Hellenic Native Spearmen, Skirmishers, or Slingers with just two-units. The next hit-squad will take out the men who heal from each unit from the first-engagement and a chunk of another unit. Really it's just brutally effective.

You'll end up losing a lot more battles then you win. But it's not really a loss if in a single turn, you end up depleting a 600 strong AS army to around 300 or so, is it? Once they're weakened enough you can deploy the whole army (4-5 HAs along with FM) to destroy it.

Using this tactic will build up experience in a hurry. You'll typically get an experience point for every unit every battle (125 kills - zero/minimal losses).

2] It's been said before, but choose nomadism where you can, pastoralism where you can't.

3] Dahae Riders are worth every penny. Horse archers who can charge.

4] Use your family members. Don't let them sit there. They are awesome. Horse archer/heavy cav combo.

5] You have to play out all the battles. And they do require micro-management. But they're fun. Nothing better than watching phalanxes run around like idiots while they're shot to pieces. I turn off fire at will, so I can choose my targets. Although, I'm not sure if this really works, I think they fire at their closest target regardless of where you direct them to fire. But I do it anyway. Whittle down unit by unit.

6] On the two-man hit squads. This is just my opinion and I'm not sure if the engine bears it out, but my feeling is two two-unit squads (say) are more effective than one four-unit squad. I just feel like if four-units are firing away on one target, there will be a lot of redundancy. 400 arrows to kill a 240 unit basic spearmen unit, when 200 arrows (or whatever the actual number is) will do the same. I'd be curious to hear if this is the case.

That's it, for now. I'd love to hear others' take on Pahlava. Without question, they are my favorite faction. I love me the shiny ponies an' bows and arrows. ON TO BABYLON!

Sorry to resurrect an old, obsolescent thread from v. 1.1, but this advice is spot on. Especially the part about choosing nomadism--or pastoralism if it's unavailable--at least in the early going. It won't get you the much-ballyhooed reforms, but it leads to horse archers, which are absolutely essential for the Pahlavan strategy of conquer-and-plunder.

Otherwise you're stuck recruiting mostly light ground-pounders or conventional cavalry, which simply doesn't cut it against the opponents you're facing. The reforms can wait. But first, you gotta get them horse archers!

One caveat though: It's not always easy to withdraw with enemy cav on your tail. Sometimes your HA's get cut off and mangled before you can steer them to a safe exit (and how can you be sure exactly where the exit area is?).