Going on the offensive as Hayasdan

[Tuuvi]

Stone walls definitely. This gives your archers a major advantage. The only thing is that if the Seleucids get units onto the wall, you have to let them since your infantry is no good on walls.

I also find that sacking Seleucia gives you a major financial boost, one which can finance mines which will eventually support your armies.

Definitely stone walls. Makes defending much easier, especially if you have a few units of Caucasian archers and Eastern slingers there. If you can back up the defence with a unit of cavalry to deal with the pesky siegers that may reach the walls you should be able to defend quite easily.

Ok I will build stone walls then. Are scythian or eastern axemen any good on walls? Because I remember hearing that spear units are no good but I've been thinking that the axemen might be good since they aren't spearmen and because of the AP bonus.

[vollorix]

The "ap" bonus is actually only usefull against armoured units. Those axemen lack armour, and that means they´d suffer against any high attack/lethality unit. But those guys got javelins, lots of them, and with a bit experience, they should hold the walls if you are not heavily outnumbered. You are playing Hay - use Georgian swordmen, i´d say - those guys are quite tough, got decent, though not superb armour, good morale and couple of javelins too to pepper the enemies before they climb the ladders. But a sally is mostly preferable compared to defending the walls, imo ( with the right unit composition, of course ).

[Atraphoenix]

The only advice for my Persian bretheren (Parthia,Pontos,Hayasdan) is "Offense is best defense against AS Monster."
Once I tried to develop first attack later, it cost me a King and many good commanders whose only sin was my obligation to use them intensively as I lack units.
For Hai, you have the advantage of armenian mountains where AS phalanxes are useless if you like hill fights and a good ambusher.

[Lazy O]

Yes for some reason the game decides to kill the general as soon as he makes first contact..... Even when its a unit of archers sometimes.

[Atraphoenix]

Yes for some reason the game decides to kill the general as soon as he makes first contact..... Even when its a unit of archers sometimes.

I think like this way, game tries to balance AI kamikaze attacks made by AI generals....

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Yes for some reason the game decides to kill the general as soon as he makes first contact..... Even when its a unit of archers sometimes.

A general who leads a charge is a general asking to get himself killed first. Especially with wedge formation, which should only be aimed at gaps in between enemy units, not directly for enemy units.

It's easier to avoid getting the general killed if he charges into the rear of an enemy unit, rather than the front. Which means pinning the enemy with another unit first.

[Lazy O]

I dont put a general into a wedge. Its suicide. Even from the rear sometimes the game decides to smack you in the face.

[Potatomade]

Ok I will build stone walls then. Are scythian or eastern axemen any good on walls? Because I remember hearing that spear units are no good but I've been thinking that the axemen might be good since they aren't spearmen and because of the AP bonus.

Depending on the layout of the city, wooden walls (used with a FM) filled with archers can delay an army like crazy. Usually a fullstack of enemies will only build four or five battering rams, and if you position your archers appropriately, you can take out all battering rams (using the FM to slow them down, especially useful to get them to drop the ram to make it easier for your archers to target) with flaming arrows. If you can retrain your archers in the city, then you can basically stall the enemy army forever. They'll also keep sending fullstacks along the same route, meaning you could stall their entire offensive.

[vollorix]

Just "rally" before the charge - no harm will be done to your general. And don´t fight with "hypochondriac" FM´s in melee, pick young, healthy, and vigorous guys.

[A_Dane]

My most succesful game as Hayasdan i went on the offensive as soon as the war broke out. I usually use quite alot of family members in my armies dealing with the seleucids, while it might not be historically accurate, I've found it to be the only reliable way. Using a couple of spear units to hold the line, with cauc archers/slingers as to harass them, I take the family members around the flank, prefferably hunting down the enemy general in the process. Once there, i simply wait for the seles to engage my line and then make an all out cavalry charge, which will pretty much break everything but their elite units. (4-5 fam members with full bodyguards completely tear apart everything if they can charge from behind and are fresh). Then i go about raiding the seleucid cities, burning everything in the west down to the ground if i can get my hands on the cities, I'll rather rebuild than having to deal with a strong sele...