Army compostion for seleucids in the west

[Ca Putt]

Ah the Greenshields are quite tough, shield armor, valor, AP axe and a spear to push Hetairoi from their horsies. I had my problem with them aswell, but I found it's best to use cheap AP troops against them. as they counter most Elite troops, exept those with ap-Weapons on their own. The Elite Pikemen, well Pin them down and cheap Ap-troops + Cav in the back, nothing else you can do about those.

The Lusitanians call for missile fire and swordsmen, shields are good aswell, but Armor is mostly dead weight as most of them have AP weapons :/ save up your elites for their spearmen ;)
I normally use a solid line of standard troops(pezos for the AS, I normally hae more hoplitesque troops) with 3+ shield and attack them with arrows and flanking swordsmen. Works most of the time. If you want you can also import Horse archers :D

The Suggestion of Syrians was of purely sylistic nature, I know that Kretan archers are much better I just think syrians fitt in much better, Cretans look like Experienced rough mercenaries(duh) syrians look like "proffessional" soldiers.

[seleucid empire]

but arche doesnt really have ap units so they have to be mercenaries which i cant replace in time and my only swords men are the hypaspistai and Peltastai Makedonikoi which i use as flank guards. i cant really use them to flank cause for some reason the AI always deploys a longer line than me unless i outnumber them by alot. if i get more archers then my line will be even shorter. how many pezos do you use in an army?? my standard phalanxe line is 8 units

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

8 phalanxes is a lot. The AI just tends to enjoy lining up all their units in one line instead of creating multiple lines. Arche actually gets loads of AP units, they just tend to be very light, like Eastern Axes, Cappadocian or Anatolian Hillmen, or Hyrkanians. They may get Galathraikes or Triballi if you have expanded to the proper Thracian regions or the Galatian heavies and these may be a better solution as high lethality units. Alternatively, you can import your own AP elites in Guild Warriors all the way from India but thats a true hassle and not worth it imo. The whole point of light units is that they are replaceable, just use whatever is available at hand. Your army can leave Antioch with Eastern Axes but after a few battles in Iberia can be using Iberian swordsmen.

[seleucid empire]

im interested in how you manage to get reinforcements sir robin. Im quite good at logistics and always plan my campaigns ahead and recruit units in pella every few turns to maintain a constant stream of reinforcements for the western front. However lately ive favoured using 100% mercenary armies to take cities and my royal armies to fight field battles. what do you do when your fighting far from the homeland but still want to maintain a successor style army

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Well generally you don't need more than 2-4 units to take any towns because the AI doesn't reinforce them very well. And of course you can just maintain a siege until an attacking army turns your siege into a field battle. If you need to storm town centers use cheap expendable units with high lethality or ap. Gallic swords are perfect for this.

As far as field battles, phalangites generally take very few casualties and don't need to be replaced often. Heavy cavalry I keep in reserve. Light cavalry gets the brunt of the work along with missile units and the mercenaries or local recruits. Since I don't care about replenishing mercs I use them as liberally as I'd like. Light cav will get beat up but cavalry moves much quicker on the strat map than infantry reinforcements. And of course, missiles aren't that big a deal as they shouldn't take many casualties either, especially in the West. Therefore, light cavalry are really the only reinforcements I need regularly and I try to use mostly Prodromoi as AS. Also try to avoid attacking enemy armies, let them come to you and only push the issue by sieging cities. That way the enemy tires themselves out coming to you and allow themselves to get beat up by archers and slingers. Recruit Rhodian Slingers and Bosporan or Kretan Archers if you can.

[Ca Putt]

Why not use the Ancient highway: the Mediterranean? If the Situation allows it I usually send Reinforcements per boat. It's much faster and allows for some sneaky amphibious attacks^^. most of the time I have at least one boat with reinforcements on the sea or rather a safe harbor.

[seleucid empire]

haha yeh i like to roleplay though. If im sending armies via the sea i always use a fleet of 400 ships (so 8 units). i think sending a large army on a small boat is a bit dodge lol. i actually did that for the mercenary stack in italy and sne them on a boat to north africa but the royal armies i marched them from syria and egypt. and yeh i send reinforcment units of hypapastai by boat but the carthage in my game actually has a freaking powerful navy. its lead by a 5 star admiral and has 5 tier 4 ships

[seleucid empire]

The Lusitanians call for missile fire and swordsmen, shields are good aswell, but Armor is mostly dead weight as most of them have AP weapons :/ save up your elites for their spearmen ;)
I normally use a solid line of standard troops(pezos for the AS, I normally hae more hoplitesque troops) with 3+ shield and attack them with arrows and flanking swordsmen. Works most of the time. If you want you can also import Horse archers :D
.

hey don't their spearmen have ap as well? they have solid metal spears or something dont they?

[Arjos]

hey don't their spearmen have ap as well? they have solid metal spears or something dont they?

That's the soliferrum, so most Luso and Iberian units' javelins are AP...

BTW about your armies, they are too elite and not as heterogeneous for my tastes :P

[seleucid empire]

That's the soliferrum, so most Luso and Iberian units' javelins are AP...

BTW about your armies, they are too elite and not as heterogeneous for my tastes :P

haha yeh my armies are so ineffective. but dont the scrutarii also have an ap spear like a real spear not a javelin?

[Arjos]

I think their spear has the piercing trait in the edu, but they don't have the AP bonus afaik...

[seleucid empire]

i mite just stay away from spain until ic an reform my armies those guys are too though. Ive finished conquering north Africa now and sent my second army to spain where it got ripped

[Arjos]

i mite just stay away from spain until ic an reform my armies those guys are too though. Ive finished conquering north Africa now and sent my second army to spain where it got ripped

Hispania is to be taken by swift units and missiles units, not by armour and melee ^^