Units and public order

[Vincent Butler]

In vanilla always opt for peasant garrisons, due to how cheap and big they are.

Of course frontier towns need military garrisons, but otherwise that may work. Which if they do decide to rebel, you are in trouble. Right now I am Macedon, so I can field Phalanx and Levy Pikemen for garrisons. I always like a garrison to be able to defend itself or quell a rebellion.

[wooly_mammoth]

I always like a garrison to be able to defend itself or quell a rebellion.

Well, think of it this way. For public order only the number of the troops, not their quality matters. Rebellions are very rare all in all and enemy attacks will always focus on your borders. So, every good soldier you leave sitting idly in a garrison deep in your territory is just an added burden on your economy with no return value. I'd suggest using peasants for garrisons, field armies to protect frontiers as you expand and have moderate mobile forces moving through the heart of your lands to eliminate rebel armies as they pop up. They can unite into doomstacks if left unchecked and may on occasion attack you.

[Vincent Butler]

Well, think of it this way. For public order only the number of the troops, not their quality matters. Rebellions are very rare all in all and enemy attacks will always focus on your borders. So, every good soldier you leave sitting idly in a garrison deep in your territory is just an added burden on your economy with no return value. I'd suggest using peasants for garrisons, field armies to protect frontiers as you expand and have moderate mobile forces moving through the heart of your lands to eliminate rebel armies as they pop up. They can unite into doomstacks if left unchecked and may on occasion attack you.

Some settlements (Corduba, Patavium, Londinium, Tanais) will rebel on you anyway. The mobile forces is something I do, right now using Scythian Mercenaries for my Macedon campaign. Usually it will be all cav. I utilize smaller garrisons in my central towns, and the garrison size partially depends on who I am. For some reason, towns are less happy in this campaign. But as Macedon, one can utilize Levy Pikemen, who are trained military who are also cheap. I probably should use more of those in a garrison as opposed to my Phalanx Pikemen. I also utilize real military troops for a realistic aspect, a town would have a garrison, though again, probably lots of levy and militia troops.
I also will train backup troops from my towns. I will have a main army (or two, or three, in different areas, but mainly concentrating on one area in this regard) and I will funnel garrisons along. As my main army is conquering, there will be a garrison army following to take over several turns later so the main army can get out in the field. I may have two or three garrison armies following as I get farther away from my center of training, which is usually Italy or Greece.
I will have to research if unit types actually make a difference. That would probably be in the descr_ somewhere, although if nobody can say for sure it probably doesn't, as it would probably been found already. My brother playing Empire Total War said that some units did add to public order, in his case some type of Dragoon. They actually had a policing effect, as opposed to say a unit of musketeers (just an example unit, don't know if musketeers had same attribute or not). But that was Empire, not Rome.

when Egypt declared a cease-fire with everyone they were at war with to concentrate on Parthia.

Annoying when they do that, isn't it? I was at war with Gaul, Dacia, Thrace, and Greece, who were all allied with each other, and at least one had a spy in Bylazora, so my gates were always open when they attacked, which was frequently. Not anymore, ha ha ha. Gaul is the only one left. Julii went into Spain and not Gaul, and I am about to begin a campaign against them there.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Some settlements (Corduba, Patavium, Londinium, Tanais) will rebel on you anyway.

You can add two more cities to that list...Jerusalem and Tarsus. All these cities have one thing in common...a built-in unrest factor anywhere from 15% to 30% depending on the city. It's hard-coded and there's nothing you can do about it except get them to ZPG if you can, which puts an end to rebellions.

Macedon has one of the finest Law & Order temples in the game (Temple of Zeus) and if you retain control of Corinth, you get the +4 Public Order bonus from Olympus.

Annoying when they do that, isn't it?

As Armenia, I welcome it. It only hastens the Pharaoh's demise But Parthia is not as well equipped to deal with the hordes of chariots and Desert Axmen, and it's much more difficult to get their economy up and running.

[Vincent Butler]

You can add two more cities to that list...Jerusalem and Tarsus. All these cities have one thing in common...a built-in unrest factor anywhere from 15% to 30% depending on the city. It's hard-coded and there's nothing you can do about it except get them to ZPG if you can, which puts an end to rebellions.

Macedon has one of the finest Law & Order temples in the game (Temple of Zeus) and if you retain control of Corinth, you get the +4 Public Order bonus from Olympus.

Overall, if there is a port, I build my temples to Ares to get the trade bonus. Ares also seems to do well for public order, and gives three experience. That is nice, the trade temple helping with experience. However, in Rome, I built to Zeus, since he is the ruler of the gods. Artemis is nice for the missile weapon increase, but a Pentheion to Zeus will give the gold weapon status, just not as early as to Artemis since it has to be a Pentheion. Would a farm temple really be helpful? The farms have some bearing with growth and plague, right?

As Armenia, I welcome it. It only hastens the Pharaoh's demise But Parthia is not as well equipped to deal with the hordes of chariots and Desert Axmen, and it's much more difficult to get their economy up and running.

Got that right. If you are Parthia, forget defending towns, sally forth, and build lots of horse archers and Cataphracts. Against Egypt, however, how do you handle the chariots? I guess shoot them to pieces with your horse archers, and I think Parthia gets a good foot archer as well, correct me if I am wrong. I know you don't like slingers, but they do very well against chariots, if you can protect them from melee combat, which is a problem in Parthia's situation to begin with. I guess Hillmen to prevent the chariots from riding right into them. The problem with slingers is they don't really shoot over your troops like archers do, so you will lose more of your men to friendly fire. And normal slingers don't have the range of Balearic or Rhodian Slingers.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Ares also seems to do well for public order, and gives three experience.

When I play Macedon, Ares goes in recruitment cities only and never when there is a resident governor. The "Bloodthirsty" trait is a -1 to Command, and -3 to Morale The Temple of Zeus has a Happiness bonus double that of Ares (50% vs 25%).

Would a farm temple really be helpful? The farms have some bearing with growth and plague, right?

Demeter is good for those "slow growers" that just can't seem to get enough population to reach maximum development. Once there, and stability is re-established (and possibly the addition of a governor with lots of influence), tear it down in favor of something better. Too much farm leads to high squalor

Against Egypt, however, how do you handle the chariots?

Persian Cavalry fronted by Cats. PC is not nearly as good as Cataphract Archers, but they get the job done. The Cats are there to keep the Chariot Archers from attempting melee, and then move in for the kill when the CA's are greatly reduced in numbers. Parthian foot archers are vanilla Middle Eastern archers. I only use them to defend walled cities where they are reasonably effective. You're right, I don't like slingers because of the direct line-of-fire, but they are effective, as you say, against chariots.

[Vincent Butler]

When I play Macedon, Ares goes in recruitment cities only and never when there is a resident governor. The "Bloodthirsty" trait is a -1 to Command, and -3 to Morale The Temple of Zeus has a Happiness bonus double that of Ares (50% vs 25%).

Demeter is good for those "slow growers" that just can't seem to get enough population to reach maximum development. Once there, and stability is re-established (and possibly the addition of a governor with lots of influence), tear it down in favor of something better. Too much farm leads to high squalor

Persian Cavalry fronted by Cats. PC is not nearly as good as Cataphract Archers, but they get the job done. The Cats are there to keep the Chariot Archers from attempting melee, and then move in for the kill when the CA's are greatly reduced in numbers. Parthian foot archers are vanilla Middle Eastern archers. I only use them to defend walled cities where they are reasonably effective. You're right, I don't like slingers because of the direct line-of-fire, but they are effective, as you say, against chariots.

I am certainly tearing down the temples to Ceres whenever I have to quell a rebellion. I thought that farms reduced squalor, though that was only my understanding from reading other threads.
Tarsus will certainly get a temple of Zeus, as will Corduba. Granted, most of my cities won't have governors, but still, the traits may come into play. I would rather have happy towns than some additional cash, especially while Egypt and Rome are still around, so I don't have to deal with very improved Roman or Egyptian units if I get kicked out. Also, it probably doesn't make all that much difference at this point in the game for additional trade.
As far as the Parthian archers goes, I must have been thinking the Eastern Archers from Barbarian Invasion. Do the Cataphracts do better against Chariots than standard cav then, because Egypt's chariots really restrict the use of my cav.