Fighting the Arche Seleukia

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

1. Your Hoplites look pretty worn out, time to replenish them (merging, not retraining)!
2. Drop the artillery! Take Thraikioi Prodromoi instead!
3. Drop your Hippeis! Take Hippeis Xystophoroi instead!
4. Drop your Toxotai! Take Toxotai Kretikoi instead!
5. One or two units of Peltastai are enough! Take Sphendonetai Rhodioi instead!
6. Build up your forces so that you have four one-stack-armies!
7. Launch a preemptive strike against Pontos! Take Amaseia and Sinope and wipe them out!
8. Conquer the Crimea from the Sarmatae, you'll get a ceasefire with them afterwards!
9. Take Mazaka and Side!
10. Defend Kappadokia in the east, Kilikia at the rivers at Tarsos!
11. Occasionally raid Seleukid cities in the vicinity!
12. Conquer Kypros and make peace with the Ptolemaioi if possible!

Sorry for all the!!!!

[Cambyses]

Some people are advocating getting horse archers. While these are definitely worthwhile against the seleucids. i do question whether its worth the long wait you will have to get them to the front lines after reruitment. Personally, I would avoid the long march.

[king of thracia]

Some people are advocating getting horse archers. While these are definitely worthwhile against the seleucids. i do question whether its worth the long wait you will have to get them to the front lines after reruitment. Personally, I would avoid the long march.

Navy. All that needs to be done is land on the north coast and access the Seleukid highway network from Pontic territory, or even from Nikaia. If Pontus is at war, then even better - an excuse to take territory of vital strategic importance!

Most cultures have a limited area of recruitment; we will just have to work around it. Furthermore, I'm not a fan of the local trash troops; we're looking for a better way here. The inclusion of an effective cavalry arm can win battles with very few casualties. In saving lives and money, praise will be heaped on the king who had the foresight to take the bosphorus. One fully developed combined arms army will be sufficient to defeat and annihilate several Seleukid stacks such that there will not be such pressing need to spam troops. Still takes time to win the battles

[Bumblebee]

I'd love to get some horse archers in on the action, but at the moment I haven't the resources to go and get any. I suppose I could send a lone general up there to gather some horse archer mercenaries (are any available?), but most of them are so high up in management or are such fantastic generals that pulling them off the line will likely result in some serious losses. I suppose I could give up some ground and then regroup with the horse archers. I'm not sure how wise that would be though as it feels as though any swing one way or the other right now will dictate who'll own Anatolia (my bad Apraxiteles ).

The situation is very precarious at the moment.

[Bumblebee]

Aright, so what's been workin' out really well is some Thorakitai to hold the line, Distinguished Hoplites to watch the flanks/take on stray Seleukian elements, Kreitikoi Toxotai archers, Heavy Skirmishers for flanking/harassing purposes on the opposing phalanx, and Xystophori to charge and break up the formations.

Routing the enemy phalanx doesn't seem to be a 100% for the charging Xystophori/Skirmisher flank. But it's serving well enough that the Thorakitai holding the line hardly take any casualties while the phalanx is being chewed up by the the Xystophori or the free Hoplites.

[Apázlinemjó]

A cheap, but useful strategy against AI, if you station your mercenary phalangities(?) and hoplites on the bridge near to Mazaka and fight bridge battles. Tons of heroics and you can use your resources on the other fronts.

[Mikhail Mengsk]

I hate bridge battles, AI is weak enough in battle to make worthless using this kind of strategy.

[Skullheadhq]

Ah, I love the smell of dead cavalry after a bridge battle in which all enemy units ran into my pikes

Fighting the Arche is a pain in the (bleep) as any faction. They will send forth countless stacks of brainless zombie-pantodapoi that eats brains, and after ten year and countless massacres later they will sent forth an endless stream of elite Argyraspidai and Hyspastidai, funded by the background script and their secret papaver fields in Mesopotamia. The only way to butcher them is using Makedonian style phalanx and horse archers,but since you don't have access to those yet, just blitz them, remember, when taking out the AS, concentrate on the three key-locations Antiocheia-Seleukeia-Babylon, you should take those out to stagnate their economy and this will criple them for ten years or so. Also fund the minor diacochi like Baktria, Pahlava and Hayasdan and give them some of the pie as well, and I suggest in battle do this, set your hoplitai in guard mode in a single line, let the phalanx come to you and when they engage combat, charge in their rear with enough cavalry (heavy of course) and then they'll probably flee and then butcher them while they are on the run. Also, archers won't be very usefull against Argyraspidai and Hyspastidai, so dump them.
I'd suggest you stop at Mesopotamia and set a fortress on some way they must come and butcher their levy stacks (since you took the key cities they won't be able to recruit much else) with your troops.

Good luck

-Skullheadhq

[Apázlinemjó]

I hate bridge battles, AI is weak enough in battle to make worthless using this kind of strategy.

I like them, though I find bridge battles cheap too. However when I play with a weaker faction next to AS, like Pontos or Hayasdan I use this method since I'm forced to survive against those countless stacks till I build up my economy to field normal armies. What I hate about the AI, that if you are next to them they use all of their resources against you and sh*t on the other fronts...

[Mikhail Mengsk]

Sure it's a cleaver tactic and a good counter to the ai that ignores ALL other factions (losing ground to them) just throwing everything it had against you. But i prefere to fight open battles, i found it's terribly boring just standing at bridges and exterminating enemies with just phalanxes and a few archers. If i have to fall, i will do it standing in open ground!

[tls5669]

1. Your Hoplites look pretty worn out, time to replenish them (merging, not retraining)!
2. Drop the artillery! Take Thraikioi Prodromoi instead!
3. Drop your Hippeis! Take Hippeis Xystophoroi instead!
4. Drop your Toxotai! Take Toxotai Kretikoi instead!
5. One or two units of Peltastai are enough! Take Sphendonetai Rhodioi instead!
6. Build up your forces so that you have four one-stack-armies!
7. Launch a preemptive strike against Pontos! Take Amaseia and Sinope and wipe them out!
8. Conquer the Crimea from the Sarmatae, you'll get a ceasefire with them afterwards!
9. Take Mazaka and Side!
10. Defend Kappadokia in the east, Kilikia at the rivers at Tarsos!
11. Occasionally raid Seleukid cities in the vicinity!
12. Conquer Kypros and make peace with the Ptolemaioi if possible!

Sorry for all the!!!!

I agree with all but #2

Artillery allows you to take a city in 1 turn so an enemies reinforcements cant arrive to help defend the city. After the turn, get in the city and defend it yourself. Attacking with siege towers, saps, ladders, and battering rams is cool, but sometimes its just not practical to wait a season to make the siege weapons. Which is the big reason I dont play nomad/barbarian factions very much.

[satalexton]

u can knock down the gates/walls, but there's still the towers and boiling oil to consider.....

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I agree with all but #2

Artillery allows you to take a city in 1 turn so an enemies reinforcements cant arrive to help defend the city. After the turn, get in the city and defend it yourself. Attacking with siege towers, saps, ladders, and battering rams is cool, but sometimes its just not practical to wait a season to make the siege weapons. Which is the big reason I dont play nomad/barbarian factions very much.

Actually, that's another good reason against the use of artillery. My main technique to conquer cities is to siege them until the tiny reinforcements come along and I can comfortably win a field battle.

[fleaza]

thats not always the case. sometimes there is are multiple stacks just outside your vicninty and you want to get int the city asap so you can have an advantage defending your newly acquired settlement.

[DaciaJC]

thats not always the case. sometimes there is are multiple stacks just outside your vicninty and you want to get int the city asap so you can have an advantage defending your newly acquired settlement.

Perhaps the best example of this is in regards to the Eleutheroi super-stacks of Central Europe.

[Alteris]

I'm right now polishing off the last bits of my Ptolemaioi campaign, mopping up Epeiros in Greece and trying to keep previously-subdued Sabaa cities under my control (little punks keep rebelling despite my large investments in their well being!), so I've fought the Gray Death aplenty. I'll share a few things I've learned. I suppose I should also throw in that I use Sinuhet's AI modded for EB.

At first I had marshaled a standard Macedonian phalanx army to prepare a campaign in Asia Minor to subdue pesky Sardis and Ipsos. In a battle that leaned in my favor, I managed a victory but got 60% of my army killed, mostly from my own faults as a phalanx commander at not having enough auxiliaries for support and starting to break the phalanx cohesion. That led me to rethink how I designed my forces, since phalanxes need *lots* of strong cavalry and flank supports and timely usage to work properly. Ptolemies aren't too cash-strapped, but I still had to be economical to defend both my Judean and Asian holdings, so I found that really wasn't an option.

So I reformed my forces something more akin to the Roman legions, using flexible heavy infantry. I put 4 theoreophoroi as the front line with gaps, generally in guard mode at first unless the fighting gets really heated, and behind them thorakitai and the death-machine Galatikoi klereukoi. I use a couple of Prodromoi as cav support, cheap and effective, and whatever decent local auxiliaries I can get, usually Ioudaioi or axe-wielders, to shore up the flanks. Put some akontistai in for cheap javelin support which always comes in handy and of course the Kretan archers (Caucasian archers are very good too!) and that wraps it up. I find the theoreophoroi are more than adequate for pinning his frontal assault. Get some thorakitai or the Galatians in to lob their spears then move in for the kill from the side gaps and behind, and that phalanx won't last too long. Only the argyraspirides are able to hold for very long, and even then are taking huge casualties. If they turn to hit my flank assault, I smash the thereophoroi, out of guard mode of course, in to the new flank. Sure, a few dozen heavy infantrymen die in the process, but its nothing like the hundreds of phalangitai that are cut down Romani style by heavy troops they can't properly pin.

I haven't really met a Seleukid army that can field a real challenge to this, the flexibility just obliterates them. The only army that I have almost been crushed by was a Nubian army with elephants, but my Galatikoi held the center and stopped a complete rout long enough for me to finally turn one flank.

As the Koinon you can use the hoplitai as the frontline ranks if you like, but I have a preference for spear-throwers like theureophoroi to keep non-phalanx units from closing in with their units intact. You have ample amounts of heavy infantry to maneuver into the gaps of a phalanx, and just need to find some effective charge cavalry. I wouldn't use any archers below an attack of 4, Toxotai really just aren't worth using IMO, though slingers are good. Caucasians (Armenian-style) and Kretans are the best there is, so getting a Kretan MIC developed is really worth it.

I 100% believe that superior technology is what wins battles, and we all know that flexible heavy infantry obliterates phalanxes, so I'd recommend using just that. As soon as you are at his rear/sides stabbing him, it's over. Cavalry are nice but also pricey and not as flexible - guys like thorakitai on the other hand are multipurpose soldiers for offensive and defensive situations. I'd only use them if playing more from the Persian style of war - masses of foot archers covered by spearmen and the new cataphract/steppe horse archers. Try variants of the Roman maniples using whatever heavy infantry you'd prefer. Some of those handy Anatolian/Cappadocian axemen like someone else suggested are also great auxiliaries.

[tls5669]

thats not always the case. sometimes there is are multiple stacks just outside your vicninty and you want to get int the city asap so you can have an advantage defending your newly acquired settlement.

^^^^^^^What he said!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

thats not always the case. sometimes there is are multiple stacks just outside your vicninty and you want to get int the city asap so you can have an advantage defending your newly acquired settlement.

Ah, sorry. I forgot to mention I'm talking from the point of view of the invincible Imperial Makedonian Army.

Perhaps the best example of this is in regards to the Eleutheroi super-stacks of Central Europe.

Good idea. One of my three armies is sitting idly in Pella, now I'll take the opportunity to conquer the Noricene! I got badly obliterated by these guys as the Carthies, but I don't think they can deal with a phalanx army that bears the spear of Achilleus. Onward to glory!