Favorite phalanx-based faction?

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Are you kidding me? The phalanx is utterly immune from missile attacks from the front. It provides a steady anchor on the battlefield that the Nomads don't have and which can harbour your own archers and cavalry to safely decimate the enemy from protected positions. No Nomad can beat the combination of early game Pantodapoi Phalangitai and Nizagan-Ehranshar sticked together.

[antisocialmunky]

Are you kidding me? The phalanx is utterly immune from missile attacks from the front. It provides a steady anchor on the battlefield that the Nomads don't have and which can harbour your own archers and cavalry to safely decimate the enemy from protected positions. No Nomad can beat the combination of early game Pantodapoi Phalangitai and Nizagan-Ehranshar sticked together.

The Nomads don't have to win each battle. They attack, use up all their arrows and withdraw to attack you next turn... etc.

[satalexton]

That or take you on a wild goose chase, then charge you from all four directions when you're tired, thirsty, and demoralized.....

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

That's what it comes down to: the AI is too stupid for using attrition techniques, while you can simply reply them in kind with them being incapable of chasing your archers, fruitlessly shooting at the front of the phalanx and predictably losing the duel vs. the foot archers. You don't have to chase them, that's stupid.

[antisocialmunky]

That or take you on a wild goose chase, then charge you from all four directions when you're tired, thirsty, and demoralized.....

Why bother with that when you can do that on the campaign map with nothing but arrows?

[Lupu]

Because it makes you feel bad, and in most cases you don't have the time. I mean, steppe factions agains the phalanx AI feels like total cheating. 2 saka bodyguard units can smash a powerful seleukid half stack, seriously. I did it at least: 2 saka normal family member bodyguards vs 1 seleukid general, 1 syrian archers, 2 persian spearmen, 1 eastern skirmishers, 2 klerouch phalangitai and 2 argyraspidai. It started that I thought I had lost nisa, so I sent those gens to wear them down, and it ended with a victory, something like 900 kills, and 40 losses
The AI does completely stupid things, like when phalanx units are exhausted, they somehow manage to lift up the pikes right before I charge, or even countercharge with swords.

[ARCHIPPOS]

2 saka bodyguard units can smash a powerful seleukid half stack, seriously. I did it at least: 2 saka normal family member bodyguards vs 1 seleukid general, 1 syrian archers, 2 persian spearmen, 1 eastern skirmishers, 2 klerouch phalangitai and 2 argyraspidai. It started that I thought I had lost nisa, so I sent those gens to wear them down, and it ended with a victory, something like 900 kills, and 40 losses

God Damn i need to crash those Seleukids like that too

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

On the OP,

Playing as Pontos, I felt that they were a bit of a militarily weak faction. I mean, lucky thing is that they get a lot of Galatian and Hellenic regionals, because otherwise their roster is a bit limited. They're like an ersatz successor: instead of large armies of Medium and Elite Phalanxes supported by Heavy Cavalry, Pontos gets ersatz Pezhetairoi (Pantodapoi Phalangitai play a disproportionate amount in their battle line), ersatz Argyraspides (Chalkaspides, an overpriced Hysterioi Pezhetairoi), ersatz pseudo-Thorakitai and finally ersatz Hetairoi (Their late bodyguard Pontikoi Strategoi).

Nevertheless their campaign placement makes them a very fun faction, but I wouldn't count on their armies. I only really liked the Galatians and made sure I recruited tons of these because that's about the only "good" and sometimes the only "cost-effective" thing I could place in a Pontic Army.

And Harmata Drepanephora are useless.

[king of thracia]

Are you kidding me? The phalanx is utterly immune from missile attacks from the front. It provides a steady anchor on the battlefield that the Nomads don't have and which can harbour your own archers and cavalry to safely decimate the enemy from protected positions. No Nomad can beat the combination of early game Pantodapoi Phalangitai and Nizagan-Ehranshar sticked together.

I prefer to tech to and import heavy persian archers (thanvare parsig) from regions slightly to the south. But I cede the Saka frontier towns to Baktria. Those towns don't pay for their own defense