What makes playing Saka the hardest faction in the game?

[Cute Wolf]

Sauro is definitely "Much" easier than Saka, because they usually expands westward, and facing largely less or unarmoured Sweboz as their chief source of wars... compare than with Saka who face countless Pezhetairoi and Argyraspidai spam, and typically better armoured army...

Yeah, with Saka, you need to properly micromanage your HA to get best effectiveness, but with Sauro, all was too repeatable.... attack gawjam X, let them foolishly run toward you and you decimate them, close in for mop up the higher tier (and better morale) foes, and you won.... I have completed them both (and with Saka, I was archieve world domination... har - har - har....), and I must say, with Sauro, I had built a lot of pile of skull using Sweboz, Aedui, Avernii, and Romans..... the first three was a largely unarmoured levies....

BTW: Saka reform will save your ass.... Hoplitai Hellenikoi FTW, and you'll made the best mix of army at the world!!!

[Tombles]

Sauro is definitely "Much" easier than Saka, because they usually expands westward, and facing largely less or unarmoured Sweboz as their chief source of wars... compare than with Saka who face countless Pezhetairoi and Argyraspidai spam, and typically better armoured army...

I've played two Sauro campaigns (they were my first EB faction, in fact), and neither time has my expansion been primarily westward. Both times I was attacked quickly by the Pahlava, which of course drew me eastward and toward the teeth of the AS. You simply don't have the money early on as the Sauromatae to have much of an army, making beating back the other nomads, and then the phalanxes of the Arche... difficult. Thankfully, Sauromatae bodyguards are gods until their neighbours get their own super-heavy cavalry, and pick up chevrons incredibly fast.

[Cute Wolf]

I've played two Sauro campaigns (they were my first EB faction, in fact), and neither time has my expansion been primarily westward. Both times I was attacked quickly by the Pahlava, which of course drew me eastward and toward the teeth of the AS. You simply don't have the money early on as the Sauromatae to have much of an army, making beating back the other nomads, and then the phalanxes of the Arche... difficult. Thankfully, Sauromatae bodyguards are gods until their neighbours get their own super-heavy cavalry, and pick up chevrons incredibly fast.

So we have a really different approach then, almost everytime I play Sauro, I always pick for the weak first... never try to share a border with my fellow nomads (so they won't attack me), and with no money to be found, I kill those smelly nude barbarians with my arrows... and plunder their allready poor cities... by the way, when you own entire baltic (easily, your enemies had no real counter for HA's and your BG's), you'll start to made some money to spent on Voinos and more HA... after that, just keep enough garrison at the east, and march west, made the Barbarians arrow cushions! - Turn to the east once you got really rich and big...

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

When I played Sauro's a while back, the Saka attacked me about 25 turns in. They completely blitzed the steppe and I was up against armies chock full of HA's and those lancers. Fortunately Sauro BG's are god and I minimalized my losses by sending them in front to absorb arrows