Questions on Sauromatae gameplay

[Iain.]

What I found worked was just have one army and keep attacking places.

I usually take Dayhu Yugra, Dayhu Thissakata, Maeotis, Aghvan, Taurike Chersonesos, Bosporion Tyrranesis and Scythia as quickly as I can.

By this time you're making plenty of money.

Also, always starve them out, never try and storm their city.

[athanaric]

Also, always starve them out, never try and storm their city.

You can, but it requires a lot of micro and your FMs will have to endure quite a bit of punishment, as they are your only "town square assault" units in early game - the light HAs will get butchered by any kind of infantry (moreso as cavalry is already bugged in cities).

[Cambyses]

Well, I actually played a Sauro campaign to the end. Money is tight at the beginning but its no different to any other uncivilized faction really. Expand to 6 territories and then disband all your expensive troops. Sarmatian archers and family members are all you need for garrisons. Keep one half stack of horse archers around ready for conquest and defence though. I didnt go down the FM uber-stack route as it seems cheesy, the sarmatian horse archers are enough most of the time. Later the Nobles and the roxolanni riders are great to add more oomph, but the horse-archers should always remain the centre of your army. A couple of settlements to the north and east can produce mine. Get them and build them - after that you can start looking at recruiing more expensive units. The second era of trouble arrives when teh Saka attack. No walls in nomadic areas makes defending settlements tough but fun. And the distances you must travel compound the problem. But it is a winnable war. Just use targeted shooting and you can beat the Saka full stacks. Its not always easy as you will almost always have an inferior quality army. But be cautios and engage on your own terms and it should work out ok. One trick I learnt is never to use infantry except when defending settlements. A fast offensive army is an effective offensive army.

Please advise then.

I can only think that you have too many soldiers. Disband a lot of them and wait till your economy is ok before pushing forward again. The nobles especially are very expensive luxury troops and should never be purchased until you can afford to maintain them.

Also, infrastructure is more important to your long term success than troops.

[artaxerxes]

I'm playing a Sauro campaign where I try to RP being Attila (I know I'm a little early, but nevermind that). I just kept going southwest, moving capitol after every few conquests to keep up and blitzed the Getai. Wasnt as hard as I thought (though the battles went from impossibly easy to quite annoying when there suddenly was deep forest all around. had a nice fight on the bridge near Kallatis, tho - 2000 dead Getai and no real losses of mine, I know its kinda unfair, but its just so hilarious). I dont find money to be a problem, as long as you dont live beyond your means. I went into debt only once and that was making a two-pronged strike into Getai territory (one from the north and one from the east - one small FM army to take their cities, while a huge no-FM HA stack kept their main armies occupied, attacking and leaving hundreds dead by arrow each time and retreating itself when the arrows had run out. but having two armies put me into debt - until the HA stack was ripped apart in a dreadful battle outside of Buridava or whatsitsname - that solved my economy ;D).
Currently, I have plans to push my borders even more south. The Maks have Serdike, but Epeiros (my allies) have their capitol, so Serdike is isolated. Tylis is Eleutheroi, so I could take both and Kallatis and Naisos would no longer be border towns. Also i'm vary of the Sweboz - I dont want more wars without elite troops, cos HA armies are too complicated in a forest setting and it gets annoying. On the other hand, I'm RP'ing Dacia as my centre of operations, so Greece and Germany are the two areas I can expand into - or I could be ecompletely weirdo and take Byzantion and then attack Pontos. But that would be a lot of fighting without lessening the width of my main borders and I dont have the forces for that.

[Liberator]

I have a question regarding Allied Client States; I read that they require indegenous settlements - what does that mean?
I didn't had the option to build one in most provinces I conquered so far - I usually destroy all non-Sauromatae buildings once I conquer a new province, might that be an issue (as it may eradicate the ' indegenous' settlement) ?

[athanaric]

I have a question regarding Allied Client States; I read that they require indegenous settlements - what does that mean?
I didn't had the option to build one in most provinces I conquered so far - I usually destroy all non-Sauromatae buildings once I conquer a new province, might that be an issue (as it may eradicate the ' indegenous' settlement) ?

"Indigenous Settlements" are the same thing as "Military Occupation" for other factions. Which means you can and should build them always and everywhere (+5% law bonus for 200 mnai is spectacularly efficient and you'll need it anyway). They even come with a prettier symbol than the "Military Occupation" of other factions. You'll need to destroy all previous foreign government structures though (Types I-IV, Nomadism, Pastoralism or whatever else).


By the way, technically speaking there is also Yaghnobi as a second survivor of NE Iranian languages. Another one spoken in Hungary died out a few centuries ago, which is a real shame.

[Liberator]

"Indigenous Settlements" are the same thing as "Military Occupation" for other factions. Which means you can and should build them always and everywhere (+5% law bonus for 200 mnai is spectacularly efficient and you'll need it anyway). They even come with a prettier symbol than the "Military Occupation" of other factions. You'll need to destroy all previous foreign government structures though (Types I-IV, Nomadism, Pastoralism or whatever else).

Well, I have figured that out so far while conquering the Caucasus.
But still - I found no way to build a client state in the two Crimean provinces, for instance. Only normadism and pastoralism available there for me while the recruitment viewer tells me that I could recruit Greek Classical Hoplites there, for instance.