Saka AAR(s), Research, or something

[vonsch]

Red

The color of the storm that comes at dawn,
of fire, of mare's blood freshly drawn,
of ink marks measuring treasuries,
of sunsets painting inland seas,
and peaks!
Or a maiden's wind-chapped cheeks.
We the Saka Rauka ride,
a hornbow strapped to saddle. Hide
your cattle, women, hoarded gold
and pray to your heathen gods grown cold,
we come to make the world anew,
we the hardy, swift, though few,
our horses hooves flash warning, run!
Our blood sings with the hunt, our fun
is riding down your scattered hosts,
our dust tail is the shroud of ghosts.
Hide behind your high stone walls,
our trumpets sound, a tower falls,
as circling, circling, we go round,
til thunder fades, and the only sound
is popping coals of dimming fire,
and the cold, cold wind that lifts our gyre.



"Blasphemy! You would leave the steppes for decadence and walls! Our ancestors writhe! Our gods glare! How dare you even think it!"

It was exactly as I expected. What prophet is smiled upon by the present? But I had a dream, a dream of a people so vast we numbered more than the horses in the great herd. More, almost, than the stalks of grass that dance in the morning breeze out there beyond the circle where we sit, a vast expanse of sky and grass and... nothing more. Except the herd, but that is behind me, near the lake.

But the spies' reports of green expanses, trees, cities so large it took much of a day to ride around the walls, riches for the taking, these seeded the open plain of my dream with new life. There we could take, our horses could thrive, our daughers could bear many riders. And with the years we could ride west into the sunset to new lands, new pastures, new prey for the hunt.


Plan (attempt) A:

I will lead our people south. It will be a great migration, not a raid. We will leave a few here, to mind the mother herd. Once we find new pastures we will send for them. Then, when we have grown the herd, we will hunt!







(You can see the movement speed dropping as the force gets exhausted. Not moving the whole movement amount helps, but may be better to just rest a season, haven't tested. And certain seasons really hit movement hard too.)


Commentary:

For the record: BI exe, VH/M, FOW off. Too lost in all those mountains to play with it on still, not many passes and it's a LONG move. A trip up the wrong valley would probably mean a restart. And don't expect any fighting until I am hitting the first cities in my new home. I'll turn FOW back on then. (And, yes, too lazy to switch it on and off constantly!) No house rules except learn all I can about how this faction works (which presumably will apply to other nomadic factions too.)

The Saka victory conditions are very much those of a nomadic raiding culture: to capture a large number of regions, but without any need to hold any of them. They must simply have, at one point, held the city. And they must amass a treasury of 500,000 mnai in the process of capturing all these cities. (It's too bad we can't actually horde... yet.) There are probably several ways to accomplish this. One would be to simple use the usual: build, capture, build, capture, repeat route to a large empire that includes all of these regions. However, the enemy will probably make this difficult for a culture that's based on cavalry. The more sensible route is to establish some sort of a semi-permanent base that can be defended with cavalry away from the city itself, and then use that to build up a huge herd (and population) to support raiding armies. It may also be possible to do it in truly nomadic fashion: use the captured cities to rebuild armies briefly, then move on. It's unclear (to me, at the moment) whether the faction can continue without any cities. If so, that's a very interesting idea too.

The Saka get some benefits to their leaders to make the raiding less difficult too. If they are in the field, at war, and creating devastation, that offsets their upkeep costs to some degree. That can trim their operating costs, but they still need places to recruit. In their original home there were no mercenaries available at all.

A problem is I can't even see the government alternatives at this point. It would be nice to have some documentation on those. The existing FAQs say we get no type 1 or type 2, but doesn't tell anything about what type 3 or type 4 alternatives there might be. I can see "Migration" (Rataextae) in the Sulek list, though it's Sauromatae in the text it's probably the same for Saka. That's one. "Indigenous Settlements" may be another (the other?) That's present in the list for Chighu.

But my plan for this first attempt is to spend all my starting funds on the most basic horse archer units, and the remainder on diplomats. Then leave a foot-archer in Chighu and simply leave. Of course, a few family members will spawn there unless I have another city, and they will be trailing behind. With this couple of short stacks of family and horse archers (I disbanded all the more expensive noble varieties), I plan to move through Baktria southward, then turn back east into India. The first city I plan to hit is Kophen. From there Taksashile and the two farther south. All are part of the victory goals in any case, but they should make a good base with some room to defend the cities in the field. Kophen guards one pass in, so that city can be a forward defensive base until I'm ready to really start raiding. The Seleukids will be the main enemy, I suspect, and having the Baktrians and some Eleutheroi as a buffer won't hurt.

I may be overrecruiting. But since this is my first try at this strategy (or any Saka strategy), I prefer to have too much force to too little. I can't recruit more without restarting. I may need the numbers to hold the first Indian city too. I recruited 4 more horse archer units over the starting ones, and 2 diplomats. That was as far as the 5000 mnai would go. I might have destoyed some buildings for a bit more, but then would probably not be able to hold Chihgu, and not sure what that would mean at this stage. Risky as it is. If Baktra or Pahlava decides to take it, I can't do anything. A Pahlava force was at the Sogdiane-Kangha when I crossed the bridge. I had made peace with them by then, but was worried they would attack anyway. I could deal with them, but it would have cost me. And for no profit.

I sent my original diplomat south then west making trade agreements and signing ceasefires with all the enemies I inherited. Until the move is accomplished I prefer to avoid unnecessary war. Baktra is tempting as a target, but that would probably be a disaster in the long run. Better to hold off until I have something to the east to base from. I can't afford losses since I will be very deep into red ink (thus the title). I will shamlessly sell trade rights, maps, alliances, pet rocks, anything! I don't expect I'll get much to offset the bleeding, but it sure will not hurt. Since I will be at peace, I won't get the devastation benefits either... yet.

All the enemies have agreed to ceasefires and trade rights, at least. Farther west they are all interested in alliances too, but a lot are poor at this stage and will not give much if anything to sweeten the deal. I hope the Greeks and Italians are better.



269 BC, early summer: I, Sapalbuzes, leader of the herd, stand outside the walls of what is called Kohpen. It nestles in a valley surrounded by white-peaked mountains, like a single large egg in an untidy eagle's nest. My spy tells me it is not a large city. That is obvious to me, as it's not much large than Chighu. But it has a wooden wall, perhaps to keep in the cattle or to keep the noble's daughters from ranging afield, and there are more buildings than Chighu. I see no sign of horses. The spy reports the garrison is foot archers and throwers of spears. We shall invite them to come out to meet us. Our horses are not fond of closed-in places with more shadow than sun, more stink than fresh breeze. The riders are weary after the years of the movement. The rest will do them well while we wait. The scouts report the second herd is not yet to Baktra. It probably will not arrive in time for this hunt, which will probably happen in the spring. But they too are reported to be exhausted and moving slowly. The horses need rest. And the riders.

My granddaughter Vasula wishes to marry. Twice young riders have approached me to discuss the subject. I have turned them away, saying "None shall marry until we reach our new pastures!" She is 15, still young enough that a year or two of waiting will not harm her chances of many children.



Commentary: I didn't let my granddaughter marry while traveling. While it would mean another unit of heavy cav, I'd also be paying upkeep. And she can marry later. If the prospects had been really good, I might have let her. They weren't. She didn't need those lazy bums! As it is I had one grandson come of age too. And he's making the trek from Chighu solo. One more set of tresspasses against Baktria. In retrospect, it might be better to wait for all the initial build to finish before heading south. That way there would be fewer little pinpricks in the relationship with Baktria at this stage. But it will probably be an early one to go in any case. I suspect they will not like me in Kohpen.

Another thing to consider is besieging these cities with fewer units to tempt the garrison to sortie. WIth horse archers I can shoot them up and retreat if necessary, then come back next season and besiege them again so they can't reinforce. If they sortie immediately the first time, at worst it's one season of delay in the siege. It might also allow me to storm with minimal losses with a large force. That strikes me as very Eastern tactics also. They used lots of ploys, traps and ambushes, with the feigned retreat a favored one.

But in this case the timing is fine. If I had amassed the whole force into one larger army first, it would make sense to try to move up the schedule at Kophen with a trick. But it should be starved into submission, or sallying, before the rest of the herd arrives.

269 BC, winter: Word has come of a battle at Chighu. It seems a wandering band of riders decided to sack it. The garrison fought to the last man, but we are now truly homeless.

Commentary: Clearly can't even pseudo-horde. Losing last settlement means finis. I lost first battle as I had no idea how the movement in that city works and it has not even a pallisade. Trying the battle from a save. Next time I try this from scratch I'll leave two archers and my come-of-age grandson there until an alternate home is secure. Also, might be worth building a pallisade and one fewer unit. Heh, that was THE turn Kophen was to sortie too, or starve.

Interesting, after the reload they never attacked. Some randomness in that decision, it's clear.

It's also clear that there are problems with this strategy. While I hold Kophen, even after exterminating the population and destroying all buildings that I can that I know I won't need (which is most, since it doesn't hurt to lost the culture penalties on lower tier buildings), I am 48,220 mnai in the red. I doubt I can get into the black by doing the same to all three of the large cities to the east. And that means I have to abandon them since I can't install any sort of government. While it might be possible to pull something out of this, it's unlikely. So, back to a fresh start. Chalk this up to learning.

At least it's clear that the bodyguard cavalry can play the role of real workhorse in the early stage. I'm not sure much archer support is required. So, one alternate possibilty is scrap all but a garrison for Chighu and use the family as a raiding force. It's a free force on enemy soil (though not sure this applies to "rebel" lands... easily tested.)

I think a move to Sulek is the way to create a base to support an army. It looks like it can be prosperous, though it also looks like it may be a target for Baktria. It's on the silk road.

Will restart and return as Plan (attempt) B in another post.

Another lesson learned: Besieging a settlement allows the riders to recover from exhaustion. So they can ride hard and rest while waiting for a sortie, but need to be careful about early sorties while still exhausted.

(working on the links to screenies... back to thumbnails, I guess)

[Morte66]

It may also be possible to do it in truly nomadic fashion: use the captured cities to rebuild armies briefly, then move on.

I'm very intereted in how this works out, because I'd like to try a nomadic/migration game some time.

A problem is I can't even see the government alternatives at this point. It would be nice to have some documentation on those. The existing FAQs say we get no type 1 or type 2, but doesn't tell anything about what type 3 or type 4 alternatives there might be. I can see "Migration" (Rataextae) in the Sulek list, though it's Sauromatae in the text it's probably the same for Saka. That's one. "Indigenous Settlements" may be another (the other?) That's present in the list for Chighu.

Try the approach that was suggested to me in this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=82111

That worked out pretty well.

Another thing to consider is besieging these cities with fewer units to tempt the garrison to sortie. WIth horse archers I can shoot them up and retreat if necessary, then come back next season and besiege them again so they can't reinforce.

I used to do that with the Sarmatians in the Rome Total Realism mod, and it worked well. I've used it with the Getae a bit in EB (see my AAR) to decent effect. I think the ideal would be to have two armies taking turns, attacking every single season to minimise the effects of them regenerating etc.

My only worry was that if you kill 150 for no loss then withdraw it's counted as a "close defeat" so you might pick up negative traits, but I don't think that's happening. My king is a miserable psycopath, but he was heading that way at the start...

Do you have one unit of infantry who can work a ram? If not you'll have to starve them, or get tricky. You may know this already, but you win a siege if...
- They sally and you rout their entire army simultaneously
- You follow a routing unit closely to get through the gate, and then get sole occupation of the square for three minutes
- A relief army attacks you and brings the garrison out as reinforcements, and you kill absolutely everyone in thaty battle leaving the city with zero garrison then take it without fighting.

I've had quick cavalry conquests with all three.

Interesting, after the reload they never attacked. Some randomness in that decision, it's clear.

Yep.

[vonsch]

Plan B: Take and improve Sulek to create a depot. Chighu is too poor with only livestock as a resource. Sulek has iron, copper, precious metals, more livestock than Chighu, stone quarries, timber, clothes & dyes, and a wonder. And it's on the silk road. It also has a larger population. It's also better positioned to expand into Baktria, but that works both ways. The garrison is not horse archers, which means lower losses, but with this strategy that's not as important. The towns to the west in thesteppes are all steppes cultures, and all cavalry, which means high losses. And the rewards are miniscule. At some point they will have to be sacked, but they aren't worth developing unless there is a reason to use them to recruit (which there may be later.)
Gava Saka does have four copper deposits, I see. It might pay to take that too. But it's cavalry, so it will probably cost more to conquer.

First steps, then, will be to consolidate these scattered family members and disband some units (especially the Early Saka Nobles) to avoid large red ink. Instead of building units, the starting mnai can go to building some things in Chighu to boost income as much as possible. Or to improve future recruiting there. Also, the diplomat will head out to do the usual, make peace for now, sell maps, make alliances where they make sense. Everything east of the Caspian and Red Sea are the victory targets, so that's a consideration in alliances.

Also, need to move the one spy up to report on Sulek, though we'll starve that garrison into the open. I prefer fighting my cav outside in most situations. No room to charge or skirmish in the streets. After scouting Sulek, the spy will be my early warning system for Baktrian incursions. Won't be able to afford towers for some time.

For the moment I won't be hitting Eleutheroi outside my own lands or target lands. Better to leave them as buffers for the Baktrians and Parthians.

Oxyboakes, the family member 2 seasons out from Sulek, by far the closest, can start pestering them. He has one horse archer unit with him. It will take about two years just to get everyone to Sulek. It's a shame to disband these experienced troops, but I can recuit fresh ones cheaper than the support I'd pay to get the others home.

All the Ksava Saka Rauka family have the "Lives on the move" trait. That hurts them as governors, but helps them as raiders. It gives them +20% movement, 10% bonus when looting, +1 command attacking and +2 leading cavalry, but -1 to farming output and -10% to taxes and trade. I suspect I'll want to marry some granddaughters to men from other families/cultures to find some governors.

After the above steps, the bleeding is about 1500 mnai per turn. Sulek has no walls either, and takes 4 turns to starve. But I expect a sortie since the besieging force is one family member and one horse archer unit. The faction leader and his three HA units are still a year away, if not more due to exhaustion. The faction heir is another season or two behind. Distances are by themselves challenging.

But they also are a defensive buffer.


272 BC, late summer:

My King,

As we expected the Sulekites are not pleased with our presence in their pastures. They have come forth to greet us with weapons in hand. As you ordered, we extracted a tribute in blood before retreating. Then when they carried off their dead and returned to their loving sheep, we returned. We will continue with our play until you arrive. Do not tarry, My King, for I fear we may run short of game for your hunt.

By my scribe's hand, this day outside Sulek,

Oxyboakes


Oxy is an optimist. The garrison has too many archers to do this without taking casualties. And the one cav unit is, of course, equipped with bows too. I took out 4 times what I lost, but too many of the losses were my horse archers to sustain it. So just have to be patient while the FL rides in. The bait and scoot tactic works best when you have both mobility and range on the poor target. In this case, I have neither at least until the cavalry is wiped out, and it's not a wimp unit. I mostly chewed up archers with my family bodyguard. But this garrison is a lot more managable than the ones in the steppes to the west! Those are almost pure cavalry, and archers to boot.

Morte66: Thanks for the comments. I may have to resort to the cheat codes to figure out what's what with governments. I'm not even at the stage of wondering about units... yet.

Sulek doesn't even have a wall. The problem is just being outnumbered 4:1 at the moment. And they are decent units. I do know the siege tricks for horse archer armies. But I don't know these units well yet. The basic Sarmatian Horse Archers are lower on ammo than I'm used to and more vulnerable to return fire. And the foot archers are tougher than the plain RTW ones by quite a bit. Despite repeated overruns with the impressive bodyguards, I didn't rout a single unit of them. I did cause a lot of casualties though. I suspect the unit sizes are part of the issue.

As far as the nomad play goes, without hordes we will always need a stable base. Otherwise the risk is the loss of the last settlement before the next one is taken and end-of-game. But it can be simulated to a degree with a city or two as a permanent base. It's nice to not have to hold regions (aside from a base).

[vonsch]

271 BC, spring:

Dearest Odatis,

I fear I am getting old for this. I have arrived at Sulek and joined up with Oxyboakes. I am exhausted! It's small consolation that the riders and horses are also. We await Aryandes who follows, so will have some time to recover.

I hear from the master of the purse that we are not going into debt quite as fast of late. Perhaps the wealth of Sulek can return a smile to his face. While I know little of this merchanting and trade, I know tis nice to be able to purchase a fine new stud or mare. There is a fine market here and the horses, of which we have seen but few thus far, are reputed to be fine and strong. A scout says there is also a fine hunting ground to the north. Perhaps, when we are recovered, we will slip away for a bit of hunting there.

What news from the west? Did Shafar secure an alliance with the Baktrians? Oh, to seduce them away from the Seleukieans! But, in any event, any such alliance would be a mere convenience. They stand astride our path west.

We expect to ride into Sulek late summer. I shall send for you then.

Send me news of the new colts when you hear!

Sapalbizes




THIS is not good. I hope they don't come east to Sulek. I don't see how I can beat that with what I have and with my ever-more-negative balance. If they do move on Sulek, it may be that Saka needs to keep all the starting troops and hire more, and go more negative, before things settle down a bit.

They are, for the moment, just blocking the pass. I can live with that.


271 BC, fall:

My King,

I have concluded talks with the Parthians. They have agreed to pay a small sum of mnai for peace, for trade rights, and for some scratchings on a skin I convinced them was a map of the east. It's a mere 300 mnai total, but it's mnai! They appear rather poor, in fact. I brought up the subject of an alliance, but they would not discuss it. More fools they.

I shall continue on southwestward from Kiat. Perhaps I can secure an additional sum from the Seleukeians, though they seem to hold us in less than high esteem.

I received word that you are yet camped outside Sulek, but expect to be camped inside before winter is over. May Urmaysde shine upon you! May Druvaspa ride at your side!

Ever in your service,

Shafar



Commentary: Sulek has fallen to me at a cost of about 30 (more) horse archers. That leaves me 7500 mnai in the red with, after disbanding the foot archer unit that was garrisoning Chighu, about 80 mnai net income. As a test I deleted the Migration, and am allowed to build a migration now. So it's something I can use, presumably government or a governmental "structure," but the wording in the text changed from Sarmatian to Saka. So I don't know if I have to use my own or can use "thiers." And I am about 10000 mani from finding out. I think I will restore the old one and wait to test when I have the mnai.

I hope to earn that flogging maps. I don't see any other settlement that I can grab, at the moment, but my spy might find a Baktrian that's undergarrisoned if I want to start a war. But that's two years of travel since my shortcut is blocked by that stack of Eleutheroi that I can't beat with what I have (I don't think... can't catch the darned HA with my bodyguard). So best plan is probably flogging maps and patience. And praying that no rebels decide either town is inviting. Oh, negative population growth in Sulek. Hmm. Not good. Need more income to hold even. Chighu is growing a little, and there's another building queued that may help a bit more there. Not sure what its net effect will be on growth.

What I need is a husband for my granddaughter that can learn to be a decent governor! *Prays to Ssandramata*

Aha! Restoring the Migration put Sulek back at zero growth (instead of -1%). So I can gain some ground while flogging trade agreements and maps.

Caught in a bit of a Catch-22. I might be able to take another Eleutheroi town if I didn't have to keep a garrison in Sulek. But that bandit stack, which I can't whip is creating unrest which forces me to keep a larger garrison. So I wait, and pray.


270BC, summer:

My King,

I have met with the Seleukids. While they wished peace and trade, they would pay no tributes, nor even a mild bribe. Alliance was not a subject to broach. For all their size, they pled poverty. Perhaps their wars aflict their purse as much as their enemies. Still, their cities are reupted to be large and surely they have much wealth. Perhaps we should extract our due tribute directly.

I travel on. I had hoped to send a modest amount of mnai to aid you, but perhaps after meeting with the next 'client.' It may be spring before that takes place. It is difficult to cross these passes in the winter.

As always, your servant.

Shafar

[vonsch]

265 BC, spring:

After years of little success with collecting tributes in the west, and more grandsons to support, I decided we needed to find another manner to settle these old debts. So, taking my sons and grandsons, except for a governor for each province, we headed west into the steppes to see what would be the will of the gods. We came upon Gava-Sake, a small settlement in an area with promise, but little present riches. We wrested it from a small troop of bandits and made it ours. Alas, while we increased our grazeland, we did little to pay down the debts. And the husband of my granddaughter lies here, leaving me no greatgrandsons.

Commentary: The Eleutheroi were getting a bit frisky anyway, so I decided to take the battle to them. One invading force, a small one, fortunately, was eliminated on the southwest edge of the lake at Chighu. From there I sent the five family members west. The garrison of Gava-Sake was only 5 units, mostly horse archers, and I just autoresolved into a victory (chasing them all over the tactical map would be too much of a chore with only my heavy cav). I destroyed one building that's redundant (Chighu can be the production center once I'm no longer broke!) for 800 mnai. I'm eyeing the rest too. Still almost 5000 in the red. Just can't seem to get anything for trade rights, maps or alliances, though I can usually arrange trade rights for free, and occasionally and alliance. The diplomat is on the east coast of the Adriatic where there is a huddle of other diplomats.

But this third region will do the trick if I can hold out a couple more years. And if I don't let my grandaughters marry and not too many grandsons come of age!

263 BC, summer:

Sapalbizes has died. After the years of struggle to pay off the debts, he never saw the day we achieved freedom. If he had lasted one more season he would have. Such is fate. I, Aryandes, will carry on with his dream. Soon we will build new corrals and train new riders. It will yet be years, but the worst is past.

263 BC, fall:

Today we burned the last proof of debt. And with the remaining mnai, we established Indiginous Settlements in Sulek to appease the local population, hoping to make them more useful. There is rumor they might provide fighting men of some worth, given time and training. We also trained a new diplomat to remain close to home. His first order will be to secure an alliance with the Baktrians, to give us time to select riders and train garrison troops, perhaps even build stockades around our settlements. Word comes from Shafar who roams in far lands, as far as the western sea. From lands he calls Gaulish, he reports some small success in both securing alliances and trading agreements, along with some small tributes.

262 BC, summer:

A third Eleutheroi force assaulted Sulek this summer. It was a heroic battle. Only two of the original four troops of horse archers remain and they are battered. Every arrow we possessed was fired. Every blade shows nicks. But we held against twice our numbers. Perhaps there is some use in those walls. It would at least keep us off the cursed streets that lead everywhere but where we try to ride! I have decided it is not walls that are evil constructions, but streets!

But we admire the courage of the raiders. Down to 5 men, the general would not retreat from his attack. He came on until our arrows were spent. When my bodyguard and I finally charged the remnants, they died to a man. No quarter was pled. I hope all our enemies shall not be this stalwart or victory's price may cost us more than we can pay!



Conquest of Sulek


3rd defense of Sulek (Never say quit!)


The memorial erected for a valiant foe!

(Some of the horse archers they brought got away earlier... and a few odd spearmen too.)


260 BC, spring:

My King,

The thaws of the peak ice has apparently released yet another flood of Eleutheroi. Miyika is out of position to give detailed reports, but Sulek is expecting another siege this summer. Well, assault. With no pallisade, siege is stretching a word into the shape of a waterlogged hide. The two units of riders are still on their way back from retraining replacements in Chighu, I understand, but we trained more foot archers and Moga, my 19-year-old nephew, has arrived with his bodyguards. I believe we can fight them off one more time. Once that is done I intend to invest some of these profits from the silk road caravans in a tower up in the pass through which I believe these raiding parties arrive. With your permission, of course. That large bandit army reported years ago bases up in that pass. Our loyal spy, Miyika, reports that army is hiding across the border in Baktria these last years.

Miyika also has disturbing reports from Baktria. Theodotos Baktrios wintered in a forest to our southwest about two seasons march from our border. But he reports they appear to be conducting training, or a hunt. They have made no further movement in our direction. Included is a list of the troops he has observed. It is not a small army.

I hear the new diplomat (I have not yet learned his name) has had no success in arranging an alliance with Theodotos.

I shall write again in the fall, or sooner if I have news of the battle. Or if you hear nothing by winter, it might be best to send a new governor. Rest assured, the price for my life will be high, that is my oath to you.

Your faithful brother and servant,

Oxyboakes





Oxyboakes's Situation Map
(To the SW is Theodolos. The Eleuthians are just west of Sulek. The replacement troops are NW on the road.)


Miyika's Report on Theodotos


Our Faithful Spy



Prince and Brother,

The two units of riders are indeed retrained and sent back to you. I hope they arrive in time to be of use again. They are become examples for the youths in courage and proficiency. Already the chanters are composing lines for that great victory of yours! I should be envious. But I'm too busy trying to flatten what little silver we have so that it covers more projects.

Can no one there design one of those infernal walls you wrote of? As much as it will make the old zealots whine, I do believe you are right in that one would be useful. It seems the silk road is a path for bandits. Perhaps you can find one of the natives who has seen it done? Or find a Baktrian to bribe? If these bandit raids are to be regular, we must be prepared, but you cannot yet support a force large enough to make them wary.

The news of Theodotos is indeed worrying. We have not a spare troop at present, and one would be the same as none in the face of that, I fear. But I have a plan... If word comes that he has moved towards the pass, two of our sons and their bodyguards can also move into the pass from Wasun Yabgu to Kangha. The Baktrian garrison at Bin-kath is reported to be very small. I am confident that they can take the town. But it is not my intention to do that, so much as to pose the threat should Theodolos threaten you. I know that is no great comfort, directly, but it may prevent him from going further. From Bin-kath they might well strike at Marakando, and perhaps even Baktra itself, if those garrisons are also small, as they have been reported to be in recent years.

Should the worst happen, do slip away into the mountains. I need you more than I need Sulek, though I desperately need Sulek!

News just in from Baktra! Either diplomacy is beginning to show results, or the new diplomat, Arta, is a prodigy! When he met with Theodotos's council (since Theo is still in the field on maneuvers, they said) and offered them the latest maps of the far west, they presented him with a pouch containing 2067 mnai! There, build your tower!

I want to believe this bodes well, but I keep remembering that steppe-rider saying, "Beware Greeks horsing about with gifts." Keep scouts patrolling the passes!

We will yet ride around the high stone walls of Taksashila, my brother!

Aryandes, King of the Saka






Aryandes Contingency Plan

[Tuuvi]

I was going to write a Saka AAR, but you beat me to it. Oh well, I guess there's room for two .

EDIT:After reading I see you have taken a different aproach, very nice.

A problem is I can't even see the government alternatives at this point. It would be nice to have some documentation on those. The existing FAQs say we get no type 1 or type 2, but doesn't tell anything about what type 3 or type 4 alternatives there might be. I can see "Migration" (Rataextae) in the Sulek list, though it's Sauromatae in the text it's probably the same for Saka. That's one. "Indigenous Settlements" may be another (the other?) That's present in the list for Chighu.

Nomadic governments work differently from the other factions. instead of having governments, you first build migration, which represents your people moving into the province. After you choose your way of life, pastoral or nomadic. Nomadic governments allow you to recruit all of your HAs, but they do not let you build walls or farms, and you can only upgrade your market to a very low level. Pastoral governments only let you recruit elite HAs, but you have a wider choice of foot troops and can build palisades and low level farms, and you can upgrade your markets a little higher than with nomadic governments.

[Morte66]

Again, this might be things you already know, but I hope it's useful...

The diplomat is on the east coast of the Adriatic where there is a huddle of other diplomats.

You do better if your influence is higher than theirs, so the last thing a diplomat should do is haggle with other professional negotiators. Send him up to those little troop detachments with captains, or small towns with no family members inside.

It would at least keep us off the cursed streets that lead everywhere but where we try to ride!

Man, you can say that again. *fume*


I like palisades. They let you chose when to fight. And raiders often just wander off if they find a palisade (this happened in history too).


Do you have any road trade worth talking about? Would you actually lose much if bandits interrupted it?