New Roman
Legionary
posted 27 March 2007 16:48
EDT (US)
1 / 11
First of all you must cut off the julii in the north because if you just attack them from the south they will migrate north into gaul and germania and they will reach the marian reforms which make them waaayyy harder to defeat. Then attack the other romans, and then Thrace, then the middle east.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 28 March 2007 13:24
EDT (US)
3 / 11
Well done on managing all that with still some militia hoplites and greek cavalry in the front line! I never go into Italy unless I have all pikes, a few royals and mixed Macedonian heavies and lancers. If it were me then I'd definitely finish off the Romans, Julii first, no matter where they are and whoever's toes you have to tred on along the way. They're too dangerous to leave alone. I usually get rid of Thrace as soon as I can because while they're not particularly strong, they and usually Dacia always end up attacking me and as a result I have to leave large garrisons, who could be fighting elsewhere, in Byzalora and Byzantium. Basically my policy is that if I have to have a border with someone, make it the smallest one possible so that only one city and its garrison are on the front line and in danger - everything behind can be thinned out to enable glorious conquest elsewhere!
Relsis Fejj
Legionary
posted 28 March 2007 22:47
EDT (US)
6 / 11
hah. wow. i actually really like phalanx pikemen though... even though everyone seems to hate them :/
Duke Alexander
Banned
posted 29 March 2007 14:41
EDT (US)
7 / 11
They're perfect in my strategy, which is they hold the frontline, while I have my special pikes in reserve. I looked at Sicily, and there are almost no Scipiian troops in Sicily. Talk about easy conquest, because pretty much all of the Scipii are in Africa.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 30 March 2007 05:41
EDT (US)
8 / 11
I love phalanx pikemen, they're the backbone of any Macedonian army I assemble. You can get them quite early in the game, they're cheap and cheerful and defeat most people at pike-length with ease. I only usually have about four units of Royals to hold the flanks or be in reserve to deal with any major obstacle, such as cavalry generals and they're extremely annoying hit points.
Duke Alexander
Banned
posted 30 March 2007 15:41
EDT (US)
9 / 11
Kinda pointless to even have Royals when your phalangites already have 3 bars+ of experience each. Also, their general is usually dead before he gets to the pikes. Most of the time, they try to flank me, but before they do, they usually hit a wall of horses, MY horses, and the ratio is them 1 unit, me 5-8. So that threat is usually negated once the battle begins.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 31 March 2007 05:19
EDT (US)
10 / 11
I'm only worried about generals bodyguards when fighting in cities, otherwise I'd do the same as you and just counter charge them with a mass of cavalry. They lose about half their men when they first clash with the pikes, but their hit points carry the rest beyond them and things can get a bit sticky for the phalanx when the cavalry are in amongst them. So I favour Royals and their superior defence for this particular job. Also in a Greek campaign I've found it's very effective to have armoured hoplites to absorb the charge and for Spartans to be mixed in with them to attack the generals through the hoplite ranks. When I took Rome in this campaign I had five generals charging me one after the other, but "the Spartan method" massacred them quite cheaply.