As a Rome: Total War player, I am most effective with, and happiest with the Seleucid Empire. I consider myself, if not a master, than at least very well versed in the use of phalanx warfare in any situation. Seleucid 1.5x man count for pikes, their long length pikes, and their amazing cavalry make them half impossible to beat when i command a battle personally (except when I sent almost 1000 Levy Pikemen screaming into a town center to kill 40 Urban cohort that survived a prolonged arrow barrage. The Urban Cohort routed my entire army, but I digress). When playing as the Seleucid Empire, Egypt is by no means an easy foe, but it is a simple one to destroy, albeit by a lengthy defensive process involving the bridges over the Nile and massive quantities of pikes and archers.
That being said, I started playing Rome as the House of Scipii, whom I still love today. I'd like to get around to finishing a campaign with them, and taking control of Rome. There's just one problem: Egypt. Usually, I expand along the coasts of the Mediterranean, taking Greece, Carthage, Rhodes, Cyprus, Crete, etc. This generally gives me a strong naval-based trading empire to fund my lengthy wars. Except Egypt always seems to have a larger navy that can take mine in an autoresolve 3/5 times or so. Plus they like to blockade my ports. I know this to be an effective way to cripple my trade, as I have done something similar to Scipii while playing as the Seleucid Empire (simultaneous attacks on several cities, executed populace, burned down every building inside after retraining my troops). Besides working on my navy, there's another problem when playing Scipii. The Egyptian Empire is huge by the time I get there! I don't have endless spear lines to employ while playing as Scipii, so does anyone have any strategies to help me take on Egypt without massive casualties to my proud legions? I can take on three stacks of Egyptians with one stack of Seleucid pikes easily on a bridge, and lose few men, but my Legions are being ripped to shreds by superior Egyptian archers and chariots.
That being said, I started playing Rome as the House of Scipii, whom I still love today. I'd like to get around to finishing a campaign with them, and taking control of Rome. There's just one problem: Egypt. Usually, I expand along the coasts of the Mediterranean, taking Greece, Carthage, Rhodes, Cyprus, Crete, etc. This generally gives me a strong naval-based trading empire to fund my lengthy wars. Except Egypt always seems to have a larger navy that can take mine in an autoresolve 3/5 times or so. Plus they like to blockade my ports. I know this to be an effective way to cripple my trade, as I have done something similar to Scipii while playing as the Seleucid Empire (simultaneous attacks on several cities, executed populace, burned down every building inside after retraining my troops). Besides working on my navy, there's another problem when playing Scipii. The Egyptian Empire is huge by the time I get there! I don't have endless spear lines to employ while playing as Scipii, so does anyone have any strategies to help me take on Egypt without massive casualties to my proud legions? I can take on three stacks of Egyptians with one stack of Seleucid pikes easily on a bridge, and lose few men, but my Legions are being ripped to shreds by superior Egyptian archers and chariots.