I agree with most of this, but I've a few issues. First, horse archers are bonkers. Barf out 19 of them and watch as armies melt like butter. Later maybe grab some heavy spearman so you can fight around them and use them to tie down the enemy and shoot from behind, but frankly encircling with 18 archer calv is broken. Not a single army can handle it. Archer calv aren't bad at all, in fact they're insane. It is paramount that you get the northern mountains watch towered and clogged with forts. The scythians aren't worth conquering early and will eventually want a taste of you. They can really set you back if you aren't careful. Next, don't rush down the selucid empire. They're a good border between you and egypt. Once you fight egypt your expansion stalls, and of you are still fighting partia and pontus when egypt knocks, it's over. Next, turkey and partia are good expansion targets. Pontus cannot be trusted, and taking them down gives you all of Turkey. By the time egypt is a problem, you should be able to two prong them from east and west and bring them down.
i never understood why parthia were a playable faction when armenia and pontus both clearly have better unit rosters and are more fun to play. the only unit exclusive to parthia that is of any use is persian cavalry
It seems to me that campaign was very rushed. There is no reason why all factions couldn't be playable. It seems to me that the campaign is unfinished. There are too few provinces. Nobody bothered to balance the game. Seleucids always loose.. Carthage: the main rival of Rome was passive. They did nothing. They are supposed to be rich with a very powerful navy. Were they rich? Did they have ships any better than the Romans? Nope! Nobody bothered to edit a couple of files to make it so.
Yeah but in real life they didn't use archers but horse archers. Even Alexander the Great disbanded his own archers once he took over Afghanistan and used Bactrian horse archers and Scythian mercenaries.
@@iamcleaver6854That’s probably good because focus on balance is often not a good thing in an RTS as it leads to bland factions. 80% of RTS players only play campaign, so awesome campaign experience (not necessarily balanced) is more important. Balance is only for the competitive scene, which most people won’t play
thanks for these. I remember playing as them once in the campaign. I went north and literally the people there kept rebelling against me. Even after i slaughtered everybody many many times. Finally, I had enough and decided to cut my losses. I destroyed every single building, max taxes before leaving. They were back in the wood age when I left.
yeah the problem with expanding north is the territories are so far away from the rest of the empire that the morale of the population is severely lowered
What's funny to me is that despite Armenia has "few infantry types" they have quite a good late game selection of heavy spearmen and Armenian Legionaries, but those are only as good as Principes, but the Heavy Spearmen are almost as good as Royal Pikemen or Silver Shield Pikemen. Since you start with a lot of Horse Archers, they can get really good if upgraded and used in a horde type of way.
I know this is an older vid but it's worth noting the role of skirmishers and slingers isn't to do damage to infantry. They can, and that's great versatility, but there's one area they shine at, and that's cheap anti archer. Due to their range, they don't trigger the archers skirmish mode, and while they have very low attack, archers have very low defense. But they have a single advantage over archers, which is their rate of fire. Yes archers do more damage per missile, but a dead archer can't shoot and slingers can loose 2 or 3 full volleys per archer shot, which ruins archer heavy armies. Peltasts, Velites, etc etc are the hybrid between Archers and Slingers, firing more powerful missiles than slingers, faster than archers. This allows them to both counter archers, and damage basic infantry. Depending what factions you're facing, being able to kill archers and horse archers cost effectively can be devastating. Also hiya dude, hope you're doing well!
A fun but very challenging faction to play as. Usually starved for money because their immediate neighbours always declare war on them, thus making it hard to find trading partners. (Possible exception - Parthia) If you can persevere until they can recruit legionaries, you have a chance.
One of the most easiest factions to play as, their units are superb especially the Heavy Spearmen and Cataphract Archers, they are a force to reckon with.
Hard starting position though. If you get out of the gate, they are the easiest faction to play. Best Late-game of all factions, including the Romans. Cataphract Archers are broken.
I am currently playing as them currently. Having a long war of attrition with Scipi in Asia minor as they keep sending stacks after stacks of soldiers for coffin. I also managed to conquer Parthia, Seleucid, Pontus and Egypt. My tips for new player as follow: 1. In the beginning, you will be weak and resource poor. Conquer Parthia to the east while trying to mantain a friendly relationship with Pontus and Sythia. Both of these factions will attack you eventually. Hence it is important to capture Parthian cities and develop them as a hinterland. You may lose your initial cities since they are close to frontier. 2. Once Parthia is down, aim for Pontus. I did not expand into Seleucid because I need them as a buffer against Egypt. 3. Once you conquered their cities in Asia minor, expand downwards into Palestine and Syria region where you will eventually clash with the powerful Egypt. The cities in this region are crucial not only because they are wealthy but also because they provide a good base to attack into the hinterland of Egypt. 4. Once you conquer the Egypt heartland, you can stop playing or continue to fight off stacks of roman invaders in Asia minor. The Egypt heartland provides a valuable resource pool for you to keep fighting on even if you lose a couple cities. My military tactics for battles: 1. The horse archers should form the core of your mobile units. They are excellent for wiping out enemy stacks at little cost to yourself. 2. It is okay to have the cheap eastern spearmen in the beginning. They will be good if properly supported by general. Many times I won battle against superior infantry by using the hammer and anvil tactic with my general (initially a horse archer, then a catapharact). 3. You should eventually get heavy spearmen and Amenian legionnaires. These are good units that can compete with the Romans when they eventually arrive. 4. Catapharact archers are ideal if you want extra protection for your horse archers when they are caught by enemy cavalry. But they are expensive so get them once you have conquered all the major cities. Update: I have finally driven the rome off Asia minor and Greece. Now Scipi and bruti are at my mercy.
What I did with Armenia is that I "bum-rushed" the Seleucids. You can take Hatra, Antioch, and Tarsus in the first 10 turns if you work fast. And you want Antioch early game for two reasons: 1. It's by the sea, so you get a good trade settlement as well as Kotais (get a trade agreement with Pontus and a Port), so you make some money, and 2) you can train Cataphract Archers relatively early on (within the first 15-20 turns), because all you will most likely have to do is just build a cavalry stable in Antioch, if the Seleucids haven't done it already. I sack (or exterminate) everything as well because you need cash. Parthia is a slog and causes a slow Westward expansion. I would be keen on allying with Parthia, Pontus, and Scythia early on and worry about the Seleucids and Egypt first. By the time you've taken 4 or 5 of the Seleucids' settlements, you will have drawn Egypt's attention as well as maybe Parthia, but you can avoid Parthia's attention by ignoring Phraaspa for 10-15 turns (as well as training another Northern Army to take it).
But if Pontus attacks you while you are reaching Antioch , you are there with your pants down. I think better attack Pontus immediately and reach Antioch (which is vital, like you said) via Mazaka.
@@stefanobc1971 You can always abandon your homeland for greener pastures if Pontus attacks you. Once you have some juicy profitable Seleucid settlements, you might not need your homeland. You can always take it back, but your opening territories aren't that profitable and Artaxarta doesn't grow very fast either. The best it's gonna get there is a minor city at best. It's a choice you'll have to make if Pontus indeed goes for the jugular. Risk everything to attack the Seleucids, or take out Pontus first which is safer? Either way can work. I do know that Parthia isn't a good first war, and neither is Scythia, unless you like grinding against tougher foes and slaying 4 stacks for every one of yours. It depends on the time you have to a degree as well.
1: Build a port. 2: Move all of your troops except faction leader and take Kydonia and Hallicarnasus, move capital to Halli. 3: Build as many horse archers as you can in your capital. 4: continuously exterminate your original cities for money. 5: Expand into Greece and Seleucids when they start fighting each other.
1: Build a port. 2: Move all of your troops except faction leader and take Kydonia and Hallicarnasus, move capital to Halli. 3: Build as many horse archers as you can in your capital. 4: continuously exterminate your original cities for money. 5: Expand into Greece and Seleucids when they start fighting each other.
It's because on Very Hard the enemies have +8 morale and you have -8 morale and Armenia is weak compared to it's neighbors. It's almost impossible to take on Scythia, Parthia, Seleucids, Egypt at the same time on Very Hard. You should immediately leave in a boat to Kydonia and Hallicarnasus. Make Hallicarnasus your capital and exterminate your original cities for money until you can attack the Greeks/Macedoniana/Seleucids/Pontics when they start fighting each other. You must exterminate your original cities or you won't have any money and lose
I might be a little late to the party, but I’ve found that taking ALL my units and generals to Pontus, rushing their cities and annexing turkey, works. Then moved up to Thrace, destroyed them and destroyed Macedonia as well as Greece (sacking Greek cities for money), while fighting Egypt in the south! Seleucids were my buddies, and Parthia + scythia left me alone (Hard mode). Problem with horse archers is that you need to fight every single game yourself; autoresolve doesn’t favor horse archers.
The "ranking rather eastern factions" video made me want to play again as Armenia. My issue is not the early game but the early/ mid game where my upkeep starts getting high and multiple fronts of enemies start attack8ng me. I'd only have phaaspa + 1 or 2 other nearby spots. I feel like I might have been able to keep the war away from my home turf if I pushed more aggressively down to Hatra or something. Now the Seliuecids, leftover Parthians, and especially Pontic are all attacking me. I also passed off Sythia when I sent an army to take Tabias + the rebel town just southwest of it.
They are very good in the tactics like "shoot all arrows, and now strike weakened enemy", wich working against dumb AI, but their efficiency become low against heavy armored infantry, like legionaries or armored hoplites, wich can shot only from back with rapid and hard micromanagment of each squad.
Good starting location and army. You just have to face strong romans and egyptians, then later Britain/germans. Taking Antioch and Babylon is a turningpoint. Cata archers have superb range (only foresters have that range and persians maybe). They tire easily tho. Mix in regular HAs, from smaller cities. Against Epic walls your best choice is sapping and going in with catas. Before them starve is a good coice or a well executed sally-massacere. For total domination, make your center Greece with Artemis temples. Let Spain and England be for the last turns. Late on replace your temples with the law one. Destroy army buildings in "too big" cities and abaddon, massacere or bribe back.
>it is unlikely that Scithya attacks you Lol, these bastards came to Kotais with 6 squads of horse archers while my army was fighting Pontus! I reached the battlefield nearly before the city surrender. Barbarians were frightened by my archers and mercenaries and quickly fled. I had to chase them north through Caucasus and defeat their army to make sure they will never come back. After that scithyans requested a peace and were never a treat.
Never liked to play with desert factions. Who wants to live in the desert? Who wants to die for some grains of sand? I think I'll pick a nice European faction.
The game depicts it as desert factions when in reality they are not. Armenia is in caucuses region which is heavily mountainous . Same with parthia which is located in a mountainous plateau. They both live in heavily mountainous regions. Only some of their battles happened to be in the desert.
You need to go back and change the part where you say scythia will never come and attack you because they attack me every time and they attacked you in your video
@@_stillalive_1277 the cataphract archers have longer range though and good melee. They're useful for killing other archers, and also screening for the weaker archers. They also can be used late, late into fights when you run out of arrows. They're good, but I usually only run 4-5. My current comp is a general, 5 cataphract archers, 10 archer calv, 4 heavy spears. The heavy spears are just to tie down things and hold while I get shots at the backs of infantry.
@@lugotorix6173 you said they are useless, but I saw one channel on RU-vid in which the guy just won the big company for Arminia with using only horse archers
One general and 18 cataphract archers (and one slot for an infantry mercenary or elephants for sieges) is unbeatable. Enemy armies become mincemeat and you can even retrain your archers in towns (tier 3)
Armenia was already a well established Kingdom back then. Moreover the faction you play in Rome is just one of the four Armenian kingdoms that existed back then. It was called Armenia Magna by Greeks and Latins.
wtf you hate horse archers? like five of them and a general can destroy infinity selucid and egyptian armies before they start recruiting foot archers.
Well all eastern nations are butchered in the game, I remember how I manually corrected the region/character names and buildings in it to make it historically accurate, ah good times
