Best Eastern Faction? - Rome Total War 

Defeating Egypt is more fun than playing as an Egypt.

The vulnerable strategic position of Armenia from 270 BC... proven vulnerable in 2020 as well ;(

"The void is good" thats sounds like something the void would say

Lugotorix: Egypt is the only faction that has that many starting provinces Gaul: am I a joke to you?!

Show some love to the desert cavalry, they are cheap and mobile heavy cavalry/ heavy infantry killers and very cost effective

Parthian infantry is like playing a hive-mind. The general is your overseer. The moment he dies, your infantry route en masse.

Egypt with all their units having a combat bonus in deserts is insane. The huge advantage to Egyptian chariots is also that they don't run amok like many of the other factions.

Parthia. Horse archer, specially the Persian Cavalry which have long range, decent damage and you can recruit one each turn. Also you can conquer the seleucids and egyptians within 30-40 turns.

As for the staring positions, with Armenia its not impossible but it takes a very bold gameplay. I completely ignore Phraaspa- I'd rather Scythia and Parthia get pulled into a war for that one. Its never going to make much money for you either- just kind of a worthless settlement and not worth your time immediately. I instead either take my entire force and shove it at either Pontus or the Seleucids- first at Sinope, or Hatra respectively. A war with Parthia or Scythia is not advisable, although I dare LegendofTotalWar to try that and see how he does. And because you are so weak, the computer will value that highly and trust your alliance better than others and be more likely to keep its word to you. Anyway, I then send a diplomat to make an alliance with Scythia and Parthia, for maybe some cash, and then either the Seleucids or Pontus. I would prefer to go after the Seleucids because they are an easy early game target as they get generally dogpiled by Parthia, Pontus and Egypt as well. However, be way once you take Antioch because that is what triggers the Egyptian War, Seleucia the Parthian War, and Tarsus the Pontic war. However, they definitely have the weakest position by far. They have one less Cataphract unit than Parthia and less money and a deficit on top of it all. Taking Antioch without a stone wall is definitely a priority because that's the richest settlement that you have quick access to. Parthia isn't much better but they have more heavy cataphracts at the start and more money and one protected frontier. Plus your borders are generally with weaker factions (besides the Seleucids). Because you have close access to the hanging gardens, best to invest in ports in Sakae and Arsakia, and farms in Susa and then farms as your next buildings in the other two settlements. Getting a cavalry stable early on is key because they you can get Persian Cavalry which does mark a turning point for you. Pontus is definitely an improvement on both Armenia and Parthia, despite they have one less settlement than Parthia. They start with less cash than Parthia, but they are more profitable, making more money by virtue of being on the Black Sea at the start and having more places to expand to. They do border the Seleucids but Sardis is poorly defended and the Greeks are a problem but they have other issues at the start. Egypt is the best starting position- most money, most settlements, and profitable from the start. I agree with your assessment of starting positions. And I agree with your overall ranking based off starting positions and unit roster, although I would put Pontus and Armenia in a tie because Armenia has a better late game if it could get out of the blocks. Love your content!

Egypt is the best of course: amazing army, chariots,start in a corner, Siwa is not a threat, Seleucids will have no chance against you with the other enemies you have and you’ll be growing and making so much money - the main powers of the game are Rome and then Egypt. Pontus start surprisingly small but you have a lot of expansion options and other factions with just a foot in Anatolia that’ll be distracted elsewhere are easy pickings, a solid army as well. Armenia is a better Parthia: better infantry, better starting position, no one other than Parthia will gun for you so you can pick your battles. Parthia are the worst: you pretty much need to abandon the top right settlement, you’ve no infantry and you’re bumming around the side of the map in the desert hoping that you don’t have to fight Armenia and Selucids at the same time and that the Selucids have other enemies - the horse archers are great but they cost a lot and you’ll be so broke

When I die, I want my casket to be carried by eastern infantry, so they can let me down one last time! 😂

The Armenian roster is arguably better in game than the Parthian roster. But IRL, the Parthian cavalry was legendary. And their cavalry archer tactics of charging and firing, then retreating and firing (including shooting accurately behind them while riding forward), confounded and defeated many MANY opponents on the battlefield. Parthian cavalry were arguably as famous (or infamous if you were on the receiving end) as the Roman legionaries, the Balearic slingers, the Greek Hoplites, etc. Those "fire while advancing, fire while retreating" tactics were part of why the Muslim horse archers were such a hassle for the Christians to deal with during the Crusades. So they lasted and were effective for millennia.

4 dislikes are the Senate and the Roman factions

Yay you re back!!!

Cool video again. Will you do anymore of those random battles?

You might want to redo these with the remaster out

Persia from the West and Pontus from the East xD. That's funny !! Nonetheless the video is great.

I think Armenia's starting position isn't that bad. If you are aggressive early game and take out Pontus immediately you can basically have Pontus's starting position but with Armenia's roster.

Pontic Heavy Cavalry is better than anything on Parthias roster imo..

I am a weird Rome TW player then, because I have dominated with Eastern infantry

"Pathia is bad becouse it has bad infantry" I hear it all over youtube, but who cares about pajamas? You just boost the knights and the horse archers you gonna win every battle single battle!

Whoooo big disagreement here. Egypt is obviously the strongest with amazing temples, economy, and a powerful (if annoyingly eccentric) roster but are SUPER BORING to play, so let's look at the rest. I'd put Parthia first and Pontus a very very close second with Armenia a distant third. Here's why... 1) Armenia's Legionaires have poor morale and low stats compared to Rome (and Seleucids) vastly superior legions. They may look the same, but they're much weaker. On a similar note, the heavy spear unit also has mediocre morale and lacks the "very long spears" attribute. It can hold the line but won't do well against advanced units. Most people pick Armenia for the unique cataphract archers but, sadly, they kind of suck. Horse archer tactics involve speed and flanking which these slow cataphracts cannot do and tire easily, especially in cantabrian circle. They also lack a shield and don't fight as well or have the devastating charge power of regular catas, so they are a "worst of both worlds" unit which is more vulnerable to enemy massed fire than you'd think. A unit of Cretans behind a phalanx will easily beat them. Which leaves Average Armenia only with cataphracts and standard horse archers as true core units... so why bother with Armenia when you can use... 2) Parthiaaaa!!! Persian Cavalry horse archers have significantly greater range and higher armor (and fight well!) vs. regular HA's, so you can mass them and dominate most anything. War Elephants can also shoot and, let's face it, pretty much stomp anything on the field. Simply recruit whatever footsoldier mercs you need to ram gates and flatten/mass-volley the soldiers inside. Rail of arrow death down every street. Or just siege them out and shoot everyone full of holes on the defense. Parthia is hella strong!!! No footsoldiers? No problem. An army of cataphracts can obliterate anything on foot and horseback except a head-on phalanx unit... and those armor-piercing maces make short work of anything left standing. Parthia absolutely rips top-level Rome armies to bits. Fun as hell to play and love the color and logo. Ride, shoot, and smash through everything like an ultimate Seleucia + Scythia cavalry tsunami. Once you conquer the east, nothing can stop them. Tip: Don't bother with the camel cataphracts... you won't need them by the time you can get them, and they're slow and suck and hard to replace anyway. 3) Pontus! Bronze shields have awesome morale, very long spears, and can hold the line against advanced units. Location is great for recruiting Cretans from the start and training them up behind those tough phalanx walls. Cappadocians don't have AP maces but they still have the massive charge, so there's your heavy hitter. No HA's, but chariots cause massive fear and can fire arrows at retreating units which isn't a bad compromise. Pontic heavy cavalry have superior AP javelins and hit HARD and fight hard and are easy to get. But only average archers so it'll be a footsoldier-based Cretan + elite phalanx + skirmish javelin layout followed with fear-inducing Cappadocian charges and chariots... not much will be left standing after that. Much more fun than Greece or Macedonia... no contest. But not quite as "instantly terrifying" as an elite Parthian army... takes a bit more management but still fun to see those blue flags dominate. So, there you have it. Love the videos!

ya parthia was more east at this timeframe, the show up later, most of their territory should belong to the seleucids

Just wanna say I haven’t watch this video yet but number one is going to be Egypt

Numidian Infantry would actually wipe the floor with the Parthians infantr., Desert infantry and Numidian legionaries aren't great but at least they're somewhere in the mid-tier of infantry, Eastern infantry on the other hand.. god no and hillmen really arent much better

Omg I hate the vanilla anachronistic Egyptians in this game. How did this faction get through though? How didnt anyone at CA notice that “ummm this faction doesnt fit the era at all and greeks ruled egypt during this period” I also dont agree with egypt at number 1 tbh I mean they are incredibly flexible but I would rather have pontic pikes or armenian legionaries and the cappadocian cav or the armenian cataphracts then any unit the Egyptians have. I just dont think egypt has the “elite” units to keep up with armenia’s solid infantry and their elite cataphracts.

B- but I don’t want to play as Pontus!

15-20 turns in Armenia campaign and Im in war with Selucid, Egipt, Parthia and Scythia 😢

パルティア滅茶苦茶強いけど？騎乗弓兵だけで十分。ローマより強いし簡単。城攻めをする必要はない。野戦に持ち込めばよい。包囲して出てきたところを叩けばよい。

You got the thumbnail political compass, mixed up.

hillmans are great

But I don’t want to play as Pontus!

Egypt's roster is way overrated you cant train pharaohs guards or bowman except in like 2 settlements..

Armenia is underrated. The problem is that they get stomped by pontus early on. If you can survive the early game and expand in tech you can totally fight end-game against egypt and even the romans eventually

Parthia: Starts off with a hard foothold, and in an economical crisis. But then can evolve into a Mongol-Level faction because of it's heavy cavalry and horse archers.

Many reasons to hate on Parthia: Pink Pyjama Bois, fragmented, virtually land-locked starting empire, but the reason I hate them is because they can't build Paved Roads. Moving your forced around on dirt roads takes SO LONG, it really makes the campaign a grind. Also makes dealing with Scythia more grindy and painful.

Hey mate, I'd really like to thank you for your videos. Just finished watching all of your Scythia campaign and as silly as it may sound it has really helped me. I'm currently doing my year abroad in the UK as a university student and I've felt a bit lonely at the beginning. Watching your videos at lunchtime has become a ritual and it helped me feel less lonely. Keep up the great work! btw, first comment ever on yt, you should feel honored :)

Lol, Rome Total War and its cultures, especially the Eastern ones, are just messed up.

My man you're back! Best RTW RU-vidr in my opinion. 💪💪💪

Egypt is always your opponent in "Most rich, Large,Powerfull..." they magically spawn a full army of Chariots its actually fun to fight against them that playing as them because, well, maybe its the only one that stands your Roman power I love howo "The Void" became Scary because Medieval 2

the real question is which one will defeat the selucids first

7:56 u bullied those poor hillmen, they just want to prove themselves and u bully them!

I think pontus is slept on. I think its best units are the pontic heavy cav, scythed and chariot archers, cappadocians, and bronze shields. To me the backbone of this force is the PHC. Theyre solid in melee as well as with their javelins, and en masse they can easily pick apart a lot of armies, including phalanxes. The only missile cav that can contend with it in melee are the Scythian Noble Archers and the Cataphract archers, and both of those cost a lot. PHC cost about half as much as 1 Cataphract archer and trains in half the time. You get 9 melee and missile attack, 8 morale, 14 defense for 630. As far as jav cav, you hear talk about the Numidian cav, and it's probably a better skirmishing force than the PHC, but the PHC's capabilities in melee - especially with the Hercules temple's up to +3 experience boost - make it a more reliable force as the mainstay of your army. Otherwise, the scythed chariots demolish the egyptian heavy chariot in a 1 on 1. I actually like the chariot archers as an archer force for a couple of reasons: they can move around the field quickly, and theyre the only unit with 60 arrows per soldier, which is 2x as many as archers. So for big battles, they could do more damage than even the Pharaoh's bowmen, especially if they have to run around the battlefield. Remember: the chariot archers can fire while moving, unlike infantry archers. I know Pontus doesnt have horse archers, but i think the PLC and PHC serve a similar skirmishing role but can also double as solid melee cav for pinsiring moves. Youre basically performing roles of both melee and missile cav simultaneously. I sometimes engage infantry lines by lining up my main jav cav force in front of them and fire at will, while a small group of my best cav moves around the side to isolate the general. This tactic is well aided by either or both chariots, and of course cappadocians are great to bolster the PHC in cav charges. Bronze shields and even phalanx pikemen offer a solid infantry option, but honestly this campaign i havent even trained one yet, im finding the speed and efficiency of the aforementioned units in both assaults and siege defense that i havent needed the phalanxes.

Fun fact: the phalanx pikemen from Pontus are actually the most well armored phalanx pikemen in the game. They also have fewer numbers than the phalanx pikemen from the other 3 factions that have them.

Great video Lugotorix! About Egyptian generals. The first time I played as them I lost 3 generals in 3 battles against The Seleucids.. realized the hard way that you have to be very careful with them.

The problem with Armenia and East overall is lack of tech development which is historically inaccurate. But thanks to developers you can manually modify them to the level of at least greek factions which would give them edge against Romans. If you do it, basically in the east the top first faction would be Seleucides (their late game armies are in pair with Romans, then goes Armenia, Egypt, Pontus and Parthia)

Egypt is overrated. More overrated han Seleucid empire.

Parthia can be great at bridges. Cheap fodder to pin the enemy down, then a couple of elephant charges into a super dense body of enemy armies. It’s hard to get so much satisfaction in a battle. Can’t defend a city to save their life though, and we know that Rome is all about defending sieges esp on vh/vh

One thing I really like about the rosters of Rome Total War is its conciseness, ignoring the Romans. You don’t have 3 different types of barely different elite swordsmen or pikes, you have the elite swordsmen or pikes. It makes everything feel clean and polished and keeps the roster from feeling bloated and like reskins of each

it's maybe the worst Rome Total War video I have ever seen. the cataphract cavalry and cataphract archer the 2 of most op units in rtw. you put them behind the shitty Egypt army.

I’m pretty sure you would rank Egypt in the top three in just about any category but the Romans

Honestly I would say Pontus is better (on the map) then Egypt. In my experience Egypt is going to get attacked by Selucids, Pontus, Parthia, And if you are unlucky even Numidia

I think I might agree with you but if you include mercenaries: Pontus > Egypt > Armenia >>> Parthia Simply due to the thracians bringing that flexibility to the pontic army that makes them king. I love the phalanx, bronze shields especially, plus they'd have better cav options than Egypt.

From my experience Armenia is the only pain in the ass in the late game. Those archers cataphracs are stupidly overpower, they have long range, great defense and are great in melee too. I think because of my experience I can deal with Egyot quit easily(well, not that easy, but they are manageble) and then you got those bastards of armenia.

Parthia - can steamroll pretty much anyone in the open field with horse archers and heavy cavalry. Very bad in any situation when you need infantry. Still a powerhouse when they get going. Armenia - I really like their roster. When you get them going, they are a versatile faction. I've found them difficult in the management front, but it's doable. Their legionaries are overrated though. Give some flexibility, not worth 2 turns to train by any means. Pontus - it really comes down to whether you like chariots or not. I find a wall of bronze shields with chariots in the wings and some skirmisher cavalry to be a very effective combination, and sometimes win without my infantry ever engaging the enemy. Egypt - well, what can be said? They are up there with Rome for best overall roster. Sustaining their elite armies becomes super expensive, but they have the economy to keep it up if you're smart. More fun to leave them to the AI though.

How so Armenia has something like legionaries, is there something like history things, or developers just wanted to boost them a bit?

Pontus vs Armenia boils down to horse archers vs javelin cavalry+chariot archers. Considering you'll be fighting other eastern factions with their heavily armored cataphracts I'd actually say the javelin cavalry is arguably better due to javelins having some armor piercing. I do agree though that they're both pretty close. Ultimately I'd rank Pontus higher because their elite pikemen are better(stats are misleading because pikes have significantly more range than spears so their performance is better than their stats suggest) and you have more options to deal with whatever the other factions can throw at you. Chariot archers are close enough to being horse archers, more vulnerable to enemy missile fire due to their awful defense but much better after running out of ammo and going into melee(especially against enemy cavalry like say horse archers) and of course having access to both chariot archers and javelin throwing cavalry actually gives you more options where it really counts. Armenia's infantry flexibility isn't as amazing because Armenian Legionnaires are basically Principes, not Legionary Cohorts so they're actually pretty weak. P.S Egypt doesn't belong on this list but you know that already as evidenced by your video on 'African' civs. But yeah Egypt is Egypt and has a superior roster to all the Eastern factions.

cool video. People should keep in mind that cappadocian cav will get wrecked by cataphracts when alt attack is used.

I played a Bruti campaign. Had around 15 of those sword crossed labled as "Epic Battle". After conquering the whole map. 7-8 of those where against Egypt between there home territory and israel. Ya. There good. Best home field advantage of ALL factions.

Overall agree with this list. All Eastern factions have really good armies. I do not personally love Armenia but I think it's the most underrated faction in the game. They have horse archers and cataphracts like Parthia, a phalanx unit slightly better than regular hoplites and a legion unit. However the Armenian legion like the Numidian one is far worse than the Roman legionary cohort and their stats are similar to principes so do not try to match the Romans in their own game. Only Seleucid silver legion can do that. Anyway it's a decent heavy infantry unit in that part of the map.

In gameplay, Cat Archers are literally broken (just take off skirmish mode). And you can get them in a Cavalry Stable. First off, long range missiles. Second, once you are done killing most of the enemy force you can charge and kill the rest with very little casualties. Yes, elephants are nice and all, but they are less maneuverable and their animals are prone to running amok. Cat Archers are that swiss army knife every faction wishes it had. Which is why Armenia is IMO the best in terms of unit roster. They have units that can get Roman infantry a run for their money on the walls. They have solid spearmen to plug bridges or to kill chariots- and you can mass Cataphracts and Cat Archers and overpower pretty much any army on the open field. Neither of the other three factions can stand up to Roman infantry on the walls in the same way, or field a unit like the Cat Archer which is OP. Parthia gets close with Persian Cav and Elephants which do shoot arrows, but Persian cavalry can't stand up the same way Cat Archers can. Whilst I can say that Egypt does boast better infantry and foot archers, Armenia has without question better cavalry because of Cat Archers. Foot archers regardless of armor get emasculated every time by Cat Archers. Egyptian Cavalry is weaker than both Parthia and Armenia because they can't train elephants or hardy heavily armored Horse Archers. They might even be weaker than Pontus there as well. Because Egypt's cav is so weak (and Chariot Generals die too easily), here's my ranking of the unit rosters: 1. Armenia (I know this is quite controversial, but I have way more fun with Armenia than Egypt's roster, however they are just about 1 point better if anything) 2. Egypt (Their Cavalry is too weak for me to rank them first, and they don't even come close to Pontus, whose got the third best cav) 3. Pontus (I agree here because Javelin Cavalry is not great and they don't even get the large stack of Phalanx Pikemen. Their infantry definitely makes them better than Parthia overall) 4. Parthia (Infantry is inferior, so bad to the point that Scythia gets better infantry and they can only train one unit there. However their cav is either first or second, I can understand both arguments)

Pontic cav can throw spears with high attack that devistate most units before charging. Add in quality pikes and chariots to level the romans and they are the best IMO.

Me playing Rome: *Pah !! Parthia is easy !!* Me: *Gets wrecked by cavalry*

Hey, that's a really nice comparison, I enjoyed it, but don't dare disrespect Parthia like that, saying they were added just to fill the map. I know you know your history, but take a look at this just in case to refresh your memory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Parthian_Wars They were the east powerhouse who never got conquered by Romans, unlike the other "most powerful" factions.

21:15 At this point I don't agree with you. Historically Parthia defeated Seleucids Empire. But they have never been on the city Campus Sakae in the history.

I disagree about egyptian army yes it’s versatile but not op, also their cav is lacking , their are equal to Pontus but are loosing to Armenia. The main power they have is their location which is on secure and fertile land, so you are secure on nearly all sides and can print money to expand inside of weak Seleucids. Armenia in terms of army is the best in the region, stayin behind only to seleucids, but theyr are making for it with their cataphract archers which are top 5 units in the game. P.s other weaknesses thet esternes heave is their tech and buildings tied to it, with exemption of Parthia wich can build Huge temples, others can’t build not only it but also plubming, theatres, hyppodroms and other perks which greatly heapls you in terms of maintaining stability in country and good economy.

Parthians can win all open battles with only horse archers and a small core of heavy cav for the knock out blow. They don't have to defend bridges. They only need some infantry for besieging cities. They can either draw out garrisons with a single unit siege and the main army a space away but not besieging the wall, or they can let the clock tick down until the garrison sallies and then shoot them to death. If they want better infantry they can buy them as mercenaries once they move west at all. The only real problem for them is the agricultural fertility and lack of trade in their homelands which means they cannot maintain a large army to expand with and a fairly long early grind to be able to expand. In my Parthia plays, the turning point is taking Antioch, which opens up decent trade income and a well developed large city once they get to it. Thereafter they're strong enough to conquer the map, although it remains tough against the post-Marian Romans just because of their high armour against arrows. But any kind of cav can tire out infantry and tempt them to split apart their lines so that units can be surrounded and crushed one at a time until they start panicking and can be run down in the rout, even without arrows, and even with very light cavalry after they've used up their arrows. The AI never uses the weight of infantry archers that are required to defeat a stack of horse archers, so once you've shot up the typically two or three units of archers or slingers in a given AI stack, you're golden. The job is even easier for the Sassanids in Barbarians, because they get medium horse archers with Long range.

Parthia- have to spam horse archer doom stacks that go into battle and whittle the enemy into nothing. If you run out of ammo just retreat and come back. Painful but effective. Pontus- my favorite and best if you like auto resolve and battle. Just a few scythed chariots destroy legions in auto resolve and their phalanx pikeman top tier. Armenia- fun and they have worst Armenian legionaries. Seleucid- count as Hellenic but they are in the east. They are very scattered but best military tree. Egypt- good but screw em.

Parthia is better than Armenia because as Parthia you are not supposed to recruit or rely on infantry anyway. Siege settlements down, defend outside of settlement and horse archers beat chariots. Pontic Bronze Shield phalanx will also beat anything Armenia has to offer, so not sure about that ranking too. Heavy Spearmen don't have good morale which makes them unreliable in VH/VH

Very hard to rank these. All the eastern factions are good because they have access to cavalry archers or chariot archers. The differences are quite minor. Armenia gets cataphract archers and easy access to Asia Minor, Egypt has a great economy and diverse troops with particularly the archers and axemen standing out, Parthia gets elephants and long range horse archers but has a bad starting economy, and Pontus gets Macedonian style phalanxes and javelin cavalry plus the best starting position at the cost of a weak early army compared to the others.

I can't be the only one who hates Parthia just because it has that massive stretch of plain up east of the caspian. Wtf is it doing there? So ugly. Would it have been that hard to just extend the map a couple inches and give it some other settlement?

In my opinion, the infantry of Pontus is superior to that of Armenia, both at level 3 barracks (phalanx pikemen have longer reach than heavy spearmen) and even more so at level 4, where bronze shields have good morale and large unit size, whereas the Armenian fake legionaries have normal morale and normal unit size.

Pontic "cataphracts" are good, but they lack the secondary mace attack that true cataphracts possess.

Sad. I absolutely love Parthia roster. Only faction I did full map on VH/VH. Cav micro vs the Romans is fun.

You keep talking down the Numidians, who have a quite similar army than Armenia. Good spears (no phalanx tho, but excelent morale good stamina), good archer (tier 2 baby), and legionars. Good missle cav (numidians), fine armored cav (quick long shields, less armor, faster to get, good stamina good morale) that is different in use than cataphracts, but nonetheless good unit. They are far better than Parthia in my opinion.

The Parthians were around for the transition from republic to empire- they poured molten gold down crassus’ throat and mark Antony invaded them.

Do any other factions start with 6 settlements. I DONT think so. Me looking at gaul mmmmmm hhhhhmmm ok yes I understand

CA really did throw dudes with pajamas and a basket shield against the roman legion

Wish the map was far larger in the East and South. Would really like to see Arabian peninsular, Iranian Plateau, Bactria and India. Far more playable room for Eastern Factions and a more authentic representation of the Seleucids as a massive powerhouse that is overstretched and surrounded by many rivals. If Indian was shown it would be a perfect location for the Maryuan Empire which was the dominate power in the Indian Subcontinent at the time the game starts and was powerful enough to actually force the Seleucids to cede substantial amount of territory 30 years prior to the start of the game

West and East are not where you think they are hehe. Good video tho.

We persians call parthia as Ashkanians which means by the name of Arcasis ((Ashk))

do this for europa barbarorum

They are all pretty strong factions, egypt are the easiest to play then pontus, then armenia and then parthia.

Parthia has armored camels, which trump armored cav

Selucia has six provinces, too, but they and Egypt are supposed to be the 'superpowers' of the area who keep going at it, and Selucia is a challenge, Egypt is basically tower defense.

9:35 Ah yes, the Clibinarii of 270BC.

it is funny that egypt is not greek but bronze age

Anyway best mediterran faction? Those that border it. Counting in naval capabilities.

The Cataphracts are better than Cappadotian cav because their maces have armor piercing. Desert cav is best cav for egypt because their axes have armor piercing too.

Honestly I would have to rank Parthia 4th in both starting positions and in military. For position and early game: I know Armenia’s starting position looks worse and their economy appears to worse but although Parthia starts out with more money their economy is more difficult to maintain at the very start. Also while Armenia looks move vulnerable I find the AI (on very hard difficulty) is much more aggressive against me when I play as Parthia. I just did a campaign where pretty quickly in, Scythia, Armenia, the Selucids, and Eygpt were all at war with me within the first 7 turns. With most of them being the ones to start the war on me rather than me starting it. For Military: I’d still put Armenia ahead. The infantry speaks for itself. But even with the cavalry. They’re the exact same the difference is their second version horse archers are Cataphract archers while Parthia gets persian archers, the persian horse archers have a noticeable disadvantage there. The other thing is while both are known for the Cataphracts and especially Parthia since they’re more restricted to it, for both it can take a while into the early campaign before you have a decent amount of settlements and an economy that is ready to pump Cataphracts out.

Lugotorix is a fuckkinngg legennnndd i still play medieval total war 2... And yes i have the Xbox one x ps4 ps5 cold war ac valhalla but medieval is NICE

Bro, u need to practice the cardinal points

In terms of mp, 12,5k to 15k cwb / twpl / smiliar rulesets: egypt>pontus> (britannica)>(selucids) > parthia =armenia #1 egypt - very strong ranged options - ca available - reliable cheap chariots - cheap armor pen cav - short but decent ish pikes example typical build; 5-6 reg archers + 2 elite archers, 2 ca, 5-6 PG spears, 5-6 Chariots Generally considered opop, some builds does counter it, however equal skill -> egypt wins #2 pontus - only normal achers - ca available - long pikes - sycthed chariots - jav cav available ex typ build ; 6 archers 5 bronze shields - 2 ca - 4-5 sycthed chariots #3 brits - weak slingers - ca available - strongest chariots - special factor *head hurlers* armor melting head-javelins that cause fear ex typ build; 6 slingers 2 ca 6 head hurlers 4-6 warlords chariots 0-2 light barbarian cav (getting at enemy ranged) #4 selucids - weak archers - long pikes / cheap long pikes/ medium legionaries - catapracts & sycthed chariots Alot of options, often forced to do rush/ semi rush builds; but it also has access to javelin cavalry that with some effort can be used to overcome horse/chariot archer factions. #5 parthia - weak archers - ha available - catapracts w camel cata Stronger cav component for team games (6+2), 8 catas can do alot of work. #5 armenia - weak archers - ha available- catapracts - medium light short pikes / medium legionaries Compared to parthia generally better 1v1. More versatile than parthia in team games too. However your pikes are mostly just there to fend of chariots, the armenian pikes cannot be relied upon much; short + light weapon type so used decently by a player they actually lose to levy pikes (long pikes + heavy type w base cost of 310). Units with heavy weps get an attack bonus vs light wep type.

I don’t know if someone clarified already capadocian cav and cataphracts have exact same stats and playing normally they will be the same. But if you charge with alt click they will use a small sword similar to preatorians while cataphracts have the mace that has armour penetration so they are much better (mace cuts target armour by half). Also capadocian cavalry have shield while cataphracts have more armour giving them more general protection since armour protects from all sides.

Only thing saving Parthia and Armenia early-game is their basic horse archers. Well, horse archers can even win the late-game, they are stupidly effective if you are not bored (I am, often) of micromanaging them, AI cannot counter them by spamming their own horse archers, or foot archers or at least light cavalry. Instead they come with spear infantry, "they don't understand the desert so they die" :)

To be honest, egyptian chariots generals are so useful if you are careful with them, they are actually more durable than common archer chariots and can be a good firepower support (plus it scares infantry), the best option to use them is just flank enemies with another cavalry and only charge if it's necesary (and the enemy unit isn't phalangx)

Camel archers can scare other light cavalry when charging them so they're great to whittle down an army then eliminate their horses. Plus, they're good at getting broken units running away

I agree That egipt is the best eastern faction

My Selucid Campaign on very hard. In my opinion the most difficult faction so far has been Pontus. They stole away my Asia Minor Positions. Parthia Stole Selucia, and Armenia Stole away Hatra. But now on the bridge from Hatra I have a 4 Phalanx Pikeman and 6 Archers to beat back whatever stacks Armenia has. And using the Tarus Mountain Range I just beat back whatever armies from Pontus. Ive been able to focus on Egypt and just eat them up as result. Lost my far provinces but gained more defensible positions and ability to just eat Egypt.

Its very similar...CATAPHRAT ACHERS x persian (no armoured, regular, weak) calvary XD