Looking for strong allrounder faction

[Sloty]

Should be:

1.Small in the beginning(number of cities)
2.Have reliable infantry(Phalanx,Hoplite or other)
3.Decent or better shooters
4.1-2 good Cavalry units

[naq]

Sparta?

[Sloty]

How would you compose a spartan army?

[DarthLazy]

Dacia.

[Sloty]

I would like to hear some tactics for Sparta,never played a greek style faction before...

[Sloty]

Or for Dacia might give it a try

[medievaldude]

I would like to hear some tactics for Sparta,never played a greek style faction before...

My spartan army, well this is one of spartan army combos. listen Perioikoi Skiritai are the bomb, good defense and ultimate attack.

-General
-1-2 Perioikoi Skiritai
-1-3 Perioikoi archers (these mans will rap3 any unit usually have 2 of them)
-2-4 Spartan phalangites (your army needs this i usually recruit 3 of them per army)
-2-3 Perioikoi Phallangites ( expect he to be main-line phalangites later on have more lacedaemonians Homoioi)
-2 Metoikoi Hoplites ( they are your hypaspists of sparta)
-1-2 Hippeis (usually have 2 good for running down or hammer anvil)
-1 Hippeis Xenophontos (ones good enough if used properly)
-1 Promachoi Elite Hoplites :spartayou get one at first put them in your best army late on you can recruit them)
-1 Helot Slingers (useful)
-1 Ekdromoi Hoplites (Outrunners are pretty good)

fiddle around till you got one full stack, they use remainders for next stack.
I have two more army spartan compositions, but this one i depend on most.

[Grimbold]

Depends. You can make an army full of hoplites with missile support or a typical macedonian army: phalanx as your main line; hoplites /thorakitai (w/e they're called); missile support and cavarly for the hammer.

The choice of your army also depends on where you are fighting, since several of sparta's units can only be recruited/retrained on the Peleponnese region or even sparta alone. Thats why sometimes my hoplites are spartan marines because i cant be arsed to halt my advance just to have some units go all the way back for retrainment.

[DarthLazy]

For Dacia I use.....

1x General
2x Tarabostes
2x Elite Falx
2x Thracian Rhompharoi
5x Getic Archer
2x Elite Thracian Pezoi
4x Akantion Heavy infantry
2x Roxolani Lancer

Requires alot of micromanagement, but I have yet to suffer more than 150 casualties.(Large Scale) And this army is silver chevroned now

[Sloty]

What are the tasks of your dacian units and how do you deploy them?

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Parthia is strong, and starts small, but there will be no hoplites there.

[NightEye]

Pergamon starts fairly small, have a solid infantry, reasonably good archery and cavalry.

[Dramatic Cat]

The best allrounder, if you guys will let me, is Rome.

yep

[xsithspawnx]

Pontus is also a good choice. They have been frequently described as a Seleucid-lite faction. You have a similar roster (minus the elephants and different cav units) but only start out with two cities.

2 basic army formations I use.

Phalangite army.

1 General
4 Allied Phalangites (or levy/local phalangites if needed)
2 Chalkispides (elite phalangites. If you have loads of cash make them your full pike line)
4 heavy infantry for flank guards: Early game Thorakitai or Machiaphoroi Epilektoi. Late game: Pontic Elite Thorakitai
1-2 Scythian Archers (Greek Archers if Scythians not available due to AOR)
1-2 Greek Slinger (or other AOR slinger unit)
2-3 heavy cav: Hetairoi and Scythian Royal Cavalry (basically Cataphract Archers!) both work with the Scythians being your best Pontic Cav unit, but more expensive. Hammer and Anvil!
2-3 light horse archers: Scythian Horse archers or Roxalani Lancers harass enemy formations and chase down routing units.
1 Pontic Scythed Chariot. These tear enemy cavalry to shreds in seconds and cause fear in your enemies. Warning: Extremely Expensive!!! Replace with more heavy cav if you lack the money.

Legionary Army.

This army is basically the same as above most of the time, except all your phalangites are replaced with heavy infantry. These can be Machiaphoroi Epilektoi, Thorakitai, or Pontic Elite Thorakitai (as well as other good heavy infantry available through AOR). Have a few spear units for your flanks, Thorakitai Hoplites work very well and are great units all around, though regular Thorakitai work as well. I just prefer Thorakitai hoplites as they have both shields and sword and so are more versatile, though they lack javelins as well, so it's up to personal preference really.

This army works like a roman legion with the advantages of better combined arms that a greek faction brings, but lower quality in your heavy infantry. Pontic Elite Thorakitai are great, but sadly they can't match some of the post-marian roman legions. That is where you rely on your amazing Scythian Royal Cav and other great units to really pull their weight.

--------

Also, the variety of enemies around Pontus means that formations cannot be set into stone. Versus Parthia and Steppe factions more archers/HA and spearman may be required, and against the Seleucids with their elephants and chariots more archers may be needed to make them go rampant, etc... Experiment and find what works for you.

[DarthLazy]

What are the tasks of your dacian units and how do you deploy them?

One long line with all cavalry on the flanks as I always do the tasks of the unit are pretty obvious, Akantion infantry stay in guard mode and the rest of the units flank with their AP rhomphias .

[medievaldude]

One long line with all cavalry on the flanks as I always do the tasks of the unit are pretty obvious, Akantion infantry stay in guard mode and the rest of the units flank with their AP rhomphias .

Thanks, i will try Dacia when i have time to play!

[Telemachos]

when you restart to play on 2.2 you can try syracuse to
they have some great cav unit's
and the others aren't bad too

[Caesar's Heir]

pergamon.

[chaplain118]

Roman post-marian legions + Pannonian cataphract cavalry = tanks

[DarthLazy]

Dacian Elite Falx + Roxolani Noble Cataphracts = Much better