Help , please ?

[Alexanderos]

I'm currently playing a Dacia campaign on H/VH . I've taken a few lands , 2 scythian town , and while I was preparing to assault their capital , some macedonian town revolted and it became mine , thus Macedon declared war to me !

Anyway , I have been fighting with them for a while now , and I'm starting to loose. At first it was easy because my elite Akontistai and Thrakian Falxmen hacked easily through their levy pikemen , but they have some new troops now , wich are incredibly powerful.
In the first phase of the war , I managed to capture a town on the Black Sea cost , Odessus I believe it's called.
Anyway , know I have 2 full stack attacking Philipponis or something like that. But they have some bloody bad ass armies there. What can I do to win ? I've tried every tactic. Mass heavy archers , only elite infantry , lots of cavarly , and even combinations , but nothing seems to work
They have a very good unit , wich has about 60+ defence , and they keep spamming it . I'm way over angry .
And they won't accept any peace proposal I really don't want to loose this campaign , especially that I want to recreate the Romano-Dacian wars ! ^_^

[mishkin]

sometimes you just lose
next time, expand to the east, earn a lot of money, and only go (south) west if you are ready and macedonia is in trouble. It aint easy IMHO.

[High Fist]

Struggling? Good. You'll be so satisfied when you smash the out of them.

If you haven't yet, make sure you have a large foundry in Sarmizegethusa. There are a few tactics to use with phalanx armies. You can get some hardy infantry to hold the Macedonian phalanx and shoot their backs with skirmishers, archers and whatever range you have, then follow up with cavalry charges and envelopments with infantry. Or you can use your mobility against them. Run circles around their phalanx', separate and envelop them. This can get messy sometimes.

Post a few pics if you can, I'd like to see some more of the situation.

[Alexanderos]

I know it's not easy , bu there must be a way !

I really don't want to loose. And I forgot to mention this , a full vs full stack battle takes about an hour..

[tungri_centurio]

put your main line on defencive stance,kill their cav with archers and cav then circle around like high fist says.
if you have slingers,use them to flank the phalanx and shoot them in the back?they are the best for killing phalanx heavy army's

[Alexanderos]

Pics coming up in a few minutes !

[Alexanderos]

As promised :

My kingdom !



Southern conquests ! :

Sigindum :


The general who has been fighting the macedonians for a long time :

I'm as good as dead :

Phalanxes , hoplites , sarrisas !

[High Fist]

Nah, upgrade all of your soldiers (and get the large foundry too) and you'll be right as rain.

[Alexanderos]

If you say so. If that is not working , I heard about something called "force diplomacy" ?

[Alavaria]

What ranged units do you have?

Does Dacia get ballistae/ siege ballistae?

[Primative1]

On VH battle the ai troops are getting a big bonus to all their stats, +7 I think.

Against his best troops most battles are going to be a nightmare, if not unwinable.

[Alexanderos]

I'm used to playing on VH as Rome , Carthage , Macedon. I remember when I was playing Macedon , and fighting against Dacia on VH it was extremely difficult to defeat them

[High Fist]

Oh, I thought it was only hard battles. Well , maybe start over with H/H? VH just plain ain't fun.

You'll defo need silver/silver upgrades on your men.

[Alavaria]

If you're going to use VH battle, planning to kill the enemy in melee is a bad idea. Generally, either:
1. The charge that routs
2. The charge that kills almost everyone
3. Ranged attacks

are the best. #2 is unlikely, #1 can be hard to get working if the AI isn't cooperating by using a bad general or letting you kill the general

[Agapios]

With Dacia on hard battles I used the following army against Macedon (build first everything necessary in the capital, large foundry and all that):

1 General
5 Dacian Elite Falxmen
4 Elite Thraikan Rhomphaiophoroi
2 Daoi Elite Infantry
1 Barbarian Slinger
2 Dismounted Getic Archers
2 Roxolani Lancers
2 Sarmatian Roxolani Nobles
1 Mercenary unit for the fun of it (no siege weapons available)

Now, for the sake of variety, I sometimes replaced 2 units (usually the Daoi infantry) with Thorakitai Hoplites or with more cavalry (Dacia has some nice horses) or, for the phalanxslaughterfest, with another 2 units of slingers. Cavalry and slingers are particularly effective against the phalanx and hoplites, hammering and piercing. But you can use on their backs also skirmishers, archers, horse archers, anything ranged or/and riding. On flanks I generally use the infantry with the best charge, while holding the line with the best defense units. If necessary, I protected the ranged units with spearmen against the enemy cavalry. After chasing down their skirmishers and annihilating their cavalry all you have left to do is work on their backs. Dacia is more versatile and faster than Macedonia, you have to use that to your advantage if you are going to take their rich lands

Here is an example army from one of my saves, cheers and good luck!

[Primative1]

Here is an example army from one of my saves, cheers and good luck!

Nice.

[High Fist]

That's a shittonne of experience.

[tungri_centurio]

indeed that army looks like it is on a long time campaign and had have great victory's under its belt
or lots of autoresolves.great composition though.

[Alavaria]

All that melee wouldn't work very well when fighting the AI on Very Hard.

Not that you can't win a battle or two, but you wouldn't be able to keep pushing through the enemy.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

VH setting for battles = losing lots of the time. It's supposed to be that way.

Ahhhh, VH leet gamers.......