Need some help against the Egyptians!!!

[Real]

I am Carthage and I'm in some trouble with the Egyptians. Infantry isn't a problem, I blow them away with my cavalry. What I need is something good against those goddamn chariots!

Any ideas?

[raffaello]

Use your spearman in phalanx formation, and bombard them using long range artillery(onager), you can also use archer if you have any, cretan merc should help, use fire arrow to make them rout. But it took some times because egyptian chariot not easy to rout, unlike the others (seleucid&pontus).

Don't charge them head to head with your cavalry unless they are routing. I did it once and my cav die like flies.

Good luck with your campaign!and kill those Romans as Hannibal did!

[ALEXANDER_323]

try to use your skirmishers against them(slingers preferably) with some supporting spearmen behind it will be best to use hordes of armoured elephants against them
use atleast 2 units of these and you will be able to win over egyptions in no time i used
1 a.elephant
1 w.e.
3 elephants
4 iberian infantry
1 genral
with this i attacked the might of egyptions
and was able to crush them in only 12 turns
try to take memphis first this will turn loyalty towards you

so happy playing and one thing try to stay away from desrt axemen

[Real]

Desert Axeman are always a nightmare: the only infantry my cavalry couldn't trespass, and I had to send in my reserve forces, the Iberian infantry. I also brought up two units of range cavalry, that were wiped out. The remaing 2units of IbIn managed to destroy the squad.

I charged my bodyguard against their chariots and I killed 3/4 of them. After this, NINE chariots killed my general and all the bodyguards! Only 2 were left to tell the story.

[Henry of Grosmont]

My advice - mercenaries. Numidian Cavalry and Balearic Slingers from the start, and the moment you can get Cretan Archers, there is no problem at all.

[raffaello]

Yup, they always nightmare, fortunately I always bring spearman so whenever they charge me, i use phalanx formation. while my cav attack them from the flank or rear. DA also nightmare when I play with scipii, my legionare are useless against them. they have combat bonus in desert, good morale, good stamina, and good against armor. any better idea how to deal those DA? I have to stop Carthage campaign because of them, not 4get those damn romans!

Btw ALEXANDER_323 I also use elephants but they easy to rout, since Egypt have bowmen their just use their fire arrow then my elephants going crazy in seconds, how did u use them in the battle?

[Dulce_et_Decorum_Est]

I don't recall if mounted skirmishers get an anti-chariot bonus. If they do, Numidian mercs could be your answer.

For the most part though, luring them into spears with skirmishers works pretty well.

[spirit_of_rob]

best advice get a mod that replaces egypt with the ptolemaic empire lol, problem solved no more chariots

[The Good]

I don't recall if mounted skirmishers get an anti-chariot bonus. If they do, Numidian mercs could be your answer.

For the most part though, luring them into spears with skirmishers works pretty well.

Yeah, I think thats a good unit to use. Hope that works for you, Lord Sigilus!

[I own, there4 I own]

Light Auxilia and Slingers do good against Elephants, but why though?

[Scarecrow]

Use the full elephant with phanlanx men. I normally when fighting them allow them to ingage the pjalanx and then i come in from behine with the elephants. It gets them every time.

[ALEXANDER_323]

and i thought i was a newb in the game
sorry to say none of you know how to use elephants

[ALEXANDER_323]

guys elephants are not meant to kill they are meant to frighten them disrupt their formation
and when it is done try to send fast moving iberians and round shield to cut the disrupted men and take your elephants away
when they try to reform their lines again charge with elephants
you will never loose even a single battle just deploy as clos to enemy as possible and charge from the start

[ALEXANDER_323]

i'll explain the method


..........s..............s.............s................
e..............e.........we........ae............we..........e.......e..............
ii............ii.............ii........................ii......
..............................rsc.........g............................
s->slingers
rsc->round shield cavalry
g->general
ii->iberians
e->elephants


just try to use this formation against any opponent except greek and macedonian phalanxes

i.m not mentioning egyption phalanxes here coz they rout too easily

[salamander]

Other than using units that get a bonus against chariots, you've just got to stop them from moving. It can be expensive to do, but if you can stop the charge they are much more vulnerable, and with the right units on your part, it might be worth it to get rid of some chariots.

If possible, try to trap them -- absorb the charge with a unit set to be as deep in ranks as possible without being narrower than the chariot line (back your unit up with another if you need to), and have units ready to move in from the side when the chariots stall.

Setting the trap in the right place is the hard part, but it seems to me like the chariots normally come in on the wings.

[NobleNick]

Lord Sigilus,

I used to loathe, fear and detest the Egyptian chariots, until I played as Egypt. Then I realized that they do have weaknesses. Here are some data to savor that I haven't seen mentioned yet: Chariots typically have 3 hitpoints (not the usual 1 that most units get); however they get very low shield/armor stats; and finally, they don't do well when standing around. Knowing this, there are at least 4 ways to shaft the enemy charioteer...

1.) The one we all know about: Get the chariots to engage in melee with heavy infantry. Once the chariot stops rolling, virtually every hit from the heavy infantry lands, and in three hits the chariot is toast. The only trick is keeping your H.I. from routing in the first 10 seconds. Use high morale units for this (and H.I. usually is high morale).

2.) Archers. Now I know you have a problem with this, since Carthage can only make those blasted semi-worthless slingers; but you can recruit mercenaries, so get all the archers you can. (And I'll tell you a secret about archers in the next point.) Once you've got archers, concentrate all their fire on the chariots. Remember that the chariots have very little shielding, so when they are standing, they are taking big hits. It doesn't look like your archers are doing much... but they are. They are whittling down those 3 hitpoints, and all of a sudden the chariots are down to 1 hitpoint and very low armor, and they start dropping like flies.

I have also found that flaming arrows are quite effective at making chariots run amok. So missile troops are very effective against chariots if you do it right. The trick here is to get lots of arrow power onto the chariots early, so that you have time to whittle their hitpoints down; but you (of course) must simultaneously protect your archers.

Slingers can add to the equation, if you can find a way to slow down the chariots within their relatively short ranged killing zone. Playing as Egypt, I have on many occasions held my chariots back just out of sling range and slaughtered the suckers with arrows; but the A.I. charioteer does not seem to be as smart.

3.) Elephants. Not just any old elephant: Get the Armored Elephant. And here is your secret: Armored Elephants get archers. O.K., that is not a secret, and the War Elephants get archers, too; but have you thought of taking advantage of this skill? This is how I use Armored elephants in the field: I put them on high terrain, well behind my front lines. (I try to always make sure that I am on higher terrain than the enemy, by positioning on the campaign and the battlefield maps; but that is a subject unto itself.) This way the ellie archers start raining death down on the enemy archers well before the enemy can get into range to return fire. I also give "special attention" to quickly exterminating any enemy unit with flaming arrow capability. When the flaming arrow threat is gone, I move the ellies up closer, as needed. Next on the list of things to do is add the ellie archer firepower to any other that is whittling down the chariots.

When all else fails and you need to melee, Armored elehants will grind chariots into the ground at frightening speed. Oh, yes, they are, as we all know, great for running into the flanks of infantry, when you run out of other fun stuff to do with them.

4.) Terrain. The power of non-missile chariot warfare relies on a headlong charge into the enemy ranks at full speed. You need an open plain to do this well. Have you ever seen a chariot charge in the forest? In rocky terrain? You should make it your objective to see this thrilling sight EVERY time you engage enemy chariots. Chariots don't like trees, and they definitely do not like rocks. Getting chariots to go through rocky terrain quickly is like trying to make a slug go faster by holding a butane lighter to his behind: yes, he may go faster (or may not), but in any case not anywhere near fast. infantry at a walk can outpace "galloping" chariots in rocky terrain. A chariot that is schlogging its way through difficult terrain is a lot like a standing chariot: vulnerable to every form of contact imaginable. Pick your engagement site accordingly, and then let your imagination run wild...

I hope that gives you something to ponder.

[Dulce_et_Decorum_Est]

NobleNick brings up some relevant and important points. If I may, I would like to re-emphasize some of the critical ones:

1) Chariots have three hitpoints, so it doesn't necessarily look like they're getting hurt when you're beating on them with swords or arrows. They are getting hurt though, keep it up and they'll begin falling apart.

2) Chariots have no armor or shield. The only way they can avoid missile fire is by their speed. Javelins get a bonus against chariots, slings have the higher velocity necessary to hit them on the move, and good archers can just plain out shoot them as long as they don't get charged. Chariots are in trouble when they come under any sort of concentrated missile fire, but see point 1.


As Carthage, I'm sure you've noticed that a one unit for one unit charge of cavalry into the chariots results in heavy losses and routing for the cavalry. If you can get up to a three to one charge, however, on a softened group of chariots, they'll die like anything else.

[Saiah]

Well, everytime I face Egypt with my Greeks, they just charge and die in front of my phalanx. Oh, don't chase them with cavalry because they can also kill your men even when they rout.

[NineinchNails2010]

On the campaighn (sp) map, against Egypt I always like to send off 2 to 3 full stacks on ships and land them at Alexandria, then take that city, quickly followed by Memphis and Thebes. I find that once you take out those three and they lose thier wonder bonuses they normally fall apart after a while.

Battle wise, yeah some of there units are a pain and Im convinced DA are bugged, I mean they wear no armour have a little wooden shield but there defense stat I think is around 25 or 26. :hmmm:

Normally archers do the trick but as carthage....yeah mercs I would think will do ya best. Have you taken Greece yet? Cause you can get more cretan archers from there (and crete obviously lol).

I do recommend Darth mod though as it balances the Eygptians out and gives the Carthaginians a load of new units to play with.

[Scutarii]

I found DA really easy to deal with. They usually just run right into my phalanx units. Oh, and the only have 10 defense (if we're talking about vanilla.)