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Thread: [TW Guide] RTW: Macedon

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    Default [TW Guide] RTW: Macedon



    Author: WILHELM_II
    Original Thread: Not Available

    RTW: Macedon
    Overview

    -Warfare. Macedon has quite a strange compilation of units. It has the Militia Hoplite, with long spears. Levy Pikemen with very long spears. Phalanx pikemen with very long spears.. but then, Royal Pikemen with long spears. And the cavalry, oof! They have a 1st level cavalry unit with a charge bonus of 15... will you believe that, 15. That charge is worth the same as the damage a Legionary Cavalry does... and that is huge for the beginning. Use this. Kill Phalanxes with this. Light Lancers are about the only cavalry that can beat any phalanx with a head on charge with Very Hard battle difficulty. Well... I don't need to say more about Companion Cavalry, they are just very good units, with good armor, attack, and a good charge too. Macedonian Cavalry is a bit bad for it's level of cavalry, but, allright... they can come in handy sometimes.

    - Economy. Macedon begins with 3 provinces that are adjenct to the Aegean Sea Trade routes (Corinth is too, don't you forget that, it may not be directly in the Aegean sea, but it does trade with Sparta, Kydonia, Cyrene, Athens and Rhodes) And Macedon is quite frankly the best faction to start with if you want to have some provinces bringing in huge bulks of money. Don't worry about land trade too much. The Balkan area is bad for land trade, except Thrace, that might bring in some revenue from the Black Sea.

    - Campaign map Not too much difficulty, athough you might have some trouble with the Brutii. Be agressive as quick as you can (remember, hire those Cretan Archers, it seems that they tend to errr.... often easily slaughter Romans) and of course Greece. Get Sparta first, becouse if you have to fight those Armoured Hoplites early on you're in a bit of a trouble. And watch out for Thrace, try to get to Byzantium before they do and you get a major head start on them! Try to make alliance with them, and let them fight with Dacia and Scythia, while you build a main force to backstab them. Dacia is no trouble, they get peppered by the Thracians....

    Your adversaries

    Thrace:

    Thrace is the home of the Falxmen. Dangerous.. oh yes, dangerous to you, you'll have trouble with them. BUT, why fight them, when you can make sure you don't have to? Get Byzantium before Thrace does, becouse for Thrace it is a big military and economical center for Thrace. It bring in sea trade, and it is highly developed early on, so if they get it, that's a setback for you. Thrace shouldn't pose much of a problem to conquer, but DO watch out for the Falxes. Basternae won't be much of a problem, becouse by the time they could be making them, you've conquered them (if you follow this guide )

    The Greek Cities:

    The Greeks are not much of a problem to conquer... IF you don't let them make Armoured Hoplites. Becouse if they have Armoured Hoplites, you have Trouble. Get Sparta as soon as you can, if you are a good general, march in straight when you can, so you get it very early. If you're not, just lay siege. Thermon might hurt you a bit, becouse of all the ranged units, but they should be no problem for you Light Lancers to cut down. Break the gates, and flood em. In Turkey, you shouldn't either have a problem getting Pergamum, so just do that. Rhodes might be difficult, as the Greeks always have huge fleets encirceling Rhodes, as it is their last province in nearly every campaign game, so try to make a quick shuttle in 1 turn.

    Dacia:

    I'm going to be quick about this : Bribe... just bribe their armies, and flush them. Easy, Porolissum will fall, if you bribe Dacia's armies. If you've let Thracia massacre Dacia, they (Dacia) will have been conacentrating on defence, rather than on conquering rebel provinces. Macedon AI always goes to war with Thrace, and for Thrace, Macedon is a primary target (for the AI) rather than Dacia, so that's why Dacia can grow so large sometimes. So, have Thrace pin Dacia, stab Thrace in the back, slaughter a weakened Dacia. Done.

    Brutii:

    The Brutii may seem powerful and such, but if you let a Macedonian Cavalry unit walsh over some Hastati, then it's done. Lancers will do too, although the Hastati pila do hurt those Lancers alot, so rely on Macedonian Cavalry to kill Brutii. Fortunately, you only have to use them two or three times, so yo can spare them for killing Dacians and Thracians too. I usually take it a step furhter, and dump my army in Italy, before I conquer the Balkans... but that may be a bit too advanced... stick to Balkans.. if you're experienced and good enough, march into Italy. Trade with Italy before you conquer the Aegean Sea will bring in lots of Sea Trade Revenue (Salona, Corinth, Thermon, Appolonia, Tarentum, Croton) a Romans weakness is the back. So, just do a frontal attack with your Macedonian Cavalry, then attack from the rear with your Lancers. Dead Romans and routing Romans all over... HARR!!

    Conquering

    Unlike the Seleucids, who have great distances to cover to gain settlements, the Macedons rarely have to enslave or exterminate a settlement after capturing it. I finished the whole campaign with Macedon on Hard, without even having to enlslave or exterminate one settlement. Macedoncan conquer balkan, Italy, Sicily, parts of Africa (Africa, yes, somehow, Cyrene will always rebel when Egypt captures it, and will be given to Macedon. Bug or now, I certainly like it, becouse it is a good boost to my Aegean Sea Trade. Send troops there, and make Cyrene as well as economical, a military center, to soonly conquer some parts of Africa and Egypt.

    Italy might be a problem on later stages, if you ae slow. Remember, the Julii are a growth faction, and will always build temples to Ceres. They grow so very fast, it's incredible, and usually they're the top ranking military forces, becouse they mass armies, and usually, I just bribe them off, but sometimes, I just use the Julii to give myself armies with every unit 9 experience or so. It's your choice, choose wise. Choose FAST, before the Julii grow too strong. most of the times I just invade them from beneath (from Capua, Rome, Tarntum, Croton) and above (Salona, Segestica, Iuvavum) that usually breaks them, a 2 front battle is nearly unfightable. Look at WW1, emperor Wilhelm the 2nd

    Conquering Russia is always a problem for me. I simply hate those Horse Archers. I usually hire some Scythians, but still... Russia is a pain in the.... er... brown area. Macedon is one of the worst Factions to choose when fighting Horse Archers, it's best to go to Gaul, Germania and maybe Spain, but avoid Russia.

    Building what's best

    With Macedonia it's simple, build Demeters everywhere. They give 4 things : Happiness, Growth, Cash and Farming. IMO, one of the best possible temples you can get as a Hellenic Faction (Hellenic faction are : Seleucids (BEST FACTION !!!) Macedon, Greece, Thrace and partially Pontus). Build Ares temples in the following settlements : Thessalonika, Halicarnassus, Cyrene, Patavium, Croton and Campus Gothii (when you get there) These towns are the key routes to conquering the world. Always when you play any faction, look for points from where to build armies to conquer the world. Any faction has them, but no faction has the same strategic towns as another faction. That covers temples. Now.. what to do next... basically, build some economical buildings, and get some cavalry going BEFORE you get to infantry. Why? Well, Macedon is just a very good cavalry faction. Lancers pwn nearly everthing in charges, Greek Cavalry is a good all-round unit. Macedonian Cavalry is a good unit too, and Companions rock in combination with Phalanx Pikemen. Macedonians don't really have to keep towns happy, that usually comes natural. I don't know why, but I never have problems with riots or revolts, so keep Odeons in spare, to use them when you need em.

    Macedonian citybuilding is very easy, just follow your intuition and experience. Somehow, Macedon seems to manage itself. Whatever build order you use, it will always go smoothly, BUT, one rule, always do the shrines first as Macedon, that is crucial. The rest is up to you

    Egypt, Macedon's nemesis

    Many Macedon players (including me) have a huge problem with Egypt. Egyptians always seem to just cut them up, especially the Deser Cavalry, so, what to do with Egypt?

    Well, the answer is a cavalry unit, that can compare with Desert Cavalry... How about... Light Lancers. 1 on 1, Desert Cavalry still kill Light Lancers, but still, the Light Lancer does best out of all Macedon Cavalry, so place your bet on these little things. All you have to do, is outnumber the Desert Cavalry. You may ask, why don't you just do the same with Companions?

    Well, Desert Cavalry have this er... ability, that makes them cut up all armoured units, which is exactly what a Companion is... While the Lancer's Power lies in its huge Charge Bonus, and this is something, the Desert Cavalry cannot compare to. So, the trick is, to outnumber them first, and then, charge, retreat, charge, retreat, and so on. Firstly, this is a huge blow to the Desert Cavalry's morale, and it does massive damage. You will lose lots of Lancers... yes, but he will lose ALL his Desert Cavalry

    Egyptian Archers are also a Macedonian problem, these Bowmen, their cohort is just as large as that of a peasant cohort, sky turns black with arrows, argh! Your solution is NOT Light Lancers. These units are one of the most vulnerable to archer fire in the game... Finally, Greek Cavalry is a GOOD unit, for the first time in the game. Use them to just chase the Bowmen, so they cannot shoot you, or just kill them, it's your choice.

    So, now comes the horrible combination : Bowmen, and Desert Cavalry.

    This time, try to be even with the Desert Cavalry, while riding down the Bowmen, and pray that your Lancers hold out long enough for your Greek Cavalry to arrive.

    Macedonian Cavalry should perform well against Bowmen too, but they tend to get slaughtered when fighting Desert Cavalry.

    Apart from battles, the Egyptians worry you in the campaign sometimes too, becouse Cyrene will often fall into Macedons (your) hands, when Egypt lets his town revolt (stupid AI ) and they will siege it, that will often start a war, and they will begin chasing your fleet down on the high seas, and I have often had the problem of them blockading my ports in the Aegean Sea (something the AI VERY RARELY does), so prepare for that a bit.


    Fighting Battles as Macedon

    Macedon has an easy job fighting, The basic Macedonian armies that are used to conquer are :

    Beginning stage :

    8 Milita Hoplites.
    6 Light Lancers.
    2 Greek Cavalry
    1 Peltast
    2 Archers.

    Middle Stage :

    9 Levy Pikemen.
    5 Light Lancers.
    3 Macedonian Cavalry
    1 Peltast
    2 Archers

    Late stage :

    9 Phalanx Pikemen
    6 Companion Cavalry
    3 Macedonian Cavalry
    1 Light Lancer
    1 Archer

    Basically, all you have to do in a battle is Macedon, is to put you Pikemen in front of the enemies infantry, let your non-charge cavalry (Greek Cavalry and Macedonian Cavalry) take care of enemy cavalry and Archers, and let your Chargers (Light Lancers and Companions) charge from behind. Protect your own archers with your peltasts... in later stage fighting, put your archer right behind behind the Phalanx Pikemen and they should be fine. Let them waste their arrows as quick as possibly, and let them join fighting, they're tougher than you think in melee.

    That's about it of the Macedons, if you have any questions, or want screens or anything, feel free to PM me

    Royal Pikemen issue

    Well, I'll just explain why Royal Pikemen aren't that useful in Macedonian armies :

    Well, there are only four factions that can make units wiht Very Long Spears.

    Macedon
    Thracia
    Seleucids
    Pontus

    You are Macedon, that leaves three.

    You will kill Thracia nearly at the beginning. That leaves two

    Seleucia will certainly be killed before 240 BC, that leaves one.

    By the time you get to the stage that you have to make your Late Army, you will have conquered/destroyed Pontus, so, you are the only one with Very Long Spears units, use this advantage, for example, against other Phalanx units, that don't have quite those Very Long Spears. That way, Phalanx units are less of a trouble, as most of the times, the Phalanx Pikemens spears are too long for them. Whereas the Royal Pikemen don't have Very Long Spears (the only pikemen unit in the game, without the ability Very Long Spears, while Macedon, historically, spread the use of very long spears, as Pontus and Seleucia, are leftovers from Alexander's empire), I have no idea why CA did this...
    Last edited by Saint Nicholas; October 14, 2010 at 06:59 PM. Reason: updated

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