Bactria

[zedestroyer]

I'm going to start a Campaign with Bactria, so:

Any tips on how to play Bactria?

It's best to use Phalangites in my main battle line, considering that the Argyraspid Phalangites are stronger and that a prolonged war with the Seleucid Empire is almost inevitable, or it's best to use the Agema Hoplites, these seem capable of taking down the Argyraspid Phalangites.

What battlefield tactics do you guys use with Bactria?

[Unknown Soldier]

Hmm...you should not take on the Selucids at their own game.

Use your Horse Archers and Archers to whittle them down.

Pin them with your pikes.

Charge their rear with your lancers.

Standard Tactics.

Or

forget infantry.

20 Units of Horse archers set on circle/skirmish wins just about any battle

Backtria is a hard campaign as you have low population loyalty and low income at start.

[zedestroyer]

I am thinking of a battle line of Phalangists, with Bactrian Archers on the flanks supported by Agema Hoplites. And a few units of cavalry to support the infantry, Horse Archers away from the army to harass, disorganize and divide the enemy and Cataphracts in the rear of my infantry to protect them against flank attacks and to flank the enemy army if the opportunity arises.

The problem is the superior phalnx unit of the Seleucids, the fact that they also have cataphracts and those Crossbowmen.

So I'm also thinking in a army composed of two lines: a first line of Bactrian Archers and the second line composed by Agema Hoplites, with Cataphracts to protect the flanks and Horse Archers to harass the enemy.

The Horse Archer Spam is boring, I like to use combined arms: cavalry, heavy infantry and archers.

[Zarax]

To clarify: your infantry will be always inferior to the seleucids but you can outmatch them in the cavalry department.
What I would deploy:

1 general
5 phalangites
4 hoplites/agema as flank guards, thorakitai do the job too
4 thureophoroi/thorakitai/baktrian archers as 2nd line and rear guard, also useful for extended flanking
2-4 heavy cav
2-4 horse archers
1 elephant

use horse archers to lure away enemy elites, wipe away the rest with cav and lighter inf while your phalanx pins them down.
Against parthia, baktrian archers and elephants are the (expensive) way to go...

[Kara Kolyo]

With bactria i train phalangites only for city defence. As was already said your pikemen are inferior to the seleucid ones and not of much use against the parthians. My main army ususally consists of 4 bactrian HA, some heavy bactrian cavalry. 4 bactrian archers, thureoporoi and hoplites. some indian longbows are good too. this kind of missille/spear army is good vs either seleucids and parthians.

[zedestroyer]

With bactria i train phalangites only for city defence. As was already said your pikemen are inferior to the seleucid ones and not of much use against the parthians. My main army ususally consists of 4 bactrian HA, some heavy bactrian cavalry. 4 bactrian archers, thureoporoi and hoplites. some indian longbows are good too. this kind of missille/spear army is good vs either seleucids and parthians.

Are you talking about something like this:

HA_HA_______________________________________________HA_HA
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
____________________BA-BA-TH-TH-BA-BA_____________________
____________________AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH____________________
__________________CC_________________CC__________________
__________________GG_________________IE___________________

HA - Horse Archers
BA - Bactrian Archers
TH - Thureophoroi
AH - Agema Hoplites
CC - Cataphrct Cavalry
IE - Indian Elephant
GG General

When the enemy closes in, the Bactrian Archers and the Thureophoroi retreat to behind the Agema Hoplites, then the Thureophoroi can trow javelins over the Agema Hoplites and the Bctrian Archers can move to the flanks and shoot the enemy from the side. The Agema Hoplites hold the enemy, the Cataphracts go around the enemy, defeating his cavalry and attacking the enemy's rear. The Horse Archers distract the enemy and try to divide his forces and if possible shoot to the back of the enemy main force or at least defeat his light units (lower shield and armor). The elephants can help against enemy elephant units if needed, can counter enemy cavalry units and they can make the final blow against the enemy infantry.

[Kara Kolyo]

Wow that sounds like a great plan. the problem with the plans in battle is that they last till the first shot. Indeed i position the HA infront of my lines, but this part of the map almost always has hills so i postion my missile units in a line and they pepper the enemy till the very last moment. by this time usually the ai lines are broken and the hoplites attack his pikemen while the archers an thureoporoi close in the other units. Usually it is all over with very few casualties mainly from friendly fire.

[Zarax]

Wow, that's an expensive battle line...
TBH what really matters is the first turns, when keeping your empire stable is quite the challenge...

[brandbll]

Exactly. Your planning too far ahead with all the catapharacts and stuff. You need to worry about carving out some breathing room when you start as Baktria. You may not like the "Horse Archer spam" but it's a cheap way to get your empire built up. Usually the Selucids only send Theuphori at you at teh beginning anyways because most of their better troops are used towards the western empires. So start off with Horse archers and then concentrate more on infantry and heavy calvary when you start heading west to fight the big armies.

[cherryfunk]

Any tips on how to play Bactria?

Fasten your seatbelt, and use lots of cavalry. The Parthians are an unholy scourge.

[Kara Kolyo]

The best way to kill those horsemen from hell for me is to use city sieges. couple of phalangite units defending stone walled city can hold full armies. positioning them at the gates makes the famous Fast food "Bactria fried horse"...

[brandbll]

Unless you use cheats, expansion with Baktria is extremely slow. It's undoubdtely the hardest campaign to do. Besides some of the stuff already metnioned, fighting inbetween Selucia and Parthia is extremely difficult. Especially because of DBH's most recent HA mod. The Selucids and the parthians are two completely different factions. My advice is, take out the Parthians first. Use an aggressive campaign and extreminate cities and destroy all tyhe buildings if you have to. It will enable you to concentrate better on the Selucids if you don't have a strong Parthinian force helping to dictate your strategy.

But be aware that being so far east makes it difficult to expland quickly. Managing your funds is vital because if you into the red, your dead.

[synthesis]

The last time I played as Bactria was before the Eastern Kingdoms were introduced and Seleucia and Parthia were quite happy fighting each other for some time. I was able to take the Indian rebel settlements to get my economy going before Seleucia attacked. I used two different army compositions. One was all HAs which I used to intercept the slower infantry armies of the Seleucids and the other was a phalangite/archer combination with a couple generals.

Elite units don't really break along the front unless they've been severely reduced in strength from arrow fire. You might as well use regular phalangites to pin the argyrispids and work on their flanks and rear with something else.

[cherryfunk]

Maybe Bactria should be replaced by another faction? It could be made part of the 'Eastern Kingdoms' non-playable faction, thus freeing up a new slot...

[Scutarii]

Well, I'd think before Baktria going, the Roman Rebels would go, they're far less useful IMO, especially as many people aren't playing with Loyalty enabled anyway.

[Kara Kolyo]

Chrerryfunk- you're joking right? It took us months of subtle hints and open whining to convince DBH to replace the selecid rebels with Bactria, i'm too old to live through this again

[Suppanut]

I also like Baktria and don't want to see it remove from XGM.

[zedestroyer]

I will use the Agema Hoplites, they are fast and versatile units, so they combine with my Bactrian Acrhers and Horse Archers.

Anyone want a Bactrian AAR?

Removing Bactria?? Are you kidding???? It's the most interesting faction to play: a tiny kingdom in the middle of nowhere against the huge and might Seleucid Empire.
The Rebels should be removed, the majority o the people don't use loyalty and it's bugged, so the rebels should be removed instead.

[cherryfunk]

I sorta like Bactria myself, but it's impossible to play a 'proper' Bactrian campaign unless the map moves further east -- Batria was in the Indian sphere...

[zedestroyer]

I sorta like Bactria myself, but it's impossible to play a 'proper' Bactrian campaign unless the map moves further east -- Batria was in the Indian sphere...

The obective is to conquer Parhtia and the Seleucide Empire.