Parthian Strategy

[MEGAS ALEXANDROS]

Hello

I've always played westerner... either rome or greece... but I've recently ended reading Collen Mccullough's Masters OF Rome series (Highly recomended, probably the best historical novel of rome ever!!!) so I was itchy to play the Parthians, who where the main threat to Rome in the series timeframe... and I GOT OWNED!!!

So I decided to play some custom battles to work out an strategy... and GOT OWNED AGAIN!!!, I have been so used to roman and greek tactics that this all horse strategy it's totally alien to me.

I'm use to phalanx and legion strategy, but all-horse strategy? no, and the mercs found in Parthia are all crappy light units... How do you beat the seleucids or the bactrians with only crappy infantry and heavy cavalry?

The only way I could win was to hire some penzoi mercs to have the old school alexandrian strategy.

How do you play with the parthians and, for that matter, the Sarmatians wich are all-cavalry factions?

whats your battle strategy against the diferent army types?

[fourganger]

You need to surround enemy units with your Horse Archers, and shoot your arrows into the flanks- avoid attacking from the front, especially against heavily armed phalanx troops. What tactics are you using at the moment?

[Jamey]

I'd take the Sarmatians over the Parthians if you want a cavalry experience. Their Horse Archers are far and away the best in the game because they have enough armor to withstand return ranged fire tolerably. No one else has armored HAs.

That said, the key with HAs is to put arrows into the back and right flank of enemy units (where the shield doesn't count) and then run them down once they rout. It is a challenging, different, and fun play style that takes a lot of adjustment. I recommend running your HAs into position, then manually targeting individual units with your individual units (make sure fire at will is off).

[Pat89]

Parthia is far more chalanging though... and with all those (slow) hoplites, you can shoot them from all sides but the front... Their shield is right in front of them (ie not left/right)

[Jamey]

Parthia is far more chalanging though... and with all those (slow) hoplites, you can shoot them from all sides but the front... Their shield is right in front of them (ie not left/right)

From what I understand, the shield covers the left side and the front, regardless of how the graphics look.

[AqD]

Shield effects are doubled in the front, and probably even more increased when they're in phalanx formation - you can see that hoplites with the same defense are usually easier to kill than the phalangites.

BTW the sarmatian HA armour is a completely fake.. The rider wears absolutely NO armour in game, though the older version does. And the armour for their heavy cavarly are incorrect too.
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[MEGAS ALEXANDROS]

:hmmm:

all sounds really good strategies... I had tryed to use a combo of heavy horse and penzoi, I guess I'm too used to infantry strategy that it didnt ocurred to me to have a all horse army... the problem with the penzoi is that they eventually rout.

So the HAs have to use the parthian shot? its a really good tactic for what I can see... how do you charge? 'cause obviously the enemy its going to march towards my position so i'll need to cut my army into trhee different groups? one HAs, one as a distraction so the enemy army its focus on them and one thats out flaking them and probably attacking from behind?

am I right?

And this is against phalanx and eastern untis but how about the roman legions or the gauls?... I guess the gauls and the germans can be charged up front with no problem except for the choosen spearman (I hate this guys), but I think if I charge against a roman legion up front they will kill me, and out flank a roman legion its tricky 'cause the legion can manouver with speed.

So how about them?

[TheAlchemist]

... how do you charge? 'cause obviously the enemy its going to march towards my position so i'll need to cut my army into trhee different groups? one HAs, one as a distraction so the enemy army its focus on them and one thats out flaking them and probably attacking from behind?

If you're using horse archers as Parthia you probably shouldn't charge an enemy... ever. HAs are great for killing at a distance and outmaneuvering foes but get cut to pieces in melee--the only time they should ever get close to the enemy is when the enemy is routing and can't fight back. As Parthia I always split my army into groups of 2-3 units of HAs and kept one in front of the enemy and sent the others to the flanks and rear. The AI would usually split up their units and then, with HAs literally on all sides, I usually had at least one or two units that could hit the enemy in the back/flank.

And this is against phalanx and eastern untis but how about the roman legions or the gauls?... I guess the gauls and the germans can be charged up front with no problem except for the choosen spearman (I hate this guys), but I think if I charge against a roman legion up front they will kill me, and out flank a roman legion its tricky 'cause the legion can manouver with speed.

Gauls and Germans are pretty easy to kill with HAs due to their poor armor and overall quality. Romans are a fair bit trickier, but as long as you can get a unit or two in their rear they die pretty fast (they get tired pretty fast, too, which helps you out a lot).

[Jamey]

BTW the sarmatian HA armour is a completely fake.. The rider wears absolutely NO armour in game, though the older version does. And the armour for their heavy cavarly are incorrect too.

I'm confused by this statement. The EDU says that they have 6 armor, how is this a fake number?

[AqD]

You can check their appearance in game - there is no armour. The unit skin had been completely changed from the old preview - in which the HA did wear armour (similar to the one worn on silver shield phalanx).

Also the armour value for their heavy cavalry is too high (10 and 15) compared to other heavy cavalry: the sarmatian Kataphraktoi wear only a scale vest covering half of upper body, but it offers as much protection against missile as bactrian general bodyguards, who wear breastplate and leg greaves.
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[Jamey]

You can check their appearance in game - there is no armour. The unit skin had been completely changed from the old preview - in which the HA did wear armour (similar to the one worn on silver shield phalanx).

Also the armour value for their heavy cavalry is too high (10 and 15) compared to other heavy cavalry: the sarmatian Kataphraktoi wear only a scale vest covering half of upper body, but it offers as much protection against missile as bactrian general bodyguards, who wear breastplate and leg greaves.

Ah. You mean that the armor doesn't match up with unit appearance.

Are you also arguing that it is historically inaccurate, or should the appearance change to match with the armor?

[fourganger]

Also the armour value for their heavy cavalry is too high (10 and 15) compared to other heavy cavalry: the sarmatian Kataphraktoi wear only a scale vest covering half of upper body, but it offers as much protection against missile as bactrian general bodyguards, who wear breastplate and leg greaves.

Sarmatian scale armour was made of dragon scales, don't you know. Hence the extra protection.

[Jamey]

Sarmatian scale armour was made of dragon scales, don't you know. Hence the extra protection.

Do you think we should add flaming breath to Sarmatian cavalry, too? :hmmm:

[Pelican Man]

Do you think we should add flaming breath to Sarmatian cavalry, too? :hmmm:

Don't forget to add the wings!!!

LOL

THE P-MAN

[fourganger]

Do you think we should add flaming breath to Sarmatian cavalry, too? :hmmm:

That would be awesome. You up to it aqd?

[AqD]

That would be awesome. You up to it aqd?

Yeah I'll check LoTR-TW for the dragon model
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[AqD]

Sarmatian scale armour was made of dragon scales, don't you know. Hence the extra protection.

But it's not dragon scales in game - look at the texture file:




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[Pat89]

@ MEGA ALEX.
Just make sure you HA's are out of the enemies range and never ever let them go into hand-to-hand combat! They will die for sure!

Let them fire all arrows on the enemy (from behind or their right-side). This should kill most of them... If you are run out of arrows, simply retreat (ie make sure you are the one who starts most battles... The AI will be less active (they're defending) and you have the ability to retreat without having to fight another (forced) battle with them again)

If you do this, it isn't that difficult to play as Parthia...



Oh btw... always ight all battles yourself... The computer calculations will completely destroy your army in auto-battles...

[AqD]

The latter. It's very weird that their appearances and stats don't match. Other units have similar problem but not that significant.
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[Jamey]

The latter. It's very weird that their appearances and stats don't match. Other units have similar problem but not that significant.

I'm with you 100%, then.