Rome Total War Alexander Unit guide

[Yojimbo]

RTW Alexander Guide

Thread version 1.0.3

Alexander
Macedon teeters on the brink of destiny. Dissent is rife in Her lands after the death of Phillip II and Persia with her pitiless sands and aggressive leaders lies dangerously close to her. The time is ripe for a young man called Alexander to take on his father’s destiny and carve a red swath though Persia’s armies and take the rings from Darius III’s fingers.

This guide is a fragment of my full rtw series guide avilable as a pdf here. Please read the RTW part of the guide in my pdf, or here under rtw strategy guides for general unit class tatics.

Alexander is the last hurrah for the RTW series and frankly it’s a lousy way to end it, featuring a limited, boring campaign, somehow worse AI, an annoying sort of challenge with no actual difficulty and lots of little bugs and historical inaccuracies. Still it is a RTW game and this is a guide to RTW’s units so hence it’s included here. ALX focuses on phalanx and spear units and is limited in most others. It also features far, far fewer units than previous games, since it only has four factions, though the Dahae is spilt up to include Thrace, Scythia and others, it’s still treated as one faction but with different unit stats. They don’t even have different colors.

The AI is very stupid and routinely charges right onto phalanx or uselessly sends its infantry to die against them. Persia has huge armies, but since its 90% spearmen and cavalry they die uselessly against your phalanxes, unless you’re completely outnumbered. Their missile units are also useless and their generals tend to have very low stats with few exceptions. Persia is a boring and stupid enemy to fight and Dahae you don’t really have time to fight. The Indians are actually in the campaign mode as they have one city you CANT REACH. So you are limited to fighting Persia mostly.

This game is rushed, buggy and lazy. If you look in the data files or just in Alexander’s folder you’ll see a ton of stuff from earlier games crammed in there so they could put the minimum of effort in,. even mercenaries aren’t called mercenaries or even have a different color, they are just the normal unit that look the exact same except that they shows up in the merc queue, because it has the mercenary_unit attribute, making it tough to tell who are mercs and who aren’t in your army. Some units lack speech. CA just didn’t try with this game.

Thus this guide will not be as though as the other parts of this guide, as I hate this game and it’s not easy to write about a game you hate. If I’ve left anything out feel free to contact me and I’ll put it in, but I’m done playing this.


Swordsmen

Apparently sharp things that kill people are much harder to make compared to pointy things that kill people.

Swords barely make a showing in ALX, as there is only one sword unit and it’s used by minor factions you won’t be fighting much.

Barbarian Swordsmen
Attack: 13 Defense: 9 Charge: 5 Armor: 2 Cost: 430 Upkeep: 1
Factions: Thrace, Scythia, Illyria, Dahae

The only sword units in ALX, because of the multitude of spear units, Barbarian Swordsmen have very good attack, but low defense and low armor and are best used as flankers. They won’t be too much trouble in the campaign, as they will usually just die from your phalanxes or missile units


Spearmen

Spear envy can sometimes get violent…

Barbarian Spearmen
Attack: 7 Defense: 10 Charge: 4 Armor: 3 Cost: Varies Upkeep: 1 (Scythia)
Attack: 7 Defense: 12 Charge: 4 Armor: 5 Cost: Varies Upkeep: 1(Dahae, Illyria)

Barbarian spearmen are a lot like the old Spear Warbands from back in RTW. Some have the same stats as them, but Scythia’s have more armor. They aren’t really a threat in the campaign even though they have better morale now; they will die by your phalanx.

Hillmen
Attack: 5 Defense: 9 Charge: 2 Armor: 3 Cost: 290
Factions: Persia

Hillmen are one of the worst units in the game and even though Persia has them you’ll never see them in the campaign for some reason as they don’t recruit them. They have low attack, useless defense and low armor and die very quickly when they do fight. Don’t worry about these troops

Hypaspists
Attack: 8 Missile attack: 12 Defense: 11 Charge: 3 Armor: 4 Cost: 670
Factions: Macedon

Hypaspists are normal spearmen for Macedon. They have a good attack for spears and they can throw spears before the charge, like legionary pila, and they have a great missile attack so you should try to throw all their spears before attacking in melee. They have a good attack and morale so they can fight for quite a while even though their low amour and defense means they will die quickly. They are quite expensive, so you should try to minimize their casualties, though you will be very rich later on in the campaign. Use their speed to compliment your parallax and to intercept charges against your weaker troops.

Immortals
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 5 Defense: 14 Charge: 5 Armor: 4 Cost: Upkeep: 300
Factions: Persia

Immortals are apparently Persia’s elite troops, but you sure as heck wouldn’t know. They are far from elite, as they have only average attack for spearmen. They can use a bow as well, but it hardly matters as they have a worthless missile attack. Their defense is good, but not enough to give them any chance at all vs. phalanx and their armor is pathetically low for a supposed elite unit. These men will die just like Persia’s other troops, except that they will stay in combat and stay alive longer as their morale and defense is better than most others. They are still no use at all vs. your many infantry, as they use spears in melee, and their missile attack is so low that their bows are nothing to be worried about.

Indian Spearmen
Attack: 5 Defense: 10 Charge: 4 Armor: 0 Cost: 350
Factions: India

Indian spearmen are a very weak unit, as they have a low attack and defense and no armor at all. This unit is not a threat at all, particularly if you rain missiles down on them and the only unit weaker than it is Eastern Mercenaries. If you use them yourself, use them only for fodder and pushing rams, as they won’t do a very good job even against cavalry.

Kardakes
Attack: 8 Defense: 14 Charge: 3 Armor: 4 Cost: 350 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Persia

Kardakes are tougher spearmen than Persian infantry, with a better attack and defense and somewhat better morale, but they are still lightly armored and they will fall quickly to missiles or your phalanx, especially since you’ll be using mostly infantry and they are spearmen and thus useless against them.

Persian Infantry
Attack: 5 Defense: 10 Charge: 3 Armor: 3 Cost: Upkeep: 160
Factions: Persia

Persian infantry is the most common unit you’ll face in Alexander. These men form the bulk of Persia’s armies and every army will have at least some. They have a poor attack, low defense and little armor so they die quickly in melee while not really doing much of anything to phalanxes or infantry. Since they are spearmen and most of the time in Alexander you’ll be using infantry, they will be almost useless against your forces and you should easily kill as many as Persia sends at you. There are 240 men per unit and there will always be a lot, so shoot them with missiles, charge them with your infantry in phalanx or not and crash into their rear with cavalry to rout them as quickly as possible. They have low morale, so it doesn’t take too much to send them screaming into the sunset.

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Phalanx

A phalanx doesn’t have to be cohesive to wipe out Persians.

Even though phalanxes will be the main force of your Greek flavored march across Persia there are only two recruitable phalanxes in the entire game, both of them Macedon’s. Read the Phalanx tactics in the RTW section of this guide for tactics on using phalanx.


Hoplites
Attack: 7 Defense: 16 Charge: 3 Armor: 6 Cost: 660
Factions: Macedon

Hoplites are the rank and file of Macedon’s armies. They are quite a bit weaker than Phalangists and have much less attack. They are easier to recruit from Persia’s former cities as they don’t require as advanced buildings as Phalangists. They have surprisingly low morale and you should watch out if they are outnumbered or attacked in the rear as they can rout more easily that you’d think for a phalanx. Since they are easy to recruit you’ll be using these for the majority of your army along with mercenaries, as there isn’t enough time to keep sending Phalangists from Greece or develop conquered cities to train them.

Phalangists
Attack: 10 Defense: 17 Charge: 4 Armor: 6 Cost: 1120
Factions: Macedon

Phalangists are elite phalanx. They have a good attack for phalanx, and will kill enemies in from of them very quickly and they can fight well out of phalanx formation with their swords as well. They have very good morale and it will take a lot for them to rout. While they are much better troops than standard hoplites they still only have the same armor and it isn’t enough to completely stop missiles. If your army is under fire try to make sure your much cheaper Hoplites are taking the brunt of it. Phalangists are hard to train as the campaign just doesn’t give you the time the send reinforcements from Greece, or tech up cities. Try to take care of them and retrain them whenever possible.


Missiles

Skirmishers

This is what you’d call heavy rain.

Agrianian Javalinmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 8 Defense: 11 Charge: 2 Armor: 3 Cost: 350
Factions: Macedon

These skirmishers will be your primary missile unit when playing as Macedon. They do a good job of skirmishing, as they have a good missile attack and good enough morale to skirmish properly. They can also fight in melee rather well for skirmishers, as they carry swords and large shields and wear a bit of armor. Together with their good morale they can help your troops out in melee when the situation demands it. They are still better off unleashing a storm of javelins from a safe distance however.

Indian Javalinmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 7 Defense: 11 Charge: 2 Armor: 3 Cost: 350
Factions: India

These skirmishers are somewhat more useful than most, as they are actually not too bad in melee and have ok attack and defense for a missile unit. You should use these like heavy peltasts in RTW: use them in missile duels as they take less casualties from return fire and use them as light infantry to help friendly units in need or flank weaker enemy units. Embarrassingly these are probably Indians best melee infantry, besides Longbowmen.

Persian Peltasts
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 6 Defense: 4 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 180 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Persia

Persian peltasts are the same as peltasts have almost always been in the RTW, but they have a bad missile attack and low attack and defense so they are little more than fodder in the campaign, which is something that can be said for pretty much the entire Persian army. They are no match in missile duels or melee for any other skirmishers.

Archers

Well if you have to die there are worse last sights…

Archers are weaker in ALX. There are a few good units of them but the two main forces, Macedon and Persia are weak in them. Macedon doesn’t have archers and Persia uses weak ones. They are still good for killing off lightly armored troops and the other factions have some good ones.

Barbarian Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defense: 7 Charge: 1 Armor: 5 Cost: Upkeep: 1
Factions: Thrace, Scythia, Illyria, Dahae

Barbarian archers are much like Archer Warbands from RTW. They have a good missile attack compared to most other arches in ALX and are better than most in melee thanks to their higher than average defense and better attack than some. You could use these as light infantry after their missiles have gone but don’t expect miracles.

Cretan Archers
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 7 Defense: 4 Charge: 3 Armor: 0 Cost: 550
Factions: Macedon

Cretan archers, while not as strong as in RTW are still effective archers and superior to almost all others, besides Indian longbows. They seem to only exist in the campaign as mercs and macedon only has them in custom battles.

Indian Female Archers
Attack: 1 Missile attack: 5 Defense: 1 Charge 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 230
Factions: India

Female Archers are the worst archers in the entire Total War series. They have no melee attack or defense, very low morale and drop instantly in melee like a beetle crushed under a boot. Their missile attack is bad as well, though they are good against lightly armored units, like all archers. Charge them with anything even peasants and they will break and run almost instantly. If you have to use them, keep them well protected behind whatever units you have, and don’t even think of sending them into melee to help other units, because they are of no use whatsoever. They are notable only for the fact that they are female and have very skimpy outfits. J Their unit description in the custom battle screen is funny as well “The gentle sex is an unfamiliar term to these lethal ladies. The only pincushions they are interested in are the arrow ridden corpses of their enemies!”

Indian Levy Archers
Attack: 1 Missile attack: 5 Defense: 1 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 230
Factions: India

Why Levy Archers exist is anyone’s guess, as they are exactly the same as Indian Female Archers except male. Use them in the same way. Why CA felt it necessary to give the Indians two equally useless archer units I don’t know.

Indian Longbowmen
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 10 Defense: 12 Charge: 3 Armor: 7 Cost: 680
Factions: India

Regardless of their factual accuracy, Indian Longbowmen are head and shoulders above the other archers, to the point where it seems they are way overpowered to try to compensate for India’s other weaknesses. They can fight quite well in melee, as they have a very good attack for an archer and good enough defense. They shoot much better than the other archers and this unit should be the core of your army if you’re silly enough to play as India.

Mardian Archers
Attack: 4 Missile attack: 5 Defense: 3 Charge: 2 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Persia, Macedon

Mardian archers are very common archers, as Persia has at least a few, and usually a lot in all its armies. They shoot poorly, tying a lot of other archers in the RTW series for worst missile attack. Though they are slightly better in melee than some archers, you still want to keep them far away from it. When fighting Persia, its best the use cavalry to kill off their many archers, as a large group of them can kill quite a few of your men. Macedon can only get these in custom battles, not the campaign, and must rely on skirmishers.

[Yojimbo]

Slingers

Tribal slingers: Restoring the credibility of the slinger, one rock at a time.

Indian Slingers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 4 Defense: 4 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 160
Factions: India

Indian slingers are your basic slingers, and are exactly like RTW’s version. They are mainly fodder but can be effective against lightly armored units. They are very vulnerable to arrows because of their short range and lack of armor

Persian Slingers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 4 Defense: 4 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 150
Factions: Persia

Persian slingers are not even nearly as common in Persia’s armies as Mardian archers, but you will see some of them. They are just like the RTW version of slingers, since they again don’t pierce armor, though slingers did in BI and they are equally useless in melee and distance combat. They can still kill your lightly armored troops so keep troops like Prodromoi away unless they are charging them. They are not a threat unless underestimated, or in large numbers

Tribal slingers
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Defense: 6 Charge: 3 Armor: 1 Cost: 470
Factions: Dahae

Tribal slingers are completely different to normal slingers in the RTW series. They have way more attack than most slingers and can actually fight in melee to an extent, except their low defense and almost total lack of armor hobbles them. Tribal slingers are good units to use, more than capable of inflicting casualties on tougher enemy units. If you see them in the campaign it’s a good idea to kill them quickly with cavalry, as leaving them alone to bombard you will lose you quite a few men due to their high attack.

Cavalry

Light Cavalry

NOT ...FODDER...GAH!

Allied Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defense: 12 Charge: 6 Armor: 6 Cost: 540
Factions: Macedon

Allied cavalry are almost too well armored for light cavalry, but are lighter than other heavy cavalry so they belong here. They have a good attack for light cavalry, making them excellent for taking out missile units quickly and flanking and they have enough armor to survive in melee for at least a little while. Their defense isn’t that good though and in a protracted melee they will start taking causalities quickly. Their charge isn’t very good for cavalry so it’s better to leave them in a melee than keep charging them in.

Barcanian Horsemen
Attack: 6 Defense: 11 Charge: 5 Armor: 3 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Persia

Barcanian Horsemen are some of the most common troops you’ll face in the campaign and almost all Persian armies will have at least one or two. They wield armor piercing axes, but your multitude of phalanx troops and spearmen can still kill them very easily and other heavier cavalry usually kill them too quickly to take many loses, thanks to the horsemen’s low defense. This unit alone isn’t a threat but watch out if it flanks engaged units as that’s when they can really cause casualties.

Barbarian Cavalry
Attack: 8 Defense: 12 Charge: 7 Armor: 5 Cost: Upkeep: 1 (Dahae)
Attack: 12 Defense: 12 Charge 7 Armor: 3 Cost: Upkeep: 1(Scythia)

Barbarian cavalry are good light cavalry and at the beginning of the campaign when you are wiping out the barbarian settlements in Greece and later when you fight the Dahae you’ll find them used sometimes. They have a good attack and charge and their defense is better than the RTW/BI version of this unit and they also have some armor. They aren’t all that common as barbarians seem to prefer massed infantry, but when they do show up treat them with a certain amount of respect and use your many spears to take them down.

Indian Light Cavalry
Attack: 5 Defense: 10 Charge: 6 Amor: 3 Cost: 290
Factions: India

Indian light cavalry is very weak cavalry with a poor attack and low defense. They charge is also nothing amazing. This cavalry isn’t a threat at all and it should fall quickly to just about anything.

Indian Medium cavalry
Attack: 8 Defense: 13 Charge: 6 Armor: 7 Cost: 460
Factions: India

This cavalry is much better than the lighter version and has a good attack, decent defense and is well armored. They are still best used to attack missile units and flank engaged troops but they are tough enough to charge and melee weaker forces, their charge isn’t that good so you’re better off charging once then letting them fight it out in melee.

Prodromoi
Attack: 8 Defense: 5 Charge: 8 Armor: 0 Cost: 370
Factions: Macedon

Prodromoi are light cavalry that lack armor, but have a good attack. They wield armor piercing axes and this together with their great charge, horrible defense and lack of armor makes them the most useful at flanking and chasing routers. Don’t use them in a straight up fight, because even with their AP attack they will die very quickly.

Heavy Cavalry

This is unfortunately a scene you’ll often be seeing when fighting Persia.

Companion Cavalry
Attack: 10 Defense: 17 Charge: 9 Armor: 11 Cost: 1160 Upkeep: 280
Factions: Macedon

Companion cavalry is the elite of Macedon’s cavalry. They have a great attack and charge. They are very heavily armored and have high defense letting them stay alive in melee for quite a while and crush many foes. This is your main heavy cavalry to shatter armies with flanking charges on strong units, or head on charges against weaker ones. They are annoying to recruit in the campaign because of the lack of time but when you do get them they will serve well.

Hyrcanian Cavalry
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 9 Defense: 14 Charge: 3 Armor: 6 Cost: 630 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Persia

While Hyrcanian Cavalry are javelin cavalry they don’t actually have skirmish mode, or fire at will and only throw javelins once before they charge into the melee, like legionaries, but with their lack of fire at will you cannot halt them near the enemy and weaken them with a rain of missiles before charging. The only way to do this is to tell them to charge, let them throw their missiles then halt them, or tell them to move so they don’t charge the enemy, then order them to attack again so they throw another volley. Needless to say this is a clumsy and time consuming way of firing missiles, so you’re better off throwing a volley into the rear of the enemy then charging them. This cavalry has a very lousy charge, so it’s useless charging into units and pulling back; you need to leave them in melee to allow them to do damage. They are well armored and have good attack and defense so they are useful. The lack of fire at Well or skirmish is a major black mark against them though. On campaign this is a very common Persian unit and while they are dangerous to light troops their weak charge handicaps them. Of course your phalanx will turn them into dog food in a flash.

Heavy Bactrian Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defense: 23 Charge: 9 Armor: 18 Cost: 940
Factions: Persia

This cavalry is Persia’s main heavy cavalry. They certainly look imposing, riding black armored horses and they have the highest defense in the entire game and as much armor as Cataphracts. Their attack, like most super heavy cavalry is rather low in comparison to their defense and they are better at actually soaking up damage than dishing it out. For all their strengths however, these cavalry just die like anyone else when they get caught up on your phalanxes and the AI is stupid enough in ALX to do this quite often. This may be Persia’s heaviest cavalry, able to wipe out your forces if they charge your non phalanx troops but the AI is just usually too stupid to use them properly. Try to kill them as quickly as possible with your general’s bodyguard or spear/phalanx.

Royal Squadron
Attack: 10 Defense: 17 Charge: 9 Armor: 11 Cost: 1350
Factions: Macedon

This unit doesn’t actually seem to be in the campaign, as generals have a different unit for their bodyguard. As does Alexander himself, though it seems that these are his bodyguard, as they have exactly the same stats as him. They are much better than other general’s bodyguards, as they have the same attack as the normal general’s bodyguards, but much more defense and are far more heavily armored. Their charge is also powerful and they are more than equipped to sit in a melee. This unit is still available in custom battles and online.

Syrian Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defense: 19 Charge: 9 Armor: 14 Cost: 810 Upkeep: 190
Factions: Persia

Syrian cavalry is much the same as Heavy Bactrian cavalry, except they have less armor. They should still be treated with respect and killed in the same way.

[Yojimbo]

Axemen

Sicklemen. Awesomeness personified.

Barbarian Sicklemen
Attack: 14 Defense: 16 Charge: 7 Armor: 8 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 1(Scythia)
Attack: 16 Defense: 16 Charge: 7 Armor: 7 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 1(Dahae)

Barbarian Sicklemen are VERY tough troops, one of the best ones in the entire RTW series as they have a massive attack and high defense as well as very high morale and they will rarely drop below impetutous, even if half the unit is dead. They are armor piercing and will shred just about anything, armored or not. You don’t really have much of a chance to fight them in the campaign because of how rushed it is, but if you do encounter them pin them with infantry then crash into their back with cavalry. If you’re the one using them target the armored units, though they have very good stats for fighting light troops as well. They look very cool and are a unique unit too I think.


Chariots

Chariots=Piles of dead horses.

Indian Chariots
Attack: 12 Defense: 1 Charge: 6 Armor: 1 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 290
Factions: India

Indians chariots are one of their only decent units as with their high attack and huge bonus against cavalry they can kill them off very quickly. Even though they scare infantry like in the other RTW games, their total lack of defense makes them die so quickly they aren’t worth it. They are quite expensive as well.

Persian Scythed Chariots
Attack: 15 Defense: 1 Charge: 7 Armor: 0
Factions: Persia

Persian Scythed Chariots are the better chariot in the game. I still hate chariots, but they have a great attack and charge and will serve well in their role, well as well as any chariot. They aren’t too common in the campaign and a good block of infantry will cut them down quite fast. Just keep your cavalry far away.


General’s Bodyguards

The mighty Alexander leading the charge! This is how it should be, but isn’t always smart.

Alexander
Attack: 10 Defense: 17 Charge: 9 Armor: 11 Hit points: 2 Cost: 1460 Upkeep: 274
Factions: Macedon (duh really?)

Alexander, the guy the games about. The king of Macedonia, the honorable son following in his father’s footsteps. This man is the focus of the entire game and it is his lifespan that puts a time limit on the campaign and his death that ends it. Alexander has a huge bodyguard of tough companions, with the same stats as royal squadron. In the campaign he has 124 guards, making him a very powerful unit indeed, as they have high stats and can completely change the fortunes of a battle. In custom battles he has 240, which is just a staggering number and can wipe entire armies without spearmen right off the map if they aren’t careful. Alexander is very useful in battle, but he has a habit of dying sometimes even if his bodyguard hasn’t taken many losses, as he doesn’t seem to stay back much, leads the unit from the front left like generals do and always seems to be in direct combat with enemy troops. You should only commit Alexander at crisis points of the battle where your army needs a push badly to win the battle or when you see a good opportunity to get Alexander some easy kills, as his stats start off low and getting him into battle and making him behave bravely is how you get him some good traits and make him the great commander he is meant to be. Just don’t send him into obviously deadly situations or leave him in melee too long, unless you want to restore your last save, because if he dies your campaign is over whenever you win the battle or not.

Barbarian Generals Bodyguard
Attack: 12 Defense: 15 Charge: 7 Armor: 5 Upkeep: Varies with bodyguard size
Factions: Illyria, Scythia, Thrace

This bodyguard is used only for faction leaders and faction heirs and is the same as the Barbarian Warlord except they have 2 more armor. Use them in the same way and when fighting them take the same precautions.




Barbarian Warlord
Attack: 12 Defense: 13 Charge: 7 Armor: 3 Hit Points: 2 Upkeep: Varies with bodyguard size
Factions: Illyria, Scythia, Thrace

This bodyguard is shared by all the barbarian factions. It is tougher than the standard Macedon General’s Bodyguard and one on one this bodyguard will win easily. As Macedon, don’t use the RTW tactic of attacking the enemy general with your general, unless they are already engaged with another unit. When you need to kill an enemy general use your phalanx or, failing that normal spearmen and keep your general nearby to keep their morale high enough to finish the fight and counter the enemy general’s morale lowering effect. You can also charge into the rear of the general: he should die in seconds while also fighting spearmen/phalanx.

Eastern General
Attack: 12 Missile attack: 12 Defense: 15 Charge: 5 Armor: 6 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 80
Factions: Persia

Persia never seems to use the type of general, preferring instead to use their chariot bodyguards. This is odd because this general is much superior, as they have a very good attack and high defense, are well armored and also can throw javelins as they have a very high missile attack. This bodyguard is a pain and if you counter it you first have to pin it down in melee to stop them throwing javelins and skirmishing away. They are also more than capable in melee as they have the same stats as barbarian general’s bodyguards and can beat the crap out of the other general’s bodyguards. You should pin them with infantry, then crash your general or another strong unit into their rear, which should rout or kill them quickly.

General’s bodyguard
Attack: 11 Defense: 10 Charge: 6 Armor: 3 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 690 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Macedon

Macedon has a pathetic general’s bodyguard. It is the worst in the game and their defense and armor is just stunningly low, as it’s the same as low tech spearmen. They have a good attack but their charge is low and their defense ensures they will get chopped to pieces. You can’t rely on this general’s bodyguard like you could in the earlier total war games as it will die faster than you’re used to. With their good attack and the General’s morale raising ability, they can be effective in melee supporting other troops and they can still destroy missile units and chase routers but don’t expect them to crush elite units like they did before.

Indian Cavalry General
Attack: 11 Defense: 16 Charge: 6 Armor: 6 Cost: 830
Factions: India

The Indians, for some reason have a tough cavalry general bodyguard, as they have very good defense and are well armored. Their attack is also good for cavalry and they can do a good job against most troops.

Indian General
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defense: 19 Charge: 8 Armor: 16 Hit Points: 12 Cost: 2470
Factions: India

India’s general rides a war elephant, making him very powerful. Use him like other elephants to shatter the enemy army with charges, destroying their morale and causing panic and terror. Just remember than general’s bodyguard elephants can still run amok and you CANNOT kill these elephants, as they lack the “Kill Elephant” ability, since they have the Rally ability instead, or nothing if it’s a subordinate general. Make doubly sure your elephants aren’t going to be shot by flaming arrows, get hugely outnumbered or otherwise lose their nerve or you’re going to have a big problem.

Persia General’s Bodyguard
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 9 Defense: 1 Charge: 5 Cost: 1700
Factions: Persia

This chariot bodyguard is, as you’d expect pretty useless and very easy to kill with your spearmen/infantry/phalanx, so Persia’s generals aren’t really a worry.


Elephants

Proof that tattoos do make you tougher!

Indian Elephants
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 10 Defense: 16 Charge: 11 Armor: 13 Hit Points: 11 Cost: 1380 Upkeep: 490
Factions: India

Indians elephants are part of what saves them from being a useless faction. They have the best elephants in the game as their stats are the best besides their armor and hitpoints being slightly lower. You should always use these units of your playing as India. They can completely destroy the Persian war elephants.

War Elephants
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defense: 16 Charge: 8 Armor: 16 Hit Points: 12 Cost: 2520 Upkeep: 490
Factions: Persia

For whatever reason Persia never uses their war elephants. What sort of idiot king do the Persians have? They are weaker than Indian elephants in raw stats, except that they are better armored and have one more hit point. You don’t need to worry about this unit in the campaign but if you encounter it online or in a custom battle use your phalanx as Macedon or skirmishers to crush it. They can also run amok just like in the other total war games and copious amounts of fire arrows will do the trick.


Horse Archers

Why can’t the Greeks still have these in Roman times?

Barbarian Horse Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defense: 2 Charge: 2 Armor: 0 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 60
Factions: Dahae

These horse archers are exactly like the shared Scythian Mounted Archers and should be used in the same way.

Scythian Mounted Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defense: 2 Charge: 2 Armor: 0 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 120
Factions: Persia, Macedon

These are exactly like the bog standard horse archers in the original RTW. Just have them shoot and keep them far away from any melee. They are somewhat expensive so try not to get them killed. Persia seems to not use these units, so don’t worry too much about horse archers, just their javelin cavalry.

[Yojimbo]

Non combatants

ALX features the toughest peasants yet and they can actually fend off some spear units!

Barbarian Peasants
Attack: 2 Defense: 4 Charge: 1 Armor: 3 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 1(Illyria)
Attack: 3 Defense: 8 Charge: 1 Armor: 5 Cost: 150 Upkeep: 1(Scythia)
Attack: 1 Defense: 4 Charge: 1 Armor: 3 Cost: 150 (Custom battle version)

Barbarian peasants vary depending on the faction. Scythian peasants are surprising, because they actually are decently armored and have 3 attack, the same as Eastern Mercenaries. This makes them ever so slightly tougher to defeat, but it won’t be a problem at all when you’re playing Macedon. With other factions they are best treated with a modicum of respect especially with spear types. The custom battle version of Barbarian peasants can actually beat Persians Infantry in a straight fight, as the spears are hampered by their -4 vs. infantry penalty. The Scythian version of the unit is tougher still. Though they will still die quickly to missiles and cavalry attacks as they lack shields, the last hurrah for peasants in the RTW series is their strongest iteration yet.

Macedonian Peasants
Attack: 1 Defense: 1 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 100
Factions: Macedon

Macedon’s peasants are just like the Roman peasants of the original RTW: lowest stats in the game and almost useless for anything except garrison duties and fodder. You will be using them quite a bit as garrison, as they are cheap and take population from the city reducing revolt chances while also providing a garrison. Just don’t bother with them in battle, except for soaking up missiles and pushing battering rams

Peasants
Attack: 3 Defense: 3 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 120
Factions: Persia

Persia never seems to use peasants in battle and you usually won’t be fighting these during the campaign. They are tougher than Macedon’s peasants and actually have the same attack as Eastern Mercenaries, which goes to show how awful those mercs are. They also have slightly more defense than Macedon’s peasants and can actually hold on for a little while in melee.


Mercenaries

Mercs looking exactly like your normal units can get annoying. I took this pic and now a week or two later I can’t tell which is the merc!

Alexander is annoying as it doesn’t call mercenaries, mercenaries always, so from the custom battle screen it’s hard to tell what are mercenaries and what isn’t. The fact they are the same color as Macedon troops and because of the crap unit speech this time around they don’t call themselves mercenaries always doesn’t help. Most of this info is from the campaign. Remember that mercenary cost is based on experience and some general traits.


Allied Cavalry
Attack: 9 Defense: 13 Charge: 6 Armor: 6 Cost: 350 Upkeep: 200
Locations: Macedon

For some reason Allied Cavalry mercenaries are actually cheaper than the state version. This makes a handy cavalry unit even more useful. Besides the cost, Allied Cavalry mercs are exactly like normal Allied Cavalry.

Arab Cavalry
Attack: 7 Defense: 14 Charge: 4 Armor: 3 Cost: 750 Upkeep: 120
Locations: South of Macedon

Exactly like the RTW version, these light cavalry are very useful for chasing down missile units and protecting hoplite flanks.

Auxiliary Thracian Cavalry
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defense: 6 Charge: 3 Armor: 0 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 55
Locations: Macedon

Wooo triple 666 how evil! These men are weak javelin cavalry with an ok attack for light cavalry but poor missile attack and lousy defense. Just use them to chase routers and throw javelins into the backs of units or kill lighter ones, as even the lightest troops will kill these quickly in melee.

Cretan archers
Attack: 6 missile attack: 8 Defense: 4 Charge: 3 Armor: 0 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 200
Locations: South of Macedon in Persian lands

Cretan archers are the best archers in ALX, are elite and boast the highest missile attack for archers and slightly above average melee stats. Cretan archers shoot well and can stay in melee for a little while, but their useless defense ensures they will take causalities quickly, except against other weak missile units. You should always hire these mercs as they are very useful.

Companion Cavalry
Attack: 11 Defense: 18 Charge: 9 Armor: 11 Cost: 1160 Upkeep: 280
Locations: North Macedon

These mercs are exactly like the normal companion cavalry and should be used in the same way: to shatter enemy units with their devastating charge and attack.

Dahae Mounted Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 9 Defense: 4 Charge: 2 Armor: 0 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 150
Locations: Dahae lands in north Persia

These mercs are the best horse archers in the game. They have the best missile attack and slightly better melee attack than the others. They still don’t have armor and have terrible defense so keep them out of melee or counter fire and use normal horse archer tactics.

Eastern Mercenaries
Attack: 3 Defense: 7 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 70
Locations: Near Memphis where the thin line of land to the south of Greece connects the Persian mainland

Eastern mercenaries are the worst unit in the entire game. They are even worse than Persian Infantry and even worse than the Eastern Infantry of RTW. India’s archers are better than this, as their awful stats are offset by the fact they are archers. Eastern Mercenaries have a pitiful attack, worthless defense and no armor at all. This makes them die very, very quickly in a melee and makes it hard for them to contribute much to a fight, as they won’t kill many and will get whittled down to nothing fast. About their only use is holding the enemy while you flank with other units or as just another unit to toss into the fray, supporting your phalanx and adding their mass to the mix. Since Alexander is such a rushed Total War you’ll probably be using quite a few of these units, since you have no time to train reinforcements and you should always use them to push battering rams and take missiles so your better troops that are hard to replace don’t have to. Their cost may seem expensive but you have little choice because of the pace of the campaign. They upkeep is the lowest in the game however.

Hoplites
Attack: 7 Defense: 16 Charge: 3 Armor: 6 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 170
Locations: Macedon

There are just like normal Macedon hoplites, except oddly cheaper to recruit, even though they are mercenaries. This unit is well worth the cost; though watch out for their upkeep, which is more than twice as much as normally recruited Hoplites.

Illyrian Mercenaries
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 9 Defense: 8 Charge: 4 Armor: 2 Cost: 350 Upkeep 130
Locations: Macedon

Illyrian Mercenaries are exactly the same as the RTW version and are still great skirmishers who are also decent in melee if you need them to support a unit in need.


Libyan Skirmishers
Attack: 2 Missile attack: 5 Defense: 3 Charge: 1 Armor: 0 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 100
Location: South of Macedon in Persian lands

Libyan Skirmishers are just as useless as they were in RTW and are complete rubbish in melee and no good at skirmishing either, as they have poor missile attack, like almost all archers in this game, except with the lousy skirmisher range. You should recruit them only for suicidal tasks and to make up numbers, though they are for some reason more expensive than the superior Mercenary Peltests You can also them get late in game when you have so much money it doesn’t matter.

Mercenary General’s Bodyguard
Attack: 10 Defense: 24 Charge: 9 Armor: 18 Cost: 1400

Frankly I don’t have a clue about this unit. I’ve never seen it for hire and it may only be seen used by Persian generals. The data files suggest it’s used by Mammon a mercenary commander in Darius’ employ. Whatever they are they are certainly tough, as they are far better than the Persians normal cavalry bodyguard and have the highest defense in the game!

Mercenary Peltasts
Attack: 4 Missile attack: 6 Defense: 9 Charge: 1 Armor: 2 Cost: 250 Upkeep: 100
Locations: Macedon and north of map into Dahae territory

Exactly the same as the RTW version, these men are average skirmishers and poor in melee. They are very cheap for mercs however and, like a lot of weak troops are great as cheap fodder to push battering rams and absorb missiles.

Mounted Desert Skirmishers
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 10 Defense: 9 Charge: 4 Armor: 0 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 130
Locations: South of Macedon in Persian lands

These javelin cavalry are rather expensive, but they can fight in melee sort of, though their low defense and lack of armor makes them suited to flanking roles, so they won’t be focused on and cut to pieces. Their missile attack is also very good and they come in handy for chasing missiles, as well as countering elephants.

Phrygian Mercenary Infantry
Attack: 14 Defense: 15 Charge: 14 Armor: 6 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 170
Factions: Persia

I’m not sure if you can actually get these guys as mercs, or if they are just called mercs to explain why Persia has them, but if you can they would be amazing as they are armor piercing and have a high attack and good defense, letting them smash their way though armored and lightly armored troops with equal ferocity.

Steppe Horsemen
Attack: 9 Defense: 14 Charge: 10 Armor: 9 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 170
Locations: Macedon and along north of map

Steppe Horsemen are tough mercs as they have a high attack and charge enabling them to either stay in melee or charge in and pull back for another charge. Their high defense also ensures they excel at both roles.

Thessalian Cavalry
Attack: 9 Defense: 16 Charge: 10 Armor: 11 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 230
Locations: Macedon

Thessalian cavalry were considered the best around in this period and these mercs do not disappoint as they have a good attack for cavalry, matched with high defense and very heavy armor. These mercs will come in very handle for shattering non spear units with charges and flanking, as well as chasing routers. Hire them whenever you see them. They are rarer than other mercs.

Thracian Mercenaries
Attack: 10 Defense: 6 Charge: 5 Armor: 2 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 130
Locations: Macedon

These mercs are just like the RTW version and feature good attack with low defense. They are best used as flankers to attack the enemy while they are occupied and thus stop them getting attacked back and killed from their lousy defense.

1.0: First thread version

1.0.3: Lots of small fixes and fixed formatting.

[Yojimbo]

Its all been added you can post in the thread now, tho i need to fix the formatting. Feedback please as its going the scriptoruim. as always the pdf version and my other guides can be found in my sig.

[Leonidas_I]

Wow iv learned heaps off this nice job. P.S rep coming.

[Legio]

Nice guide, but oyu forgot one unit- the Persian Greek Mercenary Phalanx, noy sure if they are recruitable but there are a few in the initial Persian stacks.

[Yojimbo]

Nice guide, but oyu forgot one unit- the Persian Greek Mercenary Phalanx, noy sure if they are recruitable but there are a few in the initial Persian stacks.

Yeah I didn't forget them i have no idea if they are recuritable im playing a campagin on easy just now to make sure i have all the mercs so ill try again if i don't find them they must just be persias.

Fixed formatting and corrected several missing things like unit costs.

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

Good job. You did a good job on a guide for a bad game :-)

[Legio]

Good job. You did a good job on a guide for a bad game :-)

I liked ALX
A nice guide, too!

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

I liked ALX
A nice guide, too!

Alex was too short for me and didn't add anything significant to the mix.

[Viking Prince]

A good finish to your series of unit guides for Rome.

[Yojimbo]

A good finish to your series of unit guides for Rome.

thank you very much now its time for m2tw! I have the unit stats wrtten out im writing strats now tho it wont be ready for months yet and etw will steal its thunder

I liked ALX
A nice guide, too!

i didnt read the first paragraph of the guide for why

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

I made a fix for Alex that I think makes it much better. If anyone wants it. http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=223727

[C-Rob]

I want this game now...

Even if it does suck.

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

I want this game now...

Even if it does suck.

I assure you that it does.

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Keep up the good work Forlornhop3.