Phalanx

[Hyperterran]

are there any phalanxes that the Romans can recruit? aor ones i mean

the egyptians are becoming a pest now, with the phalanxes and legionarries (which is a deadly combo)

with my standard legion combo, i ususally take massive casualties because I'm unable to manueveur around to kill the phalanx (the enemy legionarries defend the phalanx's side)

so where can i find myself some phalanx to equal up the ground?

[despot_of_rhodes]

Um... you mean macedonian style phalanx, right? I don´t remember that Romans can train them anywhere, unless in Asia Minor, the cheapest persian one. Or you can hire pezoi mercs from Greece ( depends, how many you´d need ).
But i am curios, what causing problems for your legionaries to defeat a primitive phalanx? None of the phalanx unit should be able to penetrate you lines, once you get the Marian Reforms. And even before. - all you need is a good battle formation and tactics - there are several threads here on forums about how to defeat phalanx based armies, especially with Romans.
Briefly:
- soften the phalanx with your skirmish/missile troops;
- put your cohorts on guard mod with fire at will if the phalanx is within the range ( don´t waste the ammo at skirmishers etc. ).
- let the petzoi encircle your unit, wich should be placed in a square formation like on the chess board ( you know from the movies ), so the pezoi would lose their perfect phalanx formation
- shower them with pilas and charge from the reare, when they got tired, while your units are nicely fresh, with the second line after you showerd them with their pilas one more time to increase the causalities before the charge
- or use your missile troops to get behind the phalanx line
- or use your cavalry for charging from behind, after you dealt with their skirmishers and cavalry ( hammer & anvil tactic )
- or lure some of their infantry units away from the main battle line using skirmishers on skirmish mod/cavalry as a bait and finish them one for one


Btw: what battle difficulty are you playing at?

This are the compared values of roman legionaries, pezoi and ptoley legionaries:

Legionaries:
Attack 12
Missile 2x12 ( range: 38! )
Charge 6
Armour 9
Defence Skill 16
Shield 8
Moral 18
Stamina: excellent
Price/Upkeep: 1440/510

Pezoi:
Attack 14
Defence Skill 21
Armour 3
Shield 3
Moral 15
Stamina: good

Ptoley Legionaries:
Attack 11
Missile 2x10 ( range: 35 )
Charge 6
Defense Skill 22
Armour 4
Shield 6
Moral 18
Stamina: good
Price/Upkeep: 1665/810!

Important: your legionaries outrange the ptoley ones, so you should be able to break them on the flanks using cavalry ambos & anvil tactics, while your front line units hold their ground.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Hyperterran]

no, what i meant is that when the egyptians come at me, they got their phalanx in the middle and legionarries on the sides.

so i'm taking massive casaulties in the middle while i'm fighting the legionarries on side(which still takes a long time even if i have a slight advantage)
also i'm play h/vh

[despot_of_rhodes]

There is no way to prevent a phalanx to chop through your lines playing on vh where they get +7 attack etc. bonus.... But still, you should try the chess formation to disorder their lines

[Hyperterran]

i think i'll need more calvary....
or maybe some elephants from africa to quickly dispose the enemy for me to encircle them

[Vae victis]

If you have a smaller army, you can try differant tactics to breack up the enemy formation, before you clash. You could chase some of their skirmishers to see if any units pursue, or you could divide your forces, and hope that the enemy does the same. With these tactics you can rout some of the enemy units, while the rest are chasing your decoy.

If the above does not work you can try spreading your units thin along a long line. March your units up to the enemy and attack two units with one of your own to tie them up and pin them. Then wheel around and strike them from behind.

If all else fails you can reduce the battle difficulty in your next campaign. The bonuses that the AI gets on vh can make battles unrealistic. Hope this helps.

[Scutarii]

Use their own tactics against them. Put your legionaries on guard mode, so they take less casualties, then send some cavalry around back. 1-2 unit should do, phalanxes are easy to break.

[Arkaeyn]

Another good strategy is, when on the defensive, to make the suckers walk. They're slow, and they rout easily when exhausted.

[lelouchx99]

usually against phalanx, spread out your legionaries everywhere like in groups. The phalanx will react and split up, then you do some maneuver and attack them in the rear.

[Hyperterran]

can someone upload the original export_descr_ancillaries ?

i kinda messed up when i tried to give chirgeons to everyone =\

thx for the replies too =D

[Kurzschlus]

as usual phalanx are a juggernaut if you hit them head to head.

any tactics that gets you into their flanks and backs does the trick.

if your flanks get pinned down, i would try to give way in the center, just to lure them deeper into your lines. preserve your javelines to hit them if they turn towards the already fighting units and/or depending on how that works, try to pull out one or two units to flank the flankers. this is usually possible because you can cover a broader front with legionaries in contrast to a deep stacked phalanx. the stamina of the legionaries is habitually very good, so you could add some hit and run manouvers.

[Hyperterran]

hmmm i'm having some success now, I still can't penetrate their heartland to finish the job. many border battles

also what heavy calvary do you guys use? I'm trying out some gallic light calvary, roman samitaran calvary and the ones from macedon

[despot_of_rhodes]

Your best choice are Tarentine Light Cavalry ( Missile ). They are effective against armour, so you can hit the phalanx or any other unit from behind, causing huge causalities. They are available as mercs in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Lybien... and recruitable in Tarentium after you build the third tier of auxilla there. They even got a very good charge ( 20! ), wich i personaly find overpowered, and so can rout moste of the light skirmishers, are fast moving with good stamina and also perfect general killers ( armour piercing while persuing is deadly ). And they are also incredibely cheap ( bout 1300 to hire and 400 in upkeep ). They got small shields but no armour, but that´s not a big deal, since you can upgrade them. With some experience chevrons, wich they get quite fast, this guys are my first choice, no matter who i´m fighting.

[Kurzschlus]

depends totally where you fight and thus could recruit.

in my experience it is always way more important to carefully choose your light cav than your heavys, and there indeed I like tarentines best too.

light cavalry is needed to pursue fleeing enemy cav, heavies to get them on the run. but one or two mobile units of spear infantry in the rear of your center helps. eastern mercs are great to pin an enemy cav down, while your heavies pull out to charge again. played that way gallic nobles give a good bang for the buck, sarmatians are best but awefully expensive in upkeep. i am always almost relieved when they get decimated.

[Hyperterran]

which archers do you guys use? or slingers?

also what is the difference between longbow and powerful recurve bow?

[Maurits]

I'd advice to use cretan archers. These are just very good, and almost in all territories available as mercenaries. I'm also playing as the Romans, and mostly I use a combination of scorpions and cretans.

[Hyperterran]

hmm i found artillery kinda lackluster. they sometimes hit my own units from the back and they are not as manueurable as archer units, especially in forests

still wondering whats difference between the bows though.

[Maurits]

hmm i found artillery kinda lackluster. they sometimes hit my own units from the back .

I mostly deploy them at the flanks of my army, with infantry behind, who come in front of them when the enemy are close. Then they have to stop firing of course, but mostly they are effective in combination with other missile units.

[Scutarii]

hmm i found artillery kinda lackluster. they sometimes hit my own units from the back and they are not as manueurable as archer units, especially in forests

still wondering whats difference between the bows though.

Scorpions can be good in ExRM since the number of artillery pieces was doubled (at least for scorpions). I got my 2 units of scorpions 300 kills each against a Gallic horde one time.

[Vae victis]

For calvary I use the generals bodygaurd that you can recruit. It has some of the best cavalry stats and is only 100 upkeep. Plus the generals can gain traits and influance to help administer your settlements.


You need missles sooner or later to counter missle cavalry which are fast and dangerous. Slingers or archers can help. Try to get your missles to fire at the enemy sides or back to be the most effective.


I dont like to use artillery and I dont like to fight against it either. Im kinda mad that it was added back in for some factions. For a siege, sapping works just as good to knock down walls. On the battlefield seige eqipment can be deadly.