Scythia

[roman_crusader]

Has anyone played as Scythia before. It seems to receive not a lot of news.....
I feel rather trapped playing as them, stuck with hoplites on your east, and better horse archers in parthia. anyone got advice?

and btw, the strategy section on the front page of TWC doesn't work......

[Pandora]

What did you do in order to play as Scythia? did you download a patch or something?
You do not get to play as them after you have finished the imperial campaign so you must have done something

[Lusted]

There are various unlock all faction mods around for RTW.

[rez]

with your superior cavalry the hoplites should be perfectly easy to defeat. Merely lure them in one direction with your horse archers then charge them in the rear with your heavy cavalry - or general.

Either that ot just shoot the hell out of them untill they are easy pickings. Other than that you could expand into germany - their cavalry cannot compete with yours so if you defeat their mounted wrriors first the rest will be left open to a good shooting

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

Scythia doeans treally have such a bad army at all... they have missle cavalry and they can do lots of damage to anemies withought losing one man. I must say the economy isnt really good, but still they can make a lot of money oput of wars, exterminate population on your way to Balcan and you should be able to improve your economy in few years. also use your generlas a lot to break anemy units that were decimated with your archers -> they should break fast then. My advice to players of Scythia is also to play agressive and not to stop until you have some important cities on the balcan that will improve your economy ... even after that is no need for you to stop concoring. Dont let Ai to make you feel traped it is maybe the only way he can make you lose, as you are most likely better general on the battlefeald as he is.

[Pandora]

My experience is that the Scythians is pretty much like every other eastern nation, they always use their horse archers to circle around enemy armies. in order to counter this you should build many units of light fast maneuverable troops for example some kind of cavalry. This way you will be able not only to chase after the horse archers of parthia but also to stop them from slaughtering your infantry with their deadly rain of missiles.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

Scythians can benefit from the trade in the Black Sea, and ther cities really grow fast especially near Thrace. The thracian cavalry is easy to destroy, the rest is just targets for your horse archers. The only problem are the vast distances you have to cover to destroy any brigands devastating your lands. Overall, if you can kill your oponents early, nothing will stop the Scythian cavalry later. With Scythian Nobles and Horse Archers you can shoot at the enemy spearmen and destroy the rest with your heavy cavalry, then destroy all the fleeing enemies with your light cavalry or horse archers. And make sure you always get the cities around the Black Sea until Macedon and build ports there. Barbarians get less penalties with sea trade.

[hellheaven1987]

Well, my experience is Scythia has good mounted warrior and good infantry... the main problem is their management... always rebel and it seems rebel is endless... (or may be I don't have talent of management? )

[Pandora]

But in order to get a decent economy going so that you can build your heavy cavalry you have to have good skills at management. Plus, the eastern civilizations are always attacked at the beginning of the campaign, this makes it really difficult to survive long enough to be able to build the troops which you are talking about.

[roman_crusader]

See, my problem now is that my largest army (900 men) can't deal with 1800 spear warbands, and i just lost campus alanni to the parthians. i want to expand into germany, but am running out of money. tyris just rebelled, and the brutii are now near it. i have sieged it, but i don't think i can beat the brutii. or can i? i dunno, but i reckon scythia might be very well one of the hardest factions to play.....

[Pandora]

They have a huge territory, but it can still be defended pretty easily, build forts at the end of bridges and garrison them with the best troops that you can afford. you also have to make sure that your enemy cannot pass around them.
all of the barbarian nations are hard to play, it is tough to get an economy going but it is still managable if you manage to capture a few cities in the beginning of the campaign.

[hellheaven1987]

Ya, or simply finish Parthian in first few turns. Then expan your territory rather to Armenia or Thracia.

[Pandora]

Exactly i didnt specify which provinces should be taken but the ones you mentioned are certainly worth conquering because of the great amount of money that they contribute to your economy.

[Silencio]

Scythia - Axemen, Chosen Archers, Noble Archers and HHM (they make minced meat out of Cataphracts and Praetorians). What more do you need? You have two opitions (in addition to taking the closest rebel cities):
1. Block the bridge to the Parthians and expand from your capital southward along the Black Sea coast. Stay away from Germany. It's dirt poor. The money are south. So Thrace goes first, then Macedon, then Greece. Once you have those rich, developed cities you can crank out your best troops and fight anyone. I usually avoid going after Dacia, unless they attack me. In that case I take their starting cities and leave the rest as a buffer against the Romans. It is too early and you are too poor to fight them yet.
2. Block the bridge south of your capital and finish off the lonely Parthian city first. This is not that great as you have a huge distance to capital, but you remove the threat. Then take your army by sea to Halicarnassus (yes) and take this rebel city. Next block the bridge to Sardis and take Rhodes and Crete in succession. Now you are siting on top of the richest trade routes. From there - all of Asia Minor, starting with the Greeks. Once you have Asia Minor you are rich and can attack either the rest of Asia or go back to the war in Europe.

Of course along the way - sell trade rights and alliances to everyone and play smart. One advantage you have is your mobility. Your small armies, properly micromanaged, cam wipe out much bigger forces and quickly build up gold chevrons.