Galatia - The Cataphracts give me a headache

[Gryphon Templar]

I started with Galatia and actually it runs pretty good. The only real problem is the enemy cavalry, particularly cataphracts, mounted archers and bodyguards. The cavalry of the Celts is pathetic in comparison to neighboring kingdoms and even lose against mounted archers in melee . Are there ways as Galatia to defeat the enemy's cavalry without major losses?

I hope I never meet the Parthians and Sarmatians.

[Alavaria]

Cataphracts, thankfully.. can be solved with slingers shooting over the heads of some spearmen.

The heavy mounted archers are really the worst. Fortunately, you should have the ability to find settlements where you can get Mercenary & Levy building with the capability to recruit pikemen. These guys are a very good arrow sponge. If you advance in good order, it should be easy to get the enemy to use up all their arrows on your phalanx, leaving them as "only" heavy cavalry.


Javelin troops (yes, I am thinking of the really cheap ones) which are not pre-charge and come with the usual 200-men units, 6-javelins-each type are very capable against horsemen without shields, due to the fact RTW keeps track of ammo per unit, not per soldier. You can have your men throw javelins in melee with cataphracts to (relatively) devastating effect, compared to how cheap and available they are. If you keep them from breaking, of course...

[Gryphon Templar]

Thanks for the help