Antigonid Macedonia was at a Standstill...

[Pooploop]

After going over the rosters in the game and checking on some real history to get a better understanding of the era, I grudgingly had to accept that Antigonid Macedonia really was at a standstill or worse, a decline, in the arms race of the Hellenistic world. There was nothing unique or particularly commendable among the units that Macedon could field compared to the other Successor states. Whatever they had, the others also had and better. The Seleucids, Pontids, and Bactrians have, aside from the standard battalions trained in Alexandrian warfare, a powerful (very) and flexible cavalry arm suited for skirmish and melee, as well as good quality archers and more open-order infantry. The Ptolemaic armies have access to the myriad of fighting styles representative of Africa, culminating in the terrifying war elephant. Even the Epirotes have a unique selection of Illyrian troops, both horse and foot. Aside from the "Peltasts" (elite skirmisher/melee infantry) what does Antigonid Macedonia have that is uniquely theirs?

[isa0005]

After going over the rosters in the game and checking on some real history to get a better understanding of the era, I grudgingly had to accept that Antigonid Macedonia really was at a standstill or worse, a decline, in the arms race of the Hellenistic world. There was nothing unique or particularly commendable among the units that Macedon could field compared to the other Successor states. Whatever they had, the others also had and better. The Seleucids, Pontids, and Bactrians have, aside from the standard battalions trained in Alexandrian warfare, a powerful (very) and flexible cavalry arm suited for skirmish and melee, as well as good quality archers and more open-order infantry. The Ptolemaic armies have access to the myriad of fighting styles representative of Africa, culminating in the terrifying war elephant. Even the Epirotes have a unique selection of Illyrian troops, both horse and foot. Aside from the "Peltasts" (elite skirmisher/melee infantry) what does Antigonid Macedonia have that is uniquely theirs?

Don't have some pretty good heavy cav/lancers or something?

[NapoleonMaster]

Don't have some pretty good heavy cav/lancers or something?

Every Diadochi faction (including Makedonia) has good lancers and Heavy cav like the companion cavalry or the Hellenistic Cataphracts, it's something that all of them have in common and if we take in count regional units, then the Seleukids and Baktrians have the best cavalry out of all of the Diadochi overall IMO.

[Hellenikon]

Historically the main advantege they had was access to manpower, as in makedonian professionals. Other sucessors had to rely on settlers and arming natives, while the makedonian kings were native kings whose vassals shared the same ethnicity and customs. Epirus was mostly an ad-hoc state of recent creation, it largely came to the international stage due to Pyrrhus' reforming it. Macedon was a lot more consolidated already, it enjoyed a lot more stability and was the homeland of modern military traditions.

[LusitanianWolf]

Besides better acess to professional phalangites and excelent lancers (hetaroi and tessalians), Maks also have easier acess to badass thracian
units that make for a lot more flexibility.

[QuintusSertorius]

Historically the main advantege they had was access to manpower, as in makedonian professionals. Other sucessors had to rely on settlers and arming natives, while the makedonian kings were native kings whose vassals shared the same ethnicity and customs. Epirus was mostly an ad-hoc state of recent creation, it largely came to the international stage due to Pyrrhus' reforming it. Macedon was a lot more consolidated already, it enjoyed a lot more stability and was the homeland of modern military traditions.

This, though another issue Makedonia had was that all the other Successors were constantly trying to steal their people and create settler colonies of them.

[NosPortatArma]

This, though another issue Makedonia had was that all the other Successors were constantly trying to steal their people and create settler colonies of them.

by steal, you mean incentivising makedonians to emigrate by offering land, or literally capture them and forcibly settling them? or some other means? and what did the makedonian king do to stop it? was there such an emigration that makedon actually suffered manpower shortage? i heard most migration happened prior to eb era.

[QuintusSertorius]

by steal, you mean incentivising makedonians to emigrate by offering land, or literally capture them and forcibly settling them? or some other means? and what did the makedonian king do to stop it? was there such an emigration that makedon actually suffered manpower shortage? i heard most migration happened prior to eb era.

I mean in the loosest sense; any time the Successors could get men from the homeland to settle in their kingdom was a coup.

[Sar1n]

Also, one thing that unfortunately didn't make the cut in EBII is kestrosphendone, and interesting development of sling that used darts instead of sling bullets. It was developed and used for a short time in last Macedonian wars against Romans.

[Mamlaz]

Aside from the "Peltasts" (elite skirmisher/melee infantry) what does Antigonid Macedonia have that is uniquely theirs?

Thousands of Cretan archers.

Also, they actually won a number battles against Rome, unlike the other successors(apart from Pontus ofc).

[athanaric]

Aside from the "Peltasts" (elite skirmisher/melee infantry) what does Antigonid Macedonia have that is uniquely theirs?

Well technically speaking, there are very few "unique" (i.e. exclusive to one faction) units in the mod. I've noticed you can bribe almost anything across factions, and even recruit some of the other factions' typical elite units, as well as pretty much everything else. The mod has a very open roster that way, even more so than EB I.
Makedonia is doubly affected by this because it's part of a "faction bundle" of several dynasties which all share a Makedonian ethno-cultural origin among the elite and thus, their elite units too. Even the Peltastai Makedonikoi can be recruited by Epeiros, IIRC.

[Brihentin13]

Yeah, there's really just a tremendous amount of overlap with the Hellenic factions. It's not as complete as the Arverni/Aedui same-ness, but Macedon is one of my less played factions. It makes sense. Hellenes liked fighting as Hellenes!

[Nightsh4de]

I´m going from memory here but they have access to the fearsome Thessalian Heavy Cavalry and Cretan archers. Maybe even better javelin skirmishers but this I really might just be making up.

[wermez]

Ever considered making macedonian medium cavalry unique unit. not as heavy as heitarioi?

[athanaric]

Ever considered making macedonian medium cavalry unique unit. not as heavy as heitarioi?

Is there a historical basis to warrant an extra unit of that type, though? They already have Thessalians for that, and other regional units. It's not like there is a huge gap in their roster, unless you count horse archers, cataphracts, and camel units, which aren't available in Greece anyway.

[Sar1n]

Well, after reforms they get medium cavalry-Lonchophoroi Hippeis. And they have easy access to Raskumezenai, which are among, if not best, multipurpose cavalry in game.