Maybe compared to some western factions they seem weak, but they are leagues ahead of their neighbors in every area. Their reletive military prowess, great economy, and better morale than any of their neighbors ensure that they will be a regional power, espcially if there is not a human player to stop their march.

Yes, wall towers have infinite ammo.

[This message has been edited by wkndwrrr (edited 09-02-2006 @ 02:28 PM).]

They seemed like one of better factions out there. Very strong economics, pharaoh´s bowmen are very good, pharaoh´s guard is nice, chariots aren´t bad at all.

Btw. The general´s chariots are imho more of strong chariot with bows than chariot archers.

[This message has been edited by Pyro8 (edited 09-02-2006 @ 02:44 PM).]

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Try taking them out of Phalanx mode then putting them back in again when you engage.

Yes, Numidians suck, but Nile spears are solid from my experience. Just don't let them get flanked.

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Desert axeman are armour pearcing. Therefore, they will win against Leigons, and they're slightly cheaper if I remember correctly.

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Pharoah's guards are the core for the rest of the army to work around. I seem to remember them killing armoured hoplites, Sacred band requires an awsome temple of Baal, so you have to wait for ages, Spartans can only be recruited at Sparta, and don't even mantion SSP

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It requires practise- they are very difficult to control Besides, since when did you charge a general in without back up?

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Desert cavalry are cheap, numorus and quick. Even if they do loose as many as they kill, they will beat anything cost effectivly
Nubian cavalry suck, yep.

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Don't get a HA into combat unless they're backed up. That's why they keep dieing

Pharoah's bowmen are the 1st/2nd archers out there, depending on who you listen to, and can double as light infantry. Chariots, when used right, can wreck hell on your enemy. The economics we don't even need to get into.
Couple in the fact that the nile cities grow bloody quick so you get your higher teir troops quicker than most, you have an awsome faction

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So does every civilised faction. Get Nile Spearmen as esrly as possible.

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Desert Axemen are basically a melee unit for flanking units that are being engaged by Hoplites. They are cheaper than Legions and can eassily be spammed. They aren't actually ap though on checking the files.

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Unit: Armoured Hoplites / Spartan Hoplites / Sacred Band / Pharaoh's Guards
Attack: 9 / 16 / 12 / 12
Armour: 11 / 3 / 11 / 9
Defence Skill: 6 / 9 / 7 / 7
Shield: 5 / 5 / 5 / 0
Defence: 22 / 17 (2HP) / 23 / 16
Morale: 8 / 14 / 10 / 10
Cost: 640 / 1190 / 710 / 600
Upkeep: 210 / 460 / 270 / 330

Now the only thing I would say is wrong about Pharaoh's Guards as a unit is that the upkeep is a little high. They are not going to beat Spartans, but two units will beat one of Spartans. They can get them earlier than other factions though.

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Chariots are not horses. You need to use them like chariots. They are excellent at taking out enemy cavalry though.

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Desert Cavalry are an anti-cavalry cavalry. Their main bonus is mass.

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The objective is to keep out of the way of the enemy units attacking them. Keep them running.

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You are being overly pessimistic. While Egypt do not dominate in any specific area, they can compete in all areas. The idea is that they always have a unit to counter the enemy.

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As far as I know, yes.

Egypt's main strength is its economy. In campaign, Egypt have the Nile, the best area for growth on the map. That allows them to get to the higher city levels faster, therefore getting their higher tier troops before their enemies. They also face weak opposition, making it all the easier.

Take any one unit from any faction and you can probly find a couple better, Egypt moreso then others But there is no field where Egypt is realy that far behind other factions except posibly cavalry, but thats what chariots are for, if the other side has no cavalry yours are the best out there right? Egypt's main strength is balance, and Pharo's Bow are some of the only archers still usefull in late-game or high budget multi.

It's the Seleucids that suck. Most of their cites start as towns, which only give you militia hoplites, which really suck. They are surrounded by different factions, all which always betray me, except Greece, but they don't matter much here. Parthians from the east, Egypt from the south, and Pontus and Armenia fro mthe North. But they do get good units late in the game, like legioneers, companian cavalry, and elephants. But they take a while to get.

The Seleucids don't suck. They are a very good challenge if you play them right.

Here's the trick (well, the one that worked for me anyway): Leave Egypt to last. Take Sidon and hold it. Concentrate on building up Antioch to getting good units. Hold against Egypt.

To the east build a lot of militia cavalry. Use them to defeat Parthia early because they suck.

To the west, take Halicaranassus and then work towards taking Pergamum from Greece. Don't worry, they won't try to take it back.

By that stage you should be relatively strong enough to take on the others just fine.

Heh. My strategy with the Seleucids is to use Mercs and what you can train at Sardis to take Pergamum post haste. You then get Nicomedia or Ancyra before Pontus do, then take out Pontus with the army in Asia Minor. Once you have Pontus, go back and take Halicarnassus and Rhodes, then go up the coast for Kotais and Artaxarta since Armenia will probably have declared war on you by then.

With the army from Antioch, take Salamis first, then Sidon and Jerusalem.

Build an army at Seleucia and take Susa, since Parthia have two crap towns and a City that you can take early. Enslaving it also builds up your towns early and fast. Then take Phraaspa, Artaxarta and Kotais if the army from Asia Minor hasn't got there yet.

You should then have few enemies to the north and only Egypt as a serious enemy to the south. You should also be able to train Phalanx Pikemen, Greek Cavalry and Elephants. Use them to overpower Egypt, taking Memphis first then Alexandria and Thebes.

You should now be easily the most powerful faction in the game. Sending a couple of armies against Numidia and Carthage should be child's play while you take Crete and build four full stacks to take four cities in mainland Greece simultaneously. A few amphibious landings around the Black Sea are also worth it if you have the spare cash for another full stack or three.

When you hold all of Africa, the East, Asia Minor, Greece and the Black Sea, my advice ends. If you can't win from there, then you are playing the wrong game.

I found the game got boring when I took all that so I started a new one.

Out of interest yak, when you play as Parthia - do you use archers as garrison troops on cities with stone walls?

I only train Archers as Rome. The Archery Range is too much building timeto be worthwhile if you are looking for anything other than siege weapons. I'm thinking about a mod to fix some issues with crappy missile troops needing cities to produce them (Heavy Peltasts for example) and the really crappy upkeep costs (Cataphract Archers cost less than a Spear Warband for example).

I meant once you had built up a bit. Like, when you have everything in the south east of the map.

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I do- in pretty much every city, too- you can destroy rams

Im playing an Egypt campaign at the moment and i think that theyre probably the best faction ive played. Its true that their units can suck, but their strength lies in their flexibility. Spears to engage and hold, axemen to flank and as a reserve and chariots to lower morale. Their armies are much more varied than anyone, apart from the seleucids, so i find them more interesting to play as.

[This message has been edited by TheGoldChevron01 (edited 09-03-2006 @ 07:42 AM).]

Their biggest problem is that their cities become overpopulated quite quickly, plague often strikes em, and dissatisfaction occurs often.

I've only played as Egypt once but ran into the plague, overcrowding, unhappy people issues that have been mentioned.

Someone made the comment about them not having cavalry ... what? Nile and Desert cavalry don't count? they're not the best cavalry but they are fast and perfect for mowing down routing enemies and as support for a chariot charge.

Plagues just are something that you have to live with I guess unless you learn to send your best governors into the most overcrowded cities. For that, look for the guys that have not only good management ratings but also -squalor ratings. that'll keep plagues at a minimum.

One way to prevent overcrowding as well is to NEVER enslave a population. I seldom, if ever, just occupy a settlement ... exterminating a population really seems to solve a lot of problems if you're in no hurry to grow the town.

as for town happiness ... for some reason Execution Squares seem to do wonders to minimize complainers in a city.

The Egypt AI owns in campaign, due to the fact that the Seulicid AI doesn't know how to play Seulicids right and Egypt gets their lands. Numidia is crap compared to Egypt, so they get their lands as well.
Both the Seulicids and Carthage tend to get pawned in campaign because their early game sucks, the AI is too dumb to make elephants, and nobody wants to ally with them.
In MP, Egyptians tend to have an advantage over the Seulicids because they have superior phalanxes and archers.

So now i have a few more questions for you guys:

How do you get archers to destroy rams? The fire arrows seem to just bounce off in my experiance

Is there a way to get your generals chariots to attack as regular chariots? I can't find a way to stop them from shooting arrows and if i run them through an enemy group they just pass through and cause minimal damage.

Who is the best for putting on walls; Pharoah's guard or other spearmen, or Desert Axemen and other heavy weapon close range infantry? I am talking about when you need to defend against seige towers and ladders.

Do Pharoah's Bowmen outrange regular Bowmen?

Once the initial cavalry charge has been made, can soldiers like Desert Axemen go and kill the cavalry easily if they are standing and fighting?

To chargew ith any missile unit, press ALT

Egypt has superior phalanxes over Seleucids in MP? Are we playing the same game? :-)

Chariot archers can charge when you hold alt (bow picture will change to blade picture - same as normal melee units have).

Pharaoh´s bowmen are one of few long-ranged bowmen - and yes, they outrange normal ones.

All elite bowmen are long ranged;
I have seen pharaoh's pikemen own silver shields, although a cataphract flanking quickly reversed that.
Never put pikemen on walls, because they get short spears and lose their phalanx advantage.

I liked playing the Egyptians. Made a change after playing three Roman campaigns. A choice of units that required different battlefield tactics.

I rate them as an extremely powerful faction. The Chariot Generals are awesome killing machines.

Heres an account of the end of my Egyptian campaign.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54262

In my experience Egyptian units get mauled by their Seleucid equivalents excepting archers.

The Selecuids have better cavalry, better chariots, elephants, better phalanxes, and some other nifty units like SS Legionaries.

Good point Imao. The Egyptian edge at the start should therefore be exploited quickly to erradicate the enemies before they can field advanced troop types.

The Egyptian general is, quite possibly, he most annoying unit in the game; he shoots at you, runs, then the only units that can catch him are light cavalry, which get killed by his melee attack. The same goes for the Briton general.

^ Exactly the tactics you should use when commanding Egyptians.

There are not many factions, on vh battle difficulty, that can pull off victories against such odds.

[This message has been edited by Severous (edited 09-04-2006 @ 12:58 PM).]