posted 01 December 2005 11:36 EDT (US)
I do worship Cretan archers - they kick ass, especially when you get to upgrade them at Artemis's temple. That's the reason (not mentioning the island itself is nice Some 10 years passed and everything fared fine, when the Greeks apparently decided, that such a treachery could not go forgotten nor forgiven, and landed two separate armies beneath my walls - well, stockades - simultaneously. At this point I had 3 cohorts of local merc. arhchers, 1 of Rhodian slingers, 1 of merc. hoplites - and my renegade good-for-nothing-inefficient-in collecting-taxes governor, who had never seen a battle nor command star acting as a garrison. Southern army was just a small detachment - 2 cohorts of militia hoplites, 1 of armoured hoplites and 1 of Rhodian slingers - while northern one was a major pain - 5-star general, 15 cohorts of armoured hoplites, 4 of simple hoplites - all with upgraded weaponry and bronze or silver chevrons. Realizing that once they layed siege and built rams I would be hopelessly screwed, and being too far for any reinforcements (I could not even get out to recruit any more mercs), I "sallied forth" to attack the smaller enemy army. Well, I decided to make a brave stand, so I killed off southern ones (mainly using my general to save arrows), then used him as a bait to provoke norhern ones, who had reached close in the meanwhile, into chase around my walls, so their right side would be towards my archers and towers. I also managed to lure enemy general into my merc. hoplites and kill him. However, arrows ended and though my towers kept firing, those damn armoured hoplites have good morale and even better armour. As I had no heart to send my precious archers into melee - especially under such uneven circumstances - the time ran out and draw was declared. To my surprise, (probably because I DID destroy my initial adversaries, as I figured out later)I suffered no casualties additional to those few merc. hoplites lost in battle, nor did I lose the city (however - none of my units or the general gained any experience). I thought this was unfair, so I reloaded :$ and used the same trick to my advantage :P As I could now get out, I left the city behind(far enough), recruited a cohort of merc. peltasts, sent them into garrison, and attacked the enemy. I killed five of them, then retreated behind my gates, tripled game speed and grabbed a sandwhich:P After the battle had ended in a draw, I sure lost my peltasts, but the Greek punishment-expedition - probably their very military core - was gone too. Pretty cheap a trick to be honest, but I figured, that after the death of their general and having no siege equipment whatsoever, the besiegers got fed up with getting fired at under my walls and resorted to finer things in life - mainly local wine and women Has anybody else fooled AI like that?:P NB! Sorry for long talk and possible mistakes - English is not my native language :/
) why I always try to capture Crete a.s.a.p., when playing someone around eastern Mediterranean. That was also the case, when I was playing Carthaginians - I sent an expedition there at once to capture the island and start recruiting mercenaries, as I figured they would come in real handy when I decided to march on Rome once in future. As I couldn't waste anyone in my family to stay around long, I bribed some Greek jerk from continent to build up the province and recruit those mercenary archers.
However, as I feared, their friends joined in too, so (un)balance of forces became some 3/20 in their favour.
So, with arrows and strength replenished, I attacked the enemy again. (Some 12-13 cohorts of armoured hoplites was still left of them). Frankly, I didn't make it. Arrows and time ended, and about half of them remained. Draw again. However THIS time (probably because I did NOT destroy any armies), the draw meant, that both armies simply disappeared 
:S
