Macedon in Multiplayer- 2015

by KimJongLi

The Macedon faction, made famous by its late leader, Alexander the Great and made popular by the Youtuber “Prince of Macedon”, is a popular faction and is one of the most common factions in the multiplayer lobby. However, I see many people not using Macedon to its full effect, perhaps due to gripes with so called “historical accuracy”. Your opponent does not care about such things, and neither do I.

Before continuing on, I would highly recommend you read my basic multiplayer guide here: The Total Noob’s Guide to Basic Multiplayer Anno 2015

A Bit About Macedon, as a Faction in the Game:

Macedon is certainly one of the more ‘balanced’ factions. It is not among the best, but is always a solid choice and always has a way to win. It has decent everything, from decent Infantry to decent archers to decent cavalry. It does not excel at anything. But as a result, it can utilise very flexible army builds, which can be used to surprise opponents or in some rare cases, completely counter them.

Advantages of Macedon:

Macedon has at least 1 area of absolute advantage compared to any other faction. (e.g. Against Egypt it has better infantry, it has better archers and infantry against Armenia, better archers than Rome, etc.) In some cases, it has the advantage in all 3 major areas. Infantry, missiles and cavalry.

Macedon’s cavalry is one of its stronger points. Companion cavalry is excellent with its high charge bonus, and its Macedonian cavalry means its heavy cavalry roster circumvents cwb’s “max 6 same” rule. It is also the only faction with the light lancers unit, which makes even its light cavalry quite threatening if used properly. Its combination of both regular archers and Cretan archers means that it is more than capable of winning the usual missile fight and its royal pikemen are not too shabby either, boasting the best statistics of any long pike unit in the game, as well as more units (150% more than a regular sized unit) for the money. All of Macedon’s units are well priced and not too expensive, allowing it to create generally very cost efficient armies.

Disadvantages of Macedon:

It is an average faction. Other than against some weak barbarian factions+Numidia, Macedon will not have any guaranteed/auto wins against any other factions. It is a pike faction, which means that its infantry is slightly more micro heavy. Also, although Macedon always has a chance at winning, it is not always a good chance. Its units, although solid, are not spectacular, and so will usually require the user to be reasonably skilled. Its infantry is generally less well armoured than Roman or Greek heavy infantry, which makes them slightly more vulnerable to missile fire.

How Macedon is often played:

In Low Denarii Games (10k-20k):

Macedon is a good skirmish faction in low denarii games, but is also capable of more defensive strategies. Its Cretan archers, regular archers, companion cavalry, Macedonian cavalry, superb light cavalry and excellent long pikes allow it to be a force to be reckoned with- in the right hands.

To skirmish, you will want at least 6 gold/gold (gold attack and gold defence upgraded) archers and at least 6 gold/gold companion cavalry. The rest are flex slots you can use to suit the opponent you are facing. (e.g. if you are facing Rome, you want the cavalry edge, grab some Macedonian cavalry or light lancers, etc.) A more defensive strategy would be to bring 6 royal pikes, 6 gold/gold archers and a mix of heavy and light cavalry (gold/gold of course). Your micro will have to be at least at a decent level to make either of these work to a good standard, which is why I do not highly recommend this faction to new players. Running away and counterattacking at the same time or protecting your archers against light cavalry swarms is not the easiest thing to do, and it is often very micro intensive. Learning how to quickly lift and lower the pikes to be able to use them as a mobile screen is extremely important for this strategy to work. Use the hotkey ‘F’ to toggle the phalanx ability helps with this.

However, if the map is not flat, consider bringing a decent sized force of gold/gold royal pikemen and/or archers. Taking hills is of paramount importance, and you will not be able to force your opponent off a hill by charging uphill with cavalry. Superior infantry or missiles is the only reliable way to do this, and if you do not have a do not get the terrain advantage early on, you will have a hard time catching up.

A very skirmish oriented Macedonian army under CWB rules. This will struggle against chariots, but will do well against non-chariot factions.

In Mid-High Denarii Games (25k-60k):

High denarii games are much more simple, but arguably more difficult due to Macedon’s mediocre infantry. Your royal pikes will make up your main force, so bring as many of those as you feel necessary. However, do not forget the “at least 4 gold/gold cavalry” rule (but only within the 10k-40k range). Make sure that you do not isolate your units and counter your opponent appropriately when he enters your space. Again, on non flat maps, take hills before your opponent does or you will have trouble trying to force him off. Running the pikes out of phalanx formation is also very critical here.

You want to play aggressively with the advantages you have, or more often for Macedon, the advantages you find yourself having. For example, if you have better archers, protect them until your infantry is engaged, then bring them out to the flanks and shoot the backs/flanks. It always helps to have better cavalry and archers than your opponent, as archers cannot be protected effectively without cavalry. If you have stronger/more infantry, engage the opponent’s infantry and grind them out with the infantry fight, using the long pikes to your advantage while taking care of the flanks and back with your cavalry. Strong cavalry is always good, getting a large cavalry supremacy often wins games outright, so isolating your opponent’s cavalry force and just blocking off infantry from helping in the cavalry engagement is often a good idea if you have the clear cavalry edge.

A 30K Macedonian army. Heavy infantry makes it great for taking important terrain positions.

Dislodging the opposition from the hill with superior infantry.

With the best long pikes in the game, Macedon is very difficult to dislodge from key positions.