@@tigersandwolvesfriendshipf1076 Really? They're weaker in M2TW vs. Rome... like a hybrid of Turkey and Byzantine without the best gunners or archers. Moors, on the other hand, may be the best faction of all. Numidia got a HUGE upgrade!
Parthia: Starts off with a hard foothold, and in an economical crisis. But then can evolve into a Mongol-Level faction because of it's heavy cavalry and horse archers.
Egypt is always your opponent in "Most rich, Large,Powerfull..." they magically spawn a full army of Chariots its actually fun to fight against them that playing as them because, well, maybe its the only one that stands your Roman power I love howo "The Void" became Scary because Medieval 2
Hey mate, I'd really like to thank you for your videos. Just finished watching all of your Scythia campaign and as silly as it may sound it has really helped me. I'm currently doing my year abroad in the UK as a university student and I've felt a bit lonely at the beginning. Watching your videos at lunchtime has become a ritual and it helped me feel less lonely. Keep up the great work! btw, first comment ever on yt, you should feel honored :)
Hey there, thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed the Scythia campaign. I also study in the UK so I know how you feel right now haha. Hope you enjoy the future videos, plenty more to come :)
@@lugotorix6173 Hey Lugotorix, you got me into RTW, love your content, I want to just point out, the Pontus Capadocian Cav have less attack and defence compare to Catas, they also don't have the maces, they do have large shields tho, even then, they are not as good as Catas, still very good tho!
Great video Lugotorix! About Egyptian generals. The first time I played as them I lost 3 generals in 3 battles against The Seleucids.. realized the hard way that you have to be very careful with them.
What? I thought everyone knew by now that Seleucids are DANGEROUS because they have inherited all the technology of Greece, Macedon and eastern factions (and to some degree even copied Roman Legions) and because they are not necessarily a dying faction like they were in real life at this era. If you can conquer the first few factions as Seleucids without getting overrun, then your gamble succeeded BIG TIME and you did not make a mistake by choosing Seleucids.
Parthia can be great at bridges. Cheap fodder to pin the enemy down, then a couple of elephant charges into a super dense body of enemy armies. It’s hard to get so much satisfaction in a battle. Can’t defend a city to save their life though, and we know that Rome is all about defending sieges esp on vh/vh
Parthia - can steamroll pretty much anyone in the open field with horse archers and heavy cavalry. Very bad in any situation when you need infantry. Still a powerhouse when they get going. Armenia - I really like their roster. When you get them going, they are a versatile faction. I've found them difficult in the management front, but it's doable. Their legionaries are overrated though. Give some flexibility, not worth 2 turns to train by any means. Pontus - it really comes down to whether you like chariots or not. I find a wall of bronze shields with chariots in the wings and some skirmisher cavalry to be a very effective combination, and sometimes win without my infantry ever engaging the enemy. Egypt - well, what can be said? They are up there with Rome for best overall roster. Sustaining their elite armies becomes super expensive, but they have the economy to keep it up if you're smart. More fun to leave them to the AI though.
Pontus vs Armenia boils down to horse archers vs javelin cavalry+chariot archers. Considering you'll be fighting other eastern factions with their heavily armored cataphracts I'd actually say the javelin cavalry is arguably better due to javelins having some armor piercing. I do agree though that they're both pretty close. Ultimately I'd rank Pontus higher because their elite pikemen are better(stats are misleading because pikes have significantly more range than spears so their performance is better than their stats suggest) and you have more options to deal with whatever the other factions can throw at you. Chariot archers are close enough to being horse archers, more vulnerable to enemy missile fire due to their awful defense but much better after running out of ammo and going into melee(especially against enemy cavalry like say horse archers) and of course having access to both chariot archers and javelin throwing cavalry actually gives you more options where it really counts. Armenia's infantry flexibility isn't as amazing because Armenian Legionnaires are basically Principes, not Legionary Cohorts so they're actually pretty weak. P.S Egypt doesn't belong on this list but you know that already as evidenced by your video on 'African' civs. But yeah Egypt is Egypt and has a superior roster to all the Eastern factions.
Wish the map was far larger in the East and South. Would really like to see Arabian peninsular, Iranian Plateau, Bactria and India. Far more playable room for Eastern Factions and a more authentic representation of the Seleucids as a massive powerhouse that is overstretched and surrounded by many rivals. If Indian was shown it would be a perfect location for the Maryuan Empire which was the dominate power in the Indian Subcontinent at the time the game starts and was powerful enough to actually force the Seleucids to cede substantial amount of territory 30 years prior to the start of the game
I played a Bruti campaign. Had around 15 of those sword crossed labled as "Epic Battle". After conquering the whole map. 7-8 of those where against Egypt between there home territory and israel. Ya. There good. Best home field advantage of ALL factions.
Egypt with all their units having a combat bonus in deserts is insane. The huge advantage to Egyptian chariots is also that they don't run amok like many of the other factions.
I think I might agree with you but if you include mercenaries: Pontus > Egypt > Armenia >>> Parthia Simply due to the thracians bringing that flexibility to the pontic army that makes them king. I love the phalanx, bronze shields especially, plus they'd have better cav options than Egypt.
Parthia. Horse archer, specially the Persian Cavalry which have long range, decent damage and you can recruit one each turn. Also you can conquer the seleucids and egyptians within 30-40 turns.
I don’t know if someone clarified already capadocian cav and cataphracts have exact same stats and playing normally they will be the same. But if you charge with alt click they will use a small sword similar to preatorians while cataphracts have the mace that has armour penetration so they are much better (mace cuts target armour by half). Also capadocian cavalry have shield while cataphracts have more armour giving them more general protection since armour protects from all sides.
To be honest, egyptian chariots generals are so useful if you are careful with them, they are actually more durable than common archer chariots and can be a good firepower support (plus it scares infantry), the best option to use them is just flank enemies with another cavalry and only charge if it's necesary (and the enemy unit isn't phalangx)
As for the staring positions, with Armenia its not impossible but it takes a very bold gameplay. I completely ignore Phraaspa- I'd rather Scythia and Parthia get pulled into a war for that one. Its never going to make much money for you either- just kind of a worthless settlement and not worth your time immediately. I instead either take my entire force and shove it at either Pontus or the Seleucids- first at Sinope, or Hatra respectively. A war with Parthia or Scythia is not advisable, although I dare LegendofTotalWar to try that and see how he does. And because you are so weak, the computer will value that highly and trust your alliance better than others and be more likely to keep its word to you. Anyway, I then send a diplomat to make an alliance with Scythia and Parthia, for maybe some cash, and then either the Seleucids or Pontus. I would prefer to go after the Seleucids because they are an easy early game target as they get generally dogpiled by Parthia, Pontus and Egypt as well. However, be way once you take Antioch because that is what triggers the Egyptian War, Seleucia the Parthian War, and Tarsus the Pontic war. However, they definitely have the weakest position by far. They have one less Cataphract unit than Parthia and less money and a deficit on top of it all. Taking Antioch without a stone wall is definitely a priority because that's the richest settlement that you have quick access to. Parthia isn't much better but they have more heavy cataphracts at the start and more money and one protected frontier. Plus your borders are generally with weaker factions (besides the Seleucids). Because you have close access to the hanging gardens, best to invest in ports in Sakae and Arsakia, and farms in Susa and then farms as your next buildings in the other two settlements. Getting a cavalry stable early on is key because they you can get Persian Cavalry which does mark a turning point for you. Pontus is definitely an improvement on both Armenia and Parthia, despite they have one less settlement than Parthia. They start with less cash than Parthia, but they are more profitable, making more money by virtue of being on the Black Sea at the start and having more places to expand to. They do border the Seleucids but Sardis is poorly defended and the Greeks are a problem but they have other issues at the start. Egypt is the best starting position- most money, most settlements, and profitable from the start. I agree with your assessment of starting positions. And I agree with your overall ranking based off starting positions and unit roster, although I would put Pontus and Armenia in a tie because Armenia has a better late game if it could get out of the blocks. Love your content!
Egypt is the best of course: amazing army, chariots,start in a corner, Siwa is not a threat, Seleucids will have no chance against you with the other enemies you have and you’ll be growing and making so much money - the main powers of the game are Rome and then Egypt. Pontus start surprisingly small but you have a lot of expansion options and other factions with just a foot in Anatolia that’ll be distracted elsewhere are easy pickings, a solid army as well. Armenia is a better Parthia: better infantry, better starting position, no one other than Parthia will gun for you so you can pick your battles. Parthia are the worst: you pretty much need to abandon the top right settlement, you’ve no infantry and you’re bumming around the side of the map in the desert hoping that you don’t have to fight Armenia and Selucids at the same time and that the Selucids have other enemies - the horse archers are great but they cost a lot and you’ll be so broke
Lot of factions irl had so called "imitation legionnaries". Sometimes directly influenced by Rome, sometimes indirectly, sometimes developed independently. Not entirely sure if Armenia had them, but i would not be surprised if they did. Spanish and Romans were not too far away to interact with Armenia and sometimes Armenia allied with Romans. Vanilla RTW is not all that realistic so it makes sense that such unit is just represented as Roman looking unit. Irl "imitation legionnaries" would have looked different. Its not like any of the weapons Romans used were uniquely Roman.
Overall agree with this list. All Eastern factions have really good armies. I do not personally love Armenia but I think it's the most underrated faction in the game. They have horse archers and cataphracts like Parthia, a phalanx unit slightly better than regular hoplites and a legion unit. However the Armenian legion like the Numidian one is far worse than the Roman legionary cohort and their stats are similar to principes so do not try to match the Romans in their own game. Only Seleucid silver legion can do that. Anyway it's a decent heavy infantry unit in that part of the map.
From my experience Armenia is the only pain in the ass in the late game. Those archers cataphracs are stupidly overpower, they have long range, great defense and are great in melee too. I think because of my experience I can deal with Egyot quit easily(well, not that easy, but they are manageble) and then you got those bastards of armenia.
The Armenian roster is arguably better in game than the Parthian roster. But IRL, the Parthian cavalry was legendary. And their cavalry archer tactics of charging and firing, then retreating and firing (including shooting accurately behind them while riding forward), confounded and defeated many MANY opponents on the battlefield. Parthian cavalry were arguably as famous (or infamous if you were on the receiving end) as the Roman legionaries, the Balearic slingers, the Greek Hoplites, etc. Those "fire while advancing, fire while retreating" tactics were part of why the Muslim horse archers were such a hassle for the Christians to deal with during the Crusades. So they lasted and were effective for millennia.
Parthia- have to spam horse archer doom stacks that go into battle and whittle the enemy into nothing. If you run out of ammo just retreat and come back. Painful but effective. Pontus- my favorite and best if you like auto resolve and battle. Just a few scythed chariots destroy legions in auto resolve and their phalanx pikeman top tier. Armenia- fun and they have worst Armenian legionaries. Seleucid- count as Hellenic but they are in the east. They are very scattered but best military tree. Egypt- good but screw em.
Whoooo big disagreement here. Egypt is obviously the strongest with amazing temples, economy, and a powerful (if annoyingly eccentric) roster but are SUPER BORING to play, so let's look at the rest. I'd put Parthia first and Pontus a very very close second with Armenia a distant third. Here's why... 1) Armenia's Legionaires have poor morale and low stats compared to Rome (and Seleucids) vastly superior legions. They may look the same, but they're much weaker. On a similar note, the heavy spear unit also has mediocre morale and lacks the "very long spears" attribute. It can hold the line but won't do well against advanced units. Most people pick Armenia for the unique cataphract archers but, sadly, they kind of suck. Horse archer tactics involve speed and flanking which these slow cataphracts cannot do and tire easily, especially in cantabrian circle. They also lack a shield and don't fight as well or have the devastating charge power of regular catas, so they are a "worst of both worlds" unit which is more vulnerable to enemy massed fire than you'd think. A unit of Cretans behind a phalanx will easily beat them. Which leaves Average Armenia only with cataphracts and standard horse archers as true core units... so why bother with Armenia when you can use... 2) Parthiaaaa!!! Persian Cavalry horse archers have significantly greater range and higher armor (and fight well!) vs. regular HA's, so you can mass them and dominate most anything. War Elephants can also shoot and, let's face it, pretty much stomp anything on the field. Simply recruit whatever footsoldier mercs you need to ram gates and flatten/mass-volley the soldiers inside. Rail of arrow death down every street. Or just siege them out and shoot everyone full of holes on the defense. Parthia is hella strong!!! No footsoldiers? No problem. An army of cataphracts can obliterate anything on foot and horseback except a head-on phalanx unit... and those armor-piercing maces make short work of anything left standing. Parthia absolutely rips top-level Rome armies to bits. Fun as hell to play and love the color and logo. Ride, shoot, and smash through everything like an ultimate Seleucia + Scythia cavalry tsunami. Once you conquer the east, nothing can stop them. Tip: Don't bother with the camel cataphracts... you won't need them by the time you can get them, and they're slow and suck and hard to replace anyway. 3) Pontus! Bronze shields have awesome morale, very long spears, and can hold the line against advanced units. Location is great for recruiting Cretans from the start and training them up behind those tough phalanx walls. Cappadocians don't have AP maces but they still have the massive charge, so there's your heavy hitter. No HA's, but chariots cause massive fear and can fire arrows at retreating units which isn't a bad compromise. Pontic heavy cavalry have superior AP javelins and hit HARD and fight hard and are easy to get. But only average archers so it'll be a footsoldier-based Cretan + elite phalanx + skirmish javelin layout followed with fear-inducing Cappadocian charges and chariots... not much will be left standing after that. Much more fun than Greece or Macedonia... no contest. But not quite as "instantly terrifying" as an elite Parthian army... takes a bit more management but still fun to see those blue flags dominate. So, there you have it. Love the videos!
Armenian and Numidian legionaries have Principes stats, silver shield legionaires have legionary cohort stats. So it's basically a pre-marian Roman unit, not post-marian
"Pathia is bad becouse it has bad infantry" I hear it all over youtube, but who cares about pajamas? You just boost the knights and the horse archers you gonna win every battle single battle!
I think Armenia's starting position isn't that bad. If you are aggressive early game and take out Pontus immediately you can basically have Pontus's starting position but with Armenia's roster.
I m playing with Armenia for the first time now (although a RTW fan for 15 years) and I can say i'm impressed. I rushed Pontus, took Asia minor, then crushed SE, Egypt and Parthia. Now in war with not so powerfull romans. Horse archers and heavy cav are rulling this game
Parthia is better than Armenia because as Parthia you are not supposed to recruit or rely on infantry anyway. Siege settlements down, defend outside of settlement and horse archers beat chariots. Pontic Bronze Shield phalanx will also beat anything Armenia has to offer, so not sure about that ranking too. Heavy Spearmen don't have good morale which makes them unreliable in VH/VH
The Cataphracts are better than Cappadotian cav because their maces have armor piercing. Desert cav is best cav for egypt because their axes have armor piercing too.
you think horse archer is OP, i kill them with foot acrhers or chariots especialy the scythe one set them on loose formation when i play as pontus killing scythia
Numidian Infantry would actually wipe the floor with the Parthians infantr., Desert infantry and Numidian legionaries aren't great but at least they're somewhere in the mid-tier of infantry, Eastern infantry on the other hand.. god no and hillmen really arent much better
Omg I hate the vanilla anachronistic Egyptians in this game. How did this faction get through though? How didnt anyone at CA notice that “ummm this faction doesnt fit the era at all and greeks ruled egypt during this period” I also dont agree with egypt at number 1 tbh I mean they are incredibly flexible but I would rather have pontic pikes or armenian legionaries and the cappadocian cav or the armenian cataphracts then any unit the Egyptians have. I just dont think egypt has the “elite” units to keep up with armenia’s solid infantry and their elite cataphracts.
Spam horse archers, do not use infantry units just and only for sieges. Rush heavy spears. With heavy spears and horse archers you can defeat anyone. Cata archer and legionaries take 2 turns to build, but worth building if economy is stable enough.
@@Vektordeformacio I was going for that, but there were so many enemies. If I get a town, same turn I lose one on the other part of the map. So frustrating, and they just spam armies out of nowhere lmao
it's maybe the worst Rome Total War video I have ever seen. the cataphract cavalry and cataphract archer the 2 of most op units in rtw. you put them behind the shitty Egypt army.
I can train them anywhere. For the Egyptians, only the camel archers are limited to specific regions, the ones that have the camel resource. Generally speaking, only the camel and elephant riding units have their recruitment geographically limited, with the notable exception of the spartan hoplites.
Armenia is underrated. The problem is that they get stomped by pontus early on. If you can survive the early game and expand in tech you can totally fight end-game against egypt and even the romans eventually
Armenia's best unit are the Horse Archers. Cataphract Archers are decent but they get less arrows, and their Legonniares can't really stand up to post-Marian Cohorts.
@@PlanetZoidstar I’m playing Armenia right now and it’s probably the most challenging campaign I’ve ever done. I have noticed that the regular horse archers are better than the cataphract archers which kinda sucks. Surprisingly in my campaign, the Seleucid’s took over turkey and kept Egypt at bay
@@jessegordian2498 Yeah, Cataphract Archers have their niche, they can be effective against Light Cavalry, but their lack of speed makes them worse than Horse Archers. I struggled with Armenia too in the early game and until late game their infantry are pretty poor. Selucids getting that far is very unusual, I guess you being Armenia stopped the other factions swallowing them up like they normally do.
Many reasons to hate on Parthia: Pink Pyjama Bois, fragmented, virtually land-locked starting empire, but the reason I hate them is because they can't build Paved Roads. Moving your forced around on dirt roads takes SO LONG, it really makes the campaign a grind. Also makes dealing with Scythia more grindy and painful.
Fun fact: the phalanx pikemen from Pontus are actually the most well armored phalanx pikemen in the game. They also have fewer numbers than the phalanx pikemen from the other 3 factions that have them.
For that reason I find Pontus Pikemen perform better, I find they hold formation better oddly since I often struggle to keep my Pikemen from dropping their pikes when I give the attack command and they meet the enemy lines. It works much better having them stay still and have the enemy rush the pikes, but you can't always force that, especially if you lack Archers.
I think pontus is slept on. I think its best units are the pontic heavy cav, scythed and chariot archers, cappadocians, and bronze shields. To me the backbone of this force is the PHC. Theyre solid in melee as well as with their javelins, and en masse they can easily pick apart a lot of armies, including phalanxes. The only missile cav that can contend with it in melee are the Scythian Noble Archers and the Cataphract archers, and both of those cost a lot. PHC cost about half as much as 1 Cataphract archer and trains in half the time. You get 9 melee and missile attack, 8 morale, 14 defense for 630. As far as jav cav, you hear talk about the Numidian cav, and it's probably a better skirmishing force than the PHC, but the PHC's capabilities in melee - especially with the Hercules temple's up to +3 experience boost - make it a more reliable force as the mainstay of your army. Otherwise, the scythed chariots demolish the egyptian heavy chariot in a 1 on 1. I actually like the chariot archers as an archer force for a couple of reasons: they can move around the field quickly, and theyre the only unit with 60 arrows per soldier, which is 2x as many as archers. So for big battles, they could do more damage than even the Pharaoh's bowmen, especially if they have to run around the battlefield. Remember: the chariot archers can fire while moving, unlike infantry archers. I know Pontus doesnt have horse archers, but i think the PLC and PHC serve a similar skirmishing role but can also double as solid melee cav for pinsiring moves. Youre basically performing roles of both melee and missile cav simultaneously. I sometimes engage infantry lines by lining up my main jav cav force in front of them and fire at will, while a small group of my best cav moves around the side to isolate the general. This tactic is well aided by either or both chariots, and of course cappadocians are great to bolster the PHC in cav charges. Bronze shields and even phalanx pikemen offer a solid infantry option, but honestly this campaign i havent even trained one yet, im finding the speed and efficiency of the aforementioned units in both assaults and siege defense that i havent needed the phalanxes.
Overall i think each of pontus's best units work well individually but they work really well in synergy used in various unit combinations. I dont think ive found anything else that has such an awesome missile/melee cav as the PHC, and the other units support it and each other very well.
The problem with Armenia and East overall is lack of tech development which is historically inaccurate. But thanks to developers you can manually modify them to the level of at least greek factions which would give them edge against Romans. If you do it, basically in the east the top first faction would be Seleucides (their late game armies are in pair with Romans, then goes Armenia, Egypt, Pontus and Parthia)
One thing I really like about the rosters of Rome Total War is its conciseness, ignoring the Romans. You don’t have 3 different types of barely different elite swordsmen or pikes, you have the elite swordsmen or pikes. It makes everything feel clean and polished and keeps the roster from feeling bloated and like reskins of each
Honestly I would say Pontus is better (on the map) then Egypt. In my experience Egypt is going to get attacked by Selucids, Pontus, Parthia, And if you are unlucky even Numidia
Yeah it depends how aggressively you expand, and i agree that pontus has the better defensible position. But for me the economic advantage and the size of the empire at the start is too great to ignore
Egypt always slaughters the Seleucids early on. Almost every campaign I play, the Gauls, Seleucids and Carthage are the first factions to be eliminated.
21:15 At this point I don't agree with you. Historically Parthia defeated Seleucids Empire. But they have never been on the city Campus Sakae in the history.
Pontic cav can throw spears with high attack that devistate most units before charging. Add in quality pikes and chariots to level the romans and they are the best IMO.
In gameplay, Cat Archers are literally broken (just take off skirmish mode). And you can get them in a Cavalry Stable. First off, long range missiles. Second, once you are done killing most of the enemy force you can charge and kill the rest with very little casualties. Yes, elephants are nice and all, but they are less maneuverable and their animals are prone to running amok. Cat Archers are that swiss army knife every faction wishes it had. Which is why Armenia is IMO the best in terms of unit roster. They have units that can get Roman infantry a run for their money on the walls. They have solid spearmen to plug bridges or to kill chariots- and you can mass Cataphracts and Cat Archers and overpower pretty much any army on the open field. Neither of the other three factions can stand up to Roman infantry on the walls in the same way, or field a unit like the Cat Archer which is OP. Parthia gets close with Persian Cav and Elephants which do shoot arrows, but Persian cavalry can't stand up the same way Cat Archers can. Whilst I can say that Egypt does boast better infantry and foot archers, Armenia has without question better cavalry because of Cat Archers. Foot archers regardless of armor get emasculated every time by Cat Archers. Egyptian Cavalry is weaker than both Parthia and Armenia because they can't train elephants or hardy heavily armored Horse Archers. They might even be weaker than Pontus there as well. Because Egypt's cav is so weak (and Chariot Generals die too easily), here's my ranking of the unit rosters: 1. Armenia (I know this is quite controversial, but I have way more fun with Armenia than Egypt's roster, however they are just about 1 point better if anything) 2. Egypt (Their Cavalry is too weak for me to rank them first, and they don't even come close to Pontus, whose got the third best cav) 3. Pontus (I agree here because Javelin Cavalry is not great and they don't even get the large stack of Phalanx Pikemen. Their infantry definitely makes them better than Parthia overall) 4. Parthia (Infantry is inferior, so bad to the point that Scythia gets better infantry and they can only train one unit there. However their cav is either first or second, I can understand both arguments)
Parthians can win all open battles with only horse archers and a small core of heavy cav for the knock out blow. They don't have to defend bridges. They only need some infantry for besieging cities. They can either draw out garrisons with a single unit siege and the main army a space away but not besieging the wall, or they can let the clock tick down until the garrison sallies and then shoot them to death. If they want better infantry they can buy them as mercenaries once they move west at all. The only real problem for them is the agricultural fertility and lack of trade in their homelands which means they cannot maintain a large army to expand with and a fairly long early grind to be able to expand. In my Parthia plays, the turning point is taking Antioch, which opens up decent trade income and a well developed large city once they get to it. Thereafter they're strong enough to conquer the map, although it remains tough against the post-Marian Romans just because of their high armour against arrows. But any kind of cav can tire out infantry and tempt them to split apart their lines so that units can be surrounded and crushed one at a time until they start panicking and can be run down in the rout, even without arrows, and even with very light cavalry after they've used up their arrows. The AI never uses the weight of infantry archers that are required to defeat a stack of horse archers, so once you've shot up the typically two or three units of archers or slingers in a given AI stack, you're golden. The job is even easier for the Sassanids in Barbarians, because they get medium horse archers with Long range.
With Horse archers you can end Romans before they get to marian reforms but if they do in very hard difficulty the horse archers become somewhat useless. However Cataphract's charge will break even urban cohorts. For me Parthia is easiest and most efficient faction to win the Game.
Hey, that's a really nice comparison, I enjoyed it, but don't dare disrespect Parthia like that, saying they were added just to fill the map. I know you know your history, but take a look at this just in case to refresh your memory: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Parthian_Wars They were the east powerhouse who never got conquered by Romans, unlike the other "most powerful" factions.
I disagree about egyptian army yes it’s versatile but not op, also their cav is lacking , their are equal to Pontus but are loosing to Armenia. The main power they have is their location which is on secure and fertile land, so you are secure on nearly all sides and can print money to expand inside of weak Seleucids. Armenia in terms of army is the best in the region, stayin behind only to seleucids, but theyr are making for it with their cataphract archers which are top 5 units in the game. P.s other weaknesses thet esternes heave is their tech and buildings tied to it, with exemption of Parthia wich can build Huge temples, others can’t build not only it but also plubming, theatres, hyppodroms and other perks which greatly heapls you in terms of maintaining stability in country and good economy.
Very hard to rank these. All the eastern factions are good because they have access to cavalry archers or chariot archers. The differences are quite minor. Armenia gets cataphract archers and easy access to Asia Minor, Egypt has a great economy and diverse troops with particularly the archers and axemen standing out, Parthia gets elephants and long range horse archers but has a bad starting economy, and Pontus gets Macedonian style phalanxes and javelin cavalry plus the best starting position at the cost of a weak early army compared to the others.
I can't be the only one who hates Parthia just because it has that massive stretch of plain up east of the caspian. Wtf is it doing there? So ugly. Would it have been that hard to just extend the map a couple inches and give it some other settlement?
You keep talking down the Numidians, who have a quite similar army than Armenia. Good spears (no phalanx tho, but excelent morale good stamina), good archer (tier 2 baby), and legionars. Good missle cav (numidians), fine armored cav (quick long shields, less armor, faster to get, good stamina good morale) that is different in use than cataphracts, but nonetheless good unit. They are far better than Parthia in my opinion.
Numidians aren't the worst faction (that would be Thrace), but better than Parthia? Nahhhh. They have fantastic light cav but aside from that, they're screwed. An elite Parthian army with Persian HA's, catas, and elephants will smash even the most disciplined Numidian force with ease. That being said, it was fun to beat the entire campaign map with lowly Numidia.
In my opinion, the infantry of Pontus is superior to that of Armenia, both at level 3 barracks (phalanx pikemen have longer reach than heavy spearmen) and even more so at level 4, where bronze shields have good morale and large unit size, whereas the Armenian fake legionaries have normal morale and normal unit size.
Defeating Egypt is more fun than playing as an Egypt.
yesss i agree lol very satisfying
@@lugotorix6173 chagol !!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Yes! Egypt is SO BORING to play.
@@nicsamazingpinballchannel7688 but in m2tw its great
@@tigersandwolvesfriendshipf1076 Really? They're weaker in M2TW vs. Rome... like a hybrid of Turkey and Byzantine without the best gunners or archers. Moors, on the other hand, may be the best faction of all. Numidia got a HUGE upgrade!
Parthia: Starts off with a hard foothold, and in an economical crisis. But then can evolve into a Mongol-Level faction because of it's heavy cavalry and horse archers.
Yeah armenia can do the same, but with armored csv archers too.
Yeah that certainly is true and honeslty all four of these factions can be powerful over time, but for me I prefer Armenia in the long run
while irl parthia had like the entirety of persia
Parthia has the worst infantry
@@stuntboyshourov2752no la necesita, tiene a sus arqueros a caballo ,estás unidades destrozan falanges y toda infantería.
The vulnerable strategic position of Armenia from 270 BC... proven vulnerable in 2020 as well ;(
And during the Armenian genocide at the turn of the 20th century
"The void is good" thats sounds like something the void would say
Lugotorix: Egypt is the only faction that has that many starting provinces
Gaul: am I a joke to you?!
But which set of territories would you want to start out with.
M. Gone fair point
Egypt is always your opponent in "Most rich, Large,Powerfull..."
they magically spawn a full army of Chariots
its actually fun to fight against them that playing as them
because, well, maybe its the only one that stands your Roman power
I love howo "The Void" became Scary because Medieval 2
Hey mate, I'd really like to thank you for your videos. Just finished watching all of your Scythia campaign and as silly as it may sound it has really helped me. I'm currently doing my year abroad in the UK as a university student and I've felt a bit lonely at the beginning. Watching your videos at lunchtime has become a ritual and it helped me feel less lonely.
Keep up the great work! btw, first comment ever on yt, you should feel honored :)
Hey there, thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed the Scythia campaign. I also study in the UK so I know how you feel right now haha. Hope you enjoy the future videos, plenty more to come :)
@@lugotorix6173 Hey Lugotorix, you got me into RTW, love your content, I want to just point out, the Pontus Capadocian Cav have less attack and defence compare to Catas, they also don't have the maces, they do have large shields tho, even then, they are not as good as Catas, still very good tho!
Great video Lugotorix! About Egyptian generals. The first time I played as them I lost 3 generals in 3 battles against The Seleucids.. realized the hard way that you have to be very careful with them.
ohhh thats unlucky haha but yess you need to be super careful with chariots
What? I thought everyone knew by now that Seleucids are DANGEROUS because they have inherited all the technology of Greece, Macedon and eastern factions (and to some degree even copied Roman Legions) and because they are not necessarily a dying faction like they were in real life at this era. If you can conquer the first few factions as Seleucids without getting overrun, then your gamble succeeded BIG TIME and you did not make a mistake by choosing Seleucids.
the real question is which one will defeat the selucids first
hahaha very true lol
Egyptians or Pontus.
Parthia can be great at bridges. Cheap fodder to pin the enemy down, then a couple of elephant charges into a super dense body of enemy armies. It’s hard to get so much satisfaction in a battle. Can’t defend a city to save their life though, and we know that Rome is all about defending sieges esp on vh/vh
yess thats very true. I think in certain situations the Parthian army is very strong, but they are also very weak sometimes too
They don't need to defend cities. Sally forth and smash! :)
Parthian infantry is like playing a hive-mind. The general is your overseer. The moment he dies, your infantry route en masse.
Show some love to the desert cavalry, they are cheap and mobile heavy cavalry/ heavy infantry killers and very cost effective
Parthia - can steamroll pretty much anyone in the open field with horse archers and heavy cavalry. Very bad in any situation when you need infantry. Still a powerhouse when they get going.
Armenia - I really like their roster. When you get them going, they are a versatile faction. I've found them difficult in the management front, but it's doable. Their legionaries are overrated though. Give some flexibility, not worth 2 turns to train by any means.
Pontus - it really comes down to whether you like chariots or not. I find a wall of bronze shields with chariots in the wings and some skirmisher cavalry to be a very effective combination, and sometimes win without my infantry ever engaging the enemy.
Egypt - well, what can be said? They are up there with Rome for best overall roster. Sustaining their elite armies becomes super expensive, but they have the economy to keep it up if you're smart. More fun to leave them to the AI though.
Yes i agree with that. I think pontus is particularly interesting because people have many varying opinions on that faction. but yes, egypt is op haha
Pontus vs Armenia boils down to horse archers vs javelin cavalry+chariot archers. Considering you'll be fighting other eastern factions with their heavily armored cataphracts I'd actually say the javelin cavalry is arguably better due to javelins having some armor piercing. I do agree though that they're both pretty close. Ultimately I'd rank Pontus higher because their elite pikemen are better(stats are misleading because pikes have significantly more range than spears so their performance is better than their stats suggest) and you have more options to deal with whatever the other factions can throw at you. Chariot archers are close enough to being horse archers, more vulnerable to enemy missile fire due to their awful defense but much better after running out of ammo and going into melee(especially against enemy cavalry like say horse archers) and of course having access to both chariot archers and javelin throwing cavalry actually gives you more options where it really counts. Armenia's infantry flexibility isn't as amazing because Armenian Legionnaires are basically Principes, not Legionary Cohorts so they're actually pretty weak. P.S Egypt doesn't belong on this list but you know that already as evidenced by your video on 'African' civs. But yeah Egypt is Egypt and has a superior roster to all the Eastern factions.
Wish the map was far larger in the East and South. Would really like to see Arabian peninsular, Iranian Plateau, Bactria and India. Far more playable room for Eastern Factions and a more authentic representation of the Seleucids as a massive powerhouse that is overstretched and surrounded by many rivals. If Indian was shown it would be a perfect location for the Maryuan Empire which was the dominate power in the Indian Subcontinent at the time the game starts and was powerful enough to actually force the Seleucids to cede substantial amount of territory 30 years prior to the start of the game
Then play the Europa Barbarorum mod for rtw
I played a Bruti campaign. Had around 15 of those sword crossed labled as "Epic Battle". After conquering the whole map. 7-8 of those where against Egypt between there home territory and israel. Ya. There good. Best home field advantage of ALL factions.
CA really did throw dudes with pajamas and a basket shield against the roman legion
Egypt with all their units having a combat bonus in deserts is insane. The huge advantage to Egyptian chariots is also that they don't run amok like many of the other factions.
4 dislikes are the Senate and the Roman factions
I think I might agree with you but if you include mercenaries:
Pontus > Egypt > Armenia >>> Parthia
Simply due to the thracians bringing that flexibility to the pontic army that makes them king. I love the phalanx, bronze shields especially, plus they'd have better cav options than Egypt.
When I die, I want my casket to be carried by eastern infantry, so they can let me down one last time! 😂
Parthia. Horse archer, specially the Persian Cavalry which have long range, decent damage and you can recruit one each turn. Also you can conquer the seleucids and egyptians within 30-40 turns.
I don’t know if someone clarified already capadocian cav and cataphracts have exact same stats and playing normally they will be the same. But if you charge with alt click they will use a small sword similar to preatorians while cataphracts have the mace that has armour penetration so they are much better (mace cuts target armour by half). Also capadocian cavalry have shield while cataphracts have more armour giving them more general protection since armour protects from all sides.
To be honest, egyptian chariots generals are so useful if you are careful with them, they are actually more durable than common archer chariots and can be a good firepower support (plus it scares infantry), the best option to use them is just flank enemies with another cavalry and only charge if it's necesary (and the enemy unit isn't phalangx)
Pontic "cataphracts" are good, but they lack the secondary mace attack that true cataphracts possess.
9:35 Ah yes, the Clibinarii of 270BC.
As for the staring positions, with Armenia its not impossible but it takes a very bold gameplay. I completely ignore Phraaspa- I'd rather Scythia and Parthia get pulled into a war for that one. Its never going to make much money for you either- just kind of a worthless settlement and not worth your time immediately. I instead either take my entire force and shove it at either Pontus or the Seleucids- first at Sinope, or Hatra respectively. A war with Parthia or Scythia is not advisable, although I dare LegendofTotalWar to try that and see how he does. And because you are so weak, the computer will value that highly and trust your alliance better than others and be more likely to keep its word to you.
Anyway, I then send a diplomat to make an alliance with Scythia and Parthia, for maybe some cash, and then either the Seleucids or Pontus. I would prefer to go after the Seleucids because they are an easy early game target as they get generally dogpiled by Parthia, Pontus and Egypt as well. However, be way once you take Antioch because that is what triggers the Egyptian War, Seleucia the Parthian War, and Tarsus the Pontic war. However, they definitely have the weakest position by far. They have one less Cataphract unit than Parthia and less money and a deficit on top of it all. Taking Antioch without a stone wall is definitely a priority because that's the richest settlement that you have quick access to.
Parthia isn't much better but they have more heavy cataphracts at the start and more money and one protected frontier. Plus your borders are generally with weaker factions (besides the Seleucids). Because you have close access to the hanging gardens, best to invest in ports in Sakae and Arsakia, and farms in Susa and then farms as your next buildings in the other two settlements. Getting a cavalry stable early on is key because they you can get Persian Cavalry which does mark a turning point for you.
Pontus is definitely an improvement on both Armenia and Parthia, despite they have one less settlement than Parthia. They start with less cash than Parthia, but they are more profitable, making more money by virtue of being on the Black Sea at the start and having more places to expand to. They do border the Seleucids but Sardis is poorly defended and the Greeks are a problem but they have other issues at the start.
Egypt is the best starting position- most money, most settlements, and profitable from the start. I agree with your assessment of starting positions. And I agree with your overall ranking based off starting positions and unit roster, although I would put Pontus and Armenia in a tie because Armenia has a better late game if it could get out of the blocks.
Love your content!
Me playing Rome: *Pah !! Parthia is easy !!*
Me: *Gets wrecked by cavalry*
Egypt is the best of course: amazing army, chariots,start in a corner, Siwa is not a threat, Seleucids will have no chance against you with the other enemies you have and you’ll be growing and making so much money - the main powers of the game are Rome and then Egypt. Pontus start surprisingly small but you have a lot of expansion options and other factions with just a foot in Anatolia that’ll be distracted elsewhere are easy pickings, a solid army as well. Armenia is a better Parthia: better infantry, better starting position, no one other than Parthia will gun for you so you can pick your battles. Parthia are the worst: you pretty much need to abandon the top right settlement, you’ve no infantry and you’re bumming around the side of the map in the desert hoping that you don’t have to fight Armenia and Selucids at the same time and that the Selucids have other enemies - the horse archers are great but they cost a lot and you’ll be so broke
How so Armenia has something like legionaries, is there something like history things, or developers just wanted to boost them a bit?
Lot of factions irl had so called "imitation legionnaries". Sometimes directly influenced by Rome, sometimes indirectly, sometimes developed independently. Not entirely sure if Armenia had them, but i would not be surprised if they did. Spanish and Romans were not too far away to interact with Armenia and sometimes Armenia allied with Romans. Vanilla RTW is not all that realistic so it makes sense that such unit is just represented as Roman looking unit. Irl "imitation legionnaries" would have looked different.
Its not like any of the weapons Romans used were uniquely Roman.
Nice u back bro nice video, im playing right now a cartaghe campaing, and is pretty challenging, but once u take sicily, all is easy
Thank you!! Yes Carthage can be tricky at the beginning, the Scipii and Greeks are not the most friendly armies at the start of the game
Overall agree with this list. All Eastern factions have really good armies. I do not personally love Armenia but I think it's the most underrated faction in the game. They have horse archers and cataphracts like Parthia, a phalanx unit slightly better than regular hoplites and a legion unit. However the Armenian legion like the Numidian one is far worse than the Roman legionary cohort and their stats are similar to principes so do not try to match the Romans in their own game. Only Seleucid silver legion can do that. Anyway it's a decent heavy infantry unit in that part of the map.
From my experience Armenia is the only pain in the ass in the late game. Those archers cataphracs are stupidly overpower, they have long range, great defense and are great in melee too. I think because of my experience I can deal with Egyot quit easily(well, not that easy, but they are manageble) and then you got those bastards of armenia.
The Armenian roster is arguably better in game than the Parthian roster. But IRL, the Parthian cavalry was legendary. And their cavalry archer tactics of charging and firing, then retreating and firing (including shooting accurately behind them while riding forward), confounded and defeated many MANY opponents on the battlefield. Parthian cavalry were arguably as famous (or infamous if you were on the receiving end) as the Roman legionaries, the Balearic slingers, the Greek Hoplites, etc. Those "fire while advancing, fire while retreating" tactics were part of why the Muslim horse archers were such a hassle for the Christians to deal with during the Crusades. So they lasted and were effective for millennia.
You might want to redo these with the remaster out
Glad to see another great video if you don’t mind me asking which faction would you choose for a multiplayer battle
Thank you!! I would probably still choose Egypt because they have a great diverse army with missile attack, next probably armenia
Persia from the West and Pontus from the East xD.
That's funny !!
Nonetheless the video is great.
Parthia- have to spam horse archer doom stacks that go into battle and whittle the enemy into nothing. If you run out of ammo just retreat and come back. Painful but effective.
Pontus- my favorite and best if you like auto resolve and battle. Just a few scythed chariots destroy legions in auto resolve and their phalanx pikeman top tier.
Armenia- fun and they have worst Armenian legionaries.
Seleucid- count as Hellenic but they are in the east. They are very scattered but best military tree.
Egypt- good but screw em.
Whoooo big disagreement here. Egypt is obviously the strongest with amazing temples, economy, and a powerful (if annoyingly eccentric) roster but are SUPER BORING to play, so let's look at the rest. I'd put Parthia first and Pontus a very very close second with Armenia a distant third. Here's why...
1) Armenia's Legionaires have poor morale and low stats compared to Rome (and Seleucids) vastly superior legions. They may look the same, but they're much weaker. On a similar note, the heavy spear unit also has mediocre morale and lacks the "very long spears" attribute. It can hold the line but won't do well against advanced units. Most people pick Armenia for the unique cataphract archers but, sadly, they kind of suck. Horse archer tactics involve speed and flanking which these slow cataphracts cannot do and tire easily, especially in cantabrian circle. They also lack a shield and don't fight as well or have the devastating charge power of regular catas, so they are a "worst of both worlds" unit which is more vulnerable to enemy massed fire than you'd think. A unit of Cretans behind a phalanx will easily beat them. Which leaves Average Armenia only with cataphracts and standard horse archers as true core units... so why bother with Armenia when you can use...
2) Parthiaaaa!!! Persian Cavalry horse archers have significantly greater range and higher armor (and fight well!) vs. regular HA's, so you can mass them and dominate most anything. War Elephants can also shoot and, let's face it, pretty much stomp anything on the field. Simply recruit whatever footsoldier mercs you need to ram gates and flatten/mass-volley the soldiers inside. Rail of arrow death down every street. Or just siege them out and shoot everyone full of holes on the defense. Parthia is hella strong!!! No footsoldiers? No problem. An army of cataphracts can obliterate anything on foot and horseback except a head-on phalanx unit... and those armor-piercing maces make short work of anything left standing. Parthia absolutely rips top-level Rome armies to bits. Fun as hell to play and love the color and logo. Ride, shoot, and smash through everything like an ultimate Seleucia + Scythia cavalry tsunami. Once you conquer the east, nothing can stop them. Tip: Don't bother with the camel cataphracts... you won't need them by the time you can get them, and they're slow and suck and hard to replace anyway.
3) Pontus! Bronze shields have awesome morale, very long spears, and can hold the line against advanced units. Location is great for recruiting Cretans from the start and training them up behind those tough phalanx walls. Cappadocians don't have AP maces but they still have the massive charge, so there's your heavy hitter. No HA's, but chariots cause massive fear and can fire arrows at retreating units which isn't a bad compromise. Pontic heavy cavalry have superior AP javelins and hit HARD and fight hard and are easy to get. But only average archers so it'll be a footsoldier-based Cretan + elite phalanx + skirmish javelin layout followed with fear-inducing Cappadocian charges and chariots... not much will be left standing after that. Much more fun than Greece or Macedonia... no contest. But not quite as "instantly terrifying" as an elite Parthian army... takes a bit more management but still fun to see those blue flags dominate.
So, there you have it. Love the videos!
Agreed! 💯
Parthia has armored camels, which trump armored cav
Yay you re back!!!
yesss i am !! :)
@@lugotorix6173 I love your videos. I find them very therapeutic:)
Cool video again. Will you do anymore of those random battles?
Do you mean like the challenge videos where i randomise the armies? I've got similar videos coming soon :)
@@lugotorix6173 yes, & good to hear
Pontic Heavy Cavalry is better than anything on Parthias roster imo..
Armenian and Numidian legionaries have Principes stats, silver shield legionaires have legionary cohort stats. So it's basically a pre-marian Roman unit, not post-marian
"Pathia is bad becouse it has bad infantry"
I hear it all over youtube, but who cares about pajamas? You just boost the knights and the horse archers you gonna win every battle single battle!
I think Armenia's starting position isn't that bad. If you are aggressive early game and take out Pontus immediately you can basically have Pontus's starting position but with Armenia's roster.
Can you do a multiplayer playlist?
I m playing with Armenia for the first time now (although a RTW fan for 15 years) and I can say i'm impressed. I rushed Pontus, took Asia minor, then crushed SE, Egypt and Parthia. Now in war with not so powerfull romans. Horse archers and heavy cav are rulling this game
Parthia is better than Armenia because as Parthia you are not supposed to recruit or rely on infantry anyway. Siege settlements down, defend outside of settlement and horse archers beat chariots. Pontic Bronze Shield phalanx will also beat anything Armenia has to offer, so not sure about that ranking too. Heavy Spearmen don't have good morale which makes them unreliable in VH/VH
I am a weird Rome TW player then, because I have dominated with Eastern infantry
My favourite eastern faction imo is pontus. I think armenia is objectively better, but i just love scythed chariots that much.
Just wanna say I haven’t watch this video yet but number one is going to be Egypt
hahahaa yesss you are right!!
Bro forgot carthage
ya parthia was more east at this timeframe, the show up later, most of their territory should belong to the seleucids
Do any other factions start with 6 settlements. I DONT think so.
Me looking at gaul mmmmmm hhhhhmmm ok yes I understand
B- but I don’t want to play as Pontus!
The Cataphracts are better than Cappadotian cav because their maces have armor piercing.
Desert cav is best cav for egypt because their axes have armor piercing too.
Totally agree on the desert cav, I would consider them as my first ever brought to live doomstack.
Additionally in the base game they had the size of regular infantry unit of 40 men on normal scale.
you think horse archer is OP, i kill them with foot acrhers or chariots especialy the scythe one set them on loose formation when i play as pontus killing scythia
Numidian Infantry would actually wipe the floor with the Parthians infantr., Desert infantry and Numidian legionaries aren't great but at least they're somewhere in the mid-tier of infantry, Eastern infantry on the other hand.. god no and hillmen really arent much better
Its very similar...CATAPHRAT ACHERS x persian (no armoured, regular, weak) calvary XD
Bro, u need to practice the cardinal points
yess hahaha
Omg I hate the vanilla anachronistic Egyptians in this game. How did this faction get through though? How didnt anyone at CA notice that “ummm this faction doesnt fit the era at all and greeks ruled egypt during this period”
I also dont agree with egypt at number 1 tbh I mean they are incredibly flexible but I would rather have pontic pikes or armenian legionaries and the cappadocian cav or the armenian cataphracts then any unit the Egyptians have. I just dont think egypt has the “elite” units to keep up with armenia’s solid infantry and their elite cataphracts.
15-20 turns in Armenia campaign and Im in war with Selucid, Egipt, Parthia and Scythia 😢
Spam horse archers, do not use infantry units just and only for sieges. Rush heavy spears. With heavy spears and horse archers you can defeat anyone. Cata archer and legionaries take 2 turns to build, but worth building if economy is stable enough.
@@Vektordeformacio I was going for that, but there were so many enemies. If I get a town, same turn I lose one on the other part of the map. So frustrating, and they just spam armies out of nowhere lmao
ohhhh yess i know exactly how you feel, a very tough campaign at the start but once you get going you can be very powerful
TW community: IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF A SICK JOKE??? CA: what it's just a orinary (sees parthian spearmen) OH MY GOD!!! SEGA!!!
Wouldn't Scythia count as an eastern faction?
Nahh they count as Barbarian culture I believe and their town hall only goes to level 3 whereas eastern factions can go to five i think
You got the thumbnail political compass, mixed up.
it is funny that egypt is not greek but bronze age
パルティア滅茶苦茶強いけど？騎乗弓兵だけで十分。ローマより強いし簡単。城攻めをする必要はない。野戦に持ち込めばよい。包囲して出てきたところを叩けばよい。
hillmans are great
Pontus hands down the strongest.
But I don’t want to play as Pontus!
Egypt Is different than eastern but they are best of this group.
it's maybe the worst Rome Total War video I have ever seen. the cataphract cavalry and cataphract archer the 2 of most op units in rtw. you put them behind the shitty Egypt army.
Egypt's roster is way overrated you cant train pharaohs guards or bowman except in like 2 settlements..
I can train them anywhere. For the Egyptians, only the camel archers are limited to specific regions, the ones that have the camel resource. Generally speaking, only the camel and elephant riding units have their recruitment geographically limited, with the notable exception of the spartan hoplites.
@@ciprianlica ya I use them now😂 but I swear for some reason I remember it being that way on the original disc
Armenia is underrated. The problem is that they get stomped by pontus early on. If you can survive the early game and expand in tech you can totally fight end-game against egypt and even the romans eventually
yesss i totally agree, first few turns are very hard but mid to late game their army is great
Gotta love that Armenian flexibility
Armenia's best unit are the Horse Archers. Cataphract Archers are decent but they get less arrows, and their Legonniares can't really stand up to post-Marian Cohorts.
@@PlanetZoidstar I’m playing Armenia right now and it’s probably the most challenging campaign I’ve ever done. I have noticed that the regular horse archers are better than the cataphract archers which kinda sucks. Surprisingly in my campaign, the Seleucid’s took over turkey and kept Egypt at bay
@@jessegordian2498 Yeah, Cataphract Archers have their niche, they can be effective against Light Cavalry, but their lack of speed makes them worse than Horse Archers. I struggled with Armenia too in the early game and until late game their infantry are pretty poor.
Selucids getting that far is very unusual, I guess you being Armenia stopped the other factions swallowing them up like they normally do.
Many reasons to hate on Parthia: Pink Pyjama Bois, fragmented, virtually land-locked starting empire, but the reason I hate them is because they can't build Paved Roads. Moving your forced around on dirt roads takes SO LONG, it really makes the campaign a grind. Also makes dealing with Scythia more grindy and painful.
My man you're back! Best RTW RUclipsr in my opinion. 💪💪💪
Thank you so much, glad you enjoy the videos !
Agreed! Just recently found this channel when I started replaying RTW. I was able to defeat Egypt using his strategy!
Agreed, can't stand that Melkor guy.
@@Casketkrusher_ I think he took it all too seriously, and at some point went into constant lament and whining over RTW.
7:56 u bullied those poor hillmen, they just want to prove themselves and u bully them!
hahaha i've given them far too many chances in the past, i'm surprised they were so willing to get themselves killed again
@@lugotorix6173 they’re a bit overambitious lol
Fun fact: the phalanx pikemen from Pontus are actually the most well armored phalanx pikemen in the game. They also have fewer numbers than the phalanx pikemen from the other 3 factions that have them.
For that reason I find Pontus Pikemen perform better, I find they hold formation better oddly since I often struggle to keep my Pikemen from dropping their pikes when I give the attack command and they meet the enemy lines.
It works much better having them stay still and have the enemy rush the pikes, but you can't always force that, especially if you lack Archers.
IT is the best tier 3 infantry in the game out of the gate if you build lvl 3 Hercules temple too provide 2 chevron
Lol, Rome Total War and its cultures, especially the Eastern ones, are just messed up.
hahaha ikr, I had a tough time even deciding what factions should go into this episode
Egypt is overrated.
More overrated han Seleucid empire.
I think pontus is slept on. I think its best units are the pontic heavy cav, scythed and chariot archers, cappadocians, and bronze shields. To me the backbone of this force is the PHC. Theyre solid in melee as well as with their javelins, and en masse they can easily pick apart a lot of armies, including phalanxes. The only missile cav that can contend with it in melee are the Scythian Noble Archers and the Cataphract archers, and both of those cost a lot. PHC cost about half as much as 1 Cataphract archer and trains in half the time. You get 9 melee and missile attack, 8 morale, 14 defense for 630. As far as jav cav, you hear talk about the Numidian cav, and it's probably a better skirmishing force than the PHC, but the PHC's capabilities in melee - especially with the Hercules temple's up to +3 experience boost - make it a more reliable force as the mainstay of your army. Otherwise, the scythed chariots demolish the egyptian heavy chariot in a 1 on 1. I actually like the chariot archers as an archer force for a couple of reasons: they can move around the field quickly, and theyre the only unit with 60 arrows per soldier, which is 2x as many as archers. So for big battles, they could do more damage than even the Pharaoh's bowmen, especially if they have to run around the battlefield. Remember: the chariot archers can fire while moving, unlike infantry archers. I know Pontus doesnt have horse archers, but i think the PLC and PHC serve a similar skirmishing role but can also double as solid melee cav for pinsiring moves. Youre basically performing roles of both melee and missile cav simultaneously. I sometimes engage infantry lines by lining up my main jav cav force in front of them and fire at will, while a small group of my best cav moves around the side to isolate the general. This tactic is well aided by either or both chariots, and of course cappadocians are great to bolster the PHC in cav charges. Bronze shields and even phalanx pikemen offer a solid infantry option, but honestly this campaign i havent even trained one yet, im finding the speed and efficiency of the aforementioned units in both assaults and siege defense that i havent needed the phalanxes.
Overall i think each of pontus's best units work well individually but they work really well in synergy used in various unit combinations. I dont think ive found anything else that has such an awesome missile/melee cav as the PHC, and the other units support it and each other very well.
The problem with Armenia and East overall is lack of tech development which is historically inaccurate. But thanks to developers you can manually modify them to the level of at least greek factions which would give them edge against Romans. If you do it, basically in the east the top first faction would be Seleucides (their late game armies are in pair with Romans, then goes Armenia, Egypt, Pontus and Parthia)
One thing I really like about the rosters of Rome Total War is its conciseness, ignoring the Romans. You don’t have 3 different types of barely different elite swordsmen or pikes, you have the elite swordsmen or pikes. It makes everything feel clean and polished and keeps the roster from feeling bloated and like reskins of each
I’m pretty sure you would rank Egypt in the top three in just about any category but the Romans
Honestly I would say Pontus is better (on the map) then Egypt. In my experience Egypt is going to get attacked by Selucids, Pontus, Parthia, And if you are unlucky even Numidia
Yeah it depends how aggressively you expand, and i agree that pontus has the better defensible position. But for me the economic advantage and the size of the empire at the start is too great to ignore
@@lugotorix6173 Yes you are correct when it comes to the economic benefits. Its like number 2 richest factions in the first 10 turns
Egypt always slaughters the Seleucids early on. Almost every campaign I play, the Gauls, Seleucids and Carthage are the first factions to be eliminated.
cool video. People should keep in mind that cappadocian cav will get wrecked by cataphracts when alt attack is used.
21:15 At this point I don't agree with you. Historically Parthia defeated Seleucids Empire. But they have never been on the city Campus Sakae in the history.
ahhh fair enough honestly my historical knowledge probably isnt good enough to be making those sort of claims haha
Pontic cav can throw spears with high attack that devistate most units before charging. Add in quality pikes and chariots to level the romans and they are the best IMO.
In gameplay, Cat Archers are literally broken (just take off skirmish mode). And you can get them in a Cavalry Stable. First off, long range missiles. Second, once you are done killing most of the enemy force you can charge and kill the rest with very little casualties. Yes, elephants are nice and all, but they are less maneuverable and their animals are prone to running amok. Cat Archers are that swiss army knife every faction wishes it had. Which is why Armenia is IMO the best in terms of unit roster. They have units that can get Roman infantry a run for their money on the walls. They have solid spearmen to plug bridges or to kill chariots- and you can mass Cataphracts and Cat Archers and overpower pretty much any army on the open field. Neither of the other three factions can stand up to Roman infantry on the walls in the same way, or field a unit like the Cat Archer which is OP. Parthia gets close with Persian Cav and Elephants which do shoot arrows, but Persian cavalry can't stand up the same way Cat Archers can. Whilst I can say that Egypt does boast better infantry and foot archers, Armenia has without question better cavalry because of Cat Archers. Foot archers regardless of armor get emasculated every time by Cat Archers. Egyptian Cavalry is weaker than both Parthia and Armenia because they can't train elephants or hardy heavily armored Horse Archers. They might even be weaker than Pontus there as well. Because Egypt's cav is so weak (and Chariot Generals die too easily), here's my ranking of the unit rosters:
1. Armenia (I know this is quite controversial, but I have way more fun with Armenia than Egypt's roster, however they are just about 1 point better if anything)
2. Egypt (Their Cavalry is too weak for me to rank them first, and they don't even come close to Pontus, whose got the third best cav)
3. Pontus (I agree here because Javelin Cavalry is not great and they don't even get the large stack of Phalanx Pikemen. Their infantry definitely makes them better than Parthia overall)
4. Parthia (Infantry is inferior, so bad to the point that Scythia gets better infantry and they can only train one unit there. However their cav is either first or second, I can understand both arguments)
Parthians can win all open battles with only horse archers and a small core of heavy cav for the knock out blow. They don't have to defend bridges. They only need some infantry for besieging cities. They can either draw out garrisons with a single unit siege and the main army a space away but not besieging the wall, or they can let the clock tick down until the garrison sallies and then shoot them to death. If they want better infantry they can buy them as mercenaries once they move west at all. The only real problem for them is the agricultural fertility and lack of trade in their homelands which means they cannot maintain a large army to expand with and a fairly long early grind to be able to expand. In my Parthia plays, the turning point is taking Antioch, which opens up decent trade income and a well developed large city once they get to it. Thereafter they're strong enough to conquer the map, although it remains tough against the post-Marian Romans just because of their high armour against arrows. But any kind of cav can tire out infantry and tempt them to split apart their lines so that units can be surrounded and crushed one at a time until they start panicking and can be run down in the rout, even without arrows, and even with very light cavalry after they've used up their arrows. The AI never uses the weight of infantry archers that are required to defeat a stack of horse archers, so once you've shot up the typically two or three units of archers or slingers in a given AI stack, you're golden. The job is even easier for the Sassanids in Barbarians, because they get medium horse archers with Long range.
With Horse archers you can end Romans before they get to marian reforms but if they do in very hard difficulty the horse archers become somewhat useless.
However Cataphract's charge will break even urban cohorts.
For me Parthia is easiest and most efficient faction to win the Game.
Sad. I absolutely love Parthia roster. Only faction I did full map on VH/VH. Cav micro vs the Romans is fun.
The Parthians were around for the transition from republic to empire- they poured molten gold down crassus’ throat and mark Antony invaded them.
Hey, that's a really nice comparison, I enjoyed it, but don't dare disrespect Parthia like that, saying they were added just to fill the map. I know you know your history, but take a look at this just in case to refresh your memory:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Parthian_Wars
They were the east powerhouse who never got conquered by Romans, unlike the other "most powerful" factions.
I disagree about egyptian army yes it’s versatile but not op, also their cav is lacking , their are equal to Pontus but are loosing to Armenia. The main power they have is their location which is on secure and fertile land, so you are secure on nearly all sides and can print money to expand inside of weak Seleucids. Armenia in terms of army is the best in the region, stayin behind only to seleucids, but theyr are making for it with their cataphract archers which are top 5 units in the game.
P.s other weaknesses thet esternes heave is their tech and buildings tied to it, with exemption of Parthia wich can build Huge temples, others can’t build not only it but also plubming, theatres, hyppodroms and other perks which greatly heapls you in terms of maintaining stability in country and good economy.
Very hard to rank these. All the eastern factions are good because they have access to cavalry archers or chariot archers. The differences are quite minor. Armenia gets cataphract archers and easy access to Asia Minor, Egypt has a great economy and diverse troops with particularly the archers and axemen standing out, Parthia gets elephants and long range horse archers but has a bad starting economy, and Pontus gets Macedonian style phalanxes and javelin cavalry plus the best starting position at the cost of a weak early army compared to the others.
I can't be the only one who hates Parthia just because it has that massive stretch of plain up east of the caspian.
Wtf is it doing there? So ugly. Would it have been that hard to just extend the map a couple inches and give it some other settlement?
You keep talking down the Numidians, who have a quite similar army than Armenia. Good spears (no phalanx tho, but excelent morale good stamina), good archer (tier 2 baby), and legionars. Good missle cav (numidians), fine armored cav (quick long shields, less armor, faster to get, good stamina good morale) that is different in use than cataphracts, but nonetheless good unit. They are far better than Parthia in my opinion.
That's certainly interesting, im discusssing the african factions next video so you can see my opinion on them in more detail aha
Numidians aren't the worst faction (that would be Thrace), but better than Parthia? Nahhhh. They have fantastic light cav but aside from that, they're screwed. An elite Parthian army with Persian HA's, catas, and elephants will smash even the most disciplined Numidian force with ease.
That being said, it was fun to beat the entire campaign map with lowly Numidia.
In my opinion, the infantry of Pontus is superior to that of Armenia, both at level 3 barracks (phalanx pikemen have longer reach than heavy spearmen) and even more so at level 4, where bronze shields have good morale and large unit size, whereas the Armenian fake legionaries have normal morale and normal unit size.
do this for europa barbarorum