Total War: Pharaoh Ramesses

Total War: Pharaoh Ramesses
Name:	Ramesses
From Game:	Total War: Pharaoh
Culture:	Egyptian
Playable:	Yes

Ramesses one of the Egyptian playable factions and faction leaders in Total War Pharaoh.

Overview

Ramesses

Ramesses is a decisive young commander who hopes to exceed the achievements of his namesake, Ramesses II (known as Ramesses the Great).

His roster includes skilled Medjay swordsmen, well-armoured javelin infantry and axeman with vanguard deployment (they can deploy outside the usual deployment zone).

Starting Position

At the campaign's start, Ramesses owns two of the four regions of the province of North Sinai, which is Egypt's nother-eastern border with Canaan. This province provides food, and bronze, which are important for your army upkeep. There is also a small supply of wood, but the starting province lacks a stone quarry. The lack of a supply of stone could slow down the development of your regions.

As the North Sinai province is near Egypt's northern coast, you are likely to see incursions by migratory factions in the early campaign, and you are also at war with a faction to your east. The initial battles can provide useful experience for your army, and some additional resources.

Strategies for Ramesses

Initially, Ramesses is likely to want to expand east, to defeat your initial foes and to occupy the whole of the North Sinai province. After that, if you go further to the east, you gain access to Canaanite native units, such as Canaanite Sellswords (who have better armour than your Medjay swordsmen, and have less upkeep, although the Sellswords are less skilled in melee).

The quick wits and decisiveness of Ramesses allow him to use two court actions per turn. Using the free Gossip action can enable him to quickly build up enough Regard with court officials to make requests. For example, Ramesses can ask the Viceroy of Kush for gold - and you can trade gold for stone and wood, to develop your regions more quickly. If you build up Regard with the First Commander, you can recruit elite Royal Egyptian units which can give you a useful advantage in early battles.

Iskar, an experienced player, recommended this strategy for the early campaign as Ramasses:

"Beat the welcome-battle, then march right onto their town Sukkot and storm it. Your initial army should be well able to handle the garrison with a bit of tactical sugar sprinkled on top. With the town taken recruit two more units, preferrably Medjay. Then march onto their last town Azzati the next turn and take it without further siege. After that you should be in control of all of your starting province and have no current enemies. At this point you can start building up your economy and decide whom to attack next.

Juicy targets are Bersheba (bit harder, but has gold mines), or Timna and then colonising Deshret Reitu before other people do it, then gathering your forces to starve out Hetch-Pa. When you are done taking Sinai it is usually around turn 31 and the sea peoples arrive, so it is best to send your troops to your coastal towns Azzati and Sukkot to defend them against the first wave.

Pay attention to your neighbouring coastal towns as sometimes the sea peoples manage to raze Per-Amun or Ashkelon that you can then cheaply colonise without declaring war on anyone."

Legacy

After a few turns, you will be invited to choose a legacy. Egyptian factions can choose from Akhenaten the Heretic (combine two gods into one - your shrines and devoted generals will enjoy a combination of their benefits), Khufu the Builder (construct great monuments), Thutmose the Conqueror (gaining extra abilities when attacking settlements), or Hatshepsut the Merchant (send trade caravans to boost your economy and provide better weapons and equipment for your generals). The obvious legacy for Ramesses, as a bold military leader, could be Thutmose - howver, an experienced player, Iskar, recommends Hatshepsut for Ramesses. As Ramesses, your starting regions are on the historical trade route across the Sinai, so you can trade in both directions without having to wait a long time for your trade caravans to return.