Greek Cities Details (RTW Faction)

This is a Faction Details article or section. Information herein is based on players individual experiences and may not be independently verifiable. In the event of a disagreement please discuss on the talk page.

Playing the Greeks relies on supreme improvised tactics. Fighting as Greece is complicated and messy but very rewarding if you succeed.

The Battlefield

The Greeks are focused on warrior-citizens called hoplites and their main purpose is to work as a team, fighting side by side, protecting one another and most importantly winning in battle or dying in the attempt.The Greeks have a weak cavalry line therefore they can only win through out thinking the enemy or being on the defensive. The only offensive value here are the peltasts, the peltasts are the main ranged units of the Greek city states able to throw a massive barrage of javelins en masse.

To win their battles, the Greeks must rely on their infantry and their missile troops. The more modern Macedonians carry a 14 ft long spear called a "sarissa" in the phalanx formation. The Greeks meanwhile use the older 6 ft long "dory" spear. The Greeks might be out of date but remember this, the Greeks invented the hoplite phalanx. The only Greek hoplites that can beat the 14 ft long spears are the Spartan hoplites who are able to hold their ground against multiple enemies.

To those who have played the historical battle "The Siege of Sparta", one would have learned through trial and error to pit multiple units of pikemen at these unique hoplites in order to stand a chance of defeating them. Even this tactic can result in high casualties for your own forces. The Spartan hoplite is one of the most overpowered units in the game. They have extremely high morale (always the last one to leave), stamina (unstoppable once they gain experience), and attack (if a city has a temple to Hephaestus/Vulcan take it and move your Spartans there for upgrades). On the downside they take two turns to recruit, cost over 1000 denarii to train, and can drain the treasury with the upkeep cost. In a simulation of the battle of Thermopylae, I sent an entire horde of 8 Parthian eastern infantry with: +8 experience, +2 armor, and +3 attack toward 1 unit of Spartan Hoplites. I left the Spartans with no upgrades whatsoever except for +1 experience. The results? They routed two units and took down 47% of the men before routing themselves (even then, the hoplites fought until only 11 remained). Scary.

Back to the other hoplites. If you ever manage to get a chance to build the barracks required for Spartan Hoplite training (since they can only be trained in Syracuse and Sparta), a unique tactic is to fuse Armored Hoplites with Spartans. At the battle deployment screen place the 2 units on top of each other. Why? Spartans have an attack greater than their total defense; Armored have total defense larger than their attack. The result is a mass of 161 spears that looks after each other. Hoplites and militia hoplites should be used mainly for garrisons or for attacking small rebel armies. Also note that the Greeks excel in defense unlike many other factions.

Things to know:

When given the chance never fight out late age battles against any Hellenistic Faction or late age Pontus. Casualties can become enormous. Either retreat if your outnumbered or autoresolve the battle and pray to Zeus for the best. If left no other option fight out the battles with the UP Tactics shown below.

How to use the Ultimate Porcupine Tactic:

A porcupine is a quilled rodent that is not only thoroughly protected by spikes but capable of ejecting them. How does this relate? Place your line of hoplites in the front in either (1) a line if your offensive or (2) a ring or semi-circle if you're defensive. Have the spearmen group together as closely as possible. For a more fun and satisfying effect, place similar units on top of each other to create a massive wall of spears. Right behind them place and skirmishers and/or peltasts. In front, place any other long-range missile infantry. If given the opportunity use the denarii to recruit Cretan Archers, Rhodian Slingers or Balearic Slingers. These mercenaries are extremely worth the money as they are stronger than conventional slingers and bowmen. Behind and on the sides should lay your sorry excuses for cavalry units. When enemy phalanx men run toward you fire at them with all stones and arrows you've got. The enemy will either try to chase your archers and slingers (they are doomed if they do, as the units will simply run away if to close and fire when far away enough) or ignore them and march toward your hoplites (they are also doomed this way too as the projectiles will kill the slow heavy spearmen. When the enemy hoplites come near have the peltasts and militia cavalry, do some bonus damage. As a caution never have your missile units fire at the enemy while they are engaging in battle with your troops; your units don't fare any better than theirs against range. For any other type of unit, feel free to place them where you think it’s the most important. I did this in a battle against Egypt. The troop count was about the same on both sides. They had a little over 600 men. 6-8 units of phalanx spearmen, 3 heavy desert cavalry, and some chariots (which are terribly weak by the way). I massacred the slow Nubian Spearmen with stones and arrows and then let my hoplites finish the job. The desert cavalry were doomed from the start as no horserider can withstand spearmen. That left my peltasts to take down the chariots (skirmishers work really well against them). The results came out to 97% enemy casualties (some flagged and escaped) and 8% allied casualties. Neat huh?

--History--

In the time period that the game is set in, the Greeks were not a unified nation although this is not shown in Rome: Total War or any of the major mods. The Greeks were organised into city states of which some of the most powerful and well-known were Athens, Sparta, Thebes(not in the game) and Corinth. They were frequently at war as they all wished to rule a unified Greece under their own government, this may seem an unworthy cause to go to war but all the city states had extremely different systems of government. The Spartans were a very closed city state, they had a controlled population of about 10,000 Spartan citizens at a time, they were also hugely based on military might, a Spartan soldier was trained in harsh conditions from the age of 7 and was taught to steal so he would know what to do in desperate situations such as starvation. Also if you were a Spartan you could not choose your career, you were automatically forced into the army and trained to be an elite killing machine, all other work was carried out by slaves called helots. Athens however was a rich city which was mainly based on democratea, a form of democracy with a limited right of franchise.

The Typical Siege: What to do and How

The Greeks possess great advantages when defending their cities due to their phalanxes. When on the defensive from siege attacks you should always fight out the battle. The most classic way to defend a Greek city would simply to make your hoplites form a semi circle around the gateway. This is called the Circa Porta (translated: around the gate) and infantry will be forced to squeeze into the gateway then be impaled at the waiting spears at the end. They rarely have a chance to fight back as there is hardly any room to fight back. This is more amusing when the cavalry charges in. If you are defending a town or a minor city the Romans by default will attack the front gate first. Sometimes they will come armed with multiple battering rams and take down the nearby walls, too. When this happens you do one of two things: if you have enough troops you can simply have hoplites spread out their numbers and crowd around the entrance points and simply let the enemy come towards them. Keep your general or captain nearby where the fighting is most fierce though. The second option is to do the semicircle formation but have them deployed at the street ways. The defensive point should be located at the road leading from the main gate to the town center. The AI will generally take that path. However, occasionally the computer may occasionally find an alternate path and possibly hit you from behind. For this reason, always keep in eye on the minimap. Practice this maneuver only when you can't spear your forces thin (pardon the pun). If you have upgraded the cities' defenses to stone walls then this is much more challenging. The enemy is always equipped with one battering ram and at least one siege tower or ladder. It's funny to note that it is quite pointless to attack stone walled cities with rams because they can easily be destroyed by either the flaming arrows from the towers or be crushed by the boiling oil. An infantry unit will slowly progress to climb the walls. Have any ranged units you have fire down projectiles at the oncoming boarding party. Right before the enemy climbs onboard evacuates your range troops out of there. Unless they possess a lot of experience, archers and peltasts lack the discipline of standard infantry forces. The one other reason this should be done is to allow the troops to capture the gateway. This will allow the door to open to the enemy at will and allow you to let the Porta Circa do its work. When most of the enemy have routed then quickly have any spare infantry or missile unit to recapture the gateway. This is because the captured enemy gateway will now fire arrows at your forces. Modify the arrangement for saps and onagers.

Greek Faction Comparison on the Campaign and Battlefield

With any faction, try not to be the one to declare war. This messes up your system. The greatest disadvantage playing as the Greeks is that one has to fight on up to 6 fronts including naval battles. This can be tiring and requires full thought and patience.

The Romans at the beginning should not be too hard to beat. Their infantry consists of the Hastati-Princepe-Triarii model. These units are moderately low in morale and can easily be routed if they take too many casualties. Unlike the other factions that fight Rome early on (Gaul, Macedon) you are forced to fight 2 Roman houses at the same time. You'll be forced to fight on at least two fronts. Syracuse should quickly upgrade their ports and blacksmiths, as the Scipii will eventually start recruiting their powerful naval units. If you hold on to Syracuse long enough to repel the Scipii quickly retrain your troops to mount an offensive to attack Messana. Do this quickly as the house will eventually send in a mainland relief force. Messana should not be too hard to take. Only a handful of units should be left garrisoned. After you take it the Scipii is done for. Unless you wish to take on the Romans on the main land just sit around and let your cities upgrade. Attacking the mainland is very risky because you'll eventually have the wrath of four factions coming down on you all at once. Sometimes the Scipii or possibly another house will try to take back Messana. They are likely to have a lack of money and this will reduce the size of their forces making them easier to defeat. After awhile either Carthage goes on the offensive against you or Lilybaeum is taken over by the Scipii. Pray for the latter as things get complicated when you have another enemy to deal with. This gives you an excuse to attack Lilybaeum and totally own Sicily.

The House of Brutii is similar to the Scipii. They focus however on troop experience upgrades as they get temple to Mars. Beware of this. The house of Brutii generally comes knocking on your front door through Thermon. Do not let them take Thermon, as it is one of your few cities that have the potential of earning massive amounts of money. The House of Brutii is not very difficult to fight though it takes them a while to mount an offense on Macedon. Apparently, we owe them money.

You do not confront the House of Julii often except during naval battles. If you expand your empire North enough you might meet them. Sometimes they own the provinces of Western Europe. Other times they are reduced to one town with the Gauls ramming down their settlement, quite literally.

With the Romans, try to take them out by 230 BC. This is roughly the time the Marian Event occurs. The development level of the Roman cities generally determines the Event. For this purpose, attempt to take larger cities.

Macedon can be a pain. As explained earlier they possess more advanced troops and phalangites as well as extremely overpowered cavalry. Their light lancers have a 5 attack and +9 charge! When you fight Macedon, take 'em down hard and take em down quick. If they manage to get their advanced units, you're in for a long war.

Pontus is a wild card. On some instances they'll attack you with all the prerogative they've got. On the other days they are too obsessed with annihilating the Seleucids and Armenia to worry too much about you. On the downside they are a major power and rise to take many lands quickly.

The Seleucid Empire is quite unfortunate to have Egypt, Parthia, Pontus, and maybe Armenia simultaneously attack it all at once. Save if you are bored or like a challenge don't bother with them. Depending on the situation the SE may or may not attack you. If they remain your ally long enough, give them some denarii and they can help you with Pontus. Occasionally, I feel sorry for them as they make their last stand at Sardis so I help them out to attack whoever is besieging the settlement. Usually, it's Egypt or Pontus. If they ever assault you, have your peltasts prime their spears. They are the only good counter of the elephants you're bound to meet. They lack originality having their own type of troops. Instead they have units such as roman legionaries, militia hoplites, Macedonian phalangites, Eastern chariots, Parthian war elephants, Armenian cataphracts, Companion cavalry, and the terrible Greek style bodyguard. Seleucids have the most diverse selection of units in the game possessing no true battlefield disadvantage.

Thrace is not much of a problem. If you are too busy they will take the city of Byzantium in the beginning. Ideally when you finally defeat Macedon and still want to expand, Byzantium is a good place to start. By declaring war on Thrace, you simultaneously gain a high-income city to provide for the war effort. Thrace is probably the easiest faction to conquer when you come across them. They posses limited infantry and cavalry, most which are copied from the Greeks themselves. Thrace does not appear to have much gumption to no more than attack you when you come near their cities and provinces.

Egypt will come sooner or later either declaring war on you by a simple blockade or a preemptive first strike. Halicarnassus should be taken before the SE can get their hands on it. Provided that you still have Pergamon at this point, having one settlement in the north and one the south allows the player to attack on multiple fronts. In Anatolia, where sometime the fighting gets hot, do not build highly advanced roads but build watchtowers throughout. If you should ever become under fire from Egypt, the SE, or Pontus it will take them awhile to arrive to besiege your cities of Pergamon and Halicarnassus. You can easily see them coming and prepare. When you go to war with Egypt, take the African rebel settlement of Cyrene. Historically, it belongs to you and it is a good place to launch attacks on their "magnanimous pharaoh". Egypt is hard to fight due to the fact that they possess an excellent selection of heavy infantry, heavy cavalry, and advanced spearmen. Fortunately for you, their phalangites lack proper armor and is semi-light making target practice for your range troops. The Pharaoh’s Bowmen and Pharaoh’s Guard are a problem though. The bowmen possess one of the second highest ranged attack in the game (after the Gallic Forester Warband). On the upside, they lack a shield so a good cavalry charge should do the job. The Pharaoh’s guards are another story. These men have no shield but that's not your problem. Their strength comes from their amazing defense skill making hard to fight unless you have Armored or Spartan Hoplites.

Getting the Most Out of Nothing: The Economy

Playing as Greece, you're in trouble from in the beginning. Although all of your cities are have ports, which provide good trade, your settlements are scattered. The main downside to this is that if one of your cities ever becomes besieged, then other towns cannot send a relief force fast enough. For this each of your settlements will have to rely on itself until your forces can connect. Your main objectives are to destroy Macedon and Thrace but the rule of the Total War thumb is simple: To field a large army you gotta pay it! Each of your starter cities is unique in the way they function. It is advisable to build ports when you get the chance. This is your main advantage and you need ships to move your armies across the Aegean and Mediterranean.

With all of your settlements capable of building ports, this provides a daunting economic advantage. Gain as many trade agreements and alliances as possible from the other factions. Or you could just wait for their diplomats to come and offer treaties. The only exceptions should be the Roman factions. They’ll attack you by the second or third turns so don’t bother. Even Macedon should be considered. You can earn plenty from the roads that lead to their settlements. Speaking of settlements…

Your Beginning Settlements

Syracuse- It is your most advanced city and is the most annoying. This is your settlement that gives you a foothold on connections to the west. It is very vied for but it has great defenses and already has some range troops garrisoned in. Prepare to lose a lot of money, as it is practically impossible to take to the offensive without having Syracuse lose a lot of denarii. Of all your cities, this one never gains an income because of your soldiers' wages. The cities must expense out some of their income to your troops based on their relative sizes. Besides Rome and Carthage, Syracuse is the most highly advanced settlement at the beginning therefore it must pay heavy expenses to your troops. It is one of the two only cities where you can train the Spartan Hoplites when you build the Army Barracks. At the start of the game it is extremely advisable to construct military buildings and civil buildings; i.e. sewers, temples, ludus magna etc. Do not bother with a temple to Hermes. Instead construct a temple to Athena. Your population will be pissed off and go the code blue about 60% of the time, especially if you raise the taxes.

Sparta- Your capital city and quite frustrating to look after. If the Macedonians ever attack you this is generally where it all begins. It is not suggested to attack Corinth, as it is much better to use the quiet time quickly construct economic buildings and a temple to Nike. This is other city where you are allowed to train Spartan Hoplites. When waiting for the first strike from Macedon, keep a five-star or higher level general garrisoned at all times. The Macedonians apparently like to assault with a large force and this is the only act if you wish to keep a small army in Sparta and still keep up is a general who can win an outnumbered fight.

Thermon- This is your most valuable military settlement besides Sparta. When the Romans start attacking you it is a good idea to make some clear choices about your buildings. You have three construction decisions to make at this point. Either build a temple to Nike to counter the powerful Roman armies; build temples to Hermes to allow more incoming money; or build temples to Aphrodite to quickly advance your city to allow more powerful recruitment, income, and defenses. This is the settlement that will help you raise the money you need, but if you take to the defensive the Brutii and Macedon besiege it quite frequently.

Pergamon-It is your final and weakest front-line settlement. Either the Seleucids or Pontus will come knocking sooner or later so it is a good idea to train a garrison of militia hoplites and wait for the enemies to come. The first few turns are peaceful, as everyone to the east is busy dealing with trade deals and expansion. Your first 15 turns should give you the moments to build a barrack, a port, a wooden wall, and an archery range.

Rhodes- This is your backwater settlement. Not tested entirely but hypothetically, the ai never seems to attack it even though it's sitting right there in midst of enemy territory. For this sole reason alone Rhodes is your only beginning settlement where you can build civic and economic buildings before you construct your military ones. You won't need several troops to be recruited there unless you need a large garrison size to keep the masses happy or if you’re fighting in Anatolia. Build a temple to Hermes here as you can gain much wealth from this place if you budget correctly. Provided you have enough money, this is one of the three areas you can recruit the powerful Rhodian Slingers. If you ever achieve code red and start losing a lot of cities, this settlement is a good one for your armies to fall back on.

Alternative Greek Guide

The Greeks are a slow-moving infantry-based faction. Their main unit type for the entire campaign are units in the phalanx formation. A unit that is in the phalanx formation is unable to run but is very strong against attacks from the front when the spears are down. Their cavalry and ranged troops exist but should not be relied upon to break enemy lines. Hoplites are generally relatively weak against comparable units from other factions when fighting with their swords. Therefore, in order to maintain maximum effectiveness keep the unit's spears pointing towards the enemy and the flanks and rear covered by other units.

Greek battle tactics vary but I prefer the more aggressive approach. The basic line is surprisingly effective for the Greeks. The phalanx line should be as long as possible while still maintaining the strength to repel attacks from the front at least for awhile. Length is important in order to reduce the chance of being flanked which can spell disaster for phalanx-based armies. It may also be worth bending the phalanxes on the end in to further reduce the chance of flanking. Cavalry should be positioned near the ends of the phalanx. Missile troops are probably best left in the center just behind the phalanx line for safety. Reserves may be held, but as phalanxes are extremely slow they must be placed near to likely trouble spots in order to react quicker.

Basic battle tactics are to approach the enemy line while maintaining formation. Once you get within missile range you will have to make the decision as to whether it is in your best interests to have a missile duel. I like using archers instead of peltasts and with a few experience they are extremely effective. They are especially suitable for negating the threat for opposing skirmishers using javelins. If the opposing force deploys skirmishers and moves them towards your phalanx line a few archers should be enough to seriously reduce their ability to hurt you or to encourage their main force to attack. In addition, this enables your cavalry to avoid early casualties. Once the enemy starts moving the bulk of their forces forward it's normally easier to halt making sure the formation doesn't have gaps in it and wait for the enemy charge while harassing the enemy with archers. Exceptions to this may be when fighting the Romans who use pila before charging. Against them moving forward using the Alt key to maintain formation and stopping on first contact may be more effective. This reduces the number of javelins that get thrown at your line before melee combat begins. Once your phalanx line is engaged chances are you'll win the battle barring AI stupidity or enemy cavalry charges. Negating enemy heavy cavalry charges is difficult due to your lack of fast moving heavy units. The general is a possible choice or mercenaries or any cavalry unit with some experience. Your cavalry will probably be weaker so if possible charge the enemy cavalry from the flanks or from behind when they are stationary. Once enemies start breaking the battle should be yours.

Against the Macedonians who also use phalanxes you have several options. You're probably facing them in campaign and the AI has a tendency to do stupid things. Use the same tactics as above but be more aggressive. Mercilessly attack the weaknesses of the Macedonian phalanx by attacking the flanks or rear. Use archers to thin their numbers as you can get quite a few volleys off before they close. The Macedonians do have superior cavalry overall but in the early game when they are your main foes your general's bodyguard should be able to defeat any enemy cavalry unit that is not another general. So if they do not have a general present feel free to swing cavalry units round behind them and charge into their phalanxes from behind which should be an instant rout. Even if they do have a general present the AI typically charges their general into the front of phalanxes or does nothing while you attack it with overwhelming cavalry force. Once their cavalry threat is removed, the Macedonians are unwieldy and easy to take apart. This holds true at least when they are commanded by the AI. Superiority in numbers is not normally required.

All the hoplite units tend to share roughly the same characteristics. I tend to find hoplites and armoured hoplites interchangable in campaign where basic hoplites are easier to obtain and retrain. I don't tend to use Spartan hoplites as while they are excellent units they are near impossible to retrain in a reasonable time frame.