Total War: Pharaoh Seti

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

Seti is one of the Egyptian playable factions, and faction leaders in Total War Pharaoh.

Overview

Seti is the chosen heir of his father, the Pharaoh Merneptah - the historical Seti inherited the throne to become rule Egypt as Seti II. He is allied to the faction controlled by his wife, Tausret. His roster includes levy units which are not particularly skilled, but which are cheap, and some units with two-handed weapons - effective melee attackers and useful in flank attacks.

Seti

Starting Position

At the start of the campaign, Seti has two regions in Hardai province, on the west bank of the Nile. Hardai province is described, by Pharaoh Merneptah at the start of the campaign, as the bridge between Upper and Lower Egypt. Your starting regions provide a supply of food, stone, bronze and wood, but no gold.

Strategies for Seti

Your first goal is likely to be to occupy the whole of Hardai province and to defeat your initial enemy to the south. As the chosen heir of the Pharaoh, Seti's army starts with a unit of Royal Khopesh Guard. The Royal Khopesh Guard are a high-tier unit who can turn the tide of battle in your favour, but they require gold as part of their upkeep - and while Seti starts the game with some gold, his starting regions do not include a supply of it. Fortunately, if you defeat your initial enemy to the south, the regions that you will capture incldue Uba-t Duat, a region where you can build a gold mine.

Your alliance with Tausret is not likely to provide much assistance in the early campaign, as Tausret's lands are a few regions to your south - and you are likely to be drawn into wars by your ally. You may want to expand south towards Tausret, so that you can force Tausret's enemies to fight on two fronts, and so that you will have a relatively safe border with Tausret.

After consolidating your control of Hardai province, there are two regions nearby with ruined settlements which you can colonise, if you reach them before your rivals. The ruined city to the west of your starting position is Akhetaten - and you can only colonise this city if you select the the legacy of Akhenaten the Heretic.

Legacy

After you have played for a first turns, when the first Shemsu Hor occurs, you will be given the opportunity to choose a legacy, and Akhenaten is one of the options. If you choose this legacy, your faction will combine two gods, to worship one god who combines aspects of both. You will be prompted to choose which two gods you wish to combine, and you will be able to see the benefits for your shrines and for generals who are devoted to your faction's god.

The city of Akhetaten is a one-city province, which means that if you occupy the city you can immediately choose a commandment. Occupying this city enables the player to use a commandment which is unique to this province, the Aten's Holy Ground commandment, which provides +10 to happiness, +15% to the production of resources, -20% recruitment cost and +4 recruitment ranks for units for the province - a useful set of bonuses.

Of course, you may prefer to choose another option for Seti's legacy. Iskar recommends Thutmose, as Seti is obviously designed to be a brute conqueror, although Khufu would also be suitable (even though it doesn't fit Seti's character).