Total War: Pharaoh Amenmesse

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

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

Overview

Amenmesse is Viceroy of Kush. Amenmesse's faction roster has good spear infantry and excellent archers. With a higher tier barracks, Amenmesse can recruit sword and spear infantry who also have a sling as a secondary weapon, as well as khopesh infantry.

In Amenmesse's home provinces, the native units include skilled archers such as Nubian mercenary longbowmen, but the available melee infantry is limited.

Amenmesse

Starting Position

At the start of the campaign, Amenmesse owns most of the regions in two of Egypt's southern provinces. Amenmesse has the potential to develop several gold mines, and you can trade gold for food and bronze, enabling you to maintain larger armies, or wood and stone, allowing you to develop your settlements quickly.

Initially, you are at war with the Kerma to the east. In the early campaign, there are opportunities to expand easily by colonising unoccupied regions to the west and east. However, Kawa and Napata, the Nubian factions to your south, and the Buhen faction to your north, are likely to attack if they see an opportunity - and Libu raiders are likely to start arriving from the north-west after about 30 turns.

Strategies for Amenmesse

Two experienced players, Kendji and Iskar, recommended recruiting an extra general at the start in your western-most settlement, to colonise the unoccupied region to your west. Iskar recommended using Amenmesse to recruit two Nubian mercenary longbowmen, to assit you in taking the two Kerma settlements to your east. Nubian mercenary longbowmen have a longer range than most skirmishers, which can give you a decisive advantage in early battles. They require bronze as well as food, so you are not likely to be able to recruit many of them initially.

After defeating Kerma, Iskar recommended sending a general east, to colonise the unoccupied province of East Nubia, before returning to defeat the Nubian faction of Kawa to your south. You may be able to get a non-aggression pact with the Buhen to your north.

If you expand north into Egypt's western desert, you will be able to recruit Libu native units. Libu units are well-adapted to desert warfare - they endure sweltering heat on the battlefield better than others and they are resistant to desert attrition on the campaign map. The Libu native roster includes basic sword infantry and archers; with a higher tier native barracks, you can recruit better sword and spear infantry as well as archers with composite bows. However, expansion into the western desert will bring you close to the invading armies who approach Egypt from the west. Expansion into this area also bring Amenmesse into conflict with the Dungul Oasis faction, and Tausret may want to occupy this area as well. If Amenmesse goes to war with the Dungul Oasis, you might find that the Dungul faction becomes a vassal of Tausret - forcing you to choose either to abandon your war against Dungul, or to fight both Dungul and Tausret.

Legacy

Any legacy can work for Amenmesse. However, his starting position on Egypt's southern border makes it more difficult to benefit from some of them. If you choose Hatshepsut the Merchant, your trading caravans would have further to travel, so they would take longer than other Egyptian factions to reach their destination and return. If you choose Khufu the Bulder, many regions which can have Khufu monuments are close to Tausret's starting position, so you would need to march a considerable distance north to build them.

For Amenmesse, Iskar recommended Akhenaten (the legacy which allows you to combine two gods to form one, the Aten), because Isis and Horus is a powerful Aten combination, and because your starting regions are a long distance from the places which are relevant to other legacies. This legacy works well, although Akhetaten (the city which can only be colonised by a faction with the Akhenaten legacy) is also a long distance from Amenmesse's starting regions (Akhetaten is close to the starting regions of Seth).