Total War: Pharaoh How to win battles

Overview: How to win battles in Total War: Pharaoh

The Eagle Standard review of Total War: Pharaoh described this as a challenging game. Even some experienced players of previous Total War players reported finding the battles difficult, at first.

Preparing for battle

"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand." - Sun Tzu

• New players often find it difficult to have enough food; the page on managing resources may help.
• Consider ways to buff your units, for example by visiting a shrine or allocating an ancillary or title to the general (titles are not permanent - you can replace a title which you gave a general with another one).
• You may want to send an army into the territory of an enemy before starting a war, to see what kinds of units they are using, so you can bring units to counter them.
• If the enemy is likely to bring reinforcements, block them if you can. For example, if you are attacking a city which will be reinforced by a fort, consider sending a second army to besiege the fort.
• Consider whether to fight the battle or retreat. If you retreat, the enemy might catch your army in the same turn. However, if you retreat successfully, this could lead to a different outcome. For example, if your faction participates in a royal court, and if you get enough Regard with certain office holders (such as Egypt's First Commander) you may be able to recruit some elite units in special recruitment.

Deploying your units

"We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps." - Sun Tsu

• Select a unit and hover your cursor over the terrain, to see the effects (the effects will vary for different types of unit) - are there areas where units move slowly, is there cover?
• If reinforcements will arrive, their expected location will be marked on the edge of the battle map. However, if you deploy your army close to this location to ambush them, they may appear in another location. Ambushing reinforcements can still be a good strategy - if you want to do this, it may be better to deploy your army in between their arrival location and the middle of the deployment zone.
• Flank attacks can be very effective, so you may want to put units which excel at flanking (such as infantry with two-handed weapons) on your flanks at the start of a battle.
• Direct fire from archers is more effective than indirect fire. If the enemy has no chariots or cavalry, you may want to deploy your bows in front of your melee infantry or on the flanks.

Study the terrain at the start of a battle

Know what your units are good at

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." - Sun Tzu

• Clubs degrade armour more quickly, axes are better against shields, composite bows penetrate armour better, spears are good against chariots and cavalry, and camels scare horses.
• Melee cavalry and chariots are effective at attacking lightly armoured skirmshers and pursuing enemies. They do not do well in melee, especially prolonged melee.
• Ranged chariots and horse archers are good at disrupting enemy formations - their usefulness is more about distracting enemy units into pursuing them, rather than killing the enemy.
• Melee infantry are good for holding enemy units in position, so that you can attack their flanks and rear.
• Ranged units are particularly good at destroying enemy skirmishers and melee infantry with two-handed weapons. They can fire at enemies who are in melee with your units, but this tends to cause friendly fire.

Cavalry pursue fleeing enemies

Countering enemy units: rock-paper-scissors

"He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain." - Sun Tzu

• Chariots and cavalry can be countered by spear infantry, and ranged chariots can be countered by ranged infantry. Javelin infantry have a special attack against chariots.
• Cavalry can be countered by camelry, because camels scare horses. (Camel riders - camelry - can be recruited using a native barracks in parts of western Mesopotamia)
• Ranged infantry (javelins, slings or bows) can be countered by concentrating the fire of several of your own ranged units on one enemy ranged unit, until they break.
• Melee infantry with light armour or two-handed weapons can be countered using ranged infantry.
• Melee infantry with heavy armour can be countered by holding them in place with your melee infantry and attacking their flanks and rear.

Movement and stealth

"All warfare is based on deception." - Sun Tzu

• The line of sight can be blocked by high ground, trees and buildings. If you cannot see the enemy, consider using units with the Scout trait (they can see enemies from a longer distance) or move onto higher ground.
• If you order a unit to attack enemies who are near cover (such as a forest), the enemies may be run for cover. This causing your unit to lose sight of them and stop - which may make your unit vulnerable to a counter-attack, for example a volley of javelins. Of course, your units can run for cover and attack from cover, too.
• You may be able to use high ground, trees and buildings to hide part or all of your army, allowing you to surprise the enemy
• You may be able to draw the enemy towards you with long-range skirmishers, such as slingers or longbowmen - this may not work, especially if the enemy has skirmishers with a longer range than yours.
• Some units are skilled ambushers, they can remain hidden until the enemy gets close. The faction roster of Bay includes units with this ability.

Stamina and the value of reserves

"Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted." - Sun Tzu

• By default, when you order your units to move they will run. If you order them to walk, until they are close to the enemy (and ready to charge), they'll be less tired - especially in sweltering heat. In the options, you might want to change the setting so that your units walk rather than run, when you order them to move.
• If possible, avoid fighting when your army is in a stance (such as forced march) which means that they are winded or tired at the start of a battle.
• Prolonged fighting drains stamina and degrades armour. Consider pulling back units which are exhausted and replacing them with a reserve unit (if possible) until they recover.
• Weather conditions can affect the terrain, for example rain can cause more mud to appear.
• Some weather conditions affect the abilities of your units. Sweltering heat drains their stamina more quickly, and a sandstorm or rainstorm makes it much more difficult to use ranged units. Some units maintain their stamina (or morale) better in certain weather conditions. For example, in parts of western Egypt, with a native barracks you can recruit Libu units which are resistant to heat.
• Reserves can be effective against exhausted enemies, because exhausted units suffer major debuffs and may have degraded armour. In some previous Total War games, players often use a front line of cheap units (to absorb the enemy charge) and a second line of higher-tier units. While that isn't a bad idea in this game, you may want keep some cheap units in reserve.

Troubleshooting battles

My units route easily

• If you are using low-morale units, consider recruiting better ones. Building or upgrading a barracks may help.
• Protect the flanks and rear of your units and bolster their morale by keeping a general nearby.
• When you attack a settlement, the defenders get a morale bonus. Encircling an unwalled city, or besieging a walled city, can lead to the defenders sallying out - which means that they fight without their morale bonus.
• If you recruit units in a province with very low happiness, they tend to have a morale penalty. Increasing the happiness of the province, for example by keeping an army in a city and constructing or upgrading buildings which increase happiness is likely to help.

My chariots or cavalry get killed when they attack skirmishers

• In previous Total War games, cavalry were usually very effective against skirmishers. While you can use them against skirmishers in Pharaoh, it's usually better to focus the fire of several of your skirmishers on one enemy ranged unit, target another ranged unit when the first one breaks, and repeat.
• Chariots and cavalry are more useful for disrupting skirmishers (forcing them to move instead of shooting) than killing them.
• Combinations of units can work better than a single unit. Sending an expendable unit against skirmishers and then flanking the skirmishers with chariots or cavalry can work.

My ranged units aren't firing

• Javelin units, slingers and archers won't fire when they are out of range, out of ammunition or obstructed.
• If they are out of range and you order them to attack, they'll move closer to the enemy unit until they're in range.
• If they are out of ammunition and you order them to attack, they'll go into melee.
• If they are obstructed, they won't do anything - their unit card should show that they're obsructed. Move them to a different location.

My ranged units are firing but are ineffective

• Ranged units are less effective at long range, so you may want to move them closer.
• Ranged units can miss when they aim at fast-moving targets.
• Ranged units are less effective against shielded and heavily armoured units (shooting from behind the enemy deprives them of the benefit of their shield).
• Archers and slingers are move effective when they use direct fire, but they have a shorter range.

My low-tier units can't defeat high-tier enemy units

• Use Heir's Ladder. Form a queue of militia units. The unit at the front of the queue charges the enemy unit first, then the next one, and so on. After a short time, pull the first unit out of melee. The first unit will rest and then charge back into the fight - repeat with the second unit, and so on. A charge bonus only lasts for a short time, so this tactic means that your units keep the benefit of the charge bonus. (This is called Heir's Ladder, because the tactic was demonstrated by Heir of Carthage in one of his YouTube videos showing a Total War: Pharaoh campaign). You can re-name individual units, so you might want to re-name your militia units (to something like Militia Spears 1, Militia Spears 2, etc) to make it easier to keep track of which unit to remove from melee first.
• Attack them from the flanks and rear
• Get them exhausted - make them run after skirmishers or keep them engaged in melee for a long time. Exhausted units have severe debuffs.
• Degrade their armour, for example with sustained fire from skirmishers or attacks by club infantry.

I ordered a unit to attack another and it just stopped

• This can happen when you given an attack order and the enemy unit runs into cover (for example into a forest), causing your unit to lose line of sight. Knowing that this is possible may help - when you give an attack order, especially when the enemy unit is close to cover, you could keep an eye on your unit and give them another order, if needed.
• Instead of ordering your unit to attack the enemy unit, you could try ordering your unit to move to a position behind the enemy unit (so it keeps moving, if the enemy units runs and hides).
• You could order another of your units to move into any nearby cover, to maintain line of sight (units with the Scout trait are especially suitable for this, as they can see further).

One of my units charged without orders

• There are a few units which do this, for example Seafaring Slingers - which are one of the Sea Peoples units which can appear in a warriors' refuge, if you build that type of outpost.
• There does not appear to be a way to prevent such units from doing this.
• The simplest solution may be to disband units which charge without orders - this may not be necessary, if the impetuous charge allows the enemy to wipe out the unit!