Total War: Pharaoh Bay

Total War: Pharaoh Bay
Name:	Bay
From Game:	Total War: Pharaoh
Culture:	Canaanite
Playable:	Yes

Bay is one of the Canaanite playable factions and faction leaders in Total War Pharaoh.

Bay

Overview

Bay is a Canaanite warlord, although he is seen by others more as a schemer than a warrior. The units of Bay's faction roster tend to be lightly armoured and to be skilled ambushers (they can remain hidden until the enemy gets near), so these units seem intended more for hit and run attacks, rather than holding a line. The native units in Bay's home province include Canaanite sellswords - these fairly capable melee infantry allow Bay's armies to hold the line for a while, or to provide a visible and tempting target, to draw the enemy close on the battlefield before making a surprise attack.

For three centuries before the start of the campaign, Canaan was a colonial territory of Egypt.

"Armies of chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers under the pharaoh Thutmose III thundered through Gaza and defeated a coalition of Canaanite chiefdoms at Megiddo, in what is now northern Israel, in 1458 B.C" - Roger Atwood, Egypt's Final Redoubt in Canaan (Archaeology Magazine)

Canaan has mineral wealth and trade routes, and control of Canaan allowed Egypt to hold back the expansion of the Hittite empire. Some Canaanites adopted Egyptian customs, and Bay - with his suitability for Egypt's royal court - seems to be one of them.

Starting Position

Bay begins with two minor settlements on the coast of Canaan, and at the start of the campaign he is at war with Hazar, the faction controlling one of the remaining settlements of your starting province, Tzor. Your first task is likely to be to defeat the army of Hazar and to take their settlement. However as you are on the coast, sea-born raiders, including the playable Sea People factions are likely to start arriving in the early campaign - in one Bay campaign, an army of raiders from the Teresh faction landed in Bay's home territory in turn 2!

The capital of Tzor province is to the north of your home regions. Your home province mainly provides food, and if you take the Megiddo province to the south, this will provide additional food and gold.

Strategies for Bay

Bay's challenges at the start of the campaign include the danger of fighting on two fronts - as you are at war with Hazar to your east, while being exposed to raiders from the sea - and the lack of a major settlement, as well as the fact that the units of your faction roster tend to have light armour, so they aren't very sturdy.

You may be able to deter the sea-born raiders by increasing the garrisons of your home regions, for example by putting a few units in a fort, and by constructing buildings which provide a larger garrison. Even when the raiding armies enter your territory, they are not necessarily at war with Bay - they might simply raid for a turn or two, before heading to another province (such as Megiddo, to the south) to find easier targets. This can create opportunities for Bay - if you can defeat your initial enemy, Hazar, while the raiders are heading south, the raiders might leave ruined settlements in Megiddo, which you can occupy relatively easily while the raiders continue southwards. Of course, this depends on getting a bit of luck, and it may be less likely to work on higher difficulty levels.

Alternatively, instead of building up your garrisons and ignoring the raiders, you could attack them. This can provide useful resources and experience - however, it may be wise to check the quality (as well as the quantity) their units before attacking. In particular, if the playable Sea Peoples (the Sherden and Peleset) land in your territory, their armies may include several elite units.

While your faction's roster tend to be lightly armoured, there are several ways to overcome this. You can avoid the problem of not being able to hold a line well, by using hit and run tactics, avoiding forming a line for your enemies to break. Alternatively you can recruit native units, such as Canaanite Sellswords, who are well-armoured and who can hold the line - at least for a while. If you occupy a province which includes a region supplying bronze, you can build a bronze production building in the province capital, providing better armout for units recruited there. Also, if you devote a general to Thoth (the deity who is worshipped by Bay at the start of the campaign), all units in this general's army will have a bonus to armour when you have tier 2 Favour with Thoth, and the bonus increases when you reach tier 3.