recvkon you mised the most interesting part of being scythia being that the most basic barracks produce horse archers, every other horse archer wielding faction have to at the very least need a stables to make horsemen but the scythians can pump out cavalry in any settlement regardless of size

As scythia (in my h/h campaign) you MUST be warmongering and belligerent, Thrace can be stomped and extorted for money, once they gave me 10000 for a ceasefire and of course I went straight back to paving my roads with their skulls, the only good infantry is the chosen archer warband which is decent in melee but with upgrades and a 3 chevron head start they can make a strong garrison. As this faction your most powerful ability is to field entire cav armies so forego roads in your heartlands to catch up and swiftly crush any retaliatory stacks that dare go behind the front line, once you get noble horse archers this faction can wipe the floor with any army, I'd say your biggest threat is economy/plague from Macedonian/dacian spies so you literally can't afford to play defensive with an all out offensive faction. Also Armenia for some reason always pays 1-2k for 10-20 turns at the beginning for an alliance so that's your deadline to field 2-3 doomstacks. Once the Scythians have military momentum and a strong economy they cannot be stopped. Don't be afraid of taking on 10 to 1 odds, unless it's all phalanxes most units will be exhausted and whittled down by the time your rested HA's get into melee, gen snipe and rake in kills by the thousand.

The scythians at this time were fading in power and the new major power on the Pontic Steppes were the Sarmatians. Also I think the roster should have been varied with a unit representing the various tribes

You missed the fact the chosen archers have long range. That is big advantage.

Hellish on the siege too, units that can sally out quickly, empty their quivers/javelins then go bact to safety and end the battle can be brutal and effective at wearing the enemy down before their proper attack

Horse archers are too good early game, even against other horse archers (e.g. parthia). Conquered about quarter of the map so far and I don't believe I lost a unit yet... Long battles suck because you'll run out of ammunition, but other than that... the AI has absolutely no clue how to deal with them. Melee Cavalry could shred my archers, but they always end up in a circle pit running back and forth until they are gone :D

you skimmed over the chosen archers a bit and neglected to mention the longer range and that the defence would help with winning skirmish duels

How many views is this getting because of the remastered? Really good videos, much appreciated!

I find that scythia is not horrible in campaign, as onagers and chosen archer warband plus axemen are quite good. The shrine to I think kolaksay give +3 chevrons plus the extra chevron for the axemen in the hall of heroes and the bronze attack and defense from the weaponsmith means your soldiers, while against Urbans they will be slaughtered because of f&cking course they will they can beat even auxilia and stock chosen swordsmen

The Scythians were the Mongols in the alpha testing phase.

I like the Scythian Armoured Warlord theyre by far the most recent unique late game warlord

Scythia was arguably one of my easiest RTW campaigns

I just started my first campaign as Scythia and promptly restarted around turn 20-30. Germany, Dacia, and Macedon each took one of my cities and I had no money. Second campaign now and what I'm discovering is that the key is to beat enemies in the field rather than turtling up. An infantry heavy army can obliterate your army in siege because horse archers are garbage for holding ground. Once they break into the city and take the center, good look getting them off the point. If you can sally out during the battle, that's not bad. But I like to build watchtowers and hit the enemy army as soon as I see them approaching. I had a battle earlier where I was outnumbered about 1,700 to 700, and I ended the battle with 200 left. They had none. Horse archers are very strong, but they have to be microed to be most effective. Don't be afraid to flank and charge into the back of an enemy phalanx, because phalanxes will rout super quick if hit from the back.

The post Marian gen is not better. With out that shield that unit can’t fight prolonged fights anymore. Also I find the previous unit to be better all around due to also taking missile fire better

Maidens beat cataphracts they are armor pearcing

If you play the Scythian campaign , Chersonsesos(Crimaea) should be your first target. It is a foritified city with a port . You can have access to the Aegean and to the Mediterranean Sea through the Black Sea. This probably increase your income from sea trade.Also you can move easier your troops thourgh the sea to the south.

They're so far apart I never bother bringing the armies together and just play them as four tribes. Blitzing Thrace turn 1 is always fun since the army in Getae almost immediately marches south leaving one archer or something there.

Fascinating

I never bother crossing the Danube as barbarians tbh, especially the scythians and I always make it a goal to liberate campus getae asap before it becomes a minor city and is permanently stained by Greek style civilization

Headhunting maidens, these GUYS have better morale lmao

So, nobody using dogs? Also plague might be a slight problem.

God the starting denarii is horrible

Armenia also have 2 settlements like the Romans