Is this 1 of the more complex kingdoms to play?If so why?
It seems from a glance to be so.What would the strategy be to play this nation successfuly?
The mercenary troop situation. You need something like at least 45% of your troops to be mercs right off the bat. I did well, 'till I dropped because of work demands.
Argos by General Tzu
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Spotlight on: Argos
ARGOS: General Tzu Revisits the Superpower of the Sea
June 6th, 2006
Overview
Argos is intended as a rich sea power. With the ability to raise massive amounts of mercs, making your military land force, your reliance on your wealth is your reliance on existence.
The Military
The mercenaries you raise are pretty inept at fighting any of your neighbors. My last spotlight focused on raising cavalry, but I believe now that a full HI army (Which I hadn’t been trying then) is the supreme way to fight with Argos.
When dealing with mercs, disband every mercenary you are not using EVERY SINGLE TURN. You do not have to pay to disband them and will eliminate the encampment costs of having large numbers of troops in the same province. Mercs get paid every fall warseason, minimize the amount of mercs you have on that turn.
The Court
I won’t get in depth of the uses of each character, but I will say that your are not lacking anything. Your court tends to become very large.
The Geography
Argos lies next to many potential allies. Aquilonia should be a natural ally. Ophir and Koth have plenty other options. Koth has very little reason to become hostile initially, as your other neighbor, Shem, gives each other plenty of focus.
Argos has the potential to square off toe to toe with Zingara in the beginning. It should be easy for you to smash Zingara in this scenario. In Org games it gets different, especially with the team games. Argos tends to have multiple enemies, early.
The Strategy
An important part of this review. Use everything you can to avoid Zingara’s influence and raise mercs to fill your PA armies on his border and your imperial army. Raid him every turn and keep smashing him. It may be hard to break through initially, but he can never replace that troop base quickly enough. Raids would be better with 3-4 merc PA’s, as they will die quickly and relieve you the trouble of disbanding or paying encampment costs, or their wages.
The biggest issue you will have (hopefully) is on the seas. I have been double teamed by Stygia and Zingara, contrary to what I have read regarding Stygia’s navy, it is a good one, just smaller. I recommend going for your IG’s and stocking 20+ troops in each, until your second IN is secured. Once you achieve this, the sea is truly yours. This is the key to your success.
When you get your 2nd navy, give it a single ship and let it hit where Zingara is every turn. Zingara is normally on the move to avoid your larger Imperial Navy. Hit the province he came from and use your larger to take a new seazone. You’ll gain two zones every turn to his one. It’s when Stygia gets involved that this gets more difficult.
Mercenaries and other notes:
Some of the lessons I’ve learned with Mercs and PA’s and other areas:
You cannot assign more than 30 troops to a PA.
On the turn you run out of treasury, any mercs you assign to a battle will not show up.
Stygia’s navy can rip you a new asshole. He just got a 10-2 kill ratio with a general assigned to the defense.
Again, detaching costs you nothing, detach whatever you are not using every turn.
Peace kingdoms who may invade you early, so you don’t have to try when you can’t defend yourself.
Possible Tactics
Some tactics with Argos:
Avoid large quantities of troops in the same province. Should you wish to bolster a defense, the better way may be to put 30 in a PA, use your IA to invade the province if it is lost. This way, they lose close to 30 themselves, leaving an invasion easy to get. However, you must avoid a peace treaty. PIP is going to be the main tactic for an invading foe, if you have gold.
If it is a short set, put 30 troops in the outer provinces, put 30 in your IA on defensive status. You would need minimal troops assigned to the PA that your IA is in.
Put 10 in your PA’s, 30 in your IA. This is if you are invading a province, but may be invaded there before you can launch it.
You get decent levies, save your levies for when you are out of gold and fighting a weaker foe. Do not send them in if there is no hope of winning. You need a strong troop base to raise ships, which you need a LOT of.
The conclusion
Argos is the toughest kingdom I’ve ever played to get a handle on. Knowing all the tips I do now, I’d still have a rough go of it. I always seem to get pinned between both the Zingaran and Stygian navies. Doing well on the seas can be a curse, as it draws Stygia’s attention and almost naturally causes him to team with Zingara on the seas. Argos can still hold it’s own on the seas with the both of them, but it makes it hard, real hard.
Kill Zingara’s troop base early, keep them raising land troops, not naval. Keep economy in mind and in every decision that you do. Peace early, peace often, be sure you’re not screwed when you run out of gold. On short war seasons, raise a LOT of troops to maximize your troop base of warships. Focus early on your navy, especially in short seasons, let the treasury drop, as long as you are massing up huge numbers of warships.
If possible, cut a deal with Stygia in the seas to appease him and give you total domination on the seas. This can become a potent alliance later in the game as well, as you are only separated by Shem.
Tribute is something that should never be used with Argos. Let your enemies come, let them run into hordes of mercs, turn after turn. Though they may gain a province from you, it’ll cost them close to 30 each time.
If Zingara can be peaced (mainly because there are other threats, or just wish to bolster and focus on the seas) going defensive with your army may be the best bet. Put your IA on defensive status, in Pallos. Put roughly 25 troops in the PA’s and focus on raising warships. You’ll still have to disband, but you have flexibility to later invade or defend, and all the while raising war ships.
Argos takes a very delicate balance to successfully achieve momentum. Regular games will give you a far different scenario than ORG games, so use caution and study hard if you want to play Argos successfully in the tougher (ORG) formats.
My original spotlight, prior to the one just read:
Argos by General Tzu
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ARGOS
Overview
Argos is intended as a rich sea power. With the ability to raise massive amounts of mercs, making your military land force, your reliance on your wealth is your reliance on existence.
The Military
On turn 5 of my game (HW749), I have found that anything other than my calvary gets chewed by the opposing Zingaran force. Open field battles (Intended as a surprise invasion as he invaded me) caused him to lose about 2 troops to my 15. Open field is not an answer. My calvary does however, go 1-1 with his. Raise as many as possible by calculating what HI must be raised to get your max HC. Also, order your warships last to get the maximum amount each turn.
The Court
I won’t get in depth of the uses of each character, but I will say that your are not lacking anything. Everything you need, you have. My only complaint is getting court info on Zingara and how the hell his Black Death Wizard keeps avoiding death. You do have to be in the province of the invading army right???
The Geography
Argos stands in pretty condition, considering that everyone surrounding you should be busy the first set, so you can go toe to toe with Zingara. In my game, I made allies out of Aquilonia, Shem and Ophir easily. Koth was easily peaced.
The Strategy
The most important part of this review. As stated in the military section, raise as much HC as possible by raising ample amounts of HI (Raids are extremely effective against Zingara, you can place HI in your PA’s and as long as it doesn’t exceed 10 units or so in each, they’ll make their money) You won’t be able to fill a full IA of Calvary yet anyways, unless you use your M!-M4 mercs, which is not advisable due to cost and they can disband to other nations.
The biggest issue you will have (hopefully) is on the seas. I have been double teamed by Stygia and Zingara, contrary to what I have read regarding Stygia’s navy, it is a good one, just smaller. I recommend going for your IG’s and stocking 20+ troops in each, until your second IN is secured. Once you achieve this, the sea is truly yours. This is the key to your success.
On land, Aquilonia and Shem both positioned to help invade Zingara, both were peaced. His diplomats are somewhat underrated, however Shem could have (I believe) avoided the treaty had he built up his influence. His willingness to help is all that matters. Keep Zingara on the defensive! Keep throwing the land invasions and kill his troop base if nothing else.
I have thought several times of amphibious invasions. I have yet to pull intent for one due to having to handle two navies at once and not enough raids to kill his PA’s. I believe that this would be more resourceful after having 2 IN’s or striking a deal with Stygia to keep him out of the picture.
The conclusion
Success lies in maxing your calvary, or likely having a full HI IA, which I have yet to try. Gaining and securing your IG’s, (Again, 20 troops or more if possible, Zingara’s navy isn’t the joke it’s made out to be either!). My treasury had no problem lasting me so far to turn 5, which it is still at excellent. Try to ally with Shem and Aquilonia, who I feel are key nations for Argos. I feel that your attention will naturally be headed to Stygia, so communication with Kush and some of the other southern nations may help for a massive joint invasion by all. Can he really peace you all? With a final word, hate the Zingarans and kick some Bucs ass!
I'm getting ready to play Shem in an upcoming game, and in considering all my neighbors abilities, goals, strengths, weaknesses, etc. I had a few thoughts on Argos.
Well, the way it looks is that Argos is a mathematical hole of damnation!
Seriously, I can't figure out the best combination; but I did come kinda good in the initial figures:
(3) (D)isband (IA-1) gets rid of those pesky MI from your IA
(15) (T) (8 ) (R ) which is all the ships you can use
(7) (T) (7) (R ) should be the rest of the "normal" troops you can raise with a medium nation
then it gets kinda crazy!
I know people say don't bother disbanding any of the Provincial Mercs; but I would get rid of any of the Heavy Cavalry mercs out of your provincials...because you are going to want all those in your Imperial Army. The most you can have is 20% merc cavalry without raising the "M1-4" mercs. But with just this number, you can have a IA with all merc cavalry with a few of the Noble Cavalry thrown in.
After disbanding all the Mercenary Cavalry from each provincial, you could then order:
(25) (T) (2) (R ) giving you heavy foot for percentages
(15) (T) (4) (R ) giving you Shemish Mercenaries for percentages and to use in raiding; if the stories I have heard are true and LIA are really good at raiding...if not, replace this number with the Mercenary Medium Foot Troop type 3 instead.
(10) (T) (5) (R )
(10) (T) (6) (R )
This gives you the following numbers of Troops IF all the raises are done right by my math:
Type---#------%----------Min/Max
1-------1------------------0/1 Unit
2-------37-----30----------0/40%
3-------5------4-----------0/40%
4-------23-----18----------5/20%
5-------12-----10----------5/10%
6-------10-----8-----------0/10%
7-------8------6-----------0/10%
8-------30-----24---------20/50%
total 126 units
The hurtful thing on this is that these guys all cost lots of money...lots!
But to give you both a Full Imperial Navy AND a Full all Cavalry Imperial Army, this is the trick right here; no other way around it.
The other option is to cut back on the total number of troops and simply stock your Imperial Navy Full; giving it a higher percentage of your total units.
In this scenario, you have much more Heavy Foot in your Imperial Army, which isn't actually all bad or anything. It would save you money that is for sure!
You still drop all of the Medium Infantry you can find in this scenario...all 13 of them from both the Imperial Army and the provinces. You also disband the Shemish Mercenaries from your Imperial Army (-2 total).
You don't raise any Nobles at all; giving you a total of one noble unit.
You disband all the cavalry in the provinces that are mercenary, giving you a total of 2 Hyborian Cavalry and 0 Mercenary Cavalry.
Then you raise only 5 units of the Heavy Mercenary Foot and 4 units of Hyborian Cavalry.
That goes like this (this option is best I think):
Type---#------%----------Min/Max
1-------1------------------0/1 Unit
2-------17-----28----------0/40%
3-------0-------0----------0/40%
4-------6------10----------5/20%
5-------6------10----------5/10%
6-------0-------0----------0/10%
7-------1-------2----------0/10%
8-------30-----50---------20/50%
total units: 61
This is a net increase of only FIVE units. BUT, it gives you 30 ships in your Imperial Navy for maximum hitting power, and 14 total units then in your Imperial Army for the first turn (which is a peace years turn).
Since you don't plan to use your Imperial Army right away to attack anyone, you are actually saving yourself a SHITLOAD of money this way.
The next turn, you send out your Imperial Navy to take something; but you don't raise any ships at all. Instead, you order
(5) (T) (7) (R ) for more heavy cavalry (nobles) for your Imperial Army; and (5) (T) (2) (R ) for more heavy infantry. This turns your percentages into:
Type---#------%----------Min/Max
1-------1------------------0/1 Unit
2-------22-----31----------0/40%
3-------0-------0----------0/40%
4-------6-------9----------5/20%
5-------6-------9----------5/10%
6-------0-------0----------0/10%
7-------6-------9----------0/10%
8-------30-----42---------20/50%
total units: 71
That puts your Imperial Navy still at 30 Units and able to fight well, and your Imperial Army at 24 Units; which is strong enough and also costs much less than an Imperial Army with 30 Units! After that you can raise what ships you need to replace those lost; or keep them at a lower number if you are still able to defeat the enemy and take provinces; but I would keep the navy maxed so you can keep your provincial raiding mercenaries at a decent number too so that you can bring in raiding revenue.
That gets you a good Treasury start right there; without raising an assload of troops you don't need. If you get raided and lose units (or raid and lose units) you just raise those lost that turn back the next turn and keep your troops at about the same level; but you can fluctuate the numbers a bit if you find some units raid better than others.
When your Imperial Army is ready to invade and take something, you will simply raise six more units to make it a full Imperial Army.
The only problem with this minimal unit approach is that you have to guess ahead of time which units you will need to raise based on your losses. There also might be a problem with losing sea zones since you won't be putting any ships in those provinces. You could instead raise ships ("99" per turn) and put them there by simply raising a few more mercenaries to put in your provincial armies for counter-raiding or something. That way you have a gradual increase in ships and units used on your borders; which gives you more raiding punch and more ships for provincial seazones.
But over all, I think you will save a LOT of money as Argos this way.
Once you get 8 provinces and that 2nd Imperial Navy, the calculations change quite a bit if you want to have plenty of ships in both Imperial Navies. That math isn't too bad though, and I'd be glad to figure it out when the time comes!
Once you get into FOUR Imperial Forces total, you really only have to double this calculation:
Type---#------%----------Min/Max
1-------1------------------0/1 Unit
2-------22-----31----------0/40%
3-------0-------0----------0/40%
4-------6-------9----------5/20%
5-------6-------9----------5/10%
6-------0-------0----------0/10%
7-------6-------9----------0/10%
8-------30-----42---------20/50%
total units: 71 ALL TIMES TWO
Then you would have two full Imperial Navies and TWO land armies immediately. Only Argos is capable of that really; but I'm sure it would really weigh down your treasury. Who knows though, by then, Argos might have such a nasty full treasury that people start wiping their ass in Argos with Gold Coins!
There might be some holes in my math; but I think it is pretty sound and would give you a strong army to fight with as well as decent sized Provincial Armies to constantly raid the hell out of your enemies with.
The key to this many troops is making sure that you have your neighbors peaced. It is easy to fluctuate your numbers this way too, because it leaves lots of room for raising troops at need.
As long as your diplomacy holds, you can do well and save money.