Why do the Parthians (almost) always suffer massive element losses?

[pantsukki]

I've been observing this in a couple of PBEM games now, and just had a very good example: my Parthians were defending behind a river in Babylon, combat value 2099. The Romans had 2838. End result: Parthian losses 23k, Roman 17k. But the Romans lost 0(!) elements, while my Parthians lost 36!

[Hobbes]

Interesting - doesn't seem right does it. Thanks for posting - I've just started to properly test a scenario I'm making with the Sassanids which are based on the Parthian models so I will look out for this.

Thanks,
Chris

[bob.]

How I explain it to myself: Cavalry elements are extremely vulnerable. I think that a single combat round can destroy them, so they can't get away from the front before they are destroyed while the Roman units can just get out of the front when they are damaged.

I see very rarely Parthian infantry elements get destroyed, only cavalry.

[Hobbes]

Would you not think cavalry should be less likely to face total defeat? Being faster I would expect them to be more likely to survive a battle?

[Pocus]

The bigger the unit, the more often (read: almost all the time if a really big unit) the hits taken will be spread between all sub-units. And as you know, Romans have big units (legions). You almost have to destroy entirely a Roman army to start killing legions, otherwise they are mostly made of skeletons cohorts.

[Narwhal]

Two reasons :

IIRC, many Parthian elements [horse archers] are 6 SP strong, so easier to kill than a 10 elements strong.

The cavalry elements are also f**** by the "charge / counter-charge" mechanics. A unit that charges and is met with a counter-charge receive 2x damage. Full-strength legion almost always counter-charge [high discipline], and since legions hits at 5 SP damage...

[pantsukki]

Cheers for the answers! Could this then be compensated by lowering the price of Parthian replacement chits? Also, in many scenarios (probably all, I haven't made notes) the Parthians are unable to rebuild lost units, ie. they never appear in the force pool. This seems especially true of the clan forces that are activated by spending EP.

[Bohémond]

Except Heavy Cavalry elements none of the Parthian Clavalry elements do charge.


Regards

[ArmChairGeneral]

So a likely culprit is the smaller unit size of the Parthian forces compared to the Roman Legions?

Any ideas on how to overcome or minimize this disadvantage in-game as the Parthian player (i.e. other than a mod or rule change)?

A question for the OP:
Were the Parthians all in one stack?

[pantsukki]

They were, yes. Sadly not many of them left.

[Bohémond]

Please take a look at your battle report. If a Parthian leader wa in command of the stack, no "assault phase'' should have happened in first round. So no cavalry elements should have been destroyed

Regards

[pantsukki]

Please take a look at your battle report. If a Parthian leader wa in command of the stack, no "assault phase'' should have happened in first round. So no cavalry elements should have been destroyed

Regards

IIRC the overall leader was an Adiabenian (sp). I can provide files if needed.

[Bohémond]

ADI leader have not the above described attribute about no assault.
Without it, it's very hard for Parthian Cav to have a decisive impact on battles

Regards

[bob.]

Bohemond, could you explain why exactly Parthian commanders prevent assaults in the first round and other commanders not? They dont seem to have a specific ability for it.

[Bohémond]

This ability is a hidden one, i.e. an attribute

[bob.]

Why is it a hidden attribute? Honest question, I mean is it supposed to be something unknown to the player? Why not an ability so you know this is the case?

[Bohémond]

I think you are right.

I will discuss it with the team and maybe a ability icon could be added in next version

Regards