Basic Egyptian units are quick to build, but generally very fragile. Their special cavalry is excellent. Prefect writes: "Can't beat their cavalry/chariots. Soldiers are way underpowered though. Guards have nice defense, and Nubian Archers rule. Everything is built quickly, and rushes well." They are favoured for those seeking to win a game rapidly, using a Slave rush tactic called Slut Rape (see below). Entity writes: "Egyptians can pump out units fast, not to mention having archers that can actually replace the basic ones totally. However, if you can't organize mass units well in battle, prepare to get your butt kicked." Egyptians perform poorly man for man, however with good tactics they can still be effective and inflict disproportionately heavy loses on the enemy.

From Centurion: "Their units are so fragile, even Guards set to stationary can be obliterated with ease, however War Chariots are great at decimating standard infantry types, Nubian Archers are excellent at harassing the enemy [using poison]. And Parthian Cavalry is good for leading troops away and wearing them down gradually, however if fighting the Romans you have to be careful of Equities, which are really fast and can run Parthian Cavalry down. Also the Egyptians have balanced officials for their armies. Their infantry can 'pray' to regain stamina and are cheap to produce so you can get more troops out of a village than any other group in the game, so you can have superiority in numbers."

From superdroideka: "Build lots and lots of troops because you'll lose many of them. The backbone of your army will be Soldiers, supported with many archers. Double click on the location where you want your soldiers to go to: they don't have a special attack so don't save their stamina. If you have honour points, create Camel Riders and War Chariots first, build expensive missile warriors when you have enough powerful melee cavalry to support you shock infantry. A few Ballistas are always welcome: they kill any unit in their path so use them on approaching powerful soldiers like Praetorians, Berserkers or German Cavalry." ShadowFiend describes a non-rush tactic for Egyptians: "Basically amassing Soldiers and basic archers. Barbarians fall like flies from arrows so they are easy prey. Furthermore with numbers I can easily match the better quality troops and overcome them."

From DTRY: "Nubian Archers can fire poison arrows - a real pain to the enemy." Me$$iaH writes: "Nubian Archers aren't that strong. Their only strong point is the poison, but that doesn't do extraordinary damage. I believe Hunters are stronger." With a Physician nearby, Nubian Archers are not effective. However, in most games there is a limit of two on the number of healers allowed. Without healers nearby, poison is very effective, especially if the Nubian Archers can fire one volley of poison darts, then flee, leaving their prey to slowly die.

Superdroideka writes: "[War] Chariots have more hit points than German Cavalry but one squad contains only 8 chariots. Use them to assist your melee infantry during the battle. Try to attack archers first and when the enemy archers are dead, attack the rear of the enemy infantry."

From Mark OHearn: "A neat trick with the Egyptians is the mirage ability of their leader." The mirage creates what appears to be an extra unit. It can be moved and will draw fire until engaged in melee combat.

From Athos: "The whole 'slut rape' tactic makes me think of anyone who plays as an Egyptian a rusher." This tactic involves a 'rush' of slave units early in the game. "Nubian Archers and their poison, do rock, and the Parthian Cavalry is amazing, but mostly you see them being used for their super rush capabilities."

Athos continues: "Here's a picture of the infamous slut rape strategy that many newbie Egyptian players employ to win the game in under 3 minutes: Essentially once your Egyptian enemy has greater than two cities taken, and are whipping out Slaves like no tomorrow the game is already over. The worst part is, you can't counter-rush because you know more Slaves are on the way. ... It doesn't take 3000 Slaves to take out a legion, more like 500 who swiftly sweep onto their opponents who only have 2 maybe 3 legions, some spearmen and some archers. Slaves = 12 seconds. Legionaries = 75 seconds. That means you can get out 6 Slave units by the time it takes your opponent to get out one legion troop."

ShadowFiend writes: "With Barbarian spearmen I can block any kind of rush. 1 Barbarian spearmen = 2 1/4 Slaves in strength. One tower with 1 archer can block slut rape quite easily. ... The basic of blocking rush is to always stick to fortified places and where you can exploit the terrain to your advantage... and have spearmen. 4-5 of them in the row. The first unit you should train is a healer."

Skirmishes against computer players undoubtedly benefit from simply capturing villages as fast as possible. This gives a greater troop production capacity, so in any war of attrition the player with the most villages wins. From Outcast_Rebel: "I tend to grab at least 3 settlements as soon as possible, and start pumping out units as fast as the settlements will allow. I go for my tower defences as I am pumping out units. You tend to get a jump on the enemy quicker this way." Shamaani writes: "[I send] my first Auxiliary Infantry to the first village with its Centurion. I demote my Pikemen and get 1 or 2 new Auxiliary Infantry and Centurion to get 1 or 2 villages in the first minute of play. Then, for each village, I build a tower and get archers first (for the tower). Only after that do I start developing my army."

Random writes: "I usually recruit, alternately, Legionaries and archers to begin with. You can build up an army fairly quickly. The important thing, I think, is to protect your towns with towers and keep attacking the enemy. Don't let them build too many troops without a challenge. Don't worry if you lose some troops too, because your towers will protect you from whatever forces the computer has left. Capturing one village with a high population is a good idea, like the centre town in the demo's map. Some of the best battles can be fought over that centre town. My games usually last around 20 minutes, so the troops I usually recruit are archers and Legionaries and maybe some Equites later. Praetorians and such take too long to recruit in a 20 minute game. Make sure you recruit some priests and have them 'protect' your infantry; that'll give you a big advantage when fighting. Also, don't underestimate the power of a levelled-up Centurion. Just keep attacking and don't let up. After a few battles you'll get on top."

This section is based heavily on the writings of Mark OHearn, and owes little or nothing to the experience of this author. Basic concepts like understanding the strengths and weaknesses of troops and formations are still important. However, most players find that the online multiplayer game is not like the campaign. Tactics applicable to the campaign, or even the AI player in a skirmish, do not always work well in multiplayer. From Mark OHearn: "For the most part forget about thinking - do. What I mean is that if at the start of the game you have to think what your plan of attack will be, you're certainly at a significant disadvantage, so much so that you may have already lost." Before playing online, practice. Mark OHearn again: "You are going to learn the computer's strategy, but more importantly, you are going to learn the map terrain." The learning process extends into multiplayer itself. OHearn suggests saving each game sequence (this options is available at the end of the game) and replaying them to learn from your opponent.

Me$$iaH writes: "I choose a race based on the race my opponent chooses. If my opponent is Roman, I choose Barbarians because Barbarians can take on Romans easily with a big army. If my opponent is Barbarian, I choose Egyptians - with a large number of soldiers, 2 priests and a few pharaohs [officials?], Egypt takes on Barbarians easily. When my opponent is playing Egyptians, I choose Romans - Egyptians often build large groups of archers, so turtle formation gives you an advantage, and Soldiers are no match for Legionaries."

Mark OHearn writes: "After studying countless openings from very skilful players, I have concluded that there is NO ultimate best start, so stop searching for it. My only advice is to keep your units together so they are harder to destroy. A general opening includes building immediately at the closest base and moving my soldiders (spearmen and archers) to the next village with the largest population. This may be closest to me or to my enemy. Scouting should be established right away, before your opponent spreads out and kills your scouts as they try to get into place. ... I was very successful in most of my earlier games at destroying the villages closer to my enemy and winning with superior population. Later, people became better players and realized this and either protected them better (spread out quicker), or attacked/took over 'my' bases."

Athos writes: "Don't avoid contact with your opponents. The more you fight them (and hopefully the more casualties you inflict) and the more you move on, the harder it gets for them. Plus, more honor points, which means better units like Praetorians or German Cavalry." This can work against you if your attacks are effectively repelled by the enemy - losing you a lot of troops and giving the enemy Honour Points. This particularly applies to attacking villages - attack with everything you can to ensure success. RogueImpaler comments: "I try to build an army really quickly and then go all out leaving only one set behind for little defense."

From Mark OHearn: "Understand whether you should takeover a certain village or destroy it. Usually, unless your plan says otherwise, first destroy the garrison. Then you can later decide whether to: (a) burn it; (b) control it; (c) leave it alone for later use. ... Early in the game if you do decide to burn a village close to your opponent's starting position, consider demoting your archers after you set the village on fire to slow down and possibly prevent your opponent's workers from killing your archers and saving the village."

Athos again: "One thing I've noticed is to keep pressing the attack. Expand and fast, keep building units, but don't sit still. Just keep moving, attacking. Don't settle on 3 villages and then decide to build up, because the enemy is building up more on the villages you decided not to capture. Basically the more you attack and the more you push your opponent back, the more difficult it is for them." Mark OHearn adds: "Never give up, if you are being cornered start building towers and setting up a strong defence. ... At the end of a game, if your enemy is cornered and has setup a strong defence, re-create (demote) your army into a siege assault force."

OHearn continues: "Always start training better troops when you have the honour points. Always ensure your villages have troops waiting to be trained. Try to limit access to your base of operation by the least number of paths, and build up your forces in these areas. And always have another plan of attack when your enemy defeats your initial assault plan, including falling back to regroup instead of losing too many troops in a hopeless cause."

RogueImpaler writes: "Most of the time the people you team up with don't really play as a team, while your enemies do. This is because either your allies want to build up defense first or they don't even care to help you out." From Mark OHearn: "When playing multiplayer games, you absolutely have to work together. Clans easily win games when playing non-clan players who rather protect themselves then help their allies. Same principal applies in multiplayer games - assemble a mass of troops together and attack one village at a time. The trick, of course, is to have your other allies work together on this strategy. Imagine your chances against the troops of three armies against your own, while either your allies are staying at their home base or are too far away to help in time. Destroy or take over large populated villages - again, as a team."

Written by timski