Lacedaemon/Strategic Overview

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 * colspan="4" style="text-align: left;"| Strengths
 * Early infantry edge. Best hoplite-type unit in the game.

Weaknesses


 * Mediocre land army weakened by lack of good light infantry and cavalry.
 * Retarded cultural growth and lack of good Wonders restricts your ability to achieve non-military victories.

In ancient times, the kingdom of Lacedaemon in ancient Greece was a major military power and for centuries could make itself felt in regional affairs. At the head of Lacedaemon stood the city-state of Sparta, followed by several other cities which were dominated by Sparta herself, and bound together by a harsh and rigid constitution which was meant to ensure that Sparta would always dominate, both at home in peacetime and abroad in the field. While an assortment of different troop types could be drawn from all parts of the Lacedaemonian kingdom, it was Sparta which supplied the strongest and most powerful units.

In Alexander, the Lacadaemonians are designed to reflect all of this history and the militaristic posturing of the Spartans. All Lacedaemonian military might rests on the shoulders of one single unit — and this is the Spartiatai Homoioi, or "Spartan Peers". Unlike Kings or Conquerors where the unit must first be trained from a special unit building after some teching up, here in Alexander Homoioi hoplites can simply be trained from a Barracks on the get go. And these units are tough — if the Greek spearmen in their Archaic palaioi form are trouble for non-Greek factions, then this Spartan unique unit spells trouble even for other Greeks dependent on hoplite formations. in keeping with the rush traditions of Alexander, little is needed in the way to raise these units early on, other than Food and Timber for your first Barracks, and then a steady supply of Metal, Influence and Food to raise your Homoioi detachments. Forward building is the way to go — build your Barracks and other military buildings as close as possible to trouble zones, and then keep the spigot turned on long enough to drown your enemies in a sea of Spartan hoplites ... and their own blood.

However, therein lies the problem with the Lacedaemonian faction: it is all to dependent on one single unit seizing the day. While there can be no question of Sparta gaining the upper hand early in the game, it is not so in the mid-game or the late-game especially if other factions can boom fast enough. In the long run, the Lacedaemonians will be outperformed by other Greek factions, even as an intelligently led Persian or Boii army, with their variety of units, can easily crush the Spartans. Any faction with good cavalry or missile units such as these two non-Greek civs can easily best the Spartans.

As much as the Spartans do have a small naval and artillery component, they are still no match even for more developed factions, such as Athenai or Magadha who have a plethora of different units, and are thus more flexible than the Spartan military system which is heavily dependent on heavy infantry. Spartan cavalry itself is near to useless, except for one good unit — Tarentinoi Hippeis. However, this is a mercenary unit, meaning that vast outlays of Wealth (something that does not come easily to a Spartan player owing to the lack of higher level Taxation techs) will be required, meaning that Sparta simply cannot field cavalry sufficient neither in size nor quality. In which case, then, Lacedaemon must fall back upon her cultural bonuses which all led themselves to early rushing — Border shoving, not Pushing, more extensive and deadlier Attrition fields, along with the ability to destroy more Baggage Wagons using light cavalry are all other cards a Spartan player can bring to the field to even the odds against other factions. Even so, Lacedaemon unlike the Russians of vanilla Rise of Nations  are woefully unequipped to fight long wars despite their legendary Border Push abilities, and are easily out-teched, so even a vast Spartan army will be suffering for want of proper unit counters. One faction a Lacedaemonian player should always be wary of is the Skythoi, for they have excellent heavy infantry counters and can bypass Sparta's attrition fields with little damage to themselves, technology willing.

As a result, Sparta is best used on small- to medium-sized maps which host medium or higher concentrations of blue water — the smaller the map size the better to help close the walking distance required by her most famed units, the Homoioi. Early rushing and border shoving matches with an eye to acquiring enemy settlements thus is a must, in order to deprive opponents of the means to out-boom or out-tech the Lacedaemonian nation, as well as end the game through the Spartans' preferred choce of strategy — force of arms.

Faction summary

 * Highly militaristic heavy infantry rusher adept at commanding land superiority.
 * What's the Rush? — Rushing your enemy early on is the way forward with Sparta; use your more powerful Homoioi  to take on your enemies' infantry and then conquer their Settlements.
 * Passing the Test of Time — Lacedaemon does not hold well against enemies who have successfully teched up: keep them from doing this at all costs.
 * A Fistful of Pelanors — Ensure you have enough resources at all times to train units, especially Wealth, to buy mercenaries.
 * Throwing Shade — A good faction with ranged or cavalry advantages such as the Saka, Boii or the Achaemenids are the best counter for Lacedaemon.

Best Ages
Archaic, especially if the map is medium-sized or smaller.
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