Achaemenids/Strategic Overview

The Persian faction of Alexander is in effect the Achaemenid state at its height just before the outbreak of the first so-called "Persian War" (492 – 490 BCE) and as such it is possibly second to no other faction in all of Alexander. The Achaemenids enjoy what is possibly the best bonuses for booming, alongside a highly variegated mercenary army. Strong production bonuses, a vast slew of Wonders (rivalled by that cultural power of Greece, Athenai) and the largest unit roster make the Achaemenid civ by far the most powerful (notwithstanding the name of this mod: Alexander).
 * Strengths: Powerful, flexible faction good economy. Very strong especially against archer-based factions.
 * Weaknesses: No good core heavy infantry, very dependent on Wealth for its armies, units often have low speed and armour.

While the Achaemenids do have their own core units which are specialised in fighting light infantry and cavalry, the real power of the Achaemenid army lies in their auxiliary corps. Persian infantry are known to be slow units, but the quality of their ranged units can't be questioned. Immortal-type units and Gund-i-Palta fight more as medium units than light infantry.(they excel at producing light and medium cavalry). Nevertheless, the Achaemenid army is still however very much like any Bronze Age war machine - mercenaries form the massive bulk of its forces. Almost every mercenary group in the game is recruited by the Achaemenids (with the exception of the Illyrian or Celtic groups of course) and it is very difficult to find effective counters to any Achaemenid force: once an Achaemenid player has taken the gauge of your forces, it is very difficult to stop it because of the vast number of different unit types that an Achaemenid player can throw at you.

There is one problem with the Achaemenid army - and it is also its strongest point. First, they are highly dependent on wealth. Secondly, since mercenaries have poor morale and this translates to low LOS, spies can easily subvert vast numbers of them. An Achaemenid army can easily by subverted, if you have a sufficient number of spies on hand. Strip the Achaemenid player of his or her mercenaries, and you have a small corps of weak melee infantry that can be easily taken apart using a mix of light and heavy infantry - for this work, Macedonian phalangitai might well be sufficient. The other method of defeating the Achaemenids, of course, lies in using light cavalry, and NOT engaging their main force at all. Simply keep raiding the Achaemenids to disrupt their civilian infrastructure — kill as many Peons, Slaves, Merchants and Trade Caravans as you can, and even if the Achaemenids do have the ability to auto-generate them, they will eventually run out of resources, allowing you to whittle them down little by little.

For this reason, an Achaemenid player, while fairly capable, functions best on maps with contiguous terrain which favours quick movement of land forces from one point of the map to the other. On maps such as the Mediterranean, or Malta the Achaemenids are expected to do well, other maps like Dodecanese Dominion or even Cimmeria might pose problems of their own.