PTOLEMIES // PLAYBOOK

PHASE 00 Doctrine // The Three Laws READ ONCE

LAW 01 — COMMIT OR ABANDON

When a far base is attacked: send your whole army, or write the base off. Never trickle reinforcements. Trickle = lose both army and base.

LAW 02 — STAND, DO NOT HIDE

Standing army outside the fort on aggressive stance. Garrisoning is the panic button, not the strategy.

LAW 03 — TRAIN TO RATIO

No more spam-training. Hit the 40/30/10/15/5 ratio, then build villagers, not soldiers.

REF.01 Unit Legend // Five Roles /

Worker

/ eco

Spearman

/ anti-cav

Archer

/ ranged DPS

Cavalry

/ scout + raid

Siege

/ anti-building

PHASE 01 Foundation // Boom + Scout 00:00 — 06:00

Objective

Build economy. Find the enemy. Don't fight.

Step-by-step

00:00 queue 5 women 00:00 scout outward in arc 00:30 4 food / 2 wood 02:00 barracks @ woodline 04:00 locate enemy CC 06:00 phase II at 25 vil

Scouting checklist

Target	Why	Priority
Enemy CC	Their army sits 20-30s away	HIGH
Their woodcutters	Best raid target. Far + soft	HIGH
Their mining	Far from base, often unprotected	MED
Their army comp	Don't push if you don't know	HIGH
Their walls/forts	If walled: boom. If not: pressure.	MED

// Pitfall

Don't fight with the scout cav. One dead horse = blind for 60 seconds.

PHASE 02 Tripwire // Forward Presence 06:00 — 12:00

Objective

Stop reacting. Start seeing. Build the wall before the gate is needed.

Outposts

×2

30s walk OUT from base, on approach paths. Tripwire, not bunker.

Merc Camp

×1

Ptolemies bonus. Forward, near outposts. Reinforcements appear where you fight.

Standing Army

15

6 pikes / 4 archers / 2 skirm / 3 cav. AGGRESSIVE stance. Outside the fort.

Critical setting

Every barracks rally point → forward outpost. Units never spawn idle. Never trickle to a fight in pieces.

First raid — 10:00

Send 3 cavalry to kill their woodcutters. Kill 4-6 workers, retreat the instant their army shows. Not a fight — a tax.

PHASE 03 Pressure // Active Defense 12:00 — 20:00

Army composition // 40 units

PIKES 40%

ARCH 30%

SKM 10%

CAV 15%

SG 5%

16 pikes12 archers4 skirm6 cav2 siege

The harass loop

EVERY 90s
→ 3 cav to their woodline

KILL 4-6
→ workers, retreat

NEVER FIGHT
→ their army

NEVER STOP
→ until you push

Four green lights to attack

You out-eco them +15 villagers. Convert eco lead into military.
Their army is on the wrong side of the map (raiding someone else).
You have siege + they have no walls. Walk in, break it, walk out.
They just lost a fight. Don't let them rebuild — push now.

The far-base attack — your nemesis

Decide in 5 seconds:

Army I can send now > their attacking army? → COMMIT EVERYTHING.
Army I can send now < theirs? → WRITE OFF. COUNTER-ATTACK THEIR BASE.
Never: "I'll send some to slow them down."

PHASE 04 Strike // The Decisive Push 20:00 — END

Pre-push checklist

□ FULL ARMY
40+ units at ratio

□ SIEGE READY
1-2 bolt shooters or rams

□ ECO LEAD
+15 villagers over them

□ WALLS HOLD
Home base safe if they counter

□ TARGET CHOSEN
Their second base, not main

□ RETREAT PLAN
In and out, don't overstay

Order of operations

March whole army to ONE target — usually their secondary base.
Kill the buildings, then retreat. Don't get into an attrition fight.
Wait 5 minutes. Their main is now starved of that base's income.
Push the main. Siege breaks walls, pikes hold their counter, archers kill workers.

// Pitfall

Do not push the main first. Their main has the most defenders. Take limbs before you take the heart.

PTOL.01 Mercenaries // Pizza Delivery CIV SIGNATURE

The reframe

Mercenaries are NOT elite veterans you must protect. They are military teleportation, paid for in metal. They trade food/wood cost → metal cost, in return for fast spawning and forward placement.

MANTRA

Mercenaries are pizza delivery, not knights. Use them. Lose them. Reorder them.

Five times to use them

Forward Reinforcements — camp near the fight. Units spawn 10s from front, not 60s.
Emergency Defense — attack incoming, drop camp at the choke, pump instantly.
Metal-Rich Eco — late game, metal overflowing, food tight. Mercs spend the right resource.
Filling Comp Gaps — need slingers fast, home barracks full? Merc camp covers it.
Out-of-Position — army fighting far from home. Drop a camp halfway across the map.

When NOT to use

Phase I (no metal yet)
Food overflowing, metal tight
As your main bulk army — citizens are cheaper

The signature move: Forward Merc Camp

10:00 villager forward 10:30 merc camp halfway 11:00 camp active 11:30 reinforce in 10s

Under cover of your standing army, build a Merc Camp halfway to the enemy. Your forward outpost is now a unit factory. Reinforcements for any attack spawn in 10 seconds. Devastating on Medium AI — the AI doesn't handle forward production well.

PTOL.02 When to Unlock the Big Stuff TIER TIMINGS

Tier	Unlocks	Target time
Phase II	Pikes, swordsmen, basic cav, towers, 2nd CC, blacksmith, merc camp	≈ 6-7 min (25 vil)
Phase III	Champions, war elephants, siege, embassy mercs, Wonder	≈ 15-18 min (50-60 vil)
First Champion	Sacred Band Inf or Cav. 5-10 max — hammer, not bulk.	≈ 16-18 min
First Elephant	Tank + building crusher. Pair with pikes + ranged.	≈ 18-20 min
First Siege	Bolt shooter. Wall-cracker for the decisive push.	≈ 16-18 min

TRAP

Don't rush Phase III. Phase III at min 12 with 30 villagers = you can build elephants but can't afford them. Phase III at min 18 with 60 villagers = you actually use it.

Upgrade priority (research in this order)

Phase-ups — non-negotiable
Resource gathering upgrades — pay back in <90s
Blacksmith weapon + armor — affects every combat unit
Barracks pike upgrades — you have 15+ pikes
Ptolemies-unique techs — farming, mercenary bonuses
Unit-specific upgrades — only if 8+ of that unit

→ Full economy curves, tripwires, and worker distribution in VOL.05 — Economy + Upgrades.

PTOL.03 Champions // The Hammer PHASE III · 5-10 MAX

The rule

Champions are force multipliers, not bulk. 5-10 in your army, never 30. Math: a champion costs 3-4× a citizen but is only ~2× as strong. 10 champions + 30 citizens beats 50 citizens — because the champions create the line-break the citizens exploit.

The Ptolemies roster

Champion	Role	When to build
Champion Pikeman (Machimoi)	Flagship. Line-breaker, anti-cav, anti-elephant. Front rank.	First. Always.
Champion Infantry / Sword	Heavy melee. Breaks enemy pike walls.	If facing pike-heavy enemy.
Champion Cavalry	Elite cav for decisive flank. Not for raids.	For the decisive push only.
War Elephants	Tank + building crusher. Champion-tier role.	Phase III, with champion pikes as escort.

Army layering with champions

FRONT champion pikes 2ND regular pikes 3RD archers + slingers WINGS cav REAR elephants + siege

DON'T

Don't hoard them (10 champions unused < 10 champions used). Don't waste them on raids (200 metal = 1 tower or 3 upgrades). Use them as the hammer; let citizens take the bulk of losses.

The signature late-game stack

Champion Pikemen + War Elephants = the Ptolemies endgame composition. Elephants tank, champion pikes shred any cav that tries to flank, mass ranged behind does the killing. Very few clean counters before minute 20.

PTOL.04 Heroes // The Aura ONE OF EACH · KEEP ALIVE

What heroes really are

Unique named historical figures, trained at the Fortress in Phase III. Only one of each at a time. The real value isn't their combat — it's the aura, a passive buff to every friendly unit within ~30 tiles.

FUNDAMENTAL RULE

KEEP THEM ALIVE. A dead hero = no aura = ~15-20% army strength gone instantly. Cost + training time is massive. They are NOT champions. They cannot be lost casually.

The three Ptolemies heroes

Hero	Buffs	Pick when
👑 Ptolemy I Soter	Infantry attack & armor	Standard pike+sword army
🐘 Ptolemy IV Philopator	Cavalry & elephants (he rides an elephant himself)	Elephant-heavy late game
💰 Cleopatra VII	Economic / training speed (varies by patch)	Long boom, eco focus

Where to put the hero

Center of your army formation. Not the front (he dies). Not the back (aura doesn't reach the front line). Middle, surrounded by ~10 escort units. Move the hero, the aura moves with him.

Build timing

18:00 phase III + first champions 19:00 build/locate fortress 20:00 train hero (~60-90s) 21:00 assign 5-10 escorts 21:30 position center of army

Common mistakes

❌ Sending hero alone to scout → dies to 3 spearmen
❌ Treating like a champion — heroes are not expendable
❌ Building all three at once — pick the one matching your army
❌ Building too early — Phase III, after you have an army
❌ Forgetting where he is in a chaotic fight

The endgame trio

Ptolemy IV (on elephant) + 2 War Elephants + 8 Champion Pikemen = the Ptolemies signature endgame stack. Elephants tank, champions hold, hero's aura buffs the whole stack ~15%, Ptolemy IV himself rides in. Roll this with citizen + ranged support and you win most engagements.

REF.02 Formations // Four Shapes /

// PHALANX

Pikes front, archers behind. Hold ground, defend chokes. Default formation.

// WEDGE

Cavalry only. Breaks through ranged lines. For raids and flanking pikes.

// BOX

Pikes face out, ranged inside. Surrounded? Outnumbered? Box up and survive.

// SKIRMISH

Spread wide, throw, retreat, repeat. Counter slow melee blobs. Never melee.

REF.03 Bad Habits // Fix Table /

You do this	Do this instead
Spam-train units randomly	Train to 40/30/10/15/5 ratio. Pause when met. Build villagers.
Garrison only when raided	Standing army OUTSIDE fort, aggressive stance. Garrison = emergency only.
Drip reinforcements to a losing fight	Commit fully OR write off & counter. Never in between.
Expand faster than you can defend	Each new base = its own fort + outpost or it doesn't exist.
Defend, defend, defend	3-cav harass loop every 90s. Tax their economy constantly.
Stop scouting after the start	One cav on permanent enemy patrol. Replace instantly if it dies.

ENDPLATE Every Game // In Order MEMORIZE

01
SCOUT
Enemy by 4:00

02
BOOM
25 vil before phase

03
TRIPWIRE
2 outposts forward

04
STAND
15-unit ball, aggressive

05
HARASS
3 cav, every 90s

06
COMPOSE
40/30/10/15/5

07
COMMIT
All-in or write off

08
STRIKE
Limbs first, then heart