Creative Assembly’s mix of global strategy and real-time combat enters its fourteenth round with the fall of the ancient Egyptian empire. In our Total War: Pharaoh tips and tricks, we’ll show you how to lead a victorious campaign, build your empire, and become the sole ruler of Asia Minor.
Table of Contents
1) Here’s what you should consider when starting a campaign
The story of Total War: Pharaoh is set around 1,200 B.C. and deals with the end of the Bronze Age with the last great king of Ugarit. This is a historical period in world history that has never been seen before in a computer game. Your task is to build a new empire in ancient Egypt.
But before you dive into the campaign, there is one big question: is this your first Total War game, or are you already familiar with the series? For newcomers, getting started can be complicated due to the many mechanics and complex systems. We recommend that you start with the tutorial scenarios to learn the basics of the game.
Once you feel prepared, you’ll move on to the campaign settings. After choosing a ruler and a faction, you can set the difficulty level of the battles and the campaign itself. You can set your starting budget, how often resource sources appear, how quickly you unlock edicts in your research tree, and much more.
The customization options are extensive, and we recommend that you spend a few minutes with them before starting the campaign. Determine if deities like Ptah will be in your game, how big armies can be, and how often natural disasters like floods will occur.
2) Choose a faction and a leader
In terms of factions, you can choose between Ancient Egypt, the Hittites, and the Canaanites in Total War: Pharaoh. You’ll have different leaders for each civilization, who will directly affect the difficulty level. If you choose the Egyptians, you’ll have a fairly easy game experience with Seti the Brute and Ramesses the Paragon.
Tausret the Strategist and Amenmesse the Gilded have normal difficulty. If you play the Canaanites, you have a moderately difficult match with Irsu the Ravager and a challenging starting situation with Bay the Schemer. There is no such thing as an easy ruler with this faction.
The same goes for the Hittites. Kurunta the Usurper is in the middle of the difficulty range, and Suppiluliuma the Defender should only be chosen if you’re already familiar with the game.
3) Outpost tips
Outposts are built outside of settlements in Total War: Pharaoh. The maximum number of outposts you can have depends on the size of your province. Think carefully about which outposts to build in which provinces and where to place them. This is where strategy and tactics come into play. When your troops visit an outpost, they receive an active bonus. There are also passive effects on the province itself.
For example, building an outpost improves resource production, and if one of your armies visits it, its maintenance costs are reduced for a few turns. In addition, your armies get movement points back. This allows you to move your army faster and further across the map.
We recommend that you place a trade outpost between the settlements in each province in Total War: Pharaoh. This will give you economic benefits and reduce your military costs if you regularly send your troops through them. This gives you more financial freedom to build larger armies. Posts that only produce passive effects are best built in protected areas. These include monuments and shrines to a deity.
You can build way stations in desert areas. These are essential in arid environments because they give your soldiers immunity to attrition. This means you won’t lose all your troops to starvation, and you can use the desert strategically to attack your enemy from all directions.
For coastal areas we recommend fortresses. They can also be useful on the western border of the Egyptian Empire. Libu nomads and Barisone sailors often try to invade there. With militarized fortresses, you have a good chance to defend your lands effectively.
4) How to grow your provinces
Make sure that satisfaction and influence in your provinces are in a good balance. If satisfaction drops to a critical level in Total War: Pharaoh, there will be an armed civil uprising, which you should prevent at all costs. Conversely, low influence is bad for your economy. The higher it is, the more resources you’ll receive from the province.
There are several ways to increase your influence: Research royal decrees, station your armies in the provinces, and construct buildings with passive effects. Be sure to maximize the specific resource of each province. You should also build the individual landmarks of the major cities. They will give you both victory points and passive effects.
If you have a high level of influence and satisfaction in your provinces, the people will support you and your settlements will become useful pillars of your forces.
5) Total War: Pharaoh tips: Don’t expand too fast
Expanding too fast is one of the main reasons why games fail and empires collapse. Therefore, one of our most important Total War: Pharaoh tips is to expand wisely. Of course, it’s tempting to engage the many small states with only a few provinces in battles and add them to your territory.
But keep in mind that a conquered city leads to a lower satisfaction rating for the whole province. If you’re not careful, this can lead to rebellions. Before you rush back to the battlefield after a victory, wait until the province’s satisfaction level returns to normal.
6) These unit types exist
When it comes to units, there is a big difference from previous Total War games. Since we’re still in the Bronze Age in Total War: Pharaoh, cavalry and artillery are relatively rare, and it will take a while before you can send your first chariot into the field. Until then, your troops will consist mainly of infantry.
The key to victory is the relative strengths of the opposing weapon types. If you know which units are effective against your enemy, you’ll crush them. Swords are clearly the all-rounders. They have good offensive and defensive values and can defend themselves against any enemy unit type of the same level.
Soldiers with axes are strong in attack and can shatter your opponent’s shields in Total War: Pharaoh. They can be used to break through infantry lines. Clubs are also strong in attack and effective against armor. They also have high speed, which makes them good for flanking and fighting archers.
For defense and maintaining your position on the battlefield, you’ll use spear-wielding fighters, which you’ll equip with shields and decent armor. They are effective against chariots and can hold their own in close combat. For long-range combat, use archers. They have a shorter range than their counterparts in previous Total War games, but they are still a good standard unit that belongs in every troop.
Slingshots have a longer range in Total War: Pharaoh. They can be very useful against enemy archers. Note that their weapons do less damage than arrows. Last but not least, let’s take a look at chariots: With them, you’ll have high mobility on the battlefield and you’ll be able to cut down all units that don’t use spears. However, they are very expensive. So be careful with them.
7) Defend your empire
Divide your armies in Total War: Pharaoh so that you have a maximum of two powerful and extensive formations for attacks and conquests, and station your soldiers in small troops at threatened locations. Much of the campaign will revolve around defending your provinces against invading invaders and raiders. Each of these enemy groups has different preferences.
Some will attack your outposts, others your settlements, and still others your holy sites. Fortify your threatened areas with forts and place some standard troops inside. Together with the town garrisons, they should be able to repel most attacks by soldiers and siege towers.
Balance is important when creating your defensive units in Total War: Pharaoh. Support your melee troops with an adequate number of ranged troops. Since there is no real cavalry, you gain speed advantages and the ability to flank with chariots in combination with club carriers.
Weather and vegetation are also critical to combat. A new feature is that flames can spread realistically. Don’t let them surround you. Also, note that sandstorms limit the visibility of your ranged units. Then there are the conditions of the terrain. Consider the limitations of mud, wood, and water. They slow down your chariots, for example.
8) Stones are essential
Don’t underestimate the importance of stones in Total War: Pharaoh. It’s a vital resource for building your cities, and you should mine it as soon as possible. Take control of stone mines early in the game, and research them during royal decrees.
Stonemasons and skilled miners can greatly increase production. It’s also important that the provinces where you have a stone mine have a trading post. This will further increase its effectiveness.
9) Journey on the Nile
As in all titles in the series, sea travel is a central part of moving your armies quickly across the map in Total War: Pharaoh. By sending your people down the Nile, you can quickly move them from south to north or north to south. However, you must explicitly assign the sea route to your troops. If you send them to their destination without an order, they will stay on land during their journey.
Of course, the Nile is not only at your disposal. Enemy nations, such as the seafarers, can also use it to invade your realms. So always keep an eye on it and be prepared if an invasion is imminent.
10) How do you win the game?
To successfully complete your campaign in Total War: Pharaoh, you must earn Victory Points throughout the game. You can earn them by accomplishing a variety of goals. These include building monuments, conquering cultural centers, and much more. The goals you’ve discovered so far, as well as your current progress, are displayed when you click on the stone tablet at the top of the screen.
Your victory itself can have three different levels. There is the Small Victory, the Great Victory, and the Final Victory. Each of these requires a different number of victory points. Make sure that at the end of the game, you reach the peak of your civilization, with as many provinces as possible and with great political, military, and economic power.
Build a glorious empire with PLITCH!
With our Total War: Pharaoh tips and tricks, you’ll be able to successfully complete the campaign without the collapse of your empire. If you choose one of the rulers with difficult starting conditions or if you want to achieve the ultimate victory, the Total War: Pharaoh cheats from PLITCH will help you. For example, with our single-player trainer, you can add as many resources as you want, such as food or stones, or give your armies full HP.
Increase the growth of your cities and influence the satisfaction of your citizens. You can also increase the speed of your royal decrees and building projects with the codes.
Check out this video to see our Total War: Pharaoh cheats in-game and this blog to learn more about PLITCH!
Happy Gaming!
English 
Deutsch