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4.5.1 General
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.
4.5.2 Slut Rape
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."