Arche Seleukeia

[Unintended BM]

Best game I've had in a long time. Each turn takes so long. It's only like 260, and I've been playing this campaign for at least a week and a half. That's awesome and incredibly slow for me.

Anyways, first I took my garrison out of Asaak and put it into Hekatompylos. I also took my garrisons from Marakanda and the two other towns right there and put them into Hekatompylos. Baktria went and took most of those towns, but Parthia went ahead and took Asaak like usual. Parthia stopped for a few years after that, until they decided to attack Zadrakata with a decent sized army. I took my garrison of almost purely archers and light cavalry in Hekatompylos and sent them toward Asaak, which only had a family member. The army besieging Zadrakata came and attacked my army, and it was just about the hardest battle I've ever had on EB, but I won it and regained Asaak. It was a Pyrrhic victory though, and my garrison wasn't sufficient to keep the town from rebelling, but it makes a good buffer, so it all turned out well.

Meanwhile, in Syria and Anatolia, Sarpedon, or whatever his name is, took Side, Tarsos, Sidon and Hierosolyma. This took a number of years, but I took all of those towns with little reinforcements with my starting army. Then, that same army wiped out two full stacks of Ptolemies trying to enter my territory. Now, that same army is just about to enter Egypt and take out some more Ptolemies. I just reinforced it with some Pezhetairoi and some good naked dudes, so I should be ready to take on just about anything those Ptolemies send against me.

Finally, I've had one of my generals going through Anatolia and taking some of the rich towns. I got Halikarnassos and Pergamon already. Pergamon really boosted my economy. It was already good, but taking that city boosted my income by about 7000 a turn. Anyways, recently I've noticed Pontos eying Mazaka, so I'm rebuilding my Anatolia army to start a war with them. The army will include Scythed Chariots because I've never used them and they look like fun.

Here, have some pictures!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That last one is some random Baktrian army that likes to go back and forth between those two cities there. It's never attacked me, and I'm still neutral with Baktria, so I don't really know what's going on. They've been there for a few years. I think my large garrisons scare them away before they attack.

[anubis88]

Seleucid campaigns can be awesome, especially if you wan't to make a greater challenge for yourself...

I followed the Real Life expansion of the Empire, so i went berserk around 200 BC... I never conquered Egypt, but i sent a huge army in Greece, and another 2 armies in the North, one against the Parthians and the other against Baktrians... It was epic... You should also try going into Europe and the Steppes when you can...

The biggest challenge of all, try attacking a Parthian full stack with a few FM's and lots and lots of horse archers... And try to survive

[Unintended BM]

I'm terrible at fighting horse archers, so even if I excel at killing everything west of the Caspian, I'll probably get killed whenever I decide to expand east. After I take most of Egypt, I'll probably get around to taking Kypros, Rhodos, and Krete. Then I'll have a launching pad to spring my invasion of Greece. I think Eprius has Byzantion, and I don't like them, so maybe I'll have a two way invasion.

Once I get my second level mines going and I get Egypt and the rest of Anatolia, I imagine I'll have plenty of money to fund a huge invasion of Greece. Maybe by then Parthia and Baktria will start bothering me.

Also, the battle outside of Asaak that I described in the first post was pretty much me fighting a full stack of Parthians. I had probably twelve units of various archers, two units of light skirmisher cavalry, and I think two FMs. Their army was mostly regular horse archers, I think two or three armored ones, and two FMs. I killed both FMs early on, and that's pretty much what saved me. Also, my skirmisher cavalry had axes, and I think that helped too. I lost probably 70% of my troops in that battle, but both of my FMs survived.

[I of the Storm]

You should definitely take Cyprus ASAP!!! A small force and a transport ship should be sufficient for that, since it is usually lightly defended, has a mine and it's a good trade port.

[Unintended BM]

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to that yet. Antiochus just died recently, and his amazing governorship of Seleukeia was apparently keeping my economy good, so now I only make about 8000 mnai a turn instead of 17000 mnai. It's not just that, but I'm also funding a larger garrison in the east now because that Baktrian army is still freaking me out, and I'm funding two wars, one with the Ptolemies and one with Pontos. 8000 a turn isn't really enough for me to fund a boat and a small army. I have a second level mine that will be done in eight turns though, so maybe then that will balance out my economy some.

I fought a huge battle at Ankyra against a Pontic army double my size, and the chariots killed like two guys, they ran amok and killed a bunch of my guys, but them, along with some naked guys, helped me rout their army. I lost my general in the chaos but I also killed all three of their family members present at that battle, plus, I got a man of the hour adoption after the battle, and the general wasn't too bad so I accepted. I just need to refresh my army some, and I'll be able to take the rest of Anatolia. I have an army of three Pantodapoi Phalangitai besieging Amaseia because the garrison is just their faction leader, and I checked around with a spy, and they don't have any other big armies around, not even in Sinope, so this shouldn't be too hard. Ankyra has the remnants of my giant battle with them in it, but I'm starving them out because my troops are pretty depleted.

On the Egyptian front, I noticed a Ptolemy full stack of crap troops headed toward Petra, which is still rebel, but I intercepted them with my great army. Now they have three units headed toward Hierosolyma, so I'll have to take care of them, and then maybe my Egyptian invasion can begin.

Best campaign ever.

[I of the Storm]

Sounds great. AS is always fun!

[artaxerxes]

It's funny, how different people play. My current AS campaign includes leaving Anatolia and Egypt to itself and blitzing Central Asia. I've moved the capitol to Susa and I'm wiping out Parthians, Baktrians and even making fair border cities out of Chach and Alexandria-Eschate. My plan is to let Hayasdan and Pontus grow in force so they can be a challenge later on. Also, I'm turning history upside down. Instead of ignoring the east as the real Seleucids did, I'll ignore the west and see where it leads me. Once Baktria and Parthia are gone and India has been invaded, you have an unstoppable machine in your hands :) (by the way, it's fun to fight Parthians with a full-stack of Phalangitai - since they cant shoot you, they have to charge you and sometimes they even succeeed in splitting you up and defeating you. other times, theyre wiped out)

[abou]

What makes you think the Seleukids ignored the east?

[Folgore]

The Bactria faction description on the website says so:

"The Seleukid Empire is beset on its western border by the Ptolemaioi and it's [sic] attention is there. The eastern provinces of the vast empire is [sic] neglected [...]"

https://www.europabarbarorum.com/factions_baktria.html

[abou]

Yeah, those old descriptions are crap and the plan is to rewrite them at some point.

[bobbin]

You think that a passing knowledge of Antiochos the Great alone, would put to sleep the notion that they ignored the East.

[Tanit]

Yes, the EB site has depictions for Baktria and Pahlava making it sound like they suceeded because the Seleukids were focused in the west. However, the history section for the Seleucids on the site demonstrates just how many campaigns they conducted into the east.

[lordofthesilverbow]

While there were many campaigns in the east and the famous trek of Antiochos the great it was largely ignored by a great many seleukid kings. there were many of them that never set foot in any of the eastern satrapies. The arches focus on the west with Mikra Asia and the syrian wars took so much of their efforts and attentions that by the time they realized the needed major campaigns in the east it was too late. Antiochos reign was a last ditch effort and proved that for the empire to survie in tact it needed a great king like him to hold it together. so while not entirely accurate that the seleukids ignored the east, because obviously they didnt completely, it also isnt wholly wrong.

[abou]

Uhm... no. Practically every Seleukid king made some attempt to hold onto the east and a few lost lives trying to do so. Off the top of my head...

- Antiochos I ruled much of the east directly and after the death of his father, it remained loyal.
- Seleukos II made an attempt to reconquer the east, but was thrown back. This was likely due to a deficit in manpower during the crisis taking place at the time.
- Antiochos III had his great campaign and was successful. After his loss at Magnesia, the eastern satrapies broke away and Antiochos lost his life raiding a temple in order to gain the funds necessary for a new campaign.
- Antiochos IV campaigned in the east and was initially successful until his fall from his chariot causing mortal injuries.
- There were Demetrios II who made a few attempts to reconquer the east as well, but mostly became the whipping boy of the Parthians.
- Finally, Antiochos VII made a final push to reclaim the east. He was successful until the ambush against him in Media.

So, between Antiochos I and VII, that makes 6/14 rulers who actively campaigned in the east. Now, consider the following:

- the break away of the east only occurred in some overt fashion after the death of Antiochos II
- Seleukos III ruled a total of two years before assassination
- Seleukos IV ruled in a period after Magnesia and was busy paying off indemnities to Rome
- Antiochos V was a child-king
- Demetrios I was busy with the Jewish revolt
- Alexander Balas was a puppet-king
- Antiochos VI never actually ruled
- Diodotos Tryphon was a usurper

So yeah... Seleukids... didn't give a damn about the east at all.

[DeathFinger]

We would really want to have a Justin, or something equivalent, born somewhere in Central Asia, and with his writing readable today. That would made the difference. "European" writers of Antiquity didn't really (care?) known about what really was done in the Eastern part of Seleucid Empire, and the battles for Coele-Syria were much more known to them than those for Iran mounts eh.

BTW, Antiochos III made a siege of Baktra of 2 years. 2 years for an area of wich the Seleukids didn't care about seems pretty odd to me...

[Epimetheus]

We even know that such sources did exist. Apollodoros of Artemita supposedly was one. He used the archives at Seleukeia on the Tigris to write the Parthika, the History of the Parthian empire, which was regarded, at least by Strabo, as a very reliable source of information. Much of what we do now about the rise of Baktria and Parthia, and the collapse of the Seleukid east, is likely based on his work, but sadly none of his original histories have ever been found.

In my opinion, it's not so much that the Seleukids didn't care about the East, it's that they cared to much about all of their frontiers, and were unable to really secure any of them. Their obsession with trying to unite and hold together all of Alexandros' empire made it impossible to ever truly make peace with any of their neighbors, and so ever really consolidate their position. If the Ptolemies had tried to conquer and hold Ethiopia and Carthage, while at the same time fighting the Seleukids in Syria, then they would probably faced similar problems.

[seleucid empire]

arche is the best faction for world domination too cause they have homeland provinces from macedon to bactria. its around 115 BC and i have every province except britain and ccarthiginian africa

for some reason i have trouble invading north africa no matter what faction i am. anyone got advice fro a quick campaign in carthage as seleucids?