We all dislike the gray death and the yellow fever, right? We all know that sooner or later one of the two will break out (usually the ladder). In a recent Carthaginian campaign with fow lifted, I sent a diplomat to Syria to take care of the events there. My aim was to maintain the balance of power as long as possible.
The AS managed to take Tarsus but quickly seemed to be confused, moving single units and half stacks to and fro, without actually doing anything - while neglecting the garrisoning of its frontline cities Antioch and Damascus. As a result, I had to FD both of them repeatedly from the Ptollies back to AS.
It occured to me then that the reason for the dizzyness of the Seleukid AI was that last Ptolemaic foothold in Asia Minor, Side.
I think the AI doesn't know how to deal with this thorn in its side (no pun intended). So I FD this one to the AS as well, and lo and behold: for a decade or so, the Seleukids in Syria became suddenly focused. They took Sidon and now its trench war in Judaea.
My conclusion: these two ptolemaic settlements in Asia Minor, Tarsus and Side, confuse the seleukid AI to the point where it doesn't get anything done in the western theater, and consequently loosing to the Ptollies most of the time.
I have only this one game to base my conclusion on, but I'd like to know if anyone has had similar observations - that Tarsus and Side cause priority problems to the Seleukid AI?
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