The Greek Cities

[Hanno]

I just always assumed that Spartans were better than Armoured hoplites or else you would be getting Spartans before you got the Armoured hoplites.From what I can recall they are the best hoplites in the game although as you said I don't think they have a good defense which they should seeing as they defended Sparta which was a city without walls

[Ludens]

Armoured hoplites have a better armour rating, making them less vulnerable to attacks from the flank and rear as well as missile attacks, the latter being the Spartans' main weakness. However, Spartans have a far larger attack factor and two hitpoints (all other units, excepting gladiators, bodyguards and elephants, have only one). This makes them better killers, and the double hitpoints compensate for their lack of armour. IIRC they rout less easily.

Incidentally, by the third century B.C. Sparta did have walls.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Keep in mind that it takes two turns to recruit Spartans and only one turn to recruit the armored Hoplites. You have to ask yourself whether you want quantity or quality.

Also keep in mind how many troop recruiting centers you have. If most of your cities can churn out armored Hoplites, then it's probably okay to go ahead and recruit Spartans in the two cities that are able to (Sparta and Syracuse).

[Hanno]

I never knew that, I just always heard that Sparta never had walls as the Spartans saw walls as being weak,a guess by the third century BC the Spartans glory days were over with the Macedonians ruling most of Greece,but in the days of the Persians the Spartans were a force to be reckoned with

[Caius]

I started again as the Greeks Cities.

Everything started right, as I didnt expected. I was attacked by the Scipii in Syracuse. I crushed them. They were so weak that I attacked them in Messana, and they lost the battle. Carthage is not doing any kind of damage yet.

In central Greece, I had a chance that made me won Corinth. The enemy with other mini army attacked me when i was sieging Corinth. I weakened Corinth a lot, that made me won that city. I also won Athens, which still was rebel, but being sieged two or three times by the Macedonians.
Larissa is being sieged by our forces, 4 Armoured Hoplites and 1 Spartan Hoplite.
I control Kydonia also. Thats all, in less than 10 years.

[paul_kiss]

Meanwhile I'm playing for the Greeks, it's so fun, I must say. Nothing can stand before the falanxes of armoured hoplites. I decided not to mess with some minor threats, but instead I got engaged into war with the Romans. First I crushed the Scipii, then SPQR, recently Brutii hit the dust, and now I'm pressing on the Julii.

Hoplites rule the world.

[Caius]

Hoplites rule the world.

Yes, but also a little of tactics help.

[Benandorf]

I've started a game with the Greek Cities recently, and love the hoplites, but need a spot of advice: How do you entice the enemy to charge into your wall of death? Does a later patch make the AI more agressive (I'm not sure which one I have, but I doubt it's the most recent one), or do I just slowly move towards the enemy and be sure to stop when they start to move towards me? Should I just build some more cavalry? I've tried using Skirmishers that back off, but the AI just sits there while I throw the javelines, or even worse they will shoot the skirmishers down with archers, or charge them with cav, and then get back in formation and sit.

[Poulp']

a thin, long line of slingers is the solution.

put them just in front of your hoplites, skirmish turned off. The AI never fails to charge them, lower your pikes an instant before the impact.

[Benandorf]

Even if the AI is on the other side of the map, they'll move forwards and charge? And then charge the Phalanx? Or do I just move the Phalanx up at that point?

And you say I lower the pikes last second, do you mean that I keep them out of Phalanx until that point?

[Caius]

Even if the AI is on the other side of the map, they'll move forwards and charge? And then charge the Phalanx? Or do I just move the Phalanx up at that point?

It depends. In RTW 1.5, if they are attacked, will move to the farthest point. And they wont move. If they attack you, they will move.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

There is something about a slingers unit, whether its in Vanilla or 1.5, that the AI just loves to go after them with cavalry -- and this seems to be more so for slingers than other units.

I often bought cheapo slingers as the Eggies or Carthas just to have the enemy cavalry race onto the pikes they were fronting.

I left them in phalanx from the outset.

[TheNakedChef]

Greece is a tough faction because you have to do so much with so little at the start of the game.

Syracuse, and all Sicily for that matter, is set up at the start of the game to be a big cash sink for you. It's necessary to hold Sicily, however, because you hose both Carthage and the Scipii. Meanwhile, you only control a fraction of the greek peninsula. However, should you break out of the Laconic peninsula(Sparta), you are in prime position to reap the rewards of the money belt from Byzantium to Halicarnassus to Rhodes to Kydonia to Sparta to Thessalonica. You must act early against Macedon and take the peninsula.

The harders part is that, until you can upgrade your cities, you're forced into relying on hoplites and your general unit to get anything done. The battle timers were not designed to let you do everything with your hoplites, and greek cavalry is godawful. You don't even get an actual cav unit until the second stable upgrade, and even then, they're good for one or two charges before losses start piling up. You will lose battles and especially sieges because you didn't have enough time to position your phalanxes, and positioning is the name of the game with hoplites.

Greece's Strengths:
-Hoplites, in phalanx formation, will annihlate just about any infantry or cavalry unit head on.
-Excellent placement for wealth
-Excellent siege equipment late game
-Opportunity to begome a large naval power
-Powerful variety of Religious buildings
-Spartans. They are that good.
-Full Academy upgrades. Your characters will largely be well educated.
-Once you get inside a city, or you're forced to defend, Phalanx units can plug roadways and kill absurd amounts of people for minimal losses.

Weaknesses:
-Vulnerable to hit and run archery tactics
-Phalanxes are very inflexible. Extremely vulnerable on flanks and rear...
-...and you can't do much about it because your cavalry sucks.
-Forced to rely on mercenary help early on
-Sieging successfuly early on is entirely dependant on the BS battle timers.

Carthage will attack you first in Sicily, but you can win the sally with a bit of luck. Scipii will follow suit, but this is an easier battle to win. Expect to pour resources into Sicily, as it will be a while before you see any returns. In the end, it IS worth it.

Break out of Sparta and take Corinth as fast as possible. The Statue of Zeus gives +4 Loyalty bonus to all your settlements, and you'll need every troop you can muster against Macedon and Sicily.

Expect to lose early on if you don't have a numbers advantage, since a numbers advantage means less chance of your lines being enveloped. Also, expect to lose a few generals along the way. They're your only source of cavalry for the longest time, and they will need to work overtime to prevent your hoplites from getting flanked or broken by ranged fire.

On that note, it is in your interest to buy mercenaries, especially early to help you continue a surge into Greece. Merc hoplites are actually a bit stronger than the ones you start with, and they fit in seamlessly to your military machine. Cretan archers are helpful as well: They have good stats, and prevent your army from being a one-trick pony with the phalanxes. I've never been much of a fan of skirmishing troops, but peltasts will be your only ranged units for a while, so you might as well train some.

Play diplomatic games, especially with Macedon and Thrace. Brokering ceasefires will give you time to retrain and rebuild your military between sieges. Also, try to get trade deals with as many nations as possible, including thrace, pontius, egypt, numidia, carthage, spain, and even Gaul for a while. You'll need to have a sharp diplomatic game to help protect your armies from unnecessary fights.

Once I wiped out macedon and cleaned out sicily, I fortified Sicily like crazy. The Scythii will send many waves of armies to try and take Messalia back - Train a diplomat and try and bribe their characters and armies. My attentions also soon turned to Rhodes. The colossus gives a bonus in trade, and controlling the towns surrounding that sea will bring in heaps of gold.

Also try and take Appolonia and Salona so the Brutii can't expand. I also took and held Caralis so the Julii couldn't. If you hurry, you can box Rome in to their peninsula such that the Scipii and Brutii are left with only starter towns. They will harras you in the water, but Rome will not be a threat if you can contain them early.

Once I took the greek peninsula, including Byzantium, Nicodema, Porrolisseum, Saralis, and Halicarnassus, I brokered peace and neutrality with as many nations as possible and raked in the gold for many years, turtling and fortifying cities. You will quickly become richest faction if you can control this ring and sit on it. With the money I made, I quickly built a large navy to "police" this section of sea. The seleucids didn't play nice, and Brutii has the gall to try beach landings near Athens if you don't stop them. That was unexpected.

You may find it difficult to keep your starter navy afloat, especially around sicily. I allied with carthage and that helped immensely. Thing is, once you get a big enough navy afloat, they are really hard to sink. Take your navy out, win a battle or two, and then retrain them immediately. If you shepherd them, especially the police force in the money belt, you will have a very large, highly HIGHLY skilled, navy. By 240BC, I had 3 maxed exp, 12-18unit (Biremes/triremes) navies that I took out of the money belt and blockaded Rome into poverty. And there wasn't a thing they could do about it.

So, to recap, don't sit early on, you have stuff to do. Take and hold sicily, and simultaneously work on taking Greece. Hire mercs to move faster in greece. Once you have larissa, send some units down to Rhodes to take the city. The added money from the colossus is great, and rhodes is a good staging point for an attack on Harlicanassus. Try to block Rome from expanding. If you remember the Imperial campaign, Rome's objectives are very much the same, and their 3 factions will try and take the same cities in the same order. If you hold sicily, the Scythii are basically screwed into a war of attrition, and you have access to 4 of the 7 world's wonders, a merchant dreamland. Controling the western shore of greece prevents the Brutii from fulfilling their objectives. Try to take Rome before the Reformation, but only after you're sitting on a wad of cash.

I also managed the growth rate of my cities so they didnt spiral out of control. If a city is giving you a tough time, don't be afraid to max taxes and pull out, forcing an uprising. Syracusae was losing way too much money and had low public order because the town starts with such a large population base. They had to be 'put down'. Wiping out the population in a town turns a cash sink into a cash cow. Generally, you will never have an issue with that town again, either. Extermination, especially outside of the Greek peninsula, can be very handy for large uncooperative towns. For example, Lilybaeum and Messalia on Sicily are very uncooperative with you (Lilybaeum especially).

[Fallen Angel]

I'm playing the Greeks and have managed to get my fleet blockading half of Italia (the eastern half) by 255. At the time I was shipping out lesser forces as required and just trying to fight off the Roman fleets as they tried to undo my blockades. Suprisingly I can win all but the most skewed naval battles.

At 255 I started the Tiroan Reforms for the navy (Each city I own = 1 fleet of six Trireme's and two Quadmirines) and the Spartan 'Standard Garrison Template' Reforms. (Field armies will have more cav when I get around to standarizng them.)

A SGT is five armoured hoplite units, two archers or slingers, and two units of Greek Cav.

The current date is 243 BCE, and I have almost finished the naval reforms (still using the six month turns that are standard), and have given all but four cities standard template garrisons. (One is so small it won't grow in anybodies lifetime, and two are border towns on the edge of the empire with forces from the end of my anti-Macedonian campaign.)

So I got currently (thanks to the Tiroan Reforms) six fleets ready, and have split four fleets into halves on blockading duties - blocading Roman cities in Italia and Sicily (which I intend to invade as soon as I finish my reforms.)

I took out the brutii cities several turns ago, as well as sold everything and slaughtered the eastern Brutii city. the south-easternmost city in Italia has been retaken by the Julii, but without a port or population they cannot make it a sea-trading province. The south-western province I did not slaughter for reasons I cannot remember. That is a good thing. Remember, cities you do not slaughter but sell off everything make money and I got shitloads of rebels in that province. Good times, since it keeps Rome from taking back all of Italia and gives them a distraction. I would recommend selling everything but keeping it's population. I'd also recommend you keep Rome from taking back towns in Italia you took and want to go rebel. I find large stacks of rebel troops fill the vacumm.


Currently I have everything in Greece up to the line of borders continuous with Thrace, except for thrace. (I am questioning if asking teh Thracians for their named settlement is wise.)

The britons have taken all but one German city, have their southern border with Rome's northern border.

The Spanish have taken much territory up the french coast, and both (spain and briton) seem to be well buffering the Romans. (Thanks to me keeping the roman econ shite).

The Scythans have been pushed into several (large) provinces in the north eastern corner of the map.

Egypt has the south eastern of corner of the map and has relocated their capital to Jersluem. (Probably to stop riots/make the 'distance to capital' nil.)

The Scipii have a good empire in the western half of Egypt, and I can bet that the numedians are stuck in the south west corner of the map. (It's that thin province most forget or remember to remember.) This is the only source of revenue for Rome, and managing to keep it (and a good army for a single province state) alive.

Thrace has taken what would have become western Russia and the immediate states to the west of the Russ. They border me on the north.

Parthia has parts of asia minor, but is small, with Egypt coming around the eastern med and encroaching into asia minor.

I am at war with the Britons, the Romans (minus the Brutii), and Egypt.

One problem is that I don't know HOW I should invade Italia. Do I go from Sicily to the Rebels on the end, and go up? Or should I go around the top of Italia?

*If you know the names of the southern italian provinces (I can't boot up RTW now), and the rebels from said provinces, I'd be very grateful.

[Fallen Angel]

I'm playing the Greeks and have managed to get my fleet blockading half of Italia (the eastern half) by 255. At the time I was shipping out lesser forces as required and just trying to fight off the Roman fleets as they tried to undo my blockades. Suprisingly I can win all but the most skewed naval battles.

At 255 I started the Tiroan Reforms for the navy (Each city I own = 1 fleet of six Trireme's and two Quadmirines) and the Spartan 'Standard Garrison Template' Reforms. (Field armies will have more cav when I get around to standarizng them.)

A SGT is five armoured hoplite units, two archers or slingers, and two units of Greek Cav.

The current date is 243 BCE, and I have almost finished the naval reforms (still using the six month turns that are standard), and have given all but four cities standard template garrisons. (One is so small it won't grow in anybodies lifetime, and two are border towns on the edge of the empire with forces from the end of my anti-Macedonian campaign.)

So I got currently (thanks to the Tiroan Reforms) six fleets ready, and have split four fleets into halves on blockading duties - blocading Roman cities in Italia and Sicily (which I intend to invade as soon as I finish my reforms.)

I took out the brutii cities several turns ago, as well as sold everything and slaughtered the eastern Brutii city. the south-easternmost city in Italia has been retaken by the Julii, but without a port or population they cannot make it a sea-trading province. The south-western province I did not slaughter for reasons I cannot remember. That is a good thing. Remember, cities you do not slaughter but sell off everything make money and I got shitloads of rebels in that province. Good times, since it keeps Rome from taking back all of Italia and gives them a distraction. I would recommend selling everything but keeping it's population. I'd also recommend you keep Rome from taking back towns in Italia you took and want to go rebel. I find large stacks of rebel troops fill the vacumm.


Currently I have everything in Greece up to the line of borders continuous with Thrace, except for thrace. (I am questioning if asking teh Thracians for their named settlement is wise.)

The britons have taken all but one German city, have their southern border with Rome's northern border.

The Spanish have taken much territory up the french coast, and both (spain and briton) seem to be well buffering the Romans. (Thanks to me keeping the roman econ shite).

The Scythans have been pushed into several (large) provinces in the north eastern corner of the map.

Egypt has the south eastern of corner of the map and has relocated their capital to Jersluem. (Probably to stop riots/make the 'distance to capital' nil.)

The Scipii have a good empire in the western half of Egypt, and I can bet that the numedians are stuck in the south west corner of the map. (It's that thin province most forget or remember to remember.) This is the only source of revenue for Rome, and managing to keep it (and a good army for a single province state) alive.

Thrace has taken what would have become western Russia and the immediate states to the west of the Russ. They border me on the north.

Parthia has parts of asia minor, but is small, with Egypt coming around the eastern med and encroaching into asia minor.

I am at war with the Britons, the Romans (minus the Brutii), and Egypt.

One problem is that I don't know HOW I should invade Italia. Do I go from Sicily to the Rebels on the end, and go up? Or should I go around the top of Italia?

*If you know the names of the southern italian provinces (I can't boot up RTW now), and the rebels from said provinces, I'd be very grateful.

[mrdun]

For a rather unorthodox aproach, I abandon Scicily and mainland Greece and migrate to Asia Minor an quickly take the weak cities Nicomedia, Sinope, Salona, Halicarnassus and M... {Pontus' other town}) Fort the pass to Seleucids and put in a mediocre Garrison of Hoplites and Missile. That shouldn't give you many problems. Also fort the northern pass to Armenis and garrison. Now your cities are safe and you can concentrate on preparing for a fight which is on YOUR terms in mainland Greece. I reccommend 5 or 6 fleets with half stacks on. So around 3 full stacks plus a good fleet. It may take time to build your economy for this. From here you should not have many problems in pacifying Greece. Then Italy. Then Spain. Then N. Africa. Then, If ur feeling brave Egypt to win the game. In Greece and Italy only go as far North as major rivers which can be easily defended from Barbarian raids. Enjoy :)

[Ozzman1O1]

Greece is simple,regain alexanders empire,go into libya,take sicily,italy,brittania,and boom,you win,i find it a boring facton to play as in my opinion

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I've started a game with the Greek Cities recently, and love the hoplites, but need a spot of advice: How do you entice the enemy to charge into your wall of death? Does a later patch make the AI more agressive (I'm not sure which one I have, but I doubt it's the most recent one), or do I just slowly move towards the enemy and be sure to stop when they start to move towards me? Should I just build some more cavalry? I've tried using Skirmishers that back off, but the AI just sits there while I throw the javelines, or even worse they will shoot the skirmishers down with archers, or charge them with cav, and then get back in formation and sit.

i use archers .. mainly cretan archers because of there long range missiles ...
it never failes .. enemy will always attack ..
i use my cretans behind my hoplites so enemy will attack them and not my archers .. tough i think it is done by most of the players

[wumpus]

yo,mrdun. that's quite interesting. unique. yep,unorthodox. abandon greece, etc., and resettle in asia minor. goodah! you strike for economic growth! i like that, man. asia minor is a good trade-rich place to start your business in. Hawooh.
to Hanno: when the thebans mauled the spartans at LEUCTRA, sparta was never the same again. the whole of greece was never the same again. it showed everyone that spartans weren't really supersoldiers. they can be beaten! yes, maybe sparta saw the need to build walls at a late date, when thebans and athenians could come and burn spartan fields on occasion. (I suggest you read Plutarch's Lives of Greeks. read about the decline of the legendary sparta.) but i still like sparta best of all, if only her leaders and kings were not so politically naive. athens, on the other hand, was politically sneaky. Hawooh.
to Ozzman101: well, one man's poison is another man's candy. i like a good challenge. i play greek most times because i like an uphill fight--against macedonians, carthage (maybe early on, if we both lust after sicily), the romans (yikes, all four factions of them--there's senatus in the same bunch as julii, scipii,and brutii--you fight one you must fight all), the armenians, pontus, etc. sometimes 2 or 3 of them at the same time. then later on you fight the gauls, britons, germans, iberians,etc. with all this excitement, i wouldn't call the GREEKS a boring faction. (well, don't forget the rebels--but ALL factions fight the rebels anyway.) Hawooh!

[mrdun]

My current greek campaign is starting to go wrong, I have just taken the above settlements and was planning my attack when wave after wave of seleucids keep attacking me. holding out, for now

[wumpus]

My current greek campaign is starting to go wrong, I have just taken the above settlements and was planning my attack when wave after wave of seleucids keep attacking me. holding out, for now

yo, MRDUN. yeh, you'd expect that. if not seleucids, it'd have been armenians or pontus (pontians? pontids?) or maybe ptolemaics (thank god it's not ptolemaics in your case--they've got more resources) who'll clash with you in asia minor. just hold on with your hoplites, supported by your Rhodian slingers (do you have them in your army?) and maybe Cretan archers--or ordinary archers would not be much different. your foes are heavy on cavalry, with chariots usually. let them come to you; just hold your line with phallanx of hoplites, only you ought to have your (quite light, actually) militia cavalry to hold your flanks (just let them be there at your flanks, throwing javelins but at "fire-at-will" disabled, but let your hoplites do the actual fighting). it'd be a great help if you keep an inverted horse-shoe formation for your phallanx, to dispell his eating at your flanks. this is if you meet seleucus's whelps in open field--you'll have a slight advantage if it happens inside a forest.
if the seleucids assault your city, that's much better--hoplites are great defensive troops, and they'd really be in their element defending narrow streets--better if they have missile troops behind them to throw/shoot pointy stuff at them barbarians.
there are 2 threads, both with frogbeastegg: one about how to induce hoplites to charge, another about the merits of walls to defend your city or delay enemy attackers (one person who participated said walls are not that much use to repel attackers with catapults or towers or ladders). this is what i say: leave your walls and concentrate on defending your streets--far ahead from your plaza, if possible. let the enemy waste energy stoning your wall, spending useless time making assault towers, etc. your wall's towers will shower him with missiles, but your full effort should be with your hoplites at your narrow streets. and, about inducing your hoplites to charge--i say don't let them charge, but let your foes charge your wall of sarissas instead.
about his chariots? chariots are supposed to be terror weapons, but in my experience a solid wall of hoplites with pikes can be difficult to terrorize, especially when your own missile troops are peppering his general's bodyguard unit with fire arrows. just take good care that your own general doesn't get pelted by the enemy's arrows or slings in the bargain.
and read or re-read frogbeastegg's guides, esp. about spears-missiles inter-cooperation--her guides in RTW, MTW, and M2TW are great reading.
finally, it's a great pity if you're in crisis with seleucids and don't have Sparta or Syracuse among what you presently hold--this is the time when you direly need Spartan hopliotes that these 2 cities produce. but your militia pikemen aren't really THAT MUCH INFERIOR to spartans--they're quite capable of holding your line for you.
and in the event that one of your (overpopulated, squalid) cities gets the plague, turn your lemon into a lemonade--churn out a horde of spies and send them into his cities with your germs and squalor-fruit gift-wrapped for him. wage biological warfare on the seleucids, not just actual bashing and shooting.
just hold on there, man. after all, what we're doing is just a game. you wouldn't actually have you neck sliced if you lose this campaign.
HAWOOH!

[mrdun]

Thankyou for your technical lexis Wumpus :):)

I play with Moral off in my preferences, allows me to "fight to the Death" <-- great stuff. The only place I have messed up is in Nicomedia, Pontus just wont leave it alone (ha! they will soon, i have nearly eradicated them ), I had a young gov'nor and four units of militia hoplites. They had half a stack of arab infantry and some missisle cav plus two rams. I put two units just behind the gate and two behind where i thought they would attack my wall. I guessed right but i was just overwhelmed and they broke through in both places. I didn't last much longer!!!

[wumpus]

mrdun-greetings. you know a curious thing happened this weekend. (just after my anti-seleucid posting.) i was greek warring against macedonia: they're down to their last city, larissa, but i wouldn't take it by siege yet-i infiltrated it with 2 of my spies bearing the plague from pella (mine, few turns back) and i won't enter till i've brought it to its knees with disease. (BEWARE THE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS!!!) at the same time, i was fighting the rebel greeks, took syracuse from them then proceeded to move to siege nicomedia with my Spartans and sundry other troops. the romans (my allies then, who were also allied to the seleucids) gifted me 1140 denarii (for my valorous conduct, AI told me.) when suddenly the seleucids besieged my halicarnassus--just one day after i posted my stuff in this forum. (i didn't react at once that turn-my halicarnassus could last the siege 7 turns) rome broke alliance from me (which is curious, having given me money that same turn). at any rate, lest this post turns into an AAR instead of an exchange of strategic & tactical tips, here's what i did: i diverted my spartans from the siege of nicomedia with a troop of peltasts, 1 troop of militia hoplites, and 1 general's unit, leaving the rest of my army besieging with a 2nd general, produced a troop of cretan archers in crete and a troop of rhodian slingers in rhodes (both to appear the following turn), and a militia cavalry in mytilene. next turn, i brought over my horses from mytilene (you don't need to move your ship-just place your ship in the strait in between, embark your troops, then disembark on the other side of the water), then hit one seleucid army with additional troops from pergamum & my spartan contingent rushing from nicomedia. victory, then the whole army rushed to hit the seleucids outside halicarnassus (which, by now, have grown to 2 armies!). another army from rhodes made an amphibious attack near halicarnassus. it broke the siege, so now i'm on my way to besiege sardis (together with my brand-new units from crete and rhodes). seleucids like to come in wave after wave of attackers, but i recall sun tzu: "approach in small batallions from various directions; attack together as a big army."
in the meantime, my ships hit the seleucid navy-they're stupid to travel in single-ship detachments: sank his 2 biremes and 2 triremes (in 6 different encounters) including his 3-star admiral! i used 3 fleets, one from waters off byzantium, 2nd from off pergamum, the 3rd from sparta, athens, and crete. the tactic: hit simultaneously from different directions, but size your units so that they can defend themselves (or at least hold out till reinforcements arrive).
it's too bad that you lost nicomedia (no-i haven't yet taken MY nicomedia from the rebels. siege still going on, but i'm in no hurry). just return some other time. losing one battle is not the point-it is winning the campaign that matters. me, my faction leader died in these same 2 turns, leaving sparta without a governor, and my heir (new faction leader) is stuck in salona without a ship to ride to my capital, exposed to the thracians (fortunately neutral at the moment), and the land route is dominated by plague. maybe the romans will strike me next turn (they're merely neutral right now) but they have 2 cities in sicily while i have the delicious-looking syracuse, and i've just stormed tarentum from the rebels (my troops were decimated, but i killed tarentum's defenders to the last man, including their king) and there are 3 full roman legions waiting like sharks outside my border (while my troops in tarentum have shrunk). there's a chance rome would consider my presence in tarantum a threat, or simply think tarantum would be a nice addition to their collection of italian cities.
but these are the fortunes of war. may the goddess fortuna smile on us both, and the goddess bellona be kind to us. Hawooh.

[Hound of Ulster]

In both RTR and vanilla Rome, I usually abandon Sciliy so I can deal with the Macedonians first. Control of the sea is critical with the Greeks, especially against the Romans.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

In both RTR and vanilla Rome, I usually abandon Sciliy so I can deal with the Macedonians first. Control of the sea is critical with the Greeks, especially against the Romans.

Vanilla: I prefer to shift one batch of good reinforcements -- usually including the spartans -- to Syracuse during the first few moves of the game. Syracuse is then on its own for a long while. Usually, I hold it through the course of a dozen+ sieges (sallies etc.), though sometimes I lose it. Either way, I bleed the Kartha and Romaoi in great cart loads and slow their development.

Makdon first is pretty well a necessity, of course, or you get hammered by the Bruti while they laugh.

[Fallen Angel]

Cretian Archers? Rhodian slingers? Can you please point me where I can download files to let me recruit these speciality units? (I'm assuming you meant the -normally- merc greek units.)

[Monsieur Alphonse]

You can edit the EDU (export_descr_units) and give ownership to the Greeks or the Greek_cities. Then edit the EDB (buildings) and let them train in the archery range.

I never abandon Sicily and I don't send reinforcements. Syracuse is strong enough to handle the Scipii and Carthage.

[Hound of Ulster]

I found in vanilla Rome that the best lure on to the massed hoplite phalanx was militia cav. As the militia cav automatically retire towards your main force when attacked, you can use them to lure your enemy unto the pikes of the hoplites. I beat several pontic armies this way and also badly worsted the Egyptians. The peltasts can serve the same function against the Roman factions, and can also make the Romans waste thier javelins.

In RTR, I attack and attack quickly, especially if I have Spartans and Athenians at my command.

[Quintus.JC]

I found playing the Greek cities rather easy. Largely due to the fact that they can recruit Armoured Hoplite in Minor cities, they can defeat any early units the Romans or the Macedonian could field. I was fighting a winning campaign but then gave up because I was fed up with their cavalry, apart from the general’s bodyguards all the other cavalry the Greeks could recruit are on the point of useless. While the infantry are too slow moving. Although I did enjoy siege battles with Greece, block the streets and the enemies shall not get in.

[wumpus]

Cretian Archers? Rhodian slingers? Can you please point me where I can download files to let me recruit these speciality units? (I'm assuming you meant the -normally- merc greek units.)

Yes--mercs for your opening game. Later, if you've held Crete and/or Rhodes long enough and deligently added improvements, yhou could locally recruit these archers and slingers. Don't worry too much--mercs are not all THAT expensive in RTW; but they surely ARE in MTW, and in M2TW the maintenance costs of mercs could bankrupt you. But it's okay in RTW--as a Greek with a number of decent fleets and ports, you ought to be able to make enough money to afford big-stick armies. Hawooh.