I'm playing a Kimmerios Bosporos H/M campaign. So far I'm on turn 65 and I have five settlements, most recently Olbia. I thought I'd just share some of the things that struck me.
The AI seems extraordinarily peace-loving. For the first few turns there were hardly any factions at war, and whenever anyone started a war they were quick to end it. To take one example, Koinon Hellenon and Makedonia made peace during the first few turns and haven't been fighting since. What I like about this is that it seems to prevent blobbing, but maybe it's a little too peaceful? Arche Seleukeia has lots of allies and haven't been at war with any of their neighbours for a long time. I first got into a war when my ally Sauromatai apparently attacked Pontos, whereupon Pontos blockaded one of my ports. Before I had time to panick though, Pontos made peace with both the Sauromatae and me.
The AI does seem to go after independent cities very aggressively. After most of the eleutheroi settlements were already taken, Histrie in Mikra Skythia actually became the target of four separate armies. Pontos landed first it seems, but a KH army got there before them. After KH failed to take the city, Pontos made its own attempt and Pergamon landed in the province. After Pontos' attempt failed, the Getai marched in and took it for themselves. The area around the Black Sea has become a patchwork with Pergamon holding Odrysai, KH Byzantion while Pontos occupies Paphlagonia and the Caucasus.
That brings me to another point: the AI is good at making naval landings, and that's great! Although Pergamon has landed a single unit of hippeis outside of Chersonesos and don't seem to know what to do with it.
The AI also makes ships. Lots of ships. The Black Sea is full of ships from KH, Pergamon and Pontos. The AI's favourite way of declaring war still seems to be blockading an undefended port, and I've had KH, Pergamon and Pontos do this to me thus far. For KH and Pergamon I was able to quickly make peace with them, in both cases the peace offer was "very generous" and the KH actually replied "Are you serious? We gladly accept, o phile!". Just before this happened Areus Lakedaimonios had marched up from (Getai) Mikra Skythia to Olbia, where I killed him and destroyed his army. With Pergamon I fought no battles. Looking at our military ratings now, both KH and Pergamon are above me. Regrettably, I forgot to check it when I was making peace with them.
With Pontos though, my peace offer is "very demanding". They're also stronger than me. Now a few other factions also seem to be getting into wars, although a few "obvious enemies" like KH and Makedon or Pontos and Pergamon seem to be at peace. Will the AI only start making war on other factions once there are no other targets now?
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