Pontus

[frogbeastegg]

This faction must be unlocked with game editing before you can play.

[Rosacrux redux]

Now, this is the faction for the control freak! A faction that has to be watched closely and managed carefully. Note that this game was played on Very Hard (strategic map) / Hard (battles).

Pontus is a funny case. They start off with only two cities/provinces, but a)there are easy pickings nearby (namely the three rebel cities to the west, in Asia Minor, and in reach there are two more, Halicarnassus and Byzantium, provided that the Greeks and Thracians don't get there first) and b) early on, your heavy and light pontic cavalry are extremely effective, if managed closely.

In the military side, Pontus seems like an extremely well balanced faction. They got very diverse early cavalry types (Pontic, heavy Pontic) and with the Kappadokian cav. they get a very effective shock cav too. They got very poor early infantry (hillmen and eastern inf.) and only vanilla archers, but later on the situation improves at least concerning the infantry (phalanx and bronze shields are as good as any Hellenic phalanx).

Allthough, the tactics I've found to be effective are typical hit-and-run ones, with the heavy infantry playing only a secondary role (I am in mid-game now and I've yet to bring to the field more than 5 heavy infs).

Since your archers aren't really hotshots (pun very much intended ) and you need all the firepower you can get against the Seleucid and Egyptian juggernaughts, you absolutely have to get as many Cretan and Rhodian mercenaries as are available for recruitment. I can't stress out how important those misile mercs are for any effective battle tactics with the ultra-light armies this faction can field.

In battle the hit-and-run model is vital. The pontic and - especially - heavy pontic cavalry are very good skirmishers and the second can charge home with very good results against most oponents. Coupled with a few archers (especially mercs) most opponents won't even reach your ranks before they are shot to oblivion (a note: archery is waaaaay overpowered in this game. One has to tone down the killing rates, they are INSANE!!!).

In the early stages a fleet and mobile tactic like that should be enough (that is, to capture the three or four rebel settlements and fend off any early agresor - the Greeks, more likely, will attack very early).

Since Pontus is small-time initially, you have to put your diplomats to good use and ally with everyfriggingbody. It's mid game now and I am allied with Thrace, Armenia, the four Roman factions and the Britons. At one point I was allied with everybody save Greeks, Macedonians and Karthago. But the Seleucids, even though they had the Egyptians and the Parthians at their throat, attacked me pretty soon and I had to fight the battles of my life to manage and wear them down enough to get a ceasefire (taking cities by force with the kind of army you can field in the early-mid game is out of question and the Seleucids seem to have endless reserves of armies, despite fighting in three fronts so sieging-to-starvation might not be a good idea as well).

The ceasefire lasted only three years, but in the meantime I had build up my forces enough (and the Egyptians have weakened the Seleucids considerably) to make a drive for the S. main cities. Starved three of them to submission and managed, with a little Pharaonic help, to eliminate the big S.

Another note: In Hard and Very Hard, autoresolving battles is not an option. Even if you outnumber and outclass the oponent you'll either lose the battle or suffer extremely heavy casualties. So, on this campaign it's the first time I've played out ALL the battles myself in a TW game.

On the economy side, after you take and build up the rebel cities, you should fair pretty well, but the real cash will reek in after you got the Seleucid cities. They are the big milking Cow of the region

Right now I had Egypt declare our alliance void in one turn and attack en masse in the next. The good thing is that I now have enough cash to bribe a few of their armies and save me a great deal of hassle. But since they are quite stronger than I, the battle won't be easy - the Egyptian Kindergartern of the Tuthmosis units are waaaaaaaaaaaaay overpowered... Those Steel-Skin axemen are tough buggers (they literally deflect arrows with their skin ) and the hordes of chariot archers are an extreme threat. But we are moving on, got the first Egyptian city just before.

I'll keep you updated!

[kungfood]

i found thracian mercenaries to work pretty well, especially in the early game phase. great for quickly taking those rebel cities. even in the more advanced game i used to have at least one or two thracian merc units in my armies - mainly to secure the flanks or to outflank enemy phalanxes. other than that i concur with what rosacrux said: use your skirmishers.

[Furious Mental]

I think the guide should really mention Chariot Archers. Pontus' foot archers are pathetic but their Chariot Archers, while perhaps not up to Egypt's, are good, especially for a faction whose armies depend so heavily upon cavalry skirmishing.

[andrewt]

Looking from the stats, the riders of Pontic chariot archers have 1 more hit point and more defense skill than the Egyptian chariot archers. I have no idea how these help, however, from a gameplay perspective. I'm not sure when the riders or the horses get targeted. Furthermore, defense skill only affects melee. Egyptian chariots are disciplined and trained, however and costs almost half and have only 1 turn build time.

If denarii and build time isn't a problem, Pontic chariot archers are probably better. Otherwise, they are plain outclassed.

[Suppiluliumas]

In addition to thracian mercenaries, I found the valor ii barbarian warbands in galatia to be very usefull, particlarly early in the campaign.

[Argonaut]

well...

[Argonaut]

...let me see..

[Argonaut]

Playing very had/very hard. I easily crushed Greeks, Seleucids & Egypt, Armenians and Parthians will soon follow. Pontic heavy cav. is great unit,nice armour and so good for melee as well. The only enemy unit I had some problems were the elephants (wonder what would it be if they were armoured ones)but javelins eventually make them run amok. If not, I charge them sometimes.
My general strategy is to wear my opponents down. Have a cav army? Than lure the enemy in the open. Intercept small enemy groups, destroy them, go for another one.Lay siege to one city, relive force will come and in most cases you ll be able to catch them isolated and in the open. The town where they came from is now weak. No trust in your inf.? Than sap the walls and make room for your cav.(cause they CAN do melee). That s the way I see it.
I still haven't lost a battle (except those on the sea and I m not sure is lifting the siege a defeat?) but Romans are yet to come.

"Carpe diem!"

[CompanionUK]

Pontus is hard to use but in the hands of the right commander, a deadly force and has the potential to expand over vast area's. I'm not sure on the strategies and long term plans that everyone else has developed but what i did was simple:

1.) built up enough troop stregth that allowed me in the first few "years" of the game, to quickly strike against the Seleucids while they were weak, and take Tarsus, and then Antioch...in doing so i cut the Seleucid empire in two, isolating Sardis, and taking 2 out of 3 ports from them. This also helped me make money on my own, as Tarsus and Antioch have great economic potential...i quickly allied myself with the Greeks, and the Armenians.

2.) since the Egyptians are a bunch of KINESIOLOGY, they attacked Antioch, making a huge mistake. I soon after took Sidon, and invaded Salamis and took it from them as well, and have bribed much of their armies to disband or join me. During all of this, Armenia and Parthia invaded Seleucia and Hatra, meaning i wouldnt have to do it, but i also have cut those two off from access to the mediterranean, keeping them in check from gaining more greater financial wealth. All that is left of the Seleucids is Sardis and Demascus. I expect Demascus to fall to the Egyptians, even though they are weak, they have enough to take that from the Seleucids, and i will take Sardis for myself, whiping them off the map. I will then be left with 3 options of expansion: a.) continue to go south and over-run Egypt while she is still weak and trying to recover while protecting herself from 4 threats on her boarders, in doing so i give myself even greater financial power; b.) go after Armenia and Parthia, who are even more weak than Egypt, even combind, their stregth is very low, it wouldnt take long to over-run the both of them; c.) turn my attentions west and take over Sardis, Pergamum, and Nicomedia from the Greeks(as i hav ealready taken Halicanarssus from the Rebels)...doing so will allow me to take Byzantium if needed, but in doing so i will be exposes to roman advances, so right now i might just stop once i reach the Aegean. However, taking options b or c will allow egypt to use her economic might to rebuild, making my expansion plans in other directions harder, due to the fact that eventually the fighting between me and the Egyptians will inevitably resume.

As for the Pontic Army, i agree that computer resolving the battles, reguardless if i have greater numbers or quality, i will get my ass handed to me...the computer doesnt use the phalanx well and doesnt support it as needed im sure...the composition of each full army presently(as it is later in the game and i have essentially all my best units available) is as follows:

8 bronze shield phalanxes, 4 chariot archers, 4 scythed chariots, and 4 Cappadocian cavalry(note: until you can get the Cappadocian cavalry units, pontic heavy cavalry if used right is very effective, to support them, definitely recute any Sarmatian Cavalry mercinaries you can get your hands on, they can match up to any cavalry unit your enemies can field against you early on in the game)...even though i only have 4 untis of cavalry proper, my strategy is simple:

from the outset of the battle, i send my chariot archers to inflict as many casualties as i can, then save a little ammo, and regroup back at my lines...i then send my scythed chariots, reguardless of how many losses they take(as i can always retrain or build more) and enflict as many casualties on the enemy lines as they possibly can, hoping to break them up, after which i send in the Cappadocian's who can over-run mostly anything, using their strong charge and they heavy armour i can inflict higher casualties...after which, i either send the chariot archers to finsih them job and send the enemy into a head long retreat, or i send in my phalanxes, by then the enemy is weak, and is no match...90% of the time, it is a blood bath...

feel free to respond any of you, its awesome to find people who love this as much as i do, cheers

[CompanionUK]

before i continue, please note: these are steps that should be taken to establish Pontus as a regional powerhouse, after these steps, it is entirely up to you with what you think you should do, as i have not gotten insanely far with them yet, but it works, cause as i look at my map, its nothing but Pontus lol...however another note...not all of this will work 100%, more like 80%, because the game can be very random with its events and results, but here goes:

1. what is key to understand about this area of the world, is that it is plagued with conflict, and the two main powers at the start are Egypt and Seleucia. At the start, these two will go at it in a slug fest, and generally speaking the Seleucids(immediately at your southern boarder) will empty most if not all of their cities to counter Egypt, thus your first move, will be to get a sizable force and quickly take Tarsus, giving you access to the Mediterranean, without having to move your navy from the black sea through the Hellespont, and Aegean which always ends up blockaded by the greeks, thracians, and macedonians.

2. after you stregthen your forces and use the funds coming into Tarsus, quickly take the rebel lands to the west, before the greeks can, especially take Nicomedia, and Helicanarssus...after doing this, take Sardis from the Seleucids quickly, before they have a chance to build troops to withstand a seige from your troops

3. quickly ally yourself with Armenia(as a buffer from Parthia and Scythia), as they are too weak to attack you reguardless. Now you have a choice...you can either go to war with Greece, and take Pergamum, but have the Greek navy(which is always huge reguardless) on your ass the whole time, or you can move south, and get in the mix with the Seleucids further, seeing as their Capital(Antioch) is right next to Tarsus, and will probably be lightly defended.

4a. if you plan to go to war with Greece, and take Pergamum, thus pushing yourself to the edge of present day turkey and having control over that entire area, make sure you make preperations for an extended naval campaign against the Greeks, who have enormous wealth and will follow history to the letter and have a huge navy, but only enough troops in greece proper to defend themselves, because they are not expansionists.

4b. if you plan to go south and take Antioch, make sure you have the mobility and the troop strength to maintain it, guard it from a potential counter attack, and the pressure to either try to take Damascus from the Seleucids aswell, or just perform a holding action to protect Antioch...the benefits of Antioch is that it will bring you much wealth, and will allow you to create even better units...the downside of taking Antioch, is that the Egyptians ALWAYS try to take it for themselves and control the entire coast from Egypt proper, up to modern day southern turkey, giving them even more wealth...if you take Antioch, prepare for a lengthy, and costly war with Egypt...as they are the true power in the region for much of the game, due to wealth and population they can call on for a huge standing army

5. which ever path you take(a or b) always be aware of a growing threat from Parthia to the east...they never keep alliances, so making one with them will not stave off the inevitable war with them...the good thing about fighting them, reguardles of their great mobility, is there relatively small numbers...if you are not a good strategist, you can always simply overwhelm them with your eventual greater numbers...however, you, like all eastern factions, have very good cavalry that you can call upon(always buy Sarmatian Cavalry mercinaries where you see them, they are very good crack heavy cavalry, and if used right can win battles for you time and time again if you can get them in large numbers)

6. if you are good enough, and rid the east of Egypt, Parthia, and Armenia(after you turn on them), do not go north against the Scythes...leave them b e...they will never attack you, they never have the numbers to be a threat, and there is no economic gains by going north. Go south, but go through north africa, as you will gain more and more ports on the Mediterranean = more and more wealth coming into your coffers. Taking on the Romans in this game cannot be avoided obviously, in doing so, take on the Scipii in Africa first. Hopefully by now you have used much of your money to develope a sizable navy, but better to ge a huge navy, and you can cut them off and isolate them in Africa. Once all of N. Africa is yours, invade Spain, and take th eentire peninsula(note: the spanish have very hardy troops suited to the Spanish terrain...so defeating them requires large usage of your good cavalry, with missle support...chariots will not work here as it is too mountainous). Simultaniously as you invase Spain, invade Sicily, thus isolating the Romans to mainland Europe as far north as the north coast of france, as far south as the tip of the Italian boot and the Greek islands, and as far east as the Aegean, which by now, you should have solidified modern day turkey with quality troops, giving the romans little chance of success if they were to invade. I suggest, to really hit the romans hard, since there massive expansionist policies will have their legions stretched paper thin over great areas, to attack them from all sides: attack through spain into Gaul(by now they will have taken over Gallic lands), attack across the Aegean into Greece where the terrain suits your Phalanxes and your crack cavalry units, and from Sicily into mainland Italy. By now you should have the economic resources to fund this, and this will overwhelm the Romans as they cannot respond to every invasion, from all three sides. but please note, and this is vital; by now, the Marius reforms will have taken effect, and the legions will be at their best, it is absolutely vital, and no time more so than this, that you fight every battle against the romans...because no matter what numerical advantage you might have, if you sim the battles, you will be decimated everytime, because the computer doesnt use phalanxes in simed battles properly, and you will sustain drastic loses and great setbacks...to sim the battles, means your invasion will be short lived.

always feel free to respond, cheers

[CompanionUK]

order of battle:

Bronze shield pikeman x 8[p]
Cappadocian Cavalry x 4[c]
Chariot Archers x 4[a]
Scythed Chariots x 4[s]



Deployment:

...........ss ss...........
cc aa pppppppp aa cc



Suggested strategy:

if you're the attacker; simultaniously send your scythed chariots at the enemies center(if the center has pikeman or spearman, adjust trategy accordingly)...send your cappadocians and hit them in the flank hard with a hea dlong charge...with your chariot archers, set them up so that they can hit the rear of the army, to weaken any counter attack on your movements...if needs be...send your phalanxes after the enemy is broken up

[asearchforreason]

I agree with Companion. In the grand stratgey, you need to immediately go South for Selucia. In my Pontus game, I had a full stack Armenian army siege my capitol in the first few years. After destorying them, I immediately counterattacked and spent the beginning of the game destroying Armenia and hoping that by not attacking the Selucids, they would be able to put up a strong fight against Egypt. Well, I was very wrong and soon I had a powerful Egyptian force at my southern doorstep. After a long series of skirmishes and some large battles, I'm now finally just taking Antioch and Sidon from Egypt. The tactic I used and would definately recommend again to someone is to try to destroy Egypt economically while being somewhat defensive until you have a clear opening. I used a plague bearing spy and uber-powerful assassin to spread chaos and disease across Egypt. I've gotten a few of their provinces to revolt and their armies are busy taking the provinces back. Plauge and rebellion also seriously hinder the economic power of a city, and due to these tactics, I haven't seen the hordes of Egyptian armies that I usually do when playing in the East. I think the fact that Numidia is almost as strong as my own faction and is now knocking on Egypt's western border is only going to help me. So, go for Selucid lands first or the Egyptians will beat you to them. Also, I've found the Anatolian provinces that border the Aegean to make a good profit if you are able to trade with Macedonia and/or Greece.

[CompanionUK]

going after the Seleucid's off the bat is key for two reasons:
1. you get their lands that are wealthy and you get access to mediterranean trade
2. you stop the egyptians from expanding, becoming more wealthy, leading to them becoming more powerful, and thus even harder to defeat in the long run

however, i generally prefer to fight a multi-front war...makes expansion faster, and i have yet to lose a battle because i personally command all of them...presently, egypt is destroyed, armenia is destroyed, parthia is down to two provinces, both of which are about to be under siege, and the seleucids are down to nothing but Seleucia left, which i am also about to siege...im contemplating subduing the Scythes to the north, but that's a waist of manpower and resources cause i will gain nothing from a northern campaign...instead im going to head west and take out the numidians who are weak...good for me is that in my imperial campaign, the Scipii havent streatched farther than the city of Carthage and the one immediately to the south...only the Brutii have made significant progress against the Greeks, the rest of rome hasnt gained much, which makes my job all the more easier

cheers

[Shindogisan]

Hey do you think that we could get starting move guides put on here or if you guys know anywhere to get some of them?

[mikey2001]

I have been playing as Pontus recently and have found in an enjoyable experience. I now control most of modern day Turkey, except Byzantium (the Thracians took it before I had the chance) but have captured Antioch and Tarsus from the Selecuids. I have allied with the Armenias and the Greek Cities and I'm enjoying profitable trading routes between them!

My next objective is to finish of the Selecuids and attack the Egyptians, hopefully before they overrun my settlements.

[RollingWave]

I have yet to start a campaign with them... but...
When I played as the greeks and Selucides Pontus always have huge stacks runnign around asia minor pretty quickly... although much of it is eastern infantry, the sheer number still made it impossible to face them anywhere else except in ur town...

From what i can judge as long as Pontus stays peaceful with the Armenian and block Selucide reinforcements across the mountain pass, they are definately in the best position to unify Asia minor... along with the fact that they can build caravans, they should be really rich if they can take some good port towns... Armenia faces a 4 way war too so with some luck they should try to go after more easy pickings like the isolated Selucide towns...

Also.. hillmen aren't really worth it early on, they only have slightly better stats than Eastern infantry but comes in less number... rather just overwhelm ur oppenet with sheer number of eastern inf... (or at least tie them up ) later on when u have phalanx though hillman might be better for their more useful abilities in small numbers.

[orcorama]

I started a m/m pontus long campaign game.
20 years into it:
as far as I can tell egypt and the seleucids are down to 1 province each
armenia is fighting parthia but the greek cities has just attacked me.
i have about 30k in the bank
im not sure where to go next. i guess ill attack armenia and then parthia

[Craterus]

Are you talking about the PBM orcorama or have you made your own? Either way, you are doing well, good luck!

[Ziaelas]

I finished this campaign a while ago, best thing to do is ally with Seleucid Empire to defeat the egyptian onslaught, then betray them and kill them. Then, defeat the Armenians and the parthians, before moving on to the scythians, and finally down into Macedon and Greece. Campaign Complete!

[Craterus]

In the PBM, I allied with Greece, Macedon, Scythia, Armenia, Egypt, Seleucids, Thrace and Parthia. Lol, eventually, these factions clashed and I had to choose between them.. I took most of Asia Minor though in my 10-year reign.. (I was the first.. and I'm a slow starter)

[orcorama]

Are you talking about the PBM orcorama or have you made your own? Either way, you are doing well, good luck!

I started my own

btw: i thought maybe since im having problems with the patch i could upload my game. that way i could sort of have a turn in the game without having to wressle with the patch?
just an idea

[Craterus]

Have you tried to upload the file from the site, or will it not work on vanilla?

Pontus have some nice cav and scythed chariots are always a bonus as long as they don't run amok.. Unfortunately, I hate early Pontic Infantry (Eastern Infantry, Hillmen) ...

[katank]

Pontus is not meant for infantry addicts. Don't you only care about cav, Craterus? Their unique jav cav is pretty good. Also, chariot archers are cool and annoying to the enemy. Now, only if they weren't so expensive for Pontus...

[Craterus]

I know, but I'm trying to expand my skills and become a bit more experienced with infantry, it's ok though, I'm not going to play Pontus for a while, I'm interested in trying out other factions..

[cunobelinus]

pontus is a really fun faction but hard there cavalry are the only thing that is good about them there infrantry are the worst in the game .i took armeinia and a bit of parthia in my first 20 turns . i hit egypt and helped the secluid empire but eventually egypt forced me bk and i am not the greatest with cavalry and infrantry are so poor that i didnt really beat the egyptians but held them back.thats as far as i got !!!

[Craterus]

Pontus get pikemen later in the game and bronze shields, I think you would be pretty close to getting them 20 years in...

[Anselm]

The key to winning with Pontus is to obey the age old saying, and not know just how to fight but when to fight. Pontus is by far my favourite faction. They can attack as fast as you could ever wish, and fight just as hard. You've got infantry to win sieges and a cavalry selection to drool over. Really I'm forced to ask, what's not to like?

Campaign

Pontus actually start in a fairly cushtee place. There are a few important things that I have found that often save my skin in campaigns:

1) Don't take on the Seleucids unless you have help. Not necessarily allies, but make sure there's at least one other country at war with them before you attempt any attack of your own. The Seleucid Empire, even in the early stages, can churn out enough Militia hoplites to really strain what will be mostly cavalry armies for you this early on in the game. Remember: Seleucid provinces effectively surround your land. So don't attack unless you're really sure your strong enough.

2) Use your mountains! The mountains surrounding and occupying your lands are a gift from the gods. Use them to your full advantage, block all available passes with forts, keep watch towers wherever you can to monitor your borders. The watch towers especially can be invaluable, sometimes the rough terrain can force armies to take really long routes to cover small distances so any advanced warning you can get is essential. Also forts at bridges can help, as several Seleucid invasion paths require your bridges to get to your cities.

3) Trade as Pontus can really be wonderful if you put a bit of work in. It can be tricky to balance all of the costs at first, but whilst maintaining a sizeable land army, try to expand your navy simultaneously. Send your diplomats all around the black sea. Thrace will normally trade with you, Macedonia aren't too far and there are even a couple of Greek Cities which are within trade range if I remember correctly. At the same time, rebel provinces around the black sea can be taken, allowing for internal trade in your now growing nation.

All in all these should get you a fairly stable foundation to build your Empire upon. Starting by the black sea, once people decide to expand you're surrounded by other nations, so be decisive when you strike because little Pontus' economy can be easily strained fighting too many wars at once. If you can trap a last 2-3 Seleucid provinces where they'll not be much of a threat then they'll give you a nice cushion inbetween Pontus and the Egyptians. It should take the Egyptians a few turns to completely wipe out the last Seleucid forces, by which time you can prepare an attack to invade Egypt or just strengthen your new southern border.

Battle Map

On the battle map, Pontus can be nearly invincible. You have to look at Pontus with a completely different angle if you've just come from playing as Romans or any other nation with poweful, heavy infantry-reliant armies. You have to change all of your tactics.

1) Infantry. Contrary to first appearances, Pontus does actually have infantry. Not good infantry, not at first anyway, but it is there so feel free to use it as garrison units and so on. A word of warning, don't use it on open battle fields. Unless you're pretty lucky, then your infantry suffer badly at the hands of almost everyone, stoping just short of peasants. The Seleucid phalanxes of Milita Hoplites will certainly eat them for breakfast. Its a cruel world, you know. Later on you can get some decent enough pike phalanxes, and these can be a good core for a defensive army and are absolutely invaluable for sieges; great for clearing streets and gateways when supported with cavalry. Your skirmishers aren't really any worse than any one else's but don't try them out against archers, the javelins just don't work.

2 Cavalry. Cavalry, cavalry, cavalry and yet more cavalry. They are the essence, the life of warfare with Pontus. You have at your command some of the most versatile and useful units in the entire game. Your cavalry as Pontus has two great advantages over most other nations. In combat the light Pontus cavalry are better than horse archers, yet still have the ranged attack from their javelins. The heavy cavalry is a force to be reckoned with in melee alone, but when you consider that they have javelins them selves then your armies cavalry doubles in worth; you have a melee assault force equal or probably greater than the enemy does, and they all double up as missile troops. You can't go wrong.

Tactics. With your cavalry, your tactics must be built around movement. Its an advantage your horsemen will have over the majority of enemies on the field. Against infantry use their footwork against them, especially phalanxes. Run close to them and dart away, force them to turn around and break out of phalanx , all the while your horsemen will be throwing javelins and constantly demoralising the infantry. When they start to tire (this should be long before your horsemen) attack them with pairs of units, get them to chase one unit and then charge them from the rear with another. Rinse and repeat. No more infantry.

Against cavalry, the story is similar. When they are stronger than your cavalry run and skirmish, drop the numbers before engaging and if they're heavy cavalry, chasing your light cavalry around will soon tire them out and cost them lots of men. Really the tactics are the same. Keep running and keep throwing, make sure your javelins do most of the work. After being shot up for 15 mins or so, a well placed charge will disrupt or route almost any unit in the game.

Hope its helpful to you all, I love this nation, they completely rock.

Anselm

So i'm an enthusiast. Shoot me

[orcorama]

just a few notes regarding my experience:

1) I aggressively attacked the two rebel provinces next to my starting two provinces

2) I took tarsus and this was a very important base for lanching further attacks on the seleucids

3) I took antioch and the other seleucid province to the west

4) I allied with greek cities until they betrayed me but that was not til i was very powerful

5) I took sidon from egypt

6) I tricked the full stack out of jerusalem to attack my one unit blockade so I could bribe the captain led force

7) while i was battling around jerusalem I slipped a merc army led by a bribed family member in and using many spys captured memphis. this was the turning point in fighting Egypt after this they crumbled

8) i took alexandria and petra and the second last egyptian province.

9) I finally wiped egypt off the map took halicarnassus, and bribed the greek city in turkey so i fully control asia minor down the coast to egypt

10) now with egypt gone and the seleucids down to 1 province I dont know where to go. my armies are scattered but i do have a good sized calvery force on the border with numidia


numidia is off to fight scipii and lose but it leaves the way open for me to sweep acros the desert. parthia is rather weak other than 1 large army in armenian lands
im not at war with anyone. I have over 100k in the bank

as for the battle side:
other than sieges and the some in the very beginning i used purly calvery. they can travel further and they are excellent on the field. i took down countless units of militia hoplites from seleucids and greece. i love a mix of light calvery for speed and stamina and heavy calvery for power plus their javlins. I dont need any archers!
i have not upgraded beyond heavy calvery but i hear their capadocian calvery is really good
i have some 30+ provinces but im not sure where to go. I havnt met with rome yet but the brutii havnt even taken athens, corinth, or sparta or thermon and actually the greek cities own all these not macedon.
for some reason i hesitate from starting a war with armenia or parthia even though i probably could defeat them. maybe i hesitate from fighting the parthian/armenian calvery as i have mostly only fought infantry up to this point and as for the egyptian chariots i threw all the javlins i had at them and then charged with 3-5 units of calvery.

pontus has awome units and the potential to control all the middle east
by the time u reach my point in the campaign u will be vary powerful and advanced and will be able to defeat rome, macedon, greece, thrace, parthia, or whoever comes knocking or whoever you decide to invade

sorry for any spelling errors

[amazon77]

Well, i'm playing a pontus campaign for a couple of days myself on N/N mode.

On the world map, i attacked the 3 rebel regions, being Ancyra, Nicomedia and Halicarnassus, as they are easy to take. I was then going to take the Chersonesos town (Bosphorus region, modern day Crimea), but was attacked by the Sel's, so i got Sardis from them. Greeks also attacked me, i got Pergamum and landed an army in Rodes and layed siege, but they asked for a truce and i accepted (lol for the first time in my life, perhaps as i'm greek ). The macedonians had landed an army in asia minor and attacked me, but i killed them then as i made an alliance with scythes who were allied to them, we had a truce. Anyway now i've got all the Sel's regions (Seleucia town needs another turn to surrender as i siege the rebels - Selucid last king died and the city went rebel). I'm on a war with Egypt, sieging Bostra and have incaded and sieging Alexandria. In the next few turns i'll kill them off the map, they dont really have any armies left, just some scattered 3-4 unit armies. Unfortunately i haven't got Cyprus yet. It's my preference not to kill anyone in the captured cities (only did in Jerusalem and enslaved in another one but not Egyptian to boost my 2 starting Sinope and Mazzaka early on.), thus i usually stay in the city for 2-3 turns 'tll i built some peasents as guard. Armenia was killed (saddly i had to bribe a big army of them as they cought me off guard and were sieging Sinope ). The parthians also lost Arsakia and are going to loose Susa in a couple of turns.
I'm allied with all the romans, germans, numidians, scythians, spanish and thracians. The year is 245 summer, the bank is at 174338, earning about 10,000 a turn. My armies are mainly mercenaries, save from some phalanxes and of course l/h cav and scythed/archer chariots.
As far as battles, i never had a problem, i use some inf to hold them in place, while jav's pepper them and then cav charges. This works against Seleucids better, while vs Egyptians i use merc camels fighters against their axemen cav, this unit has a lot of troops and is quite dangerous, but the camels work wonders Furthermore all the egyptian units have a combat bonus in deserts, which makes them quite tough, along with their numbers. If you haven't tried berber camel fighters (not the archers, these i dont find as usefull), you should, they rout horses easily. Scythed char's are also good vs horses, just dont send them alone to receive the charge, they kill but also die. Use some heavy pontic cav instead and then strike with the scythed. Char archers seem fantastic, but i didnt have a lot of success with them, perhaps against heavier infantry (read: Romans later on). Another notice, all these lands are infested with excellent merc units, cretans+1, rhodians+1, barbs+2, sarmatians, thracians, bastarnae and hoplites, also peltasts and cilician pirates. Make good use of them and especially the cretans/rhodians try to exp them, as they are fantastic and become even more so.
Only bad thing, my navy is almost non existant, but i usually only build it later.
All in all, i feel Pontus is a fun faction to play, not overpowered yet not too hard as there are easy early pickings in the form of rebels, the Seleucids go down easily, the greek city of Pergamum is isolated, all the wonders except Zeus in Corinth is in your reach, armenia is the same little kingdom at the start, parthia is easy as well. The only real challenge are the Egyptians, but when you kill them, you probably have the best empire possible in any region of the map, especially if you include the macedon and greek lands later on.