Hax
01-09-2010, 22:56
Have you always liked micromanagement?
Are you interested in killing your enemies in all kinds of climates?
Have you always felt like you wanted your own imperial cult?!
Then ARCHE SELEUKEIA might just be something for you!!!
Hello everyone!
I see myself as the resident AS specialist thingie, and with many threads running around about how to "properly" play a Seleucid campaign, I took it as my personal task to write a guide on how to play the Arche Seleukeia. I'll divide this guide in a few little paragraphs:
1) Up and downsides
2) Kickoff: Getting the campaign rolling
3) Units and such!
4) On the mid-campaign
5) Internal Problems and How to Deal with Them
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I - Up and downsides
In every campaign, there are many positive and negative sides. The Casse have nothing to do with any other faction for at least twenty years, the Romani have a well-protected and financially stable area, Epeiros is one of the few factions to get elephants west of India, Hayasdan and Pontos...well..let's say that there is no boredom in those campaigns, and Saka...nevermind.
But a campaign as the Arche Seleukeia is something really interesting! Let's mention a few things:
Upsides:
- Factional units available from Greece to India and from Tajikistan to Sudan
- No shortage of regional troops
- Control of the immensely rich Iranian plateau
- Control of the most advanced nation
Downsides:
- An overstretched empire, rife with corruption
- Enemies virtually everywhere
- A large enemy waiting to gnaw away at your Syrian cities, and one that control the rich provinces of Egypt!
Of the downsides that I mentioned, only the first one is something that might kill your campaign. Fighting against corruption is one of the most time-consuming (and sometimes unrewarding) aspects of a campaign in which you control a large portion of the map.
However, what's really important is the way you look at these "problems". When I was unused to dealing with corruption, I usually got really annoyed at the lack of income and quit my campaign somewhere in the 40's.
II - Kickoff: Getting the campaign running
There are a few basic tactics that you should remember when playing a Seleucid campaign. I've seen posts describing possibilities; letting your empire crumble, retreating to Anatolia/Babylonia/whatever, giving your eastern settlements away. Keep in mind though, that when you are roleplaying, you are actually the Basileos of the Seleucid Empire. I don't think that his/your subjects would have appreciated it if you just turned a blind eye to their suffering. Such an action would probably lead to your assassination.
What this guide will deal with is how to protect your empire without the unnecessary loss of cities. Therefore, I will now cut your empire in segments:
Anatolia
Syria
Babylonia
Persia I
Persia II
Margiana
Anatolia consists of these cities: Sardis, Ipsos, Mazaka
Syria consists of these cities: Antiocheia, Damaskos, Edessa
Babylonia consists of these cities: Karkathiokerta, Arbela, Seleukeia, Babylon, Charax
Persia I consists of these cities: Ekbatana, Susa
Persia II consists of these cities: Apameia, Zadrakata, Persepolis, Gabai, Karmana, Hekatompylos
Margiana consists of these cities: Asaak, Antiocheia-Margiana, Marakanda, Alexandreia-Eschate, Alexandreia-Ariana, Prophthasia
I will quickly say a couple of things about these provinces/segments:
Anatolia: Money-maker. Especially when you take the other cities (Tarsos, Side, Halikarnassos, Pergamon+, Ankyra+, Pokr-Hayk+)
Syria: You should try to hold on to these cities as good as you can. This is vital to keeping the Ptolemaioi away. Should Antiocheia fall, you will spend most your time, with limited resources, trying
to hold the Ptolemaioi out of Babylonia.
Babylonia: Don't lose these cities, especially Seleukeia and Babylon. Babylon starts out with a type IV government, but if I were you, I'd try and build a level I government, so you can access your sexy factional troops. Karkathiokerta is good for money, so keep it level IV and train a local governor over there: they are usually good at maintaining cities. Seleukeia and Babylon are important for your troops. Arbela is a good city to train Caucasian units. Also, don't forget about Charax!
Persia I: Susa and Ekbatana. Not much to see here. Just don't lose them. They don't have that many interesting regional/factional units, so you should probably build a lot of markets and schools in them, to train your family members when they come of age.
Persia II: These cities are absolutely vital. I'll make an updated map of what kinds of goodies you can find in these cities specifically, but seriously, you should hold on to these city. They have a lot of mines and (especially during the midgame) will give a huge boost to your economy, when properly handeled.
Margiana: These cities are the trampolines for the steppes: you can find phalangitai, thureophoroi, peltastai as well as horse archers and foot archers here. These cities you will find important too (especially in the late game, when you have to take those pesky Saka cities in the middle of nowhere).
This is the guide I use when I try to get my Seleucid campaign up and running:
Turn 1
1) Move the capital to Ekbatana/Susa/Seleukeia.
2) Lower taxes in whatever city needs them (usually these cities are Alexandreia-Eschate, Marakanda, Hekatompylos, Asaak*, Sardis and Ipsos).
3) Raise taxes wherever possible. Automatically raise taxes in Seleukeia, Babylon, Charax, Susa, Ekbatana, Persepolis, Apameia, Gabai. Yellow faces are good, blue are not really okay, red is bad (but you knew that).
4) Drain Antiocheia-Margiane of (most) troops; send them north to Marakanda. Stabilize Marakanda, then stabilize Alexandreia-Eschate. Build sanitization in Alexandreia-Eschate/one other city.
5) Lose Asaak. Seriously. The Pahlava will assist you with this. I've tried to hold on to that city, and it's virtually impossible.
At this point, an alternative advise is given by Titus Marcellus Scato:
1. On Turn 1, move the archer unit out of Asaak, and ATTACK the Pahlavan army with it! Why? Because attacking Pahlava will allow you to keep Baktria, Hayasdan, and Pontus as your allies! Now, fight the battle yourself. Put the archers on top of a hill, but near the treeline. Switch off skirmish mode. Now, fire on the horse archer units as soon as they come into range, and ignore the Pahlava FM when he charges, just keep shooting. You should kill nearly as many men as you lose yourself, despite being massively outnumbered and outclassed.
5b) While Asaak is being besieged, build walls in Hekatompylos. Also build walls in Marakanda and A. Eschateia
6) Take all units (save the akontistai) from Sardis and Ipsos, move them to Antiocheia. Take your peltastai from Mazaka, do the same. Take your phalangitai and sphendonetai from Damaskos and move them towards Antiocheia as well. End turn.
Turn 2
8) Check your cities (this takes some time) and build sanitizations wherever possible (as far as your treasury allows)
9) Do anything to prevent cities from rebelling (but don't move your capital!). Especially Eschateia is a difficult city to properly keep under control, but y'know..you can get over that one. It's not the end of the world if you lose it.
10) Spend all your money on improvements, don't bother with units. I have a list of good buildings that I will write down at the end of the page
11) End turn
Turn 3
12) You should now have some more money. A good investment to make would probably be to build a mine somewhere. I'd say Gabai. It's pretty safe and not that far from your capital. And it'll give you a good economical boost in eight turns.
13) Your soldiers in Anatolia should have probably stumbled upon Tarsos by now. If I were you, I'd take that army from Antiocheia and merge them with those from Anatolia at the bridge near Tarsos. There, you have quite a sizable force now. Siege (but don't assault) Tarsos. It'll surrender anyway.
14) Be mindful of your borders, try and check what the Ptolemaioi are doing. Same goes for the Pahlava.
Turn 4
15) You have lost Asaak by now, but your walls in Hekatompylos should be fine by now.
16) Be a bit creative, use your spies a bit, try to get trade-rights with KH and Epeiros, the basic stuff.
Turn 5
17) Here be boredom, generally. A good thing to do now is to improve your military structures in Apameia. Focus on defensive buildings in Zadrakata and Hekatompylos for now. You can get pantodapoi phalangitai in Apameia, which you should probably send to Hekatompylos (2/3 units are fine)
18) Continue sieging Tarsos...to..
Turn 6
19) Tarsos captured (if you're not as incompetent as Alexandros Argeades, that is). Exterminate 'em. This isn't really a time to be pleasant. Hey, if they wanted to live, they should have surrendered control of Mikras Asia a long time ago.
20) Take as many soldiers as you can from Tarsos to Side and do the same (eg, besiege).
Turn 7
21) Is everything still okay? What's difficult about playing the AS is that you have to be diverse, as your empire. You need to be able to switch from focusing on one front directly to the other.
Turn 8
22) Not much to see here, move along, build more improvements (don't waste any money on units, seriously)
Turn 9
23) Mine's done! Or at least, it's supposed to be. You should notice an increase in your treasury. What's good about having one mine done is the fact that you now have more money to spend on..more mines! Seriously, mines are very very very imporant. VERY IMPORTANT. I think you already knew this, though!
Turn 10, 11, 12, etc
24) Exterminate Side. Check your Syrian front. Once you have taken Side, you can start to focus on other things than just buildings. I usually send an army towards Sidon no later than summer 267 BC. From Sidon, it's just a short trip to Hierosolyma. Take that city, and you can effectively check the Ptolemaioi. From there, you control the Levant. Time for your first naval invasion: Salamis. Salamis is great; it has mines, a great trading position and even the possibility to a (basic) fleet. If you have succesfully run through these steps, things will probably start to look up for you.
But Hax! I lost Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate, and the Pahlava are sieging both Zadrakata and Hekatompylos! What should I do?!
There are several ways to play a good game whilst "losing" Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate. Titus Marcellus Scato explains:
2. I'd still be inclined to give Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate to Baktria on Turn 2, destroying all buildings first and moving your troops out. Why? Two reasons.
A, it gives Baktria a border with Pahlava. If Pahlava attacks Marakanda, they'll end up at war with Baktria, which would be great from your point of view, you could use the help! Also, it removes your border with the Saka, enabling you to make peace with the Saka. You don't want to fight the Saka until after Pahlava has been destroyed.
B, giving these territories to Baktria forces Baktria into a savage war with the Saka. The big Baktrian full stack army, instead of going after Kophen and from there into India, will likely be recalled to go to Sogdiana to fight the Saka instead! This stops Baktria expanding into India and making themselves rich, and keeps them busy fighting the Saka on your behalf, which is what you want them to do.
The idea is to sucker Baktria into fighting against the Saka and Pahlava instead of going to India. To accomplish this, it's worth giving them two poor provinces. It's a strategic trade-off. They are your ally, and nominally still your subjects, so it's still good roleplaying to give them territory to defend.
Well eh..don't forget that a large part of running through the first turns as Seleukeia also has something to do with luck. The basic units you'll need when defending cities are these:
Archers
Slingers
Phalangitai
Usually just two of each, and you'll be fine. Use your phalangitai to block off the streets. Archers behind them, slingers on/near the walls.
Also, losing Alexandreia-Eschate and Marakanda isn't horrible. I managed to lose Zadrakata as well. Don't forget that with basic planning and tactics you can get far. Take units from cities in which they are useless and move them to cities where they are to be used properly.
In the worst case, (which is basically losing all your cities save Seleukeia, with a debt of -200000, an incompetent lame and wounded faction leader and three fullstacks of Ptolemaioi and Pahlava knocking at your door) just start a new campaign. There's no shame in that.
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Some more basic tips!
- Sanitizations are your friends. So are askleipieion. They give ten percent happiness bonus to health, cost only 1600 and a year (4 turns) to complete.
- Temples: Seleukos and Mithras are good for your outer regions. Inner regions, Marduk and Artemis are good. Seleukos and Mithras give law bonuses (which combat corruption), Marduk and Artemis give a bonus to your income (as well as a stunning 30% happiness bonus for Marduk on tier 3)
- Units: Don't restrict yourself to marching your expensive Klerouchoi and Pezhetairoi from Seleukeia and Antiocheia! Use whatever the land gives you; there are great units available in Iran and the steppes.
- Is your city happy? Tax 'em. Still happy? Tax 'em more.
- Got a bit of an overflow of money? Mines mines mines mines mines.
- As soon as your core provinces are making more money (due to mines mines mines mines mines), build garrisons. They will battle corruption, causing you to make more money, as well as give you a happiness bonus!
- Build paved roads in your safe provinces in the core of your empire to connect them and send armies faster.*
- Mines = Temples to Seleukos; you'll be minting coins in those provinces after all so they'd better be dedicated to the founder of AS. Rp-wise, that's how I justify tearing down some temples.*
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III - Units and such!
In this paragraph, I will discuss the numerous units you have. Because hell, you have a lot. There are at least six different types of archers, dependent on the region you're in, as well as factional units recruitable virtually anywhere, east of Kyrene and Dalmatia. I'll go over some basic army compositions here:
City garrisons:
Limit these to skirmishers (akontistai, gand-i palta, bnei shevet 'Arabim) or general cheap units (pantodapoi).
City defenders:
There is a basic composition that will prove incredibly useful and cheap.
2 units of pantodapoi phalangitai
2 units of archers (depending on your region)
2 units of slingers (depending on your region)
Pantodapoi Phalangitai are great. Why? They:
- Can block off city streets
- Are virtually impervious to arrows from the front(!)
- Have AP (armor-piercing) secondary weapons
Standing armies [Full stacks](these are the ones I use, at least. I've found them to be satisfying)
Early game [265 - 245]:
2x Family Member
2x Klerouchoi Phalangitai
4x Pantodapoi Phalangitai
2x Thureophoroi
2x regional line infantry
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Prodromoi
2x Hippakontistai
Mid-game [245 - 225]
2x Family Member
2x Pezhetairoi
4x Klerouchoi Phalangitai
2x Thorakitai
2x Thureophoroi/regional line infantry
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Lonchophoroi Hippeis
2x Prodromoi
Late-game [225 - 205]
2x Family Member
1x Hetairoi
2x Argyraspides
4x Pezhetairoi
2x Thorakitai
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Lonchophoroi Hippeis
2x Prodromoi
1x Elephantes Indikoi
Of course, by no means feel restricted by these compositions! I change them around a lot myself (having different kinds of armies dependent on the time of invasion, the region of invasion, the commanding officer (one with a fondness for horses I give more cavalry, one who has campaigned in India might get his own Elephant corps, the Royal Army consists of more Argyraspides and Hypaspistai, etc). You can be creative! Build different armies based on traits, ethnicities, experience, etc.
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IV - On the Mid-campaign
Around the year 250, you should have reached the mid-campaign. The middle part of the campaign is marked by invasions of Egypt, the reclaiming of your lost eastern provinces and the annexation of Anatolia.
Around this time you can experiment some more with your army compositions and many of your cities will have at least reached the minor city level. Paved roads are always good to build, as they decrease corruption and improve trade and marching speed.
V - Internal Problems and How To Deal With Them
There are a few problems that you might encounter when playing as Seleukeia. I'll go over a few of them:
Brigands and pirates: Annoying. Just send out small stacks to deal with them. Autoresolve, play them yourself, it doesn't really matter. They generally won't attack you, but they mess up your trading income.
Corruption: This is a large problem. I mentioned it a few times before, but I'll go over it clearly now:
Almost all temples available to the Seleucid Empire give an increase to law. Law helps to decrease corruption. There are two temples, specifically, that I usually build to deal with this; those to Seleukos or those to Mithras. For more information, check this wonderful guide by Ludens (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=96629). There are other ways to improve law, though:
1) Build garrisons (the building, I don't mean troops). The first tier gives a 5% bonus, the second a 10%
2) Build colonies. Same bonuses go for these as for the garrisons
3) Use competent and skillful governors. If they have a good management rating (3 and higher), you'll notice an immense increase in income.
Unrest: This might be a huge factor. Especially in your border cities, try to keep at least one spy in to check for other spies. Since your empire is already quite large, cities might easily rebel. Apart from enemy spies, there might also be some other causes: a governor with the "intolerant of other Gods" trait is one that is absolutely horrible and seems to occur too often for my liking. So try to keep track of what your family members are doing. My current ex-faction heir is a miserable failure, so I've sent him to fight Makedonians in some hillbilly Thracian village somewhere.
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*advice given by Poulp'
So this was my basic guide! If anyone has questions or comments or wants to say that my guide totally sucks, feel free to do so.
Are you interested in killing your enemies in all kinds of climates?
Have you always felt like you wanted your own imperial cult?!
Then ARCHE SELEUKEIA might just be something for you!!!
Hello everyone!
I see myself as the resident AS specialist thingie, and with many threads running around about how to "properly" play a Seleucid campaign, I took it as my personal task to write a guide on how to play the Arche Seleukeia. I'll divide this guide in a few little paragraphs:
1) Up and downsides
2) Kickoff: Getting the campaign rolling
3) Units and such!
4) On the mid-campaign
5) Internal Problems and How to Deal with Them
;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;
I - Up and downsides
In every campaign, there are many positive and negative sides. The Casse have nothing to do with any other faction for at least twenty years, the Romani have a well-protected and financially stable area, Epeiros is one of the few factions to get elephants west of India, Hayasdan and Pontos...well..let's say that there is no boredom in those campaigns, and Saka...nevermind.
But a campaign as the Arche Seleukeia is something really interesting! Let's mention a few things:
Upsides:
- Factional units available from Greece to India and from Tajikistan to Sudan
- No shortage of regional troops
- Control of the immensely rich Iranian plateau
- Control of the most advanced nation
Downsides:
- An overstretched empire, rife with corruption
- Enemies virtually everywhere
- A large enemy waiting to gnaw away at your Syrian cities, and one that control the rich provinces of Egypt!
Of the downsides that I mentioned, only the first one is something that might kill your campaign. Fighting against corruption is one of the most time-consuming (and sometimes unrewarding) aspects of a campaign in which you control a large portion of the map.
However, what's really important is the way you look at these "problems". When I was unused to dealing with corruption, I usually got really annoyed at the lack of income and quit my campaign somewhere in the 40's.
II - Kickoff: Getting the campaign running
There are a few basic tactics that you should remember when playing a Seleucid campaign. I've seen posts describing possibilities; letting your empire crumble, retreating to Anatolia/Babylonia/whatever, giving your eastern settlements away. Keep in mind though, that when you are roleplaying, you are actually the Basileos of the Seleucid Empire. I don't think that his/your subjects would have appreciated it if you just turned a blind eye to their suffering. Such an action would probably lead to your assassination.
What this guide will deal with is how to protect your empire without the unnecessary loss of cities. Therefore, I will now cut your empire in segments:
Anatolia
Syria
Babylonia
Persia I
Persia II
Margiana
Anatolia consists of these cities: Sardis, Ipsos, Mazaka
Syria consists of these cities: Antiocheia, Damaskos, Edessa
Babylonia consists of these cities: Karkathiokerta, Arbela, Seleukeia, Babylon, Charax
Persia I consists of these cities: Ekbatana, Susa
Persia II consists of these cities: Apameia, Zadrakata, Persepolis, Gabai, Karmana, Hekatompylos
Margiana consists of these cities: Asaak, Antiocheia-Margiana, Marakanda, Alexandreia-Eschate, Alexandreia-Ariana, Prophthasia
I will quickly say a couple of things about these provinces/segments:
Anatolia: Money-maker. Especially when you take the other cities (Tarsos, Side, Halikarnassos, Pergamon+, Ankyra+, Pokr-Hayk+)
Syria: You should try to hold on to these cities as good as you can. This is vital to keeping the Ptolemaioi away. Should Antiocheia fall, you will spend most your time, with limited resources, trying
to hold the Ptolemaioi out of Babylonia.
Babylonia: Don't lose these cities, especially Seleukeia and Babylon. Babylon starts out with a type IV government, but if I were you, I'd try and build a level I government, so you can access your sexy factional troops. Karkathiokerta is good for money, so keep it level IV and train a local governor over there: they are usually good at maintaining cities. Seleukeia and Babylon are important for your troops. Arbela is a good city to train Caucasian units. Also, don't forget about Charax!
Persia I: Susa and Ekbatana. Not much to see here. Just don't lose them. They don't have that many interesting regional/factional units, so you should probably build a lot of markets and schools in them, to train your family members when they come of age.
Persia II: These cities are absolutely vital. I'll make an updated map of what kinds of goodies you can find in these cities specifically, but seriously, you should hold on to these city. They have a lot of mines and (especially during the midgame) will give a huge boost to your economy, when properly handeled.
Margiana: These cities are the trampolines for the steppes: you can find phalangitai, thureophoroi, peltastai as well as horse archers and foot archers here. These cities you will find important too (especially in the late game, when you have to take those pesky Saka cities in the middle of nowhere).
This is the guide I use when I try to get my Seleucid campaign up and running:
Turn 1
1) Move the capital to Ekbatana/Susa/Seleukeia.
2) Lower taxes in whatever city needs them (usually these cities are Alexandreia-Eschate, Marakanda, Hekatompylos, Asaak*, Sardis and Ipsos).
3) Raise taxes wherever possible. Automatically raise taxes in Seleukeia, Babylon, Charax, Susa, Ekbatana, Persepolis, Apameia, Gabai. Yellow faces are good, blue are not really okay, red is bad (but you knew that).
4) Drain Antiocheia-Margiane of (most) troops; send them north to Marakanda. Stabilize Marakanda, then stabilize Alexandreia-Eschate. Build sanitization in Alexandreia-Eschate/one other city.
5) Lose Asaak. Seriously. The Pahlava will assist you with this. I've tried to hold on to that city, and it's virtually impossible.
At this point, an alternative advise is given by Titus Marcellus Scato:
1. On Turn 1, move the archer unit out of Asaak, and ATTACK the Pahlavan army with it! Why? Because attacking Pahlava will allow you to keep Baktria, Hayasdan, and Pontus as your allies! Now, fight the battle yourself. Put the archers on top of a hill, but near the treeline. Switch off skirmish mode. Now, fire on the horse archer units as soon as they come into range, and ignore the Pahlava FM when he charges, just keep shooting. You should kill nearly as many men as you lose yourself, despite being massively outnumbered and outclassed.
5b) While Asaak is being besieged, build walls in Hekatompylos. Also build walls in Marakanda and A. Eschateia
6) Take all units (save the akontistai) from Sardis and Ipsos, move them to Antiocheia. Take your peltastai from Mazaka, do the same. Take your phalangitai and sphendonetai from Damaskos and move them towards Antiocheia as well. End turn.
Turn 2
8) Check your cities (this takes some time) and build sanitizations wherever possible (as far as your treasury allows)
9) Do anything to prevent cities from rebelling (but don't move your capital!). Especially Eschateia is a difficult city to properly keep under control, but y'know..you can get over that one. It's not the end of the world if you lose it.
10) Spend all your money on improvements, don't bother with units. I have a list of good buildings that I will write down at the end of the page
11) End turn
Turn 3
12) You should now have some more money. A good investment to make would probably be to build a mine somewhere. I'd say Gabai. It's pretty safe and not that far from your capital. And it'll give you a good economical boost in eight turns.
13) Your soldiers in Anatolia should have probably stumbled upon Tarsos by now. If I were you, I'd take that army from Antiocheia and merge them with those from Anatolia at the bridge near Tarsos. There, you have quite a sizable force now. Siege (but don't assault) Tarsos. It'll surrender anyway.
14) Be mindful of your borders, try and check what the Ptolemaioi are doing. Same goes for the Pahlava.
Turn 4
15) You have lost Asaak by now, but your walls in Hekatompylos should be fine by now.
16) Be a bit creative, use your spies a bit, try to get trade-rights with KH and Epeiros, the basic stuff.
Turn 5
17) Here be boredom, generally. A good thing to do now is to improve your military structures in Apameia. Focus on defensive buildings in Zadrakata and Hekatompylos for now. You can get pantodapoi phalangitai in Apameia, which you should probably send to Hekatompylos (2/3 units are fine)
18) Continue sieging Tarsos...to..
Turn 6
19) Tarsos captured (if you're not as incompetent as Alexandros Argeades, that is). Exterminate 'em. This isn't really a time to be pleasant. Hey, if they wanted to live, they should have surrendered control of Mikras Asia a long time ago.
20) Take as many soldiers as you can from Tarsos to Side and do the same (eg, besiege).
Turn 7
21) Is everything still okay? What's difficult about playing the AS is that you have to be diverse, as your empire. You need to be able to switch from focusing on one front directly to the other.
Turn 8
22) Not much to see here, move along, build more improvements (don't waste any money on units, seriously)
Turn 9
23) Mine's done! Or at least, it's supposed to be. You should notice an increase in your treasury. What's good about having one mine done is the fact that you now have more money to spend on..more mines! Seriously, mines are very very very imporant. VERY IMPORTANT. I think you already knew this, though!
Turn 10, 11, 12, etc
24) Exterminate Side. Check your Syrian front. Once you have taken Side, you can start to focus on other things than just buildings. I usually send an army towards Sidon no later than summer 267 BC. From Sidon, it's just a short trip to Hierosolyma. Take that city, and you can effectively check the Ptolemaioi. From there, you control the Levant. Time for your first naval invasion: Salamis. Salamis is great; it has mines, a great trading position and even the possibility to a (basic) fleet. If you have succesfully run through these steps, things will probably start to look up for you.
But Hax! I lost Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate, and the Pahlava are sieging both Zadrakata and Hekatompylos! What should I do?!
There are several ways to play a good game whilst "losing" Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate. Titus Marcellus Scato explains:
2. I'd still be inclined to give Marakanda and Alexandreia-Eschate to Baktria on Turn 2, destroying all buildings first and moving your troops out. Why? Two reasons.
A, it gives Baktria a border with Pahlava. If Pahlava attacks Marakanda, they'll end up at war with Baktria, which would be great from your point of view, you could use the help! Also, it removes your border with the Saka, enabling you to make peace with the Saka. You don't want to fight the Saka until after Pahlava has been destroyed.
B, giving these territories to Baktria forces Baktria into a savage war with the Saka. The big Baktrian full stack army, instead of going after Kophen and from there into India, will likely be recalled to go to Sogdiana to fight the Saka instead! This stops Baktria expanding into India and making themselves rich, and keeps them busy fighting the Saka on your behalf, which is what you want them to do.
The idea is to sucker Baktria into fighting against the Saka and Pahlava instead of going to India. To accomplish this, it's worth giving them two poor provinces. It's a strategic trade-off. They are your ally, and nominally still your subjects, so it's still good roleplaying to give them territory to defend.
Well eh..don't forget that a large part of running through the first turns as Seleukeia also has something to do with luck. The basic units you'll need when defending cities are these:
Archers
Slingers
Phalangitai
Usually just two of each, and you'll be fine. Use your phalangitai to block off the streets. Archers behind them, slingers on/near the walls.
Also, losing Alexandreia-Eschate and Marakanda isn't horrible. I managed to lose Zadrakata as well. Don't forget that with basic planning and tactics you can get far. Take units from cities in which they are useless and move them to cities where they are to be used properly.
In the worst case, (which is basically losing all your cities save Seleukeia, with a debt of -200000, an incompetent lame and wounded faction leader and three fullstacks of Ptolemaioi and Pahlava knocking at your door) just start a new campaign. There's no shame in that.
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Some more basic tips!
- Sanitizations are your friends. So are askleipieion. They give ten percent happiness bonus to health, cost only 1600 and a year (4 turns) to complete.
- Temples: Seleukos and Mithras are good for your outer regions. Inner regions, Marduk and Artemis are good. Seleukos and Mithras give law bonuses (which combat corruption), Marduk and Artemis give a bonus to your income (as well as a stunning 30% happiness bonus for Marduk on tier 3)
- Units: Don't restrict yourself to marching your expensive Klerouchoi and Pezhetairoi from Seleukeia and Antiocheia! Use whatever the land gives you; there are great units available in Iran and the steppes.
- Is your city happy? Tax 'em. Still happy? Tax 'em more.
- Got a bit of an overflow of money? Mines mines mines mines mines.
- As soon as your core provinces are making more money (due to mines mines mines mines mines), build garrisons. They will battle corruption, causing you to make more money, as well as give you a happiness bonus!
- Build paved roads in your safe provinces in the core of your empire to connect them and send armies faster.*
- Mines = Temples to Seleukos; you'll be minting coins in those provinces after all so they'd better be dedicated to the founder of AS. Rp-wise, that's how I justify tearing down some temples.*
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III - Units and such!
In this paragraph, I will discuss the numerous units you have. Because hell, you have a lot. There are at least six different types of archers, dependent on the region you're in, as well as factional units recruitable virtually anywhere, east of Kyrene and Dalmatia. I'll go over some basic army compositions here:
City garrisons:
Limit these to skirmishers (akontistai, gand-i palta, bnei shevet 'Arabim) or general cheap units (pantodapoi).
City defenders:
There is a basic composition that will prove incredibly useful and cheap.
2 units of pantodapoi phalangitai
2 units of archers (depending on your region)
2 units of slingers (depending on your region)
Pantodapoi Phalangitai are great. Why? They:
- Can block off city streets
- Are virtually impervious to arrows from the front(!)
- Have AP (armor-piercing) secondary weapons
Standing armies [Full stacks](these are the ones I use, at least. I've found them to be satisfying)
Early game [265 - 245]:
2x Family Member
2x Klerouchoi Phalangitai
4x Pantodapoi Phalangitai
2x Thureophoroi
2x regional line infantry
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Prodromoi
2x Hippakontistai
Mid-game [245 - 225]
2x Family Member
2x Pezhetairoi
4x Klerouchoi Phalangitai
2x Thorakitai
2x Thureophoroi/regional line infantry
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Lonchophoroi Hippeis
2x Prodromoi
Late-game [225 - 205]
2x Family Member
1x Hetairoi
2x Argyraspides
4x Pezhetairoi
2x Thorakitai
2x regional archers
2x regional slingers
2x Lonchophoroi Hippeis
2x Prodromoi
1x Elephantes Indikoi
Of course, by no means feel restricted by these compositions! I change them around a lot myself (having different kinds of armies dependent on the time of invasion, the region of invasion, the commanding officer (one with a fondness for horses I give more cavalry, one who has campaigned in India might get his own Elephant corps, the Royal Army consists of more Argyraspides and Hypaspistai, etc). You can be creative! Build different armies based on traits, ethnicities, experience, etc.
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IV - On the Mid-campaign
Around the year 250, you should have reached the mid-campaign. The middle part of the campaign is marked by invasions of Egypt, the reclaiming of your lost eastern provinces and the annexation of Anatolia.
Around this time you can experiment some more with your army compositions and many of your cities will have at least reached the minor city level. Paved roads are always good to build, as they decrease corruption and improve trade and marching speed.
V - Internal Problems and How To Deal With Them
There are a few problems that you might encounter when playing as Seleukeia. I'll go over a few of them:
Brigands and pirates: Annoying. Just send out small stacks to deal with them. Autoresolve, play them yourself, it doesn't really matter. They generally won't attack you, but they mess up your trading income.
Corruption: This is a large problem. I mentioned it a few times before, but I'll go over it clearly now:
Almost all temples available to the Seleucid Empire give an increase to law. Law helps to decrease corruption. There are two temples, specifically, that I usually build to deal with this; those to Seleukos or those to Mithras. For more information, check this wonderful guide by Ludens (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=96629). There are other ways to improve law, though:
1) Build garrisons (the building, I don't mean troops). The first tier gives a 5% bonus, the second a 10%
2) Build colonies. Same bonuses go for these as for the garrisons
3) Use competent and skillful governors. If they have a good management rating (3 and higher), you'll notice an immense increase in income.
Unrest: This might be a huge factor. Especially in your border cities, try to keep at least one spy in to check for other spies. Since your empire is already quite large, cities might easily rebel. Apart from enemy spies, there might also be some other causes: a governor with the "intolerant of other Gods" trait is one that is absolutely horrible and seems to occur too often for my liking. So try to keep track of what your family members are doing. My current ex-faction heir is a miserable failure, so I've sent him to fight Makedonians in some hillbilly Thracian village somewhere.
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*advice given by Poulp'
So this was my basic guide! If anyone has questions or comments or wants to say that my guide totally sucks, feel free to do so.