Playing The Greek Cities Question on Thermon.

[MiniKiller]

Should I just leave it? A huge stack of Brutti are coming for it. Should I make a dash for Athens? I captured Zeus and that land for Macadon already and feel I can beat them off (Espcially with Brutti there, Macadon will go after them aswell)

Scippi Broke our Aliance to grab Syracuse but they are besiging at the moment. Is it worth it to try and hold Thermon of dash for Athens? [Stil rebel a small force who I outnumber 3 to 1 (Macadon) are currently headed for it. Nice 3 way battle in the potential making]

Thanks.

[Basileus]

i would try to hold the brutii off thermon and apollonia, their trade gets a good boost otherwise, more money for them more troops heh, syracuse is tricky and costy but if you manage to hold them off remember that they will keep trying and so will the carthagians so either leave or go on the offensive and capture sicily for your self ;)

[Ktonos]

If you must choose Athens is far more importand city. Far more protected, great port position for trade and naval base.

[Samurai Waki]

I think Athens is the best trade city in the game, and in my Greek Campaign it seemed like a better option than surviving siege after siege against the Brutii.

[LordKhaine]

Athens is hugely important, you simply must try and take it. In my greek game, I just gave away Syracuse to Carthage. It made them happy and stopped our war, got rid of a province that wasnt cost effective to defend, and also worked against the romans. Win win win for me!

[sapi]

As the greeks, defending the sicillian province is easy with archers, so keep that.

Try to get peace with macidonia so you can concentrate on the brutii and their attacks. Rule the seas.

The key to overcoming the romans is to land in italy early. I have just taken all the cities up to rome - the scipii are destroyed and i am seiging the brutii's last city.....it's time to march on rome!

[JeromeGrasdyke]

As the greeks, defending the sicillian province is easy with archers, so keep that.

Try to get peace with macidonia so you can concentrate on the brutii and their attacks. Rule the seas.

The key to overcoming the romans is to land in italy early. I have just taken all the cities up to rome - the scipii are destroyed and i am seiging the brutii's last city.....it's time to march on rome!

There's quite a few ways to play the Greek Cities; I usually don't try to keep Syracuse and concentrate on Greece first - take Athens, attack the Macedonians, take Corinth, then start moving up towards Thessalonica in order to create a nice big group of unified provinces. Defend only against the Brutii at first, then attack them later after you have Thessalonica. Build roads so that you can move your troops quickly. Build lots of ports - the Greece area is a goldmine for sea-trade. Then I usually expand east from Pergamum and Rhodes... leaving the Romans to do their thing and tackle them later.

[sapi]

That's an interesting strategy, and i would have taken it but for three things:
1. The war with the Macodonians had turned cold, so i wasn't at risk there
2. Syracuse was extremely easy to hold, as the scipii attack with hastali, then get pumelled with arrows and retreat, all you need is 1 unit of hoplites to lure so the other units can get out, and
3. I wanted to secure my power base in greece, so i kept the romans busy on their soil.

After choosing to follow this path, i found that the AI romans don't upgrade their defences enough, and it only took a battering ram to capture all the southern cities in Italy. Now the scipii are dead, the brutii dieing, and i am safe. But in my conquest i saw the computer use a new tactic - forts. They used them to hold off my army outside the final brutii city and rome, as i could not advance until they died. This raises a question - is the AI programmed only to use forts in times of dire need?

I agree on the sea trade thing, the greeks certainly roll in the cash :)

[MiniKiller]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm leaning toward keeping Thermon now though I just dont know if I can. I'm thinking of leaving Syracuse but its a shame to give it up.

I posted this last night but I guess it didnt work...my faction leader died and his heir is guess where? In Syracuse!!! Of all places. so now I'm torn. Break the siege (Scippi have tons of troops and my forces are weakend from carthage attack) and get in my lil boat's and head for Athens or just send me leader out but then Syracuse isleft leaderless OR batttle it out. Just dont know if I'm ready for besigement after besigment by scippi. Now if a 3-way battle was in store HELL YA. I love those and wish to see more. I try n let them fight first then i take the weakend winner.

[Somebody Else]

Easy solution, take everything! Keep Syracuse, fending off the Scipii and Carthaginians until enough troops have been amassed to take Messana, and hold it (archers are the key) then take Lilybaeum. Meenwhile, keep a hold of Thermon (allow sieges to occur, then do multiple sallies to destroy the entire Brutii army with those Cretans. Charge up from Sparta to Corinth, and on to Athens, with a few hoplites. Then take Larissa, Thessalonica etc. etc. etc. Don't forget to invade Italy with the Scipii family members you should be bribing as they land to attempt to take Sicily.

[Ktonos]

Don't forget to capture Britania.