Pontus " Thats what we call a good Start "

Hi Everyone !

I just started a Campaign with Pontus ! I am new to EB and to this Forum but reading some Pontus Guides really makes me wanna write my own small Pontus Guide to chare my expierences with you !

If u want some challenge and you want to be the "twisted Nerve " in the ears of the big Factions u want a difficult starting Position, Pontus is a good choice ! You have to be smart in Diplomacy and be carefull in choosen your targets otherwise u can end up in war with AS , Ptolemaios ,KH and Macedon !


This is just a small guide how to make some quick Mnari and to get your Empire on a good way in the first 10 rounds :laugh4:

The basic army i work with, to get the Eleutheroi citys around me consists of 4 Hellenic Native Phalanx men and 4 caucasian archers ( they are cheap and have the same missile attack (6) like Kretan archers )

First Round

First of all we need to dispand some Units ! I allways dispand the cavalry first they are really too expensive and we dont need them in the beginning ! also i dispand the skirmisher units and the slingers ! If u want u can keep the slingers for your first siege !

Now we have 6 Hellenic Phalanx Pikemen and +- 1 slinger + 3 Generals !

Just leave the grandpa of the Pontic Empire your Faction leader in your capital Amaseia and raise the taxes until 0.5 % population grow build some roads , form an army consists of 4 Hellenic Phalanx Pikemen and 1 General (the one nearby Amaseia) and attack Mazaka ! Move your second army consists of your third General+ 2 Hellenic Native Phalanx +- 1 slinger ! in direction of the siegeing army !

Look around for ure spy and your dilpomat ! Move the spy in direction to Mazaka and the Diplomat to Tarsos ! Because we dont want to have war with SA and Ptolemaio ! In the next round we gonna try to get Ceasefire with Ptolemaio but not for Free :inquisitive:

2-10 Rounds

Its time to make some profit out of the war between Ptolemaio and the AS !

We dont want to have war with both of them and they really have some other problems then to take care about small poorly Pontus :)

So ask the Ptolomaios for Ceasefire and a single Payment of 10k Mnari :) They gonna do it and then get trade rights !

Now move ure Diplomat to Antiocheia ! After u captured Mazaka ! could be the second or the third round ! you also ask the AS for a Ceasefire and a single Payment of 7500 Mnari ! after that for the trade rights !

So we made 17.5k Mnari in the first 2-4 rounds ! Nice income for our small Empire !


The roads in Almasiea should be finished in the third round so build some Barracks so that u can recruit and retrain your Phalanx Pikemen in time

In Mazaka its good to build some foreigner barracks to get the good caucasian Archers

After I captured Mazaka ! and the City is stabilzed so that u just can leave 1 General inside i moved my army consists now of 6 Hellenic Native Phalanx Pikemen +-1 Slinger + 1 General to Antiocheia !

Capture Antiocheia and kill the population ! Will give u another 3-4k Mnari !! Now scrap all Buildings in Antiocheia(another 10k Mnari) but not the blacksmith and retrain your army ! I gave up Antiocheia after i captured it because i didnt want to be between Ptolemaio and AS also i thought its easier first to defend Mazaka then to defend Mazaka and Antiocheia ! After the army is upgraded in Antiocheia just move the army out and ask the SA again for a Ceasefire and offer them the ruin Antiocheia as a really great present :clown:Now u just move your army back to your capital and retrain your Phalanx Pikemen and recruit 4 caucasian archers in Mazaka !

Now we really have a good trained siegeing and defending army(6 upgraded Phalanx Pikemen with valour allready and 4 caucasian archer) and still some money left ! Now u can easily get the city u want around u with that army ! Its good if u leave about 2 Phalanx Men in Mazaka to defend the city against SA attacks !! We are in Ceasefire with them but sooner or later they gonna attack us there !! But the 2 Phalanx Men and the General In Mazaka + the General in Almeiseia (maybe still the Grand Pa ) are enough for the moment !! U can still train about 2 caucasian archers more in Mazaka !

Tip. You can easily defend every city the first 50 rounds with an army of 2 Phalanx Pikemen and 2 caucasian archers !!So its good to recruit 2 more archers in Mazaka to be on the safety side !

With your siege army consists of 4 Phalanx Pikemen and 4 archers u can capture all the citys around u !! I first went to Sinope because its was the neariest !! But u can also choose Ankyra , Trapezous or Ani-Kamah !! Maybe the best way is to get Sinope ( gonna get u into war with Koinon Hellenon) but thats not the problem they are far away and have their on stress with Macedon then capture Trapezous(U can recruit your ships here) move back to Almaseia retrain your army and capture Ankyra !! Now U can decide if u take care about the 2 citys(Ipsos and Sardis) owned be AS in the West to get rid of possible attacks on Mazaka or if u recruit a ship in Trapezous move the army out of Ankyra to Sinope meet up there with the fleet and move over to Chersonesos and Pantikapaion but take care about the Eleutheroi Army around there !!


I gonna stop the guide here now!! Just wanted to explain how to make some quick Mnari with Pontus and get the Campaign rolling !!


Hope u have fun !!


Bye

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Originally Posted by LostINN

I gonna stop the guide here now!! Just wanted to explain how to make some quick Mnari with Pontus and get the Campaign rolling !!

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Effective strategy. Treacherous, maybe, you're supposed to be a loyal satrap of the Seleucid Emperor, not a backstabbing little weasel! But effective.....

I think it's a good strategy. I've never been able to get 10k for a ceasefire though. 5k is just about the most I can get.

EDIT: Alright, after just trying this, I was able to 10k for a ceasefire. I would also suggest using some of your money that you get from the ceasefire and Antioch on mines in Mazaka. I don't know if you'll have enough afterward to build the necessary MICs or retrain your troops, but it will help greatly in the long run, I think. Pergamon has mines from the start, so it's important to go there too. I took Mazaka, did the Antioch thing, took Sinope, Trapezous, and was about to take Ankyra when stupid AS came with a decent sized army, so I had to go back to Mazaka. I bet if you went straight to Pergamon and then worked east, you'd start making money sooner. That initial 18000 from sacking Antioch is really great for a boost, but once you retrain your army, you lose like 2000 a turn, so it goes by real quickly.

Thx for Reply Unintended BM and for trying the startegy :dizzy2:


Gonna ride a complete guide soon about Pontus ! I just was so amazed about the 2 Ceasefires and the 17.5k Mnari that i had to chare my eypierence with u guys fast :idea2: Gonna try to find out whats the best after the Antiocheia burning :)


@Unintended BM Yes u still have anough Mnari to build the mines after the barracks ! u can get also 12.5k Mnari and ceasefire with Ptolemaio ! after i took sinope and Pergamon ! Pergamon helps alot but take care of the rebell army outside the city first :) after that i took Ipsos and Sardis with my hole army 6 phalanx 6 archers !from now on u have a quiet good income