KH vs Macedon AI question

Having only recently acquired EB, I've just started a pair of campaigns. Both are going pretty well, but I'm concerned over what happened at the beginning of the Koinon Hellenon campaign.

The game starts with a pretty dire position, with a large stack of Macedonion troops outside a very lightly defended Athens. I was expected to have to either lose Athens or have to relieve the siege after swiftly butchering the island where the faction leader starts... but the Macedonians head west immediately! Not just the stack, but taking along units garrisoning the two nearby cities.

Is there any justifiable reason they left like this or is it AI stupidity doing what no general would have considered?

I ran down the two nearest cities after Macedon pretty much emptied them but am stopped there in cause I should restart and see whether the Macedonians act any better.

they think they should save Pella first... as Pyrrhos army camp just outside them and ready to plunder the aigai

Ah! I see, thank you very much.

I'll gladly use their choice to snatch a breath before utterly destroying them, in that case.

Yeah its sort of a precarious situation for all factions in Greece. KH has to deal with a large Makedonian force outside Athens, Makedon has to deal with a decent sized Epeirote force with elephants outside Pella, and the Epeirotes have to deal with a large Roman force nearby Taras. No one is safe.

The AI situations in Greece are always screwy for me. As KH, you can easily attack Korinth with no trouble from the giant stack. With Makedonia, Pyrhhos almost never attacks Pella, he always goes back to Epirus. As Epirus, no one does anything. I've played a game where I sent Pyrhhos and the starting armies to Italy, and no one ever bothered Ambrakia or Epidimanos for many, many years. It seems to work slightly better when the player isn't one of those three factions.

Playing as the KH, is there any way to preserve Makedonia as a decent power without stifling your expansion in other directions? Since the early situation is so precarious I always find myself blitzing them and they wind up with that single region in asia minor. I suppose you could let them keep Pella and expand by boat...

Makedonia can convert into a 'Pergamon' power in Anatolia if they are driven out of Greece.

in my present Sweboz campaing, Makedonia were left on their small island near anatolia. with the income bonus, they built full stack after full stack, and when i wanted to take a screenshot of my empire, I did toggle_fow, only to discover that five Mak fullstack are completly obliterating Pontos, and Maks are now a well established 'pergamon' empire... plus, the city north of pella just revolted to them and there's one full stack outside plus the garrison (also full stack), give them a good chance to give a try for their old capital... i just love the situation! Maks in anatolia, in great strengh, koinon helenon expanding on the islands...

In my Makedonia game, I expected to lose Pella, so I sold off most of the buildings and units inside.

So of course, instead of assaulting it, Epiros came down and besieged Demetrios.

So I got to keep Pella, which was now losing me money, and I had to throw everything I had at Demetrios to keep it from falling.

Epiros has it pretty easy, you can lose Taras and it's no big deal. Makedon has it tougher, you need to take either Athens or Sparta fairly quickly.

KH has for me a nightmare scenario; if you lose either the battle at Krete and/or the battle at Chalkis you basically have to money cheat, migrate or give up.

Luckily the battle at krete is pretty easy, as far a i remember (havent played in a while) the AI never uses its cretan archers to kill my levy hoplites or kill some of my spartan bodyguards, so its just about using your crets to shoot down their hoplites behind the walls and win with relative ease, all thx to those Spartans, they can do marvels at the beggining of KH camp.
Oh! i almost forgot the spy u start with, if ur lucky the gates are magically opened for u in DA 1st turn, sweet.

Levy Hoplites can stand against pretty much anything, so long they're facing the right direction. They are an early game saver. I once did a migration which I gave all my holdings to Eperios and Makedonia, and traded for Taras. Just using Levies and Spartans, I managed to sack Barbaropolis within 15 turns. The battles were epic, the losses were great, but the sheer steadfastness of hellenic ethos and their burning hatred of the barbaroi granted me 3 herioc victories and nailing their last FM when Barbaropolis was taken...

Been playing for a while, and reading a bit, and I have a few more questions.

Do the hellenes get any reformations? Are they also tied to March of Time? The FAQ mentions several factions but not KH.

I was mopping up Macedon and doing some tidying up with the cities that had had recently come under the wing of Hellenic care when the green faction to my west started getting eaten up by Rome. I took advantage of it and snapped their provinces up from the other side and met Rome in the middle of the dead factions lands. Up until this point, we had mutual trade rights and I didn't expect what came next.

Rome just kept trying to go east, through me! Since then I've been wrapped in a war with them which they just won't let go of, no matter how often I beat them and offer peace. I've pushed all the way back to Bononi (I think that's the name), though that changed hands a few times and is now pretty much a ghost town. At this rate, there may be greek rulers marching into Rome itself within the next few years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kurrel

At this rate, there may be greek rulers marching into Rome itself within the next few years.

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That's great to hear! May Nike bless you with victory!.

Sadly, March of time is indeed tied to the KH reforms, giving them the ability to recruit meduim quality phalangitai....not that you actually need them anyway!
You can just pump an Italian large city with a flood disbanded akonkistai, turn it into a huge city, and let the Barbaroi take it. You should have the reforms 1 turn later.

I love the smell of burned Romies in the morning.
As stated before the MoT reforms are not really that needed when playing KH, but with Maks and the others.... its a diferent story.
I forgot to say WELCOME! hope u enjoy EB.

@ J.R.M

Check your notifications =]

When trying to keep neighbours from going all rabid on you, is better to offer a tribute gift or to give them an individual gift of the same amount every turn?

Much though it demeans our honour, I am concerned the people to the east will take advantage of the war that has drawn away all my troops to the west.

And thank you for the welcome! R:TW is fun as the Romans (not surprising, given the name) but the other factions always felt a little like the stage set for the Romans. EB cures that admirably.