Advice on playing Sauros

There are a few things which seriously bug me, when playing the Sauros, which I attempt for the last few days on H/M:
1. Blitzing:
I played Sweboz to some extend, so I know I have to take some land in order to get my economy straight. But where to go? Due east everything is packed with HAs, even armored ones, which leads to a marvellous carnage on both sides, the greek cities on the Black Sea's shores are well fortified and I don't have the time to starve them out. Not while an Rebel Halfstack is in my back. I can only go west, and theres no mony to be had there and I don't really want to invade Germania just now.

2. Eleutheroi:
How come, wherever I go, there's Eleutheroi Halfstacks hidden behind every tree? And why do other Eleutheroi armies pop up and siege/occupy my settlement all the time? I can't exactly keep an eye on them (or anything for that matter) with my 3 spies with are dispersed over an area as large as the AS.


Any thoughts on the subject of How to get a good start playing the Sauros?

See entry for Sauromatae in my Blitzing guide: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...or-new-players.

I'd recommend Hard (H) campaign difficulty for Sauromatae, not Very Hard (VH). I'd also recommend Medium (M) Battle difficulty.

Ramp up taxes as high as you can, but keep public order at 85% or greater.

Head west, not east. Leave the Saka and Pahlava alone. Go for towns without walls initially, leave Olbia and the Crimean Greek cities for later.

Always besiege the enemy towns, don't assault them. It's really worth waiting for them to sally out because your own unarmoured HA's take much fewer losses that way, you don't get foot archers camping on the central square. Only your family member should go charging into the town square, none of your other troops should ever do that. If you besiege an enemy town with an army that's quite a bit smaller than the local garrison, the garrison will sally out as soon as you end the turn, instead of waiting to be starved out. So you get to take the town quickly, and still have the advantage of making the enemy come out after you.

I'd recommend Hard (H) campaign difficulty for Sauromatae, not Very Hard (VH). I'd also recommend Medium (M) Battle difficulty.

On defence, don't garrison your towns except with foot archers, and then only if you have to. Let enemy armies take your towns if they want to, then besiege them with a field army, and take them back.

Thank you very much for your advice, I'm now playing the 3rd attempt, again on H/M, and it seems to work out so far. Intercepting the spawning Eleutheroi is tricky though, I had to assign a spy to each and every city, to look out for trouble, but even one single FM can handle those smallish groups easily.
right now I'm laying siege to Cheresonnes and the worm-ridden good-for-nothing Saka have betrayed me (because I purposfully took a settlement to the easy and provoked them) which promises to be entertaining.
So far, it looks like it's going to work out.

Pretty much take everything on the northern coast of the black sea, then move on to the Getai, who are incredibly easy. After that, Greece would be easy taking, or you can continue west. On my Sarmatian game, the Saka took my western most town a few decades into the game, but they never went any farther. If they do the same to you, I suggest getting a big army together once you can afford it, and stationing them along the border, or retake the town if you want.

I always keep three bodyguards in my army at the start, so I can charge from three different angles. Put them in front of all of your other units so they can soak up the arrow fire, then try and surround the enemy. After the enemy starts to waver, charge your bodyguards from three different sides. Just about anything will rout when you do that. Also, don't be afraid to withdraw if you run out of arrows. Some of those rebels stacks can be tough, and you won't have any money to recruit new horse archers for quite some time.

VH is fine, if you know what you're doing.

Be sure to get mines in Uspe and Gava Yugra - these are invaluable.

Going after the saka isn't a terrible idea - just bring lots of FMs. Getai are probably the best target though - Sarmiszegethusa has mines as well, and you need all the money you can get.