Help With Strategy

Heres the situation,

Year is 253 BC i am currently playing as Konin Hennon i've pacified all of Makedonias and Epiros's territory in greece also including the city south of Segeta(Whose name escapes me) + all the territory to Byzantion needless to say i'm getting a pretty fat chunk of cash every turn thanks to all the mines in the region.

I've begun a campaign in the south italy i've seized Rhegion, Messana and Syrokausi my issue right now is i've allied with Epiros temporarily and gave them a large chunk of cash and so far they've been keeping the romans in northern italy at bay with their two cities in italy, However.

In 253 BC i was attacked at the same time by 4 Full Stacks of Carthaginian units who all bum rushed my territory in sicily they now are laying siege to both Syrokausi and Messana, Meanwhile rome is now raining down with 3 Full Stacks and currently are laying siege to the city south of Segesta which is under my control. At the same time Epiros have launched a small raiding party on one of my grossly undefended island territories.

My current standing force .... i Have a total of 3 Stacks in Rhegion/Messana and Syrokausi combined my Rhegion Stack is busy keeping the city from rioting because it's a recently conquered territory so you can count out reinforcements from there. Up at the roman front i have two stacks and one nearby who i'm argueing wether to rush him towards the island territory or to push back the romans.

Meanwhile Pontus is currently amassing men around Byzantion.

Anyone have a suggestion as to which threat to deal with first?

oh right difficulty is VH/M

I'm confused. Do you control the city south of Segesta (Arretium, one of the Roman homelands) or the city south of Segestica (Dalminion, north of the Epeirote starting position)? It sounds like you control Dalminion, so that's what I'm basing this on.

Cut your losses and pull back from Sicily. Unless there's a great FM (and I mean a once-in-a-lifetime general) in Syracuse/Messana, sacrifice the garrisons, keep an extra stack or two in Rhegion to bottle up the Carthies on the island, and try to get a ceasefire with them if you can. Carthage usually seems to want Sicily and then focuses more on Iberia for a while. Send the rest of your Sicilian forces north through the Epeirote territories and use them to pressure Rome from the south. Hopefully, this will cause them to break the siege of Dalminion and reinforce the south. Use your northern armies to push back the Romans, take Segestica, and then hold them at Patavium. Raise another stack and send that to cover Byzantion, make Pontos think twice about taking it. Once you've secured what territory you have, slaughter the Romans in the shadows of the Alps, evict the Epeirotes from your peninsula, and then move to retake Sicily.

The weakest one on the front where your enemies are weakest. Multi-front wars are bad. Close off one theater behind defensible borders (like at Byzantion) and accept losses on the other fronts while you do so with an eye to preserving your forces. Cities can be taken back once the enemy's army is destroyed, and every garrison he has to leave behind is fewer troops you must face later and greater odds of a loyalist rebellion in your favor. Push each theater to a defensible border until you're down to one front and a hardcore army of veterans that you can concentrate against a single enemy.

Go defensive. Keep your foothold in Sicilia at Messana if you can, if not, retreat to Rhegion: Syracusa can be recaptured, put a spy in it and give it to Carthage, or even better try to sue for peace with Rome and give it to them and then pull out, enthrall them in a war with Carthage. If not you should be able to hold them in Sicilia with two stacks. Put two stacks near Taras to deflect Rome and the remaining stack in between Taras and Rhegion for interdiction. You are defensive so pick high ground, should be able to hold them fine (sounds like you are well established in Rhegion and Taras and they are capable of recruitment). Where is Epirus attacking again? That seemed a little vague to me, Krete? I would say muster a stack (or whatever nessesary) and go on the offensive with Epirus and quickly smash their offensive, unless you think it's not worth it. But you already have two fronts and three nations to fight, shouldn't make it four. With the western situation under control, make a show of force at Byzantium with whatever you can muster. Seek an alliance with whoever is at war with pontos.

So I would say my main points are *give up Syracusa in the most beneficial way and *stabalize the Epirot situation asap. :idea2:


-EDIT- I'm reading your situation again, who controls Taras? Epirus?