A guide to EB blitzing, for new players.

Nearly every EB faction in the game (except for the already large Carthaginian, Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires) needs to ‘blitz’ at the beginning, just to put their finances in good order.

'Blitzing' means attacking and taking one or more cities as fast as possible at the very beginning of a new campaign, using your starting army for conquest, and recruiting only garrison troops as needed.

This guide is about blitzing just enough to get your economy up and running, (i.e. in the black, and making a profit of at least 500 mnai per city you own at the end of each turn). It is not about winning the game by making your faction invincible within 10 years or eliminating rival factions - for that, look elsewhere. Once your economy is running well, you can pick whatever strategy you like, fast or slow, aggressive or defensive.

Here’s a list of what cities I suggest you blitz for each faction. Most targets are Eleutheroi cities except where stated in brackets after the city name. Eleutheroi are the primary target of most factions in the early game.

Since ships use up so much of your money at the start of the game, I’ve also provided notes on what to do with the fleets your faction starts with. It’s usually best to disband them immediately or get them sunk in battle as quickly as possible – either way saves you lots of money, but the latter is more fun and realistic.

Aedui: Vesontio (Arveni), Avaricum, Viennos (Arveni), and finally Patavium too for a valuable port and to stop the Romans getting it. Suggest you leave Gergovia (the Arveni capital) alone for now, make peace with the Arveni once you've got their other two towns, so you can build up your economy. Aedui Fleet - disband it immediately, it's of no use to you.

Arveni: Bibracte (Aedui), Avaricum, Cenabum (Aedui), and finally Tolosa (for valuable port). Suggest you leave Mediolanum (the last Aedui city) alone for now as a buffer against Roman expansion, and to give you time to build up your economy.

Baktria: Two possible strategies - Option 1: Stay at peace with the Seleucids as long as possible and target the Eleutheroi. In this case you should go for Kophen, then Alexandropolis (the Eleutheroi city south of Kophen, not the Seleucid city north of Baktra!) and finally, if you can manage it, Gandhara. Option 2: Attack the Seleucids straight away! Make sure the Pahlava are doing the same thing. In this case, go for Alexandria-Ariana, and Prophthasia. Whichever option you choose, leave Marakanda alone initially as it's a target for both Pahlava and Saka, and you don't want to be fighting either of them so early in the campaign. Leave Gava-Haomavarga alone also, as a buffer between you and the Saka.

Carthage: No blitzing necessary, but there's a big Eleutheroi army in your area of southern Spain that you should fight as soon as possible. Carthaginian Fleet – hunt down and destroy all Epirote ships (so Pyrrhus can’t come back to Sicily), then hunt down and destroy all pirate ships.

Casse: No immediate blitzing necessary, just disband your ship and one unit of spearmen to get your economy working. Use family members as the bulk of your army to start with. No other faction will attack you, apart from Eleutheroi raiders. You start at peace with the Eleutheroi - unlike any other faction. Don't start the war, wait to be attacked, because you will lose a LOT of trade income once fighting starts between you and the Eleutheroi. After the war begins, take Ictis once you are no longer making a 500+ mnai profit per turn. Casse Fleet – transport diplomat to Gaul on first turn, then return to port and disband it.

Epirus: Depends on whether you want to play historically (i.e. chaotically, like Pyrrhus) or sensibly. If you choose the historical, chaotic approach, attack both Macedon and Koinon Hellenon – first Pella, then Sparte, then Corinth. If you want to be sensible, go for Pella, then Demetrias. This will cripple Macedon and leave them and Koinon Hellenon fighting mostly against each other from then on. Either way, hold Taras as long as possible, but only with its starting garrison. Keep your primary focus on fighting Macedon, not Rome - Macedon is far more dangerous initially.
Epirote Fleet - Either disband it immediately, or hunt down and destroy all Macedonian and pirate ships.

Getai: Sarmiszegethusa, Naissos, and Kallatis (a valuable port). Make peace with the Sauromatae before they take Olbia and share a border with you.

Hayasdan: Phraaspa and Ani-Kamah (important to take them early before the Seleucids go after them). Make peace with the Sauromatae, and leave Kabalaka, Kotais and Mtskheta as an Eleutheroi buffer zone between you and them. If the Sauromatae take any of those three cities, they will likely rebel to you anyway.

Koinon-Hellenon: Kydonia on Krete, Chalkis (Macedon) and Corinth (Macedon) in that order.
Detailed instructions for Turn 1: Beseige Kydonia, don't assault - the garrison is large enough to come out and attack you when you end the turn, allowing for a defensive battle outside the city with your army on a hill. (Try to do most of the fighting using your Spartan FM bodyguard unit, conserve your levy hoplites and skirmishers if you can.) Meanwhile, use your army in Athens to assault Chalkis. Leave one hoplite unit to defend Athens, and use your FM to hire a unit of Mercenary Cretan Archers (they are worth the money!) It's very important to take Chalkis very quickly as KH, as it will spam levy hoplites and skirmishers if you don't, recruiting one unit every turn, which after 5 years will be a Macedonian full stack strong enough to assault and take Athens!
Turn 2: Leave the smallest possible garrison in Kydonia, and immediately ship your faction leader's army (and your spy) to Corinth and either assault it if it's weakly guarded, or besiege it if the garrison is strong.
Hint: Often the big Macedonian army near Athens will leave to defend Pella against Epirus, don't fight this army until you absolutely have to!
Koinon Hellenon Fleet – after shipping your army from Krete to Sparta, hunt down and destroy all Macedonian ships. Then go hunting for pirates near Greece.

Lusotann: Sucum-Murgi, Tyde, and finally Baikor too. Disband all 4 of your cavalry units, they cost almost 1,000 mnai each and you won't need them in the early campaign, the FM's are enough.

Macedon: Sparte (Koinon-Hellenon), and Athens (Koinon-Hellenon).
Detailed Instructions: Suggested initial strategy is to ignore Epirus, and deal with Koinon-Hellenon first. Don't worry about losing Pella to Epirus initially, just leave a unit of slingers and some levy hoplites as a garrison, and if it falls, let it go. If you do lose Pella, taking Athens will compensate you for the loss, and you can always recover Pella a bit later, once Koinon-Hellenon are reduced to just Rhodes and are no longer an immediate threat. Leave Athens alone until after Sparta is taken, then siege Athens until it surrenders, since it's too tough to assault (phalanx units are very poor at assaulting cities.) If your economy still isn't making enough profit, you can go after Kydonia on Krete and destroy the KH army there as well.
Macedonian Fleet – hunt down and destroy all KH ships, so they can't ship reinforcements from Rhodes to Greece.

Pahlava: Asaak, Marakanda, Antiocheia-Margiane, Hekatompylos, Zadrakata (all Seleucid). You have to hit the Seleucids very hard right at the start or they'll overwhelm you later. Use spies to open gates. Beseiging with 1 family member and 2 horse-archers will cause most garrisons to sally out, so you can destroy them easily and take the city.

Pontos: Sinope, Trapezous, and either Ankyra or Nikaia (all Eleutheroi cities) - assuming that you want to stay at peace with the Seleucids as long as possible. If you'd rather attack the Seleucids immediately in a pre-emptive strike (since they will attack you later anyway), then leave the Eleutheroi cities alone, and attack Mazaka, Ipsos, and Sardis (all Seleucid).

Ptolemoi: No blitzing necessary, but I like to take Ammonion straight away for roleplaying reasons - it's a sacred site to your people, so leaving it in the hands of rebels is unacceptable. There's at least one big Eleutheroi army in your southern territory to fight when you can muster a suitable army, plus an invading force from Kyrene. You may want to take Damascus too, since the Seleucids like to spam units there.
Ptolemaic Fleet – use against Seleucid ships, then pirates.

Roma: Taras (Epirote), then Rhegion. Roman Fleet – disband it immediately, you don't need it in the early game.

Sabyn: Tamane first (lure the garrison into a sally using a smaller attacking force), then Sabata, which will be an easy target since it doesn't have walls yet and your army will be depleted after Tamane. Carna last if required.

Saka: Chach, Gava-Saka, Alexandria-Eschate (Seleucid) and Marakanda (Seleucid) to start with. Finally, Sulek and Gava-Alanna. None of these towns have walls, so can be assaulted by a cavalry army if needed.

Sauromatae: Tanais, Gava-Yugra, and Gelonus. I recommend Gava-Thissakata too. None of these towns have walls. Olbia is nearer and looks very tempting, but it does have walls, making it too tough to assault. You'd need to seige Olbia until the garrison sallies out, plus it's a useful buffer between you and the Getai.

Seleukia: Reverse-blitzing - make your empire smaller! Recruit a diplomat in Antiochia-Margiane in Turn 1, then send him to Baktra and give Marakanda and Alexandria-Eschate to Baktria in Turn 2! (You may need to use the Force Diplomacy mod to do this.) Reason is, you won’t be able to hold these two towns for long anyway, too rebellious and too distant from your capital – and it’s better for neutral Baktria to have them than hostile Pahlava or Saka. Also, Baktria will defend these towns fiercely against the Saka, which gets Saka off your back and onto Baktria's - also, it keeps Baktria occupied so they don't expand into gold-rich India, which is to your great advantage later. You can then make peace with Saka. Trust me, it's more important to focus on economic buildings in the beginning rather than recruiting hordes of pantodapoi and archers to try and hold onto these far distant and poor provinces. You'll be able to use the evacuated troops to bolster Antiochea-Margaine against the attacking Pahlava.
Seleucid Fleet – use immediately against Ptolemoi or pirate ships, or disband it.

Sweboz: You'll need to conquer at least 3 towns with your starting army, preferably 4. You are in a good position, isolated from other factions. You have three choices: expand either north, west, or east.
Northern expansion: Gawjam-Rugoz, Gawjam-Kimbrioz, and Gawjam-Skandzawarjoz. This is the easiest expansion route, the garrisons are a little smaller and the towns do not have walls so are easy to assault.
Western expansion: Gawjam-Habukoz, Gawjam-Heruskoz, and Arctaunon. These towns all have walls. However, conquering them will take your frontier nearer to the Arveni and Aedui, so you will end up fighting them sooner rather than later, which may not be to your best advantage in the early campaign.
Eastern expansion: Gawjam-Silengoz, Ascaucalis, Carrodunum, Gintaras-Ostan. The hardest expansion route, but also the most profitable since the towns are all on the Amber Route (major trade route). Also the last three towns offer some nice regional Baltic and Gallic units that you may find very useful.
Make the most of your family members in the attack, their heavy infantry bodyguards are far better than your other units.

For all factions:
Once you have achieved the above objectives and raised taxes to High or Very High, your economy should be in good shape, making a healthy profit, provided you've used your diplomat to establish trading rights with all your non-hostile neighbours. You can now concentrate on town-building, or army building, depending on what you want to do next.

Hope new players find this guide useful!

Good suggestions. Some additions:

Saba:

bag Carna too ASAP, for three reasons:

- It is very close to your capital Maryab, and thus a very tempting target. Also a rich province.
- Your best nearby mining site (basic mines provide 1200 mnai/turn, upgraded ones 3000)!
- The Ka'ba. It provides additional trade income and a happiness bonus (plus, if you're a Muslim player, it is probably some kind of a status symbol).

Potential drawbacks:

- You will be closer to the two big evil guys north of you. Not an immediate concern though, since it does not border their initial territories and anyway, it takes decades for them to reach your remote provinces.
- There is a somewhat aggressive rebel army nearby.


Sauromatae:

Gelonus is seriously worth considering even right at the start. It has your regional barracks already built and you can immediately recruit Vojinos from there, who are a) cheap, b) strong vs cavalry and c) frighten infantry. This can be a great help for the next few raids, especially those against walled cities.
Only drawback: it is not a particularly rich province.

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Originally Posted by Titus Marcellus Scato

Macedon: Sparte (Koinon-Hellenon) and Kydonia (kill any KH army on Kreta too). Macedonian Fleet – hunt down and destroy all KH ships.

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You might as well siege Athens with a small army (to lure them into sallying). You'll get rid of KH in your back and have your hands free to deal with Pyrrhos in the north. Once he's dealt with, Thrace and Byzantium awaits.

With Sparte to raise generals, Athens for governors, Krete for archers, Thracian gold and trade in the Agean, the world is your for the taking.

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Originally Posted by athanaric

Good suggestions. Some additions:

Saba:

bag Carna too ASAP, for three reasons:

- It is very close to your capital Maryab, and thus a very tempting target. Also a rich province.
- Your best nearby mining site (basic mines provide 1200 mnai/turn, upgraded ones 3000)!
- The Ka'ba. It provides additional trade income and a happiness bonus (plus, if you're a Muslim player, it is probably some kind of a status symbol).

Sauromatae:

Gelonus is seriously worth considering even right at the start. It has your regional barracks already built and you can immediately recruit Vojinos from there, who are a) cheap, b) strong vs cavalry and c) frighten infantry. This can be a great help for the next few raids, especially those against walled cities.
Only drawback: it is not a particularly rich province.

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Good suggestions, I agree with both.

For the Sabyn, I suggested Sebata before Carna because Sebata has no walls initially, and is thus an easier and quicker target. Carna should be next on the list, though, definitely.

Gelonus is a great target for the Sauromatae, for the reasons you've stated. However, no other faction will be going after Gelonus initially, so it can wait. However, the Pahlava and Saka will definitely want to take Gava-Mazskata and Gava-Alanna for themselves - and they will if you don't get there first! And they're a long way away from your capital, so your army will take several turns to reach them.

You can always take the towns from their conquerors afterwards, of course, but to do that you have to break your alliance with them - and IMO that's not worth doing so early in the campaign, both Pahlava and Saka are dangerous opponents if provoked, you don't want to take them on until your economy is sorted out. But if you take the two towns first, the other nomad factions generally leave them alone and go after the Seleucids instead - at least on Medium campaign difficulty.

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Originally Posted by Poulp'

You might as well siege Athens with a small army (to lure them into sallying). You'll get rid of KH in your back and have your hands free to deal with Pyrrhos in the north. Once he's dealt with, Thrace and Byzantium awaits.

With Sparte to raise generals, Athens for governors, Krete for archers, Thracian gold and trade in the Agean, the world is your for the taking.

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Good points.

I guess I just prefer not to blitz Athens so quickly after the start of the game, it really is the jewel of Greece and taking it after a failed sally feels like a really cheap, non-historical victory. I personally prefer to sort out my economy by taking easier targets first, then prepare for a 9-turn siege of Athens several years later with a massive Macedonian army, a full stack. The campaign is more fun if you give Koinon Hellenon a fighting chance, and sieging Athens is more true to history than assaulting it. Phalanx-based armies were not good at storming city walls. Anticipation is half the pleasure with long sieges.....I enjoy them.

A couple of points:-

With any of the "Greek" 3, Epiros, Mak or KH, I'd say taking the whole of that Peninsula asap is almost essential for a sensible game. You know that any shared borders equals inevitable war, with the utterly illogical ai, so why postpone it?

Here's a quick Epiros game I've done twice (with minor adjustments) on Hard/Medium

Epiros:- Raze Taras of all improvements, set taxes to V high, leave worst unit behind, move others to Greek mainland, disband all but one boat...IMPORTANT, move spy into Taras, and keep him there.Take Pella and Demet on turn one. Very east to do, because the elephants mean no siege neccesary. After taking Pella (and razing Royal Tombs), move General and then combine units one at a time to siege Demet (do it this way, as most dont have enough movement points). Then use the Taras/Pella money to hire all mercs, use this Army to take Demet. Train best horse unit availabe in Ambrakia, send all towards Athens.Then on turn 2 immediately beseige Athens, taking it on turn 3 (after combining armies), as well as Chalkis. Then Corinth and Sparta on turn 4/5. There is normally a lone Mak general somewhere around Sparta. Kill him and Mak are eliminated.

By then, Taras may have been taken by Rome, but your spy will normally cause a revolt, and you get it back with a slave garrison, just in time for your now almost decent full stack to arrive and wade it's way up through Italy, hiring mercs as needed. Meanwhile, train a small stack in Greece to take Crete (you don't need many). KH can be left with Rhodes, it's something for the future (or just make peace with them now well out of the way). N.B.:- If their very old Rhodes FM dies on the first few turns, and they don't get another in Rhodes, then they too are eliminated on you taking Sparta.

An ultimate Blitz guide to taking Greece and Italy in as few turns as possible, although you have to be very good at winning battles with hardly any casualties. Lots and lots of hammer and anvil here, even in tight city streets, where it's a lot tougher. Oh and keep those elephants safe, they have about 40 battles worth of rubber on their tyres ;)

For Hayasdan, Mtskheta and Kotais are only a short-term blitz. You also want to take Kabalaka and Ani-Kamakh. I do not include Trapezous here as it is relatively harder to keep settled and will likely put you at war with Koinon Hellenon. Building roads as soon as possible will also allow your armies to march longer distances each turn, which is crucial for Hayasdan as the Caucusus is a very mountainous region.

NOTE: Phraaspa isn't included in this blitz as it is farther away and leaves the Seleukids with an easy city to snatch from you. Also note that the first enemy city you will want to take it Karkathiokerta as it is a homeland province and will give you a base from which to send attacks into the Seleukid empire.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Drewski

Epiros:- Raze Taras of all improvements, set taxes to V high, leave worst unit behind, move others to Greek mainland, disband all but one boat...IMPORTANT, move spy into Taras, and keep him there.Take Pella and Demet on turn one. Very east to do, because the elephants mean no siege neccesary. After taking Pella (and razing Royal Tombs), move General and then combine units one at a time to siege Demet (do it this way, as most dont have enough movement points). Then use the Taras/Pella money to hire all mercs, use this Army to take Demet. Train best horse unit availabe in Ambrakia, send all towards Athens.Then on turn 2 immediately beseige Athens, taking it on turn 3 (after combining armies), as well as Chalkis. Then Corinth and Sparta on turn 4/5. There is normally a lone Mak general somewhere around Sparta. Kill him and Mak are eliminated.

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You, sir, are a Barbarian. Though I admit that's a very good way to win the entire game before 270 BC.

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Originally Posted by vartan

NOTE: Phraaspa isn't included in this blitz as it is farther away and leaves the Seleukids with an easy city to snatch from you. Also note that the first enemy city you will want to take it Karkathiokerta as it is a homeland province and will give you a base from which to send attacks into the Seleukid empire.

Good luck.

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Karkathiokerta is also the best natural fortress in this game. Plus it makes a very good staging point for raids and campaigns right into Seleukid heartlands left and right. I shut down the AS this way, and did so with almost disappointing ease.

Agree. It's always a wonderful sight to see 5 units of archers + 2 units of slingers wipe out half a full stack.....

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Originally Posted by Drewski

A couple of points:-
With any of the "Greek" 3, Epiros, Mak or KH, I'd say taking the whole of that Peninsula asap is almost essential for a sensible game. You know that any shared borders equals inevitable war, with the utterly illogical ai, so why postpone it?

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Hi Drewski, thanks for your thoughts.

My aim with this guide is to help new players do just enough to get their economy working and making a profit. That, and no more.

Enough to ensure your faction won't go bankrupt, but not enough to win the game. There's still a lot of work for the player to do to achieve their faction's victory conditions.

This guide is not about 'quick winning' the entire campaign in the first 5 years. That takes all the fun out of it. If your faction is already almost invincible after only 5 years, then there's no risk anymore, little challenge, and little incentive to continue the campaign.

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Originally Posted by Titus Marcellus Scato

Hi Drewski, thanks for your thoughts.

My aim with this guide is to help new players do just enough to get their economy working and making a profit. That, and no more.

Enough to ensure your faction won't go bankrupt, but not enough to win the game. There's still a lot of work for the player to do to achieve their faction's victory conditions.

This guide is not about 'quick winning' the entire campaign in the first 5 years. That takes all the fun out of it. If your faction is already almost invincible after only 5 years, then there's no risk anymore, little challenge, and little incentive to continue the campaign.

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Sorry for getting a little gung ho ;) - I was going to do a seperate Epiros blitz guide, and it sorta fell in here...

I actually disagree on the incentive though. I actually love playing a faction with a full build tree, Spartan training etc. Getting rid of surrounding "pests" asap, allows you to sit back and grow in peace and quiet, without having to fight endless similar battles turn after turn, that aren't actually getting you anywhere.

For example, playing as Rome, I take Taras, then Segesta and Bononia then Rhegion, then sit there and not fight another battle (excluding brigands) until after the Polybian Reforms. Then expand extremely slowly.

But that's Rome's uniquely isolated position. All I'm really doing with the "Greek" 3, is quickly producing a similar "isolation" position. It's completely possible to abandon Taras, and just continue slowly and peacefully with Greece to yourself as Epiros, Rome will sign a peace treaty then.......it's just against my nature to give away a Homeland City. And if you try to keep Taras, you will have to fight neverending battles against Rome, with it's unlimited resources/mercenaries, as peace is then impossible.

Each to his own, as they say ;)

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Originally Posted by Drewski

And if you try to keep Taras, you will have to fight neverending battles against Rome, with it's unlimited resources/mercenaries, as peace is then impossible.

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True, but that is very historically accurate!

The Romans (in the EB time period) really were stubborn, pigheaded, unreasonable bastards who just would never quit a war until they'd won a total victory, no matter how many times you beat them in battle. They had no respect whatsoever for normal civilised Greek diplomacy, where people acknowledge when they're beaten and make peace. If the Romans hadn't taken Taras in 272 BCE, in real life, they would never, ever have stopped attacking it - sending a new consular army every year, until they'd either taken it, or until Roma itself was a smoking ruin!

Actually, the stupid AI does a great job of reflecting Roman attitudes to diplomacy and politics! ;)

That's why it's just not worth spending too much money on defending Taras - it's just not worth the effort against mule-brained Romans. If it can be defended on the cheap, great - if not, let it go.

The way I roleplay defending Taras, is this:
The city has to take full responsibility for its own defence. The city can only purchase what new recruits it can afford to buy with its own farming and trade profits (see the settlement screen to find out how much that is). It has to pay for its garrison unit upkeep costs as well. Taras can't spend money out of the rest of the Epirote pot, only it's own income. If that's enough to defend the city, fine. If not, tough! Pyrrhus is fed up with fighting Romans and isn't interested in Italy anymore. So Taras is left to stand or fall on its own.

As AS, I usually try to blitz the pahlava as soon as possible, saves you a lot of trouble later on.

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Originally Posted by vartan

I do not include Trapezous here as it is relatively harder to keep settled and will likely put you at war with Koinon Hellenon.

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But you can easily get a ceasefire with the KH (at least I did), because you don't share a border. Plus, it's always good to have another Black Sea port. But if Pontos decides to come knocking it can be difficult to defend due to the distance to your capital. Ani-Kamah is definitely easier to defend because of the mountain passes (which I believe start the game with a decent half-stack rebel army in them, so if you leave them alone they will delay a Pontic or AS attack from that direction).

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Originally Posted by Skullheadhq

As AS, I usually try to blitz the pahlava as soon as possible, saves you a lot of trouble later on.

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But that trouble is such fun! I love it when the AI beats me in battle, it's really special!

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Originally Posted by Titus Marcellus Scato

But that trouble is such fun! I love it when the AI beats me in battle, it's really special!

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Well, as a gaul (Aedui or Averni, doesn't matter) I make a point of wiping germans from the map.
I can deal with endless stacks of legionnaries; it just means more loot once I tear down their MIC.
Mid to late game, the sweboz are too much trouble for too little loot.

The best manner of taking cities for Hayasdan is in this order:

1) Kotais
2) Mtskheta
3) Ami-Kamah

Those three cities, combined with your capital at Armavir, should be enough to be able to keep your economy in the green.

-just- in the green......until grey-death knocks on your gates.....><

For Pontos I'd suggest a different blitzing strategy: Mazaka, Ipsos, Sardis. You can reach Mazaka in turn one, Ipsos in turn three. These 3 cities have mines and are weakly garnisoned at the gamestart, you starting troops will be enough to take them. You will be at war with the AS anyway, so that should not be a problem. With these cities your economy should be fine, you just have to defend Mazaka (and the first AS attacks will not be so hard) while you take the rest of Asia Minor.
If you attack Sinope and Ankyra first you will probably take too many casualties to attack the AS, who will have build up garnisons by then. Sometimes it can be better to wait for turn two to attack Mazaka, there is a chance that Pahlava will not attack the AS in turn one if you are already at war with them.

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Originally Posted by WinsingtonIII

But you can easily get a ceasefire with the KH (at least I did), because you don't share a border. Plus, it's always good to have another Black Sea port. But if Pontos decides to come knocking it can be difficult to defend due to the distance to your capital. Ani-Kamah is definitely easier to defend because of the mountain passes (which I believe start the game with a decent half-stack rebel army in them, so if you leave them alone they will delay a Pontic or AS attack from that direction).

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Well-said. The KH treaty is usually unnecessary if you occupy. If necessary, the treaty is easily attained, though. The port, wonderful. I actually make it a secondary objective to obtain the two provinces in the Crimean (I believe it is called the Crimean), the peninsula across the Pontic Sea (aka Black Sea). I enjoy sea trade. Pontus isn't a problem to be honest. Defence is easy due to your Caucasian Archers. Also, I would rather take Ani than leave it alone, as AS usually takes the province within the first decade if you are careless.

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Originally Posted by burn_again

For Pontos I'd suggest a different blitzing strategy: Mazaka, Ipsos, Sardis. You can reach Mazaka in turn one, Ipsos in turn three. These 3 cities have mines and are weakly garnisoned at the gamestart, you starting troops will be enough to take them. You will be at war with the AS anyway, so that should not be a problem. With these cities your economy should be fine, you just have to defend Mazaka (and the first AS attacks will not be so hard) while you take the rest of Asia Minor.
If you attack Sinope and Ankyra first you will probably take too many casualties to attack the AS, who will have build up garnisons by then. Sometimes it can be better to wait for turn two to attack Mazaka, there is a chance that Pahlava will not attack the AS in turn one if you are already at war with them.

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That's a good idea if you want to start the war with Seleukia early. Not very historical, but very effective! Hit the AS when they are weakest, which is right at the start!

I usually wait for the Seleucids to attack me first as Pontus. It's harder that way, though.

I just skimmed through this thread, so I apologise if I am echoing what someone else has said.
With the army in Corinth, take out what you can to make a small force and besiege Sparta. Buy one Cretan archer if you can, they help. Besiege Athens with the force you have next to it. The field army of Koinon Hellenon near Sparta will probably attack you - withdraw and it will probably attack you again. Find a suitable hill near the end of the map, and the enemy will be exhausted from walking all the way - whilst you are shooting at them, and they have no cavalry or good missile unit, which is excellent. Finish them off, besiege Sparta again, finish off Athens, then Sparta, and I usually finish of Epirus, if they have taken Pella, but sometimes they havn't, so make a wise move and choose to move onto Crete and possibly Rhodes, or consolidate your position in Greece. Also disband your navy, and you should do fine.

Makedonia Blitzing:
Get your pre-made stacks together and attack Athenai, and just burn it down in the next turn, and be sure to recruit some javilineers in Pella just in case that half-barbarian Pyrrhos comes knocking on your doors.

Then just send a small army to Rhodos and capture it.

After that just lure (lol It's somewhat exploitive but whatever) the Spartiatai to the northwestern point of the Pelopponesos and quickly build a fort with a cheap unit in it to lock the Spartans there, and then just besiege Sparta, the soldiers of the KH quickly besiege your fortress to rescue their beloved city, alas, too late! Just burn Sparta down.

Faction Eliminated: KH

You should just mop up those rebels (the Spartan army) and then send your army north to Pella for recruitment, and just train an amry huge enough to take up Pyrrhos, make sure that you have some skirmishers for those elephants, and by 269 entire Greece was mine (except Thermon, but it's better to starve them out)

You could then attack the Epirote to eliminate them, or just let them live to annoy the Rhomaioi.

And now... Alexander's empire await re-unification under Antigonid rule!

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Originally Posted by vartan

Well-said. The KH treaty is usually unnecessary if you occupy. If necessary, the treaty is easily attained, though. The port, wonderful. I actually make it a secondary objective to obtain the two provinces in the Crimean (I believe it is called the Crimean), the peninsula across the Pontic Sea (aka Black Sea). I enjoy sea trade. Pontus isn't a problem to be honest. Defence is easy due to your Caucasian Archers. Also, I would rather take Ani than leave it alone, as AS usually takes the province within the first decade if you are careless.

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I've been trying to avoid all-out war with the Sauromatae, so I haven't moved to the Crimea yet, although I'm planning on it soon. Sea trade is probably the second best money maker in the game after mines, that's why I suggest taking Trapezous early, and you're right, I actually haven't had any problems with Pontos, in fact, we're still allies surprisingly enough. I actually was suggesting taking Ani Kamah, I was pointing out that there is also a wandering rebel half-stack in the mountain passes to the West of Ani Kamah that can act as a bit of a buffer against the AS coming at Ani Kamah from that direction, although it is not a particularly big buffer. And yes, Caucasian Archers are essential to early game defense as the Hai, they will save you many a time.

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Originally Posted by WinsingtonIII

I've been trying to avoid all-out war with the Sauromatae, so I haven't moved to the Crimea yet, although I'm planning on it soon. Sea trade is probably the second best money maker in the game after mines, that's why I suggest taking Trapezous early, and you're right, I actually haven't had any problems with Pontos, in fact, we're still allies surprisingly enough. I actually was suggesting taking Ani Kamah, I was pointing out that there is also a wandering rebel half-stack in the mountain passes to the West of Ani Kamah that can act as a bit of a buffer against the AS coming at Ani Kamah from that direction, although it is not a particularly big buffer. And yes, Caucasian Archers are essential to early game defense as the Hai, they will save you many a time.

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Ah...the wonders of ancient-world simulation =) just gives me a really good feeling inside :2thumbsup:

Mining for gold, silver, iron, tin, and copper. Trading these and more across the seas (and across land). Breeding some of the ancient (and modern) world's finest horses (not the biggest, but just the right size). What more could a guy ask for??

EDIT: Hayasdan: Kotais and Mtskheta (in either order), Kabalaka and Ani (in either order, or simultaneously).

Perhaps getting rid of the greek pretenders and restoring the Persian Empire? Sitting on a golden throne as King of Kings, with hot naked dancers feeding you grapes and wine?

Update on Sauromatae:

Gava-Yugra is top priority. It contains a mine (income: 600/turn) right from the start.

Pyrrhus would never raze Mak Royal Tombs, as he is related to Mak royal family and sees himself as the legit heir to Alexander.
When I play Epeiros I also essentially abandon Taras while leaving a good spy there. Rome will conquer it but it will eventually rebel and rejoin Magna Grecia. I keep all my naval units though; need them once I have consolidated Greece to bring southern Italy and Sicily back into the Hellene world.
Economy turns positive after several turns without looting any Greek history

its a pain to hold taras, but its possible, and if you take good care in battles not to lose your elephants, you can take rome as early as 267 + whipe macedon of the map. this requires you to make a peace with KH tho.

the factions i had most fun blitzing with were KH, Pontus, Pahlava and Adeui. The first 3 are rather easy (specially parthia, you can take the entire eastern part of the seleucid empire withing a decade by using FM) if you know what you are doing. Adeui is actually a big challenge. I never read your guide, but i basically did exactly what you did haha.

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Originally Posted by Ouakomagos

Pyrrhus would never raze Mak Royal Tombs, as he is related to Mak royal family and sees himself as the legit heir to Alexander.

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Actually, from what history I've read, Pyrrhus stood by and watched helplessly while his Gallic mercenaries plundered the tombs at Aigai - there were enough Celts present to pose a serious threat to the Greek core of the Epirote army had Pyrrhus tried to stop them (and the loyalty of the Illyrians could not be counted on in a fight over loot), so he did nothing.

I apologize for the thread Necro, but in light of a recent Aedui VH/H campaign, I was wondering a few things:

1) Why Avaricum? The city has 11 units in it's garrison, with 3-4 of those being experienced Bataroas, 2-3 Luecos Epos, atleast 1 Brihentin family member, possibly a second Brihentin, AND city walls, with that cursed boiling oil(Oh, and maybe a unit of Solduros, just for spits and giggles). So Assaulting the City is a risky endeavor, as the starting General probably has more stars than your troops, and until you can get your FMs and Luecos Epos into the city and murder-face the general, those Bataroas and ESPECIALLY the Solduros are not going anywhere. Which means lots of casaulties early on when you can't re-train your force.

Starving Avaricum out is also a bad deal, as you have to wait 9 turns before their will Sally forth. Speaking of Sally, the force at Avaricum is actually potent enough to give some bad news out in a field battle: All those horsemen will keep your cavalry tied up running them down, while the Bataroas and Solduros will happily chew though spearmen until they choke to death. So, you siege the place for more than 2 years, then you finally fight a field battle and stand a good chance of losing a number of bodies at a time when you can't afford to replace them, and also when you are at war with THREE factions(granted, the Sweboz won't be a problem for a decade, but the Romani could very well be up in your stuff by '68, and the last thing you wanna do is try to hold Mediolanum against the romans, while the Arverni keep hounding you from Gergovia).

2) Why keep the Arverni around at all? The Arverni are going to be enemies pretty much the WHOLE game, and they never offer status as a buffer, unless you leave them with Vesontio, which is a terrible idea. Why? Vesontio is the easiest source you have for Nekkid Spearmen, and those Nekkid loonies are absolutely clutch for field battles. They buff your troops Morale, which keeps your Luggoa and Gaeroas/Gaeliche from running, and they hack enemy morale, which makes it more likely for those SPQR Pedites Extradionarii to actually RUN, rather than butchering everything they touch. Leaving the Arverni with Vesontio means future Arverni armies will be notoriously hard to break, which means a big butcher's bill for fighting them. So the Arverni don't protect you from any enemies, especially not Rome(Leaving the Aedui in Mediolanum as the Arverni is clever, as it ties up Rome and lets you consolidate in Gaul... But... as the Aedui, YOU shoulder the burdern of keeping the Romani from expanding into Gaul, Pannonia and Illyria. Also, Gregovia is the only place the Arverni can recruit swordsmen at start date, so removing it from their possession means they are reduced to spamming Luggoa and Nekkid Doods. Not that that can't be a problem, because it definitely can. Viennos is the only territory I would consider leaving them with, and Viennos is necessary for connecting Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul.

My preferred start with the Aedui goes like this:

1) All troops in Transalpine Gaul are massed into ONE massive stack, and lead by Tancogesta(whatever his name is, the BAD MAMAJAMMA general you get at the begining). This I will call Army Group A, and it will be used to kill Arverni field armies. I leave a Family member in ... Whatever the Carnute town is, Bribracte AND Mediolanum, to protect against the rebels who will spawn. Speaking of Mediolanum: the troops(army Group B) all march north through the Alps, to link up with Army Group A. No point in wasting them defending Mediolanum from ghosts(the Romans are NOT a threat until they take Boninia). The little group thats south of Gergovia(it's like, two Lugguoa and a slinger unit, IIRC) can either be disbanded OR used as Army Group C.

2) Army Group A marches towards Gregovia. Position yourself on one of the river crossings(preferabbly the one by Gergovia), and you will likely draw the Arverni out of Gergovia in a massed attack. Don't worry, you have a river you can defend, so this should be an easy battle. With all the Luecos Epos you have avialable, not a single man should make it back to Gergovia. Especially try to kill the Family members. The outcome of this battle should result in Gergovia having maybe 4 units or so left in the city. Army Group C besieges Gregovia, gets reinforcements from A, and Army Group A marches towards Viennos. Unless the garrison of Gregovia is VERY weak, don't waste time or bodies assaulting it. You'll be able to reinforce the besiegers before they Sally out.

3) Viennos: Army Group B should be able to reach Viennos by turn 3 or 4, standing on the River crossing to the north. This may provoke a field battle from the defenders of Viennos: Don't worry, Army Group B should be more than enough to handle the situation by defending the river crossing. Army Group A should siege, build as many rams as possible, and assault. Bam, by the end of the first year, you should have Gregovia and Viennos. This means the Arverni can only threaten you from Vesontio, and you have connected Trans and Cisalpien Gaul, so you can reinforce Mediolanum much easier than otherwise.

4) Aventicos. I Normally avoid Eleutheroi towns early game as the Aedui, as they don't pose much of a threat, and generally distract from killing the Arverni usurpers. HOWEVER, Aventicos is relatively easy to assault and take, it's on the way to Vesontio, AND it's another teritory that supports Mediolanum. Also, the Sweboz WILL snatch it up if it's left undefended for long, especially once they roll on Vendelicopidos. So... Beat them there. At this point you have 6 territories to the Arverni 1, and you should start getting close to making a profit. Maybe.

5) The killing blow. Take Vesontio. Shouldn't be too hard: if you've kileld as many FM as possible, they Arverni should have limited cavalry support, so a field battle is easy to win. And with that, The Arverni are vanquished and you are left the sole master of Gaul.

6) Get a nice sized force back to Mediolanum ASAP. By this time(270 or 269ish) the Romani should be threatening Mediolanum. Getting a force down there can quickly change it from them declaring war(if you've managed to make peace) to them going for Segesta or Patavium. Pativium, imho, is pretty much the only expansion in Italy. Boninia is nice, but it's hard to defend(with threats from two, possibly three roman settlements and no river crossings). By staying north of the Po(I think it's the Po?), you give the romans only two avenues of assault over the rivers, which means you can keep their armies contained. Losing Mediolanum leads to romans popping up all over the place in Transalpine gaul. Better to contain them, rather than chase small armies around your lands.

7) Take Bratisporios. Batacorri, Milnaht and Remi are great troops. The Batacorri are especially useful during the Time of Freemen, as they are the best spearmen you can recruit outside of Massalia. Lemonum and the port city in Brittany should be next. Depending on how things with dem Romans are going, you may not have the time to amass a force to take Avaricum for some time. That's alright, because avaricum won't attack you either. So, no worries.

Also, how to assault barbarian cities: Slingers. Seriously. NO, SRSLY. Four units of slingers is enough, but the basic idea is to form your slingers up against the enemy gate, and let them target whatever troops are defendign the gate. Try to kill any Brihentin who are in the open(it's much easier to deal with them this way), but the enemy should pull back it's troops out of range. That's ok, because now you can move your ram up to the gate, and move your slingers closer. Anything that coems to the gate to stop you from entering gets a hailstorm directed at them, and you will be able to rapidly assemble a force of Spears and Swords in the town. Then bring in your cav, and chase down the dang FM, kill him, and then rout the enemies.

Also, try to make sure your main assault is attacking a gate with an easy path to the town center. Much better to be able to loop around the city and envelop the enemy than to be forced to slug it out.

Just my two denarii.

I'm playing with Baka and after the initial turns I managed to stabilise my economy. I'm a new player of EB, sorry for the (maybe) banal question but how the hell I can increase the game speed during battles? It's changed everything.

Hello everyone, I finally decided to make an account after a couple of years of playing Rome Total War (as well as other total wars), as well as frequently viewing this forum. Finally decided to become part of the community...just so I can throw in my two cents.

To Matteo, I don't know if you already found your answer, but somewhere in the lower-left hand corner of the HUD, there should be arrows pointing to the right. Its around a pause signal and is right next to your mini-map.

Anyways, I play on VM/M difficulty. And I was messing around with the Sakas (originally was playing Sauromatae but my campaign became unplayable after a certain point due to a bug which crashed it every time, was doing good too)...Anyways...I was playing the Saka and I noticed that I was able to completely blitz south after I was able to take Cauch (or however you spell it) and the village on the top of the map to the West of the starting location (you start with an army within range of it in one turn if you ditch the infantry). You can take both of these cities in one turn. The number of dead doesn't really matter because after that I just gathered all of my family members and generals (one and the same to me) and head south taking the two poorly defended Seleucid villages with the awesome power of generals (had 3 together at that time).

I then moved south to Baktria and finished gathering my family members. By then I had a force of 5 generals who each had 3 silver experience levels. I harassed them for two turns destroying every soldier they had going towards my direction and sieged the city. I didn't need to recall my force because generals heal themselves by a certain amount each turn (for free) so I was just constantly harassing them. They sallied out to attack, I used all of my arrows, and then charged and flanked them when I could, luring them and striking at them from behind, and recalling before their pikes could do damage. First turn of siege I wiped out their general, and two archer units, and a skirmisher unit while losing only 20 lives. Second turn of siege I wiped them out completely, and there was a lot of phalanxes too (5 units of 240). By turn 7 or 8 I wiped out Baktria and had pretty good income (not once did I go into the negative). I was really cheap and using the remains of my normal armies as garrison (like 20 to 30 HA). It kinda made me want to try fighting on VH but I would get utter destroyed...its so hard for me to make the jump.

So my input on blitzing with Saka....generals. Sexy, sexy generals. Milk them for everything they're worth.