1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[FriendlyFire]

Hayasdan H/M campaign, 212 BC. Covering the map roughly from west to east:

Iberia: Carthage have finished conquering Africa, and are allied with the Ptolemaioi, so now they're expanding in Iberia. The Lusos only just woke up from a 50-year hibernation, so things don't look good for them.

Europe: The Aedui are on the verge of extinction against a 3-way alliance of Arverni, SPQR, and Sweboz. They've only held out this long by occasionally getting towns back through rebellion. And the poor Casse can't quite unite Ireland.

Sicily: Carthage lost Messana to rebellious Greeks, who then proceeded to take over the entire island. This leaves Carthage and SPQR free to concentrate on other fronts, although they occasionally squabble over Corsica.

Greece/Thrace/Illyria: Koinon Hellenon are a superpower, having reduced Epeiros to a single Illyrian province, and exiled the Makedonians to Asia Minor. Rebellions in Hellenic coastal cities (Messana, Chersonesos, Halikarnassos) have all been turned into Greek power bases. They're at war with all their neighbors except for their allies the Getai, who are busy expanding north. The Koinon Hellenon are led by a horribly battle-scarred and lame 63-year-old Spartiate with triple-gold-chevron experience, who has left heroic-battle markers strewn across the region.

Asia Minor: A senile Seleucid leader drools on his throne in Ipsos, convinced that he still has an empire. The Makedonians hang on by their fingertips. The Koinon Hellenon are busy eating up Pontos, who wore themselves out defending Kallatis (Pontos actually walked an army past Byzantion and up the coast to conquer Kallatis!). My allies the Arverni got Ankyra by rebellion, and then I conquered and gave them Tarsos and Antiocheia to form a buffer against the Ptolemaioi. They have full stacks of freed slaves not doing anything and not being attacked by anyone.

Syria etc: After some earlier "unpleasantness" (c.f. Tarsos and Antiocheia) I'm now allied with the Ptolemaioi, and we're both at peace with the Arche Seleukeia. Seleucid full stacks are content to sit in their forts, using up resources that could be better used in the east. Saba are stuck in the desert - they got Palmyra through rebellion and then used it as a base to attack me, so I kicked them out and gave it back to the Seleucids in return for a ceasefire.

Hayasdan (me!): I've conquered my first set of historical lands to the east, and am about to intervene in Pontos and Asia Minor to the west. I feel relatively safe against the Sauros in the north (battling Greeks and Getai), and Seleucids in the south (busy doing nothing). But then there's the east...

The east: The big blue Baktrian death machine approaches. They spent 50 years conquering India, then exploded over the past 10. A 3-way alliance in the northeast between Baktria, Pahlava, and the Saka has kept them all chipping away at the Seleucids, but Baktria took all the spoils. If they don't turn on Pahlava or Saka, then I expect to be attacked very soon...

Edit: look at this lovely Baktrian stack I found in Apameia. Mercenary phalangites as the main line, thureophoroi to hold the flanks, Hyrkanian hillmen to run round the back and chop things up, peltastai to annoy, Indo-Iranian cavalry to harass and then charge, and archers to shoot up the enemy as they approach. This is a stack I'd be VERY happy to command, and the AI put it all together itself!