Don't have a screenshot at the moment but by 230 my Sauromatae empire is quite large , the most successful attempt to date . Alex.exe vh/m huge size units ,have "cheated" to win previously ctd'd battles as I hate having to replay at least half an hour of constant micro with the horse archers . Usually I have much more casualties than playing the battle manually ( again ) but I can live with that*edit* After the Ptolemaioi have attacked I can't live with that any more , if this campaign dies , it will be because of my hatred of replaying ctd'd battles *edit* . I hate replaying the same battles . Otherwise I don't cheat at all , not even the "legitimate" cheat of " force diplomacy" .
After uniting the tribes around the starting territory and capturing pantikapaion and ... the other crimean city and olvia ( some heroic victories ), I initially expanded to the west , captured the skythian lands and even expanded a bit ( 2 provinces ) in the baltic , attaching two allied tribes to my growing empire .
Since Saka Rauka proved to be the best ally ever in EB ( almost 40 years of alliance with common borders and without attack ) I then continued my expansion to the south , I passed the Caucasus mountains and destroyed Hayasdan and on the other side of Euxeinos Pontos I stole Kallatis and .... the-city-immediately-to-the-west from Getai . Again tough resistance from both of them . The Getai are quiet ever since , they have probed once or twice with a single unit towards Gawjam Bastarnoj but were beaten back immediately from local militia .
Beside the Getai where nothing interesting is happening , at the moment I am facing the KH which for the past 10 years ( or more ) is rather obsessed with Kallatis , even though it has no bordering province ( Tylis still owned by Eleutheroi ) , they have been very active launching expedition after expedition by sea to Kallatis , I must've killed over 25 thousand of troops . I also face the Ptolemaioi who declared war on me the very next round after we shared a border for the first time .
Other than that I have a severe financial problem , with 21 cities now I still can field 3 quarters of a stack worth of HA units of which 5 units are elite ( of which only two are Aorsi Nobles - not the best one there is ) and the rest are regular non elite Sauromatae Archers or Aorsi Riders . These are splitted three ways : 2 Sauromatae Noble Horse Archers with a family member go rebel hunting , 1 SNHA with 3 Aorsi Riders and 4 SHA and one FM are in the Balkan front and 2 Aorsi Nobles 2 SHA and 2 AR and 2-3 FM's are on the other front , Caucasus etc , the rest of my economy supports guards in the cities , all Sauromatae footmen .
The thing is that I may have some profits now , but I think that if I invest on a third "army" ( practically another halfstack - the rebel hunters barely count as an army ) to conquer more territory I don't think that with the additional garisson costs I will have any profit at all , perhaps I will lose more than I will gain , financially speaking . Non HA armies are worth nothing if they're not supported by elite cavalry , so it's a financial dead end methinks .
Moreover I want that 6-8k profit margin to develop my territory ( slowly ) .
What I think kills me is unrest . Contrary to our settled neighbours we don't have enough happiness / law buildings and on top of that we have many FM who simply want to be in the wild / seek the glory in battle who don't make great administrators .
At the end of the day it's ok , because I was forced to play like a steppe horde is supposed to : I organize raids deep into enemy territory with the sole purpose of sacking cities ( so as to develop territory faster ) :D
Am I doing something wrong ?
Let me know if I do .
Satyros
P.S. : I moved my capital to Tanais , which was a brief relief , but further down the road squalor will hit hard my captured cities . With the exception of the 2 Baltic cities I have migrated everywhere .
P.P.S : If this is not the right thread for this post , perhaps a moderator can move it somewhere more appropriate ? Thanks in advance .
P.P.S. : The Ptolemaioi are monstrous ! Monstrous I tell ya !They've taken ALL of western Seleukeia including famous cities such as Babylon and Seleukeia , they have even managed to keep their provinces in Mikra Asia and currently attack my ally Pontos . I have decided to build a HA army of Doom ( which means about 12 units ( 50% elites ) , 14 with the addition of two FM's and DESTROY THEIR CITIES .
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