Quote Originally Posted by Praetor Rick
Eh, give Archimedes a lever and a place to stand and he'll rule the world. Give me a Militia Hoplite and a Militia Cavalry, and I can at least conquer it. Note: I didn't come up with that one, but I don't remember who did, it was probably somewhere in the RTW guides forum under Seleucids or possibly Greek Cities.

Depending on how obsessively you practice your Alexandrian tactics, you can indeed build an empire on tier MilHops and MilCav, without much trouble.

That said, Silver Shield Pikemen, Cataphracts, and War Elephants make it a lot more fun.

I have to admit, Praetor Rick, that I find that in my war with the Egyptians I can usually get my militia hoplites several experience chevrons. Once Antioch is advanced enough with the Hephaestus temples, you can send them to Antioch for a silver shields & swords weapons upgrade. It's amazing how formidable they become. AND . . . you have no trouble reinforcing them after losses in combat because every city has a basic barracks. I do get a kick out of using basic militia hoplites that way.

I do remember one game recently where I had some significant profits coming in and I bribed away the Parthians cataphracts into my own Seleu army. That certainly ended the Parthian threat in short order.

As the Greeks, I have used bribery to buy off Crete. You can end up getting two two chevron Cretan archers with two more available as mercenary recruitment. But I don't think that little trick works with the Seleucids. I've tried it with the Roman factions and I don't get the foursome Cretean archer grab either.