Quote Originally Posted by delra
What about AS? Are they an easy faction to play? (Assume that losing 20 cities in 40 turns is something you can live with).
I found them practically impossible to lose with - your empire is so large, some of it is bound to survive Hayasdan and Pontus aren't threats in the beginning, and if you're fast you can kick Ptollies out of Side, Sidon and Tarsos, before they mobilize against you, and then you just have to take Jerusalem and wait for em to die on your phalanx in the streets. But on the other hand they aren't easy - at some point, Ptollies, Baktria, Pahlava, Saka Rauka, Hayasdan and Pontus will all be at war with you, as will either KH or Macedonia, depending on who wins in Greece, and Saba will frustrate your borders as well, even if they're too weak to actually conquer you. Now it isn't that this will make you lose (your empire is actually vast enough to hold such an alliance at bay) - its just terribly annoying to have all your border towns besieged all the time And then there's the fact that both Asia Minor and Central Asia are terribly rebellious at first, so if you're quick and conquer both, one of the areas are gonna flare up in revolts.

I find that AS quickly becomes a large power, but fashioning it into a superpower is a slog - it isn't difficult, it's just irritating, cos' whenever you forget a front or ignore it for 2 turns, its under attack again, and after 11 battles defending the same city against the same enemy, it's just too much