After having several Pahlava games that flat out didn't work, here is what I learned.

1) Do not mess with the Saka. They can do everything you can and they can most likely do it better, so to beat them you need overwhelming force. Which you can't afford, since your territories can't support any major armies and the Saka territories are too poor to be worth looting. Leave them alone.

2) Messing with Baktria? Well, unlike the Saka they make for nice looting and you use a minimum of horse archers to wear down them over several turns. On the other hand, this will take a lot of time and while Baktra itself is a prize, the neighbouring lands are not that great. The Baktrians tend to expand to the east and south so Baktria can be used as a nice bulwark against the Saka. Giving them Marakanda worked out well for me. It keeps the Saka boxed up. You need to keep an eye out so the Baktrians don't march an army over to Antiocheia-Margiane though, but even if they do declare war the Baktrians are much more manageable on the defense than the Saka. For the Saka you want stone walls. For the Baktrians all you need is two or three horse archers raiding their stacks every turn.

3) The AS. This is the target. You want their lands and wealth. What you don't want is to be tied up developing cities. You don't have time for that with the AS still sending armies after you, and while you're developing cities they're way ahead of you on the tech curve. The better phalanxes they have, the harder it will be for your horse archers to penetrate their armor. The way to do this is to strike as deep into their empire as possible. Take their cities, raze their barracks, and if it looks like they'll retake them, raze everything else. Hell, until you get to Persia it's barely worth keeping and garrisoning any of the AS cities. Take them, loot whatever you can, then turn up taxes and let them rebel while you're taking another city. You need the money so let the war feed itself.

Only garrison cities if it makes economic sense.

Don't bother with any foot troops. Spies should do the trick when it comes to opening gates, even if you might have to wait a turn or two extra. If you really need a ram, hire the cheapest mercs you can. Then you have an instant garrison force. But money will be tight and spies are cheaper.


Once you have taken their heartlands you suddenly have an income! Now you can do pretty much whatever you like