Is Pontos impossible? Success stories wanted.

[FriendlyFire]

I continued on to take Ipsos and Sardis from the AS, then planned to take a short breather to consolidate and build up my strength again. No such luck! The Ptolemaioi and Arche Seleukeia negotiated a ceasefire, and then they both started sending stacks against Antiocheia as you'd predicted, with some AS stacks continuing on to besiege Tarsos, or coming through the eastern mountains to threaten my heartland. Luckily I had gone for the fastest possible government in Antiocheia, which meant that by the time the first big Ptolemaioi stack arrived it had just started churning out Hoplitai Haploi and Cappadoccian Hillmen. My client ruler has been fighting heroic battles with these poor troops, throwing them into breaches in the walls, headlong countercharges against Kinsmen Heavy Cavalry, going toe-to-toe to against Thorakitai, the lot.

Meanwhile Makedonia and Epeiros have divided up the west coast of Asia Minor between them, and are squabbling over each other's conquests. I'm praying that they continue fighting each other instead of turning on me as well. I guess the only "good" news is that I have one more AS stack to defeat, and then their nearby cities to the east are depleted and ripe for conquest. The Ptolemaioi to the south, however, are a different matter. Thanks for the idea of the gift-Antiocheia-to-the-Hai trick -- I'll use it if things get *really* desperate :)

One question -- where in the #!&*%# are the Ptolemaioi training Klerouchoi Phalangitai with three silver chevrons of experience? Those guys are just nasty.

[Ludens]

One question -- where in the #!&*%# are the Ptolemaioi training Klerouchoi Phalangitai with three silver chevrons of experience? Those guys are just nasty.

The problem is that when retraining a unit the new soldiers get the same exp level as the old ones. A unit that has been decimated often has high experience levels, so when retraining it you get a monster unit. And the A.I. uses autocalc, which seems to units more experience and often results in decimated units, so the end result is high experience levels.

Experience does not protect against missiles, though. Myabe you could try pinning them and setting a slinger unit in their rear. Slingers have AP projectiles to overcome the phalangite's armour, and by firing into the rear or unshielded side you can avoid the extreme phalanx-shieldvalues.

[Tanit]

Am just starting a Pontus game on VH/VH using the BI exe. Wish me luck! Its only 270 BC and I have already captured Sinope and am besieging Nikaia. With the RTW exe I was previously able to attack the Seleucids right away and dominate Anatolia fast enough to rebuild before they could send big armies after me. But that proved far more difficult on the BI exe, not impossible, but I was getting frustrated so I started over.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Am just starting a Pontus game on VH/VH using the BI exe. Wish me luck! Its only 270 BC and I have already captured Sinope and am besieging Nikaia. With the RTW exe I was previously able to attack the Seleucids right away and dominate Anatolia fast enough to rebuild before they could send big armies after me. But that proved far more difficult on the BI exe, not impossible, but I was getting frustrated so I started over.

VH/VH? You're dead, Tanit. Your faction leader will be nailed to his own palace door....