Hi guys,

I'm one of those players that after playing to roughly the lower half of 260 BC pretty much gets bored of there campaign and starts to play another faction. Its a vicious circle which has led me to never really develop any faction to any real extent. However my friends this has all but changed recently thanks to the mighty AS!

Currently at 253 BC on VH/M

Simply there is not a dull moment being the leader of AS. You have enemies on all fronts pretty much, each with its own way of fighting.

I have pretty much destroyed the Ptolemaioi, they have a settlement or two south of the Nile. This was relatively easy, done mainly with armies of lower level units, Pantodapoi Phalangitai are the mutts nuts.

Dealing with the Pahlav was hard work. Spamming range units and throwing most of my resources to the east I was able to beat them around 258 BC. It was long and bloody.

Now the Saka are descending and every time I see a stack of them on the campaign map its like sitting down too fast, wearing very tight jeans. A.K.A "the nut crusher". When your testicles are forced to be "compressed" from there natural size to that of bake bean. Any man reading this who has ever worn tight jeans will know what I mean. You don't feel anything at first but slowly and gradually that terrible "dull ache" spreads through your groan. The expression on your face generally is picked up by those around you, resulting in many asking -

"Are you alright mate?"

That's the feeling of dread I get when I see a Saka stack. There nobles are seriously tough nuts to cracks. The distance from capital penalties (moved capital to Seleucas) mean you have to pump a stupid amount of cash into that area just to maintain order, never mind fight any battles. Which on the open steppe is near suicide with the units available to you in that part of the AS empire. Heavily armored units would help but currently I would have to march them all the way from Western part of my empire.

Now Backtria are starting to attack me. This however is somewhat of a mixed blessing as once I take the capital I'll be able to recruit those elite units which are more "arrow proof" (Thorakitai) than the regional natives.

In Asia minor things are running rather smoothly. In the next few years I hope to wipe out Pontus. I've taken the Galatia settlement and hope to have Galatian wild men a.s.a.p. I will wait to I've delt with the east before I venture any further west than Asia Minor. Want to hit Greece with an elite army of elephants and true elite infantry. However taming the east I feel will taken decades and a lot of money, men and patience.

Money wise I'm bagging 16-20K profit a season. But with the vast expense dealing with the Saka plus the other 4-5 conflicts I dealing with it doesn't go very far. Ideally I could do with 3 times that to keep my empire developing building wise, as well as keeping the units rolling in. I developed my mines as soon as possible + ports and the investment is paying off.

Rebels are very annoying and are springing up every where.

Its the fact with AS its none-stop action wise. I love the wide selection of units available to AS (although I did cheat to kick of the cataphract reforms) can't wait to my first unit of Thorakitai Agematos Basilikou. I love the size of AS. You get the sense that you are controlling a mighty empire with vast resources, both financial wise + man power wise. But you could always do with just that little bit more. Also the fighting styles that you encounter ranging from almost pure HA to phalanx dominated warfare.

So can anyone give me any pearls of wisdom to help me through my current stage of AS?

Thanks