Advice For All Factions.

[Andy1984]

Ideas you should consider if you've started an Arche Seleukeia-campaign

I'm experienced with VH/VH, so the strategies here should work on easier difficulty-levels as well. However, better strats may be possible with lower campaign-difficulty.

The AS starts with two major problems: the first one is a financial one, the second is the imminent threat from Pahlava. They'll attack you (at Asaak) in the very first turn, while you have no chances of winning that (or following) battle, let alone making peace with them. Other than that, you find yourself at war with the Ptolemeans, who aren't eager for peace either. The main idea behind my strategy is to consolidate my territories wherever possible, while gradually giving up far-east-provinces until a decent defensive border against Pahlava has been created.

Here's what I prefer:
(1) Disband any units you don't need, apart from the units in Edessa, Damascus, Antioch and Asia minor. Definitly disband units in settlements like Susa, Seleukeia, Babylon, Persepolis, Charax,... You may want to disband any cavalry as well, and try to train some garrisson-units like akontistai and gund-i-palta (eastern skirmishers) to free up even more money. That should free up some 11K for each turn. After a few turns, 14K/turns should be within reach. If you disband the forces in Asia Minor, you might be attacked by a huge rebel stack with experienced pehzetaroi, which you want to avoid. For gameplay reasons, I've never tried the effects of sacrificing that (or any other) region.
(2) You're going to lose the most north-eastern provinces anyway, either due to rebellion or due to Pahlava. Since they don't give you any money (corruption), since they have little to no infrastructure and since you're paying the upkeep of Dahae-cavalry, you should disband these units and destroy any buildings there. I usually sacrifice only these two settlements this way. After this, your borders should be 'ahem' smaller and 'easier' to defend.
(3) Pahlava is a cavalry-faction. Their FM's and horse archers will destroy almost anything you send in the open. Therefore: avoid open combat to all costs. For this reason, I try to focus on stone walls in these settlements that are big enough, and on demographics in my small towns in the east. Since you're probably not going to be capable to hold Asaak or Zadracata, you really wish to slow them down there. Allow them to starve you out and destroy any infrastructure. You should be capable to hold Hekatompylos almost indefinitly once it has stone walls. In order to hold Hekatompylos, you will need access to Persian archers and some spearmen (preferably the Parthian spearmen). They're to I prefer to train these guys either in Hekatompylos, or one of the surrounding settlements. Phalangites are in my opinion a waste against Pahlava. They're too inaccessible, too expensive and once their pike line is broken up, they're lost. Pantodapoi Phalagitai have armor-piercing axes. Therefore, if you really want pikes: go for these guys. Later on, you can try to spam slingers to fight them in the open. Slingers are both cheap and effective against armor. Do expect to take horrendous casualties, and don't expect the war in the east to be short nor cheap.
(4) You don't want Pahlava to swarm around Hekatompylos either. Therefore, you should try to transform Ecbatana and Persepolis into military strongholds as well: stone walls are your friend. Gabai, Karmana and all the other not-mentioned towns in the east should have walls as well, but for some reason Pahlava doesn't seem to attack them too quick in my experience. Therefore: if you run low on funds: focus on Hekatompylos, followed up by Ecbatana and Persepolis. I wish to fortify Susa as well, but I haven't been forced back that far until now.
(5) The two settlements in the south-east won't need stone walls as soon as possible, but you do want to keep these settlements too. Once Pahlava conquers them, they'll have even more mines and training capacity. Therefore I don't really pay attention to the ratio between upkeep costs and settlement income.
(6) About construction: I try to construct these buildings that have the lowest cost per turn. Regional barracks will give you persian archers, which will be ok to stand on wall. They'll get killed to the very last men in the Pahlava arrow-waves though. Needles to say, you want to have law-temples in the east. Once you have the money, (extended) mines in Ecbatana are a must.


By concentrating most of your limited resources in Asia, you're going tighten your belts in Antioch (=no mercenaries), which is exactly the place where you want to attack. I prefer attacking Sidon within the second turn. During the first (or second if you decide not to press on in turn one) turn, I like to train Podromoi or harmata drepanephora (scythed chariots) in Antioch. They'll give you an edge against the Ptolemeas. Place your forces from Antioch and part of Damascus on the spot north-east of the city. Ptolemeans are too weak to sally without reinforcements. But they will attack you with another army. Cheer: you now find yourself fighting on one of the highest hills imaginable, while you have pikemen, heavy cavalry and missile units. The battle should be relatively easy. What's even better: you can use the Ptolemean barracks in Sidon.
I've never tried to push trough towards Hierosolyma, since by the time you conquer Sidon, Antioch will be threatened by forces from Tarsus. Conquering Tarsus or Nicosia will be pretty difficult. Luckily, there's no need to conquer them right away: Feel free to halt the offensive against Ptolemeas in order to hold the east. With time passing by, and stone walls being erected in the east, your position should improve considerably after ten or even twenty turns.

About Pontos, Makedonia, Baktria or even Hayasdan: they've never attacked me in the very first turns. Having sufficient garrisson units in the bordering settlements (low-quality units of course) helps.



Good luck Basileios



Edit: for those of you who like a difficult all-deciding battle at the very start of the game: select your forces of Alexandria Margiane, and try to reach Nisa. I've never managed to get there, but I guess conquering the Pahlava-capital slows down your arch-enemy.