Damn AI made my game miserable

[anubis88]

What i do to combat huge military costs is to make forts at key locations and stock them with 1 hoplite mercenary/unit and and archer (cretan ). This way when the AI comes knocking at my doorstep I have at least 1 year of before the fort is taken to build up units for the invasion. Not to mention they sallies and the fact a hoplite in a doorway is enough to beat up a good sized enemy.

With my territories safe I usually have 1-2 full stacks and thats it. I try not to maintain a huge navy also. In my current Romanii campaing its 249BC with the Punic wars just begun and I have 162000+ mnai, not to mention the 50+k I recieve a turn.

I do have forts in key areas, but that's not enough... Also it's hard to have only 2 full stacks... I needed 3 of them just to keep the north and west from macedon and south from the ptolys. But now Armenia has attacked me with and elite half stack + a full one....

I could live with fighting the ptolys and Armenia, but having Macedon of whom's massive empire i'm the only enemy really sucks... I don't really want to fight with them for the steppes..

P.S. On another note: does anyone know why i can't recruit the hellenic medium phalanx+cavalry in ipsos with a level 4 MIC? seems wierd

[Africanvs]

When going on the defensive is not working, go on the offensive.

1) Do whatever you can to get some money coming in, even if you have to sell off some buildings.

2) Disband any units that are too expensive, like excess ships. (keep a few ships however)

3) Raise taxes to max possible, while keeping cities happy.

4) Create a couple of 1/2 to 3/4 stack armies.

5) Begin hitting any enemy cities by sea that are not well-defended.

• Massacre the populace, destroy every building that you can and leave, or:
• Massacre the population, destroy the MICs and leave the smallest garrison possible to hold the city.

6) You will now have several fronts and a bit more income to increase your military forces. Let the enemy waste time re-taking those cities. Hopefully they will stop attacking your home provinces after a while.

7) You must minimize your fronts.

• Start by slowly conquering Asia Minor.
• Mak provinces first, and then the KH.

8) Once you do all of this, you can fortify your new fronts. Your bosphoran territories may be difficult to keep.

9) Now you should have a lot more money coming in, and some decent military forces. Pick an enemy to destroy, while keeping enough forces at home to keep the others at bay.

10) You can do this, but you have a lot of battles ahead of you. I wish I were in your position; it isn't very often I find myself in such a challenging situation. Enjoy it! Things are far from hopeless.

As for your other question, hellenic medium phalanx and cavalry are available in Ipsos with a level 4 regional mic, not native. (That could be your issue?) That is if Ipsos is in Phrygia, which I'm pretty sure it is.

[anubis88]

yeah Africanus... That could be it... ( about the hellenic units)
I always mix-up those two MIC's.
I just won a battle against armenia 3600-2300, a heroic victory, i'm trying to take side now, and to keep trapezous... I will see how it goes...

The thing is also, that my goal is to have the Mithridatic wars, no matter how long it takes. But i want a historical pontos, i don't want to destroy the ptolomys or anything... I could've done this already, but then the game would become boring... (ironic huh?)

[AqD]

You're doomed because you expanded unwisely.......

It's the rules that make your game miserable. AI is actually being smart by attacking you from all sides!



Now go facing the great challenge and come back when you beat them all!

[anubis88]

Well i really got mad now... Kotais was taken, i'm marching to take Armavir in the north-east.
I defended tarsos in a heroic victory and conquered Side. I'm creating an army in the West to take Sardis, and readying an army in the north to stop macedon.

Now the real chalenge will be to lift the siege of Mazaka. The ptolys have an army of 3500+ men with 2 FM besieging it and i have a 3/4 stack to attack them. i have 3 FM's but no elite units. The problem is also that in Mazaka when you try lifting the siege the enemy is usually waiting for you on a hill.

I practicaly must win this battle becouse mazaka is my most popolous city, and i also have the faction heir in there who's the smartest guy in my kingdom. If i manage to defend it, i will probably have enough time to consolidate everything.

It's gonna be a huge battle so i left it till tomorrow...

Hope i will win

[Africanvs]

Good luck! If you want the Mithridatic wars, you're going to need to help Rome out a lot with the console. They look to be getting beaten up pretty bad. In fact, I think most people who try to set up a historical repeat use a lot of console commands and force diplomacy to make it so, creating armies with the console, and taking and gifting territories to try to create a historical situation. Things are simply too random otherwise, and the same powerful factions tend to dominate the map. (Ptolies/AS/Mak/Rome)

[Tyrfingr]

You'll need to tie up some loose ends before you can concentrate on your mission for world domination. First, you'll need to secure the Anatolian lands in the west. Then you should raid some Ptolie homelands (conquer Alexandria and raze every building they got) and leave it with a garrison of archers and try make them survive as long as possible against the Ptolies. While the ptolies are coming back for their homeland, try to sneak some of their northern settlements from them.