Do you cheat with Pahlava?

[penguinking]

My Pahlavan campaign, 246 BC (VH/M difficulty)


I really didn't find it too hard. I just attacked the Seleucids immediately. You start with two armies, so one can go south and quickly take Asaak, Zadrakta, and the other Seleucid town near there, while the other can go east and take the two northernmost seleucid provinces before joining up with your other army. By this point I had enough cash to hire some mercenary foot archers for garrison, and could support a stack of 3 FMs and 4-6 horse archers. I defeated three seleucid half stacks before sweeping south again, quickly taking Gabai and Persepolis, and then the rest of the seleucid's eastern possessions.

At this point my economy took off, and I could afford two half stacks of horse archers, with which I invaded Mesopotamia. After taking Babylon I decided to stop expanding for awhile, but eventually got tired of constant annoying battles and took Syria. Perhaps I was lucky, because neither Baktria nor Saka attacked me. Eventually I decided to raise another army and crush Baktria just for fun. So, cheating is definitely not necessary.