Arche Seleukeia "Grand Strategy"

**dejan07** · 07-21-2009, 16:52

After several failed attempts to play as Arche Seleukeia i have finally developed a great strategy for this faction!
The problem that AS presents is that they are spread too thin and from all sides are "allys" who change very quickly to the enemys.
The main idea is to secure your flanks abandoning all of eastern provinces and concetrate your forces in Sirya and Asia Minor and preventing the war on multiple fronts.

After you have achieved that you can slowly reconquer all of your previos possesions.

The first step was abandoning all my eastern provinces and the military garnisons with them (which gives great relieve to the economy, +10.000 every turn) to the rebels (and some to my ally Baktria(with the "gift" button) making them stronger and more likely to go to war with Pahlava) and that gave me protected flank from Pahlava,Saka and Sauromatae from this part of the world until i got rid of Pontus and Ptolemy in Asia minor.

Then i broke up alliances with Pahlava,Pontus except for Baktria and Hayasdan because this prevents the mass betrayal of alliances when some of this factions starts a war with you.
Then i helped the Hayasdan to "close" the openings in the mountans from Sauromatae entering in...

The seond step was blitzkrieg with Pontus and then the expulsion of the Ptolemy from Asia minor and securing my flank from that side.In the same time i a send a diplomat to Greece to make sure that nobody get the "oberhand" and expand in my exposed flank in Asia minor.I helped the Greeks to take Korinth (with money) i helped the Macedon to retake the Pella and i helped the Epiros to take the Demetrias.Got it?!

After i achieved all of that i turn now only to the Ptolemy in the south and i am trying to drive them back in Egypt.The situation now is:

Hayasdan is in war with Sauromatae preventing them entering in Asia minor;
Baktria is in war with Pahlava and Saka securing my Eastern flank;
The Greek peninsula is in status quo preventing anybody to expand in Asia Minor;
and the Ptolemy is in war with Saba(my ally) and myself.

You see now you can have a great campaign game if you know how to manipulate the other factions against each other in the right way despite all the dumbness of the AI.

P.S.
I don't use Force diplomacy but i use win conditions text from konny!!!

**Atraphoenix** · 07-23-2009, 06:54

good strategy I hope this will help many players who avoid playing AS for it is already the strongest empire in EB so it has no challenge. (Even me, prefer destroying it instead of playing with them

.)

**Companion Cavalry** · 07-23-2009, 07:12

That is certainly the most efficient way to play the AS campaign, however it is ahistorical and largely incompatible with role-playing.
The mighty Archon of Seleukeia would never cede half his lands to barbaric nomads for the sake of convenience.

Besides, beating up the Parthoi is half the fun of EB

**Chris1959** · 07-23-2009, 10:51

I've recently switched to the AS from Rome and have had no real problems in holding on to what I've got, in fact that's the basis of the campaign limited expansion defend the frontiers come what may accept any disasters.
The only things I did were move capital to Seleukia and give some autonomy to the East by switciing to type IV govts, also allows you to fight fire with fire and your own HA's.
To date 220BC Parthias a rump, Baktrias terrified, Pontus and Hai worried and the Ptolies keep getting stuffed in Judea, money is flowing in and rebels get squashed.
The real fun is out East I get to fight with regional troops and no phalanxes and out West I can field a full on Hellenic force with Katas, Agryaspides the works.

By the way difficulty is VH/M

**dejan07** · 07-26-2009, 06:29

I agree with the user "Companion Cavalry", it is indeed ahistorical but the chalenge is not milder because when you abandon the eastern provinces the Baktria and Pahlava will take your setllements with ease and become very powerfull themselves so it will be much harder for you to reconquer them again(and yes, you will fight even better "kataphractoi" battles with the Pahlava).

The main reason i did this Chris1959 is because of too much settlements to micromanage

(i don't use auto managment) and avoiding the endless siege battles from all sides every turn.
Remember what the Antiochus said:"If somebody knew how much paper work is required to run a kingdom he will not pick a crown even if he finds it laying in the streets".

Historically the the AS was spread out too thin over such a large chunk of land and it was impossible for them to control it efficiently so maybe this strategy was the right answer for them.

**Quicci** · 07-31-2009, 09:48

Hi folks,
I'm currently playing the AS campaign (VH/M), and the following works well for me, now being in 245BC:

I divided the starting lands into 3 regions, each has a separate task - in fact all they share is a Treasury :-) and an occasional unit passing to be retrained...
- West, governed from Antiocheia
- Heartland, with the capital of Seleukeia (+ Ekbatana, Susa, Babylon and Persepolis)
- East, with the city of Marakanda (Samarkand)

In west the key is to kick Ptolemies out to Egypt, I guess Greece and Asia Minor can wait until 230BC or so. This strategy worked more than well, after some Epic battles of my levies against the core of Ptolemy armies the center of the West region is Alexandria, and the enemy has retreated to the desert.
Pontos and Hayasdan are gaining strength though, and Quarthadashtim elite stacks, who are the allies of Tomb-loving Ptolemies, were spotted in the western desert.

Heartland is focused on developing the infrastructure and cities, avoiding war with surrounding factions, not even taking nearby Eleutheroi cities as Palmyra or Phraaspa. Saba and Hais were pretty quiet, and this gives me time and resources to finance both western and eastern fronts.

East is a hell of a nightmare. My infantry armies have beaten Pahlava in a serie of early-game bloody battles with heavy casualties mostly on my side. Luckily a faction can't function without atleast one city :-) All newly-conquered cities have the status of Allied Kingdoms (Gov IV), supplying the Eastern armies with necessary light cavalry.
Still being allied to Baktria, my worst enemy so far are the Sakas. They chew infantry like a grinder, and my cavalry is inferior to theirs - so far. Currently the rivers of blood flow from the mountain passes of Hindukush/Altai, as Sakas are still in possesion of northern steppes.

One of the keys to be successful as AS is to learn to battle with levies vs. elites, build mines (!!!) and to counter corruption as soon as viable. The seasonal treasury in 245BC is ca 28k mnai (depending on the harvest...), which is quite enough to fund the wars - at the moment.

From what I see with the my spy network, Epeiros, Romai and Quarthadashtim will be more than a fair challenge even when all the East submit to the rule of King of Kings.

**Skullheadhq** · 07-31-2009, 11:42

Okay

In turn one attack Pahlava first with the Persian Archers or the Babylonian Infantry, this is to keep Pontos, Baktria and Hayasdan allied. Then gather ALL troops you have spare and send them to Antiocheia-Margiane to prepare the Counter-Attack on the Pahlava who have Asaak by now.
In turn 1 replace GovIII with GovIV and recruit a merc general in Marakanda.

Then take Nisa to take out there recruitment center and raze everything or try to hold it.
In the west blitz Sidon and Hierosolymna and defend it for the time being. Then it's up to you what you do next, your enemies will be pacified for at least a decade.

**option** · 08-07-2009, 06:04

I'm 30 years into an AS campaign and I actually found it really easy. The only factions to attack me were Parthia, Egypt and Saka, so I was able to concentrate my forces on two fronts. The only settlements I lost were Asaak and Antiocheia-Margiane briefly, as I focused my forces on the east in order to destroy Parthia in about four or five years, while also taking the Levant from the Ptolemies. After that it was basically just fortifying Alexandria-Eschate and Marakanda against Saka and destroying small factions at my leisure, as Pontos barely took Ankyra and just sat there all game while Hayasdan was busy with nomads. I destroyed Pontos in my conquest of Anatolia, drove Hayasdan onto the steppes, knocked Saka back to about 3 settlements in the north, and am about to take the Arabian peninsula. Definitely one of the easier EB campaigns I've played.

**Atraphoenix** · 08-07-2009, 07:12

that's why many avoids playing AS even easier than romans..
Pahlava is hardest on the east even harder than saka because baktria expands india, as is busy with pahlava so saka has no problem until she reaches as frontier mostly by destroying weakened pahlava.
I tried every possible expansion for pahlava but I can say that the most logical one is conquer as lands as loses her allies if you attack her. if not you lose your loyal ally baktria that must be the most loyal ally for pahlava.

**Chris1959** · 08-07-2009, 09:19

Well I'm just about to finish my AS campaign 180BC, it was tremendous fun and I haven't reached the victory conditions I'm at the point where I can field such good armies you can beat anyone and an economy that's means I can even though I have a limit on army maintenance.

One minor exploit I used was leaving the Pahlava with two settlements and they acted as a very nice buffer against their allies the Saka who ruled the steppes, it was strange that the AI Saka never rolled over the rumps of the Phalava and Baktria!

I liked micro-managing a large and fractious empire from the start and the early years were the best I also liked as an ex Romani fielding heavy cavalry including Cataphracts, but I have to be honest I hate fighting with phalanxes

So now it's on to the Getai and quoffing ale from drinking horns and burning things!

**option** · 08-07-2009, 11:17

Yeah, I gotta say that using cataphracts in conjunction with phalanxes is probably my favorite part of playing the AS. Smashing everything into a bunch of sarissas with cataphracts alone is enough to get me to play them.

**Atraphoenix** · 08-07-2009, 11:48

best faction for hammer and anvil as you can beat other Hellenic cavalry with cataphracts.
but useless against my rinse and repeat+hammer because I have no good phalanx to hold the line unless I am in the late period.

**Vasiliyi** · 08-08-2009, 05:33

Ive been lurking this thread, and I find it very interesting. Im currently playing AS, and its the most fun/intense game ever.

There was a thread not too long ago that had some more tips and hints, maybe ill dig it up and post it here.

**dejan07** · 08-08-2009, 10:55

I am glad that someone find it usefull.
I was playing my campaign with the ALX.exe and it was not bad but i am playing now with BI.exe and it is much better.Since i am a moddder myself i have changed the starting formations for the ai now they start with the sheildwall option, the real greek phalanx.

**king of thracia** · 09-23-2009, 08:55

On H/M I simply ceded Saka frontier to Baktria, thus at once seeing to the security of my subjects, keeping Baktria busy, and Alexander's legacy remains in Hellenic hands.

Fighting Parthia was easy with a few pantodapoi phalanx + lots of thanvare parsig imported from the south. I never lost any cities. I'm content to stay within my borders in the East. I actually decided to abandon the Parthian frontier so I could make use of my Mesopotamian troops who otherwise would never see battle (except for that time I reinstated the Hai Arkah). Toxotai Syriakoi are decent at archery and melee and Shipri Tukul with their secondary maces are Seleukid armored AP infantry. Cataphract killers

In the opening, I built roads (of course), disbanded most of the ragtag army and concentrated useful forces on dubious borders, recruiting some choice troops to shore them up. I looked over my rosters with the help of Recruitment Viewer and europabarbarorum.heimstatt.net, imagined the composition of my enemies' armies, decided exactly what kind of low level troops to tech to and concentrated on building up the necessary military infrastructure. Rest is recruiting and fighting and economic buildup to invincible juggernaut. Capturing and developing Cyprus and the southern Anatolian, Phoinike, and Ioudaoi coasts early is very lucrative.

I'm sure I could play on VH/M but I like a lull in the action and a realistic diplomatic situation. I can have time to exult in my glorious imperial army. I can sit on my throne in radiant repose