A question about Seleucid economy

[antisocialmunky]

Have anyone played a Seleucid game where they gift away all the areas in the East and Asia Minor so they control just Syria and Mesopotamia? I would think that would be a fun game to play out. I've never really liked playing a huge empire in the begining...

[king of thracia]

Have anyone played a Seleucid game where they gift away all the areas in the East and Asia Minor so they control just Syria and Mesopotamia? I would think that would be a fun game to play out. I've never really liked playing a huge empire in the begining...

It works out well. I keep Media and Susiana and the western coasts. This is the historical core of the empire.

That's my Empire:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm not saying that the situation is desperate, but it still looks that I get less than it seems, taking into account that vast chunk of land that I control.

Your income looks fine to me. seienchin's early response has covered the key points already.

The Arche has very few cities for its size. Most of it is land. Sea trade > land trade. You will never have "proportionate" income. Ignore all that territory and focus on how many cities you have, and of those how many have ports on the ocean. There is the reason for the income discrepancy. Problem solved

In my last Seleucid game which I played under the impression of a Sweboz and a Romani game when I had tons of money in either one, I wanted to find out exactly why it had always been so difficult to become rich as a Seleucid player. Corruption is only a minor reason as you can see in Marcus' financial summary, but upkeep costs for the army are insanely high. So what I did in my last game was installing Type 4-governors in about half of the provinces. I chose those provinces where foreign barracks allowed for much more units than the factional barracks (including Ekbatana and Susa for example, where I switched back to type 1-governments later for the cataphracts). The governors can also replace much of the usual garrison you keep in the provinces far away from the centre of the empire.
It really makes a huge difference if you recruit only as much units as you really need! A type 4 governor himself gets

Effect Influence 5
Effect Law 4
Effect Defence 1

in any case, so he will easily both eliminate corruption and keep a city content even if he is your only garrison. Furthermore, his bodyguard with its great number and his ability to get traits and ancillaries will make him valuable not only as an administrator but as a military force, too.

See above. I've also never been bothered by corruption. I bet the costs of the level 4 governors probably exceed the cost of corruption. It goes without saying you only recruit the troops you need.

Pantodapoi phalangitai + lots of thanvare parsig or toxotai syriakoi are sufficient against pahlava and nomads. No cavalry is needed as this is not real life where the nomads can run away. Klerouchoi phalangitai and heavy cavalry in the west.