A question about Seleucid economy

[seienchin]

I think I have trade agreements with both Greece and Macedonia. I probably underestimated the granaries as I didn't build them at all, that's something I should start doing. At one point I had more lvl 4 governors that I have now. I did it for roleplaying reasons in most Eastern towns. Eventually I had to get rid of them. As they died, I destroyed lvl 4 government and replaced it with lvl 2 or lvl 1. Those governors were ruining my income.

The only reason the Ptolies yet exist is that they cover some of my border with Carthage, so there's only one town that can be attacked by the Carthaginians. I plan the destruction of Pontus, attack on Palmyra, then I'll probably annex Saba as they are already at war with me, and then I'll take all of the Arabian peninsula. There will be no need to keep strong garrisons there as that regions have no border with anyone.

Yeah get the arabian peninnsula. At least the north of it.
I always give Kyrene to the koinon hellenon, so the carthagenians cant atack me. It works very well

[woirble]

What type of temples are you building? If you build temples of Atargatis everywhere you get a good law bonus (reduces corruption), a good happiness bonus and a decent trade bonus. The law and the trade should help your economy.

[king of thracia]

I started a new campaign on H/M, one of straightforward conquest and I'm swimming in money. I keep the minimum military in the field, but not so minimum that they can't win battles. Once I'm past the start I set all taxes to low and develop economically except for fundamental military infrastructure at key points. Lots of low level trade docks, farms, basic granary, and then estates and highways. I build the first level of mines after basic sanitation, farms, and trade docks are constructed. Strong coastal trading areas use Type IV governments until they have basic development; exception is of course Antioch which in addition to being already highly developed is the main military base of the west. And Alexandria, now that I've conquered it :). The eastern frontier is switched all to type 2 governments.

Now, keep in mind that despite its vast territory, the number of cities in Arche Seleukeia is not especially high. A Rome that is expanding out of Italy and a Getai that controls northern Greece and western mikra Asia can already rival in number of cities. And Greece and western mikra Asia are especially lucrative.

For peace of mind you can wall off the northeast with Baktria. Attack Pahlava first to keep Baktria as allies and make them break with Pahlava. It's possible to have relatively peaceful borders in the west without expanding much beyond initial starting position; I recommend taking coastal regions at least for economy. However straight up conquest of Ptolemies, mikra Asia etc works out well as you may know.