A guide to EB blitzing, for new players.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Good suggestions. Some additions:

Saba:

bag Carna too ASAP, for three reasons:

- It is very close to your capital Maryab, and thus a very tempting target. Also a rich province.
- Your best nearby mining site (basic mines provide 1200 mnai/turn, upgraded ones 3000)!
- The Ka'ba. It provides additional trade income and a happiness bonus (plus, if you're a Muslim player, it is probably some kind of a status symbol).

Sauromatae:

Gelonus is seriously worth considering even right at the start. It has your regional barracks already built and you can immediately recruit Vojinos from there, who are a) cheap, b) strong vs cavalry and c) frighten infantry. This can be a great help for the next few raids, especially those against walled cities.
Only drawback: it is not a particularly rich province.

Good suggestions, I agree with both.

For the Sabyn, I suggested Sebata before Carna because Sebata has no walls initially, and is thus an easier and quicker target. Carna should be next on the list, though, definitely.

Gelonus is a great target for the Sauromatae, for the reasons you've stated. However, no other faction will be going after Gelonus initially, so it can wait. However, the Pahlava and Saka will definitely want to take Gava-Mazskata and Gava-Alanna for themselves - and they will if you don't get there first! And they're a long way away from your capital, so your army will take several turns to reach them.

You can always take the towns from their conquerors afterwards, of course, but to do that you have to break your alliance with them - and IMO that's not worth doing so early in the campaign, both Pahlava and Saka are dangerous opponents if provoked, you don't want to take them on until your economy is sorted out. But if you take the two towns first, the other nomad factions generally leave them alone and go after the Seleucids instead - at least on Medium campaign difficulty.