So this has been by far the most interesting game I've played so far. It's a shot of my on-going campaign as the Getai in 164 BC. I'm playing VH/VH and I'm not using any Force Diplomacy.

That being said: I'm only at war with one other faction. Can you tell which?



It's the Saba. But anyway, here's some fascinating little happenings from the last 50 years of gameplay.

Italy: After I pushed Epirus out of Greece, they managed to hold out against Rome. It was incredible to watch the AI duke it out like that. Most of Italy was green for a short while, then it became white. From Sicily the Carthaginians trampled Epirus and conquered all the way up to Helvetia, eliminating both factions. The Carthaginians then managed to hold onto Helvetia but lost most of Italy to the Aedui, and their Sicilian colonies revolted and switched to the Koinon Hellenon. Now the Aedui and the Koinon Hellenon are fighting a bitter war for the Italian peninsula, and the Greeks are winning. I don't think I'll ever see Italy change colours so many times in under 50 years again.

The Near East: The Ptolemies simply wiped out the Seleukids and Hayasdan, and though I tried my best to keep them uninterested in Bithynia, they soon attack. I've been stuck in a war with the phalanx-dominated Ptolemies for nearly a century, making very slow gains. But as of 10 years ago, I've managed to persuade them into a lasting peace (it's possible, even in VH/VH), and probably could've done so a lot sooner if I was willing to concede all my gains east and south of Anatolia. Now the Ptolemies are stuck in a losing war against Bactria, which has recently finished off the Saka and the Parthians. Before this campaign is over, Bactria will have swallowed all of the Ptolemies Asian possessions.

Arabia: Though I've always been far more powerful than them, the Saba insisted on attacking me, no matter how much money I threw at them. I even tried giving them Lower Egypt, Jerusalem and Nabataea, but they attacked anyway. I'm now stuck trying to force them into a peace treaty, but the only way it seems I'll be able to manage that is by taking South-Western Arabia. After that, they may be more willing to pursue their eastern war with the Ptolemies.

Northern Europe: Sustainable peace is absolutely possible. I've never engaged in any hostilities with the Sweboz or the Sauromatae.

Also, if anyone's curious, I have not been winning battles with the Getai's elite units, mostly because the population of Getia is usually so low compared to the rest of my empire. Most of my armies that have been fighting with the Saba and the Ptolemies before that were bred in Asia (from Antioch, Alexandria and Damascus mostly), like the ones on the screenshot above. Very Hard battle difficulty does not make things impossible.