Arche Seleukia difficulty level?

[Dragannia]

Hey guys,

I've been playing EB on and off for a years now. My old rig couldn't really handle the increased memory usage but my new machine blitzes through EB. I've always loved the Seleukids on account of their merge of Persian and western military. I'm a fair bit along now, I've just taken Zadraka and Asaak back from the Parthians, conquered most of Anatolia and just took Sidon and Salamis from the Ptolemies.

I'm not exactly sure I'm playing optimally however. A lot of my conquests, particularly in the east, are done with mercenary armies - in fact my entire front against the Parthians essentially consists of mercenaries and bodyguard troops. Is it better to train up my own guys from the region? Also, I've been playing on Very Hard battles and Medium campaign settings (I read the recommended wrong), so I've been having a great deal of trouble when I play the battles myself. Is it better to reset and run on VH/M? I hear from some posters that VH for campaign is too much - the enemy attacks on multiple fronts much too aggressively and it's not as fun. Thoughts?

[Teucer]

If you play on VH campaign, be prepared to face the same mercenary armies you now use to such effect. The AI will get LOADS of extra cash and use it to buy up most or all of the merc pool. Also, I believe the eleutheroi will actually go on the offensive on VH. I personally prefer H or M if I'm doing a lot of roleplaying.

[Andy1984]

Great to see another Seleucid-lover. Your conquests seem logic and well-thought to me. I too try to expand against the Ptolemeans before really pulling off the offensive in the east. Taking Salamis, Sidon, Tarsos and Hierosolyma is vital in doing so. I guess you shouldn't worry about that part being suboptimal.

About the battles in the east. They're bloody and always will be. I favour parthian spearmen (second level regional barracks), pantodapoi phalangitai (second level factional barracks) and persian archers/eastern slingers (first or second tier regional barracks). You can add some native cavalry if you want to, but it doesn't seem vital to me. Numbers are what wins your game. Numbers and an endless supply of expendable soldiers. Therefore it is often a good idea to start building out health infrastructure so as to boost the demographic growth in all these minor towns. I personally dislike mercenaries, as they're expensive, impossible to retrain and somehow boring. But to each his own.

About the campaign settings: you're doing remarkably well against the Pahlava, given you've already reconquered Zadrakata and Asaak. In my own campaign I'm close to wiping out the Ptolemeans at a moment where the Pahlava are (strongly) in control of at least eight provinces of mine. Therefore if you're enjoying the game, why reset? It's not that you're going to run into a faction that's harder to beat than the Pahlava. Everyone has his own preferred difficulty-settings. I prefer VH/VH, and even then one can prevent wars with Pontos and Hayasdan by defending your bordering provinces. The AI won't attack you (not even on VH) if you have a sufficient garrisson.

[gamegeek2]

Disagree - I try to kill off the Parthians as quick as possible before they start pumping cataphracts with their extra money (on VH). It's possible to do this with a good combination of Pantodapoi Phalangitai, Archers, Slingers, and FMs. Mercenary Thureophoroi and Peltastai are also invaluable as troops with actual armour.

Holding off the Ptolemies is easy enough - taking out Pahlava is hard when their armies are full of cataphracts. Do regular raids against Nisa and Khiva to take them, even if for a short time. Destroy their unit-recruiting infrastructure - it gets you money to fund more troops and mines, and sets them back a significant amount.

[Dragannia]

I don't really know how to defend myself against cataphracts. They charge headfirst into a phalanx and then proceed to butcher it, or take so many casaulties it's a rather Phyrric victory for me.

I'm also somewhat of a newbie, so can someone explain to me what the difference between trade increase and increase in tradeable goods is? And what are the trade route scouts for? And how does public health bonuses affect population and such? Does law and order affect pop growth? Some of my cities are really stagnating (in terms of population growth) and I've exhausted all the +pop growth buildings but I have an inkling the the health bonuses and such also affect it?

Also, the reason I was considering on a restart is that I'm afraid later on it would become too easy for me. From what I've read, after Ptolemaoi and Pahlava there isn't much to stop me.

[J.R.M]

Hello and welcome. Yes, public health afects pop grouth (increase it), also remember that law bonuses nulifies corruption and increase order (as far as i remember). I believe there is actually no difference between "trade increase and increase in tradeable goods". Trade route scouts are the first step to begin a trade route and later a large trade route ( the last 2 gives you an increase in tradeable goods). Hope you have fun.

[Andy1984]

About cataphracts charging headlong into your pikemen: as soon as they charged into it, it often pays to break up your phalanx since your pantodapoi phalangitai have armor-piercing axes. Don't bother fielding any other pike-unit in the east (no klerouchoi and definitly no mercenary pezhetaroi). If you can, you should bring in some other unit as well, like parthian spearmen to support the phalanx that is attacked by the cataphracts. If no parthian spearmen are around, go for anything with spears (even standard pantodapoi), or your general's bodyguard. This way the cataphracts are fighting against both spearmen and armor-piercing units while you might be sufficiently numerous to 'distraught' them. It's normal and understandable if they take many casualties, but since they're an elite unit I would mostly just accept it. After all, your elite units should be dealing out many casualties as well.

If you happen to have slingers in your army, use them to take out some cataphracts when they're still far removed from your line.