why are most factions poor?

[themilo]

I downloaded this mod because everybody always said how great it was, for my first game I decided to play as Macedon, the game starts and I’m surrounded by enemies and I have a negative income.

After failing a few times I decided to try out the Arabian faction, despite the games claiming it had an easy start I stared off surrounded by strong rebel cities and again I had negative income.

Why do so many factions start off with negative income? Starting off surrounded by many enemies is challenging, starting you off with a negative income is just frustrating.

[rickinator9]

Because your army is too large. You get negative income because your unit upkeep is higher than your income. You can usually break even again when you conquer some Eleutheroi around you. The upkeep will go down because of casualties and your income will go up because of the new cities.

[athanaric]

Macedon was in terrible shape in 272 because it was just recovering from a Galatian raid of epic proportions (amongst other things, the Galatians killed the previous Macedonian king IIRC). Also your faction (i.e. Antigonos Gonatas and his followers) had just taken over at that point and needed to establish a secure power base.

As for Saba, their start is "EB easy", which is more difficult than RTW vanilla, but more importantly requires some adjustments to your play style. For more information on that, check out the beginner's help thread linked in my signature, which features many tips from experienced EB players.
You can take the neighbouring towns relatively easily if you camp outside when they sally and utilize your missile troops to maximum efficiency. Saba FMs are also quite strong against light infantry. The campaign will get difficult when you are sandwiched between two immediate neighbours who have a better tech tree and superior units, as well as a large empire each.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Why do so many factions start off with negative income? Starting off surrounded by many enemies is challenging, starting you off with a negative income is just frustrating.

If you're having real difficulty with the smaller factions, try starting with one of the big factions - Quarthadast (Carthaginians) or Ptolemies (Egypt). They are so rich that their economy is making profit right from the start. Or you could try the Romans, of course.

Arche Seleukia is the biggest faction at the start, so money isn't much of a problem, but micro-managing that huge empire is quite a task, plus fighting the Pahlava (Parthians) is not easy at the beginning - horse archers are murder on your poor quality starting units and the Parthian bodyguards are better than your own family member bodyguards. And fighting the Saka is even harder. You will almost certainly lose a few border territories early on before your get your economy and army organised.

[athanaric]

AS requires too much macro and micro for a beginner to be comfortable with IMO. Macedon is a gamble, as are KH and Baktria. I'd recommend Carthage or Rome, both have fairly unique units and a powerful economy, as well as an easy start. I believe the OP could actually succeed with his start as Saba, if he adjusts his style accordingly. Their economy isn't super strong, but decent enough to make up for a few botched early turns. Plus once you have conquered two settlements, Saba should be getting positive income.

Actually the one faction with the most "horrible startig debt" potential is Lusitania, I believe. They start with four or so extremely expensive units of elite cavalry which are good later on in the campaign (against elephants or for harassing slow Carthaginian/Roman units), but almost useless at the start.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Actually the one faction with the most "horrible startig debt" potential is Lusitania, I believe. They start with four or so extremely expensive units of elite cavalry which are good later on in the campaign (against elephants or for harassing slow Carthaginian/Roman units), but almost useless at the start.

I use two of those four units of elite light cavalry to help my Lusotann family members take out the enemy cavalry in Sucum-Murgi and Tyde. They take massive losses in the process, but if used to pin down the enemy horsemen, they can save the life of your general, whose light cavalry bodyguard is too weak to protect him alone against heavier and/or more numerous enemy cavalry. Better to lose a unit of elite light cavalry you can't afford to maintain anyway at the beginning, than to lose a family member.

[themilo]

I’m going to try out Rome since my biggest issue with vanilla Rome is that playing as Rome is very easy, please tell me that the marius reform automatically upgrades all of my units so that I don’t have to manually replace all of my troops.

I tried out some other factions and I’m surprised how many factions start out with negative income and surrounded by enemies, maybe this mod just isn’t for since I like challenging games not frustrating games.

[athanaric]

I’m going to try out Rome since my biggest issue with vanilla Rome is that playing as Rome is very easy, please tell me that the marius reform automatically upgrades all of my units so that I don’t have to manually replace all of my troops.

Well the Marian reforms aren't very easy to get - I'm still waiting for them - but there's another reform before that. And the only units that can get "upgraded" to another unit type are the bodyguards of a couple of eastern factions, which happens when Rome upgrades one of her Central Italian cities to "huge".
Rome should be pretty easy though, the first thing is to build paved roads ASAP and take Taras from the Epeirotes (like, during the first few turns). After that, you can slowly expand as you see fit.

I tried out some other factions and I’m surprised how many factions start out with negative income and surrounded by enemies, maybe this mod just isn’t for since I like challenging games not frustrating games.

Well, 272 BC wasn't a very good year for a faction in the Med to be in. Also, you'll get used to the rough start in EB.