Pontus... never a dull moment

[Kamakazi]

So im making this thread to rant a bit and also to share. I started my pontus campaign on VH after a Normal Sparta and a Hard Parthia.

At first going was good I dodge dip duck dive and dodged my way around Seleucid to gain some territory and was having an easy way of it. So I decided to kick it up a notch.

I went for an agent conversion and got it and lo and behold holy mother of war.

I have Seleucid and all of its satrapies on me. I also have one of my old allies declared on me as well as most of the north and all of the south east. I finally downed Persia and then Geharra decided to go plunk so Persia re emerged. Oh joy. Heres what my map looks like diplomatically


Gotta love the wars right? Now as you can see im not without allies. Nabatea is doing well in the south. Problem is will all my allies ive only had help from them once or twice.

Now like I previously stated I thought I was gaining advantage. But no way can that be happening so guess what? Civil fn War..... Damn I cant catch a break.

[Sp4]

It's just the geographical location. Something always seems to be going on there

[nearchos]

I have Seleucid and all of its satrapies on me.

Where are the Seleucids?
Its the map, after you destroyed them?

Seems like the Seleucid satrapies are not revolting when controled by AI.

Looks very interesting situation, what turn were you when CW started?

[Myth]

People rant if they play 50 turns and nobody declars war. People rant when they do aggressive agent actions and the AI decalers war.

[Sp4]

No one's ranting.

[Myth]

So im making this thread to rant a bit

Well the OP said so, and I trust his judgement.

[Slaists]

Civil war? You have to watch out for those 3rd level ambition generals. That, and your party's overall standing which should be as high as you can get it if you're playing as a monarchy. That counter-intuitively means: minimizing inactive general count from your own faction. Hire from your own faction only if you're actively going to use that general in battles.

[Kamakazi]

Where are the Seleucids?
Its the map, after you destroyed them?

Seems like the Seleucid satrapies are not revolting when controled by AI.

Looks very interesting situation, what turn were you when CW started?

im at turn 70 something I believe. Had to take a break to many defensive battles to fight.....

Seleucid is bottom right of that map. They have one province left I believe. Nabatea has routed them lately.
@Myth- im not complaining I enjoy it im just venting a little frustration

[Sp4]

Well the OP said so, and I trust his judgement.

It's a friendly rant :D

[Bramborough]

Yeah, I didn't take it as a "real" rant either.

[Kamakazi]

things have been going decently... ive lost a few territories because I had to pull my armies to the interior to deal with the civil war. As soon as I get that under control I should be fine to go after aria whose been using me as a punching bag

[Kamakazi]

Im not amazing at the whole story telling bit but heres some shots of my campaign thus far.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Took me forever to dance around and give some heroic defenses against the pontic nobles.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thanks for the advice on pikes they are good front men. And eastern spears aren't 100% terrible if you throw them in squares.

After crushing the civil war I did some spreading to get the world off of my back. Bithnyia is gone. Pergamon is pretty much done. Egypt took out rhodos. Aria is now my punching bag and Parthia is next.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Now there is a lot of this. Agent wars.

cant get the pics to size down.....

[Mhantra]

I absolutely love Pontus because of their location and the non-stop action!

In my present campaign (spread too thin on my last one, got "inverted"), I spent a ton of time allying with other Hellenic peoples, and at one point, if you look at my map, literally everything to my west as an ally. So I was able to focus on the east. And north...and south...lol

Well, many turns later and I have had to help my allies stay alive in the west while taking it to the southern enemies while just holding tight against the nomads in the north. Thank God for my alliance with Cimmeria up north or I would have completely crumbled.

Anyway, Pontus is clearly a hot spot, so if you don't want that, just play Iceni and make lots of barbarian friends and invite them to your confederation.

[Mhantra]

Seems like the Seleucid satrapies are not revolting when controled by AI.

On my Pontus campaign, the poor Selucids were abandoned by all but one of their satropies. They went down hard lol They don't exist on my map.

[Kamakazi]

Seleucid just got killed of by myself 2-3 turns ago =D

And im not saying I don't want it lol im enjoying myself... idk I guess its like we said when I was in the marines if grunts aren't bit**ing they aren't happy

[Kamakazi]

Ill put this here and keep reliving my dead thread but one unit of scythed chariots just did 765 kills in 1 battle... holy hell

[Myth]

Curious. I haven't used them in Rome 2 and quickly decided not to do so in Rome 1. But back then they were formation busters mostly, not that great on the kills. The highest I've gotten so far was a unit of Hellenic Cataphracts who got 600 or so kills.

[Kamakazi]

well in that same match a unit of blood cavs got 400 or so..... I was a loss sadly I was in a defensive battle with an ally. The enemy just had to many troops. The only reason they got so many kills was I was controlling them primarily. I was stunned when I saw the kill count... to bad I didn't get a screen shot of it. Chariots are decent until they get bogged down then its game over.

[Mhantra]

Yeah, I find them an odd unit to use. They are best rolling in open territory picking off unarmored units. So kind of like cav, but they seem to do far more damage after the initial charge, but yes, if they can't escape the melee or get pinned in by melee units, they are done.

[nearchos]

I use the chariots as spearhead for the cav, charging through the enemy line, followed close behind by a mass of cav and ive noticed that if the timing is good, even if you charge pikes or hoplites, the killing ratio of cav is huge with minimal losses.

I supose is because the chariots are engaged by the enemy, so when instantly the cav fall upon them is like charging the flanks or rear of a unit that is already engaged.

They just need micro mng so they will not stop and lose stamina, just keep them moving cuting through the mass of the enemy.

[Mhantra]

Oooh, that's fascinating, nearchos. Will play with that.

[nearchos]

And doing the same with elephants and cav, or even more devastating, chariots-elephants-cav.