Parthia

[Agent Miles]

Well, I finished off Egypt. After destroying their armies outside Damascus, I laid siege to Bostra and Petra. I chose to “starve them out”, so that the remaining Egyptian forces would be drawn into Asia in order to relieve them. The relief force had some chariot units. The trick to defeating chariots is to use War Elephants. Just get near them and the chariots run amok (or if you have a low frame rate, “trot amok” ). The HA’s can then easily slaughter them. I was thus able to deal with the relief effort. Both settlements eventually fell without a fight from the garrisons. Now that they were defenseless, I also took the Nile settlements as Egypt collapsed. I have fortified the Nile and turned my attention elsewhere.
After smashing Thrace and gifting the settlements to my ally Macedon, the Macedonians betrayed me (and paid for their transgression). I had my armies hunt down the royal family of Macedon and slay them. Their settlements became rebel.
In the northeast, I’ve taken Campus Alanni and retaken Campus Sakae with one army. I am going to upgrade this force and finish off Scythia. I built a fort blocking the ford on the Volga and I will use this as a base for further expansion.
I’ve recycled my military. A temple in Athens upgrades my missile units to gold and I have a temple city with a foundry in Memphis that upgrades my units to golden armor and melee weapons. I’ve replaced almost all of the HA units with Persian Cavalry, who can shoot and fight. My field armies now have fifteen Persian Cavalry (arranged five to a group, on each flank and the center), with four Cataphracts and a general (change #1, I switched one of the Cataphracts out for a War Elephant unit). I was able to crush a Roman legion in a custom test battle with this arrangement.
I was forced to make siege armies because my spies were unable to penetrate Roman settlements and open the gates. I have two siege armies, each with four Onagers, four cataphracts, a general and an assortment of Eastern Infantry and Archers (as well as two mercenary hoplites and two cretan archers) for support. The Onagers blasted the gate at Brutii held Thermon and made for a great show! The remaining garrison was “cat” food.
I’ve built an armada and blockaded all Roman faction ports. Eight Brutii armies are decending on Greece, where my armies are staging. It looks like a real cataclysm brewing! I am going to take Sicily, Caralis, Carthage and Thapsis with the siege armies while my field armies bleed the Romans white in the Balkans. This should leave Italy defenseless. So far, continuing with the long campaign has indeed been worthwhile and interesting.

[LestaT]

I play RTR each one with different type/race ? First obvouusly Romans , then Macedon (hellenistic) , then I was confuse either Barbarian or the Eastern faction . Since as Roman or Macedon I always on war footing with barbarians I decide to venture east. Seleucia is too much like greeks , egype (ptolemaic) looks wonderful but I prefer to have them as enemy (great battles assured!!)

Then it came to Armenia or Ponthia . Looks at unit description . Same but Armenia will eventually got legion . Nice. And Parthia . Well Didn't they get elephant ? I'm not much fond of elephant (esp tone down stat for RTR) and also the color (ungu in malay / eer.. duno what's in English purple ? violet ?) definately turn me off.

So it's Armenia .

Cheers..


Upps. I'm in a wrong thread...

[Marquis of Roland]

Just started my war with the Brutii myself. Got rid of HA's as soon as I could, so around 250 or so. Romans attacked me four times in one turn with a total of 12000 men. Shot the crap out of them.

[gmjapan]

vh/m - vanilla 1.2 + player1s BugFixer
My own Parthia campaign is not going so well! Although the map is turning out to what I would call my wierdiest yet...

Following some advice from here I used HAs en mass and wondered what all the fuss was about. That was until they started getting some chevrons each - then it made sense. I took Thraapsa and Arabia straight away and started planning who to attack - only to find out that Egypt, Selucid, Armenia, Pontus and Sycthia had all allied and none were ineterested in letting me join! I was poor and there was no conflict to take advantage of

While wondering what to do, Egypt made the decision for me by sieging Arabia. I didnt have trouble with their units, only the never ending stream of them! Well, you all know about that here. I lost my army commander, Arses (nice name - Egypt kicked my Arses!!) and the dude on garrison trying to defend.

I cant afford more armies, my family tree has been halved, I cant cover all the borders with such a big alliance smothering me (never seen ALL these guys ally before) and a big rebel fleet in the Caspian is preventing me shipping my reinforments from the North (damnit!).

So I take a protectorate offer from Egypt to tide me over but all my provinces are high/very high taxes and I only make 800d a turn. This is bad, I cant break out and they are all only going to get stronger the longer I leave it. But with my one and a half army I cant see a way out. Well, not one that won't see my enemies pour in from all directions.

I have actually allied with Thrace but they refuse to help.

Anyway, thats just just the frustrating part! The better part is the wierd map and this is the only reason I havent quit and restarted yet:

Thrace is massive and has exterminiated the Macedonians early. Greece was exterminated early. The Jullii havent taken any towns, as far as I can tell they built a fort inbetween their 2 starter cities and parked the entire army there! Instead, the Brutii have taken Patavium and Segesta (the Jullii 1st mission) and all round the coast to Thermon.

I never seen the Bic Mac and Greece be exterminiated so early, Thrace be so successful, the Jullii not move an inch, the Brutii think they can do all the work and the entire east (minus me!) allied. Normally losing half my family and being poor would inspire me to restart but it is so different from any other campaign I have played I just cant put it down! If only I was Carthage, I could use my trusty "Man of the Hour" abuse to bulk up my generals count.

Apologies for the long post but I felt the need to share!

On a side note, seeing the success of Thrace in certain provinces in this game led me to start my own Thrace campaign and take on Macedonia. I never knew Falxmen were so devestating to cavalry, even the general units! So long as they a deployed deep enough to withstand the charge. I almost feel sorry for the Cav. Almost. My new favourite unit - the Falxmen!

[Craterus]

If you're going to be crushed by a huge alliance, your best chance of saving the campaign is moving north. Piledrive into Scythia. It's ambitious, but it could work.

EDIT: Try and agree a ceasefire with the alliance factions (those that are at war with you), otherwise they might chase you to the end of the earth, or just the northern steppes.

[Agent Miles]

@gmjapan
I would recommend taking out Armenia. You can blitz them in three turns with a spy and some luck. Then you have a port on the Black Sea. From there, you can invade Kydonia and then Rhodes and Salamis. If you put forts next to the river crossings on your northern border with Sythia and the mountain passes in the south, you should be fairly secure. The ports give you enough denarii to continue expanding, more than you would get from taking Scythia.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Good for you. Your map and the progress of this game are simply too "rich" to stop it. THRACE!!!???! How fun!

Previous advisors have given good advice though:

Fort-up your southern border.

Pick a direction N (lots of space, hard to "pin" you) or W (those islands are lucrative, especially if you can add Western Islands as well).

3rd option is a raiding army on an exterminate/enslave "jihad" just to build cash up and allow you to build nearly unbeatable armies to go South.

Seamus

[Craterus]

By going north, you'll be able to take the Bosphorus, and then eventually take the islands.

Of course, taking out Armenia is another smart option because it'll give you a stronghold, and perhaps a bit more cashflow. By taking Armenia, you also have a starting point for an invasion of Asia Minor. Especially if you can pincer with an extra army from Rhodes/Salamis.

[gmjapan]

Cool peeps, thanks for all the suggestions!

I went for the Armenia break. The relocation by piledriving through Scythia was my favoured option as it would link me up with Thrace eventually and give me a more defendable locale away from the bad guys but I decided against it due to previous "relocating" experience with Germania. The lands are huge and I hate crossing them for so little return. That would slow down my re-emergance for my "revenge tour" of the East! And that is the bit I am looking forward to the most!

So I used my protectorate status to buy me time and I spent my meager 800d income each turn on Briremes in the Caspian until I had enough to beat the rebel fleet. Took a while (so unfair - how did they get so many Triremes for the start those turds!) but it unblocked my port for more income and gained a direct route to much needed re-informents from the North, I couldn't really do anything without them. I disbanded all but one ship that now blocks the Scythian port there.

With the reinforments I started the "blitz Armenia" campaign that set me at war with Armenia, Pontus, Sycthia, Seculids and, oh yeah, Egypt. Armenia went down in 4 turns (my spy was useless!), easy and gave me a few benefits - a new port on a new sea, more cash and (more importantly) the alliance of five is now an alliance of four! Haha. Okay, so it is only two towns from one of the weaker opponents but it feels like more.

On the flip side, it has introduced more than a few problems - I am back at war on so many sides for one thing. They all seem too eager to attack. The huge Selucid and Egypt armies that were hovering on my borders just growing and staring before made a beeline for my towns. There are rebels blocking vital road trade that I cant deal with because I cant afford to spend two moves chasing them and then two moves to get back.

Using the speed of an all horse army I smashed into the Selucid town with the wonder and then the neighbouring province west completely ignoring their invading armies. I used the siege on their towns to lure their invading armies out of my territory and force them to deal with me. This plan worked great and I thought was more pro-active than chasing them around as they laid siege to me. Plus, I gain a town whilst getting an opertunity to kick their arse - and that makes me smile!

So I have made some progress (yay!) and it feels better but the full effect of my actions hasnt hit yet because it hasnt really improved my finances greatly and the enemy armies are likely still "on-route".

I cant yet afford the forts and a garrison to block the passes but I am willing to count on the inability of Scythia to mount an effective assualt for now (uh-oh!) but this is a high priority and I really need some in the south. The other problem building forts is I have now lost more family members to old age so there is only really the army commander available to do it and he is, er, kind of busy!

So far I have had the importance of HAs hammered into me. I know it was said by the posts at the start but I find the key is experienced HAs. The green units are near useless and I almost abandoned them wondering what all the fuss was but it slowly started to happen and now they are holding my empire together (ish!). Do whatever you can to get them experienced and preserve them! Fight and withdraw, retrain or flee until they can hold their own in battle. Others have said it better.

Hot damn! This is much more fun than than prancing around Gaul with the Julii.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Send the commander off with some light forces to build you those forts and towers.

Meanwhile, your army's "captain," given that you are doing the fighting for him, should be able to earn a family spot as the man of the hour -- and it sounds like you need more factioneers.

Seamus

[Deus ret.]

gmjapan, you're making quite good progress. congratulations!

You may have noticed that waging war against all the non-HA factions is basically a cakewalk. Steer clear of their archers and you are fine.

Just one thing: When you fight Egypt, be well aware of their chariots. Employ some archers yourself, alternatively peltasts; slingers are reasonably accurate vs chariots because of their low fire angle. Or just build elephants if possible and mash those chariots into the ground!

As for Scythia: If a rebel stack happens to appear to the North of either Artaxarta or Kotais, leave it there even if you lose some trade through them! They are cheap and effective border guards, at least for now.

[Agent Miles]

Nice work! If I understand you correctly, you only have one Family member active? If so, then you need to park him in a settlement where he can “stud” for a while. As Seamus posted, use a captain to lead your army. Maybe you’ll get a “Man of the Hour” so that your faction’s family tree has a new branch. Get some more “face cards” in your deck ASAP. If you lose your last faction member, then it’s game over.
Don’t forget about diplomacy. As you can see, if you ignore other factions diplomatically, they will not ignore you. I’ve found that the best time to ask for a ceasefire is after you have taken a settlement from a faction. You may still be able to get a ceasefire from the Seleucids this way. Don’t forget to demand tribute or a settlement in exchange for your benevolence! If you can deal one of the factions out of the “gang of four”, then maybe they’ll start attacking each other.
Finally, you can fight over all the desert settlements you want, but the “club Med” islands are there for the taking and provide lots of easy denarii. Good luck!

[pezhetairoi]

gang of four, eh. :) Try allying with the Seleucids against Egypt. The Egyptians are more dangerous because of their ranged units, and you would do well to use the other factions to get them out of the way. After that you can turn on the Seleucids and pin their pathetic phalangitai to the ground with arrows like butterfly samples.

[Chimp]

I finally found a way to make Parthian armies ROCK. I used to play them as Armenians, but now I realize that horse archers shouldn't be the center pieces in Parthian armies.

The problem is that unlike Armenia, you don't have a solid battleline which you can bang cataphracts against. So the only alternative seems to be to use the HAs as a means to divide the enemy up in smaller pockets, and then scoot around with cataphracts and mob them up which is all incredibly tedious, longwinded and illsuited for bridges and sieges in general.

But there's another way to use cavalry. Send in shock troops to leave the enemy ranks in disarray first, and then sponge up with cavalry. That way we avoid the problem of not having a battleline.

So use elephants - not just 1-2 units like you would with Carthage, Seleucids or Numidia, but 4-6! First unleash the elephants, either on the flanks or through the centerline if it's not a phalanx, and then swoop down with 4-8 cataphracts - or even hillmen. Tadaaa! Battle over in less than a minute, and the chance of 4-6 elephants running amok before they've breached the enemy battleline is slim to done, so it's a very solid lineup. If you prefer a more reactionary style, add 4 onagers, or 4 archers - or some combination thereof. This will also make it much easier to take cities.

As far as the cavalry component goes, I favor 1 General, 2 Camel Cataphracts, and 3-5 Cataphracts. The camels' job is to eliminate Armored Elephants and to assassinate the enemy general. I don't use more than 2 since they seem rather slow on the uptake. The cataphracts' primary function is to eliminate enemy archers immediately after the initial breakthrough so that the elephants don't freak out over arrowfire, and after that it's mob-up duty.

Here's some of my favorite army compositions so far:

The Parthinator:
4 Onagers
6 Horse Archers
4 War Elephants
6 Cataphracts

The MasterBlaster:
8 Onagers
6 War Elephants
6 Cataphracts

The Allrounder:
2 Onagers
4 Archers
4 Hillmen
4 War Elephants
6 Cataphracts

25K Online Army:
5 War Elephants
1 General
2 Camel Cataphracts
4 Cataphracts
6 Persian Cavalry
2 Beduin Archers


All have been thoroughly tested and work brilliantly against Rome, Egypt, Carthage, Britannia, Germania and Greece, on or offline, medium, hard and very hard difficulties.

[pezhetairoi]

Fascinating combinations. My favoured ones are 2 generals, 4 cataphracts, and the rest persian archers. Light, fast and nasty. Not to mention they can retreat in a hurry if need be. Elephants and eastern infantry used when facing egypt, but little else otherwise.

[sebas_man]

I went bankrupt with these bastards !!!

[Craterus]

The answer to backruptcy is conquering and setting up some trade routes.

And use the horse archers, they are your friends..

[pezhetairoi]

Sebas: they do that, yes. Go the whole hog... use your starting treasury to pump out HA. queue them up so you get a steady supply for the next 10 turns, then besiege all the nearby cities with 2 HA units and let them sally out at you. Then shoot them to pieces :) With 2-3 HA a city you should be able to take 3-4 in one breath once your building is completed. Then, just wait (or keep conquering) until your treasury goes back into the black. Exterminate some.

[GrandInquisitor]

i'm curious about some opinions for my strategy, which has taken a lot of refining. i guess i'm not much of a blitzer; it takes the fun out of it for me, but there's nothing wrong with it. i like to make a sort of mobile fortress when using parthia. that way my enemies have a chance. beginning i do bum rush armenia, seleucia, and tribus alanni; there's no way around that for me. i avoid arabia, since it usually provokes egypt sooner than i like. my next move is to take palmyra. from there, i basically send out units of horse archers to harry enemy armies while i heavily fortify my cities (well, as much as parthia can). that way, when i go on campaign, i don't have to worry about egypt sneaking an army in through arabia and catching me with my pants down. picking off smaller armies gains experience, and sacking towns along the mediterranean coast -- in as much as RTW allows -- gives money (while not having to worry about defending them if it's impractical at the time). eventually, i have veteran armies to consolidate, a very firm eastern foundation, and a glorious series of wars ahead. it's meant for more patient-types, like myself, but i've found it very interesting many times. any opinions?

[pezhetairoi]

It's fine, i guess. But not to my taste. :) It doesn't feel in the spirit of the HA factions. I like to wheel and deal my way across the East in a flash.

Speaking of which, what tips have you for siege assault for Parthia, if any? I obviously can't use my iron fist Roman methods with Parthia, and I get kinda lost when I try to take Khiva in MM 2.0 when it's stonewalled and all I have are HA.

[GrandInquisitor]

wait it out costs the least, by far, and has the least hassle. let the enemy sally out and cut them down with archer fire and you're set

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Pez' is not a "waiter" by preference.

Three Possibilities:

1. If you are keeping the somewhat a-historical Onager, 6 or so of them along with some shock cav and HA should do. Just need a lot of arty since you'll need 3-4 holes to make it work.

2. A separate siege army, with a couple of cav, but lots of hillmen, archers, and a few spears. You'll need to use rams, towers and ladders in a mix so that a few units get where you need 'em -- since morale isn't sterling -- but this should get the trick done.

3. Send a noble through asia minor/antioch to create your siege army using mercs. You supply the cav component, but pick up Barb Inf, Cilly Pirates, Merc Hops, Merc Pelts and maybe even some Cretans/Rhodians. Pick up enough for a stack and a half (with cav), so that you can blend/merge to keep units a strength a long time.

Heck, with luck, you might even pick up a merc hefalump earlier than you can build your own. Send the noble with the appropriate cadre of spies, assassins, and diplo-dunks to accomplish much groundwork on the trip. This is, of course, the most costly option -- but then it gives you a purpose for all that fun raiding earlier.

[Pontifex Rex]

I started my first Imperial Campaign with the Parthian last night and in the first five years have captured Arabia as well as knocking out the Armenians. The large quantity of horse archers and the tactics required to successfully use them have been a bit of an adjustment after Romans, Britons and the like. It is quite entertaining and a new twist. I have never seen so many rebels or in such numbers as I have out here in the east. I haven't modded them out as I cannot see what else we human players would do with all these troops if we were not forced to form "patrol groups" or suffer from some economic dislocations.

I just fought a rebel group of 1 General, 1 Horse Archer, 2 Archers and 3 Eastern Spearmen up by the capital which required 9 of my own units to defeat (6 Horse Archers, 1 slinger and two Eastern Spearman). Near the borders of the Seulicids I just lost a commander to rebels possessing 1 heavy cavalry, 1 Horse Archer and 4 Spearmen, although in the end I managed to win the battle. Now I face a small rebel band in Arabia and another large band lead by a general just outside Susa. To top it off the remaining 10 units of the Armenians including their last general and Cataphracts just went rebel as their homeland was crushed,... that is not going to be a fun fight and I doubt such a large force can be bribed easily.

Is this rebel problem a common experience with Parthia? It seems I may need to scatter 12-15 Horse Archers plus adidtional Slingers and Spearmen around the empire to police and protect the economy.

Cheers.

[gardibolt]

Are you hiring mercs in the area regularly? I've noticed that if I buy up all the mercenaries in an area, the rebels don't seem to spawn nearly as often. Is it possible that enters into the formula?

[Pontifex Rex]

At present the only mercs available in the effected provinces are 3 Eastern Spearmen, yet the rebels contain all sorts of units. Besides, buying up the 3 units would exhausted the treasury. Parthia is not quite rolling in the gold by the caravan load at the moment.

[Pontifex Rex]

Well, its 20 years in and it looks like Partia will survive. The Parthian-Seulucide alliance has checked Egypts aspirations and in 3 major clashes the Parthian Horse Archer army has destroyed 4 Egyptian armies and taken Bostra. Casualties amongst the cavalrymen has beeen heavy, nearly 40%, and units are now forced to rotate all the way back to Susa for rebuilding. This means that the army only has about 40% of its strength at the front in Nabataea. There was a second host made up of 5 Spearmen and 3 Slinger (drawn from various "patrol groups" back in the home provinces) that had supported the cavalry all the way from Susa across the Arabian desert but nearly 2/3 of it was lost holding off Egyptian reinforcements. It looks like "The Battle of Bostra Plain" has dealt a crippling blow to the Egyptians army east of Sinia.

What may be of more importance is the fact that Rhodes, falling into rebellion as the "Greek Cities" collapsed, and Crete have fallen to Parthian troops. Four Horse Archers, 1 cataphract and 2 Spearmen were loaded onto 20 Biremes in Colchis and sailed across the Black Sean, through the Dardenelles and happened to be in the right place at the right time. The origianl plan was to actually land in the Nile Delta but the plan was scuppered when the entire fleet of 40 Biremes was lost as they tried to run in a general who had just recruited 2 merc Hoplites and a unit of Creatian Archers. All hands were lost and the Parthian army units were stranded in Crete until the port was completed and new ships could be built. As of 251 BC, the Egyptian navy is still strong enough to make moving difficult but with luck the army may be able to also add Lycia to the empire while the fleet is under construction.

The new plan will be for the land forces at Bostra to strike for Petra in about one year (250 BC) and push on to the Red Sea. In 249, the navy will carry the Mediterranean armies from Crete and Rhodes and land it on the coast of Judea with the aim of conquering Jerusalem and Sidon. Afterward, the combined forces will move on the Nile while preparations are made to deal with the powerful Seleucid and Pontian empires.

Attached is a map of the position going into summer 251 BC.

https://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f...arthianSea.png

Cheers.

[Bulawayo]

You should also take Cyprus as soon as possible. That is always one of the first provinces I take from Egypt as it gives you valuable trade money while Egypt loses the same amount, or even more. Halicarnassus should also be taken before Pontus gets it. It makes you build the bigger city improvements faster than normal, and also gives you great trade with Rhodes.

[Pontifex Rex]

You should also take Cyprus as soon as possible... Halicarnassus should also be taken before Pontus gets it.

Most definitely. The reason for delaying the invasion of Judea is so that the army can be ferried over from Rhodes to Lycia (Halicanassus). Both Rhodes and Crete can build Biremes, Horse Archers as well as Spearmen (the latter do have their uses), so the forces waaayy out in the Mediterranean are now self-sustaining.

[AndyNgFL]

Ver 1.3
Difficulty - VH/VH

I am a player who like challenges and try different approaches. Difficult situations will require you to think out of the box. After a lot of trail and error, I have found my own method of playing Pathia the most EFFICIENT.

Strategy - Blitz Armenia. Take Seleucia. Attack Egypt. The world is at your feet once you conquer egypt.

Becoz Pathia has a bad economy, only enough Peasants are recruited to garrison your own settlements. A peasant unit consist of more men (more men = lesser units to recruit = less $ to maintain), cheap to recruit and low cost to maintain. The only situation which you require other Infantry is when you siege a stoned walled enemy city. I have not used more than 2 Peasant, 2 Eastern Infantry, 2 Hillmen + 1 or 2 mercenary infantry units in any seige. I usually have only 2 EI, 2 Hillmen + 1 or 2 mercenary infantry.

Change Tax Rate of every city to Very High.

Region : Tribus Sakae / City : Campus Sakae
Build to Temple of Zoroastra (Increases Public Order and reduce corruption = less required garrison, more income). Then build Roads. Recruit enough Peasants.
After building roads, move your Gen Phraotes out of the city with 4 HAs to get rid of rebles and strategically place Watch Towers in Tribus Sakae.

Scythia is huge. It is not wise to go to war with this faction. If you can maintain around 8-10 untis of HAs in Tribus Sakae, the Scytians will not be able to take your city easily. They usually wont bother you.
IF they decide to wage war .... Once you spot a full orange stack coming into your territory, pump up your HAs as many as you can. Take out thier invading army, replenish and counter attack. Take thier city Campus Alanni, but no furhter than that or else you will spread yourself thin.

Region : Media / City : Arsakia
Disband all slingers. They are useless since Paseants can garrison & HAs can fire while on the move.
Faction Leader Arsaces should remain in the Capital City Arsakia with 2 Cataphracts.
Build roads and pump out HAs until Armenia is eliminated.
Faction Heir Ardumanish should lead the Blitz against Armenia. Only hire 1 mercenary infantry for siege assault. Else, the Blitz army should consist of only HAs.


To Be Continued ...

[AndyNgFL]

.... Continued

Once you have exterminated Artaxarta (Armenia), replenish and pump out HAs for 2-3 turns. Keep pumping those HAs from Arsakia (Capital) and your newly conquered city, until you have AT LEAST 10 HAs. Leaving only 1 Peasant unit or 1 Mercenary unit in Artaxarta, your Faction Heir should be out to exterminate the last Armenian city, Kotais. Once Kotais is exterminated, spilt your HAs into 2 or 3 groups and take out the rebels. At the same time, your general must build Watch Towers in strategic positions to watch over your huge land.

Becoz your land is huge, it is not wise to keep any infantry unit in your army as it will slow your entire army down. Peasants should be used to garrison and Infantry units should be used for seige only.

Region : Elymais / City : Susa

Disband all slingers.
Build to Temple of Zoroastra (Increases Public Order and reduce corruption = less required garrison, more income). Then Build Stables. Recruit Peasants.

On Turn 1, a Seleucid army moves out of Seleucia.
On Turn 2, move your Gen Bagabigna with all your HAs to the border of Elymais and Bablylonia. The Seleucid army moves away to Hatra.
On Turn 3, seige Seleucia with a mercenary Infantry and if you are lucky, your spy will open the gates for you on the same turn.
On Turn 4, you should have captured a wonder.

Pump out a full stack of HAs ASAP. By now Armenia should be dead. While rallying your HAs for the invasion of Egypt, wipe out the rebels and place Watch Towers in strategic positions. Get a young General and march out of Seleucia towards Memphis (Egypt) ignoring anything and everything. Around this time, the Seleucid Empire will make peace with you as you rally your army or march out of Seleucia. If they do not make peace, send your diplomat over to them. Take this oppotunity to ceasefire. An army full of HAs marching out of Seleucia is threatening. Once done, move into Arabia and recruit some mecenary Infantry along the way to Memphis if any.

A few of the above moves are "borrowed" from experts who had earlier posted in this forum. I thank them for thier brilliance.

Summary :
Top Priority - Blitz Armenia
Secondary Priority - Prepare an army to take Memphis (Egypt)
Low Priority - Maintain enough army to clear your trade roads of rebels and to discourage invasion from Scythia, Pontus, Seleucia.

Battle : Retreat, Retreat, Retreat

Playing Pathia is different from any other factions like Julii, Babarians etc.
You do not have a battle line and you do not need a battle line.
Depending on situations, I put my HAs on loose formations (to reduce friendly fire casualties) and sometimes Double Line formation. I fight a retreating battle. Enemy infantry will advance towards you, you slowly retreat in formation. But your HAs will continue to rain arrows at the enemy. Some will pursue some will fall back to thier line. You slowly retreat in formation. But your HAs will continue to rain arrows at the enemy. You do this until they rout and run. You can choose 1 HA unit, put it in close formation and turn off skirmish mode to charge at the routing unit or advance slowly in formation to thier main army.
If thier calvary charges towards your battle formation, your HAs will flee furthur back and sometimes enemy calvary will find themselves in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by HAs with arrows raining onto then. This is a good time to concentrate your arrow fire on Chariots and Enemy Generals.
The trick here is retreat, retreat, retreat. Finish off the enemy a little bit by a little bit. If time allows, rest your HAs back to FRESH before raining your next wave of arrows into the main army . Then retreat, retreat, retreat.
This way, your casualties will be very minimum while you inflict a great deal of damage to the enemy.

If ... you are facing an army which you think you cannot win,
1) If you are ATTACKING, spilt your army into two. The aim of the first assault, is to inflict as much damage and use up your arrows as possible. The second assault is to wipe them out.
2) Try your best to inflict as much damage to the enemy by trying to use up all your arrows before withdrawing. Fight again another day.
OR
3) Take out the enemy's General. Thier moral will drop. Inflict as much damage to the enemy while taking less casualties as possible and (HOPE) they will rout and flee.