Pontus

[frogbeastegg]

This faction must be unlocked with game editing before you can play.

[Rosacrux redux]

Now, this is the faction for the control freak! A faction that has to be watched closely and managed carefully. Note that this game was played on Very Hard (strategic map) / Hard (battles).

Pontus is a funny case. They start off with only two cities/provinces, but a)there are easy pickings nearby (namely the three rebel cities to the west, in Asia Minor, and in reach there are two more, Halicarnassus and Byzantium, provided that the Greeks and Thracians don't get there first) and b) early on, your heavy and light pontic cavalry are extremely effective, if managed closely.

In the military side, Pontus seems like an extremely well balanced faction. They got very diverse early cavalry types (Pontic, heavy Pontic) and with the Kappadokian cav. they get a very effective shock cav too. They got very poor early infantry (hillmen and eastern inf.) and only vanilla archers, but later on the situation improves at least concerning the infantry (phalanx and bronze shields are as good as any Hellenic phalanx).

Allthough, the tactics I've found to be effective are typical hit-and-run ones, with the heavy infantry playing only a secondary role (I am in mid-game now and I've yet to bring to the field more than 5 heavy infs).

Since your archers aren't really hotshots (pun very much intended ) and you need all the firepower you can get against the Seleucid and Egyptian juggernaughts, you absolutely have to get as many Cretan and Rhodian mercenaries as are available for recruitment. I can't stress out how important those misile mercs are for any effective battle tactics with the ultra-light armies this faction can field.

In battle the hit-and-run model is vital. The pontic and - especially - heavy pontic cavalry are very good skirmishers and the second can charge home with very good results against most oponents. Coupled with a few archers (especially mercs) most opponents won't even reach your ranks before they are shot to oblivion (a note: archery is waaaaay overpowered in this game. One has to tone down the killing rates, they are INSANE!!!).

In the early stages a fleet and mobile tactic like that should be enough (that is, to capture the three or four rebel settlements and fend off any early agresor - the Greeks, more likely, will attack very early).

Since Pontus is small-time initially, you have to put your diplomats to good use and ally with everyfriggingbody. It's mid game now and I am allied with Thrace, Armenia, the four Roman factions and the Britons. At one point I was allied with everybody save Greeks, Macedonians and Karthago. But the Seleucids, even though they had the Egyptians and the Parthians at their throat, attacked me pretty soon and I had to fight the battles of my life to manage and wear them down enough to get a ceasefire (taking cities by force with the kind of army you can field in the early-mid game is out of question and the Seleucids seem to have endless reserves of armies, despite fighting in three fronts so sieging-to-starvation might not be a good idea as well).

The ceasefire lasted only three years, but in the meantime I had build up my forces enough (and the Egyptians have weakened the Seleucids considerably) to make a drive for the S. main cities. Starved three of them to submission and managed, with a little Pharaonic help, to eliminate the big S.

Another note: In Hard and Very Hard, autoresolving battles is not an option. Even if you outnumber and outclass the oponent you'll either lose the battle or suffer extremely heavy casualties. So, on this campaign it's the first time I've played out ALL the battles myself in a TW game.

On the economy side, after you take and build up the rebel cities, you should fair pretty well, but the real cash will reek in after you got the Seleucid cities. They are the big milking Cow of the region

Right now I had Egypt declare our alliance void in one turn and attack en masse in the next. The good thing is that I now have enough cash to bribe a few of their armies and save me a great deal of hassle. But since they are quite stronger than I, the battle won't be easy - the Egyptian Kindergartern of the Tuthmosis units are waaaaaaaaaaaaay overpowered... Those Steel-Skin axemen are tough buggers (they literally deflect arrows with their skin ) and the hordes of chariot archers are an extreme threat. But we are moving on, got the first Egyptian city just before.

I'll keep you updated!

[kungfood]

i found thracian mercenaries to work pretty well, especially in the early game phase. great for quickly taking those rebel cities. even in the more advanced game i used to have at least one or two thracian merc units in my armies - mainly to secure the flanks or to outflank enemy phalanxes. other than that i concur with what rosacrux said: use your skirmishers.

[Furious Mental]

I think the guide should really mention Chariot Archers. Pontus' foot archers are pathetic but their Chariot Archers, while perhaps not up to Egypt's, are good, especially for a faction whose armies depend so heavily upon cavalry skirmishing.

[andrewt]

Looking from the stats, the riders of Pontic chariot archers have 1 more hit point and more defense skill than the Egyptian chariot archers. I have no idea how these help, however, from a gameplay perspective. I'm not sure when the riders or the horses get targeted. Furthermore, defense skill only affects melee. Egyptian chariots are disciplined and trained, however and costs almost half and have only 1 turn build time.

If denarii and build time isn't a problem, Pontic chariot archers are probably better. Otherwise, they are plain outclassed.

[Suppiluliumas]

In addition to thracian mercenaries, I found the valor ii barbarian warbands in galatia to be very usefull, particlarly early in the campaign.

[Quintus.JC]

One starting the first time with Pontus, i didn't the sensible thing, allied myself with Armenia and went west, capturing Ancyra and Nicomedia, when i was heading for Halicacuness Armenia backstabbed me and captured Sinope and Mazaka, first campaign ended in utter failure, the second time i decide to try a different approch.
This time I headed east into Armenia, they weren completely caught by surprise. after destroying Armenia and capturing 3 settlement i was in contact with Parthia, first i was tempted to attack, but then relised that no way my force would beat Parthian Cataphracts. I turned back and taken the rest of Aisa Minors. The Greeks put up a good fight, but were no match for my mobile cavalry. The Selucid was hot in war with Egypt. now with Cappadocian cavalry I headed towards Parthia. after taking Artaxrta and Susa I came into a face off with the mighty Egypt. The Seleucid only had Sardis left, which was then taken by me. 238 B.C. The two powers are about to clash. Egypt is richer and stronger. it's gonna take somthing to beat them. but by than I had two full-stacks armies ( I try to keep less army to decrease upkeep ). lead by exprinenced generals. my army composed of
9 units of Phalanx pikemen
2 units of Cappadocian cavalry
2 units of Pontic heavy cavalry
4 units of Pontic light cavalry ( highly exprinenced )
1 unit of Cretean archer mecenary
2 Generals

2 full-stack egyptian armies are heading for Mazaka, the struggle for Asia lies in the next decisive battle. a win could grant my way to Antioch, a defeat could dent my whole campaign....... I'll see my result tomorrow

[Quintus.JC]

Pontic Campaign completed, Egypt utterly destroyed, Balkans was next. Then came the Roman Legions. Cappadocian Cavalry is the exact equal to Cataphracts and could do massive damage. with my mighty army, Rome didn't stand a chance.