before i continue, please note: these are steps that should be taken to establish Pontus as a regional powerhouse, after these steps, it is entirely up to you with what you think you should do, as i have not gotten insanely far with them yet, but it works, cause as i look at my map, its nothing but Pontus lol...however another note...not all of this will work 100%, more like 80%, because the game can be very random with its events and results, but here goes:

1. what is key to understand about this area of the world, is that it is plagued with conflict, and the two main powers at the start are Egypt and Seleucia. At the start, these two will go at it in a slug fest, and generally speaking the Seleucids(immediately at your southern boarder) will empty most if not all of their cities to counter Egypt, thus your first move, will be to get a sizable force and quickly take Tarsus, giving you access to the Mediterranean, without having to move your navy from the black sea through the Hellespont, and Aegean which always ends up blockaded by the greeks, thracians, and macedonians.

2. after you stregthen your forces and use the funds coming into Tarsus, quickly take the rebel lands to the west, before the greeks can, especially take Nicomedia, and Helicanarssus...after doing this, take Sardis from the Seleucids quickly, before they have a chance to build troops to withstand a seige from your troops

3. quickly ally yourself with Armenia(as a buffer from Parthia and Scythia), as they are too weak to attack you reguardless. Now you have a choice...you can either go to war with Greece, and take Pergamum, but have the Greek navy(which is always huge reguardless) on your ass the whole time, or you can move south, and get in the mix with the Seleucids further, seeing as their Capital(Antioch) is right next to Tarsus, and will probably be lightly defended.

4a. if you plan to go to war with Greece, and take Pergamum, thus pushing yourself to the edge of present day turkey and having control over that entire area, make sure you make preperations for an extended naval campaign against the Greeks, who have enormous wealth and will follow history to the letter and have a huge navy, but only enough troops in greece proper to defend themselves, because they are not expansionists.

4b. if you plan to go south and take Antioch, make sure you have the mobility and the troop strength to maintain it, guard it from a potential counter attack, and the pressure to either try to take Damascus from the Seleucids aswell, or just perform a holding action to protect Antioch...the benefits of Antioch is that it will bring you much wealth, and will allow you to create even better units...the downside of taking Antioch, is that the Egyptians ALWAYS try to take it for themselves and control the entire coast from Egypt proper, up to modern day southern turkey, giving them even more wealth...if you take Antioch, prepare for a lengthy, and costly war with Egypt...as they are the true power in the region for much of the game, due to wealth and population they can call on for a huge standing army

5. which ever path you take(a or b) always be aware of a growing threat from Parthia to the east...they never keep alliances, so making one with them will not stave off the inevitable war with them...the good thing about fighting them, reguardles of their great mobility, is there relatively small numbers...if you are not a good strategist, you can always simply overwhelm them with your eventual greater numbers...however, you, like all eastern factions, have very good cavalry that you can call upon(always buy Sarmatian Cavalry mercinaries where you see them, they are very good crack heavy cavalry, and if used right can win battles for you time and time again if you can get them in large numbers)

6. if you are good enough, and rid the east of Egypt, Parthia, and Armenia(after you turn on them), do not go north against the Scythes...leave them b e...they will never attack you, they never have the numbers to be a threat, and there is no economic gains by going north. Go south, but go through north africa, as you will gain more and more ports on the Mediterranean = more and more wealth coming into your coffers. Taking on the Romans in this game cannot be avoided obviously, in doing so, take on the Scipii in Africa first. Hopefully by now you have used much of your money to develope a sizable navy, but better to ge a huge navy, and you can cut them off and isolate them in Africa. Once all of N. Africa is yours, invade Spain, and take th eentire peninsula(note: the spanish have very hardy troops suited to the Spanish terrain...so defeating them requires large usage of your good cavalry, with missle support...chariots will not work here as it is too mountainous). Simultaniously as you invase Spain, invade Sicily, thus isolating the Romans to mainland Europe as far north as the north coast of france, as far south as the tip of the Italian boot and the Greek islands, and as far east as the Aegean, which by now, you should have solidified modern day turkey with quality troops, giving the romans little chance of success if they were to invade. I suggest, to really hit the romans hard, since there massive expansionist policies will have their legions stretched paper thin over great areas, to attack them from all sides: attack through spain into Gaul(by now they will have taken over Gallic lands), attack across the Aegean into Greece where the terrain suits your Phalanxes and your crack cavalry units, and from Sicily into mainland Italy. By now you should have the economic resources to fund this, and this will overwhelm the Romans as they cannot respond to every invasion, from all three sides. but please note, and this is vital; by now, the Marius reforms will have taken effect, and the legions will be at their best, it is absolutely vital, and no time more so than this, that you fight every battle against the romans...because no matter what numerical advantage you might have, if you sim the battles, you will be decimated everytime, because the computer doesnt use phalanxes in simed battles properly, and you will sustain drastic loses and great setbacks...to sim the battles, means your invasion will be short lived.

always feel free to respond, cheers