Selucids?

[alicia]

I just tried the Selucids on H/H and ran into trouble with 4 powers attacking me in 6 turns.
The guides all say to bribe. You start with 3000 denarii but bribing is to expensive to help much since the new patch.
I would like some advice please.

[Proletariat]

I would like some advice please.

The first time I tried them I gave up after maybe 15 turns it was so frustrating. The Seleucid have one of the toughest early games, but I suggest taking Susa (I think that's it's name, to the East of Babylon) from the Parthians and Sidon as soon as possible. Once you're settled there try and grab Jerusalem, another high growth city. By then hopefully Antioch has grown a bit and you should be ready to face the Egyptians. Eventually you'll have so much money you'll get horrible VnVs for your inactive family members.

I know all that seems kinda vague, but can you describe in more depth the status of your armies and the territories you own? Maybe that will help. Also, take a look at this.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36850

[hrvojej]

If you can't win all the battles, I would suggest lose ground in the east. Maybe I'm wrong, but for an inexperienced player, I think it would be much harder to beat horse archer armies than run-of-the mill armies of Egypt, however many of them are there. So, I'd suggest abandon Seleucia and the city in Assyria (name eludes me ATM) or trade them in for peace with Parthia and/or Armenia, and concentrate on the money-making cities on the coast, namely Sidon and Jerusalem. Pontus will have to pass through a narrow pass to get to you, so plug it and don't let them. Which leaves you fighting Egypt - not easy, but it's worth it. Others can only provide you with poor villages upon counterattacks, whereas once you break Egypt you have practically won already due to their huge rich cities. Aside from "don't lose a single battle" (which means you don't have to cede any ground then), this would be my best advice. Good luck!

[AntiochusIII]

You may afford a battle or two in early game, but not a city. (With the prestige-population-wealth-and training power of Antioch and Seleucia, that is.)

If you're a new player you can't hope to beat a horse archer unit on the field without horrible losses, let them face you on cities instead, take Susa for best effect. (you have a spy, your heir, and a considerable army near Susa for a rush. Practice with Susa. It's easy rush.) OR you can flood your Greek militia cavalry and overwhelm them from several sides, costly, but, may be necessary, with your training center at Seleucia.

Just block a pass from Pontus, that long, all-important pass west of Tarsus.

Your Sardis can take care of itself (with some mercs - a few spare emergency money if you don't have the abundance. They're good there, making a fine army.) As long as (prince/general) Alexander lives. In fact, later on, you can take Halicarnassus (South of Sardis) with either force or bribe. That city, however, attracts Macedon's attention on you.

Hatra will be invaded by Armenia. You can abandon it, if you can't hold it on, but Seleucia will be alone like Sardis if that happens.

Egypt is very hard to beat. This is the only place you may need to bribe with your small budget sparingly (assuming it is small - Seleucids are rich - but you say you have the problem.) Try beat them in cities, easier on those overrated chariots, and get yourself to Jerusalem. It's hard, but after that, it's a bit easier.

With Jerusalem, you now have the money to beat the weakened Egypt with numbers and bribes and ... mercenaries.

Or you can play hrvojej's style if you don't want horse archers battles.

[Proletariat]

There's also really no way to lose a settlement as long as you have four phalanx units (one for each way to the town square) and just enough cav/skirmishers/infantry/whatever to chase away the enemy's missle units.

[LordKhaine]

Make a grab for Susa, taking that will cripple Parthia. Pontus and Armenia are generally easy to beat off, for some reason they seem to use lots of eastern infantry. And eastern infantry are just meat to the grinder against a phalanx. Try and get archers quickly also, since archers and phalanxes are a powerful defensive combo. Personally I'd try and be on the defensive in the north, since the main threat is Egypt. And by defensive I don't mean sit there and wait for attacks, a quick counter attack to sack a city can often be the best defensive plan. After losing a city, these factions will often be happy to accept a ceasefire if you give them back their (heavily looted) city.

Now for the main enemy, Egypt. Unlike your northern enemies Egypt is large, dangerous, and relentless. There are a fair few rebel provinces between you and Egypt, so make sure to take the major ones (Sidon and Jerusalem) before Egypt does. Just keep pushing south, using your phalanx as much as you can. Use as many archers as you can, to counter the large amount of archers Egypt is bound to use. Once you've taken or crippled Egypt, you should be in a very strong defensive position.

The Seleucids have perhaps the best selection of units later in the game (I'd say only Roman factions can match them). They have unbeatable phalanx units, and they have a full selection of elephants. They have pretty good light cavalry, and they have amazing heavy cavalry in the form of Companions and Cataphracts. They also get a powerful and flexible heavy infantry unit in the form of silver shield legionnaires. And they also have a great temple for increasing unit experience/stats! Their only failing is archers, an area in which they are merely "ok". And you can always recruit Cretan archers to cover that.

As for the guides mentioning bribing so much... remember those guides were all made before patch 1.2, when bribing was overpoweringly cheap.

(why do I get the feeling I could have just put this thread in the guides forum? )

[fogcat]

I found that by attacking Egypt from the start and tryong to ally yourself with the Pathians will lead you to a strong position. Develope your cavalry and archery to the max and spread out some what aggressively and you will find that the "shock and awe" of the elephants and cataphracts will be more that adequate to tackle the scipii and brutii in the latter stages.

Dan Mac