When do they attack?

[Dutch_guy]

well you should not be attacking / sallying from syracuse , because if you do that then they will never use their siege equipment , in my experience anyway.

so let them siege you wait a turn or 2 and they will attack - that is if you dont save and load
it helps if you are a little outnumbered

[Mongoose]

Syracuse is very hard to keep...most would say just to leave it.

But make sure you plunder it first.

[katank]

What's with all the retreating bull?

I attacked Messena right away and won, sacking that city.

I then proceeded to Lilybaeum and later came back to defend Messena from more Scipii.

Take the fight to the enemy.

Syracuse is one of only two cities capable of producing Spartans.

You can also access Armoured Hops there amazingly early.

[The_678]

Sicily I find is a great battlefield for using the Hoplite square tactic. I have won many battles against overwhelming romans using the square tactic. It helps better if you have 1:2 odds (favouring enemy) and keep one unit (peasant/militia) in Syracuse and sit your army right outside. When they have enough men they will attack your field army. If done right a Hoplite square can easily fight off 2 20 stack roman armies. Just make sure you have at least one archer to fight off the velites.

If you don't know the square tactic it is when you form all your hoplites in a square spears out, try to keep a couple in the middle as reserves and just let the enemy attack. You can even just sit and watch the fight with no commanding as its just he enemies running onto your phalanx. When I play Greeks I always siege and let them attack me. Instead of fighting send a single army right beside two armies and they will attack you. Set up a square and wait. If done right you will easily win most times.

[Franconicus]

What's with all the retreating bull?

I attacked Messena right away and won, sacking that city.

I then proceeded to Lilybaeum and later came back to defend Messena from more Scipii.

Take the fight to the enemy.

Syracuse is one of only two cities capable of producing Spartans.

You can also access Armoured Hops there amazingly early.

katank is right. You can take Messana on the first turn. Attack the army in front of the town with everything you have (just after you sold them some maps ). The garrison will come to aid. Make sure no one will be able to return.

Then Carthage will attack you. Make a counterstrioke towards Lilybaeum. This will make them withdraw from Syracuse. Then you have time to build new troops. And you can do it much faster than they will.

[katank]

Within a few turns, you can produce armoured hops which are simply beastly with 9/22. It's like legionary cohorts albeit without pila but with phalanx

They are virtually invulnerable to missiles and have very nice morale. Then build large temple of nike to make em even better.

By that time, you should have consolidated Sicily.

Greeks have one of the best expansion opportunities, able to strike into Northern Greece and the Balkans, Sicily, and Asia Minor all at once.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I don't get why people say you should give up on Syracuse. I find that as long as you have four units of archers, some Militia Cav (to lure them in Archer range) and a good garrison in the unlikely event they get in, you should be fine.