I'm playing as pontus right now as well, however I'm not very far into my game. What I've done so far is first I took over sinope, then I disbanded all my units except for three phalanxes to take care of rebels(trust me there is a lot) and then concentrated on building trade buildings in my two provinces. meanwhile I got trade righs with all the nieghboring factions, and sent a spy out to fill in the map. Now I am saving up to build an army to take care of the nearby gallic province (forgot what it's called) but I'm a bit worried because it is clear full of geasetae