0.8x AI Faction Progression

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

OK, here some shots of the Evil Empire, with .81:

In the year 257BC


- I pushed the Epirotes and the Koinon out of Hellas, and the Epirotes were starting an italic Empire instead
- Seleukids are pushing hard the Ptolemaioi


In the year 237BC:

- Hayadan pressing the Sarmatae
- Saka repeatedly Protectorate of Baktria
- Carthage expanding nice, so do Casse, Sweboz, Getai
- Seleukids entering Egypt proper, taking Ptolemaioi holdings in Asia Minor, quarreling with Sabaeans for Arabia
- Koinon Hellenon and Pontos wiped out by me; Pontos allied with the Seleukids and declared war on me - bad mistake...


In the year 224BC:

- Romans reducing italian Epirotes to Campania, making them protectorate
- Lusotannan attacking the Carthies with big success!
- Casse conquering Ireland, Sweboz expand further
- Gauls heading both for northern Spain
- Seleukids beating the hell out of the Ptollies
- Carthage conquering independant Sicilia after a "war-without-much-fighting" with the Romans
- Getai more or less stopped their advance, from time to time attempts to conquer Getia Koile
- Armenians attacked by me in a preemptive strike, they had allied with the Seleukids


In the year 219BC:

- Carthage on the Reconquista trip
- Sweboz advance to the East
- Sakae becoming a baltic power, warring with the Sweboz, then becoming their protectorate
- SPQR starting northern expansion
- Ptollies with my help back in life - Makedonian spies made the Seleukid-controlled towns in egypt rebel


In the year 210BC:

- Seleukids reconquered much of their holdings in Egypt, quarreling with Saba as always, being divided doesn't do them much harm
- Romans slowly expanding into Gaul, attacked the Sweboz, got Vindelicos bribed
- Sweboz further advancing east, again war with the Sakae
- Sarmatae conquering Olbia


In the year 207BC:

- Sabaens were really tough and finally kicked the Seleukids out of southern Arabia
- Carthage besieging both remaining Lusotannan towns
- Sarmatae conquering the western Crimea, Uspe was a gift of mine
- Baktria wiping out Pahlava, going to war with Sakae. Never wanted to gang up with me on the Seleukids

P.S.: I wiped out the treacherous Getai in the meanwhile, conquering Veldideno

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Very cool Sakkura. Like that Lusotannan expansion and Baktria getting shoved into India, but I wish the Nomads were having more luck with the NE Seleukid areas. And wish the Getai were doing a little more.

CN: Awesome stuff too. Love seeing the Sabaeans come back. Liked that Saka empire for a bit. Interesting Iberian activities.

[Sakkura]

Very cool Sakkura. Like that Lusotannan expansion and Baktria getting shoved into India, but I wish the Nomads were having more luck with the NE Seleukid areas. And wish the Getai were doing a little more.

Getai were the only faction doing nothing, and they were really doing absolutely nothing. There was nobody bothering them, nobody even bordering them for ages and ages, but they just sat there with 2 more or less full stack armies watching the grass grow around their capital. Very disappointing.

I loved the way AS were initially beaten back by the Ptolemies but then rebounded, that kind of mirrors history IIRC.

[mlp071]

In couple of tests i tried removing half of the garrison units from Naissos and Singidunum(on The Errant's sugestion).Reason fro that was that i was seeing stacks of Getai trying to take those towns and were getting decimated. It did work , as they did took both towns by 260BC..I still think that is little to fast , but this was just fyi about what is possible cause for Getai's lack of progress.

[Roy1991]

The Getai in my campaign are doing very well

Romani campaign, 189BC, 0.81a.v2, BI.exe



Not so long ago the Pahlava were still doing very well, they owned about 15 provinces. Then Baktria and the Sauromatae attacked them simultaneously, and wiped them out in less than 10 years.

The Averni used to own Gaul, Northern Spain, most of Germania, and even parts of Illyria.
I've now captured most of their provinces in Gaul, and the Sweboz and Lusitanians are slowly driving them out of Germania and Spain.

The Lusitanians captured all the Carthaginian provinces in Spain, while I captured the African provinces.
Carthage only has Bocchoris left, they're losing about 8k per turn due to the 2 full stacks they have on the island

Pontos held out quite long, but eventually the Seleucids captured their last province, 10 years ago or so.

Macedonia and the Koinon Hellenon are still surviving in eastern Anatolia and on the islands.
The KH even captured Pantikapaion, and is still holding it

The Ptolemaioi and the Arche Seleukeia are allies, and constantly besiege my 2 cities in Egypt.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

The KH even captured Pantikapaion, and is still holding it

"Captured" isn't the right term when this happens. Think of it this way: Pantikapaion was under the control of another group, and asked for KH assistance or support - sometimes a faction can even have this happen when they don't want to get involved: you have citizens of your faction in that other place and they are involved in some intrigue that leads to the government being overthrown and you are involved whether you like it or not. If you like, you can build an allied government there quickly and just put it on automanage and forget about them.

[mlp071]

This is my ongoing Sauromatae campaign :

It is only 246BC , since i started it with AI balancing mini mod on VH/M (for testing purposes)with Darth modified formations, 0.81a.v2, Bi.exe and all EB official quickfix patches:







Pahlava had 5 provinces , but they attacked me in 255 and it took me 8 years of fighting their Cataphracts (yes they are building them since 260 ) to get them out of 4( they still have 2 stacks in Kophen , so they will expand). Now i have Seleuks going after me , and i am allied with Getai and Baktria.

Pontus and Hayasdan are making step forward , step back against Seleukids. Pontus had 5 provinces , they are down to 2 , but they are besieging 2 provinces again.

Hai are doing same thing, they conquered some provinces , but then they lost them thru rebellion.They are besieging them again.

KH and Maks are going back and forth also, sometimes KH has more provinces , sometimes Maks. Epeiros lost Taras very fast so they are concentrating on gaining ground in Balkans , as well Getai.

In general all factions are progressing in good way , IMO, not to fast or to slow(except maybe Saka)..and they all have fair amount of armies (ex. Pontus has 4 full stacks)

Will keep you posted about further developments

[billy bob]

With un-modded EB081av2. Look at the Casse.


Shot at 2007-06-28

I am Saba.

[Conqueror]

A bigger picture would be useful

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Yeah, we can't see that at all really. Welcome aboard though!

[billy bob]

Err sorry. I didnt know how to make it only the mini-map and I didnt want the pic so big. I guess a big pic is ok so Ill post it again.

Oh and thanks for the greetings.


Shot at 2007-06-29

EDIT:Ok not so bad. Thought it would be much bigger.

[I Am Herenow]

Here, I resized it for you:

[mlp071]

This is second campaign that i am runing at same time with my Sauromatae campaign, to prevent burnouts.It went much faster.


I am runing this with AI balancing mini mod on VH/H , Darth modified formations, 0.81a.v2, Bi.exe and all EB official quickfix patches:


230:


220:


210:


"Gray death" is no more, they got 2 provinces left, hehe

It's really fun playing with Casse, perfect for RP type of campaign

[Redmeth]

This is it the progression of my Sauromatae campaign from its humble beginnings to its huge finale.
Played on VH/M with 0.81a and starting from ~217 I started work on the money script so I used a mixture of scripts throughout the campaign, but it always stayed challenging without being absurd like it started to become against the Grey Death.
Objectives map


251

I was just starting to get my economy off the ground, mines in Uspe and Gava-Yugra, fights vs HA Eleutheroi are very micro-intensive but the great feeling of steppe combat makes up for it.

241

Hayasdan attacked me so I had to respond, it proved a stroke of luck in some ways as I had my sights on the Crimeea but the 2 cities there were protected by powerful Eleutheroi. The Hai were not that strong and taking over their cities was good because of their mines and I installed my first allied governments that enabled me to field cheap infantry. But those HA half-catas sting like a
The Aedui and Getai had some great expansions, also the KH took over southern Italy and Sicily.
The Getai were peaceful neighbours although I shared a border with them for ~50 years but they never attacked.

217 (missed some serious years here)

This period was marked by the wars with Parthia mostly the Grivpanhar gave me nightmares I had to take out everything else and them swarm them with the cheap HAs as I could afford very few nobles, but the battles were a lot of fun looking back. As what came next was the innumerable phalanxes of the AS.
The Aedui conquer a lot of lands and the Lusitans start the offensive on Carthage. The KH now totally isolated in Italy are starting to get pounded by the Romans and will eventually exist only on Krete. Baktria got muscled by the AS into a corner were they made valiant stands until they got the protectorate proposal and took it. The Maks blitzed the Getai in a few years and pushed them to the north were the Sweboz now started attacking them as they were under heavy pressure from the Aedui.
The Ptolies were getting crushed by the AS, I was trying my best to help them with spies but the AS seemed not to care and just kept coming back with lots of mercs... Casse almost complete their takeover of the British Isles. Epeiros is now a central European enclave after having most of their lands conquered by the Macedonian-Roman alliance.
This is the time when I started working on the money scripts as the AS's endless stacks were really killing me.

211

I start sharing a border with the Maks in Nikaia and soon they attack me, they will regret this in time... I start making my decisive moves and move against the AS's best production centers (Selukeia, Susa, Antiocheia) crippling their Cataphract and Thorakitai Argyraspidai production centers.

201

I start moving against the Maks with help from the Getai who rebel in Gawjam-Bastarnoz and on the southern front I manage to take the Hellespont. I also border the Saba now who will develop an obsession for Seleukeia and periodically send small armies to the slaughter under the shade of the palm trees.
The Saka wars were fast but brutal I managed to overwhelm them but their catas and HAs made for some very challenging battles.
Lusitans make their power move and the Aedui start getting pounded, just after signing an alliance with me, by the Lusitans, Romans and Sweboz
195

I keep gaining territory against the the Maks and stedily take out the AS possessions in Asia Minor. I also take Sidon, Damaskos and Palmyra and gift them to the Ptolies to try and form some sort of anti-AS corridor, of course keeping an army stationed to aid them.
I also incite rebellions with my spies in the eastern-most AS provinces that I have no interest in conquering. Also, Baktria which was holed up in their cities behind lots of cheap infantry is added to my empire.
The Romans start to bloat and end up meeting up with the Iberians as the Aedui are torn up between the 3 hungry hounds (Lusitans, Sweboz and Romans).
189

I reinstate the Getai in their territories after taking them from the Maks i gift them to the Getai. The Romans are now fighting the Lusitans, the Sweboz get back their lands from the Aedui who are now cornered.
I start raiding Greece and get the idea to make a nice mosaic so I can keep the factions there in check. Epeiros a central Europe enclave now and the KH isolated to Krete get some offers they can't refuse

179

The Greek mosaic is complete and the alliance with KH seems extremely beneficial trade-wise. It's a real shame that they will develop a fetish for Mytilene and try to swarm it with Hoplitai Haploi and then call for ceasefires...
Realizing I need Gawjam-Bastarnoz from the Getai I swiftly take it from them along with Buridava and propose them a ceasefire agreement qith me keeping Gaw-B and giving them back Buridava and ~50000 for their trouble. They accept but sadly the peace won't last long as they use the money to raise armies and attack Naissos...
The Roman-Lusitan conflict seems balanced until some old friends (Carthage) start crossing the Gibraltar with a couple of stacks and begin claiming what was once theirs it was a great thing to witness...
https://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?...iecrossiv9.jpg
Also Carthage starts taking Karali and Alalia and storms Sicily (I don't know what got into them... but I love it)

172

The Getai are close to the brink of extinction... they left me no choice...
The Ptolemy puppet regime reaches is largest size and they start to make moves on their own sieging Rhodos but just when I was proud of them they make a ceasefire with the Maks. They have 2 stacks on Salamis that just keep them in debt and the AS put a lot of pressure on the south.
The Sweboz are a minor nuisance with their Baltic infantry they keep sending to certain death.

167

The Romans attack me and a lot of legions are trampled under the hooves of my mighty cavalry, also the Getai are now helping me field Drapanai that prove to be quite effective in producing a lot of left-handed Romans
The Lusitans now getting pushed from 2 fronts are slowly crumbling.
Carthage is moving into Italy but they meet heavy resistance and they will soon stop, their Iberian campaign is going better.
AS starts coming in force and my army is caught by surprise by a powerful army and my great general Beuca the Lame is trampled under some elephants' feet. leaving the Ptolies unprotected for a few critical years in which they manage to lose their empire
The great Saurmag comes of age he will be my Steppe Hannibal.
I named him my faction leader as he was the perfect guy sha/cha/vig and optimistic/unshelfish/loyal. gave him the best education in Seleukeia( I captured it with a Academy) and the best ancillaries from the old governor there (ex great general) and sent him with 10 indian longbowmen, drapanai and Noble HA's to complete my raiding objectives
160

Tough times, I even went into debt, Saba bribed Charax and the AS briefly held Antiocheia, a lot of provinces rebelled as I'm in the middle of a generation change with the old influential governors dying off
Steppe Hannibal is touring N Italy and raiding it (notice I'm holding Patavium on the map ) and then he's off for a short stop in Gaul (Vesontio) and then more mayhem in Germania (Gawjam-Hattoz and Swebotraustamnoz)topped off with conquering Ascaulis which seemed to be needed for the victory even though it did not show on the map. The Roman city raids gave me the needed funds to keep my empire in the black and hold off the AS and Saba and the increasingly aggressive Sweboz.
I also gave Segesta, Patavium and Bononia to Epeiros, they were Rome's allies at the time but that quickly changed and their skirmishes gave me breathing room. The Romans were heavily recruiting mercs after running out of proper legionnaires and the Celto-German armies they fielded were quite a turn-off.
I slowly try to reinstate the Ptolies as a buffer zone but it's really frustrating as they can't hold on to the cities.
152

Saurmag completes his raiding targets and arrives in Ascaulis with 4 units of Indian Longbowmen(out of the 10 that left with him) and some cavalry they are now all experienced veterans.
I manage to take Ak-Ink. Vindobona and Segestica and hold on to them, the Sweboz bribe some troops (now they got some HAs) and also bribe Lucaroteea which was the last province I conquered after a great heroic victory and then the anti-climactic Victory screen shows up and I feel a mixture of pride and sadness that it's over and try not to count the hours spent on playing this (I started it before Easter).
https://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?...victorydw1.jpg

Hope it's not too much, I'll remove some of the pics as the last few years are ~5 years apart but a lot happened in pretty fast succession.

Please leave a comment if you enjoyed and had the patience to read through all this.

[KARTLOS]

This is it the progression of my Sauromatae campaign from its humble beginnings to its huge finale. (huge quote removed)

thanks,

enjoyable write up

[pockettank]

wow... i just started a campaign as sauromatae and this kinda scares me of what i might go through... but thats ok ive almost already killed Pahlava and im only about 25 years in and my economy is looking good i was even the richest faction for 2 turns with 16k but then i made an army for pahlava killing and i have a steady 3~7k treasury each turn which isnt bad for a steppe faction at the begining of the game.. right? at least im not negative after im done with pahlava i think its gonna be hai season for some mines

[billy bob]

Here, I resized it for you:

Thanks!

As you can see, the only faction not to expand is the Sara, course they have an army heading south IIRC.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Very enjoyable Redmeth! Hope we can give you something fun now to turn to!!

[Cecil XIX]

I'm been playing as the Casse on VH/M, and this is the Winter of 198 B.C.



Since this thread is about A.I. expansion, I feel compelle to say Lusotana was doing pretty well until they declared war on me. It was a little earlier than I wanted, but I responded by recruited two full stacks, each with ten Lugoae, four Gaeroas, four Botroas, one Cymwr and one general. The both landed in the two west coast provinces in the fall of 214, and marched another army from Messalia. What followed was a very tense and enjoyable fourteen year war, as I led three stacks to conqueor Iberia while trying to keep the Romans at bay. Lusotana actually had conquered most of Iberia, when I landed that had it all except Celtiberia, Cantabria and the two Karthadast provinces. During my conquest they managed to take Cantabria and Aquitae from the Averni, so I imagine they would have been pretty strong if I hadn't done anything.

This is my second EB campaign and my longest one so far, and I must say I'm enjoying myself immensely. When I started out I left one general in Camulosadae to administer, and sent everyone else west. Once I was at war with the Eleutheroi, the sent two full stacks one after another. I was pretty worried when the second one showed up and Barae got backed into the very end of the western penninsula, but he prevailed and got a "Famous Battle" marker there. After that he conquered the British Isles, then landed at Darioritum. With the exception of Bibracte and Burdigala, he conquered all the Gallic provinces that are currently in my posession. He took Cenabum from the Aedui, and Lemonum, Avaricum, Gergovia and Viennos from the Romans. He left another "famous battle" on the western bridge to Viennos, and died right after taking that city. I decied to make sure there was a suitable mausoleum for him there. It was after this that I invaded Lusotanna.

Speaking of which, there's an interesting story there. Throughout Barae's life, he kept the same units he had when the campaign started,with few additions. Eventually I sent those veterans with Barae's grandson, Aganwyn, to take Celtiberia from the Eleutheroi before Lusotanna could. In fact, it was his succesful conquest that led to Lusotana's attack on me. After a successful siege defense I had him sit outside so he could ambush invading Lusotannians, but he was bribed by the Romans! All of Barae's veterans were disbanded except for a unit of Gaeroas. I tried to find him and bribe him back, but he disappeared and the Lusotania conquered Celtiberia.

A few years later, while my invasion of Iberia was underway, he resurfaced in the west as part of a massive Roman counterattack. They took Mediolanum, Massalia and Aventicos (which I still haven't recovered), as well as Viennos. Aganwyn took Gergovia, and another army managed to take Avaricum. This took quite a while, as I was spending as much of my money as I good to get the Iberian war over fast. Then, the Romans collapsed. In the space of less then a year I took back Avaricum, Gergovia and Viennos. My allies the Avernia, who at the time were only succesful in as much as they were still alive, took Massalia. And I finally got revenge on Aganywn in (appropriately enough) Viennos, killing him and taking the city in the same way his grandfather had done so many years before. By then I had taken Iberia from Lusotanna and Carthage, and it was then that the Romans made a very impressive (for the A.I.) move. They made peace with me, and on the next turn went to war with Carthage. I'm really rooting for them, as Carthage is in a dead heat with Baktria, the Ptolemaioi, and Makedonia for the world's strongest power.

Finally, I think the Aedui deserve some praise. When I kicked them out of Gaul I expect them to flounder, but they managed to recover somewhat and even expand by taking Segestica from the Romans.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Very nice description of things. That's a really cool Macedonian empire too, around the black sea especially. Glad you're enjoying it!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

@Cecil XIX:

Really cool map, especially Macedon, Carthage, Ptolemies.

[Owen the Mighty]

wow.....that's one interesting campaign story you got there, Cecil XIX.

[Ice]

A side question, is anything going to be done about the Germans ALWAYS becoming a massive superpower? It seems no one is really there to counter them.

[Warmaster Horus]

Ice, I believe what you are looking for is perhaps a money script. The problem with Sweboz is that they can get loads of full stacks, therefore overwhelming their enemies.

[Sakkura]

A side question, is anything going to be done about the Germans ALWAYS becoming a massive superpower? It seems no one is really there to counter them.

They have to be strong to avoid being gobbled up by the Romans, or even Aedui/Arverni for that matter. The main problem seems to be they steamroll east through the eleutheroi far, far too quickly.

[LordCurlyton]

Pahlava, 195 BC. I am playing H/M, using a modified version of Redmeth's (or Errant's, can't remember) money script, with change being giving more money to Eleutheroi. This has been very fun I was able to expand all the way to Persepolis before the AS finally attacked me, as I was able to trigger revolts in almost all the eastern provinces, and I flat out bought a few.
Campaign notes:
I was quite pleased at my ability to stay allied with the AS for almost 40 years before they finally attacked me. Baktria attacking them most likely helped as I provided some requested military assistance.
The Casse stalled in their unification of the isles and have been sitting around for some time.
The Hayasdan have been a real surprise, pounding on the Sauromatae and even having the temerity to attack the AS some years ago. Now that they have foregone our 50 year alliance things will look grin once I can be bothered to crush them.
Pontus was doing just fine with 5 or so territories until it got arrogant and decided to attack everyone. Now the Maks have them on the ropes.
Epeiros is in a similar situation, being broke and surrounded by hostile neighbors. The only reason they still live is several triple-gold chevroned FMs, since they have precisely zero troops.
Saka have been Saka, finally declaring war on me. I intend to end them soon.
Baktria is but a memory. Yum!
Saba have also been impressive. After many years of war with Eleutheroi and AS they have finally unified all of Arabia and have an impressive infrastructure, able to field their best units. If war comes, it will be fun.
Ptolies have been up and down. After losing initially to AS they rebounded, then As I pushed the AS further west the Ptolies began to wither. The Carthies attacking them was the death knell, though, as they could successfully have held any one front but not both. Hopefully my severing of the AS holdings will allow the Ptolies time to push the Carthies back some (they have reclaimed one of their two homeland provinces, though that may have been a rebellion).
Makedon is a fugitive nation now, existing in Asia Minor and picking on the Pontics. Its almost inevitable that they and the AS will clash soon.
The AS themselves had actually expanded into Byzantion a while back but the KH took it via rebellion.
Getai looked like they would be toast after KH declared war on them originally, but they got a peace and territories back and have been taking full advantageof the calm to expand. Now they are the aggressors against the KH.
KH is in for hard times. After uniting all of Hellas they swiftly expanded, beating on the Getics (though they ended up giving those back) and making deep inroads into the Baltic and Eastern/Central Europe. However, they may have picked one too many fights, as they are now warring with Rome, Sweboz, Getai, Aedui, and Epeiros. Interesting tidbit: after making varied and effective armies to pound on Maks and unite Hellas, the KH have been spamming Hoplitai Haploi like crazy, which is one reason I believe for the situation they face. While they will probably lose all non-Hellas holdings in a few years, I can't see them going down easily in their hometown, as there are some mean dudes parked around there. Also, with Syrakousoi revolting to them again they have taken it to the remnants of the Carthie military on Sicily (the rest having been shipped toward Egypt), so the Rome-KH war may be about to take on a very interesting turn.
Rome, surprisingly, took a western expansion route until the KH came knocking. I was very happy at this and while they haven't fought Carthage yet, the alliance is no more, so its two neutral heavyweights just waiting to go to war. Also, they are producing Polybian units in almost all their capable cities now, which brings me happiness. I'm hoping to see the Ai achieve the Marians.
Sauromatae are dead meat, since if the Hai don't take their last province soon I will likely be "liberating" it.
Arveni were crushed by Rome some while ago, but the Aedui did the hard work.
The Aedui were going strong and then the inevitable Roman attack came and while they have put up a valiant couple of decades of resistance, the Roman troops have slowly whittled through the brave Gallic ones. Unless the Aedui can take some Central and Easern European celtic settlements soon things will be rather grim.
Luso have been caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, as both Carthage and Rome have been attacking for years. Again, after a few decades of resistance it seems that barring a miracle their end is near.
Sweboz took a territory originally but suffered some early defeats and stalled until the KH came along. Since then they've taken a couple settlements via rebellion and are making moves on several more.
And then we have Carthage, the only true superpower outside of me, though Rome probably qualifies by now as well. Their mix of Sacred Band units and Elite Africans of both stripes has proven to be a mighty brutal combo which has pushed their empire to its current state. They have the Ptolies on the ropes, though the Ptolies are fighting back, they have The Luso at the end of their rope, and the only real blemish is the bothersome rebellions by Syrakousoi, which could cost them Sicily.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Very nice LC. I think everyone loves reading these things. I like that Roman expansion too. Only really wacky thing has been the northern KH stuff.

[Musopticon?]

That's an incredibly impressive Persian Empire you have there.

Might I ask, is the area around Asaak full of Heroic Victory-markers? :D

It's a pretty common occurance with horse archers. That or complete obliteration in a few years.

[LordCurlyton]

Heh no Asaak was taken peacefully. Or, should I say, it was taken via a revolt that made Asaak Eleutheroi and I got to it before the AS could get significant troops back there. I noticed that the AS AI followed a back-and-forth pattern of conquest attempting, as in it would try in Syria/Asia Minor, and after failing several times consecutively (even if it started with a success), would turn to the East and try for Eleutheroi or, later, Baktrian holdings. Lather, rinse, repeat. Since I kept significant enough forces to deter them as well as a very extensive spy network to cause massive unrest problems they liked me a lot. I even managed to make Seleukia itself rebel, though I couldn't take it. They didn't bother me until I got in the way of their back-and-forth thinking, ie after I took Persepolis via rebellion (again to Eleutheroi). I had to bribe a couple armies and then buy the last of their eastern holdings (the one by Alexandropolis) so I had no AS on the east, and then they finally attacked. But it was too late then. That was about 40 years into the game.
Funny sidenote: I can keep my Indian holdings happier easier than the ones right next to them since they don't have irreducible unrest values. I have to keep half stacks in those as opposed to 3 units in my Indian ones.
Also, my heroic markers are strewn in Baktrian territories and Babylonia and westwards. Basically wherever I had to destroy a full stack of AS with my HA army.

[Musopticon?]

Did you use primarily HA stack armies from the start? Or light infantry? I've only played Pahlava in 0.74 but there the ol'Parthian Approach of hiring just mounted troops was very expensive, almost too expensive.