Man enjoying himself playing Pontus

[Satyros]

Hehe

news from the front

The empire of Pontos was not meant to last eternally .

The former masters present no threat , half hearted attacks at best , desperate attempts to retake Seleukeia , utterly crushed by the Emperor , who now resides there , having seen the elephant etc .

But treacherous plans were discussed in the shadows .

The Ptolies attacked breaking the alliance , and in the same turn allied themselves with the remnants of the Seleucid (former) empire .

My poor ( literally - I can only afford a couple of stacks ( not full ) of pantodapoi phalangites and some slingers , and minimum garissons ) empire now stands alone , victim of the megalomania of the Emperor who fought his way all the way till the center of the Seleucid empire .

My other stack was just beginning the journey to finish the half finished business of Asia Minor , the Gauls , Trapezous and rich Pergamon . So the southern border is unguarded .

Any suggestions ?

I think I should have listen to the advice to defend in Mazaka . Oh well .

This is by far the best campaign I ever played .

Thanks Europa Barbarorum , thanks Redmeth * edit * and Mlp071 .

Satyros

[mlp071]

Tactical retreat, destroy all buildings and move back if you can. That should give you some money to rebuild economy and /or army.Make stand in Marzaka.

If they are coming with Galaktikoi Kleruchoi stacks , you better upgrade your troops. They owned my Maks "silver shields" (first open battle that i lost in very long time)

Ptolies are no different then AS , they are same type of butcher.

[Alderdix]

Satyros
I learned in pontos campaign one thing completely. To think perspecivly. Playing this faction is harcore. You can;t do many mistakes if any. Its best campaign in Total war, most hardest. I can say what i did. I have similar situation war with ptolemai and AS in one time. Almoust endless zerg of elite enemies. To fight you need money. If you have no profits you won't buy more mines (you won;t have more profits) - > you won't make more soldiers - > you will die. Expansion wont give you more money (since you need to keep garnisons to keep people calm) but mines in secured area will.

To have money you need to have time (best way is to build mines). So you need to reduce army and in the same time slow down enemies (best if you can stop them). I can say what i did.

I made system of forts , remains of mercenaries armies are garrnisons for it. After every bridge in every thin pass near all border tows i made forts. Its the way to slow down enemy and it gives time to build the defence or move main forces. I fought with every faction i meet on my way (heyda, macedonian, Ptolemai, Seleucid, greeks). I took whole minor asia (with byzantie), whole heyden land, on easti 'we build mines in everywhere i could (still need to build mayby 5-6 mine complex), i made 3 big armies.

One to defend ptolemai attack (bridge near Tarsus. other ways are secured by forts).

Second army is in the north in land of Hayd to protect agains seleucid, and on east in Byzanitie prevent entering other nations to minor asia. Now im focused on establishn complex mines.I have more less 10 provinces with valuable metals, its really chance for good benefit.

Good idea to slow down enemies are spy and assasins, spy is increasing unrest , assasins are making sabotage actions (destroy buildings that increase stability of city (temples, garnisons etc). Enemy will gather forces there instead sending them to you. With bit of luck those town will revolt and you will have natural border.

So good luck :) i advise everyone to play Pont :) it gives most funniest army ever (naked mans, chariots, phalanx and slingers :)) Everything to make fear in enemy hearts :). Slingers are more efective when shooting in enemy backs :).And of course you need to be smart to win with giants.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Welcome to the forum alderix! Nice first post.

[Satyros]

Will try again tonight .

I will post my results if you 'd like to read .

Might I add that after my last unsuccesfull attempt with Pontos , I literally walked through EVERY opponent as the Koinon .

I actually feel I " gained a level " as an EB player .

One more for the many more needed .

I would also like to comment that if the Casse are meant to be the most difficult faction , well , they aren't .

They only are ( super ) tough in the beginning , after that it's nice and easy .

Satyros

[Redmeth]

If you find things to easy switch the difficulty of the mini-mod, there are 3 available now, if you're still using the balancing minimod of course.

[Satyros]

Things are going much better since I stopped relying on the good will of my neighbor Ptolemy ( instead , I roleplayed threats to halicarnasos in order to squeeze a buck or two when he proposed a ceasefire eventually ) , and generally playing a more conservative Pontos game ( not the previous blitz of " black wind fire and steel " ), more or less the way Alderdix suggested .

I've had my good share of heroic victories until now and I don't think it 'll stop anytime soon .

I have now a respectable capital of 15000 , 2500/turn , should I invest on my first mine , or beef up my army ?

@Redmeth I didn't say it correctly .

Not " nice and easy " as in "Romani" . " Nice and easy " as in " not even close to Sauromatae " .

At least that's what I think .

edit ; just in case you were refering to my KH comment , the difference occured after playing with Pontos ( always with the mini mod on ) , I learned to survive with practically nothing and when I played the Kh who actually have " something " I blitzed my way through modern day Greece ( skipping Thermon till Epeiros was left in a messy situation in Italy across the sea ) in less than 2 years . Because of the " something " , I was actually able to install garissons on the next or even on the same turn ( a couple of units akontistai following my main stack ). I actually achieved that either by sieging with "weaker" armies , then wiping everyone out as they sallied , or by direct assault after the first turn of the siege . I never had any serious problems in field battles. Anyway , the blitz tactic as the KH gave me a wonderful financial headstart , as well as the precious barracks of Amvrakia (way better than the KH starting ones ) . As Pontos , last time , I had no money so I didn't have the luxury of time when sieging .

Satyros

P.S. : even though I have installed the force diplomacy mod , I will not use it to achieve a ceasefire with AS . It will take all the fun away . Perhaps after 10 cities or something , when the should offer it themselves .