1.0x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Thaatu]

221. Guess which faction I am.

AI would never take Sicily, Sardinia & Corsica.

[Hax]

The grey death! =P

No, seriously. Either Epeiros, Roma or Ptolemaioi. Or maybe Pontos.

[pseudocaesar]

Id say KH, whats it doin in Scythia?

[Jurdagat]

Id say KH, whats it doin in Scythia?

Bosphoros? :)

That area has a tendancy to rebel into KH.

He could also be Sweboz. Hard to say really, a lot of nice mini-empires there! :)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

221. Guess which faction I am.

Ptolemaioi, Pontos or Saka.

[Elminster12]

Same campaign as before in 226. The Ptolemaic advance in the east has stalled.
Some notes
-The Hai have captured Pantikapaion.
-KH and Epeiros are at war, and are both at war with the Maks.
-The Carthies have the upperhand in Sicily and also have a full-stack two turns away from Kyrene, so I'm hoping the Ptolies will have something else to worry about shortly.
-Both the AS and Baktria are after India
-Parthia is terribly disappointing.

[Mouzafphaerre]

221. Guess which faction I am.

.
Pontos, Roma or Swêboz.
.

[Soggius Chippius]

Right. It's been another ten years, so here's the next look at how the Casse are getting on.



Let's see. There have actually been a number of factions making impressive gains over the last decade, the biggest fairly obviously being Baktria, tearing apart the eastern remnants of the Seleukids. The next ten years will most likely be the decider over whether they'll gain complete supremacy over everything east of the Hellespont or whether another faction (by which I mean Carthage really) will be able to at least delay them.
Carthage has managed to beat the Ptollies back after the riots last decade, but really, as long as the Ptollies hold Cyprus, revolts are going to be an ongoing problem. In the west on the other hand, the Carthies have been on a downward slope as far as Spain goes, now down to 2 strongholds left, one of which is currently under siege by the Lusotannan, while Gader only has a half-strength garisson.
The Saba managed to take a fair bit of the middle east and Mesopotamia, and actually looked to be poised to beat Mohammed to the punch by almost a millenium, but then they met with the newly consolidated Carthage in the west and the ridiculously powerful Baktria in the east and sort of crumbled back to just holding Arabia (Fine, and Petra and Babylon as well).
The Maks have come back from the brink with an impressive sweep through Anatolia. A pity that KH has invested almost everything into taking the peninsula, because now they're nearly exhausted. Also, Pontos finally started moving! Now we get to watch it sort of look marginally impressive for the few turns it'll take for Baktria to reach them.
The Sauromatae have managed to kick Baktria in the gonads and retrieve their lost homeland province, as well as consolidate their power around the Ukraine (They took part of the Chersonesos! Wheee!) *and* start invading the eastern end of the great forest. They're currently at war with the Sweboz, which gives me a wonderful warm feeling inside.
The Epeirotes may have an impressive kingdom, but they just can't seem to hold onto their lands. They were losing the odd province to rebellion while I was finishing off Italy, and they're really having some problems now that my spies are on the job. Segesta should revolt fairly soon, and they've got another city right in the middle of their kingdom which is at around 35% right now, so they've got a way to go yet before they can turn their attention west.
So, that wraps up all the factions outside the Casse sphere. What have our favourite Belgians been up to recently? Well, my faction leader succeeded in taking Lilibeo in 202, around the time that the Tarantines decided to attack Rhegion. One boat ride later and the army was fleeing back to Taras. Three turns after that and the Epeirotes were kicked off the heel, hopefully for good. Following that, another naval expedition was mounted, with Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Isles falling in quick succession (though not without naval opposition from a certain superpower)
The mighty leader of the Casse, upon taking the Balearics, decided now was the time to showcase Casse power on Carthaginian soil, so a final naval expedition was mounted, with the destination directly south of the Balearics. What we didn't count on however, was Carthaginian resistance. Just off the African coast, the fleet engaged in battle, and met a crushing defeat. Thankfully, the fleet didn't scatter, and a quick retreat was made to Capua to rebuild the ships. The new fleet will be ready 3 months from now, and a new destination has been planned. Carthage herself. We'll see how powerful they are once they've lost their name.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, the land of the Cimbri was flooded nearly a century early, resulting in 2 full stacks worth of refugees flooding across the Rhine. They were repulsed, but unfortunately our old friend Olaf was pressured into siding with his countrymen. A battle was fought against his army, with every man in his command being wiped out. The horsemen however were ordered to let him escape back across the Rhine. His current whereabouts are unknown, but our diplomats are scouring the Germanic countryside for him, hopefully to come to some sort of arrangement.
However, the fact remained that we were at war with the Sweboz, so preparations for invasion were carried out. First, all the major crossings of the Rhine were blocked off with forts, a defensive army was levied, and the main Vesontian army was sent north across the Rhine. The results so far have been pleasing, and can be seen here.



With luck, the Sweboz will be left with little more than their far eastern holdings by 186.

Around the time of the first forays into Germany, an army was being completed for the conquest of Spain. The northern pass through the Pyrenees was blocked off by succesive forts, and invasion began in earnest with the fall of Emporion. It's been slow going so far, mainly because of the Spanish obsession with ignoring my army and going straight for the city, resulting in several backtracks to clean up 4 man armies, but through strategic forts to funnel the Spanish forces, I've managed to get as far as Numantia. Here's a shot of the current progress



Hmmm. It seems that Arse isn't under siege anymore after all. Well, it has been at some point recently anyway, and , odd as it feels to say this, but hopefully the Carthies will be able to hold out for a while longer. I'm quite happy to just ignore that particular road to Emporion for now, and would like it to stay that way. Incidentally, aside from one generalled full stack down near Gader, that's most of the Luso forces right there. Once they're gone, hopefully the rest will be easy. (cargo planes would be nice about now though. Spain is a pain to campaign in. Rhyming not intentional, but awesome nonetheless)

So there you have it. Hopefully by the next update I'll be rid of most of the Iberians and the Germans. Where it'll go from there should be interesting.

[MerlinusCDXX]

240 BC, playing as Baktria



Saka expanding further into steppe, @ war with Pahlava
Casse slowly taking Britain, Sweboz taking over the north, Saba expanding nicely into Africa for a change, disappointed as usual in Getai, just sitting in starting territory. seeing some nice expansion from Pontos, Romani lame as usual

[Olaf The Great]

They were repulsed, but unfortunately our old friend Olaf was pressured into siding with his countrymen.

A personal request mate...

Please, use the add_money cheat and bribe Olaf :)

I just need to see this :)

BTW Don't kill me. I WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!

/cry

[Gazius]

Previous map at 221.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I am indeed rome, though I've seen that exact set up in a .8x BI game. It is now 190.


Included the EB logo just because I thought it was a neat way to place the team name. There used to be another one in the NW corner of the map.

There has been huge amounts of back and forth. At least three factions were down to a single province only to spring back to life, and in the case of hayasdan or Seleukia, go back to that single province or die out entirely.

The arvernii put up a noble resistence to the advance of the sweboz, which is the only reason there are any aedui left.

Nikeia and Byzantine have been a big tug of war between the getai, KH, pontus, MK and Epirus. Makedonia at one point aggressed and conquered many settlements, only to get pushed back as soon as the Ptolemies noticed.

The Saka and Sarmatians have been fighting an epic horse archer battle, at one point the Saka had the Sarmations, along with KH help, down to two provinces, only to have the spring back with a counter attack helped by the Baktrians to nearly the same state, with Sarmatia controlling the west and Baktria holding most provinces to the northern barrier.

The sand wars have proven to be quite interesting, with Carthagian pushes stretching as far as the west bank of the nile, only for Ptolemy to push them back into Libya, though they held it for only a single season.

As far as my play strategy goes, I have a sort of AAR planned, and for anyone interested I'll make a couple games available of it. One starting at the marian period, and at a point or two before it. At the moment there is not a single polybian soldier to be found in the republic, though the ideas for the update of the army have been voiced in the many forums through out the rising realm.

[Maksimus]

My Armenia EB 1 (b/Very Hard - b/Very Hard settings ) Campaign,
No Battle time limits, No reinforce limit blocade..
I use Huge Unit settings, i cheat only to remove the Fog of War.. and that is it..
Also, I am RTW veteran.. playing RTW and making mods 3-4 by years now, still, I made no moddifications used for this campaign.

This is EB 1 VH vanilla! Saying that I will add that I even had to destroy my 'Armenian Unique' CityBuilding that gave me 10000 - and that is just because Seleucid attacked while I was Fighting in Rusland!

Now. I must check if pictures will show - oh here they are!


This is at the end of my hard battle for Phraaspa. I used much of my strengts here. If you can see it



this is my Sauromate campaign, basicly. One just can't easilly win on VH against Sauromate.. Exept if he uses his generals in nice full and smart charge !


I even had some (one to be exact) nice contributin from Rome!

Then, there was my Third Heroic Victory - The famos battle of Uspe! In this case I have successfuly used my unit deploy near Sarmatians and gain the full charge advantage from the start, moving units in two groups from the flank.. The rest is History ;)

Then there was the last of my Russland adventures - wining the battle of Tanais! And It was Important.. nut, as you will see.. that did not help my Empire :(

After I had one idiotic attempt to sell my map to Seleucid for money - they have broke our alliance :(
[img=https://img213.imageshack.us/img213/562/outofmoney6hw4.jpg]

Then I was attacked... In the mean while I fought some defence battles against Sarmatians wich led to my millitary presence in Rusland...with all those powerfull FamilyMembers.. So I had to destroy some buildings and prepare for defence - that destroyed my finance - I am now, officially broke..
Plus, all My allies just turned their back to me.. every one was now neutral!

THIS is my campaign.. I am done with it.. I am broke and I do not tend to cheat..

Be well my friends!

[Dyabedes of Aphrodisias]

AI would never take Sicily, Sardinia & Corsica.

I've seen it do such more than once...in my current campaign, they've taken the islands and have got some armies moving south into Sicilia...they even made an invasion of Greece and attempted a go at Korinthos.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
RomeTW.exe or BI?
.

[Folgore]

Makedonia, 198BCE, Difficulty M/M, RTW.exe, no mods

I finally finished my Makedonia campaign. Although I have to admit I used auto_win attacker a bit at the end as I was just too tired to plow through the endless stacks of grey and yellow by myself. Very fun game though, especially near the beginning.
I destroyed Koinon Hellenon, Epeiros and Pontos myself. The Arverni were crushed by the Cathaginans. The Getai have been expanding quite a lot, but they've never once attacked me. Epeiros managed to capture Rome early in the game, but lost it later. Carthage only started expanding in Iberia a few years ago, they've got a lot of troops there.

I guess I'll try a barbarian faction now, I've never actually tried one yet. (I did make an army of barbarians in Galatia in this campaign, but it suffered horrendous casualties in pretty much every battle...)

[beatoangelico]

update (Baktria, H/M) https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...&postcount=106

225 BC



215 BC



AI controlled KH really needs a tweak, in this campaign they destroyed Maks, Pontos and now are about to erase the Getai, without any outside help

[QwertyMIDX]

One campaign doesn't mean they need a tweak. Look at the rest of the thread, it's not like what you're seeing is the norm.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

I've never seen a campaign where the AI KH expanded that far before. That is an abberation as far as I can tell.

[Soggius Chippius]

186 has finally come, so here's the next campaign update. But before the stock map picture, I'll just take this chance to gloat.



Nothing more than confirmation of the supremacy of Casse power in the west of course. Now that their military machine has almost completely consolidated its power in the west, it won't stop till it has captured all the riches of the east as well.
So, without further ado, the world map.



The last decade has been one of ridiculously fast steamrolling on both side of the map. For the Casse, the conquest of Germania was a laughably easy task, taking 3-4 years in total (it really felt like I was invading a stupendously weak country. Almost all the troops were levies, and were chewed through with ease, allowing me to take 3 fullstack garissoned towns with a single army and no re-recuiting)
However, while that invasion was going off without a hitch, Spain was quite a different matter. The logistics of supplying fresh troops from France (which, unlike Germania, was entirely necessary, as the Lusotannan were no slouches)was a nightmare, due to the shocking roading system the Spanish had set up. Sure, the Helvetii were able to make a road over high mountains, but the Lucies just couldn't be arsed it seems. At any rate, by the time I had gotten into central Spain, I had a half stack, and the Lusotannan had 4 cities and 2 and a half full stacks. Luckily, the westernmost city (whose name I seem to have forgotten) was able to train the Lusotannan light spearmen, who are ridiculously good as far as AoR troops go. In the end, I only beat the Lusotannan by getting extremely lucky with the only assassin I had made all campaign who killed the faction heir despite a 3% chance, after which I caught up with the faction leader fleeing by himself from the city I was about to besiege, killed him, and destroyed the faction, dispersing almost all their troops. Had that not happened, I would have been in for a long war (well, victory would have been delayed 2-3 years anyway) so thank Lugh it did.
Finally, two turns after my last update, my Faction leader with his full army fresh from conquering Italia and the isles landed on the shore not far from Utica, and after a very short march, laid seige to the city. After taking it, Carthage and Adrumento fell quite quickly, but then came the realisation of the sublime stupidity in the choice of landing site. Yes the area surrounding Carthage is important, but if the rest of North Africa is held by an enemy, you can't continue on to capture more cities without leaving yourself open to retaliation from your rear. Adrumento and Carthage have stayed with the Casse since their capture, but Utica has changed hand a number of times due to campaigns against Southern Carthage drew resources away from the defence of the northern shore. This, incidentally, was another reason for me to be hurrying the conquest of Spain, because (as you have probably noticed by now) southern Spain is a brilliant place to launch an attack on Carthage from.
The crusher has now become the crushee as Uticarthadrumento (I know, I'm usually not a fan of portmanteus either. Though that's probably because they're usually used for stupid reasons. Like Brangelina. Anyway) acts as the anvil, and my Spanish army (made up pretty much entirely of lusotannan light spearmen. Really, the only difference between it and an actual Lusotannan army invading Africa is the fact that the General rides in a chariot rather than something that's actually useful in battle on occasion like the Lucie bodyguard) acts as the hammer.
Here's the current situation that my spanish army faces.



A single half stack stands between me and lordship of the northern coast. I'm not particularly worried about the Gaetulians either, because they still haven't built any roads and their one army appears to be lost in the desert.
Of course, while that's all lovely and flash and such, here's what I face from Libya.



One full stack that inexplicably has elite African pikemen in it (can they recuit them in Egypt?) and another still to come. Though that one will most likely be solely Garamantine infantry as most fullstacks seem to be.
Of course, as bad as I make it sound, that's really the only front I currently have to worry about. Epirus is currently more lethargic than a dead sloth, having attacked Patavium once and then sort of run off. I'm not 100% sure why they're doing so little despite having so much, but I have a sneaking suspicion they're trying to take some of those eleutheroi towns. I really have to thank the modders for those, because they work ridiculously well. As far as campaign map strategy goes, it's sort of like having a mountain range right across eastern europe, except it's a mountain range made entirely of death, as any army that goes into the province either doesn't come back, or comes back with a handful of survivors gibbering like idiots. Idiots with post traumatic stress disorder anyway.
Here's a look at the border currently.



The only way they can invade is around the Adriatic, and that army I have waiting there is very strong. In fact, it's essentially the Vesontian army (if you recall that from my last update :P) but with a few unit upgrades.
I'll invade entually, but I think I'll wait till North Africa up to Libya is under control.
Anyway, enough about the Casse. Let's check out the east, where there's only one power now really, Baktria. It's gone and crushed all the other successors, and is finally at the point where the only faction that can realistically halt it anymore is me. Pahlava and Saka are now its protectorates, so you can just pretend they're blue if you like.
Here's what's left of all the other factions in the east.



The Seleukids now really only have those two provinces and another throwaway one in the Caucasus. I'm always glad to see the Grey Death averted, but it's a bugger that its destroyer just ends up being the new <colour> Death. As you can also see from this picture, Carthage is most likely next, which will help me (in a way at least. Unfortunately, it'll mean I'll be at war with Baktria in the next decade or two)



The mighty Ptolemies have been brought low as well, though to be fair, not by Baktria. This is really all they have left aside from one and a half fullstacks on Cyprus which are never going to go anywhere anyway. They're currently at peace with Baktria, but I don't see that army of theirs keeping it that way for long.



Futher west, Makedon is doing quite nicely, all things considered. They're even at war with Epeiros now. Pontos up there was doing quite nicely for a few years as well. Then they met Baktria and it's been downhill since.



Finally, Greece is still *somehow* independant. Despite having lost their provinces in Syria, they're doing quite nicely too. Until about a year ago, they were in the top 5 overall factions, bizzarely enough (due to their production value I believe)

Oh yeah, forgot to take a screenshot of it, but Sauromatae are doing as well as they look like they're doing on the map there. Quite a few fullstacks, and they've been holding their own very well against Baktria up north.
That's enough for this update anyway. See you in 176.

Edit: One other thing I forgot to mention. My diplomats succeeded in finding Olaf (granted, his actual name was Hadawulfaz, but still, he was Olaf to his mates) but found that he already had quite a nice position as the leader of the Sweboz. He was getting on a bit by this stage, so my conquering army left his settlement alone until his popped his clogs, at which point they 'liberated' it from its new 'governor', a mere captain acting as head strong man, in the name of Olaf the Mighty, friend of the Casse and brother to Adcobrovatae, our mighty leader (who sends his condolences from North Africa). So there you go. A happy ending after all.

[johnhughthom]

I've enjoyed reading your updates Soggius Chippius, you should consider doing an AAR in your own thread for your next campaign.

[Soggius Chippius]

Thanks muchly. Thinking of starting up a Saka campaign next actually, though I have a sneaking suspicion any AAR I do on them will last 2 updates. One where I take like 3 cities and a second detailing my swift downfall. :P

[Empedocles]

Hi! here is an update from my sauromatae campaing I posted here

This was the situation in 225bc


I was fighting the AS, Hai and Baktria while the Saka were a constant menace to my border.

I managed to defeat the Hai in a series of battles (their leather armour spearmen had no chance against my HA) and the income from their mines greatly improved my economy.

Here is the actual situation in 214bc (just 11 years later):



Now let's take a little view on the main fronts of battle:

EGYPT


The ptolemaioi are virtually gone sandwiched between the Kharties and the AS. They managed to conquer Antiocheia and hold it for few years but the AS began the recovery and in few years they were expulsed from Judaea. It seems they couldn't fight a two front war.

North Italy


North Italy has been held by the Aeudi, Averni, Romans and the new kid on the block...Epirus. This unexpected invasion of italy by Epirus has halted the advance of Rome in gaul and the Aeudi are fighting back now.

Sicily


finally the romans have started the punic wars! Sicily was overrun easily and it appears that Messana revolted to the Karthies (you can also see that Gades and NArbo have revolted to them in the main map)

Makedonia



The last important war has been raged in makedonia for years. Although the KH have conquered Pella long time ago those MAks do not wish to relinquish their most northern provinces easily. Unfortunately they are in a desperate situation there.
They haven't used their full stacks near Pergamun. They could easily reconquer Pella with them but theAI is so stup....

The KH are doing great and are kicking the Epirotes from their homeland provinces into Ylliria.


The rest of the world

Saba has managed to unite the southern Arabian peninsula and lanedd in Ethyopia but didn't advanced any further.
The Lusotannan have united iberia and are moving north into france. I guess they will have to defeat the Romani in order to decide who will rule the western world in the next 50 years.
Chartage is powerfull in Africa but have lost most of their possesions overseas.
The Casse and Sweboz have united Brittania and Germania but are on a halt right now. Dacia follows the same history.

My situation
The war against the AS and its allies (baktria and HAI) have lasted several years. After I destroyed the Phalava they attacked me and I have lost several cities to their armies. The best decision I made was to conquer Armenia due to its gold mines.
The economy of the Sauro is a mess. Even though I control a large empire I depend on exterminating cities in order to reach more than 5k surpluss in a turn.
Due to the decline of the ptolemaioi the AS managed to send high quality stacks at me and I had to take the offensive. I sacked and destroyed every building in Persepolis and Gabai so they couldn't train more units there.
I now controll Babylonia and Seleukia and are moving my armies into Baktria. War with the Saka is inevitable but I will try to remain neutral to them as much as I can. they have good armies of HA around there.
I can only hope that a Chartage vs AS war for the treasures of Egypt will mean the complete destruction of the AS.
Dacia might pose a problem if I they attack while my armies are fighting in the east.

Hope you liked my little description. I will turn my attention on another mod now but I intend to take this campaing to its bitter end.

Regards,

Diego, from Argentina

[MerlinusCDXX]

Pahlava192bc BI exe


Baktria,AS,and Hayasdan gone due to my actions. Aedui wiped out by either Romani or Sweboz.Saka expanding nicely into the steppes at the expense of the Sauromatae. KH barely holding the Peloponesse, but seemingly migrating into the Black Sea (Trapezous, Chersonese, Byzantion) Epeiros carving out a solid position in the Balkans and Attike/Makedonia. Control of Makedonian armies seems to have passed from Antigonidai to the Pergamene Attalides, getting a nice foothold in Western Mikra Asia. Pontos consolidating nicely in Eastern Mikra Asia, Ptolemaioi were doing well against AS West until they broke our alliance, now their "expansion" is irrelevant, as I am making it non-existent, yes folks...count them out. Getai expanding into Southwestern steppes, but still at peace with the Saka. Saba were doing well, having taken the Arabian peninsula and into Ethiopia, but I'm at war with them also, so no further expansion from them in the East,though maybe some more African expansion,as they are still at war with Ptolemaioi. Qart-Hadastim consolidating control over Western N. Africa, but going back and forth with Lusotannan in Iberia, no activity in Sicily or Italia from Qart-Hadastim. Romani expanding into Gaul, at war with Epeiros, but only as a desultory border skirmish, having only taken one settlement in the Balkans. Arverni gettin beaten down on both fronts, by Romani and Sweboz. Sweboz has become the Burgundy Blitzkrieg as usual. Casse consolidating the British Isles but otherwise no activity.

[Jurdagat]

Makedonia 231 BC. H/M with BI.exe.

Changed to BI.exe since my Hayasdan campaign. :)

[hoom]

My Getai campaign continues.

202 BC


Last 10 years has bought some serious action.
*I've taken out Epirus & restricted Makedon to Chalkis.
*KH is not up to much, its essentially a protectorate along with Makedon.
*Casse have consolodated & are now pushing into Ireland
*No idea when it started but Lusotanan seem to have got the Rage & booted Carthage off the peninsula, are currently besieging Burdigala.
*Carthage still has its stack standing around by Athens but having been ousted from Sicily & Iberia, they are only half-heartedly pushing into Ptolomaic territory.
*Rome has exploded into Gaul at the expense of the Aedui.
*Arverni had been making a comeback but I think are sitting back at the moment letting their foes take a beating from Rome.
*Sweboz not up to much, still very slowly wearing down the Boii etc.
*Pontus still not up to much.
*Hai & Sauromatae continue to swap a couple of territories but its pretty minor stuff, meanwhile Sauromatae are gaining ground to the north & east.
*Ptolomies took back the Upper Nile but have lost the Levant.
*AS having consolidated in the East are now pushing towards Egypt & have sent some significant force into Asia Minor as well.
*Sakae & Pahlava not up to much, though Sakae are having some success vs. broken Baktria.
*Somewhere along the way the various Successors decided to leave Rhodes alone

Thoroughly impressed by the general (absence of!) trend in this thread
I've got a Grey Death on my hands but most seem to have different colours of Death

[L.C.Cinna]

here's my campaign with Pontos 220BCE:

[Hax]

Looks awesome! It seems like the AS will be crushed between the Blue Death and yourself

==========================

I started a new Epeiros campaign about two days ago, because I had to re-install EB, sadly.



As you can see I've massacred the Makedonians and the Hellenes. They are now gone from the world. The last settlement that Makedonia had was Korinthe, in which they had a full stack including their faction leader, faction heir, and the rest of their family members. Next turn, Koinon Hellenon tries to invade Korinthe, but I strike back and take Sparte: End of KH.

I took Chalkis, bribed my way into Thermon (paid only 30 k O_o), and finally, led an assault on the ex-Makedonian stronghold of Mytilene. Now I had a foothold in Asia Minor.

I tried to re-take Taras, and succeeded, and I even controlled Rhegion and Arpi for some time, but the Romans struck back fierce, and re-took all three settlements.

Not too long afterwards, one of my younger family members completed his training in the Spartan Agoge. He took an army towards Byzantion, and that city fell beneath the Epeirote Kingdom as well.

Around 250 BC, I invaded the kingdom of Pontus, taking the city of Nikaia, and killing their faction leader at the same time. I was hoping I could avoid war with the Arche Seleukeia until Pontos was destroyed, but alas, a Seleukid army from Sardis marched towards the gates of Pergamon (which I had taken about 5 years before) and laid siege to the city.

Around that time, the Pontic warleader took the Galatian city of Ankyra. For myself, I raised an army in Demetrias, and set sail towards Sardis and Halikarnassos. I took both cities within the fall of the next year, and finally news arrived from Ambrakia. They had finished the Elite Epeirote Barracks.

Quickly I raised a new army, for my spies had told me that there was a huge Pontic army near the borders of Sardis. Along with a new member of the Epeirote family, Bios Aiakides, I took Chainion Agema, the elite Epeirote Phalangites, and Indikoi Elephantes, the terrifying beasts of the far Indus. [I found out you SHOULDN'T EVER try to use those things against Thureoporoi]

Near the city of Ankyra, a great battle was fought. The elite Molosson Agema flanked the Pontic phalanxes, and before long, their army routed, marking the beginning of the end for the Pontic Empire.

After that crushing defeat, I could quickly take Ankyra, and my spies had infiltrated the city of Sinope, leading to a rebellion against their former masters.

The way to the last standing city of the empire that Mithridates I Ktistes forged, lay open. With some units of my elite phalangites, the Elephantoi, and the Molosson Agema, I could take this city as well, for the glory of the Epeirote Kingdom!

And that's where I am now.

[Anarzius]

...

[L.C.Cinna]

Looks awesome! It seems like the AS will be crushed between the Blue Death and yourself

Well I decided to stop attacking the Grey guys for a while because the Ptolies are quite annoying at the moment. They sent spies and diplomats everywhere to cause unrest (my assassins don't get a day of rest for years now) and they have quite strong armies (i was really surprised). They recruited quite good troops so the battles are quite interesting (if they would use more cavalry it would be even better ;) ).


Some things surprised me: Armenia loves me! They are my allies since the beginning and haven't attacked me once. When the Grey Death besieged Ani-Khama (which had nearly no garrison) and all my armies were in the west they came down with a full stack and chased the Seleucids back to Edessa lol. they spent the last 10 years fighting Sauromatae armies which wanted to invade my territory ;)

My only problem is that I think my king likes men too much...

You know it all started when my old king died and his 18 year old heir became king. I had only one army at that time and I had this other 17 year old general who looked quite promising so I placed them in one army together and thought "some roleplaying would be nice". So, I thought they are both same age, serve together, surely they would be friends and as the king has no heirs yet he would make his best friend (and my favourite general) his heir until he gets a son....

to make a long story short, now each one of them has their own army but non has children and they are well over 40 now and I gave them doctors and fertility people but to no avail. Now I think this whole thing went a bit too far... i thought they were friends but not THAT close! I wouldn't care about their private life if it were 2 ordinary generals but my royal line is about to die out!

[Hax]

Haha! That's pretty awesome :D

You could make an AAR of it

"I won't let go, Mithridates! I love you!"

Heh, brilliant.