Heh. It's a fun faction, but like you say, it's damned frustrating. One way of playing it is to just disband your armies from the beginning, work up your economy with your single town, build, build, and build some more. And eventually (I'm talking.. 230 BC) you'll be poised to start expanding readily and consistantly. I tried doing this originally, and though it worked fine from an RP perspective (e.g. not stabbing Galatia in the back, or getting into a worrying conflict with KH), and made a little more historic sense than just invading everybody nilly-willy, it didn't half get boring. So I've packed it up and started again. This time around I've simply gone on to take Byzantion and Nikaia. Alas, I'm still deeply in debt, some ten turns after seizing those towns. It all just adds to the experience, though. I mean, Pontos couldn't realistically have expanded all over the bloody place, could they? It's very much a faction for patience and micro-management.