Pontos Tips

[Noob^^]

Well I have played on and actually decided to attack the AS because they were moving armies towards my borders... I now took two of their towns and have allied with the Ptolies. War is going quite well in Asia minor now^^

[Cyclops]

I have gone the other way with my current h/h pontos camapaign.

In order i took Sinope, Trapezus, Kotais (pause to disband army and refit these cities so they could produce slings and a bit of cav), then Ani-whatsit (south of Trapezus). I was about to disband the army again when I noticed my Armenian friends heading east to take Mtsh-whatsit, you know, kartli province. I shamefully blitzed them, and put them out of the game.

Now i have the east coast of the black sea, from sinope to kartli, and have built all basic mines. The AS have remained neutral the entire time. Usually the trigger to go to war is when they attack Nikeia, but it hasn't happened this time: peace reigns. Maybe the Ptiollies are giving them hell?

Its around 252 BC, and I've just had a very exciting development: a messenger from the Crimea tells me that there's been a barbarian invasion and they need my help: if I "send a general to the forest northeast of the city friendly forces will meet me there": sounds like a trap to me. Gotta love the scripted events though.

Like a sucker I'm marching up a decent general from Kotais and shipping a small stack of slings from the capital, intending to hire mercs/acquire locals once i get there. canm't weait to see where this leads...hopefully not to a war with Sarmatia.

[Horst Nordfink]

I was pleasently suprised in my Pontus game!

[konny]

Pergamon! Go to Pergamon! There are mines right from the start. Do not bother around with Galatians or the Greeks in Sinope. Get all your men together, take Nikaia and then head immediatly south. There is a strong army defending the region, so you'll better use all your starting money to hire some good mercs, for example naked fanatics.

Afterwards, provided there are some men left in your army, go for Byzantion; the forces there are very weak. After that you should disband all not needed men and start saving money to build mines in the other towns. After that start building up your empire.

You should use the next occasion to get Ipsos, Mazaka and Sardis form AS. After that you are basicly the master of Asia Minor. With all the mines build around you can also afford the luxery of a mercenary army. Hire them when needed in large numbers in one turn and disband them afterwards to boost your cities even further.

[Callicles]

Money and over-extension are your biggest enemies as Pontos. I suggest carefully selecting your targets by relying on the settlement details/trade screen. You'll see that your most productive settlements are those around the Black sea. Focus on them. Avoid protracted battles for inland settlements (like Ankyra or Mazaka).

Don't over extend and don't raise an army you don't have the resources to support. As Pontos it is good to have cash on hand in case trouble strikes.

Getting the settlements in the Crimea will help a lot, but bring enough troops to garrison them against revolts. When it looks like they will fall soon, sail two or three units of skirmishers up to help create a proper garrison. You want those cities to have a lot of population, so try to avoid enslaving (and certainly not executing!) the people.

Finally, be weary of the Ptolemies, especially as the Seleukids begin to crumble. It will take them time to get organized, but don't go running off into the former Seleukid empire thinking you'll grab a bigger piece of the pie. That will just aggravate the Egyptians who lost a lot of money and men fighting in Syria. They won't be happy if some snarky Pontic king thinks he can sneak in and snab Antiocheia like its leftovers that fell on the floor.

This is especially true because the Ptolemies will be impressively large with an enormous economy and well trained elite troops. Be careful venturing out of Anatolia. Much better to create a pretty good defensive line against incursions from the East, and then focus on Hellas and Thraikia. Nikaia, Pergamon, and Mytilene are good because taking only really upsets the Makedonians who, generally, aren't doing too well. If you go after Byzantion, you'll get the KH going after you. They are stronger than you might think.

I apologize that this is sorta rambling. Pontos is by far the faction I've played most in EB (In fact, I've played them non-stop for the last year).

[Cyclops]

... As Pontos it is good to have cash on hand in case trouble strikes...

Yeah on reflection you've nailed it here.

Pontos has such a long land border you simply can't maintain enough forces to meet threats, so a war chest is vital, more so than for any other faction.

You have an eastern front in the direction of Armenia: if you wipe them that just opens the door for the Sarmi's Parthians and AS. South is AS, or Ptollies. West is whoever wins out in Hellas.

Fortunately each neighbour aklso has a nasty non-allied rival: the only scripted wars are with KH (over the Black Sea fringe cities) and AS (if/when they attack Nikaea and Byzantion)

[Noob^^]

Thanks for your tipps guys. I will try to do what you are suggesting.

[Sygrod]

Did you read my "Pontos Campain" thread?

I am at 217 BC and have both the Ptollies and the Seleukids on the run. If I were more aggressive, they would have been wiped out by now, but I use a defensive strategy. Of a total of 119 battles so far, I have lost 1, and that was very early. Even the formidable enemy elite phalanxes are chased off the field or wiped out. My frontier in the east is Arbela - Edessa - Damaskos - Sidon. In the West, maks are still holding two cities and form a nice buffer to KH, who have advanced to Byzantion.

If you want to have unbeatable armies, recruit phalanxes as mobile walls on the battlefield; many slingers (your best units by far) and horse archers where you can get them (Ani-Kamah is good). The offesive weapon is the slinger contingent. Get some chevrons and they are deadly. Horse archers are good for hitting enemies in the back and chasing after them. Phalanxes are good for shielding the slingers and leading enemy generals into. Other supporting units come in handy for chasing enemies and assaulting city walls.

[Imperator Invictus]

In my pontic campaign:

-I've started with a rapid anexation of ptolemaic posessions (lightly defended) in Anatolia with the troops of my hellen general

-then, at the same time, with my king and the rest of the army I've besiged greek colonies of Sinope and Trapezous and hold the siege(because I was numericaly inferior)

-I've ended the alliance with Seleucids and kept it with the seccesionists (baktria, parthia)

-the ptolemies asked for peace and I accepted it with their money of course

-then I've unified the remains of the troops from the north and south coasts and start the war with Galatia

-after that I started the war with Pergamon and "pergamean clients" Bithynia and Byzantion

-after the fall of Byzantion I've divided thracia with the getai

-now I'm preparing two opperations, I start to fortify the mountain pases to Syria because I want another rapid anexation of seleucid possesion in Anatolia(and I want to stop a posibile retaliation from the seleucids) and I'm also building a expeditionary corp to be sent to Crimeea

-for the future I will create a "thacian army" to consolidate my power in Balkans and possibly invade epirus or macedonia from the north, a "galatean army" to send in to Syria and Mesopotamia, and a "schyto-hellenic army" to operate first in the Egeean and later in Alexandria
(at the zenit of the PONTC EMPIRE the first army will enter in Rome, the second will enter in Babylon and the third will enter Alexandria)