The Pontic Question

[Perturabo]

Strategy and tactical tips are sound, definitely disbanded cavalry (one unit!) first off and have being using battle tactics advised.

I believe my problem is that I'm on VH/VH, but after so long playing this way I cant go back to Hard/Medium - does the game really 'work better' on these settings or is it just easier? I've lashed the Roman and Carthaginian campaigns out of it on these settings so why not Pontos?

And finally, can you point me to a thread about playing on BI? And is it worth it playing via BI, I mean in terms of AI?

Many many thanks for the tips!

I object to fighting against 'cheats' (AI on Very Hard). Contrary to popular opinion it is not smarter, just has much higher morale etc. I was very when I discovered that one way back. Having heavy infantry defeated by skirmishers in HTH is not my idea of amusement though.
I honestly have no idea of what difference it makes on the strategy map, probably not much against other AI factions.

As for BI, in some ways it is better, however not worth the aggravation of pointless naval invasions by Allies. The Romans will invade the Karthies by sea and that is the main bonus. Unfortunately the majority of the naval action is very, very poorly implemented. As an example Karthadast will regularly land (or march) troops near Capua, stand there for a few years and then march back to Sicily. They declare war, and the next year a ceasfire. Repeat ad infinitum. The Ptolies do the same on Rhodes. If you are unfortunate enough to take some of the more remote islands, particularly Crete, expect to have allies land armies of 1-2 troops and siege you. All in all not worth the frustration.

Trialling Alex.exe at present. The Naval stupidity has been toned down and battlefield AI seems a little better, mostly for skirmisher armies though.
The main bonus is that sometimes the AI will actually retrain its troops in barracks, making AI expansion much slower (the agressive nations have a harder time against other AI factions, particularly at the capitals). The Selucid/Ptolemaic issue is still unbalanced, however this time in favour of the Ptolies. The Selucids seem incapable of defending against them for some reason. No garrisons at all

Edit: There is a section on BI in the unofficial mods forum, sorry, don't have time to look for it at present though.