They are a fun faction to play as alright.

I left a disastrous Pontos campaign to try out the Hayasdan instead. I thought their starting position and terrain looked much stronger. I wasn't prepared for their extreme poverty though. After taking three cities I was still very short on cash and was barely breaking even with a stack one third strong being my only real offensive force. That's when the AS started attacking my territory.

I decided to go on the offensive and bet it all on one strong hand. I allied with the Ptolemies, then got myself some Scythian riders, and cut deep into the heart of the Seleukid kingdom. I took Karthakiokerta, Mazaka and then swept south and seized Anthioceia and Edessa with a little assistance from the Ptolemies who distracted the main AS stack. I moved fast and took Babylon, Seleukeia and then Charax. Now the AS are barely sending anything at me. They almost seem frightened of my four units of Scythian riders with two or three silver chevrons guarding the eastern border along with my faction leader.

Since these horsemen was accompanied by my only mobile infantry force, Pontos decided to attack from the north in 251 BC where my cities were garrisoned weakly. I had zero to spare since I directed every penny to the southern campaign. Now it's just a question of redirecting the war effort to the north...

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Which one has worse economy, Hayasdan or Pontos?

And which one has a better defensive postion? A better position for expansion?

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I´d say Pontos has a better economy, with easy access to relatively rich regions. Hayasdan always starts very poor, as all nearby regions are basically mountain ones with at most a port or some mines.
Otherwise, I´ve found Hayasdan has a easier defensive position, though by no means easy. With both factions the Ptolies will often take Antiocheia, Damaskos, Palmyra and Edessa within the first 20 years, and if that happens then you are really in a positoin to strike at the Sele´s.
In my Hayasdan campaign the Ptolies had even taken Sardis, Ipsos and Babylon after 20 years, so I could just steam-roll over undergarrisoned Seleukid city´s.
Then when you´ve taken out as much of the Sele´s you like, send a big army by ship to take Alexandria and Memphis, and then hold them against counter-attacks while expending against weak city´s. If you time this with a attack in Syria or where ever your border against the Ptolies is, you´ll almost certainly win.

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Hayasdan may be poor, but it is not that bad.

The trick is to safe money --> build army. It does not have to be big, it just needs to be good enough for one mission. Pick FM and conquer a city. Then disband 90% of that army (you can keep highly depleted units, as retraining may be less expensive in the long run). Rinse and repeat.

Caucasian Spearmen and Caucasian Archers are extremely useful, despite their low costs. The Caucasus can be conquered without too much cavalry.

This works extremely well for the Eleutheroi Caucasian cities. My preferred order is Ani-Kamah, Trapezous / Kotais, Mtshketa, Kabalaka, Phraaspa.

Despite your economy being poor, in the first few years you simply don't need much garrisons. Building a port in Kotais and getting some traderights with Pontus, and the Western Hellenic factions also improves the situation a lot. Build roads. Build markets, and build basic farms. Armavir is a bit special as it needs population boosts as well.

By the time you have taken Phraaspa, you are guaranteed to run into some Seleukid aggression. By that time your economy should be on track. Use your spy network to get an early warning when they are invading. Build up defences in that city (90% of the time it will Armavir anyway), and move the second army from Phraaspa to Ekbatana. Once you conquer and enslave Ekbatana, your cities with FMs will get nice population boosts.

And another big defensive bonus for the Hai is that cities are further apart than in Asia Minor. Use your spies and watchtowers. I think Hayasdan are overall the easier faction.

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Spies are essential, even more so when playing as a weaker faction with cities spread wide apart as the Hayasdan. For instance, I didn't have time to respond to the new threat posed by Pontos in the north until they had taken Ani-Kamah from me. By that time I had diverted an army intended to swing east-south into AS territory to instead retake Ani-Kamah and lay siege to the heavily guarded pontic capital.

I'm a bit disappointed by the lack of serious cash flow from settlements along the Tigris river such as Babylon, Seleukeia, Chartax and one other I can't remember the name of. I was counting on being able to field two, or at least one and a half stacks worth of forces after taking those cities along with Anthioceia, Edessa, Mazaka and Karkathiokerta. As it is, I am barely able to maintain my southern stack containing four Scythian riders and two Babylonian spearmen (south), plus my northern force which has four horse archers, two foot archers and four light infantry. I need mines, but man they are expensive!

Can anyone advise me on how to make my economy prosper?

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How is your infrastructure? Especially economical, and to a more limited extent population growth-wise. Ports wherever you can build them are essential. Also make certain you get as many trade rights' agreements as possible. I think the value of an agreement doubles if you are allies with the trading city, but I could be wrong there.

Use cities like Seleukeia and Ekbatana to give management courses to your younger family members. Better management equals more money in the treasury. Retinue can seriously knock a dent in construction costs. In case you spot a FM with -40% to building costs, you may want to move them to Karkathiokherta and into the Caucasus. Because building mines becomes a lot cheaper then.

Perhaps it may be time to move the capital, to lower over all corruption. Have you gotten the Caucasian reforms, and have you built lv1 and lv2 governments where possible? These do unlock extra building options.

As you already have an extensive spy network, you should be able to disband some garrison units in the heart of your young empire. Once you retake Ani-Kamah, Armavir should be protected in its entirity by your own cities (assuming you have Phraaspa). Something similar may hold for Trapezous once you take Amaseia and Sinope.

Try to expand in such a way, that not every province you take shares a border with a hostile faction (or one that is likely to become hostile). That way you have to spend less money on garrisons.

If spies are mainly used in your own territory send one of your FMs to construct watch towers. They are quite cheap, and will save money in the long run.

Raise taxes as much as possible.

With regards to your northern stack what are you using it for? Sarmatian lands don't have much to offer, and instead you could limit yourself at smallish garrisons in Kotais, Mtshketa and Kabalaka. That way they also provide much needed public order bonuses. Thus allowing you to raise taxes a bit.

I assume you won't forget to tear down MICs of other factions. These can bring in a fair amount of money. Depending on the population numbers you need to make decisions about conquered settlements. If you can't absorb large numbers anymore, putting a large number of people to the sword may be quite effective. Else, enslavement will be more profitable.

That should allow you to make a smallish profit of about 5000 per turn. Which is not much, but if you spend the money wisely on economic infrastructure it will get your economy back on track slowly, but surely.

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Thanks for the advice d'Arthez, although I've thought of all the things you mentioned, except for maybe the "schooling" family members bit. The micromanagement may be worth it, but I'm quite short on family members as it is, and the ones I do have are fighting Pontos or are already decent governors in their respective cities. I'll be sure to look into it though to see who may be suitable for schooling. My newly acquired settlements in the south are all governed by client rulers except for the ones closer to home.

Regarding my northern army, I used it to retake Ani-Kamah and right now it's in the process of wiping out Pontos off the map permanently. The Seleukids are very quiet so I've given myself this luxury while only maintaining a small horse archer force (Faction leader + 3 highly experienced Scythian riders) in the southeast guarding against any incursions into Mesopotamia or Karthiokerta.

I never got the chance to take Phraaspa or Kabalaka, the AS attacked so I had to go on the defensive whilst in the middle of expanding my territory. Those two settlements, with satrap governments completed, are the only ones I need to complete the Pan-caucasus reforms. I will go for them as soon as I've finished off Pontos. My capital is Karthiokerta, I switched as soon as I expanded southward along the Tigris river. I have a level 1 government in Karthiokerta and Armavir. The other Homeland provinces are level 2 for now. I generally have minimal garrisons were possible and my only real field army is fighting Pontos successfully.

And yes, I do tear down MICs that I can't use as well as granaries and sometimes healers to avoid population booms in newly acquired provinces.

Good tip on checking for FMs with -40% construction costs though, I'll be sure to look out for that one!

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