Initial Situation
One starts with two minor settlements and a total of 6 building slots…two of which are open and available. 2 small armies, 1 small fleet, 1 spy.
Pontus is defensively allied and friendly with Bithynia, and at war with hostile Cappadocia. Nearby Hellenic factions are generally Friendly, the others Neutral or Unfriendly.
One can make peace with Cappadocia; they will be willing to do so. Pontus has to expand somewhere, however, and Cappadocia may as well be the starting point, regardless of what eventual direction the player intends to pursue.
General concepts
1. Prioritize military tech research, then civil tech research to increase income. The objective is to get at least to Level II Holosideros Barracks and Workshop as quickly as possible. This will allow the fielding of a capable multi-faceted army more than a match for any likely opponents in the early-mid game.
2. Actively pursue discovery of new factions and opening trade agreements. Maximizes the value of the Philhellene faction trait; every Greek faction will almost automatically agree to trade without needing a bribe to do so. Even if one initially refuses, just try them again in a couple of turns. Many other factions will readily trade as well.
3. Conquer Cappadocia. Still only minor settlements, but doubles your territory and provides a solid base from which to expand further. Cappadocia is not “tied in” diplomatically with other factions, so taking them out first leaves all options open.
First Ten Turns
With that in mind, what follows is a general “script” for the first ten turns. Trying to plan out move-by-move much further than that becomes increasingly unrealistic in this complex game. Even during the first ten, specific enemy moves or game events can throw a wrench into things. For example, Sinope is very regularly hit by floods during the early game, which sucks up repair money, hinders movement, and impacts public order. Plague attrition of one of your armies is another common occurrence.
Turn 1
1 - Research Organised Supply (first military tech)
2 - Build Muster Field in Amaseia, Consecrated Ground in Sinope.
3 - Convert Level 2 Cattle in Sinope to Level 2 Farm.
4 - Disband 3 of the 4 ships in the fleet (so the fleet is now Admiral + 1 ship)
5 - Sail Fleet directly north in double-time mode to discover Cimmeria faction.
6 - Combine the units of the two armies. Do not use Forced March mode.
7 - Army 1 (the one with the units in it) moves toward the mountain pass toward Mazaca (the one without the road). Do not cross border.
8 - Army 1 recruits 2x Eastern Slingers
9 - Army 2 (the lone general) stays at/near Amaseia.
10 - Replace general in Army 1 with the zero-cost unemployed statesman. Use Bronze Shield Pikemen for his guard.
11 - Spy moves into Cappadocian territory and begins intel (just to get skill-up points…no need to spend tight money on any actions yet). He should find the initial Cappadocian army near Mazaca.
12 - Propose trade agreements with all factions possible (except maybe Galatia).
Dropping the ships is simply to reduce upkeep; the fleet is not going to be used for blockade or combat for quite a while, so no reason to pay for the ships. Admiral+1 is plenty enough for a while. The idea of keeping one ship is just in case the admiral dies far from home, the fleet doesn’t disappear and can keep discovering new factions instead of having to sail a new fleet all the way back out.
The idea behind replacing the generals is to get rid of the Scythed Chariot bodyguard units. Even if you’re a chariot fan, this is a pretty lousy unit for protecting the general. If you like the original generals, there’s room to swap them all back into place over a couple of turns at no cost, but with much better guards. The Bronze Shields are the way to go if building along the concept outlined above. Otherwise, Swordsmen or Noble Blood Cavalry also solid choices.
Turn 2
1 - Fleet moves further north to discover the Catiaroi at Olbia.
2 - Army 1 stays in place near border,recruits 2x more slingers.
3 - Army 2 stays in place.
4 - Spy stays in place conducting Intel until he ranks up.
Turn 3
Your Muster Field and tech research are now complete, and spy has probably ranked up.
1 - Research Mercenaries.
2 - Fleet sails south, toward the strait near Nicomedia. Discover Odrysian Kingdom along the way.
3 - Army 1 recruits 3x Levy Pikemen.
4 - Spy moves as necessary to keep tabs on Cappadocian army (which may try to invade via Galatian territory)
Turn 4
1 - Fleet moves into Aegean Sea, heading toward discovery of Macedon.
2 - Army 1 recruits 3x Levy Pikemen.
3 - Spy keeps moving as necessary…if he doesn’t need to move, continue doing intel for more skill points.
Turn 5
By now, your first army should look like this:
This should be able to deal with anything the Cappadocians or Galatians can throw at you.
1 - Research Advanced Chariots
2 - Fleet discovers Macedon, keeps sailing toward Mediterranean towards Knossos/Rhodos.
3 - Army 1 now enters Cappadocian territory and advances toward Mazaca. This mountain pass doesn’t have a road, so might not get there in 1 turn. Or might have to fight a battle with their field army.
4 - Army 2 (the second general in/near Amaseia) starts building. Recruit 3x Levy Pikemen.
5 - Build Shrine of Poseidon at Sinope.
6 - Spy continues intel or moves as needed. Employment is situational; won’t make any more specific spy action recommendations.
One can also go after Samosata first, it doesn’t matter that much. I tend to prefer going toward Mazaca because that’s where the initial Cappadocian army starts, and I’d rather defeat it earlier rather than later. This army will either remain at/near Mazaca or possibly invade Pontus via Galatian territory. I suppose it could do something else, like attack Sardes or something, but I haven’t seen it do so. If it invades you, you probably won’t see it until it’s in your territory. Which is okay, you don’t really want to risk worsened relations with Galatia by busting their territory. Fighting Galatia and Cappadocia at the same time is a pain…becomes a game of whack-a-mole and makes you go defensive against their combined armies. If the Cappadocian army does invade this early, then it probably hasn’t recruited many units. Rather than go after it with your main army and delay going after Mazaca, you might be able to hire a few mercs into Army 2 and go schwack the invaders. Just don’t forget to immediately disband the mercs afterward so their upkeep doesn’t wreck your economy.
Turn 6
1 - Fleet heads east towards Antioch. From here on, make a broad clockwise circuit along the Mediterranean shore, discovering Egypt, Libya, possibly Nasamones, Carthage, Syracuse, Rome, and the various Adriatic factions. By the time the admiral has gone all the way around the eastern Med, can either continue further west for the Iberian factions, etc, or bring him home, because fleet by then might be useful in the Black Sea for other actions. I won’t continue to make describe any fleet-specific actions.
2 - Army 1 attacks Mazaca (or the Cappadocian army, if situation dictates).
3 - Army 2 recruits 3x Levy Pikes.
By now, the original Cappadocian army should be destroyed.
Turn 7
1 - Army 1 should occupy Mazaca by now, and will probably remain here a few turns for public order. Convert the town building to Hellenic version.
2 - If the Cappadocian army has been destroyed (hopefully this is the case), then Army 2 can now move toward border nearest Samosata. Once there, recruit 3x Slingers.
Turn 8
1 - Advanced Chariots is now complete. Research Workshop.
2 - Upgrade Muster Field to Holosideros Barracks at Amaseia.
3 - Army 1 remains at Mazaca.
4 - Army 2 recruits 2x Hoplites, 1x Hillmen
Turn 9
1 - Army 1 remains at Mazaca.
2 - Army 2 recruits 2x Hillmen, 1x Slinger (obviously the specific order of recruitment over past few turns could be different).
Turn 10
Ok, Army 2 should now look like this:
1 - Army 1 remains at Mazaca. Even if public order is getting better now, it’s going to take another hit soon, and anyway, this location is fine jump-off spot for subsequent moves after Cappadocia is finished.
2 - Army 2 attacks Samosata. 2nd Cappadocian army is forming there now. Combined with garrison, it may be a pretty daunting force. Your army should be able to deal with it, but another viable option is to encircle the town; they’ll often surrender without a fight.
Status after 10 turns:
1. Four settlements. They’re all minor, but territory is doubled.
2. Cappadocia destroyed.
3. Trade agreements with at least 10 factions, for roughly 1000-1200 trade income per turn.
4. Two decently-sized and reasonably capable field armies.
5. Robust enough economy (mainly because of trade) to start building a third army.
Your settlements should look something pretty close to this:
Next Moves
1. Miitary tech has proceeded far enough for now. Start researching civil techs in the philosophy line to improve income. Specifically, beeline to State Banking. These few techs dramatically improve net income, largely through corruption reduction.
2. Go after the Galatian capital at Ancyra next. They should be at war with your ally Bithynia. Ancyra will give you your first walled provincial capital, and you’ll be close to consolidating the Galatia et Cappadocia province.
3. Start building third army. As soon as Holosideros Barracks is completed, you can also replace your Eastern Spearmen and Hillmen with Pontic Swordsmen or more Hoplites. The Holosideros will also enable adding Citizen Cavalry. Once a growth slot opens at Sinope, build a Workshop, which will unlock Ballistae.
4. Once Galatia is defeated, there’s several strategic options:
South. Capture Iconium to unify the Galatia et Cappadocia province. This means, however, that you have to attack Sardes, a Seleucid satrapy. This will get you into a war with the Seleucids and all their other satrapies. This is not necessarily a problem. Just be aware that going after Iconium probably means an expanding war toward the south and eventually taking Cilicia/Syria (which are good provinces, especially Syria). As previously mentioned, even if/when Seleucids are destroyed, their Eastern satrapies are unlikely to make peace because of Pontus’ negative diplomatic trait. You could be fighting toward the southeast for a long time.
East. Trapezos has probably been conquered by now, either by Colchis or Armenia. If not, they’re certainly at war with one or both of these factions. Armenia is a natural enemy, being Eastern. Going to war with them is probably going to improve your relations with the Seleucids, and open the way to make them a long-term ally if you want. If at war with Armenia, the small Eastern factions in Caucasia are natural follow-on enemies as well, and pretty easily beaten once Armenia is gone.
North. Cimmeria is a bit of a wild card. Sometimes they get friendly, sometimes they become a royal pain in the Black Sea. Either way, they seem not to get along very well with a lot of the Greek factions, so making war on them shouldn’t result in a big diplomatic hit. Bosporus is only a 3-settlement province, but all three are ports, so it’s pretty good regardless. Opens the door to Scythia and Ponto-Caspia as well, where Pontus’ anti-barbarian faction trait can come into play.
West. Probably the least attractive of the various options, because this area is filled by friendly trading partners and perhaps allies. Even so, there’s a lot of good provinces in this direction, and you’ll want to go this way eventually. In my opinion, it’s better to expand in one of the other directions first.
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