Quote Originally Posted by Brave Brave Sir Robin View Post
I have never played the Ptolemioi and it wouldn't surprise me if many others have not as well considering they always seem to dominate the AS in my experience and well, they are comparatively easy to play. However, I can say this about their troops from fighting them in campaign but also from multiplayer experiences. Recruitment is a little more difficult for them since they use Machimoi Phalangites as their levy and these are only available in Egypt, not sure about the Levant. Otherwise their armies are similar to AS with three exceptions: far different auxiliaries based on their starting regions, lack of superheavy cavalry, and different elites. The Basilikon Agema I actually prefer to the typical Hellenistic elites because they have an AP secondary attack but you will regret the fact that they are only retrainable in Egypt. Those missions to Macedonia and Babylon won't be nearly as fruitful unit-wise for the Ptollies as they might for other Hellenic factions. You will also lean heavily on Galatikoi Klerouchoi for good reason. They are one of the best heavy infantry units in the game; basically Neitos on steroids. Ptollie cavalry is good but not as good as AS. Comparative to Makedonia and Epeiros I would say as their Agema cavalry is relatively useful but again limited recruitment-wise. This being said, Ptollies can get decent auxiliaries like Iudioi, Machimoi, and Ethiopian Archers. Just don't expect the dominant auxiliaries that the AS gets access to such as Dahae horse archers or Guild Warriors.
With all due respect to Sir Robin I think you should be careful in taking the advice of someone who freely admits he has never actually played the Ptolomaioi. I have played them a number of times and I feel that they are certainly worth considering. However, before looking at the strategic aspects, Sir Robin makes some good points about Ptolomaioi units and I would like to add my halfpenny worth to that first.

The Ptolomaioi are of course Diadochi and therefore their unit list has all the usual suspects of Hellenic troops plus Makadonian style phalangists but there are some interesting variations, and not just in elites. So that you get Red Sea Hoplites as well as Galatian Heavy Swordsmen and Native Egyptian Cavalry, which are pretty good. The Machimoi Phalangites and the Ptolomaic Elite Phalanxes can indeed only be recruited in Egypt, but so what? Isn't that realistic? When playing any of the Diadochi the core of my "everyday" armies are largely Klerouchoi Phalangitai and Thorakitai anyway and the Ptolomaioi can recruit these as widely as anyone else. As regards heavy cavalry you do get Ptolomaic Heavy Cavalry which although not quite as good as Lonchophoroi Hippies are pretty good and do look cool. The Ptolomaic Royal Guard are an excellent Hoplite like unit. Finally, access to Ethiopia and Arabia allows for some very interesting and useful auxiliaries plus elephants.

Strategically the Ptolomaioi are quite well placed. They have a rich and secure base in the Nile Valley and a number of rebel settlements close by ripe for conquest. However, war with the AS is almost inevitable (almost, but see below!) and Side and Tarsos are dead meat as a result. Carthage will fall out with you over Kyrene at some point too. The war with the AS can be fun and is certainly demanding, depending on the level you play on. Capturing Antiocheia early is a given I believe and the real problem then becomes the inability to end the war (without Forced Diplomacy) anywhere short of complete conquest of the AS. In most of my campaigns I have ended up being drawn further and further into the AS and not necessarily in directions I would have chosen to go. Fighting the same types of troops over and over again can get a bit tedious too.

In my latest campaign I decided to have a change. I retrenched at the outset (aka retreated!), allowing Side and Tarsos to go and gave both Sidon and Hierosolyma to Carthage, which they eventually accepted. Result - no border with the AS, and peace! I then concentrated on expanding to the south, the rebel elephants in Ethiopia were great fun to fight, Akontistai proving to be useful after all! Then I invaded Arabia, in the process finding out you cannot build ships in any of your Red Sea ports but the Nile Canal allows ships to move down from the Med. Its now 229BC, I am finally at war with Carthage and on my way to take Lepki, and still at peace with the AS. My plan is to conquer Arabia and then sail to India eventually taking on the AS through Persia. I am fighting a lot of different troop types and also getting access to new auxiliaries. As a Diadochi its good to be fighting Carthage for a change and I am also looking forward to India as I had great fun there in a previous Baktria campaign.

My advice would be to give the Ptolomaioi a go, they have everything a Diadochi has to offer plus some interesting variations in units and geography and some different enemies.