What a Pahlava!

[BrotherSurplice]

Hello BrotherSurplice, welcome to EB and to the .Org .

Hello Ludens

Having never played Phalava, I can't help with the pastoralism questions, but a few general suggestions:

1) Diplomacy in R:TW is broken, so the player faction is pretty much on its own. Diplomatic relationships automatically deteriorate when no positive interaction takes place, so the A.I. will start to hate you even when you do nothing. This can be counteracted by a regular, token tribute of 100 mnai, but that still won't protect you from opportunistic attacks or overrule other negative effects. If an A.I. faction has to chose between the player and another A.I. faction, it will almost always side against you, even when that makes no sense (attacking the Seleucids will frequently cause other factions make peace with them within a turn or so).

So as to whether it's worth it to keep Bactria alive: they will betray at some point. However, attacking them will piss off the Saka, and likely reduce your "trustworthiness" rating with other factions, so I'd say it isn't worth the trouble. Just be ready to scramble a defence force against their inevitable betrayal.

I was afraid that that may be the case. I may have to back-stab the Baktrians soon though, as they've begun expanding into India.

2) Economy: in EB, the best income sources are mines. Upgrading them is expensive, but well worth it. Second place goes to sea trade. However, that requires provinces with large natural ports (there is an artificial port upgrade, but that's far too expensive to bother with) and trade resources, and I am not sure if the Parthians have these nearby. It will be worth it once you reach the Mediterranean, though.

I'll have to save up for some mines then. That will take a while though, and will stop me expanding my armies that are spread worryingly thin. It will be a while before I get to the Med. How lucrative is Indian Ocean trade? As an aside though, it seems that every region in the game has a ton of trade goods of some variation.

3) Phalanxes are armoured, and have a far larger shield bonus than their small shield would suggest. Missile attacks from the front and left don't harm them: shoot them in the right flank or from behind. Getting axemen into their flanks also helps, as axes are armour-piercing. Other than that, there isn't a great deal you can do. There's a reason phalanxes were so successful, historically.

I was afraid that that may be the case as well, though I've installed a sub-mod that tweaks Phalanxes a little, making them slightly less armoured but with a bit more push, so that should alleviate the issue somewhat. I didn't know that shooting them in the left is ineffective, thanks for the tip.