@IsaacCAT I hope you keep playing and post a few AAR here! Imo Atropatene looks like a challenging but interesting faction to play with 2.0.
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I am trying to prove @Rabid strategy for Antropatene. I think is the best and only one, as you want to increase your levies to wage war and that is only possible if you integrate cultures with a lot of POPs while expanding. In this case, the Armenian Culture is the best candidate as they have cities already built with a lot of POPs and a good level of civilization, contrary to the Albanians, the other candidate culture.@IsaacCAT I hope you keep playing and post a few AAR here! Imo Atropatene looks like a challenging but interesting faction to play with 2.0.
I have 56 levies now, how strong were you the first time you attacked the Seleukids?In my current Armenia run I decided to go with a legion/mercenary combo and it's pretty effective. My mercenary armies are mainly used for sieging while I went for a highly mobile light/heavy cavalry and horse archer legion whose only goal is to kill as many armies as quickly as possible and occasionally cap provinical capitals that don't have forts. It would probably be even more effective if I had forced march but even without it I have been beating the Seleucids one on one. In my last war with the Seleucids they attacked me and I got like +40 warscore from winning battles alone.
You could grant rights but not fully integrate some of the cultures to make them more happyThis got me interested in trying this run as well, I never thought of trying them before. I think for now Rome campaigns can wait for the future because these runs are actually so much more fun in the game. This run is on normal difficulty, I'll try it on hard maybe again.
So I tried what you guys did, immediately integrated the Cadusian culture and used all my inital innovation points on slave output and techs that grant extra pops. By 455 I had 26 cohorts in media and 2 each from albania and armenia and put a 7 martial governor in both, my king was 7 martial too. I spent no money but due to slaves and and tax I was making 8+ gold a month and had saved up a 500 gold warchest.
I allied Armenia who had a lovely 24.000 stack levy so altogether we had 39,000 troops between us and I hired a 4,000 merc army with a 9 martial and another 3,500 stack with a 12 martial general.
By 455 the Seleucids had been fighting the Antigonids for 3+ years and were beating them all the way back to Phrgia and I guessed now was as good a time as ever.
46,500 men ready to invade Media Felix in the heart of Median land in the Seleucid Empire, went straight for the head.
I really micromanaged the war, split the armies out, reduced attrition to an absolute minimum, sent the 2k stacks far into enemy territory and sieged capital provinces as the seleucids don't build enough forts. The Bactrians turned up with a 25k stack after I sieged all Media and into Persis, I kind of panicked at that point as I has spread my armies out too much, and I thought due to mountain passes they had actually cut my armies apart, but they chased the 2k stack around and I was able to combine my armies again. I didn't engage at all so I didn't fight one evenly matched battle, just picked off small stacks where I could find them and used my 2k stack to resiege everything the Bactrian stack sieged. Eventually the seleucids arrived but my warscore was 45 so I peaced out asap and took 3 provinces all median pops and formed Media.
I spent 460-485 on the build up Media tree to maximise my economy and let the AE go down, and helped Armenia beat Albania but they decided to cancel the alliance (even though opinion was +100). All military traditions gone into Persian Rural to get those crazy good cav bonuses as I have plenty of heavy cav, light cav and horse archers. I have a lot of slaves and they're really driving down happiness and I've integrated Persian and Cadussian. The seleucids got into another war in 485 when the Parnian nomads got the special event and killed Antiochus. I allowed as many seleucid armies to pass the Persian mountains towards Sogdia before I unleashed another storm, this time with 66 cohorts and no allies but enough money to hire a 11,000 + 4,000 + 3,500 merc army. So about 50,000 men again. By 495 I was able to get a 100 warscore cost victory on bellicose stance; made sure to take Babylon as I want their main levy gone.
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My pops are really unhappy now though due to AE and stab is falling quick, so we'll see how long this lasts, I've dumped all my PI into pig stabbing and I'm gonna change governor policies where I can, I may also revoke some culture rights;
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My economy is very decent though so I may just build forums/ mills everywhere I can as well as make sure all capital bonuses are for happiness only. The Parnians aren't really using that CB as well as they could be, but at least the Seleucids are now cut down the middle and those 2 are scrapping while I try to get back on track
sent the 2k stacks far into enemy territory and sieged capital provinces as the seleucids don't build enough forts.
With the vast Seleukid empire I see this as crucial for your success. Congratulations! In Hard campaing it is almost impossible to see rebellions/civil wars.but they chased the 2k stack around
Which is kinda ironic considering it was mainly rebellions and civil wars with a bit of Rome mixed in that brought down the Seleucids.In Hard campaing it is almost impossible to see rebellions/civil wars.
Difficulty level does not mean historical accuracy. I do not mind buffing the AI with the difficulty level.Which is kinda ironic considering it was mainly rebellions and civil wars with a bit of Rome mixed in that brought down the Seleucids.
Change normal difficulty to easy and very easy and I agree! I would like to keep a game mode, where the AI is a challenge, but without major overall buffs. I know the province loyalty buff and the antigonist buff are already strong, but imo they fullfill currently a good purpose and are not as much as the buffs on higher difficulties.Difficulty level does not mean historical accuracy. I do not mind buffing the AI with the difficulty level.
However, in normal difficulty I would like to see empires implode. Quick to raise, easy to implode. That is the Alexander true legacy on empire building.
Out of curiosity is putting innovation points into slave output worth the points over putting them into trade/commerce? In every run at the very least 80% of my income is from trade/commerce and only a small part of it is from taxes.So I tried what you guys did, immediately integrated the Cadusian culture and used all my inital innovation points on slave output and techs that grant extra pops. By 455 I had 26 cohorts in media and 2 each from albania and armenia and put a 7 martial governor in both, my king was 7 martial too. I spent no money but due to slaves and and tax I was making 8+ gold a month and had saved up a 500 gold warchest.
Out of curiosity is putting innovation points into slave output worth the points over putting them into trade/commerce? In every run at the very least 80% of my income is from trade/commerce and only a small part of it is from taxes.
Your strategy is spot on, I have tried it while the Seleukids where having a revolt and being attacked by Zanthia and it has been a bloodshed:@IsaacCAT
Yeah I might have gotten lucky because I think in hard difficulty I wouldn't have had the opportunites to take advantage of the civil wars the Parthians had and the Seleucid legion might have gotten the better of my levies on a few occassions! I'm going to finish this run as it's good fun but when it's over I'm going to see if everything I did here work well on hard difficulty. It's a good campaign though, really fun