My faction the Licinii are doing well. Surena actually besieged Antioch. Few of his men returned. I did have one early disaster when an army under one Petronius was annihilated. Otherwise I am doing well. Egypt is reduced to Siwa - those Ptolemaic legionaries look a bit odd as they are post Marian reform, and perhaps a little overpowered. The Roman desert mercenaries are good, though. Essentially my problem is that the other Roman factions are very powerful, more so than I am. The Pompeians are the largest and the most popular with the people and loathed by the Senate. Yet although vanilla 1.5 can have ai initiated civil wars, this might not happen here. The Parthians have lost Seleucia, Susa and Parsagadae as lost Hatra very early in the game. They are my allies now - very amusing. I am at war with Armenia mainly on the basis of senatorial orders. Pontus was destroyed mainly by Armenia, with the Pompeians and Licinii playing a lesser role. (I notice that the Senate has several cities at the start. During my own efforts at mapping I noticed that the Senate with several cities can start to conquer and no faction will besiege their cities, though this has not happened here). Once I have taken Siwa, I think I will land two armies of legionaries in Greece with two more to support what I have in Italy. i have enough forces to absorb the Pompeian territory in Asia Minor. I will post a screenshot of my situation. I am uncertain how to proceed.