Colchis Tips

**MadFrancis** · January 11, 2015, 12:03 AM

I can't seem to get a Colchis game off the ground. They are always unhappy and usually starving. I have no idea how to get happiness into the positive. The only negatives I have are the starting cultural, taxes and faction penalties which put me into the red. Not only that but it takes too long to research and then build any buildings or units to do anything about it.

Any tips?

**Dresden** · January 11, 2015, 01:47 AM

Colchis and Tylis are God-forsaken wastelands in DeI. We never planned to make them playable

Perhaps one day they will be made whole.

**jazebiker** · January 11, 2015, 01:36 PM

Colchis is hard as hell. Tried probably 5 times. Never managed past turn 35. I think you'd more-or-less have to abandon your home province. Maybe try recruiting 1/2 stack and then moving to greener pastures before someone comes along and takes away your food.

You could take that 1/2 stack, recruit a few mercenaries for the first battle, and try to grab a walled settlement. At least that's the theory. I've never been able to get that to work, either. Usually at war with 3-4 factions within the first 10 turns, and pretty much FUBAR by turn 15.

**Grizwald714** · January 11, 2015, 09:54 PM

I hope one day you guys work on Colchis since they have a pretty cool roster with axemen and hoplites.

**ablebodie** · January 12, 2015, 11:48 AM

As Arche Bosporus, my first move is to take out Colchis. You might be able to do the reverse with some success - the AI starts out across the water from Phasis, so you may be able to hit that city before they can react.

Alternatively, Trapezos > Amaesia > Samosata (assuming Pontus already took it from the Cappadocians)

**ablebodie** · January 12, 2015, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by ablebodie

across the water from Phasis

Meant to say Phanagoria, not Phasis.

**OldStyle** · August 21, 2015, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by ablebodie

Meant to say Phanagoria, not Phasis.

Yep that is the only way.. draw them away from Panctipaeum and by capturing panagoria and tanais then strike Pancti and protect it with your life... Bosphorus is a perfect place to start out a new kingdom... with loser factions all around you you can get a good start.. but forget the home province.. Caucasus is probably one of the most difficult Regions to capture and defend.. you usually have very few allies and tons of ambitious enemies.

**Miria** · August 23, 2015, 09:23 AM

Well, i've had 2 successful Colchis campaigns so far. I haven't actually finished them but i've got 2 campaigns i managed to get going well, first one was better than the 2nd but both times i did roughly the same thing with a bit of luck with the AIs moves. Instead of going after Cimmera/Arche Bosporous, try and get a NAP with them, they wont accept trade but MAY accept a NAP. AB has treaties with Siraces and since you do too, they will approve. They will also approve of the default actions Colchis committed against Pontus so this nets some bonus points with AB. Basically, get a NAP with them and let them go to war with Pontus and keep them busy. With any luck Pontus wont even go to war with you and instead just focus on Cappadocia below them and AB above them. If this happens your target will be Trapesoz and Hayasdan. Chances are one or both of them will declare war on you before you're even ready to attack. Take out Trapesoz ASAP and then get ready for Hayasdan armies to start advancing. Both times for me it was a back and forth war with Hayasdan, i lost Phasis a couple of times while i was trying to defend Trapesoz and attack Armosata but after a while i eventually beat all their armies until they had to raise a new one. By this stage i had 2 full stacks (barely any income though) and then one by one took all 3 Armenian settlements. Media Atrapatene was also at war with me as they joined their buddy but once Hayasdan was out of the picture Media was quickly eliminated.

With Trapesoz, Hayasdan and Media eliminated that gave me 6 extra settlements to work with, after that i went back and turned on Kartli and took their settlement then took out Ardhan after to unite Caucasia for myself. After that Pontus was next who was already weakened by their war with AB across the sea. Took out Pontus and then Bithnyia and attacked Galatia and then joined another factions war against Sardes so i didn't have to fight the Seleucids.

Basically from my experience the best way to go is to fight Trapesoz+Hayasdan(maybe Media if they join in) because if you can take the Armenian province then the rest should be easy enough as you will have a whole province to work with plus Armenia is a good province as it has some natural barriers. No guarantee that Pontus wont declare war on you but if they don't then you only have to worry about those two and with any luck you can have Arche Bosporus as an ally or at least as a friendly neighbour.

**OldStyle** · August 24, 2015, 06:25 PM

Trapezos > Hayasdan was my original tactics as well but that is the one that backfired on me 2 times and I ended up really pissed off.

That plan can eventually succeed if you manage to have stable relationship with both Hellenic and Eastern empires for a while.

For example once I took out Trapezos >> Armenia declared war on me... after some excellent effort I managed to beat them but by then media had joined the war. I took one of their provinces but then suddenly Persia declared war on me.. at that point I couldn't see the map so I didn't know who was the power in the east but after they declared war and I uncovered the diplomatic relations it turned out that whole east was their satrapy, even though Pontus and Selucids liked me they wouldn't help me ... this resulted into onslaught of unending Stacks from zeus knows who, I won about a dozen crazy underdog battles but eventually I ran out of funds and armies to withstand the attacks.. The unlucky thing in that campaign was that Media-Armenia had good relations and Media had also been friendly with Persia which meant if Persia won the east I was doomed no matter what.

another time I was more careful but while I was holding off the easterners Aorsi and Cimmeria backstabbed me even though I had NAP with one and +15 relation with another... which left me against 3 enemies from 3 different sides and only 4 armies to protect it... at this point Pontus was destroyed by Galatia so I had no help from anyone.

However yes that is a legit tactic you used and your game might be going slightly differently cause no matter what i did every time I expanded east I got slaughtered(or you are just a better player than me) I think everyone's install works slightly differently.. for example in my friends game Rome and/or Carthage always make huge empires whereas I have never seen either one extend past northeast Africa/Italy.. Which annoys me, I always wanted to face off against Rome or Carthage as empires

but back to colchis I think those are only two ways to go for Colchis, I however prefer The Bosphorus one because you get relatively more peace time to develop and strengthen your kingdom... and your enemies are never that much stronger than you.

I'll post a screenshot of my last game when i log in again.

cheers

**Miria** · August 25, 2015, 10:09 AM

Yeah it's mostly a different campaign every time but i noticed there is still some consistency based on who you play as. I noticed that some factions do really well in some campaigns but do bad in others. For example if i play as someone in the east, 9 times out of 10 the Seleucids get absolutely destroyed usually after getting steamrolled by Ptolemaioi/Egypt, Galatia and/or Hayasdan. However if i play over the other side or even as someone the middle like Rome, when i discover the Seleucids i also discover they steamrolled Egypt instead as well as expanded east destroying any traitor satrapies that the loyal ones hadn't destroyed as well as steamrolling Hayasdan and Media. That being said some campaigns i see Ptolemaioi just sit there and do nothing meanwhile in other campaigns i see them attack and wipe out the Seleucids (or vice versa) or in rare cases i see them go west instead and steamroll Carthage usually with the help of Syracuse and Rome who love warring with Carthage.

As for Colchis, looking at that attachment you're doing better than me! In my best one so far i only own Caucasia, Ponto-Caspia, Bosporus, Armenia, 2/3 in Media, Bithnya/Pontus, Galatia/Cappadocia and Asia minor. In my current one only Caucasia, Armenia, 2/3 in Media, Ponto-Caspia, part of Galatia/Cappadocia, Bithnyia/Pontus and part of Asia minor. The Seleucids own the rest of that general area.

It's half skill half luck though, as i said if you're lucky Pontus and Cimmeria will stay out of it and leave you only having to deal with Traps and Hayasdan, possibly Media. If you're unlucky everyone around you besides Kartli and Siraces will declare war XD
I have to say though i kinda like Colchis, not the best unit roster but they are like underdogs, almost impossible to get a good campaign going but once they do they are fairly decent. I much prefer Cimmeria's start but Colchis is still possible.