Parthia(Pahlava)!!Help

[Charging_Knight]

Can someone help me with Pahlava, maybe a Step-by-Step guide to first 30 moves or so?Its so hard to get any money and the distances to anywhere are so great it takes forever to get diplomatic action done..Also Parthian troops are so light how do they ever handle sieges and such?Only way is to force a battle but by the Seleucids muster a vast army and attack me with phalanxes who dont succumb to arrows that easily, especially the pezhetairoi and klerouchoi?Hellppp!!

[Savage_Swede]

Well i find that any open battle against Seleukids is a walk in the park. All you need is horse-archers. I have one army composed of about 10 units of horse archers and only one single infantry unit. I only keep the infantry so i can batter down gates and walls in sieges. Most of the Seleukid towns nearby keeps a very light garrison, and all you need to do is batter down the gates, move the archers close to the wall and then rain hell. And if the enemy is reluctant to move out of the town centre, i just send the infanty unit in as bait and the enemies that try to engage them are turned into porcupines.

As for the income, it's pretty much always like that unless you play the big players. My income can rocket down to -60,000 in a handful of turns. I always take what troops i have and grab all territory i can find nearby until i get some cash rolling in, then i start building my economy and infrastructure. But i almost always cheat my way out of debt by using the console code, since i see no fun in waiting 50 years until my huge debt is payed of.
I don't cheat once the game gets rolling of course

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

A tactic that I found works (back in 08x) was to take Asaak, Antiocheia-Margaine, Hekatompylos, and Zadrakata really quickly. If you strike first, you'll get to keep all of the allies you share with AS, like Baktria. Then once you have those towns focus on building up your economy and defending your town. Use the Persian Archers, as they are cheap and have the range advantage. Don't take Alexandreia-Ariana until you are ready to go to war with Baktria, as they really like attacking this town. Once you have a strong economy build horse archer armies and continue against AS or betray Baktria.

[Charging_Knight]

The problem with the horse archer thingie is the map seems to churn out forested maps where my horse archers are restricted...Also the terrain is mountainous and this eases it up for the phalanxes to trap me...I am on VH/M...I wanted to see if Parthia can ever become powerful like in history and threaten the Seleucids...AI parthia just goes up north to some pathetic settlements north and leaves the Seleucids alone ..and eventually Bactria gobbles Parthia up

[Schwertmeister]

But i almost always cheat my way out of debt by using the console code, since i see no fun in waiting 50 years until my huge debt is payed of.

play without honour you do...

[Savage_Swede]

play without honour you do...

I play this mod to have fun, and waiting 200 turns until my economy is in the positive isn't my idea of fun. Especially since loading turns take as long as they do.

[gaius valerius]

when playing pahlava you need to immediately expand (or decommission your army...). either way the seleucids are the main option since they are blocking most of your exits to the west and east. i was lucky once, cuz alexandria-margiane revolted so i could capture it without having problems with my seleucid allies who didn't do much to regain it. i think margiane is one of the best starting positions for an expansion; its far enough from seleucid territory but close enough to baktrian turf. so i mostly pick either on the seleucids or baktrians. both have consequences.

if you go for the seleucids first you'll be in a long war with them right away. good thing is they dont have elite armies in the beginning so your horse archers can still do. and after a few decisive victories you'll most likely have a bit more rest since they cant reinforce themselves that fast in the beginning of the game.

if you opt to go for baktria (with or without margiane) you'll have to deal with the baktrian armies and possibly the saka as well when you march up further north. but all by all, when conquering their towns you have a pretty safe haven located in the mountains. one downside is the distance between your new provinces and the old capital (where you main recruiment lies). off course fairytales dont last forever and soon your cosy mountain nests will find themselves overrun with nasty seleucid phalanxes trying to restore the empire of seleukos I. at that point you dont need to worry when you got some native phalanxes... if you dont... well... your screwed

major thing with both options is the economy. once you conquer a few towns it'll do and you'll earn enough to expand your towns. but the problem is though you earn a fair amount of money, it still just enough to keep up only one army. that mostly places you (and other factions have that issue as well) in the defend-attack dilemma. either you stay and hold of the enemy strikes but then you dont get to expand or you go in their kick their but, conquer the town and find yourself surrounded and outnumbered by their fresh armies only a year later

[cyberVIP]

salute!
For pahlava HAs + FM(couple) with `nomadic nature` trait is the cure for initial stages of expanding. No foot units in stacks on move! Just recruit mercenary for rams when besieging and garrisoning.
Build watchtowers on borders and peak points and use spyes as early warning sites. When bad boys are coming strike first. Use hit&run tactics everywhere. Retreat when no arrows but enemy are strong. Repeat.

[arthuros]

Exactly, infantry just slow you, and you have to be mobile. For Pahlava mobility is everything. So use merceneries, or eventually one unit folowing your main army, to join them for sieges.
Your horsearchers can easily outmanuever phalanxes, try to spread formation as much as possible, attack them from wings (or even behind!), wear them down and dont charge as long as you have arrows (maybe even then is sometimes better to retreat if they are still to strong to be annihilated at once, but usually you can destroy most of their armies with no significant losses). Use your inital forces as long as possible and invest money in cities development (if you have any money )