Seleucid starting territory

[Mulattothrasher]

Since this is a map issue Dev forum 1 seems appropriate.

Anyway, this another thing I forgot to mention. The Seleucids should not have any possessions in Asia Minor west of the Taurus mountains. Reason being is that Achaeus, Antiochus III's general, had rebelled and was ruling in those areas at the time. Antiochus III was unable to show up in force until sometime in 216 B.C., 1-2 years after RS2 starts.

This will cause the Seleucid player have to consider accurate historical options. Should the Seleucids strike west and recover the lost provinces in Asia Minor? Should they hold steady and built up their current possessions? Expand into the Egypt of Ptolemy IV? Strike east and take on Parthia? :hmmm:

I looked for an account of the situation, and this is the best one I found. Page 5 gets more into Antiochus III's arrival:
http://books.google.com/books?id=cjQ...PA1&dq=achaeus


So if we go by the numbered map, the western most province the Seleucids would begin with would be #135 (in Cilicia)

[Mulattothrasher]

Something else, but I do not know if it'll fly. The Parthians at this time had just returned to Seleucid tributary status, all due to Antiochus III's successful campaign against him. Being so far away is what allowed Achaeus to rule for years without a swift reprisal brought against him.

Not sure if Parthian fans would like starting off as a protectorate though :hmmm:

[rory o'kane]

it'd probably be MORE of an incentive to attack them - throw off the yoke of the Seleukids - d'you get what i mean?

[dvk901]

There is no way to do that that I know of. That's a diplomacy thing, and there's no opinion for it in descr_strat.txt. Besides, are you sure of that? Our investigations seemed to point to Parthia having TAKEN a Seleucid region at this date (217BC), and Antiochus III had just taken Palestine from the Ptolemies.

[Mulattothrasher]

Don't laugh everyone, but you're right Dvk!

Ok, this is where I got mixed up. In 209 B.C. Antiochus III's eastern campaign crossed over into Media and beyond. Afterwards the Parthians were brought to heel.

Obviously, B.C. dates progress by goingbackwards from 209 into 208, 207, etc....not forward into 210, 211, 213, etc... Bad things happen when you forget about that rule in the historic scheme of things

But with Achaeus, that situation is correct however. It wasn't until around 216 B.C. when the last rebel areas were reclaimed.

[rory o'kane]

okay. well then - one large seleucid army for the player to use on the eastern borders, surrounded by - well, militia in the cities? if the parthian player can break that army, then the east of the Seleukid Empire will be theirs for the taking!

[dvk901]

Maybe it's not such a bad thing....less territory for the poor Seleucid player to worry about stretched thinly thru Anatolia.

[MarcusTullius]

Maybe it's not such a bad thing....less territory for the poor Seleucid player to worry about stretched thinly thru Anatolia.

Well, normally players have to reliquish the outlying territories just to keep the main cities functioning properly for the first few turns so it would actually help Selc players.