This game is brutal!

[Strategist]

I decided to conquest with Seleucid using the great force of phalanxes(because it's very fun to see how the enemy cannot beat your defensive lines) and what I am surprised to see is that egiptians have 2 huge armies in the beginning of the game! I am on medium settings and you can tell that by my denarii/income. However it's not simply army like peasants and militia but full support of archers, peltasts and slingers. I am not good enought to fight Egipt on VH/VH difficulty settings yet . My question is is it randomly selected the enemy army in the beginning and something messed up or it's always like that? Also is there a way to avoid Egipt attacking me because i am sure it will after 2-5 years which get's pretty hard because Parthia and Armenia want to come and get some too from my deadly spears . Like 3 factions agains one in the begining on MEDIUM/MEDIUM! In one battle with rebels I've noticed the enemy had like unlimited ammo of arrows! He shot at me like at least for 6 minuts - i was speeding up x3 and waited at least 2-3 minutes... His archers never stop firing even with flames but his horse archers like after 4-6 minutes real time x1 speed attacked me in melle. Something that is unfair having in mind I am not stupid enought to fight missile with phalanx the whole game with arcade style turned on...
Other bad thing is how the hell does Egipt get so much denarri for upkeep? They have lots of cities and trade ok but in the begginig I don't thing they have even trade/port/road so well established!
Beating the game on VH/VH with Seleucids is impossible! In every turn you get a rival. Even Pontus attacks me! So now I need to fight Egipth, Pontus, Armenia and Parthia all with only peasants and militia hoplite!!! Be my guest accept my challenge and beat the game =) or at least these rival factions on VH/VH!
Another problem is by Julii when my cities Arretium and Aruminum reach like 20 000 pop and they rebel the rebel armies in them are huge, experienced and upgraded so it's like impossible to beat them with peasants that i had early in garrison for lower army upkeep.

[Selifator]

Yes, the starting armies are set in the game files. So Egypt will always have a couple of stacks in the beginning, including the dreaded chariot archers. On the ammo of the archers, in arcade style there is no ammo limit. Units will not tire, they will not lose ammo, and I think that they don't rout, not sure though.
What you can do with Seleucia, is hold the Egyptians in the South, organize trade with the factions above you, kill all Egyptian diplomats to prevent them from opening diplomacy, and after Egypt has sent it's armies towards you, just capture the Nile delta.
Oh, and I will take you up on that challenge, just send me the save file.

[Entropy Judge]

I decided to conquest with Seleucid using the great force of phalanxes(because it's very fun to see how the enemy cannot beat your defensive lines)

The Seleucids have a very poor starting position - Egypt is very powerful (and when both are AI, tends to overrun the entire area), and due to the poor diplomacy, you can't safeguard your rear positions either. The best early strategy I remember reading is to block off the bridges to the north/east (so they can't attack you), hold the Egyptians off in Syria, and send a fleet to take the Nile Delta and their island. That way, you get really rich (and have access to bigger cities) and the Egyptians get crippled.

and what I am surprised to see is that egiptians have 2 huge armies in the beginning of the game!

Yeah, the beginning armies are set. Not much you can do about that.

Also is there a way to avoid Egipt attacking me because i am sure it will after 2-5 years which get's pretty hard because Parthia and Armenia want to come and get some too from my deadly spears .

Aside from unhelpful advice like "Don't play as the Seleucids," no, not really. You need to take out Egypt, and as early as possible.

Something that is unfair having in mind I am not stupid enought to fight missile with phalanx the whole game with arcade style turned on...

IIRCE, Arcade Style battles removes the Tiring system, the ammo limit for ranged units, and most (if not the entirety) of the Morale system.

Other bad thing is how the hell does Egipt get so much denarri for upkeep?

The Nile Delta is *RICH.* Take that area and you will be set for life. Also, the AI cheats.

Beating the game on VH/VH with Seleucids is impossible!

Not impossible ... just very, very, VERY hard, especially if you're used to someone with a really cushy position, like any of the Roman factions, the Greeks, or the Egyptians.

[Garbarsardar]

Well, you could edit out the armies or part thereof. You will find the armies in your data/word/maps/campaign/imperial campaign/descr_strat.txt

Just remember to save a copy of the file before start messing around...

[Strategist]

Guys I know what is arcade style like I said I am not stupid enough to turn it on and let the enemy overrun my phalanxes with arrows and spears. My point is that he has unlimited ammo on medium difficulty with arcade option turned off. Which is like a cheat/not fair. Thanks for the other advices but I won't simply play as Seleucids although once they were my favorite faction - now it is The Julii!

[NobleNick]

...My point is that he has unlimited ammo on medium difficulty with arcade option turned off. Which is like a cheat/not fair...

Unless you have a (previously unreported) bug, it is like Xavier said: The enemy does not have unlimited ammo with arcade = OFF (it just feels like it when you are on the recieving end).

Most units get 40 arrows per man. For a 100 man unit (I picked 100 to keep the numbers easy) that is 4000 arrows. There are occasions where only part of the unit can shoot. In those cases, the unit's entire supply of arrows is available to those who can shoot. If only five or ten men are in range, that is 400 to 800 arrows per man: it can take a long, long time to shoot all the arrows.

On Egypt, They get PO bonuses which allow them to have very small garrisons, and use all their money fielding armies. That is a double-edged sword: get into the heartland with a good half-stack or two, and you can create havoc totally out of proportion to your military strength, using "scorched earth" tactics.

EDIT: BTW, forgot to say that most of the eastern faction are tough to play. I would gues that playing Seleucids, Parthia, Aremnia, or etc. on M/M is AT LEAST as hard as playing Any of the Roman factions on H/H.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

They do not have unlimited ammo with arcade option off. Part of the non-arcade thing is to make it as realistic as possible, and unlimited ammo is definitely not realistic. Anyway, how do you know they have unlimited ammo? You're not commanding them.

[htismaqe]

Honestly, you shouldn't ever get a chance to see if the enemy has unlimited ammo. Use your cavalry and find a way to neutralize their missile units, ASAP. It's almost always the first thing I do, unless the AI has left the enemy general exposed and I can kill him early in the battle.

[Selifator]

On Egypt, They get PO bonuses which allow them to have very small garrisons, and use all their money fileding armies. That is a double-edged sword: get into the heartland with a good half-stack or two, and you can create havoc totally out of proportion to your military strength, using "scorched earth" tactics.

Yep, either exterminate the cities and destroy all buildings, or take them by force. Be prepared for a couple of sieges though, you'd have to move fast and take a city with each army every turn. So the fastest way would be to exterminate them, then leave them to rebel, and take them a couple of years later.

[mikoli]

In first 3 turns you must take Sidon and Susa.That is the most important thing about Seleucids.After doing this you will have some chance to complete the campaign on vh/vh!

[D.B. Cooper]

Yeah when I played the Seleucids I took Susa on the 2nd turn with Demetrius, then Jerusalem in the next few turns. The blacksmiths and barracks then allowed me to sweep across the rest of Egypt.

[Strategist]

Here some proof about brutality having in mind the difficulties are both easy or medium not sure. Look what huge army Brutii has and it is only a part of his whole empire. I mean why his army is migrating? Some turn later actually nothing happened... He came to my cities and left.
Another unfair thing is that as you can see i tried spamming spies in his cities however the public order drop to some point. Even if I damage some of his buildings that give PO still no dropping enough to make the city rebel. However I managed to make one Scipii city rebel and I guess it is easy fighting rebels than legionaries =).
How I am supposed to beat SPQR, Brutii and Scipio in the same time? Also look how huge the empires my allies(later rivals). How to increase the popularity with the people(masses). And what I earn when I have max popularity with the senate?
One of the screenshots shows lots of experience gained in a battle where I didn't kill much enemy units but had too small amount of mine so the own base count/enemy kill ratio was pretty high and thats a proof to how to gain more experience. You can have some units preffered horses with very low unit count but using them to chase the enemy and finish him off (only routed ones!). But don't know what experience will you lose after retraining.

[Kratos]

In first 3 turns you must take Sidon and Susa.That is the most important thing about Seleucids.After doing this you will have some chance to complete the campaign on vh/vh!

Agreed. This, and possibly Jerusalem as well, will cripple Egypt and Parthia badly and jumpstart your economy. Field as many troops as you can and recruit new ones in Antioch and Seleucia, then go for those cities.