Any advice for a greek-cities campaign?

[AugustusCaeser]

could you guys give me GCS cmpaign tips it would be very helpful!thanks!

[Spartan198]

Well, for one thing, the Spartan Royal Guard alone can beat back anything Macedon throws at you at campaign start, so use them.

[Amaranth]

Here's what I do everytime I start a Greek campaign works perfectly everytime.

1. Do not attack Macedon right away, they usually send their armies to north, around Thessaly and fight Gauls or Greek Independent. This is a good time for you to train some more units. I say take your time for a 2-3 turn.
2. Attack Macedon when their larger armies are marched north. Usually they leave Corinth, Thebes and sometimes Larissa vulnerable. Firstly liberate Corinth and Thebes, which are closer to you. (If Large Macedon army is not around, save Spartan Royal Guard for the tough fight later, when they will march back to take their cities back.) When Macedon strikes back you'll need to gather all your forces including Spartan Royal Guard and fight hard, but if you play carefully you can not lose (those Spartan guys, are terminators.)
3. Don't fight with Greek City States (Independent) until you control Corinth, Thebes and Larissa, once they're secured, you can attack Thermon and secure Greece. You might also want to consider taking Ambracia now.
4. Now you can march north to Macedonia, once you take Pella Macedon will be stuck in Amphipolis. It's child's play now. (I usually force them to become my protectorate rather than just finish them early in game.)
5. Now what you want to do is dealing with Thrace threat soon as possible, before they're stronger to attack you. Take a few turn of peace, gather some army, build "Economical structures", Farms, Mines, Docks and such. You'll need a good income to support a conquering army. Some people just go for Military buildings and create expensive armies they can't affort. Don't do that. Medium infantry would do nicely for a while. Now take at least some parts off from thracian lands, Sardica, and the city just north of it can't remember now and some other until you reach Byzantium (this is an important city to make way to Asia Minor and control the bosphorus.)
6. The other step is your leap to secure Aegean shores. Build some ships, put a decent army into it, and preferably put at least 3 spies in it. Sail away to Rhodes. Send your spies in, there are usually few soldiers in there, but the trick is when under sieged, next turn Rhodes calls her citizens to arms, resulting with a full garrison of tough infantry. You might want to avoid that so the spies for to open you the gates, in single turn (wiht luck) you can capture Rhodes. Now it's a nice place to build army, do so and start capturing Aegean shores, Halicarnassus, Ephessus, and Pergammon. In the meantime use your armies in Byzantium to take Nicomedia and secure Cyzicus. Now you control the whole Aegean and you have an excellent trade income. Now all you have to do is to push Seleucids back, you might consider a ceasefire with Thrace, cause Seleucids are a bit tougher opponent. Sooner or later Pontus will try it's luck, but they're dealing with Seleucids and Armenians already so put an end to them as well. Once you have secured Asia Minor as well the rest is easy.

And some general tips: Use espionage. Spies and Assassins are very effective once you put them into good use. Train them and use them to cause rebellions in enemy cities, let them fight and thin their armies before you march in to their lands. Kill their Diplomats, Spies and Assassins to slow their diplomatic movements with other factions. If they have an enemy faction, ally yourself with that faction, diplomacy can be very cruel to your enemies. Build a good and strong fleet. It's very important to control the sea. Remember to break the populations of the places you have conquered, if they're different culture. Rebellions are expensive and annoying while fighting with other enemies. If you conquer a different culture large city with large population, it always leads to trouble, enslave or exterminate the populace to avoid riots.

[AugustusCaeser]

Here's what I do everytime I start a Greek campaign works perfectly everytime.

1. Do not attack Macedon right away, they usually send their armies to north, around Thessaly and fight Gauls or Greek Independent. This is a good time for you to train some more units. I say take your time for a 2-3 turn.
2. Attack Macedon when their larger armies are marched north. Usually they leave Corinth, Thebes and sometimes Larissa vulnerable. Firstly liberate Corinth and Thebes, which are closer to you. (If Large Macedon army is not around, save Spartan Royal Guard for the tough fight later, when they will march back to take their cities back.) When Macedon strikes back you'll need to gather all your forces including Spartan Royal Guard and fight hard, but if you play carefully you can not lose (those Spartan guys, are terminators.)
3. Don't fight with Greek City States (Independent) until you control Corinth, Thebes and Larissa, once they're secured, you can attack Thermon and secure Greece. You might also want to consider taking Ambracia now.


so i tried a GCS campaign and your strategy has worked so far!thanks
4. Now you can march north to Macedonia, once you take Pella Macedon will be stuck in Amphipolis. It's child's play now. (I usually force them to become my protectorate rather than just finish them early in game.)
5. Now what you want to do is dealing with Thrace threat soon as possible, before they're stronger to attack you. Take a few turn of peace, gather some army, build "Economical structures", Farms, Mines, Docks and such. You'll need a good income to support a conquering army. Some people just go for Military buildings and create expensive armies they can't affort. Don't do that. Medium infantry would do nicely for a while. Now take at least some parts off from thracian lands, Sardica, and the city just north of it can't remember now and some other until you reach Byzantium (this is an important city to make way to Asia Minor and control the bosphorus.)
6. The other step is your leap to secure Aegean shores. Build some ships, put a decent army into it, and preferably put at least 3 spies in it. Sail away to Rhodes. Send your spies in, there are usually few soldiers in there, but the trick is when under sieged, next turn Rhodes calls her citizens to arms, resulting with a full garrison of tough infantry. You might want to avoid that so the spies for to open you the gates, in single turn (wiht luck) you can capture Rhodes. Now it's a nice place to build army, do so and start capturing Aegean shores, Halicarnassus, Ephessus, and Pergammon. In the meantime use your armies in Byzantium to take Nicomedia and secure Cyzicus. Now you control the whole Aegean and you have an excellent trade income. Now all you have to do is to push Seleucids back, you might consider a ceasefire with Thrace, cause Seleucids are a bit tougher opponent. Sooner or later Pontus will try it's luck, but they're dealing with Seleucids and Armenians already so put an end to them as well. Once you have secured Asia Minor as well the rest is easy.

And some general tips: Use espionage. Spies and Assassins are very effective once you put them into good use. Train them and use them to cause rebellions in enemy cities, let them fight and thin their armies before you march in to their lands. Kill their Diplomats, Spies and Assassins to slow their diplomatic movements with other factions. If they have an enemy faction, ally yourself with that faction, diplomacy can be very cruel to your enemies. Build a good and strong fleet. It's very important to control the sea. Remember to break the populations of the places you have conquered, if they're different culture. Rebellions are expensive and annoying while fighting with other enemies. If you conquer a different culture large city with large population, it always leads to trouble, enslave or exterminate the populace to avoid riots.

thanks for the advice so far in my GCS campaign everything is going fine

[Amaranth]

thanks for the advice so far in my GCS campaign everything is going fine

You're welcome, enjoy

[scubatim84]

So I'm trying to start another Greek campaign, and I guess this is what I did last time because I don't remember getting attacked by 3,500 Macedonians 2 turns into the game but I've tried to start 3 different campaigns and they do the same crap every single time. How on earth are you supposed to get rid of Macedonia, much less avoid being wiped out, when they invade you almost right off the bat with nearly 4,000 troops to your less than 1,000? The Spartans aren't /that/ good.

[AugustusCaeser]

thanks for the advice guys i apperciate it and i will try it!

[TM Is Back]

You should attack them, not wait for them to attack you. Capture Corinth in your seceond turn then move north and face to opposing army. Destroy it in battle, using the terrain as your ally.

[scubatim84]

Yeah I finally got them to attack with only half of the 3,500 troops. Ended up making it an AAR. http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=389872