Pontus Help Please!

[Funkyrobbie]

Im stuck between egypt and selecuid in a war both fronts egypt wants to kill me to get to selecuids and selecuids want to kill me to get at egypt!! Egypt send stack after stack after stack of miltia the selecuids cant stack aswell as egypt can and i eventually have pushed egypt back to antioch this is a very hard position im in selecuid did not hold there defense very well =/ then armenia and parthia attacked sele so i had to end the alliance with selecuids and we went into war .......damn armenians and parthians i dont intend of touching either and i dont want to war with them but i want to get into greece.....i dont want to go to egypt but looks like im gonna have to and that means evenntually reaching saba.....and reaching carthage.....so it looks like my future is laid out in front of me in a one way ticket to egypt.

ps: i got one long campaign ahead of me good job my finances are great.......NOW ONWARDS TO ANTIOCH RAWR!!!!!!

Now a pic


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Salamis is tempting.......
as is cyzicus
but the real prize is antioch
(any tips are welcome)



another pic later on.... things got from good to worse

[Drakontos]

Personally, I'd say hold at Antioch (or take it and hold there) and take Cyzicus/Pergamum/Ipsus/Rhodes/The rest of that half of Asia Minor, then Salamis, then begin the push south, perhaps even lauching an invasion of the Nile Delta while Egypt's armies are occupied at Antioch.

[Funkyrobbie]

now theres an idea but the egyptians are straining my defence bad im struggling and i find im fighting a losing war.......

They got more money and with more money you can win

as in the proverb the weak can not contend with the strong......

[Drakontos]

Ipsus/Cyzicus/etc don't look overly well defended from the screenshots... you'd be clearing a front, which would allow you to focus more on Egypt... you've got to make money somehow.

Salamis is an easy one-turn conquest, too. No walls, no troops, the Ptolemies never attack it again...

[Funkyrobbie]

heh thanks for that advice i done all that u said and i have took alexandria and am attacking egypt from behind they can run quick enough to get me from there capital =D
i have took the surrounding towns aswell and no more stacks from egypt that army u saw is gone and egypt is pretty much defeated i allied with sab

[Drakontos]

Nicely done. Pontus always was my favourite campaign.

[knguyen_93]

Pontus got a crappy army, eastern faction but lack the extreme tough cavalry (cataphract), phalanx owned by Macedon and Seleucid (Bronze Shield got 2 attack reduced), ground infantry suck and rout easily (axemen and heavy spearmen not including those arab light spearmen). BARBARIAN factions for ever especially Thrace

[Grimbold]

Pontus got a crappy army, eastern faction but lack the extreme tough cavalry (cataphract), phalanx owned by Macedon and Seleucid (Bronze Shield got 2 attack reduced), ground infantry suck and rout easily (axemen and heavy spearmen not including those arab light spearmen). BARBARIAN factions for ever especially Thrace

I had a hard time understanding what you meant, but i guess you said that eastern factions suck. Thats partially true.

Eastern factions' infantry plainly suck, sparbara or w/e suck, i dont like the heavy spearmen either. Being spearmen and a heavy unit, they sure lose men fast. BUT! when playing as an eastern faction ( Pontus/Armenia, which were the ones i tried) its not the infantry that win the battle, its the cavarly. Half of a stack usually consists of cavarly(generals included) and eastern cavarly will decimate anything, specially when they hit the silver chevrons. After they've depleted their javelins, thats when the infantry comes in, putting the enemy infantry in place so eastern(heavy) cavalry come from behind and rout the enemy army. It works like a charm, the usual hammer and anvil tactic, except the hammer is armed with javelins.

Btw knguyen, ill own your Thrace with Iberia. Oh and barbarian factions also rout very easily.

[nhinhonhinho]

Pontus got a crappy army, eastern faction but lack the extreme tough cavalry (cataphract), phalanx owned by Macedon and Seleucid (Bronze Shield got 2 attack reduced), ground infantry suck and rout easily (axemen and heavy spearmen not including those arab light spearmen). BARBARIAN factions for ever especially Thrace

Use Skirmisher and archers (Skirmisher is cheaper and better) a lot to break up the enemy with your superior firepower

Look like everyone here forgot one thing that can make Pontus army nearly unbeatable

The secret of Pontus (and TSE as well) is Scythed Chariot . Sound strange right? I'm sure there are few people use them but they are the monsters. These thing can punch through anything with few lose because their armor stronger than cataphract,their attack plus charging in unmatch (54). They can even take a direct charge into elite phalanx and crush them!! Once more thing is Scythed Chariot will go into "charging" right after you order them to attack. Then it make them faster than any cavalry!! What's more those thing cost a tiny man,you can have them quite early too and the army of Scythed Chariots can easily lure the enemy to attack. The only problem here is Scythed Chariot cost a lot (1000 to built and 500 to upkeep)

Of course Scythed Chariots can run amok and useless in siege battle

[Grimbold]

I still think Pontus strength lies in its eastern cavalry(heavy)

[knguyen_93]

I still think Pontus strength lies in its eastern cavalry(heavy)

Nah, 4 unit of archers and a stackfull of thorakitai can teach those eastern cavalry a bloody lesson

[knguyen_93]

I always play mainly infantry-faction, btw ur right eastern faction especially parthia is a real pain in the butt
You have an account so we can play online? lol i personally think thrace is better, their thorakitai own the heavy scutarii

[Grimbold]

As Iberia, you dont win a battle with Scutarii. You win it with hordes of cavarly.

[knguyen_93]

so what will happen if the enemies have horde of spearmen?

[MkdRanger]

ur army will get destroyed

[nhinhonhinho]

Me too until i discover Scythed Chariots. Even with the army of Scythed Chariots eastern cavalry is still important to weaken the enemy and pursuing router

[Funkyrobbie]

tehehe i love the way i started a debate....MY TURN i think that pontus is pretty flexible since it has its kick ass cav then it has phalanx whats not 2 like??????????