Struggling with the Provincial Campaigns.....

[The Almohad]

This may sound a bit like a complaint but I just can't seem to make most of the campaigns work without cheating and its annoying. Cyrenaica, I just don't understand how to do anything as them. Massalia? Same thing. Bosporan Kingdom is almost workable without cheating. Bactria, well screwed there too. I did have one fairly successful game as Syracuse, but i did cheat once to the tune of 10000 denari and got rolling soon after. I don't like cheating, so I move over to the Imperial game, start up as parthia, and so the seleucids promptly start sending far more troops against me than my two-third stack of crappy horse archers can beat even though I was the only faction not to break free and declare war on them right away. I toggle the fow and sure enough it would have made more sense for them to attack any of the other successor states but no of course they betray me for no reason ( I was their only ally).

I like this mod, I play this or EB, and this has most of the features or similar ones that i like from EB but keeps a faster pace and has better loading times. I just can't seem to make a campaign work with any of the factions I find interesting (a.k.a the harder/smaller ones). I just wonder if anyone has done an AAR or something for some of these games. Its just the balancing seems screwed because the Seleucids are just so damn big. in EB it just means the Seleucids get picked apart mercilessly but in XC it just means you have no chance if you start near them, i mean what am I supposed to do when I have three towns and a mostly cavalry army? I can't afford to lose a town, i can't lower taxes because i can't keep a garrison, I can't build buildings (the few that I have are all econ/growth related), i had trade rights with everyone near me. I just can't beat these battles every time where i have like 700-900 horse archers and the seleucids have 2000-3000 experienced heavily armored troops. Yes i can outmaneuver them but all they do is stretch out and make a big circle so i never get behind them (and I'm too poor to afford any merc heavy cav) but unless i win by just a silly margin of like at least 5 to 1 it won't do any good anyway because i can't even retrain my army really.

[Shadow_LT]

What difficulty do you play on ?

[GeoHitmanGR]

XC is balanced for M/M anything more than M/H is suicide and anything less than M/E is a walk in the park.

I had tried Baktria a while ago and the key is to never engage the Seleucids head-on. Prefer sieges, ambushes and use Ha's and Thureophoroi.

[Restlessspirit4]

Well here are few hints on how to get started with Bactria, Massalia and Cyrenaica.
Bactria:As Geohitman said,no head on attacks until you get strong enough.Also chose your terrain for the battle.Most of rebel cities there will send almost their entire garrison at you once your army is close to them.There are enough hills in that entire part of the world for them to break their teeth when they attack you. Also maybe you will go into minus the first few turns but nothing that it cannot be undone with extermination of said wealthy cities.AI is pretty stupid and ready to engage you where you want them to engage you.
Cyrenaica:Capture Crete and Rhodes...that way if Egyptians drive you from Africa you will manage to recuperate from the blow.Again terrain is everything.And off curse once you capture the islands,disband any unit that cost's you to much and build up your economy.Rhodes can be an excelent capital for the faction because of the learning center there.
Syracuse:Capture Messana and Lybium,disband heavy cost units,build up economy.And watch out for the boring Punic stacks.I admit that it is a struggle in the beginning but the fruits later are worth of trouble.
As for Parthia:Click on the horde button at your capital....and see how long Selucids can fight you then.
And finally there is this.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=358518

Hope it helps.
ps-Turn of land bridges if you have them on.

[The Almohad]

Yes, I have been playing on M/M. And thank you Restlessspirit4, I had actually thought of the mediterranean islands strategy for Cyrenaica, in fact I even created another save file on the turn right before i decided whether to go for Ammonium or just head for Crete. I was trying to role-play a little and make an actually Libyan faction, but it seems that is just not viable. I have had both Carthage and Egypt kick me out of Africa, I will start over with that strategy, thanks for confirming it.

As for Parthia.......well wait do I need the BI.exe to do that? Never noticed that option before I feel so small and dumb now.

Thanks folks, wasn't meant as a complaint, I just don't like sinking hours into a campaign only to get up from my computer with no real progress made and the thought on my mind that I want to delete all the clutter of broken unfinished games on the list when all I really want is just a good campaign i want to finish all the way and keep it going for a month or so. I swear I'm getting dumber as i get older or just have been playing too much nazi zombies, were my past R:TW successes just luck or was the vanilla game just that broken?

[Restlessspirit4]

Yes, I have been playing on M/M. And thank you Restlessspirit4, I had actually thought of the mediterranean islands strategy for Cyrenaica, in fact I even created another save file on the turn right before i decided whether to go for Ammonium or just head for Crete. I was trying to role-play a little and make an actually Libyan faction, but it seems that is just not viable. I have had both Carthage and Egypt kick me out of Africa, I will start over with that strategy, thanks for confirming it.

As for Parthia.......well wait do I need the BI.exe to do that? Never noticed that option before I feel so small and dumb now.

Thanks folks, wasn't meant as a complaint, I just don't like sinking hours into a campaign only to get up from my computer with no real progress made and the thought on my mind that I want to delete all the clutter of broken unfinished games on the list when all I really want is just a good campaign i want to finish all the way and keep it going for a month or so. I swear I'm getting dumber as i get older or just have been playing too much nazi zombies, were my past R:TW successes just luck or was the vanilla game just that broken?

Yea,by my experience you need BI.Parthia is then much more easier.
And dont trouble yourself for writing all of this.Do you think i made up most of that tactics on my first try?It took alooot more then five minutes to develop this plans.You just have to be persistent and not to throw a towel after a few turns.Good luck.

[Zarax]

AI sends you far less stacks in XC than in EB as they don't have unlimited financial assistance.
As Parthia the trick is to get 4-5 rebel settlements around you and hang on them until you reach a decent development stage.

Farms and roads should be your priority, if you want to give the seleucids a good distraction and are playing with the EB exe just send a few spies in Baktra and watch the fireworks.
Get trade rights with Pontus and Armenia and try to give them a few bribes to encourage the alliance while you slowly get closer to India.
Once you've got that you should start rolling a decent income and be able to go against the gray death toe to toe, especially if the ptolemies wake up in the west.

When it comes to army composition use your FM with a few eastern axemen, they are nastier than the standard variant and can give a few black eyes to seleucid heavy infantry as well.

Provincial campaigns are indeed harder and in need of some rebalancing, they are usually on low priority due to other developments that have a tendency to disrupt them quite often...

[GeoHitmanGR]

Yes, I have been playing on M/M. And thank you Restlessspirit4, I had actually thought of the mediterranean islands strategy for Cyrenaica, in fact I even created another save file on the turn right before i decided whether to go for Ammonium or just head for Crete. I was trying to role-play a little and make an actually Libyan faction, but it seems that is just not viable. I have had both Carthage and Egypt kick me out of Africa, I will start over with that strategy, thanks for confirming it.

As for Parthia.......well wait do I need the BI.exe to do that? Never noticed that option before I feel so small and dumb now.

Thanks folks, wasn't meant as a complaint, I just don't like sinking hours into a campaign only to get up from my computer with no real progress made and the thought on my mind that I want to delete all the clutter of broken unfinished games on the list when all I really want is just a good campaign i want to finish all the way and keep it going for a month or so. I swear I'm getting dumber as i get older or just have been playing too much nazi zombies, were my past R:TW successes just luck or was the vanilla game just that broken?

Nah... It may not seem though but extended cultures is one of the most brutal and relentless mods, out there. While it is OK for easy factions like Rome of Macedon, it is really challenging for other factions, mostly on economic module.

The link in restless post is really helpful.

Some scattered advice on XC:
1)Really take care of traits, especially in your FL, FH and important city governors.
2)Always focus in economy buildings early on. Happines buildings can wait till later and high level recruitment ones only where needed.
3)Take care of the population, too low growth can lead in a disadvantageous position mid-game, and too high can lead to increased squalor and unrest.
4)Steer clear of elites. They are not cost effective and not easy to retrain. 1-2 units per full stack is more than enough.

[Ullr]

A quick note on the Seleucids. not sure how often (probability-wise) it happens, but one of my top 3 factions are pontus, and it always seemed to me that the seluecids were actually MORE likely to attack their allies, than any of their neutrals. I know it's quite common in the game to be "betrayed" be allies, and always wondered how useful it is to stay neutral with everyone than make allies with a faction (unless they start on the complete oppposite side of the map from you).

It could just be the AI not being told to attack pontus from the get go (although i've had non-pontus campaigns where it's happened immediately), but you could try your luck on the idea of 2 or 3 campaings where you immediately cancel the alliance, then see where they hit out at first.

[Pinkie Pie]

I also have noticed that. When starting near TSE (The Seleucid Empire) I prefer allying with someone on the opposite side of them and then staying neutral with TSE.
EG
Armenia - Saba
Baktria - TPE (The Ptolemaic Empire)
Parthia - TPE
Pontus - Saba
Saba - Armenia
Parthia is not a good ally as they usually get killed by the Scythians.

AFAIK TSE under the AI can train Thorikatai (spelling?) in any city as long as they hold Seleucia so when hording as Parthia make sure you capture and trade it with someone else like Armenia or TPE and when under other factions make it a priority.
Also make sure you take Rhodes, it gives a massive bonus to sea trade.

[Shadow Dragon]

I've found with the Seluecids, that they will probably overwhelm you eventually, if they win their war with the Egyptians and Saba. You need at least one of the other Middle Eastern powers to do well against them. If for no other reason than to weaken their army and keep them distracted.

[Zarax]

The seleucids will overwhelm anything if they can focus only on one front.
Historically whenever egypt left them alone they kicked everybody's else butt around, at least until the romans started interfering in the game.

[Pinkie Pie]

In my latest campaign they had their asses handed to them by the Sabaens