Need help with Odrysian Kingdom.

[DarkInsight]

Been trying Odrysian Kingdom. But so far, I haven't even succeeded in unifying the home province. I play in normal or easy difficulty. The problem I run into is that: my Greek neighbour keep declaring war on me, as soon as our lands are in contact (sometimes even before that). And the mod gimped income so much that, I can't field two full armies at same time, and yet I am often required to fight battles at multiple front. And to add insult to injury, my garrison only consists of javelinmen.

Please, has anyone succeeded in using Odrysian Kingdom?

[FlashHeart07]

Been trying Odrysian Kingdom. But so far, I haven't even succeeded in unifying the home province. I play in normal or easy difficulty. The problem I run into is that: my Greek neighbour keep declaring war on me, as soon as our lands are in contact (sometimes even before that). And the mod gimped income so much that, I can't field two full armies at same time, and yet I am often required to fight battles at multiple front. And to add insult to injury, my garrison only consists of javelinmen.

Please, has anyone succeeded in using Odrysian Kingdom?

I will try and get a campaign going with them later this evening and see if I can get some tips and tricks for you

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[Petar]

I failed on first try, before figuring out solid tactics. On my second try all I did was save up some gold for a few turns, then proceeded to create a full army of Thracian infantry and Romphaia bearers, accompanied by 4 cheap peltast units and 1 skirmish cavalry. Use general foot companions, not cavalry.
Then proceed to attack any incoming full-stack army (usually Dacia or Triballi). Don't engage Tylis. Instead, expand on factions who use mostly spear levies.
Here's how the usual battle goes:
1. Spread most of your infantry in a line (with a depth of 6-7 max), situate the peltasts and the general right behind them. Place on each flank a group of 2-3 Romphaia units (don't stretch them, they maneuver easier if they're not spread).
2. Close in the enemy (or let them come to you, depends on situation).
3. When you reach range, charge with the main line, and flank with the other 2 groups on each side. Let the peltasts either focus on general, or the biggest massing of enemy units.
4. If you have a group of 3 flanking units on each side. Let the first one close up on the nearest enemy, then another one on the second nearest and third should circle behind and go for the general.
5. Ignore enemy skirmishers. They won't manage to deal enough damage to your flankers and Thracian infantry are too slow to chase. You can try using the light cavalry unit keep them busy.
6. If it is your first battle, keep general in range for morale boost, if your general is level 2 or above, have him inspire your troops as soon as they engage and demoralize the enemy once your flankers are engaged.
7. The enemy flanks will flee easily, then just snowball the rest. Don't chase routing units yet.
8. Once most of the enemy army fleeing, make sure you finish off their general and proceed to chase with your whole army. Your peltasts are your fastest troops, so switch them in melee mode and let them chase the best quality units of the enemy army.

This way I usually lose 15-20% of my soldiers, while the enemy full stack suffers 80-90% casualties.
The important part is to rely on breaking enemy moral, so have your general specialise in traits and retinues which give "-5% enemy moral" and so on. You can easily reach -30% enemy moral as a level 3-4 general.
Additionally, use the military logistic trait which gives you 5% unit replenishment. It is crucial if you are at war with 2-3 factions at a time.

Don't be afraid of the estimated battle outcomes, the Thracians are deadly against ANY infantry. Just keep the battles short and stick with the shock tactics!

Good luck!

[DarkInsight]

I failed on first try, before figuring out solid tactics. On my second try all I did was save up some gold for a few turns, then proceeded to create a full army of Thracian infantry and Romphaia bearers, accompanied by 4 cheap peltast units and 1 skirmish cavalry. Use general foot companions, not cavalry.
Then proceed to attack any incoming full-stack army (usually Dacia or Triballi). Don't engage Tylis. Instead, expand on factions who use mostly spear levies.
Here's how the usual battle goes:
1. Spread most of your infantry in a line (with a depth of 6-7 max), situate the peltasts and the general right behind them. Place on each flank a group of 2-3 Romphaia units (don't stretch them, they maneuver easier if they're not spread).
2. Close in the enemy (or let them come to you, depends on situation).
3. When you reach range, charge with the main line, and flank with the other 2 groups on each side. Let the peltasts either focus on general, or the biggest massing of enemy units.
4. If you have a group of 3 flanking units on each side. Let the first one close up on the nearest enemy, then another one on the second nearest and third should circle behind and go for the general.
5. Ignore enemy skirmishers. They won't manage to deal enough damage to your flankers and Thracian infantry are too slow to chase. You can try using the light cavalry unit keep them busy.
6. If it is your first battle, keep general in range for morale boost, if your general is level 2 or above, have him inspire your troops as soon as they engage and demoralize the enemy once your flankers are engaged.
7. The enemy flanks will flee easily, then just snowball the rest. Don't chase routing units yet.
8. Once most of the enemy army fleeing, make sure you finish off their general and proceed to chase with your whole army. Your peltasts are your fastest troops, so switch them in melee mode and let them chase the best quality units of the enemy army.

This way I usually lose 15-20% of my soldiers, while the enemy full stack suffers 80-90% casualties.
The important part is to rely on breaking enemy moral, so have your general specialise in traits and retinues which give "-5% enemy moral" and so on. You can easily reach -30% enemy moral as a level 3-4 general.
Additionally, use the military logistic trait which gives you 5% unit replenishment. It is crucial if you are at war with 2-3 factions at a time.

Don't be afraid of the estimated battle outcomes, the Thracians are deadly against ANY infantry. Just keep the battles short and stick with the shock tactics!

Good luck!

Actually I have no problem with winning a battle; my problem is more on a strategy level, i.e. how to field multiple armies on multiple front, since I am surrounded by Greeks who hate me from the start and will hate me even more once one or two of them get into war with me. I can beat an enemy army alright, but as soon as I tried to invade the now armyless settlement, another army from another enemy comes from another direction. Let's say I defeated Macedonian army on the field and now try to march on Pulpudeva, the Triballi will now march on my homeland and I am forced to double back and defend or risk losing my capital.

Currently, in my playthrough, I have controlled Pulpudeva and Pella. Getae, whom I have non-aggression pact with, has captured Navissos and now served as my buffer zone for my west flank. Tylis has been wiped out by Pontus. Currently, I am at war with Ardiaei, Pontus, Epirus. I just captured Pella, but already Athens and Sparta are trying to march on me. Meanwhile, on the right flank, I have a not-full army trying to fend off Pontus from the east.

My income is only around +100, despite holding two provincial capital. I am being slowly strangled to death by the endless Greek enemies that declaring war on me one by one...

[FlashHeart07]

Actually I have no problem with winning a battle; my problem is more on a strategy level, i.e. how to field multiple armies on multiple front, since I am surrounded by Greeks who hate me from the start and will hate me even more once one or two of them get into war with me. I can beat an enemy army alright, but as soon as I tried to invade the now armyless settlement, another army from another enemy comes from another direction. Let's say I defeated Macedonian army on the field and now try to march on Pulpudeva, the Triballi will now march on my homeland and I am forced to double back and defend or risk losing my capital.

Currently, in my playthrough, I have controlled Pulpudeva and Pella. Getae, whom I have non-aggression pact with, has captured Navissos and now served as my buffer zone for my west flank. Tylis has been wiped out by Pontus. Currently, I am at war with Ardiaei, Pontus, Epirus. I just captured Pella, but already Athens and Sparta are trying to march on me. Meanwhile, on the right flank, I have a not-full army trying to fend off Pontus from the east.

My income is only around +100, despite holding two provincial capital. I am being slowly strangled to death by the endless Greek enemies that declaring war on me one by one...

This might all be known to you or at least I hope so, but sounds to me like you got a big diplomacy problem. Try scouting for new factions, establish trade routes and see if you cant buy your way into peace with at least one of your current enemies. You dont seem to have any trouble beating the enemy in battle so my advice would be to go all in on diplomacy to give yourself some time to build up what you got before kicking everyones ass.

[DarkInsight]

This might all be known to you or at least I hope so, but sounds to me like you got a big diplomacy problem. Try scouting for new factions, establish trade routes and see if you cant buy your way into peace with at least one of your current enemies. You dont seem to have any trouble beating the enemy in battle so my advice would be to go all in on diplomacy to give yourself some time to build up what you got before kicking everyones ass.

My relation with all Greek starts with a -35. Is it even possible to sign a non aggression pact with this low relation? And as soon as one of them declare war on me, the rest of them hate me more and more. Except Epirus, whom all Greek hates....

[FlashHeart07]

My relation with all Greek starts with a -35. Is it even possible to sign a non aggression pact with this low relation? And as soon as one of them declare war on me, the rest of them hate me more and more. Except Epirus, whom all Greek hates....

just tried it on VH and you are quite right. damn difficult to get any diplomacy going. the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Other than that. try and find factions further away to trade with.

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[Diadochiwelike]

Ally with Epirots, since they Ally with macedon and that will give you a decent friendly front. Offer them a shyte load of money if reluctent.

[DarkInsight]

Ally with Epirots, since they Ally with macedon and that will give you a decent friendly front. Offer them a shyte load of money if reluctent.

I could try that, but I would need a few turns to send my agent to discover Epirus. Hopefully, Macedon and Tribalii doesn't start war before that.

[Summary]

I have never played as the Odrysians, but I will give it a shot.

But for now, until I can report my own findings, I can still offer you an advice in what works best for me when I try to expand.
Expansion is much like a battle. In a battle you try your utmost best not to be flanked. This is the same with expansion, you try to ensure that your kingdom is not flanked, the best way to do this is to make sure your kingdom is secure on 3 of 4 directions, i.e. to say if you are expanding to the West, the North, South and East should be free from threat. This way you can focus your army in one direction, and all your threats will come from one direction.

As the Odrysian, your frontiers are:

1. North: he Getae, Bastarnae, Catiaroi
2. East: The Black Sea
3. West: Antogonidai, Tribalii
4. South: Tylis

The East is safe. The West is the most aggressive, immediate threat. Threats from the North and South can be delayed for a while.

In the North, try to gain the support of the Getae and Bastarnae, as they share cultural affinity. They will not accept your offers but you can unite them against a common enemy the Catiaroi. Once they choose to fight against the Catiaroi, you should have a bonus modifier for having the same enemy. This way eventually you will be able to establish a Non-Aggression agreement. This should keep the North occupied with Catiaroi.

In the South, try to gain the support of Tylis by getting them to war against Bithynia. This should keep the South occupied with Bithynia.

In the West, Tribalii and Antigonidai. Tribalii are the easier target. Antigonidai are considerably harder since, they have a network of alliances. My suggestion to you is send an agent over to Sparta and Athens to get them to break-off from Antigonidai. Once, the network of alliances are broken you can begin your assault on Antigonidai and Tribalii.

How to expand?

This is very difficult since you are surrounded by enemies, meaning attacking with an army will leave your own settlement vulnerable to other factions. If you attack Tribalii, Antigonidai or even Tylis will take your capital, and vice versa. So the best strategy is to keep you kingdom small. It is easier to defend a smaller kingdom than to defend a larger one. Multiple fronts occur when the size of a kingdom is too great, therefore sharing borders with many nations that have many options and targets to attack. Try to weaken the enemy. Odrysian gain 50% reduction in mercenary recruits. This means you should take full advantage of mercenaries and disband them at the end of a turn. This means you will never have a standing army but you will have a better economy by avoiding an expensive military upkeep.

To get a sizable mercenary army your idea of economy changes. It is no longer important to have a higher income per turn that is required to maintain huge standing armies. It is rather better to have a bigger reserve. How to get a bigger reserve with low income per turn? It's simple! Sack! Sack! Sack! Kill off any enemy armies! Then retreat back to your region and activate ambush stance and replenish your troops, be sure to disband your mercenaries. If you can't retreat to replenish (check your movement range before you issue the order to retreat), then use raid stance to reduce any military upkeep. Basically dance back and forth in between choke points of your border.

Sacked it last turn? Sack it again this turn! Each sack gives your 1,500 to 3,000 denari that is more than the regular income of most starting factions. Accumulated wealth can be used to buy the loyalty of other neighboring factions.

Soon enough your enemies will spend more time spending their limited income on repairs and raising new armies will be a lot slower. This is when you can concentrate on expansion knowing that the nearby factions are too weak from the constant raiding and sacking.

Last but not the least, you see a nation wiped out that is in close proximity to your location, try to liberate them and gain a valuable military ally. Say if Antigonidai wipes out Tylis, liberate Tylis and use them to combat the Antigonidai.

Get the Night Commander Skill!

Yes this is very important to wiping out armies and creating a huge numerical advantage. Especially when dancing between borders. Enter enemy territory pick one of their most vulnerable armies, activate night battle, defeat and route them, retreat back to your own territory, ambush mode, replenish. Repeat until there is no standing armies left.

Weaken a Settlement

If you can't win a siege, it is better to weaken the settlement the best you can. Begin the battle manually. Dump all your missiles on the defenders and then manually retreat. This way you save your army from massive casualties while take a free hit at the enemy. Return again the next season and repeat.

*Disclaimer: I have not personally tried the Odrysian campaign yet and do not guarantee this will work. But I am sure it will help out a bit in your approach. I also haven't tried the Weaken a Settlement as I never had to. But I think if the game presents a tough to crack garrison, I could very well see myself employing such tactics!

[FlashHeart07]

I have never played as the Odrysians, but I will give it a shot.

But for now, until I can report my own findings, I can still offer you an advice in what works best for me when I try to expand.
Expansion is much like a battle. In a battle you try your utmost best not to be flanked. This is the same with expansion, you try to ensure that your kingdom is not flanked, the best way to do this is to make sure your kingdom is secure on 3 of 4 directions, i.e. to say if you are expanding to the West, the North, South and East should be free from threat. This way you can focus your army in one direction, and all your threats will come from one direction.

As the Odrysian, your frontiers are:

1. North: he Getae, Bastarnae, Catiaroi
2. East: The Black Sea
3. West: Antogonidai, Tribalii
4. South: Tylis

The East is safe. The West is the most aggressive, immediate threat. Threats from the North and South can be delayed for a while.

In the North, try to gain the support of the Getae and Bastarnae, as they share cultural affinity. They will not accept your offers but you can unite them against a common enemy the Catiaroi. Once they choose to fight against the Catiaroi, you should have a bonus modifier for having the same enemy. This way eventually you will be able to establish a Non-Aggression agreement. This should keep the North occupied with Catiaroi.

In the South, try to gain the support of Tylis by getting them to war against Bithynia. This should keep the South occupied with Bithynia.

In the West, Tribalii and Antigonidai. Tribalii are the easier target. Antigonidai are considerably harder since, they have a network of alliances. My suggestion to you is send an agent over to Sparta and Athens to get them to break-off from Antigonidai. Once, the network of alliances are broken you can begin your assault on Antigonidai and Tribalii.

How to expand?

This is very difficult since you are surrounded by enemies, meaning attacking with an army will leave your own settlement vulnerable to other factions. If you attack Tribalii, Antigonidai or even Tylis will take your capital, and vice versa. So the best strategy is to keep you kingdom small. It is easier to defend a smaller kingdom than to defend a larger one. Multiple fronts occur when the size of a kingdom is too great, therefore sharing borders with many nations that have many options and targets to attack. Try to weaken the enemy. Odrysian gain 50% reduction in mercenary recruits. This means you should take full advantage of mercenaries and disband them at the end of a turn. This means you will never have a standing army but you will have a better economy by avoiding an expensive military upkeep.

To get a sizable mercenary army your idea of economy changes. It is no longer important to have a higher income per turn that is required to maintain huge standing armies. It is rather better to have a bigger reserve. How to get a bigger reserve with low income per turn? It's simple! Sack! Sack! Sack! Kill off any enemy armies! Then retreat back to your region and activate ambush stance and replenish your troops, be sure to disband your mercenaries. If you can't retreat to replenish (check your movement range before you issue the order to retreat), then use raid stance to reduce any military upkeep. Basically dance back and forth in between choke points of your border.

Sacked it last turn? Sack it again this turn! Each sack gives your 1,500 to 3,000 denari that is more than the regular income of most starting factions. Accumulated wealth can be used to buy the loyalty of other neighboring factions.

Soon enough your enemies will spend more time spending their limited income on repairs and raising new armies will be a lot slower. This is when you can concentrate on expansion knowing that the nearby factions are too weak from the constant raiding and sacking.

Last but not the least, you see a nation wiped out that is in close proximity to your location, try to liberate them and gain a valuable military ally. Say if Antigonidai wipes out Tylis, liberate Tylis and use them to combat the Antigonidai.

Get the Night Commander Skill!

Yes this is very important to wiping out armies and creating a huge numerical advantage. Especially when dancing between borders. Enter enemy territory pick one of their most vulnerable armies, activate night battle, defeat and route them, retreat back to your own territory, ambush mode, replenish. Repeat until there is no standing armies left.

Weaken a Settlement

If you can't win a siege, it is better to weaken the settlement the best you can. Begin the battle manually. Dump all your missiles on the defenders and then manually retreat. This way you save your army from massive casualties while take a free hit at the enemy. Return again the next season and repeat.

*Disclaimer: I have not personally tried the Odrysian campaign yet and do not guarantee this will work. But I am sure it will help out a bit in your approach. I also haven't tried the Weaken a Settlement as I never had to. But I think if the game presents a tough to crack garrison, I could very well see myself employing such tactics!

Nice on Summary. Might work actually and with some luck. The only two factions to worry about is as you say the Triballi and Macedon and of the two Macedon is the biggest enemy ofc. But with only one army to start with wont it be hard to launch raids into enemy territory and still be able to defend your capital from other invasion forces? This is what I personally are having trouble with. Everytime I head for either Triballi or Macedon the other one comes along and I have to turn and defend.

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[DarkInsight]

I have never played as the Odrysians, but I will give it a shot.

But for now, until I can report my own findings, I can still offer you an advice in what works best for me when I try to expand.
Expansion is much like a battle. In a battle you try your utmost best not to be flanked. This is the same with expansion, you try to ensure that your kingdom is not flanked, the best way to do this is to make sure your kingdom is secure on 3 of 4 directions, i.e. to say if you are expanding to the West, the North, South and East should be free from threat. This way you can focus your army in one direction, and all your threats will come from one direction.

As the Odrysian, your frontiers are:

1. North: he Getae, Bastarnae, Catiaroi
2. East: The Black Sea
3. West: Antogonidai, Tribalii
4. South: Tylis

The East is safe. The West is the most aggressive, immediate threat. Threats from the North and South can be delayed for a while.

In the North, try to gain the support of the Getae and Bastarnae, as they share cultural affinity. They will not accept your offers but you can unite them against a common enemy the Catiaroi. Once they choose to fight against the Catiaroi, you should have a bonus modifier for having the same enemy. This way eventually you will be able to establish a Non-Aggression agreement. This should keep the North occupied with Catiaroi.

In the South, try to gain the support of Tylis by getting them to war against Bithynia. This should keep the South occupied with Bithynia.

In the West, Tribalii and Antigonidai. Tribalii are the easier target. Antigonidai are considerably harder since, they have a network of alliances. My suggestion to you is send an agent over to Sparta and Athens to get them to break-off from Antigonidai. Once, the network of alliances are broken you can begin your assault on Antigonidai and Tribalii.

How to expand?

This is very difficult since you are surrounded by enemies, meaning attacking with an army will leave your own settlement vulnerable to other factions. If you attack Tribalii, Antigonidai or even Tylis will take your capital, and vice versa. So the best strategy is to keep you kingdom small. It is easier to defend a smaller kingdom than to defend a larger one. Multiple fronts occur when the size of a kingdom is too great, therefore sharing borders with many nations that have many options and targets to attack. Try to weaken the enemy. Odrysian gain 50% reduction in mercenary recruits. This means you should take full advantage of mercenaries and disband them at the end of a turn. This means you will never have a standing army but you will have a better economy by avoiding an expensive military upkeep.

To get a sizable mercenary army your idea of economy changes. It is no longer important to have a higher income per turn that is required to maintain huge standing armies. It is rather better to have a bigger reserve. How to get a bigger reserve with low income per turn? It's simple! Sack! Sack! Sack! Kill off any enemy armies! Then retreat back to your region and activate ambush stance and replenish your troops, be sure to disband your mercenaries. If you can't retreat to replenish (check your movement range before you issue the order to retreat), then use raid stance to reduce any military upkeep. Basically dance back and forth in between choke points of your border.

Sacked it last turn? Sack it again this turn! Each sack gives your 1,500 to 3,000 denari that is more than the regular income of most starting factions. Accumulated wealth can be used to buy the loyalty of other neighboring factions.

Soon enough your enemies will spend more time spending their limited income on repairs and raising new armies will be a lot slower. This is when you can concentrate on expansion knowing that the nearby factions are too weak from the constant raiding and sacking.

Last but not the least, you see a nation wiped out that is in close proximity to your location, try to liberate them and gain a valuable military ally. Say if Antigonidai wipes out Tylis, liberate Tylis and use them to combat the Antigonidai.

Get the Night Commander Skill!

Yes this is very important to wiping out armies and creating a huge numerical advantage. Especially when dancing between borders. Enter enemy territory pick one of their most vulnerable armies, activate night battle, defeat and route them, retreat back to your own territory, ambush mode, replenish. Repeat until there is no standing armies left.

Weaken a Settlement

If you can't win a siege, it is better to weaken the settlement the best you can. Begin the battle manually. Dump all your missiles on the defenders and then manually retreat. This way you save your army from massive casualties while take a free hit at the enemy. Return again the next season and repeat.

*Disclaimer: I have not personally tried the Odrysian campaign yet and do not guarantee this will work. But I am sure it will help out a bit in your approach. I also haven't tried the Weaken a Settlement as I never had to. But I think if the game presents a tough to crack garrison, I could very well see myself employing such tactics!

Interesting idea, will certainly try to use it!

[Summary]

Okay I have tried a campaign and it is certainly harder than most other campaigns I have played so far. Delaying the North from declarations of wars works fine. Tylis is apparently already friendly with you so there is no need to secure your South as much. Tribalii and Antigonidai as expected are the main threats. Tylis and Antigonidai are not in the best of terms, so avoid any treaties with Tylis for the moment.

Turn one recruit three of those melee troops and move them close to the Tribalii border but a little deep into your land.
Turn two once they are recruited declare war on Tribalii and proceed to recruit three peltasts. Most likely the garrison of Tribalii will venture into your lands and attack you in the end turn. 800 of their men to your 700 men, good odds for any good general (will later post a GIF on how to face and army of greater odds). Continue battle and killing as many routing units. Since, they ventured to deep into your territory they won't be able to retreat into their territory. Their survivors are sitting ducks to your full army the next turn. Release any captives you do not want to anger Antigonidai or any other Tribalii favouring faction into declaring war on you.
Turn three kill the survivors. Again release the captives. Recruit as many mercenary (should be three units) possible. March on to take out the Tribalii settlement. Win the battle. Sack the city. Try to negotiate peace with the Tribalii including as many of the following conditions; Non-Aggression, Trade Agreement, Military Access, Defensive Alliance, Military Alliance, etc. You know have secured one threat in the West for the time being. Disband your mercenary, retreat if possible back to your home region to replenish, or if you have battered an alliance you will replenish in Tribalii territory.

The following turns slowly and steadily build your army, build an army of around 10-15 units, begin treaties with Tylis and launch spy attempts on Antigonidai. Request Tylis for you to join war against Antigonidai so that they don't declare war on you and drag all of Hellas against you! Sack Macedonian cities. In the meantime Tylis should do well to take over Macedonian cities. Focus on the North and again on Tribalii.

[DarkInsight]

In the meantime Tylis should do well to take over Macedonian cities. Focus on the North and again on Tribalii.

Wait, so I should let Tylis take Pulpudeva?

[Summary]

Wait, so I should let Tylis take Pulpudeva?

Only if you are unsure about your main province. The importance is defense>offense. If you are unsure about your own holdings do not try to get other settlements. If you are confident after you have subdued the Tribalii, then go for Pulpudeva.

The campaign is specifically hard because the DeI team also modified the income generated by a minor faction and the Odrysian Kingdom is considered as a minor faction. So even if you own the same regions as major factions, like Antigonidai, Sparta, Athens and Epirus, you will still have lesser income per turn. So even though you select normal campaign difficulty, the game is automatically on Very Hard or even Legendary mode for you.

But like I said cautious expansion, is very important. Taking Pulpudeva is amazing because it can be defended well. It has walls being a provincial capital. After taking Pulpudeva, you should be able to take out Pella. But again you have to always be confident that the area you are leaving undefended to acquire new territory is under no obvious, imminent threat.

[DarkInsight]

Okay I have tried a campaign and it is certainly harder than most other campaigns I have played so far. Delaying the North from declarations of wars works fine. Tylis is apparently already friendly with you so there is no need to secure your South as much. Tribalii and Antigonidai as expected are the main threats. Tylis and Antigonidai are not in the best of terms, so avoid any treaties with Tylis for the moment.

Turn one recruit three of those melee troops and move them close to the Tribalii border but a little deep into your land.
Turn two once they are recruited declare war on Tribalii and proceed to recruit three peltasts. Most likely the garrison of Tribalii will venture into your lands and attack you in the end turn. 800 of their men to your 700 men, good odds for any good general (will later post a GIF on how to face and army of greater odds). Continue battle and killing as many routing units. Since, they ventured to deep into your territory they won't be able to retreat into their territory. Their survivors are sitting ducks to your full army the next turn. Release any captives you do not want to anger Antigonidai or any other Tribalii favouring faction into declaring war on you.
Turn three kill the survivors. Again release the captives. Recruit as many mercenary (should be three units) possible. March on to take out the Tribalii settlement. Win the battle. Sack the city. Try to negotiate peace with the Tribalii including as many of the following conditions; Non-Aggression, Trade Agreement, Military Access, Defensive Alliance, Military Alliance, etc. You know have secured one threat in the West for the time being. Disband your mercenary, retreat if possible back to your home region to replenish, or if you have battered an alliance you will replenish in Tribalii territory.

The following turns slowly and steadily build your army, build an army of around 10-15 units, begin treaties with Tylis and launch spy attempts on Antigonidai. Request Tylis for you to join war against Antigonidai so that they don't declare war on you and drag all of Hellas against you! Sack Macedonian cities. In the meantime Tylis should do well to take over Macedonian cities. Focus on the North and again on Tribalii.

Tried to follow your strategy, doesn't work at all.

First try, Macedon declared war and attack my army on Turn 1.
Second try, manage to defeat Tribalii army on the field, they escaped into Getae territory, ignored it as it has few men left, and proceeded to sack Tribalii settlement. Won the siege, but Tribalii just won't sign a peace treaty with non-aggression attached.... End the turn, and found my army stuck (inside red range of enemy settlement), defeat the garrison again along with the 1 unit army enemy has bought. No sack option this time, Tribalii still won't sign a peace treaty with non-aggression. End the turn, and found my army stuck again. Goes into raid mode and end the turn. Previously defeated Tribalii army now returned from Getae and engaged me, along with reinforcement of 2.4k men from garrison. SERIOUSLY WTF? I just sacked the settlement twice and only skipped one turn, how the hell it get 2.4k men garrison back so fast?

[Summary]

Tried to follow your strategy, doesn't work at all.

First try, Macedon declared war and attack my army on Turn 1.
Second try, manage to defeat Tribalii army on the field, they escaped into Getae territory, ignored it as it has few men left, and proceeded to sack Tribalii settlement. Won the siege, but Tribalii just won't sign a peace treaty with non-aggression attached.... End the turn, and found my army stuck (inside red range of enemy settlement), defeat the garrison again along with the 1 unit army enemy has bought. No sack option this time, Tribalii still won't sign a peace treaty with non-aggression. End the turn, and found my army stuck again. Goes into raid mode and end the turn. Previously defeated Tribalii army now returned from Getae and engaged me, along with reinforcement of 2.4k men from garrison. SERIOUSLY WTF? I just sacked the settlement twice and only skipped one turn, how the hell it get 2.4k men garrison back so fast?

Ya that settlement garrison replenishment rates is a bit absurd in this mod, I'll give you that. As for the turn by turn advice. I did multiple campaigns to test it out, it works! Make sure you don't ally with Tylis or do ANY agreements with Tylis, Macedon will hate your living guts for it. Try to not displease Macedon at first. Focus on the triballi an do not go around killing their survivors, instead free them so Macedon's opinion of your faction improves and the less likely they are to do a DoW on you. Anyways campaigns are not always generic although the starting is most often generic. Oh and play your campaign on very easy. Minor factions in DeI get a HUGE and I mean HUGE disadvantage. Currently DeI isn't tuned for the factions released by the latest DLC: Pirates and Raiders. So umm, yeah its not going to be easy that's for certain.

[FlashHeart07]

Ya that settlement garrison replenishment rates is a bit absurd in this mod, I'll give you that. As for the turn by turn advice. I did multiple campaigns to test it out, it works! Make sure you don't ally with Tylis or do ANY agreements with Tylis, Macedon will hate your living guts for it. Try to not displease Macedon at first. Focus on the triballi an do not go around killing their survivors, instead free them so Macedon's opinion of your faction improves and the less likely they are to do a DoW on you. Anyways campaigns are not always generic although the starting is most often generic. Oh and play your campaign on very easy. Minor factions in DeI get a HUGE and I mean HUGE disadvantage. Currently DeI isn't tuned for the factions released by the latest DLC: Pirates and Raiders. So umm, yeah its not going to be easy that's for certain.

Got any ideas for Tylis? You start out at war with Macedon and they seem to have endless amounts of units they try to ram up your arse at any given chance. It is possible to hold them back by ambush attacks but as Diadochiwelike wrote. "Be agressive, nobody ever conquered large pieces of territory by being nice, cuddly and friendly. Except for the Ewoks maybe." And the problem I seemed to run into each time I did expand was that all the surrounding factions declared war on me. Ended up being hammered by Athens, Sparta, Macedon, Triballi and Ardiae.? You had good ideas for the Odrysian Kingdom perhaps you have some for Tylis? Pretty Please.

[DarkInsight]

Ya that settlement garrison replenishment rates is a bit absurd in this mod, I'll give you that. As for the turn by turn advice. I did multiple campaigns to test it out, it works! Make sure you don't ally with Tylis or do ANY agreements with Tylis, Macedon will hate your living guts for it. Try to not displease Macedon at first. Focus on the triballi an do not go around killing their survivors, instead free them so Macedon's opinion of your faction improves and the less likely they are to do a DoW on you. Anyways campaigns are not always generic although the starting is most often generic. Oh and play your campaign on very easy. Minor factions in DeI get a HUGE and I mean HUGE disadvantage. Currently DeI isn't tuned for the factions released by the latest DLC: Pirates and Raiders. So umm, yeah its not going to be easy that's for certain.

When I first attacked the settlement, it has 1k units. After two sieges and skipping 1 turns, it actually becomes 2.4k units. The settlement actually more than doubles its garrison after two siege defeat and 1 empty turn, this is totally broken.

Haven't signed any treaty with Tylis, started the game with relation with Macedon at -99. It seems that, if my army stay too close to Pulpudeva, Macedon will just declare war and attack me right on first turn.

[Diadochiwelike]

It's kind of weird how you experience the game, when I make a move I go all out.
If the Tribalii don't wanna make peace, crush m.
Be agressive, nobody ever conquered large pieces of territory by being nice, cuddly and friendly. Except for the Ewoks maybe.

I've tried the Odrissians on Normal Difficulty and find Tylis to be a willing ally once I was at war with Macedonia.
Macedonians are at war with Athens and Sparta within 10 turns during my campaign, so their attention is spread. I've built a 18 unit stack which I've marched up to the Tribalii, sacked 'm. Took their settlement the next turn. Replenished my stack, killed off a macedonian stack, took Pella. I did lose my starting settlement to the Getae though but that's the cost of getting Pella. Allied with Athens (Defensive) and non-aggression pact with Sparta.
I find Pella to be a good location to defend and proceed. Tylis now protects your eastern flank whilst the Tribalii settlement is a buffer for northern attacks. Leaves western flank left as a threat since southern flank is the sea and naval units don't really bother me. I actually never made a decent navy in any of my campaigns.

If you need any advice on winning battles with around a 5-1 ratio, just use the Hammer and Anvil tactic. In this case I used peltasts as the Hammer and crappy infantry as the Anvil.

*disclaimer* This Odryssian Campaign depends on allot of luck with AI diplomacy and took me 3 restarts to get it right *disclaimer*

I don't really enjoy the Odryssian Roster so I'm calling it quits now.