Baktria and general help needed

[RainWizzard]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen
Before I loaded up this Mod I thought I was quite good at total war however I have found that I am a complete Noob when it comes to this mod.
I started with my favourite faction Makadon and did quite well through just destroying most of Greece however I then turned to Baktria because of their awesome unit roster and a great experience playing them in Rome 2.
However I seem seriously lost about what to do and I have been beaten several times and need help
1 The event where I pay money is bugged (thank god) however I am not sure if it has bugged the rest of the mission
2 One of my cities is in almost open revolt and requires a massive garrison but there appears no major way of dealing with the cultural tension
3 there seems to be no way of getting greek culture in my capital making it impossible to upgrade to a metropolis making it impossible to get greek culture temples seem to have no effect even after 50 turns and yes I have tried demolishing buildings (This is my most major and pressing problem as the culture in my capital stays exactly at 50% no change after 50 turns
4 I have no idea how to get some of the better units like cataphracts, heavy infantry or elephants is there some reform I have to engage in?
5 around turn 50 without fail a giant nomad army comes from the north and wipes me out I can defeat the first wave but after that I am screwed

Any other general tips about how to deal with this faction or mod would be great as I feel it could be very fun if everything was explained a little better.
Thanks

[Seljuq Prince]

look unofficial modding section for the fix

[RainWizzard]

I have thank you and now I have forced the Selukcids to recognise me however I need greek colonists which I cannot get because I cannot change my culture.

[Bingbangbong]

I've been playing Baktria using 2.01 and B0gia's submod. The tribute is working properly and culture just increases very very very slowly (After 70+ turns on my Baktria campaign, it had gone up in Baktra, but not even by 10%). You'll get lots of settlers though - way more than you can keep up with through conquests/settler buildings.

My advice on playing as Baktria is to start off slow. You can pacify the one city that is close to revolting by dropping taxes to low and sticking in a game field and temple (i use zeus for law bonus as it also helps fight corruption, which becomes a big issue for income as your empire grows). Just make sure the happiness level is at 75% or higher, as a famine will hit it quite early on, which will knock 5% off contentedness. You'll also want to build mines in that settlement ASAP, as they bring in around 1k mnaii per turn, which is helpful in building up a stockpile of cash. I wouldn't worry too much about settlement happiness, as long as it is 75% or higher, although even at 70% (red face) they won't start rioting. Same applies for all other settlements.

When it comes to the first 50 or so turns, my advice is not to recruit any troops for as long as possible. Send your most expensive upkeep troops to villages as they give free upkeep for 1 unit of ANY type and just focus on building up your economy. It might even be worth disbanding a few units from your Eastern city and Baktra itself. Also try to avoid marrying off too many generals or adopting new ones, as their bodyguards typically have an upkeep of around 500 per turn, which means they will eat into your income if you don't keep their numbers in check and can be a real pain when 5 all come of age inside a few turns.

This should keep you sweet with the Seleukids until you have built up a surplus in your treasury, as if you can't pay the 3k mnaii annual tribute, next winter they will want 9k or declare war on you, which can screw up your campaign pretty badly early on. If you don't have the money, it's sensible to minimise the tab and cancel something you're building to get enough money, then go back to it and pay them.

With regards to starting diplomacy, you have a diplomat next to the Seleukid town to your West. I would use him and offer trade rights for their map info and possibly some money if they can afford it, then send him north quickly to get a ceasefire with the Saka, as you start off at war with them. You can also potentially get map info from them too for it. After that, send the diplomat West and try to get an alliance with Pahlava, as they are really your biggest threat and will be difficult to convince to ally with you. Best bets are negotiating with a captain and trying to make the offer 'very generous', which will probably involve paying them some money. when it is balanced, they seem to reject every time.

You should have 2 spare generals at the start if I remember correctly. I used them to build watchtowers covering my land, so I would be pre-warned about any threats. Realistically Taksashila are unlikely to attack for a long long time, and as long as you keep paying your tribute, the Seleukids will leave you in peace, which means your southern borders are pretty healthy. Your main threats are the Saka in the North and Pahlava in the West. If you can get an alliance with Pahlava, then the Saka are really a bit of a pushover, as they only have 2 camps, which are a long way apart, their economy sucks and a few well placed phalanxes will butcher their cavalry based forces if they attack your cities, as long as you don't auto resolve, which massively underestimates your odds a lot of the time. Heroic victories are pretty easy to come by against them. Pahlava are the ones who will attack most persistently if given the opportunity and using slightly more dangerous armies too, so watch out for them.

When it comes to either attacking or defending, the key to it is speed with Baktria (at least as long as you are paying tribute to the Seleukids). It's best to wait until Winter to recruit the main bulk of any army, as during all other seasons, you only get one recruitment slot (in Winter it's typically 4-6 slots). Also only recruit as many troops as are strictly necessary to capture a settlement. Roads are essential to reducing movement times, so make sure they're upgraded early and it's best to attack immediately, as opposed to wasting upkeep money sieging. (An army of 2 royal guards, 4 phalanxes, 2 iranian archer spearmen and a general costs approx. 3500 mnaii upkeep per season and that's not even half a stack of troops!). Siege a town with that army for 5 turns and you'll have spent 17,500 mnaii on upkeep costs and still probably have to fight a battle at the end of it, not to mention the money spent while travelling, which is painfully slow in the East of the map.

When it comes to actually expanding, my preference is definitely to take the Kush mountains to the South and move into India. The 3 rebel camps/town to your north might seem lightly defended, tempting targets, but they are in reality a bit of a money drain, and act better as a buffer against Pahlava and the Saka, who will fight it out over them while you invade the larger settlements in the South. Similarly, neither the Saka, or Pahlava have any territory really worth seizing unless you want to drain money conquering and defending camps with a maximum income of 1k per turn until you've taken the entire northeast of the map. The Saka will also horde upon losing their last city, and spawn several stacks, who will likely just massacre whatever army you just took their city with. Same might be true for Pahlava as they also start out as nomads, although that might change after they get reforms.

When it comes to governance, it's best not to have a general in every town, but only in the largest cities/conflict zones. This is because their upkeep of 500 mnaii per turn will pretty much eradicate any income, especially if there's another unit garrisoned there. For example a camp with 1,000 income garrisoned with 1 general and 1 phalanx would actually only give you a profit of 125 mnaii per turn. Unless the general boosts trade by 500 mnaii per turn, or is necessary for defence against attackers, then they are better put to use elsewhere. When it comes to garrisoning a city strongly enough to stop it revolting, I typically take troops just one square out and see the effect. If happiness plunges I slowly put them back until order is restored. It's best to use cheaper units for garrisons in non combat zones as free upkeep units are still slightly glitchy (although they're tied to the native/indigenous buildings and also polises/metropolises, but seem to be capped at 2. Baktra gives free upkeep to 2 standard Greek hoplites and I think after upgrades the other 2 cities give free upkeep to 1 unit of Iranian archer spearmen. Apart from that javelinmen are probably one of the cheapest available units for garrisons, although I don't know how they fare compared to the native Greek phalanxes, which are also pretty cheap and have 240 as opposed to 150 men in each unit, which should make them better as a garrison (order bonus is linked to the number of troops, so 1 unit of 240 is more effective than 2 units of 100 men). They're also better in a combat situation than javelinmen, who are little more than walking targets on their own.

With regards to conquering rebel settlements, a good tactic I use is to let the AI conquer them before you. They will often kill off a full stack of rebel defenders, before marching off and leaving the town with 1 or 2 units as a garrison. If you don't want to go to war, Baktria have a strong enough economy that as long as you aren't bleeding money through unit upkeep costs, you will probably even be able to buy settlements using your diplomat. This is more successful than bribery, although it can be pretty expensive, and you will need to make sure you have some men nearby to garrison the town and prevent a rebellion before your armies can reach the place and restore order.

When it comes to culture bonuses, I wouldn't worry too much about the slowness. You can achieve a military reform just through the building tree in Baktra, but it requires a huge city (24k pop) and the first land reform (make sure you don't build the massive farm first, as it cancels the build option allowing the reform and can be built later anyway).

If you want the same kind of units with a better economy, I'd recommend playing as Arche Seleukeia as they have most of the same troops, but a faster game to get into, even though they have substantially worse disorder problems with their starting cities than Baktria, with at least 2 revolts that seem completely unavoidable.

Hope that all helps and best of luck playing a winning game as Baktria.