starting position question

[RollingWave]

Question:

Shouldn't Pulpudeva start out as Odryssian? Phillip II did capture the city and rename it Philippoupolis however it was lost again by the time Alexander died (the name Pulpudeva is a Thracian name ) .

Given that Odryssian Kingdom right now is weak as heck, that seems logical to give them the city. Macedonia at the starting date was really weak, Antigonus II had just grabbed the throne in the chaos of the gallic invasion then promptly lost a major battle to Eprius where he fled in disguise. but with Pella it's a relatively safe position, it should also start in really relationship with Eprius. given that at this point Eprius was occupying it's old capital and digging up old tombs of their kings.

[User29]

No, Macedon is already pitifully weak in AI control, during this period Epirus and Macedon fought over control of Greece but in EVERY game I've played of Rome 2 Athens and Sparta crush them, weakening Macedon would only make things worse.

[RollingWave]

There are many ways to change that, starting gold / base gold / starting army etc.

I'm talking mostly historic reality here, given that Macedon start out without Larissa it means that this was right after Pyhrrus stomped Antonigus II and was about to head towards Sparta. at that point they were indeed pitiful. fortunes turned his way after that .

starting situation probably should be

Macedon : allied with sparta (GOOD relationship) , with Athen as client (meh to poor relationship)
at war with Epirus and Tylis (maybe)

Epirus : at war with Sparta and Macedon, basically everyone, but with large army.

Sparta : at war with Epirus and CRETE, allied with Macedon. has an army in crete maybe (game wise difficult i know.)

Athens : mostly neutral but with virtually no army to speak of.

[Lord Blackfyre]

I love that idea rollingwave, its something I suggested a few weeks back, its the military access with epirus that kills macedon, as the AI will not break it and attack

[Ivan_Moscavich]

I have actually seen macedon attack Epirus once or twice, but it's rare.

Just like I've also seen Athens immediately declare war on Sparta on the first turn. Which is odd considering Athenian-Spartan relations and the pacts they have.

Also just the other day I saw Knossos declare war on Sparta, which was a first.

All in all though, I do like Rolling Wave's suggestion, but something does need to be done about making sure Macedon doesn't immediately die without having to resort to Mitches Major Factions mod and the auto resolve bonus.

[User29]

I'd be all for removing Pulpudeva from Macedon if Macedon and Epirus can up their damn starting strength, This was the era where the Greek Cities fell from Grace permanently and Macedon and Epirus duked it out until Rome came to steal the show. At the moment both Epirus and Macedon fail every single time so I'm strongly against weakening Macedon yet further

[RollingWave]

Yeah, I think it's the Greek cities that's too strong , Sparta at this time didn't have large armies though they still can fight a bit, Athens really had nothing except money to hire mercenaries.

Outside of the siege of Sparta which was A. botched badly by Pyhrrus and B. had Macedonian support, the Greek city states during this period were really militarily underdogs.

[KAM 2150]

Well, at Sellasia, Spartan forces were pretty formidable, but the battle put them in their places fast ; P