[Basic Guide, EB 2.3] Baktria

[Shadowwalker]

Basic Guide: Early Baktria
(for difficulty: H/M)

Playing a Baktria campaign has been a fun experience all the time since the first EB II iteration (2.0).
Now – with all the content that was added in 2.1, 2.2 and most recently 2.3 – it’s incredibly intense, fascinating, satisfactory … and of course it’s still fun.

So, coming back after a long, sudden, unexpected and unwanted hiatus just at the right time (one day before the release of 2.3 ), I enjoy EB2.3 immensely.

This post aims to share this enjoyment and to propose trying a Baktria campaign, not least since it is a good introduction to EB 2.3 in general.
Therefore I have tried to include some basic tips regarding EB II – which also means that I need to put in the following disclaimer:


First: wall of text incoming.
Second: heavy spoiler warning!
Third: By reading this post you agree to tolerate any bad grammar, wrong spelling, lousy jokes and most probably lots of information you already know about.

1 “And this is where it starts.” (starting situation, first turn essentials)

Baktria has a somewhat precarious starting position but at the same time this campaign is one of the best - and convenient - choices if you are a turtle like me and/or like to play defensively.
This - without all the markers of course - is your starting situation.

As you can see you start with three provinces. None of them are under any immediate threat (except from roaming rebels of course, the rebels that are around at start already are marked with a red exclamation mark in the picture above).
Even better – while you are losing ~1000 mnai initially due to your large armies and garrisons, it is quite easy to turn this into a substantial profit without disbanding any units and without the need to blitz much. I’ll get back to this in section 3.

Baktria is comparably easy, granted, but there are a few things that you should definitely do at turn 1:


Choosing a heir (via successor script)
You have no really good options at game start, I usually pick Chorapharnes (the governour of Sogdiane/Marakanda) as he is the oldest of the available FMs and therefore will die first.

Building
Only one important thing here – start constructing paved roads in Baktria. That’s crucial since not only the province is very large and you will need the increased movement range of your troops (for example to reach Marakanda within one turn, in case it is sieged) but you will also make an additional profit of about 1000 mnai/turn. As soon as you conquer more of the surrounding provinces this will increase even more.

(General tip: better roads should ideally be built whenever they are available. The larger a province the more important they are strategically. And the more neighouring provinces (not counting sea trade here), the more income you will get from paved roads and highways. This can be way more than 1000mnai per turn!)

If you have the money to spare you can build a game field in Marakanda and/or better farms in Oskobara. I’d recommend to delay both, though.

Watchtowers
Build two watchtowers close to each other in the wilderness northwest of Oskobara.
Do the same to the west of Baktria.
See the red dots in the picture above.

(General tip: rebel armies tend to stick to watchtowers if there are any. If you build two of them close enough to each other, the rebel stack will probably just wander from the first to the second (and back in the following turn), therefore not only leaving your province capital alone but also not even causing devastation. If you additionally make sure that the towers are not located on roads, rebels don’t even disrupt your trade.
This could be seen as an exploit – but I prefer to RP it as “Brigands and rebels would not just aim straight for the best defended spot in a province but just raid and harass the outlying villages.” Since the watchtowers look like small settlements it makes some sense.
If you want to feel the “raiding” part of this explanation, build just one of the watchtowers. The rebel stack will stick to this tower then, causing devastation.)

The watchtowers at Oskobara are especially important since there is an AI stack in the woods just outside the province which will come down within the first 10-20 turns. And this stack has sometimes ~15 units, most of them archers/horse archers. Without the watchtowers the rebel army will siege Oskobara immediately. Even worse: if you sally (because you somehow managed to have a sufficient garrison in Oskobara that can take on a stack of horse archers) you’ll find out that the rebels sit on the other side of a ford, with mountains behind them.
Fighting that sally will turn into a slaughter – and you’ll lose valuable troops you don’t have to spare in the beginning of the campaign.

Regrouping and moving armies
You may want to pull out Choraphernes, the governour of Marakanda, as he decreases the public order there. Send him to one of the armies instead and use Apollodotos, the governour of Oskobara, in his place.
In general you should aim for 2 FMs per army (which leaves one to govern Marakanda).
Send Demetrios towards the small rebel stack in the mountains east of Marakanda, Diodotos northwest towards the (north-)west of Marakanda.

In case you wonder about the blue numbers in the picture above - "1" is the direction Diodotos should move to, "2" is the location of Demetios' target Alexandreia-Eschate and "3" marks Alexandreia-Paropamissadai, the last initial target for conquest.

Diplomatic overtures
Send your diplomat towards the west. There’s Nisaya (just north of the mountains), the capital of the Pahlava, and you will want to establish trade rights.

Spying
Move your spy past Marakanda to the northeast, until you see Alexandreia-Eschate. That way you can watch the Saka siege that settlement (and hopefully be repelled…).

Recruiting
You don’t have to recruit more units, as your starting armies are quite large and will suffice in the first ~20 turns. (After that you’ll be hopefully making a considerable profit again and can replenish your losses.)
If you insist on recruiting additional units, go for Hoplitai (available in Baktria) and/or Archer-Spearmen (available in Oskobara and Marakanda).

Done! That’s it for the first turn.

2 “I wonder what these guys are up to?” (early unit guide)

I wrote above that Baktria is a good introduction to EB II. That’s not only due to the comparably convenient financial situation but also due to the available units. Baktria has access to a wide range of very different units, including mounted longranged troops, phalanxes, effective skirmishers and even elephants.

The following list is by no means complete, as you will have several dozens of units available from your governments, hellenistic Poleis, hellenistic colonies and native colonies already. And on top of that you'll have mercenaries at your disposal.
I may perhaps sometime in the future get around to comment on the generic hellenistic and native units like Toxotai, Kardakes or Pantodapoi Phalagitai, too, but at the moment I'll just mention a few that are outstandingly important/good.


Pahropan i Balk (elite hoplites)
These men are pure beasts. Think of them as tougher Hoplitai. Incredibly useful – and very very rare, so use them wisely. (Or be bold and let them guard the right flank of your main battle line where the enemy cavalry will hit most likely.)

Vratyakshatriya Kauntikas (Indogreek hoplites)
Slightly better than classical hoplites, statwise, they are your best choice for line infantry after the Thureos reform. Oh, and they look really great, too.

Vratyakshatriya Tomarabharas (Indogreek medium infantry)
Sort of indogreek Hemithorakitai, except the fact that they remain available even after the Thorakitai reform. If you want a heavier solution than the Baktrian skirmisher - here you are.

Payadag i Balk (Baktrian Light Infantry)
In my experience these guys are kind of an "elite levy" skirmisher unit. Sounds wierd? What I mean is that they by far outperform Akontistai, for example. They will falter within moments against heavy infantry or cavalry, and they die in droves when under archer fire - but in exchange they make great flankers and - much more important - they'll be a crucial part of your conquest of India as they are the bane of elephants and a great counter to the chariots, too.

Baktrioi Hippotoxotai (Baktrian Horsearchers)
The Thureopherontes Hippotoxotai of the Bospharans may be a tad better, even, but these guys are great. Unless you send them against heavy cavalry they'll do fine. They're fast enough to chase the horsearchers of the steppe, they're also sturdy enough to give a good account of themselves in a melee. Just don't send them frontally against any infantry that is not just levied rubble and you'll be fine.

Aryanag Payadag (Eastern Iranian Archer-Spearmen)
Until you have enough Saka Archers available these are your best recruitable long range unit (except the Pahlavan archer mercenaries). And even after including the Saka into your royal army, these men are good to have around. They have spears as secondary weapon - and the armies of the steppes tend to send lighter cavalry around your flanks to attack your archers from behind. - Now guess who's standing left and right of the Saka archers...
Aside that use in your field army they are great for garrison purposes.

Saka Guhadurnabara (Saka Archers)
Fantastic long range unit. By far my favourite archers in the east (even before the indians). In a Baktria campaign you should always make sure to get an agreement with some Saka tribes (or in other words: conquer Alexandreia Eschate and Homavarganu Agu). These guys alone are worth the conquest.

Saka Parathubara (Saka Light Infantry)
Great axe-wielding flankers, rather weak against everything they face from the front, though. Oh and don't put them under archer fire - but you expected that, right?

Saka Durnabara (Saka Horse Archers)
In case you are not going for the heaviest solution (Baktrian Horse Archers) - for example because they are expensive - the Saka are providing a great and rather cheap alternative.

Saka Rauka Ashwabara (Saka Nobles)
No match for the heavy cavalry of both Pahlava and Saka, but otherwise a great option for your cavalry. Capable horse archers and capable melee warriours, these guys even outperform your Baktrian horsearchers. You'll only get them from a closely allied Oligarchy in the northeastern provinces, though, and they are quite expensive, too.

Varu (indian elephants)
You can get a unit of these during the Baktrian missions - and if you can successfully finish this mission and thereby keep this unit you will have bodyguard killers at your disposal. Seriously: there is nothing better than a unit of elephants to trample down Saka or Pahlava FMs. Nothing I encountered yet, that is.
They are one hell of an expensive unit, though - and if you expose them to javelins (or amassed archer/slinger fire) you will rather sooner than later have a serious problem. If elephants run amok, they do not really distinguish between friend or foe anymore ...

Baktrioi Hippeis (Baktrian medium cavalry)
Great choice for a medium cavalry, bordering heavy even. But they are still faster than most other medium/heavy cavalry.

3 “These mountains are not big enough for the five of us!” (initial strategy options, including brief mission overview)

Now that we have seen the situation at the start and (some of the) the units available to the Baktrian Satrap and his successors … it’s time to speak about how to put the aforementioned troops to use for the noble goal of supremacy in the steppes and mountains of Asia.

Baktria is surrounded by four potential enemies: the Arche Seleukeia (AS), the Pahlava, the Saka and the Mauryan Satrapy of Taksashila. All of them have to be defeated in order for Baktria to win the campaign.

Of these four, the Arche Seleukeia is the biggest potential threat - but at the start they are no threat at all, since they are allied to Baktria. Oh and Baktria is allowed to pay 3000 mnai tribute every winter, how incredibly generous.
As long as you pay the tribute and don’t break the alliance otherwise (for example by attacking an ally of the AS) you will have nothing to fear from them.

Pahlava and Saka are kind of the same threat – hordes of mounted barbarians, enviously looking at your immensely rich plains and ready to strike at you in case they sense any weakness.
At the same time they are potential enemies to each other and the Pahlavans are looking south towards the AS’ holdings at least as envious as they look east to Baktria.

Taksashila is – at least at the beginning – busy to get rid of the several rebel armies around their starting lands and after that they’re eager to unite northwestern India (the part shown on EB’s map) under their rule.
They become a real threat sometime during this process – once they conquered all the independent provinces around (probably including Arachosia and Gedrosia) they will definitely come for you … unless you find a way to end their alliance with the AS.

At the campaign start Baktria doesn’t border any of those factions, though – there are independent provinces in between. Let’s have a closer look at them and see which ones you should incorporate in the Satrapy of Baktria as soon as possible and why.


Skythia, capital: Alexandreia-Eschate
Mission target (2^nd mission)
Saka units

A.-E. should be your first target as it effectively shuts down access to Haomavarganu Agu, Shahr and Kushi for all other factions. Which means you can focus on other targets without worrying about an open flank.
The conquest of A.-E. is the objective of Baktrias second mission after clearing the surrounding lands of raiding “Saka” armies (which are depicted as rebels ingame), too.
If you want to play defensively, Marakanda and A.-E. form a great northern border, especially since there’s such a long route from the northeastern border (and therefore the Saka starting province) to A.-E. … a route you can completely cover with watchtowers, which gives you at the very least 2-3 turns to prepare for any invasion from that direction.

Paropamisadai, capital: Alexandreia Paropamissadei (starts out as Kapisha)
Mine (1120 mnai)
Indogreek units (with Hellenistic colony)

This should be your second target, as soon as possible. The reasons are numerous.
First: Taksashila sometimes goes for A. P. before they even go for a second indian settlement. If they manage to take it they threaten your homeland and utterly ruin your finances, too.
Second: A. P. has a very profitable mine, providing almost enough income to pay the needed border garrison. Especially after constructing paved roads it will add a lot of trade on top of that.
Third: if you spend one of the colony points you got from the Baktria missions on building the first level of a hellenistic colony here, you will get access to the fantastic Indogreek troops. The Hoplitai alone are worth that investment.
Fourth: Paropamissadai is a very large province that covers the whole southern borders of Baktriane and Oxeiane, which means that you can concentrate your whole defense against Taksashila in A. P.
And when you finally go to war with the Seleukids you will have a large buffer in the south – their troops will need several turns to reach A. P., giving you enough time to react.

Dahyu Haomavarganu, capital: Haomavarga Agu
Mine (175)
Saka units

Third target for the defensive player, just because it is safe (except from rebels). Nothing spectacular about it, though, except that it’s possibly difficult to maintain some order there. May need a Client Ruler.

Sakana Gara, capital: Shahr
Mine (625)
Saka units

Fourth target of the defensive player. As safe as Haomavarganu Agu. Comes with a mine, may be hard to hold, though, due to low public order. May need a Client Ruler. And definitely needs law improvements, otherwise you’ll lose your income from here to corruption.

Arkwi-yapoy, capital: Kushi
Saka units

Should be delayed until later, too far away, too heavily guarded. Don’t wait too long, though. A bug in the Faction Re-Emergence Script means that you perhaps suddenly see Pergamon or the Makedonians in possession of their new capital Kushi. That’s annoying enough but ….
Since the Faction Leader of the re-emergent faction always spawns at the original capital (i.e. Pergamon or Pella) and Kushi has 0% hellenistic culture the province will rebel . . . to the Saka.
And the Saka in Kushi is about the last thing you want to see.

Kangha, capital: Chach
Mission target (4^th mission)
Mine (1190)
Saka units

A great early target for an offensive player.
I do not recommend taking Chach early on, if you want to play defensively, though. It’s a tempting target, I admit that. The mine alone is perhaps worth the hassle. On the other hand: leaving Chach alone enables you to see a Saka-Pahlavan war. Both factions will go for Chach rather quickly and if you are holding that settlement you’ll experience several sieges (by large armies). And while you may be able to fend them off, it will block your troops.
Especially in the first stages of the Baktria campaign you are short on troops – and having to maintain a fourth substantial garrison (aside Marakanda, A.-E. and A. P.) will probably rob you of a field army and perhaps even of an income that allows you to construct the mines (14000) that makes Chach profitable.


Mazsakatai Ubastra, capital: Bukharak
Mission target (4^th mission)
Some Saka and Sauromatae units

Fourth target of an offensive player. See “Chach” for my recommendation. (except the mines, obviously).

Rakhvad, capital: Alexandreia Arachosia
Mines (300 mnai)

Too far away from your realm to be a good defensive spot. Furthermore, both Seleukids and Taksashila are aiming for this spot.
And: if you want to use one against the other they need to have a shared border first. If you sit in between them there's some probability that they'll attack you instead.


So in conclusion here's my strategy for the first ~20 turns:

Conquer Alexandreia-Eschate first, using Demetrios' army. If you were quick to finish the first mission (“Get rid of the raiders!”) with Diodotos you may be able to get the second one (“Conquer A.-E.!”) by turn 4. By that time you should already siege the settlement, though. Just make sure to break the siege and start anew if you haven’t gotten the second mission before the end of the siege.
(The game will not count the mission as successful if you already hold the settlement by the time you get the order to conquer it …).
Your spy should join the sieging army.

While sieging A.-E. with Demetrios, Diodotos should get rid of the two raider stacks (first mission) and then head back to Marakanda. Add at least the two phalanx units and the two hoplitai to Marakandas garrison. The remainder of Diodotos’ army should then head east to join Demetrios in the siege of A.-E. .
Occupy the town - don’t sack or exterminate! Your next mission will be to build the next wall level in A.-E. so reducing the population there is not recommended.

Leave both Phalanx units and at least one hoplite, one archer and the mounted skirmishers as garrison behind.
Moving towards Marakanda and then Baktria, add one of the hoplites from Marakanda, the hoplite and the levy hoplite from Baktria to your field army.
In exchange send Demetrios to Baktria and let the heir Diodotos lead the Royal Army now.

(General tip: Having the Faction Leader outside the capital will decrease the overall loyalty of your family members and thereby increase the risk of rebelling generals.You can counter this by having 2 or more Family members per field army and/or including a spy in the army, but spies are expensive, 250 mnai/turn are quite significant in an early campaign.)

Passing Oskobara, you can move the mercenary hoplites and the archers from there out and to your army as well.
Siege Alexandreia Paropamissadei from the northeast. That way you will have a nice steep hill behind you when the garrisson sallies.
When the enemy sallies, retreat your army up towards the hill, if you have enough cavalry left from your previous battles, try to destroy/rout his archer units (there are 5 of them which are potentially deadly to half of the troops you brought there.)

After conquering Alexandreia Paropamissadei you are set for the early game.
The next moves are building strategic fortifications in Alexandreia Paropamissadei and then the mine, after that build the mine in Marakanda.
If you can, lower the taxes in Marakanda, Alexandreia Paropamissadei and Alexandreia Eschate, to help them grow faster. The earlier you have stone walls, the better.
And paved roads, these will add more income.

(General tip: in EB 2.3 you should always aim to get your settlements to "city" level as soon as possible. Many important important improvements - most notably paved roads, stone walls and 2nd level mines - are linked to "city" level.)

With this strategy you'll have more than enough income to support at least halfstacks of good quality in the three potentially threatened towns and a field army - and still have enough money left for paying the tribute to the Seleukids (every winter season, 3000 mnai) and your more advanced building needs.

Which leads to the last point for this section: what to do with the three colony points you'll receive during the first missions?
In my opinion there is only one strategy to follow here: two of these points have to be spared for the two colony upgrades in Baktria (remember, you need "waystations and garrisons" and a large city (12,000+ housholds) for the third level), and the third needs to be spent at Alexandreia Paropamissadei. That's your only chance to get the Indogreeks early on.

Oh, wait .... missions! I promised to give a brief overview at least.
I don't want to spoil every detail, but here's the general route.

Destroy some Saka raiders that intruded Sogdiane and (the AS province) Margiane.
Then conquer Alexandreia Eschate and build it up.

(Tip: At least these missions you should definitely do to get the colony points. Without these points you are completely dependent on either "finding" enough Poleis in conquered AS settlements which is highly unlikely until way beyond turn 200) or on raising the hellenistic culture in Baktria to 69% without the help of the colonies (which will be a long, tedious wait).
And you will not have any Indogreeks anytime soon, except as rare mercenaries.)

Finally push north and conquer two more provinces (not recommended for defensive players).

4 “Only a dead horse archer is a good horse archer.” (basic tips for fighting your neighbours)

As I am still the worst tactician ever, I will get back to this later. I'll have to search for some certain topics I haven't found yet.

At least I can link you to the most useful army composition guide.

5 “What have the Seleucids ever done for us?” (declaring your independence)

Last not least - independence! Of course it's intolerable to yield to that week Seleukid "king" on his throne some several weeks of travel away in the west.
In order to declare your independence, just stop paying tribute.

(Tip: before doing so, make sure to be allied with the following factions: Taksashila, Hayasdan, Pergamon, Makedonia. That way the Seleukids will lose all their alliances once they declare war to you, sicne they technically "betray" you in game terms.
[In EB 2.3 shared allies seem to always side with the attacked faction, not the attacking.]

This is sort of an exploit, yes, but the EB CAI is rather reluctant nowadays when it comes to AI-AI ceasefires or alliances or breaking an existing, scripted alliance - which means that the AS is secure from many dangers since there are never situations where alliances break due to war between two allies.
Since EB 2.2r I have never seen any AI-AI alliance or ceasefire except of two particular situations (temporary ceasefire between Saka and Baktria before they share a border and temporary ceasefire between Quart-Hadasht and Epeiros early on).
This means not only that the whole "alliance" part of the strategy game is gone (removing decisions like "Can I get to war with Pontos? Nah. Rather not, they're allied to Pergamon which threaten my southern flank then"), it also means that the AS is often growing instead of shrinking, just because most factions seem to be reluctant with an attack on the AS.

General tip: Speaking of alliances - you want to have four alliances yourself anyway, regardless of the faction you play in EB 2.3. That enables you to reach "trustworthy" within ~ 100 turns. The more trustworthy you are the less probably is an attack by neighbouring factions. If these factions are unlikely to go to war with each other anytime soon - all the better. Breaking an alliance - even when forced by two allies clashing - is seriously hitting your reputation.)

After not paying the first time you'll get another demand fourt turns later. If you deny the tribute again, the AS declares war, all shared allies break their alliance with the AS. You have not much time now to prepare for an invasion from the west. Bring some hoplites, some archers and a couple of your fantastic Baktrian cavalry units andyou will easily win this battle.
More dangerous are the assassins that will come for you, so before attempting to break off from the AS you should make sure to:

- have a spy with every field army
- have a spy in every settlement that is either governed by an FM/Client Ruler and/or not that stable public-order-wise. You can recruit only one spy per settlement with at least a level 1 market, though.
(The changelog stated something like "new cap: 2 assassins, 3 diplomats, 5 spies per faction", but I cannot verify this yet. I seem to be able to recruit 1 spy/settlement still).

In order to force the Seleukid Basileus to cede his claims you have to win a couple battles (6 iirc) - which need to be initiated by you and to include at least 11 enemy units (an enemy general seems not to be mantadory).
And you need to conquer two provinces. If they are still AS-held I advice to take Areia and Zarangai.

Caution: Before actually ceding the claim the Seleukid king will most probably offer you to "forgive" you. That is not the route to independence but just an attempt to make you yield before him again and to pay tribute again. So read carefully before accepting any event proposals. (But hey, you're playing Europa Barbarorum. "Reading carefully" should be there one of your basic skills. )

After gaining your independence you'll be able to build factional governments outside the baktrian home provinces, including Basilike Patris in Baktria itself - which enables you to recruit Varu in Baktria now.


Last question for now: when to break off from the AS?
That depends a bit.
If you're lucky like me and the Pahlavans/Sakas are so very busy fighting each other that they forget to come after you you could go a bit earlier. Not too early, you'll want to have a stable economy that allows you a financial surplus even with the trade with the AS.
On the other hand - if you wait too long, Pahlava could finally decide to attack the AS and perhaps be successful in their attack. They often conquer both south and east, thereby cutting you off from the AS lands. (Remember, you need 2 AS-held provinces to get you independence.)

I usually go not earlier than turn 60 and not later than turn 150, roundabout.



That's all for now, in case I find time, I'll expand this. Perhaps.

[Hellenikon]

Excellent guide! It's always interesting to see how others approach their campaign, and i do agree with most of what you said. The way you used watchtowers seems a bit too exploity for my tastes (i know a few exploits, but don't use them), same with the allying with Takshashila/Hayastan/etc. in order to break the seleucid alliances.

However there are a few things i do differently, such as:
- Breaking up with the Seleucids after getting the 3 colonists, that is after accepting the second mission.
- Using spearmen-archers actively as field troops instead of garrison ones, plus recruiting any nezagdar you can get your hands on: those reed shields are gold versus nomads. Same with pantodapoi, they're extremely useful for Baktria.
- I haven't yet played Baktria on 2.3, so i'm unsure just how useful the indohellenic troops are, i used to put the third colony point on margiana, which is the westernmost part of bactria proper, and starts with next to nothing hellenistic culture: a level one colony there helps a lot with public order.
- I don't like bactrioi hippeis that much, because their secondary weapons lack ap. I prefer using FMs as shock cavalry, plus horse archers and iranian cavalry. Truth be told i find the cavalry options for baktria a bit underwhelming, the one i find most useful is the hippotoxotai - they're well rounded and flexible, even if the thureopherontes are better. As bactria i pretty much forget about anvil and hammer, you need to have lots of mobility to deal with the nomads, so phalanxes stay in the cities and cavalry is of the bow/melee kind, instead of shock cavalry.

[QuintusSertorius]

Baktria are missing their Hetairoi-equivalent elite cavalry, they are still to come.

[Shadowwalker]

Excellent guide! It's always interesting to see how others approach their campaign, and i do agree with most of what you said. The way you used watchtowers seems a bit too exploity for my tastes (i know a few exploits, but don't use them), same with the allying with Takshashila/Hayastan/etc. in order to break the seleucid alliances.

However there are a few things i do differently, such as:
- Breaking up with the Seleucids after getting the 3 colonists, that is after accepting the second mission.
- Using spearmen-archers actively as field troops instead of garrison ones, plus recruiting any nezagdar you can get your hands on: those reed shields are gold versus nomads. Same with pantodapoi, they're extremely useful for Baktria.
- I haven't yet played Baktria on 2.3, so i'm unsure just how useful the indohellenic troops are, i used to put the third colony point on margiana, which is the westernmost part of bactria proper, and starts with next to nothing hellenistic culture: a level one colony there helps a lot with public order.
- I don't like bactrioi hippeis that much, because their secondary weapons lack ap. I prefer using FMs as shock cavalry, plus horse archers and iranian cavalry. Truth be told i find the cavalry options for baktria a bit underwhelming, the one i find most useful is the hippotoxotai - they're well rounded and flexible, even if the thureopherontes are better. As bactria i pretty much forget about anvil and hammer, you need to have lots of mobility to deal with the nomads, so phalanxes stay in the cities and cavalry is of the bow/melee kind, instead of shock cavalry.

Thank you for the feedback and the insight.
The Nezagdar are great, ture. But you cannot recurit them in any of the early provinces, you'd need Kwarazm or Nisaya for them which is why I didn't mention them as outstandingly important for the early campaign.
In earlier iterations of EBII I used that third point for Margiane, too. Problem is that you need to destroy the native colony and therefore lose access to crucial troops for the defense of marakanda (P. Phalangitai and the mentioned Archer-spearmen), and instead get troops that are not that useful in siege defenses against heaviest cavalry.
I consider the cavalry options for Baktria quite good. - They are underwhelming only if you expect them to be on par with the Saka and Pahlava (which would be ridiculous in my opinion).
Since I refrain from using more than one, at most 2 FMs per army, I rely on Baktrioi Hippeis and the Saka Nobles for everything the Baktrioi Hippotoxotai cannot handle, and I've never been disappointed. - You need to make sure you have numerical superiourity, granted, and you will need to have spear infantry at hand to assist, but that's part of the fun with Baktria battles. And mobility is key, agreed. That's why I do not use the native phalangites for anything but garisson duty.

I mentioned both the watchtowers and the alliances as exploits for exact that reason - I agree with you: it's both an exploit of the game engine.
On the other hand - if you are a tactician as bad as me, that is not often able to beat far superiour forces, you'll be glad for at least a bit of help at the very beginning when you simply have no halfstack to spare for the defense of Oskobara.
(I didn't mean to say that you should build the watchtowers and then forget about that army for the entire game. - After the conquest of Alexandreia paropamissadai you should take on that army. )

And if someday the AI-AI alliances will work like prior to EB2.2r again (which I cross fingers for), I willgladly remove that whole part of the guide.


@Quintus: Nice hint! Even though I just stated that I'm pleased with Baktrias cavalry options I will not complain if they get some real heavies, too. (Aside the late Kataphraktoi)

[Fregator]

I have some problem as of right now playing Baktria. I started by following the missions given by the Basileus and as I am the agressive type of player i wanted to remove Saka early and get the north est towns to be safe on this side. I succeded/failed as 4 stacks of Saka horde descended on Baktra :S. They took Kapisha and before I could reform a defense in Baktra they took the city which I suppose destroyed the Basilike Patris (I don't remember now if I started with it). I retook it and rebuild as much as I could. After plentifull heroic victory against Takshila elephants I managed to annex the whole Indus river and took my independance from Seleukid rule.

Now I get to the point:

I couldn't build a single greek colony during my game, I don't know if it is due to my capital falling (and rising again like a phenix), and thus Marakanda and almost all my non tributary cities are very rebellous (60% unrest). I can't seem to stabilize the whole region (except Saka land where I built tributary state to get my horseman host). Do you have any tips on how to stabilize all this? The only colony building I can build is local military garnison (which provide troops I would describe as "meh") and I don't think they help getting my cities hellenised.
How can I get colony points now? I failed to take bukhara as the Basileus asked me as I was occupied getting rid of the vicious Indo-sakan rulers of Kapisha :p.

[QuintusSertorius]

You've paid the price of thinking you could blitz the Saka out of existence as an "easy" solution, better to leave them alone.

You can only get colony points early on through succeeding at the missions the Seleukids give you. If you're now independent, then that door is closed. Otherwise you get them from having a Hellenistic Metropoleis, or three Hellenistic Poleis' (the second tier). Local Colonies are not Hellenistic, and convert to Eastern Imperial.

When the AI takes things, they almost always Enslave, which means your polis has probably been downgraded. So you've got a long slog ahead before you can build new polis' or any sort of Hellenistic colony. That means either waiting until Baktra can be upgraded, or going west and taking Seleukid settlements it polis buildings (and I think Europos is the nearest).

[Fregator]

Yes and having the Saka rushing through my mainland while my general and army were marching through the winter was definitively epic. Though they would go westward and do their thing with Pahlava and Sauromatae. After reading the latest post guide on cities I understand that my problem is civil disorder due to culture so it indeed is my problem.
I guessed so for the local colonies, I thought that maybe that was different for Baktria and that they would give me Indo-greek hoplitai but I will just burn them down all then until I can attract some true Makedon.
I got back a Hellenistic Poleis in Baktra and maybe some in the land I conquered from the Seleukids.
If I get 3 hellenistic poleis I will be able to build one greek colony/city every 4 years and with 3 poleis + 1 metropoleis i get 2 every 4 years? My last playthrough were with Seleukids and Epirote so I didn't have such colonsit problems. The funny thing is while I was searching for information on the subject I found an old 2014 post of you complaining about the difficulty to get colonist in Baktria :p

Thanks a lot for the help!

[QuintusSertorius]

Yes, it's cumulative. The more Metropolii and trios of tier 2 poleis, the more colonists you get. Back in 2014, Baktria didn't have missions granting colonists, nor did it have the ability to get them with smaller polis buildings.

[Hellenikon]

@Quintus, i have noticed that the first bactrian mission gives 3 colonists, while the next ones give 1 colonist each. I find a bit odd how the first mission, being the easiest, gives the most colonists. I would prefer if each mission only gave one colony point, because getting three is both unintuitive (nowhere ingame it is stated how many you got) and encourages breaking with the AS just after it. By doing the first mission (saka raiders) and second (taking alexandreia eschate), the bactrian player would be set up already for updating to metropolis, thus i don't think it would be an issue at all.

[Ivir Baggins]

Is there a map available of the provinces where I can build Basilike Arche/Satrapeia/Hyparchia? The guide seems to imply that outside of the Persian empire if I want local recruitment I need to build Laarchias and then polises.

[QuintusSertorius]

Is there a map available of the provinces where I can build Basilike Arche/Satrapeia/Hyparchia? The guide seems to imply that outside of the Persian empire if I want local recruitment I need to build Laarchias and then polises.

Pretty much all the Seleukid holdings plus much of Anatolia and Egypt.

Otherwise yes, your options are either Laarchia (if no polis present) or direct to Hellenic Admin/Supervised Hellenic Admin.

[myarta]

I disagree about the colony points. They are more precious than gold and I stay allied until I've earned all six (iirc? Not with my notes at the moment) of them from the various missions. I'm not sure why anyone would want to break early and deprive themselves of half of them. It will take you well into the 150s or more of turn counts to be able to start producing your own points, so spend another 30 turns as their Satrap to get the rest from the missions. Plus the missions are fun.

Here's how I spend mine:
1: Bactra 2nd tier helcol
2: Bactra 3rd tier helcol

Either start hellenizing Oskobara or save these for Alex-Arios which can be a full Satrapy. If Osko then:

3: Osko 1st helcol
4: Osko 2nd helcol
5: Osko minor polis (you need a minor polis to build a supervised hellenic admin, which is needed to be able to build the 3rd tier helcol. Smash the hyparchy government when you have the minor polis and 2nd helcol)
6. Osko 3rd helcol

Or if Alex, then similar with helcols and a polis if it didn't have one when you take it.

Having two 3rd tier helcols means both provinces will convert up to 70% slowly but surely faster than relying on high influence generals, so they will eventually be Metropolises (something like 150-200 for Baktria and maybe 50+ turns later for Oskobara or later yet for Arios). Then you will be able to produce your own colony points, short of blitzing deep into western Iran to take poleis from AS.

I think it's much better to consolidate into two eventual Metropoleis than to spread a couple helcol1s around even though they give you cool indo-greek units. Instead, of you invest longterm in colonization you can max colonies and poleis across an extended Bactrian and Takashilan kingdom by the time of the Marian reforms. Post-Thorakitai with half Greek recruitment and half Indo-Greek recruitment? Sounds like a recipe for marching to Babylon in style. But that's some serious consolidation and turtling. But no one turtles like Baktria, except for Pritanoi confining themselves to the islands.

[Daelric]

Either start hellenizing Oskobara or save these for Alex-Arios which can be a full Satrapy. If Osko then:

Forgive my ignorance but why Oskobara in particular, as opposed to, say, Marakanda?

[Lyathon]

Any small changes to this for 2.35?

[Shadowwalker]

Any small changes to this for 2.35?

I plan to properly update both this guide and the one for Hayasdan ... as soon as I find time to play EB 2.35.
At the moment there's this bad habit named “real life“ which consumes way too much of my time. I haven't managed to play EB 2.35 yet. 😕

[Lyathon]

I plan to properly update both this guide and the one for Hayasdan ... as soon as I find time to play EB 2.35.
At the moment there's this bad habit named “real life“ which consumes way too much of my time. I haven't managed to play EB 2.35 yet. 😕

I, too, suffer this affliction. Hopefully I can dig into a faction once hols start. Take your time if there's stuff going on irl, no pressure gotta say these (this and hai) are some of the best done guides on here.

[Perroelo]

Can you recruit elephants somehow in 2.35?

[QuintusSertorius]

Can you recruit elephants somehow in 2.35?

Satrapeia and higher governments (which are post-reform) in India will give you native elephants.

[Perroelo]

Thanks! Coming that way haha

[Baharr]

My question is: how can you get the Metropolis in Baktria in 2.35, now that you can't build a helcol_three there anymore? Is the helcol_ref locked behind the thorax reform or do I need Baktria to be a huge city? Because with only a helcol_two it's gonna take decades for Baktria to get that metropolis, even with a near-max influence governor.