Seleucid campaign

[Allexei]

Hi, I know you guys are working hard and I don't wanna be a bother, but I'd like to know if the fact that the Seleucid campaign starts with income lower than its cost is on purpose? I've disbanded my entire army and I'm barely above 0. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that every single Seleucid controlled region is an autonomous kingdom. While I don't mind difficulty, I can now literally not get past turn ten as I get obliterated by all my satellites, the Ptolemaics and the Galatians. So ummm... yeah, would it be possible to tone down the difficulty a bit?

[Petellius]

we'll look into it, though its good to know its not ridiculously easy anymore. Might just bump up a few things for Seleucids, give them some extra starting trade ect.

[Swarbs]

Seleucid economy seems ok to me - the vast amount of autonomous kingdoms mean you can bump taxes to max without a major problem. Then just use Antiochus to conquer Myra and Ephesus by sea, disband the expensive companion cavalry (and elephants after conquering the two cities), build resource buildings everywhere and you will be in profit by turn 4.

The bigger issue for Seleucids is that three regions (Issatis, Susa and Harmosia) have building slots which seem to be occupied, but don't have a building. So you can only convert them into Greek colony farms. If those slots were fixed with income generating buildings this would probably reduce the size of their starting deficit, and some of the food shortage in Makran. Screenie below.

[Allexei]

I tried that, okay I can breathe a bit but it took some serious luck just to stabilize the east. Although I agree that fixing the missing building should at least alleviate the financial unease, I still think maybe having one or two trade resources buildings at the start wouldn't hurt either, starting with 500-1000 income would probably be ideal. Also for the life of me I have never figured out how to recruit Galatian royal guards, any tips?

[Swarbs]

That's pretty historically accurate for the Seleucids. Having such a big empire should involve problems of stability, particularly given how troublesome Bactria and Parthia were.

I think starting with positive income would make the Seleucids massively OP at the start. Imo every big civ should have its own unique problems to overcome to prevent it being too easy - Ptolemy has PO problems, Rome has multiple enemies, Seleucids have cash problems. That's a positive for me - means you have to adapt to each civ rather than pursuing the same boring build and steamroll strategy.

[RedGuard]

^above explanation would actually make more sense if the campaign got harder as Parthia took away your eastern provinces, but all they do is sit there for hundreds of turns as does baktria. This is a giant problem for anyone trying to play the campaign historically, the seleucids will always still be there and be powerful in the late game while the Ptolemies are doomed to fall apart and get conquered by Axum or Kush.

[Valerias]

The problem with Parthia is that when the game starts they have an amazing relationship with the Selucids. Instead they should be a satrapty but at -100 so that they rebel against the Selucids.

[RedGuard]

The problem with Parthia is that when the game starts they have an amazing relationship with the Selucids. Instead they should be a satrapty but at -100 so that they rebel against the Selucids.

that would help a lot, but I think Parthia's ai also prefers defense over attack for some reason. in a seleucide game you can lay seige to their capital and they will never sally out to fight you allowing you to just starve them out. They should be a force to be reckoned with, perhaps they should be given the same ai and funds as the Cimbri confederation and other rebel uprisings, that seem to create large empires spanning the map. Also perhaps a script where if a eastern province rebels it joins the Parthia faction and has its culture immediate converted to eastern or parthian. Thats video gamey I know, but its one way to rectify the large undefended and profitable lands in the east that the Seleucids never lose.