I've started playing again with the release of 2.35 and am very pleased with the progress. The biggest improvement is one I have not seen in the changelogs: the AI is smarter and more agressive early on. Whether this is an intended change or a side effect of other changes I know not. My new Hayasdan game in 2.35 has been a challenge from year one and is living up to it's "nigh impossible" difficulty rating. The AI has landed troops on my shores with boats, used spies to unlock gates and teamed up with allies to take my cities. Very impressive.
So I thought I would try a western faction for once and started a new game as Koinon Hellenon. I've tried it about 5 times and, like clockwork, Epiros takes Sparte every time on the second turn without even besieging it, using elephants to destroy the gates. Korinthos stubbornly refuses to sally against my siege, and Makedonia plays smart and aggressive. I usually loose the Greek peninsula by turn ten and a lot of FMs die trying to defend it. Several strategies that have not worked: offering a ceasefire to Epiros on turn one (they happily accept then attack anyways), fighting a bunch of pitched field battles on turn one to whittle down the wandering enemy stacks, using spies to break into Korinthos (I take it with moderate loses but can't hold it) and reducing difficulty from my usual vh/vh to just h/h (strangely doesn't make much difference).
Has anyone else had this happen? Does anyone have a good game plan for very early KH?