Campaign Guide For Seleucids

First of all, I'd like to say that this guide is probably not the best out there. I am sure that there are other guides out there for the Selecuids, and that this is just MY WAY of how to begin a campaign as the Seleucids. So, let's get started.

When you first start, you'll notice that most of your satrapies are very hostile against you. We don't want to fight them, because if several of them leave you, they may form alliances, and should you go to war against them, you'll be fighting many factions, and you don't have the army to do that early in the game. Therefore, to increase relations with them and maintain peace, we are going to give money to the satrapies that are most hostile with us. A small sum of money every turn will increase relations quickly between you, and you will not have to worry about fighting them. You will also notice that you are at war with Qidri. Rather than acting and taking their settlement, chances are they will offer a peace treaty, and possibly even a sum of money. Overall, they are not a real threat early in the campaign.

NOW DON'T BE SCARED

In the first turns, you should be learning military techs. I always research up to "Hoplite barracks". This will give you Royal Peltasts, Thorax Swordsman, and Thorax Pikemen (which are extremely good). I immediately get rid of my navy, because at the beginning of the campaign, a navy is rather useless. I also get rid of my second army, keeping only one, because right now, that is all you need. You should focus on getting one full stack army.

Rather than attacking Egypt right off the bat, we're going to slowly upgrade our cities, upgrading the buildings that will generate more wealth for us. While doing this, we are going to give small payments (not large ones) to our satrapies. Again, these are small payments, small ones because if we give them too much money when we gift them, we will not have enough money to upgrade buildings and maintain a full stacked army.

So, after 15 or so turns, your relations with your satrapies has greatly increased, and you have a full stacked army with some Pikemen, Persian hoplites, some Karian Axemen, and perhaps even some Royal Peltasts. You're going to move your army in and declare war on Egypt. The first city you will take will be Jerusalem. Before moving my army in, however, I always use my spy to "incite unrest" in the cities, and occasionally a rebel army will spawn, and will usually give Egypt a hard time.

Once we have taken Jerusalem, we are going to take Petra, and then Alexandria, and the rest of the Egyptian cities, making sure that we maintain good relations with the Qidri, because they are more powerful than they appear. By the time you have taken Alexandria, you should create another army, stacking it with Royal Peltasts, light cavaly, and Thorax Pikemen. Your first army will take care with the remaining Egyptian settlements, while your second army moves into Libya, taking the province.

Once we take Egypts last settlement, rather than occupying it, we are going to make Egypt a satrapy. At this point, your other satrapies will be at least neutral, some very welcoming, and we will offer money to the Egyptians just like we did with the others early in the game. Why make Egypt a satrapy? Well, this is a bonus objective in one of your missions, but they will also help you take Meroe and Aksum later in the game.

Back to our second army. After taking Libya, we are going to move into Phazania, taking the province. Once we have control over this province, we are going to build a third army. This army will help us when we expand into Africa and Mauretania. A war with Carthage will definitely make the Romans happy, and it isn't to hard to form a military alliance with them once you're fighting Carthage and the Libyans. However once you have control over Carthage and Libya, attacking the Romans is recommended, mostly because Italia and Magnea Gracia provide great income each turn.

After we have taken Africa and Mauretania, we are making quite a bit of money. You shouldn't be giving any more money to your satrapies, because at this point, you should have good relations with them. After our third army has been fully stacked, we are going to use our two armies in the West to take Magnea Gracia and Italia, sending a Spy and a Champion as well, to bring public order down in the Roman cities, and to inflict damage upon their garrison armies. Magnea Gracia and Italia will provide immense income for your glorious kingdom, and this extra dough will be used to upgrade our cities. However, make sure that you are always saving money, as you never know when you will need to build more armies, due to civil war, or if you are fighting a war on many fronts.

Now that you have control over the East coast from Syria to Africa, and have Italia and Magnea Gracia, we are ready to push forward and attack the Hellenic factions from two fronts. We are going to focus on Sparta first, and then Athens, Macedon, Epirus (if they are still around), and then Tylis. This doesn't mean that you declare war on each of these factions at once, no. We are going to gradually take each of them out, one by one, making our job a whole lots easier.

Now that you control about 25% of the campaign map, let's talk about technologies. In the beginning of this campaign, you were to learn Military techs, up to Hoplite Barracks (which give Royal Peltasts, Thorax Pikemen, Median Cavalry. There is no point in going for Royal barracks, in my opinion, as Hoplite Barracks provide well enough soldiers to conquer any faction. Anyways, once you had learned Hoplite Barracks, you should have moved onto the Construction techs, learning all of these techs, as they greatly help you upgrade cities, thus making more money. Once you have finished with the Construction techs, move onto Economy techs. In the Economy techs, you should learn most of these, considering that some of the buildings that become available make a lot of money.

Hope you enjoyed! Have other ways beating Seleucid campaign? Post in comments section!

MONEY MAKING TIPS:

- Trade with everyone you can. Seleucids produce Silk and Glassware, which is what pretty much every faction wants. Trading will also increase relations with the faction you're trading with, so a non-agrression pact won't be hard to reach.
- Don't buy buildings you don't need. For example, if you control a province or settlement, and the happiness rating is very high, rather than erecting a building that helps with Public order, save your money, and put it somewhere else needed, such as if you need food.

EARLY GAME SATRAPY TIPS:
- If you're declaring war on a faction and you have bad relations with some satrapies, make sure to uncheck the "Call allies to help you" box. Your satrapies are already mad at you, asking them to help you in war will only make it worse, and chances are they will leave you and attack..
- As I said earlier in the guide, give your most hateful satrapies low amounts of money each turn for a few turns until they are Neutral with you. There's no need to give all your money to them.

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