Seleucid Empire Details (RTW Faction)

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Some Seleucid Empire Details

History

The Seleucid Empire (312 - 63 BC) was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan and Pamir.

By 100 BC, the Seleucid Empire had merely only taken few territories. Despite the clear collapse of their power, and the decline of their kingdom around them, nobles continued to play kingmakers on a regular basis, with occasional intervention from Ptolemaic Egypt and other outside powers.

Strategy

Starting off on the far east of the map, all of the Seleucid's cities are spread thin, resulting in an easily split nation. Many eastern factions (particularly the powerful Egyptians) soon become a problem for the poorly defended Seleucid Empire, who strive to crush the faction into submission. It'll seem that everybody will want a piece of you; Pontus will start attacking Tarsus or Sardis if you allow them and Armenia will regularly siege Hatra, and sometimes Seleucia. The Parthians might even make a play for the latter city. The distance between your cities, particularly Seleucia and Hatra in the east and Sardis in the west, will mean that you won't be able to reinforce those cities if they come under attack. Thus, it is vital that you maintain a strong enough standing force in each of those cities so that they can take care of problems on their own. The Seleucids start with enough income to cover a moderate increase in upkeep costs, and as long as you continue to capture cities, you don't have to worry about bankrupting your treasury. Try and secure alliances from as many of your neighbors as soon as you can. Diplomats are your friend, both for negotiating these alliances in the first place and thereafter for bribing off problem armies.

Economy is everything for the Seleucids. Playing the faction, you need to get out the door right away building everything you can, or you risk losing. All of that of course requires money. Secure trade rights with your neighbors as soon as you possibly can. Cities that are capable of building ports will generate a lot of income; I usually build the port upgrade first thing after upgrading a city. You want to establish a solid trade network early on, and so dedicate most of your cities to economic growth, and it will pay off later in the game. I like to capture Salamis from the Egyptians early on (which is on an island just off the coast between Antioch and Sidon) and Kydonia, a rebel city south of the Greek peninsula.

The Seleucid army is like all Hellenistic ones; a backbone of pikemen supported by foot archers and cavalry. Given the time to climb the tech tree, the Seleucid army is one of the best in the game, but it takes a very long time to get there. Furthermore, you can't build solid cavalry units capable of holding their own in a melee until the mid-game. Don't worry about unlocking all the best units early on; you rarely need anything better than Levy Pikemen and Militia Cavalry for your initial wars. Concentrate on your economy, and have the big guns (like Phalanx Pikemen and Cataphracts) ready by the time you need to take on the Greek peninsula and the Romans in Italy.

Egypt will quickly become a problem if you allow them to militarize. While initially possessing an army of Nubian Spearmen and skirmishers, they quickly develop the capacity to produce Nile Spearmen, which beat the Militia Hoplites that the Seleucids can initially field in a one-on-one confrontation, and powerful missile chariots. Add that to the faction's excellent starting income, and you'll see why it's in your best interest to hit Egypt hard and early. Sidon and Jerusalem, south of your starting cities on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, are lightly defended and can be captured mostly by the forces you have at your disposal at the time. Both can be developed fairly easily and used as a staging point to capture the rest of Egypt. Be careful not to sit on your laurels after capturing those two; continue applying aggressive pressure past the Sinai and bribe off any armies that threaten your cities. Diplomats are your friend. I recommend making extensive use of Militia Cavalry during your early campaigns. You can build them earlier than decent missile infantry, and used in bulk, can decimate tightly-packed Egyptian phalanx units. Their Cantabrian Circle special ability allows them protection from Egyptian skirmishers, and once they've exhausted their javelins, they're great as a flanking force en masse or to chase down routing enemy units.

It is much easier then to turn around and deal with your northern neighbors after the southern front is secured. You can send all the troops you used in your Egyptian campaign back to your other fronts since your African neighbors probably won't be too interested in attacking you. You should definitely emphasize buildings in the Egyptian Big 3 (Alexandria, Memphis, and Thebes) that build public order since they get very big very fast. By now, you should have active wars, or at least sour relations/terminated alliances, with all your neighbors. In my opinion, Pontus poses the largest threat to you; Armenia and Parthia are small factions and by now, the cities they normally attack should be able to defend themselves. Conquering Pontus not only rids you of a competitive enemy, but also opens you to the Black Sea for trade and develops that area so you can launch an attack in whatever direction you wish thereafter.

By now, your income should be through the roof, and you should have a couple existing armies. Where you want to go from here is up to you; I like taking on the Romans for a nice challenge and rewriting history (Hellenic armies are sooooo much better than Roman ones.) The early scramble is really why playing as the Seleucids is difficult; once you cross that, it becomes merely competitive and fun.