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

The Seleucid army are much like Macedon's, the only important difference being the lack of powerful cavalry early on. 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.

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.

Later in the Game, the Hellenic nations of Thrace and the Greek Cities will be another challenge as the Seleucid Empire strives to control the western coast of Asia Minor. However, while war may be waged directly against the Greeks and Thracian's, it is possible to establish trade treaties and alliances, increasing wealth and supplying funds for the armies currently fighting in the East.

You may want to form an alliance with your neighbors immediately, causing most potential enemies to hesitate before attacking. Some of the likely foes can become an friend. Nations such as Parthia (for the present) can be subdued, allowing the Seleucid Empire to concentrate on their powerful southern neighbors. The same theory applies with Pontus and the Greeks.

Its best to have in your armies a backbone of Phalanx Pikeman (better still, Silver Shields Pikes) with supporting archers, cataphracts or elephants (the more upgraded the elephant unit, the better!) and various light cavalry for running down routers and flanking the enemy. In the beginning of the game, both Militia and Greek Cavalry are extremely useful for hunting down Parthian Horse Archers, which can easily cause major causalities to your own forces. If you wish to fight on open terrain against Parthia and Armenia, recruit lots of cavalry, send them around the flanks while your Hoplites or Pikemen hold the brunt of the enemy army in place, then chase the Horse Archers to Hell.