posted 04 October 2005 23:44 EDT (US)
Okay, while looking for campaign advice on Parthia saw a lot of posts relating to diplomacy, specifically protectorates.
Protectorates are GOOD if you can get them-- they have a specific purpose. All the territories of a protectorate count towards your overall control. So being a faction with 35 territories and two protectorates with 15 territories combined gets you the win. Why would you want that? Easy-- that far flung territory that rebels on you every third turn? Put it under control of a protectorate-- now it trades with you, and if its reasonably close to your protectorate's capital, stays quiet. All well and good-- how do you get a protectorate? Harder-- your enemy has to be on the ropes. The faction can't have any armies no matter how small in your territory, and you defintely have to be menacing him with an army in his territory when you send in the diplomat. Even then its only about a 50/50 chance-- probably relating to how the politics have gone up until then, but its worth the shot. Protectorates tend to stay truly neutral and not attack you or any other faction (though other AI's will make war on them) unless you get into conflict with some other mutual ally, in which case they almost always ditch you.
Protectorates if not on the outskirts of your empire also make good buffer states. Why/what buffer state? As this is a game btw comp & human, its designed to have the comp go after you. Primarily any AI faction that shares a border with you (physically touching) is going to attack you sooner rather than later. That way the game is not a walk in the park. This is helpful to know when your faction is still relatively small and you don't want to fight certain opponents all at once. Example: You're Pontus and you want to keep Egypt as a friendly sea trading partner? --Make sure you keep the Seles alive and between you until you're strong enough to go down there in force to handle whatever Egypt will toss your way. Until you're ready to make your own move Egypt will be as friendly as you like, so long as there's someone between you.
Of course this means you're skillful to manage the Sels while you're fighting them (not killing them while you gain territory elsewhere-- but not weakening them so much you let Egypt break through from the other side).
The best of both worlds is to have your buffer state be your protectorate and just feed them enough money to fend off the opposition. When you're ready to make your move you'll also likely get a rare (for me anyway) mutliple faction battle on the campaign map as you lift a siege or two off your protectorate.
So, now that I'm semi-clever-- who's got campaign advice for playing Parthia on hard/hard or vh/vh ? I've handled most of the other factions without too much trouble-- but I seem to go bankrupt with Parthia before I can start cranking out decent armies to roll with.
Protectorates are GOOD if you can get them-- they have a specific purpose. All the territories of a protectorate count towards your overall control. So being a faction with 35 territories and two protectorates with 15 territories combined gets you the win. Why would you want that? Easy-- that far flung territory that rebels on you every third turn? Put it under control of a protectorate-- now it trades with you, and if its reasonably close to your protectorate's capital, stays quiet. All well and good-- how do you get a protectorate? Harder-- your enemy has to be on the ropes. The faction can't have any armies no matter how small in your territory, and you defintely have to be menacing him with an army in his territory when you send in the diplomat. Even then its only about a 50/50 chance-- probably relating to how the politics have gone up until then, but its worth the shot. Protectorates tend to stay truly neutral and not attack you or any other faction (though other AI's will make war on them) unless you get into conflict with some other mutual ally, in which case they almost always ditch you.
Protectorates if not on the outskirts of your empire also make good buffer states. Why/what buffer state? As this is a game btw comp & human, its designed to have the comp go after you. Primarily any AI faction that shares a border with you (physically touching) is going to attack you sooner rather than later. That way the game is not a walk in the park. This is helpful to know when your faction is still relatively small and you don't want to fight certain opponents all at once. Example: You're Pontus and you want to keep Egypt as a friendly sea trading partner? --Make sure you keep the Seles alive and between you until you're strong enough to go down there in force to handle whatever Egypt will toss your way. Until you're ready to make your own move Egypt will be as friendly as you like, so long as there's someone between you.
Of course this means you're skillful to manage the Sels while you're fighting them (not killing them while you gain territory elsewhere-- but not weakening them so much you let Egypt break through from the other side).
The best of both worlds is to have your buffer state be your protectorate and just feed them enough money to fend off the opposition. When you're ready to make your move you'll also likely get a rare (for me anyway) mutliple faction battle on the campaign map as you lift a siege or two off your protectorate.
So, now that I'm semi-clever-- who's got campaign advice for playing Parthia on hard/hard or vh/vh ? I've handled most of the other factions without too much trouble-- but I seem to go bankrupt with Parthia before I can start cranking out decent armies to roll with.
