Opening Moves – Parthia

By Adder.

This tutorial was written on the hardest difficulty level. It applies to all difficulty levels, however.

Parthia is one of the most difficult civs in the game, especially in it’s early stages. It’s three settlements are so far apart that you basically have three separate armies and they have to attack different cities. This can be good as your starting units are pretty strong. The units you can create early are not strong at all. Horse Archers, if used correctly, can be devastating, however.

For your first turn, train a unit of Peasants in Arsakia and Susa. Train a unit of Horse Archers in Campus Sakae. Build a Shrine in Campus Sakae and Susa. Build roads in Arsakia. Move your Spy near Susa towards Selucia. Move your army in Susa towards Selucia and hire all the mercenaries you can. Adjust the taxes in Susa as needed. Move your armies in and near Arsakia towards Phraaspa. Move your diplomat near Arsakia towards Selucia. Your turn is over.

Move your spy into Selucia. Lay siege to Selucia. Chances are the Selucids have moved almost all their army out and towards the west. Lay Siege. Readjust your taxes in Susa . Lay siege to Phraaspa, you should be able to win the battle easily. Enslave the populace. Move your units out of Campus Sakae and towards Campus Alanni. Adjust the taxes as needed there and train another unit of Peasants. Continue to move the diplomat. Your turn is over.

Move your army in Tribus Sakae towards Campus Alanni. Assault Seleucia and Enslave the populace. Continue to move you diplomat South. By now you should have a matured heir. Move him to join your army in Phraaspa. Your turn is over.

Continue to move your army towards Campus Alanni. Build a Trader is Susa. Move your diplomat to Seleucia. Build a unit of Peasants in Phraaspa. Your turn is over.

Lay siege to Campus Alanni in the North. Build a Shrine to Zoroastra in Seleucia. Move your army in Phraspa (excluding the Peasant unit) towards Artaxarta. You may meet an Armenian army. Fight them, if you don’t just continue towards the city. Recruit a unit of Peasants in Seleucia. Move your Diplomat in Seleucia towards Hatra. Your turn is over.

At this point all your cities are making profits and you control two…almost four new cities. Up at Alanni you will have to wait the enemy out because you have no soldiers that can breach the walls. You will most likely be attacked by them but you should be able to win. Taking Artaxarta should be a breeze. Your troops are far superior. Down in Seleucia you’ll have to decide if you want to take Hatra now or wait for a while. Personally I think you should take Hatra and then hold it. The Seleucids and the Egyptians are tough opponents and Parthia is still at a point where it can no recruit the best of units. After taking Artaxarta I advise going on and taking Kotais. Then you might want to build up a bit since the money should be flowing in. Eventually going into Asia Minor would be a good idea. Good luck!