Mithridites vs Sulla vs Marius

[Jagger2013]

Ok, I think I have made it though 3 years now as Mithridites facing Sulla. Outside of the first year, I have not been pressed hard. In fact, I finally counterattacked and have captured almost all of Greece and could easily invade Italy...but I won't. Unless something unusual occurs over the next couple years, I will win with a huge VP total. My conclusion is that Sulla can't win without a navy. Control of the seas gives Mithridites too many options for counterattack and prevents Sulla from entering Asia Minor. And once civil war breaks out, Sulla is fighting on two fronts.

This is a very interesting scenario. Sulla and his veterans clearly are the dominant military force. Yet he can't win without holding territory and his veterans are not enough to do the job.

In terms of advantage, it seems Mithridites is the easiest side. While Sulla and Marius only receive small VPs for Greek stategic locations, Mithridites receives huge VPs for the same locations if he can hold or recapture Greece. And Mithridites can retake Greece unless Sulla decides to ignore Italy. In which case, he may lose to Marius. I just don't see how Mithridites can be defeated unless Sulla and Marius cooperate in defeating Mithridites first before the civil war. Yet Marius has very little incentive to cooperate with Sulla because as soon as Mithridites is defeated, then the militarily superior Sulla takes out Marius. Marius does not want Mithridites to win but if Mithridites is destroyed, then Sulla can concentrate on Marius. Both Marius and Sulla really have some no win tough dicisions to make unlike Mithridites.

This is must be a really insane scenario to play PBEM. Probably a lot of fun. I think I will see if there is any AAR's out on the scenario.

[Jagger2013]

After my very easy victory as Mithridites, I finally tried playing Sulla against the AI. I had my doubts as to whether I could win as Sulla against the AI and sure enough, my first real attempt was a complete disaster. My armies were destroyed both in Greece and Italy relatively quickly. I really had to rethink my strategy and tried again. I used a lot more patience and caution in my last attempt and actually achieved a decisive victory by mid 85. I was very surprised.

And now I wonder if Sulla can win against human players playing Mithridites and Marius. I am beginning to think it might be possible. So has anyone played Sulla sucessfully to victory in a PBEM game? Or even simply kept a very close game vs human players?

[dpt24]

I'm not sure what was going on but Sulla is one of the easier factions to play. You just have to accept losing Italy. As for Asia you need to be mindful of supplies and use the legion/Sulla edge to destroy the Pontics and gain morale. If you do well enough you may want to consider the peace offer that in real life Sulla accepted. You do have to go to Italy sometime though so keep that in mind and keep in eye on the turns you have left. When you do leave a small force (two legions?) with Lucullus and take the rest to Italy. Metllus, Crassus, and most importantly Pompey will eventually spawn with some troops, though Pompey's are the best (only legions). The Marius faction will potentially have a lot of troops but they are not nearly as good as Sulla's. Make sure to grab a city in Italy quickly so you can fall back if the Marians and you fight and lose too many troops.

[Jagger2013]

dpt, your strategy sounds similiar to mine when I beat the AI. I found another old thread which discussed this scenario and it seems the consensus was that Sulla was absolutely dominant vs the AI and humans. Which makes me wonder if the scenario has been tweaked since the earlier thread or if I am just that bad a player. My experience against the AI was that Mithridites was very easy, while Marius and Sulla were both difficult. Maybe the scenario has been tweaked.

Well, on to the Great Mithriditic War.

[dpt24]

There was some tweaking but I played it very recently and had that result. Make sure you use Lucullus to get as many ships as possible and give him some experince as he's a very tough subordinate. I have noticed AI Sulla struggles. As for GMW playing as Sertorious is fairly easy and Rome is fairly hard. If you're playing as rome realize that in real life Rome had to send reinforcements to Pompey, and that it took awhile before Pompey and Metellus were able to be sucessful against Sertorious. Even then it was only after Sertorious was assassinated that his side lost. Don't let Spartacus take Rome (AI Rome loves to do it) and remember you get Crassus for a price and if need be he can reinforce you.