Opening Moves – Greece

By Adder

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

The Greek City States are rather challenging to play as. They are separated and seemingly without a foothold on anything. This is right however it is also wrong. They can unite Greece successfully and mount an attack on Asia Minor bringing Greece back to it’s former power.

Objectives:

To unite Greece and create a strong foothold in Asia Minor for a later invasion. Sicily is not a good option. The Scipii will quickly overwhelm you and the resources you wasted there will no longer be usable.

First turn

Buildings to Build:

  • Pergamum – Shrine to Aphrodite – I like the idea of building a Shrine to Aphrodite here because it’s a one turn building and it increases population growth, Pergamum will be an essential city later when Asia Minor is ready for conquest.
  • Sparta – Large Temple of Nike – You can already build some good military units in Sparta and increasing their experience and making the town happy at the same town is great.
  • Thermon – Barracks – You’re going to need to build some semi-quality units here, the Brutii will soon attack and you have to worry about the Macedonians as well.
  • Rhodes – Shrine to Athena – A good temple building.
  • Syracuse – Nothing – In face I’d recommend deleting the buildings you have there (Not yet though!)

Units to train:

  • Pergamum – Militia Hoplite – Best unit you have right now and they’ll be helpful for capturing the nearby rebel cities.
  • Sparta – Hoplite – Good, strong military unit, you’ll need a lot of them soon.
  • Thermon – Peltast – Best unit you can build, and you’ll need them.
  • Rhodes – Peasants – You’ll want to be able to leave a garrison when you move your troops on Rhodes to either Asia Minor or Greece.
  • Syracuse – Nothing – In fact you’ll soon be moving the units you have there away to Greece.

First turn moves:

  • Diplomat near Pergamum – Move right towards Sardis, an alliance to Selucia would be great.
  • Diplomat near Syracuse – Nothing or head towards Lilybaeum, an alliance with Carthage could be helpful later but it’s not something that’s needed.
  • Ships near Rhodes – Move to the west side of Rhodes, you’ll be moving most of your units of Rhodes and better ship position is always nice.
  • One of the ships near Rhodes – Move towards Syracuse, you’re off to rescue the troops! All troops in Sparta not including one unit of Peasants – Lay siege to Corinth, it will soon be yours!

That’s it for your first turn, lets see what everyone else does!

Turn Two

Merge your new Hoplite made in Sparta with men sieging Corinth, more men couldn’t hurt. Now attack! The battle should be pretty simple to win, you have more men and they are better trained. Enslave your new cities populace. Build a Shrine to Athena in Corinth.

Continue moving the units you were moving last turn. Negotiate with Carthage and Selucia. Then move the diplomat on Sicily towards Messena. Do whatever you see fit with the diplomat on Asia Minor. Continue to move the ship towards Sicily.

Buildings to build:

  • Pergamum – Roads – As before you’ll need them later.
  • Rhodes – Communal Farming – A better economy couldn’t hurt.

Second turn moves:

Take the units you have garrisoned on Rhodes, minus the Peasants, and move them, you have two choices, Greece or Asia Minor. I’m going to choose Greece as they’ll help out a lot and because I’ve just established an alliance with Selucia. If you have enough money I advise training more units in Greece.

That’s it for your second turn.

Turn three:

Buildings to build:

  • Thermon – Trader – Economy will benefit.
  • Corinth – Market – Same as above.

Continue your previous moves. The screenshot shows where your troops from Rhodes should land and merge with your units from Corinth. Lay siege to Athens.

Attack Athens. Enslave the populace and build a Trader. Retrain all the units you can and train a unit of Peasants, they will be the cities garrison.

Build a port in Sparta and use the rest of your money to build units on mainland Greece. Continue to move the ship going to Sicily and the diplomat on Sicily nearer to Syracuse.

Your turn is over.

Turn four:

Land the ship near Syracuse, board the ship with everyone, create a group of Peasants and sail towards Thermon. As you can see the Brutii are eyeing the city with greed.

Build a Shrine to Hermes in Themnon and train a unit of whatever you like. Move you units in Athens towards Larissa and train a unit of whatever you like in Athens.

Build Mines in Pergamum and whatever you like in Rhodes, I advise a civil building or an economic building.

Your turn is over.

Turn five:

Continue the move the Sicily ship towards Themnon. Build a market and unit of choice there. Build Mines in Athens.

Lay siege to Larissa with the army from Athens. If you have any new heirs move them toward that army. Also move the unit you created last turn in Athens to the army at Larissa.

Your turn is over.

Turn six:

Build a trader in Sparta, Communal Farming in Corinth and a Port in Pergamum.

Continue the merging moves you made last turn. Around now Syracuse should be attacked. Destroy any buildings you can. Land your units from Syracuse near Thermon. Assault Larissa. Enslave the populace and retrain or train a new unit. Land you ship near Thermon.

You outnumber the Brutii near Thermon and it should be pretty easy to destroy them. Your turn is over.

Well that’s pretty much it. You should be able to take it from here. All your cities are making a profit and Northern Greece, various island cities and Asia Minor are all open for the taking. Good luck!