Hello fellow gamers!
The Ancient Mediterranean Seas! An epoch full of myths. Endless coasts to be discovered and conquered. But the ancient empires were also Empires of trade and commerce in search of rare goods and grain to feed their people at home. Here it is: The game series that covers this fascinating era. Move your armies and ships over a vast map and lead your empire to the Golden Age.
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PERSIA vs. GREECE
Here is the story of the two factions that are maybe the most difficult to play: Persia and the Greek city states.
Both face the same dilemma at the beginning of the game: There is not much territory to take control over.
The Persian player can take control over 5 provinces relatively easy. This earns him 1 Victory Point. There are still 9 VPs he needs to look for. There are 4 VPs to be gained by reaching the “Golden Age Status” on the Development Chart. 3 VPs by building monuments and 1 VP if he reaches the “Golden Age Status” on the stability track. That leaves him with 9 VPs. His key to success is: Patience. Play the game keeping a low profile and prepare from the beginning the end game. Nobody will have you on the screen and sees the risk that you will win the game.
Develop quickly, keep a good treasury, don’t execute huge campaigns to take control over territory you can’t keep. Keep the Egyptian player outside your “home territory” and let the others fight against each other. The Greek will be busy taking control over the provinces north of Greece and needs to keep an eye over the Roman player. He will try to use his fleet capacities at best and will be happy if he doesn’t need to fear a Persian invasion.
Once you developed your military to a level no one wants to undertake military operations against you, prepare the endgame. Keep enough money to be able to build quickly 3 monuments and then undertake one decisive campaign to gain control over the necessary number of islands in Aegean Sea to get the missing victory point to win the game. Sounds easy? It is not. You will need 3 “Luxury” merchandises. Within easy reach are exactly three: In Miletus, Tarsus and Troia. Make sure you control these in order to be able to develop your cultural level. Within easy reach are only 5 merchandises that supply your army. These can supply up to 10 legions. But 10 legions may have enough strike power if your military is well developed.
The Greek player has one big advantage from the beginning of the game: He can use his ships to create trading posts. His big disadvantage is, that he will not be able to conquer parts of Persia and with the exception to the territory north there are not many provinces he can take control of. Persia will be happy if there is a silent agreement not to attack each other. Rome will be focused on the fight against Carthage. Egypt is far away and has no powerful fleet.
The Greek fleet must be used at its maximum. Develop it quickly to raise its range. Think about taking control over Creta because it could be a spring board to the North African coast. Prepare a possible landing in Lucania. There is a merchandise “Salt” you might need to have three luxury merchandises.
The Greek player shouldn’t let the Persian player take control over Byzantium. It would be wise to take it early and build a fortress there. In order to be able to invade Lucania or the North African coast with an expeditionary force the Greek player should wait until his fleet is well developed.
If the Roman player commits the mistake ignoring the Greek, the Greek player has a realistic chance winning the game.
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Take care and thanks for your interest in our games! See you in the next blog post,
your Uwe Walentin.
The “History of the Ancient Seas” Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded!
