SPARTA Campaign Guide

-by Summary

STARTING LOCATION:

Sparta:
This minor settlement of the province, Hellas is your faction capital and it encompasses the
entire Peloponnesian peninsular. You have the following:
A wonder: Statue of Zeus at Olympus: It is a wonder, to look upon the face of a God /
+3% wealth from culture buildings (faction-wide) / Bread and Games Edict: +6 public
order (faction-wide)
Natural resource: Marble.
A spy
Two armies: One garrisoned in Sparta, under the command of Areus (leader of the
royal family). The other one stationed close by, under the command of Galenos (leader
and only member of the other families).
Two statesmen: Nikon and Cleomenes, both belonging to the royal family.

To the East:
Athenai, the Provincial Capital of Hellas belongs to Athens, who have a friendly opinion
about you. They share a non-aggression treaty and a trade agreement with you. This
settlement is of utmost importance to Sparta, as it is the only region with a port that
connects to the capital by land, providing Sparta with trade agreement opportunities.
Athens is Confident/Unreliable and this means that they are not afraid to declare war,
without considering whether the defender is a friend or a foe. Therefore, they cannot be
trusted. So even though they are friendly with you at the moment, war with Athens is
inevitable. Prevent allying with them.
Asia, a province that lies across the Aegean Sea is under the control of three
quarrelsome factions; Pergamon, Sardes and Rhodos. This province has two wonders
and is fairly close to Sparta. It also provides an easy access to your future campaigns in
the East.

To the South:
Hierapytna, the third and final settlement of Hellas, located on the island of Crete. It is
controlled by Knossos. They have a friendly opinion about you. They are
Cautious/Loyal and this means that they will seldom declare war and are very
trustworthy. It would be wise to seek to improve diplomatic relationships by offering them
a non-aggression treaty and military access. Aiming for a military alliance. As they are
an island nation, they can help you out with naval operations against your enemies.
Aegyptus, a province controlled by Egypt. Egypt is very friendly with you, often offering
alliances and payments to accept their offers. It is wise to maintain cordial relationship
with them but not to establish any sort of alliance, despite the tempting bribery. They are
a warring nation and will have many enemies. Allying with them could hamper your
diplomatic relationships with many other nations.

To the North:
Macedonia, this province consists of three regions, two of which (Larissa and
Apollonia) belong to Epirus who are at war with you. The third region, Pella is the
provincial capital and remains under the control of Macedon who share a non-
aggression treaty and defensive alliance with you.
Illyria and Thracia are other provinces to the north that provide you with different
opportunities. The former with a stronger alliance that can help your expansionist
ambitions Eastward into Thracia.

To the West:
Magna Graecia, this province which lies across the Ionian Sea consists of four regions
split between Rome, Syracusae and Carthage. While Rome controls the settlements
connected to the Italian peninsula, Syracusae and Carthage controls the settlements on
the island of Sicily. Both Rome and Syracuse share a favorably neutral opinion of you.
Carthage on the other hand does not. Allying with Rome and Syracusae is a wise
opinion as they are both Expansionist/Unreliable but already have a lot of enemies to
deal with. So you want to be in good terms with them to prevent have them declare war
on you, while you establish a foothold in the Hellenic peninsular. This secures your West
and prevents Carthage from growing to a dangerous size. Never trust in Rome and
Syracusae, this alliance with them is fleeting.

YOUR OUTLOOK:

Cautious expansionist! You need to expand your holdings as quickly as possible but most
importantly without angering all your neighbors at once. Much like a battle in which you would
want to face you enemy head on instead of them attacking your flanks or the rear, similarly with
the campaign map you want to secure three sides and expand in one direction only. This is an
expansionist mentality, but slow and in one direction only, therefore, it is cautious as well.
Fighting on multiple fronts is highly risky. By spreading your forces too thin, one lose can result
in a complete disaster as the enemy will gain momentum and will be able to infiltrate deep into
you empire. Fighting on a single front allows you to predict from which direction your enemy will
most likely appear. You can then station your defenses and military buildings there.

The situation at the beginning of the Sparta campaign is not very different. You need to secure
all the flanks and focus moving in one direction only. The West is undiscovered and poses the
least threat. The South is all but friendly and it is very easy to establish a friendly relationship
with them. The East is also friendly but unlike the South, they are unreliable and war is
inevitable for securing your future prosperity through gaining access to trade routes, but for now
they will suffice. The North is where all the trouble is.

North of The Wall, thats always where the trouble is. Cursed wildlings, but thankfully no white
walkers, maybe the Iceni come close! But where there is trouble, there is also opportunity.

Your top priority is to defeat Epirus and avoid getting dragged into any other wars in the
process, especially against Athens. Initially Athens has a larger army, and a very sustainable
trade economy and can therefore, churn out more units than you can possibly compete with.
Once Epirus is defeated, the next target should be Macedon, as annexing Pella will give you
total control over one province and you can start issuing edicts.

THE WAR AGAINST EPIRUS:

The bitter truth is Epirus has a much larger force that you do, and this is understandable
considering they have two regions in comparison to your one settlement. You will be hard
pressed to defeat them. This is possibly one of the reasons, Sparta as a campaign is
considered to have a hard start. To level the playing field, you will certainly need some help
from agents. You will also need to merge your army.

Agents:

Your spy
Instruct your spy to use Poison Wells to level the odds. As your spy grows invest in skills in the
cunning tree, starting out with Spy, then Furtiveness, then Mass Poisoning.

Spy

(+1/+2/+3) cunning
(+5%/+10%/+15%) chance of evading enemy agents

Furtiveness

(+1/+2/+3) cunning
(+10%/+20%/+30%) Manipulation > Tempt: chance of successful manipulation
(+10%/+20%/+30%) Assassination > Poison: chance of successful assassination

Mass Poisoning

(+1/+2/+3) cunning
(+6%/+12%/+18%) casualties for all units. Action: Poison Provisions.
(+6%/+12%/+18%) casualties for all garrison units. Action: Poison Wells.

Once you finish obtaining the three different skills, then invest any future points in as much as
possible in Mass Poisoning, you can also select Agent from the authority tree as a filler point.
This is one of the best fillers as it improves your chances of a critical strike in all actions. Mass
Poisoning couple with a critical strike will cripple any formidable army.

Your champion:
Thats right you dont have one, yet. So, get to it ASAP. To do so, you will have to research in
the military tree. Start off with Logistics, then in Organised Supply in the management tree.
Now you can finally recruit your champion.

Once you have your champion, instruct him to conduct Military Training for your army. As your
champion grows, invest in skills in the zeal tree, starting out with Champion, then Warfare,
then Militancy

Champion

(+1/+2/+3) zeal
(+6%/+12%/+18%) campaign map movement range

Warfare

(+1/+2/+3) zeal
(+15%/+30%/+45%) casualties inflicted on specified enemy unit. Action: Assault Patrol.
(+15%/+30%/+45%) casualties inflicted on specified enemy unit. Action: Assault Town Watch.

Militancy

(+1/+2/+3) zeal
(+30/+60/+90) unit experience gained per turn. Action: Military Training.
(-2/-4/-6) public order. Action: Military Action.

Once you finish obtaining the three different skills, then invest any future points in as much as
possible in Militancy, you can also select Paragon and Valour from the authority tree as a
filler point. This filler will come into play before you engage your army in battle; use your
champion to Show of Force the opposition army to reduce their morale by -18. Most units
average around 40 to 50 morale. This means it Show of Force can reduce their morale by
about 40 to 50%! This action coupled with Poison Wells guarantees victory for your army. After
which the champion can once again resume Military Training on the next turn.

Your dignitary:
Once you have a spy and champion, the next target is the dignitary. This final agent type is not
as vital as the first two when considering offensive capabilities. Dignitaries do however help
reduce the upkeep of huge armies, subduing a settlement through bonuses in cultural
conversion, and increasing a regions revenue through improved tax rates. To get a dignitary
you will need to research in the civil tree. Start off with Land Reclamation, then in
Scholarship in the philosophy tree. Now you can finally recruit your dignitary.

Once you have your dignitary, instruct him to conduct Military Training for your army. As your
dignitary grows, invest in skills in the authority tree, starting out with Dignitary, then
Philosophy, then Martial Philosophy.

Dignitary

(+1/+2/+3) authority
(+5%/+10%/+15%) chance of critical success in all actions

Philosophy

(+1/+2/+3) authority
(+10%/+20%/+30%) Manipulation > Persuade: chance of successful manipulation
(+3/+6/+9) cultural conversion. Action: Culture.

Martial Philosophy

(+1/+2/+3) authority
(-6%/-12%/-18%) upkeep costs. Action: Military Administration.
(-2/-4/-6) authority for the target army's general. Undermine Authority.

Once you finish obtaining the three different skills, then invest any future points in as much as
possible in Martial Philosophy, you can also select Provocateur and Propaganda from the
zeal tree as a filler point.

Now that you have all your agents ready (especially the spy and champion) you are ready to
take on Epirus.

Defeating Epirus:

You will need to merge your armies, leaving behind only a general in Sparta. This leaves Sparta
vulnerable to an invasion, which is why you momentarily need to avoid confrontation with
Athens at all costs. The ideal choice is to use your faction leader, Areus as commander of the
army, and leave Galenos, leader of the opposition back in Sparta. This is to ensure that the right
characters obtain gravitas while the opposition seldom gets opportunities to grow. Recruit three
units of Perioikoi Pikemen.

Gravitas, Influence and Ambition:
These are my observations of this mechanics, in par with the current state of the game. Sparta
is a monarchy. This means that there are only two parties; (a) a ruling party or the royal family,
and (b) the opposing party or the other families. I believe if the ruling party suffers from an
influence below 25%, a civil war is initiated where the opposing party gets stacks of armies
surrounding the heart of your empire, the faction capital. Not very nice! But the good news is
that there is no upper limit for influence in a monarchy. So theres no need for the balancing act
that the Romans and Carthaginians need to perform.

Gravitas. This is the only quality out of the three that can be actively increased. To
increase gravitas you need to complete missions issued by the state. Gravitas can also
be increased through conquest. A general that conquers many settlements is bound to
have higher gravitas in comparison to a general that is garrisoned. Gravitas also
increases in a set amount every turn for statesmen. This is why the most ideal way to
waste the life of the members of the opposition is to have them while away their time as
a single unit garrison, preferably they have some traits to boost economy too, in that
case you even gain more from the situation. Gravitas can also be increase through
marriages. Finally, Gravitas increases tremendously from promotions at the cost of
losing a little bit of Influence. Gravitas can also be decreased through assassinations,
spreading rumors.
Ambition. This is something you are born with, it cannot change. It behaves as a
modifier to Gravitas. This means it factors in to how much impact the Gravitas of a
character will have when gaining Influence. A general with 10 Gravitas and 3 Ambition,
gains more Influence than a general with 29 Gravitas and 1 Ambition. Ambition also
serves as an indicator as to which member will most likely ascend the throne. If two or
more members share the same Ambition value, then the character with the highest
Gravitas among them will ascend the throne.
Influence. Like Ambition you cannot increase this value actively. You can however
decrease it by performing political actions like promotions, marriages, adoptions,
assassinations, spreading rumors, and so forth. As far as Sparta is concerned, your
Influence is determined by how many gerontes favour your party. Unfortunately, unlike
Rome who have 250 senators, Sparta have a total of only 30 gerontes, this means
losing even 1 geronte is the equivalent of losing about 3 to 4% of your Influence. Ouch!
You have to be very careful when performing actions that spend Influence.

How to spend Influence in a monarchy? The safe limit to keep Influence is around 70%, to
accommodate for the sudden drop, in the event your faction leader dies of natural causes. He
shouldnt die in battle, if he does then shame on you for being a fool! Better to retreat than die,
not very Spartan I know, but Sparta lost in reality remember? Part of the reason ties into dying
for a hopeless cause. The truth is it is better to retreat, but not because you are afraid, but
because you can turn around the situation in the next battle. Live to fight another day, a dead
soldier is a useless soldier.

How can a general die carelessly? The easiest way, is a garrison commander who cant retreat.
Therefore, it is wise to never use your faction leader as a general in that manner. Whenever you
conquer a settlement with your faction leader, replace him with another one of your royal family
members, preferably your least influential one and not the potential heir to the throne. This way
your faction leader gets to go home as a statesman and still generates Gravitas in relative
safety. While the member of the royal family is given the chance to be a hero on the defensive,
and if he doesnt succeed and perishes, then all is not lost! This cycling of characters also adds
more family traits that work in your favour most of the time.

Conquering Larissa:
The first step towards defeating Epirus, is to take Larissa from them. To do so, use your spy to
Poison Wells their garrison. Most of the time, this will cause that garrison to retreat to
Apollonia because Larissa doesnt have a high replenishment rate. In the meantime, Pyrrhus
himself will march towards Larissa. This is the best opportunity to take Larissa and kill of their
faction leader Pyrrhus. Use your spy to Poison Wells, Pyrrhus army so they cannot come as
reinforcements to the Larissa city garrison. Use Areus army to conquer Larissa.

Hire javelin missile mercenaries and then move Areus to defeat Pyrrhus. Even if you do not kill
Pyrrhus army completely, make sure you kill Pyrrhus himself on the battlefield. Once, you
defeat Pyrrhus, disband the mercenary units. Mercenary units are to be hired and fired in the
same turn because they cost a fortune to maintain. They are quick reinforcements to your army
to tip the balance even further in your favour. There are not a mainstay, hence the term
mercenaries. Why javelin missile mercenaries? Pyrrhus army is full of pikemen and elephants.
Javelins are the best counter these units. For Rule of Thumb for Engagement, please refer the
end of the guide.

Once all of this is complete garrison the army for maximum replenishment, and replace Areus
with Nikon or Cleomenes. An alternative would be to replace Areus with a character from the
other families, and then adopt him. You will lose a bit of your starting Influence from 77% to 73%
but will soon recover it. This will be one of your first Influence spending moves, and there will be
quite some time before you can spend your Influence again. Depending the Ambition of the
replacement you can then keep him as head of the garrison army at Larissa or replace him
again with the least important royal family member. Let us say his Ambition is 1, by all means
use him as fodder. If his Ambition is 3, he is a potential successor to the throne.

Conquering Apollonia:
The balance is now in your favour. You have two settlements versus their one settlement. They
will even begin negotiating for peace. But you dont want that. You want to exterminate any
possibility for a potential enemy. Same deal, use your spy to weaken the enemy army.

Apollonia will usually have the following defenses:
A city garrison (both army and navy)
A garrisoned army (target of your spy)
An un-garrisoned army.
An un-garrisoned navy near Apollonia

You want to take out these units one-by-one. Epirus will want to take back Larissa, and this is
the main purpose of the un-garrisoned army. Time and again they will march south around the
mountains, in an attempt to take back Larissa. Problematic isnt it? But where there is a
problem, remember opportunity lurks just around the corner.

Take your army from Larissa and replace the general with either Nikon or the new royal family
member (depending on which one has more Ambition). Move this army close enough to
Apollonia, step-by-step (not by complete movement range). This is so that you can advance
periodically while maintaining Ambush stance in anticipation of Apollonias un-garrisoned army.
Do not get too close to any of the armies, triggering off a battle by carelessly walking into their
reinforcement area. Also do not move too far per turn, preventing you from turn on your Ambush
stance.

If you manage to perform all actions right, sooner or later the un-garrisoned army will fall prey to
your ambush and will be completely and utterly annihilated. You have now effectively halved the
land defenses of the enemy at Apollonia. You can proceed to take Apollonia. Once again hire
mercenaries to tip the odds of the battle in your favour. In the battle, focus on taking out the un-
garrisoned navy completely or severely. This is because the garrison army (both army and
navy) will be completely wiped out as part of the game mechanic. By focusing on the un-
garrisoned navy, you will have wiped out Epirus as a faction, or shattered any of their hope to
retake Apollonia before attrition gets the better of them.

Aftermath:
Establish friendly relationships with the Ardiaei. Be sure to make them your military ally and not
your satrapy (client state). You will not focus on taking over Illyria for the moment and do not
need a satrapy as much as you would a military ally. A military ally will help you attack an
enemy. Its purpose is more military. A satrapy will help you more economically, but providing
tribute and allowing you to issue edicts in that province if all regions are shared between you
and your satrapy alone.

Congratulations, you have secured the North! You are now on your way to make Sparta into an
empire. Your two possible scenarios would be to take out Athens, or Macedon. I prefer
Macedon first to ensure I gain complete control over the province of Macedon. Then I prefer to
fight against the Thracians. After which I turn towards Athens.

Tip: To defeat Macedon and Athens, simultaneously. Declare war on Macedon and allow
Athens military access because they are most likely also at war with Macedon, this will cause
them to leave Athens unguarded. Follow their army and take Macedonian settlements using
their help. They will also help wipe out any remaining Macedonian armies suffering from
attrition. Meanwhile you spy will weaken Athenai. Once ten turns have passed cancel all treaties
with Athens. Their army will have to march all the way back to Athens. On the next turn, declare
war on Athens. Their army will now march towards the closest of your settlements. This is
where your army which followed their army will be positioned close by in Ambush stance waiting
for them. Simultaneously, a second army will besiege Athenai Focusing again on the un-
garrisoned navy. Knossos can help with wiping out the survivors of the un-garrisoned navy.
Once Athens is exterminated convert, Knossos from military ally to a satrapy, ensuring you can
issue out edicts in Hellas, or you can turn on Knossos and wipe them out also. Your empire
should now look something like this.
















LEGEND
Red: Sparta
Green: Military alliance
Blue: Satrapy

Hope you enjoyed this guide! Have fun playing Sparta!

Rule of Thumb for Engagement:


Melee
Infantry
Spear
Infantry
Pike
Infantry
Missile
Infantry
Melee
Cavalry
Missile
Cavalry
Melee
Infantry
Melee
Infantry win
if they have
better stats
Melee
Infantry win
if they out
flank
Melee
Infantry win
if they out
flank
Melee
Infantry win
if they can
catch up
Melee
Infantry win
in a
prolonged
fight
Melee
infantry
lose
Spear
Infantry
Spear
Infantry win
if they fight
head on
Spear
Infantry win
if they have
better stats
Spear
Infantry win
if they out
flank
Spear
Infantry win
Spear
Infantry win
Spear
Infantry win
if they
catch up
Pike
Infantry
Pike
Infantry win
if they fight
head on
Pike
Infantry win
if they fight
head on
Pike
Infantry win
if they have
better stats
or if they
out flank
Pike
Infantry
lose
Pike
Infantry win
if they
attack head
on
Pike
Infantry
lose
Missile
Infantry
Missile
Infantry win
if they
maintain
distance
Missile
Infantry
lose
Missile
Infantry win
Missile
Infantry
with better
stats win
Missile
Infantry win
only versus
Elephants
Missile
Infantry win
if they have
more
numbers
and range
Melee
Cavalry
Melee
Cavalry win
if they
flank,
charge,
retreat,
repeat.
Melee
Cavalry
lose
Melee
Cavalry win
if they
flank,
charge,
retreat,
repeat.
Melee
Cavalry win
Melee
Cavalry
with better
stats win
Melee
Cavalry win
if they are
faster and
can catch
up
Elephants
do not
need to
retreat
Elephants
do not
need to
retreat
Missile
Cavalry
Missile
Cavalry win
Missile
Cavalry win
if they can
maintain
distance
Missile
Cavalry win
Missile
Cavalry win
if they have
better
range and
equal in
number
Missile
Cavalry win
if they can
maintain
distance.
Win against
Elephants
Missile
Cavalry win
if they have
better stats
and range.

As you can see there is not I win unit. Every unit has its strengths and disadvantages. Most of
them can overcome their disadvantages provided they can achieve certain situational criteria
like outflanking, ranging, etc.

All in all the most all rounded infantry are Spear Infantry while the most all rounded cavalry are
Melee and Missile Cavalry. When I say all rounded, I mean these units can win against any
enemy provided the criteria for winning are met. This means a skilled person can almost always
win using these units. But it isnt easy and it comes down to luck, timing and intuition. Versus an
opponent of equal skill, he will know how to prevent them from gaining the edge but prevent him
from achieving the criteria required. Example: A good opponent will prevent Melee Cavalry from
out flanking his Pike Infantry. A good commander will be able to use his Melee Cavalry to out
flank his opponents Pike Infantry.

Tip: To allow for flanking maneuvers, you need to first engage the enemy and hold them in
place, then use the real killer for dealing the death blow. Example: Against Pike Infantry, use the
Spear Infantry to create a shield wall and fight defensively. This holds them in place. Then use
Melee Infantry to charge the rear or the flanks. Once this is accomplished retreat your Spear
Infantry to prevent further casualties, and watch your Melee Infantry butcher their Pike Infantry.
This is called the Hammer and Anvil technique. It was used to a great extent by Alexander the
Great, in which Pike Infantry served as the Anvil and Melee (Shock) Cavalry served as the
Hammer. Of course the much easier option would be to use Missile Infantry. This way you will
not be required to micro-manage two units, simultaneously.

There are other special units like Artillery, War Dogs, and Chariots.
Artillery wins if they are out of melee or range of enemy fire. Their main disadvantage is
mobility.
War dogs win against lightly armored units like Missile Infantry, Light Melee Infantry.
Chariots have the same rules as Melee Cavalry.