Epeiros/Strategic Overview


 * Strengths: Interesting counter-Greek dossier, some level of flexibility in military recruitment.
 * Weaknesses: Economic and technological handicaps.

Unlike its more refined alter ego in Kings & Conquerors, Epeiros in Alexander is backward, underdeveloped and barbaric even by Greek standards. Despite it having access to some Greek units, it is culturally underdeveloped, and is far closer in its playstyle to a Balkan faction than a Greek one. If so, why play as Epeiros?

There are many reasons for choosing Epeiros as a faction. The first is that it has a fairly strong military component consisting primarily of hardened Greek hoplites, alongside crafty Illyrian warriors who are accomplished light units. Of the many Greek and barbarian units that Epeiros can raise, one stands out - the Phyletichoi Illyrioi. Used early, this unit can almost singlehandedly grant you victory over your Boian and Greek enemies owing to its anti-Greek, anti-Celtic attack bonuses. Equally interesting is the fact that of all Greek nations, only Epeiros can summon units from the Capitol or Boulë, in the form of Molosson Agema cavalry. As in Kings & Conquerors, these units are heavy chargers, very useful against defending against enemy cavalry, but also capable of decimating siege weapons.

Secondly, it starts off with a great deal of Food, which thus allows it to outboom early rivals by producing more villagers and thus drag in more resources for the purpose of building more cities. Although Epeiros suffers a penalty in the form of a lack of Granaries, it is still capable of researching most technologies there - just capture enemy settlements with them first. Epeiros also has access to a few Wonders too - most notably the Nekromanteion Wonder which has the ability to reveal the entire map, thus providing the Epeirote player with a very powerful i-War asset: not only is Epeiros difficult to conquer because of its ability to host two capital cities instead of one, it is also more than capable of fending off infiltrators as long as it has control of the Nekromanteion, which it alone can erect and nobody else can.

Epeiros is still a fairly weak nation - its near-lack of economic bonuses renders it weak, even by the standards of other factions such as the Boii who can construct Granaries - so three things stand out for the Epeirote player: diplomacy, geography and warfare. Historically the Epeirotes were courted by both Athens and Macedon; you as an Epeirote player should take this lesson to heart. The next two - geography and warfare - are interlinked. Epeiros is mainly a militaristic nation, but it must be careful with what scenarios it would play on. Maps which are big and have vast tracts of land are a no-no; but on the other hand small maps with limited land for farming, or large water maps are perfect since they will nullify the agronomic advantages other nations have over Epeiros. A possible scenario that favours Epeiros is a very small map, with many Greek players.