This is intended to be a basic guide on how to get the best early start as Sparta, to ensure that your early game sets the foundation for a dominant mid-late game.
I'm going to be purposely vague on some details because each game plays a little differently.
I have not exhaustively researched the game manual, only enough to satisfy my questions and resolve issues I've had during my playthroughs.
Please comment to add questions, constructive critiques, or strategies you've developed that served you well.

μολὼν λαβέ!

This is where all of Sparta's power comes from, so start here.
This is the only word you need to know to make a great army: HOPLITES.

Sparta can produce Hoplites, which is the best infantry unit in the game that I have seen. Use this to your advantage.

To start, disband the Peltast unit and the cavalry unit. Peltasts are cheap infantry but they're hardly worth it when hoplites are available. Cavalry has some nice perks - it can move great distances and attack multiple times, but it has 1/2 the attack/defense of hoplites and they like to get destroyed by enemy infantry. If you want to use cavalry in this game, use it to complement your hoplites - maybe a 4/5:1 hoplite:cavalry ratio.

Settlers do what you think they do: they improve the land to make cities more productive, they build roads to help army movement and trade, and they can found new cities.
Immediately put them to work making land improvements.

There are two types of buildings that go outside of cities, the type that offers perks to cities and mines (temples, blacksmiths) and the type that provides a military benefit (stables, ports, forts, etc.)

On your first turn, build a temple. The placement isn't too important, so long as it covers all 4 cities
you own. I usually put it in the hill terrain a couple hexes east of Sparta.


Set your birth assist slider to ~40 or so.
This slider sets government assistance to families to get busy making new Spartans. Set it too high, and it will gobble up all of your resources, which you will need for war. Set it too low, and your cities will stagnate.
Start off around 40 and you'll be okay, and adjust it as you need through the game. Set it lower when you need more resources, set it higher when you need more population.


I'll be honest, I don't worry too much about diplomacy in this game.
It seems like all of my offers and requests get rejected (even though there's a helpful tooltip showing the likelihood of success) and the AI will reach out whenever it wants something.

Let the AI make the offers and accept/reject as you like.
Be careful accepting trades which drain your resources too much. You can use the tooltips to check your resource utilization inside the diplomacy screen. I mostly use trades to build up goodwill with AI states.

Accept/reject alliances as it benefits you.

DO NOT:
- accept alliances with nations within the Peloponnesus. You want to conquer these states not be their buddy.
- accept alliances/pacts with states that are at war with a state you want to be at peace with. Accept to many of these and you'll be in a world of hurt.

DO:
- accept offers of federation unless it puts you at war with a major state when you're not ready. A federation puts the other state under your direct control and all resources are merged for your use. This is a fantastic way to grow quickly without war, although usually the AI only offers it when its back is against the wall, so be ready to fight for your new territories.

MAYBE:
- accept offers of confederation and "band of brothers" pacts. These can give you a nice ally at times, but it also means you won't be able to assume control of the other state.
Once I formed a confederation with Phokis and they ran amok while I covered their flank, spreading all over Greece faster than I could.

You're going to want to take out all of the other states on the Peloponnesus: Messenia, Elis, Arkadia, Argos, Korinth, and probably either Achaia or Aetolia on the north coast.
But first


This is your primary goal: you want 4 HOPLITE units. Hoplites cost 10 gold per unit, so you'll need to save up.
3 units is the absolute minimum for any offensive action. Cities and enemy units usually take 2 attacks to destroy, and each time you attack, your hoplite takes a bit of damage.
4 units gives you the ability to finish wars very quickly as you can rest/heal 1-2 units while the others continue the attack. Finishing wars quickly is always better.

But merely having an army doesn't mean that it's worth the money you spent on it.
TRAIN your hoplites.
For ~3 gold, you can upgrade your units with perks. At a minimum, you'll want each hoplite unit to have the assault and defense perk. I try to add the 'stalwart' perk as well, as I'm able.


Keep building improvements with your settler. All of your focus should be on getting 4 hoplites and training them.
Try to stay out of wars unless someone declares on you.

Once you have your 4 trained hoplites, you'll want to declare war on Messenia ASAP.
In nearly every game, they declare on me first, but if that doesn't happen use the diplomacy screen and do it yourself.

To conquer another state, you need to eliminate or conquer all cities, external buildings, and units.

There's no need to destroy the external buildings (temples, blacksmiths, ports, etc.) because if you defeat the enemy state they'll all become yours anyway - and free stuff is always nice.

Mines can usually be captured by one attack, and rarely cause substantial damage to your units.

Enemy units usually take 1-2 attacks to destroy. If you have 4 trained hoplites, you'll chew through Messenia's army like they were nothing. The cities will fall easily as well. There should be 3 cities. Take them all, starting with Messenia and working west, and the state is yours.


While you're fighting the Messenians, often another nation will declare war on you - typically the Arkadians or Argolis. Ignore them for now, their turn is coming soon.

Instead, build the 'defense' perk in your cities, and if your cities are attacked, either use a settler as fodder to slow them down or peel off 1 hoplite to defend - but only defend.

Focus on defeating Messenia, and once they are conquered you'll get a nice chunk of change for the effort.
Unfortunately, you'll need to use most of those goodies to repair the damaged mines and cities.

It's important to know this:
- damaged mines and external buildings will survive, but with lower output.
- damaged cities can actually destroy themselves - get removed entirely from the map - or they can rebel or defect to another state, meaning you'll need to conquer them again.

To avoid these issues, repair cities as you conquer them, and leave a unit in them for a few turns until things calm down. Usually that's easy since you'll need to rest/heal your units anyway.

Once Messenia is dealt with, turn your attention to one of the other bordering states - preferably one that is already at war with you.
But first, it's time to get a General. Buy one from the State Decisions menu.
Generals aren't combat units, but they give your units a nice perk. Additionally, they can 'encourage' your units, giving a nice morale boost to every unit in a neighboring hex. ALWAYS do this before any attack or potential defense.

You can conquer Messenia with 4 hoplites, but that won't cut it anymore. Keep building and training hoplites as you can. You'll want to make improvements to your cities (the trade perk!) and build some more settlers, but keep on trying to make new hoplites as you can afford to.

Don't worry about the navy until you've conquered the Peloponnesus. Once you've done with that, you can build a navy and go wherever you like.

Keep your hoplites together!
It can be tempting - and easy - to let your army get spread out with an isolated hoplite here and there doing their own thing. That's a recipe for disaster, my friend.
Keep your hoplites together in groups of at least 4 (3 is a MINIMUM) with the general behind them wherever it gets hottest. Destroy the enemy city by city, mine by mine, unit by unit. When a hoplite gets chewed up too badly (around 50% health), rotate them to the rear and heal them in a city.

Note: upgrade your bigger cities to be able to produce hoplites. It's expensive to do it, but it allows your units to heal quicker and upgrade closer to where you need them.

Cavalry: Sure. I'll get a couple of heavier cavalry units when my army gets big enough, but it's not uncommon for the enemy to catch one and destroy it. A ratio of 5:1 seems right to me. The cav is better kept behind the lines and doing early attacks to soften the enemy up, or garrisoning recently captured cities.

Supply: Supply comes from friendly cities. I'm not an expert on supply, but if you take one city at a time and repair it and heal before moving on, it's never an issue. Don't let your units get surrounded, and don't move your army too far from friendly cities or too deep into enemy territory.

Don't worry about founding new cities right now. Usually I'll build one on the coast to the east of Sparta, but that's it. Keep your settlers busy building improvements.
Keep an eye on your resources and make trades and adjust sliders as you can.


Arkadia usually has a city in the mountains 4-5 hexes north of Sparta (Tegea) that makes a nice target. Once that city is taken, move over the mountains into the Arkadian valley and gobble it up.

Argolis can be a pain. Usually it has 4 cities and several military units, and sometimes it likes to run amok in your hinterlands. But they're no match for your hoplites, if you employ them effectively. Take one city at a time

Korinth is usually easy. They have just the one city in Peloponnesus, and it's a gem. Pay attention to their allies, though, and be prepared for Athens to turn its eyes to you once you take it.

The north coast is usually controlled by Aetolia or Achaia. Either way, snatch it up.

Elis can be a pain. Usually they've gobbled up some territory on the far side of the Peloponnesus, and they're fairly large. 4 hoplites will not be enough here. You'll want 6, at least, but if this is your last enemy state on the peninsula, you'll probably have 8-10.

Athens is the next big goal. You'll want to conquer all of Attica, and your army of hoplites should be up to the task.

That's it. A very general guide to getting a good start with Sparta.
I've had success with the formula, and I hope you do, too.

Feel free to leave comments or questions, I'll do my best to keep up.

ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς!