I just started a new game as Random and I got Zulu. I have never been Zulu before, and I must say, I love them. The barracks doubles as a mini courthouse? What a useful UB! I started literaly RIGHT next to saladin. So I went Mining-BW and found bronze right in my BFC, made a barracks and attacked him with 6 impi and took him out. Now I am all alone. But I am doing well.

What I am thinking though is how totally awesome Impi are. They start with Combat 1 and Mobility. I know the age of the 4 power spearman is a short one. But I think I am going to stockpile Impi just to upgrade them into Mobility units. I am isolated on this island, so I wont be warring much until I am full ready, and by that time I can have a whole army of mobility infantry to attack someone with! it seems like a pretty awesome strategy.

What do impi upgrade to anyway? Macemen?

Mobility only works on units with more than 1 movement point, so unfortunately you'll have to upgrade them all the way to mech infantry before you get any use out of it again :(

Impis look way cool though.

They upgrade to Pikemen, then Riflemen. Still pretty useful, but I think it would be expensive to upgrade too many.

EDIT: Ah, I read patagonia's post, and I think he is right, since Impi have 2 movement, when upgraded to Pike, they return to 1-move, rendering the Mobility sort of pointless.

Mobility regains use at mech inf...

Just don't let Saladin vassalize half the world like I did last time I had Shaka :rolleyes:

As mentioned mobility has no effect on units with only 1 move (except for roads?) so impis moblity promo is useless once impi are upgraded until they are upgraded to mech infantry (move 2), however in the meantime you can attach a warlord to an impi or impi upgrade and use the warlord promo morale to increase the moves so that mobility has an effect. For example attach an warlord to an impi (free C1 and mobility) and give him morale along with other promos and then upgrade to rifle and get a rifle that can move 2 on any terrain. not bad.

It's useless on roads too since any roaded tile has a flat movement cost.

Hoard several Impis until Mech Infantry then you can upgrade them so you have perhaps 10 or so mobility Mechs.

Does the cost of upgrading Impi to Mech Infantry really justify hording them? I would rather upgrade them to more immediate, useful units and only upgrade the surviving ones to Mechies.

The mobility promotion is vestigial after promotions to pikes and rifles(or is it grenadiers?), but at least the units themselves are still useful and able to rack up further promotions. Why upgrade 10 Mobility Impis when you could upgrade, for example, 10 Mobility, CI, CRIII rifles?

Late game the value of how much gold you have stockpiled should be quite high. That isn't always the case, I guess.

If you're going to stockpile them, stockpile them in enemy cities like they're meant to be.

Aww, yeah what a bummer. And I was hoping I could have some fast moving rifles!

Don't worry about Saladin, I killed him first.

I like the GG idea though. A GG with Mobility is pretty nice, one thing I always liked about attaching them to Mongol UU is that -terrain movement for Keshiks, I would leave them like that a long time, not upgrading them to Knights or Cavs.

Re: upgrading impis to mech infantries: mobility is kind of a nice promotion; I put it on chariots from time to time, but not usually on any other mounted units or armored units. There just seems like there are so many more useful promotions once the jungle and forests have been cleared out.

An isolated Zulu is an unhappy Zulu. Having not seen the map or how far you are into it, I don't know your exact situation, but I would try to just take advantage of the Ikhanda + Courthouse maintenance discount; build the Great Lighthouse if you have any chance to and cram as many cities as you can onto your land so that your economy can keep up with whoever you couldn't conquer. :(

Well I got the continent to myself, and I have something like 10 cities. I am sure I could squeeze in some more. I founded and have been activley spreading the word of christ. I am in 3rd place currently. i think I am going to cultural vic.

Impis come too late to become a real pushing force swordmen and axes kills them easely, not like the egyptians war chariots which also have the advantage of mounted promotion (i always chose 25% against melee)

At the time u got impis, you should be more worried to get elephants IMO

Impis come too late to become a real pushing force swordmen and axes kills them easely, not like the egyptians war chariots which also have the advantage of mounted promotion (i always chose 25% against melee)

At the time u got impis, you should be more worried to get elephants IMO

Impi only need hunting and bronze working, and IIRC, the Zulu start with hunting. If you're really focused on it, an impi rush can come with only 2 techs, granting you a force of melee units with the strength and movement points of a chariot, but access to the city raider promo tree.

Yeah I impi rushed persia while their entire army was 4 archers. I had 6 cover impi and destroyed them easily. The beauty of it is even if persia was far away from me, I would lose very little time running my impis there. I love them.

Granted I was VERY lucky to find copper right in my capital's radius. But impi are really good at cutting people off from copper also. Considering how fast they come out and how fast they move.

Impis: Chariots with city raider. If they already have a lot of axemen, your rush would have failed anyway.

Chariots can't get city raider.

;7147678']Chariots can't get city raider.

--- <- statement he made
O <- your head

Chariots WITH city raider. He is saying they are synonomous with each other.

However i dont agree. Chariots dont get free mobility!

Chariots WITH city raider. He is saying they are synonomous with each other.

However i dont agree. Chariots dont get free mobility!

Chariots also don't pwn other chariots

But they do pwn axemen, when they attack.

;7147678']Chariots can't get city raider.
Is it deliberate?

Why would you want Impis instead of Axemen?

They move 2 and have mobility?

They move 2 and have mobility?

True, but Axemen have 5:strength: compared to the Impi's 4:strength:, and 1:strength: makes all the difference in early game wars.

Having one or two Impi's around for anti-mounted/pillaging is handy, but the bulk of my army will still be composed of Axemen.

The real power of the zulu is in their starting techs: hunting for the scout, agriculture for early improvements without delay. Combine the two for quicker AH teching.

Impi's are nice armed scouts that can capture workers. Good, but no substitute for axemen, IMO. All you get from the extra movement points is a flat number of turns you get to the enemies' cities earlier. The problem with saying that impi are equivalent to chariots is that they are 10 hammers each more expensive to build. That's 1.4 times as hammer-expensive.

Another thing: axeman versus archer in a 20% city on flatlands has a chance above 50% to win. The 50% mark is a huge combat efficiency treshold (both you need 1 less hit to kill, and you can survive 1 more hit), so the effect of the small increase in strength is at it's most impactful.

True, but Axemen have 5:strength: compared to the Impi's 4:strength:, and 1:strength: makes all the difference in early game wars.

Having one or two Impi's around for anti-mounted/pillaging is handy, but the bulk of my army will still be composed of Axemen.

I can't speak for the higher difficulties, but on Monarch at least I have won a 450 BC conquest victory using only Impi. Chop out fast-moving army, attack and capture several high population cities, whip those cities for more fast-moving troops, repeat.