Zulus

Hi everyone. Just thought I would share this with you. I am currently playing as the Romans, with my opponents the Zulus. Doing fairly well, building roads and improvements and gradually increasing my army, I was happy with my progress.
Then in the space of a few turns the Zulus contacted me and demanded gold and my territory map. I refused, and they went away less than happy, with a significant threat to my civ as they left. This they tried again, and again I refused.
A little later in the game, suddenly approximately twenty Zulus came tearing down the map towards my territory! The cities they were heading for were sparsely protected, so I quickly sent units from other further away cities towards the threat. I even rushed produced units in the danger area for defence.
But all was in vain, and I had to laugh when the Zulus descended on a Barbarian encampment near my area, presumably taking an amount of gold as they did so. Having done this, they upped and left, disappearing back into their own land! I found this annoying but funny too, moving a large amount of soldiers across several cities, all totally unnecessary! So, twenty units were needed to overpower the Barbarian encampment! It did seem a little odd, though, as three of the Zulus were beaten by the Barbarian! I have always found them very easy to beat, (Barbarians), and was surprised by this. Does this mean the Zulus are a weaker unit than most? And is this typical of the Zulu army in the game, sending vast amounts of soldiers to deal with a relitively small problem? I also noticed they had very little gold in their posession.
I am a relative newcomer to the Civ 3, so maybe it is just different strengths and weaknesses and characteristics of each civilization coming into play in the game. Maybe the Zulus are modelled from the real Zulus, hence the amassing of armies and lack of gold. If so it is another plus for an already brilliant game in my eyes. I know the game has its faults, but the good points surely outweigh them.
Thanks for reading my rabble,
Kev.

Sorry. See next post.

Originally posted by surfersjk

Does this mean the Zulus are a weaker unit than most? And is this typical of the Zulu army in the game, sending vast amounts of soldiers to deal with a relitively small problem? I also noticed they had very little gold in their posession.

Click to expand...

Well, the Zulu UU (Impi) is 1/2/2 (Attack/Defense/Movement). This is very likely what you saw moving in large numbers. Because their attack rating is one, it takes many to overpower towns (pop. 1 - 6). The Impi is not a weak unit in the early stages of the game, because defense units during this time are no higher than a 2 rating (unless you're the Greeks - Hoplite is a 3). Also, they are an expansionist civ. Once their towns border yours, w/ no room for expansion, you can bet then they'll follow through on their threat. Be ready. Because they are not commercial or industrious, they earn little income until late in the game and only if being played by a human. You'll notice civs w/ a commercial & industrial trait will have well-built empires (infrastructure - roads, mines, etc.) for the most part.

I hope you continue to enjoy the game. Its awesome!

Thanks a lot Dojoboy. And you was right about them attacking me sooner or later. They did! But I heeded your warning and established a decent number of spearmen in my cities, and their defence of 2 regularly beat the Zulu attack of 1. They lost a good many units that way, and soon wanted to sign a peace treaty. I refused, however, and they had no choice but to keep on commiting suicide. And now I have Legionary to add to their woes.
Thanks a lot again for the fast and helpful reply.
Kev.