Babylon Strategy

Teedman said:

How are you all getting GS so early to help bulb to the Renissance?? I am about 150 turns in, and I haven't gotten a single GS except the one I got from Writing. Just curious...I am using a lot of the advice given here on this thread, but I'm not cranking them out that fast at all.

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Wonders help to generate great people. I generally group wonders according to what type of great people they generate (so I have a city with all GS wonders, another with all GE wonders, etc.)

To answer your question about GS more specifically, the wonders which are important to get a GS are the Great Library, the Oracle, and the Porcelain Tower. The last also provides a free GS (which many people use to bulb into the Renaissance Era).

It is best to have a city with high production (could be the capital or the second city) which will build the Great Library and the Oracle early. The combination of both wonders should generate an early GS (assuming that another city hasn't generated another great person and delayed the GS by increasing the cost). This GS farm city should also have enough population and food to run scientist specialists immediately upon finishing a University (ASAP after researching Education). The PT wonder can be rushed by a GE either from the Haiga Sophia (probably built in a different city) or from finishing the Liberty tree.

If you plan to settle a few of the early GS, it is not necessary for the Academies to be in the same city as the wonders (although it may be beneficial). What is important is for the city with the Academies to have a mountain (for the +50% from the Observatory) and to build the National Library in the same city (with the Observatory). This research center should also have adequate food to run scientist specialists as soon as the University is finished.

The city which has the wonders to generate GS points should also have any amplifiers to great people generation. This includes a Garden and the National Epic.

If you are planning to settle several great people, it may also be a good idea to go for the Freedom policy tree. The +100% applies to every Academy and also to other great tile improvements (this is true for any great person strategy, not unique to Babylon).

Played one game with them, Bowmen are excellent, I slaughtered German's pikemans easily, then used free scientist to get Crossbows and kicked more ass.

Ruler said:

Played one game with them, Bowmen are excellent, I slaughtered German's pikemans easily, then used free scientist to get Crossbows and kicked more ass.

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Hmmm... why bulb crossbow? Since the bowman is already stronger than the archer the upgrade to crossbows is actually less beneficial than it is from archers.

I would've bulbed something else instead personally.

CYZ said:

Hmmm... why bulb crossbow? Since the bowman is already stronger than the archer the upgrade to crossbows is actually less beneficial than it is from archers.

I would've bulbed something else instead personally.

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Well. I won that game. Good point though. Crossbows are my choice of unit at the beginning definitely and then Cannons/Artilleries later.

Teedman said:

Maybe something has changed in the last year (ie. an update), but I find myself underwhelmed by the Babylonians. I downloaded in the other day, and have been playing them since. Not really seeing how great they are. Been following some of the tips on this thread....am I missing something? Did they get nerfed? Sad, really. I enjoy doing Tech victory, and thought that the Babs would really give me that extra boost. But I really don't see how they are any better than the Korea. Correct me if I am wrong - please!

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Loads of things changed since this thread was started.
The UA has been changed from a 100% bonus to great scientist points, to 50%
The library has lost it's great scientist slot.

But they are still one of the strongest civilizations in the game.

Regarding how to get great scientists early, you can finish liberty, you can build Hagia Sophia and build the Porcelain Tower.

Ruler said:

Well. I won that game. Good point though. Crossbows are my choice of unit at the beginning definitely and then Cannons/Artilleries later.

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Yeah, crossbows are pretty good if you can get them early. Personally I'm a huge fan of Inca retreating crossbows. If you get those early you can just go ahead and put them at risk of melee attack. If they don't retreat they will usually survive. I've won many wars with legions of retreating crossbows and some cavalry.

CYZ said:

Yeah, crossbows are pretty good if you can get them early. Personally I'm a huge fan of Inca retreating crossbows. If you get those early you can just go ahead and put them at risk of melee attack. If they don't retreat they will usually survive. I've won many wars with legions of retreating crossbows and some cavalry.

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They sure are, they are so effective you can actually skip cats and trebs sometimes, 6 Crossbows bring city down fast.

Tabarnak said:

With Babylon you have time to produce 12-13 GS before turn 200. The only one that can be valuable to settle is the first one from writing. Others are more valuable at bulbing techs.

Check the no RA challenge #1 for more details.

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Sorry, I am new...what is RA Challenge #1 and where can I find it??

Thanks!

Teedman said:

Sorry, I am new...what is RA Challenge #1 and where can I find it??

Thanks!

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http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=445412

Buccaneer said:

I would say they are on par with Korea, I don't think anyone said otherwise. How many GS did you end up getting altogether?

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I find Korea better in the long run.
The Babs are good for insta-techs like Rifling that can really give you the upperhand in war.

Personally, I think Babs and Korea are pretty comparable. With Bab's UA, I think the number of GS you get is prob an additional 4 or 5 (including the one you get from researching writing) which is quite a bit. But Korea's UA you get science boosts from library, GL, university, public school, research lab and two national wonders, which is 7 or 8 science boosts (if you get to finish the GL). So all in all, Babs is better in my book because you can save GS. With Korea you'll want to build science buildings ASAP which sort of diminish the value you would get from Korea's UA.

Mesix said:

Wonders help to generate great people. I generally group wonders according to what type of great people they generate (so I have a city with all GS wonders, another with all GE wonders, etc.)

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Its nice to try and get an equal number of GS and GE points in the same city (usually capital), and use them to double pop GPs. I can manage triple popping GSs, GEs and GAs. Its very doable below Immortal difficulty, but wont work on Immortal / Diety.

bhavv said:

Its nice to try and get an equal number of GS and GE points in the same city (usually capital), and use them to double pop GPs. I can manage triple popping GSs, GEs and GAs. Its very doable below Immortal difficulty, but wont work on Immortal / Diety.

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How? Markets(Banks), workshops(windmill,factories), universities(public school, research lab) and culture buildings give you the opportunity to pop many GPs on same turn anytime later in the game on any levels. It's usually preferable to pop all GPs at once for your last shot of the game.

Teedman said:

How are you all getting GS so early to help bulb to the Renissance?? I am about 150 turns in, and I haven't gotten a single GS except the one I got from Writing. Just curious...I am using a lot of the advice given here on this thread, but I'm not cranking them out that fast at all.

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Work specialists in your tech buildings

Imo it's much better to use Oxford to bulb renaissance than using up a great scientist, at least Oxford provides 3 science and a culture for the rest of the game once built (plus any per wonder bonus you have). The great scientist is used up and you could have had an academy instead.

This is a thread from 2010!

G&K now is very different than vanilla was then; advice now does not apply.

Lol damn trolls got me