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Game #16 - Persia/Cyrus
Game #16 - Persia/Cyrus
In the next ALC game, I'll be playing as Cyrus, leader of Persia. This thread is to discuss, before the game, how to best exploit that particular leader's characteristics, which is the main feature and purpose of the ALC series. Just so we're clear, I'm playing with the Warlords expansion pack and the difficulty level will be Monarch. The speed is Epic, the map is Fractal. Here's the fact sheet:
Traits: Charismatic (+1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower) and Imperialistic (+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers)
Starting Techs: Agriculture and Hunting
Unique Unit: Immortal (Replaces Chariot; Strength: 4, Movement: 2, Cost: 25; Unique Characteristics: Can withdraw from combat (30% chance); +50% vs. Archery Units)
Unique Building: Apothecary (Replaces Grocer; Cost: 150; Requires: Guilds and Currency; Unique Characteristics: +2 Health)
Cyrus is interesting in that he's one of the few leaders whose traits changed completely from Civ IV vanilla, where he had the relatively peaceful Creative and Expansive traits. Now, he has the potential to live up to the tile of the expansion pack; Charismatic and Imperialistic are very good traits for a warlord.
Charismatic provides +1 happiness, which is always a welcome benefit, especially as you move up to the higher difficulty levels and the "happiness cap" drops significantly. But its main benefit is the reduced XPs required for promotions. When Charistmatic, it makes sense to war early and war often to build up an army of highly-promoted veterans sooner than your rivals. You can then upgrade them through the ages.
I'm not as in love with the Imperialistic trait; I think it's as weak as Protective, at least in comparison to the other traits. The cheap Settlers would be more of an advantage if the food contributing to their builds was doubled along with the hammers; and if you're warmongering, how many cities do you really need to found, anyway? If we do warmonger, though, the additional Great Generals will be helpful. Look for me to try to build the Great Wall if I have stone near the start; it has a good synergy with Imperialistic because it also increases GG generation.
Stonehenge is also attractive since it provides those +1 happy monuments, border expansion, and a Great Prophet or two. But Cyrus calls for early warmongering, so I don't want to get bogged down in builder mode. This is where the Expansive trait's sorta-cheap Settlers might
come in handy, allowing me to quickly get my early cities up and running so I can both build units and one or two early wonders. Frankly, I find Stonehenge helps with early warmongering, since you can avoid wasting turns and hammers on monuments and build barracks and units instead.
Speaking of units: Persia's unique unit, the Immortal, dove-tails nicely with a warmongering approach (even if it is historically inaccurate; the Immortals were infantry, not mounted units). It's an early UU that replaces the Chariot and gains several advantages over its ordinary counterpart: it has a higher withdrawal chance, making it more likely to survive battles, and it has a bonus against Archers, the AI's favourite early defensive unit. With bonuses against Archers AND Axemen, it's probably the best anti-barb unit in the game. I suspect the Immortal is going to prove as stellar a UU as Egypt's War Chariots.
Cyrus' starting techs are Agriculture and Hunting, both pre-requisites for Animal Husbandry. Since AH can be had more cheaply than usual, AND it enables the UU, I think researching it first right out of the gate is a no-brainer, with the second city claiming horses unless they appear in the capital's fat cross. The first build will likely be a Scout; starting with Hunting and Scouts means a greater chance of revealing more terrain (including more goody huts!).
Since Persia and Cyrus are, historically, one of the oldest civiliazations and one of the earliest great leaders, it makes sense that he starts strong. However, it also means, conversely, that many of his strengths peter out by mid-game. The UU becomes obsolete quickly, the advantages of cheap Settlers vanish, and the +1 happy from monuments go away with Calendar. As the game goes on Great Generals become more expensive and less frequent, and Charismatic's cheap promotions become more expensive for the veterans. Only the Broadcast Tower with its +1 happy is there as a late-game benefit for Cyrus (making the Eiffel Tower an extremely attractive late-game wonder). By the way, notice that Cyrus is another one of a handful of leaders, like Hannibal, who has no cheap buildings.
Cyrus has no built-in economic advantages, so that will have to be a constant focus. I anticipate a cottage economy since he's not Philosophical, but the map may dictate otherwise. Mid-game tech priorities will likely be Guilds (to upgrade the uber-promoted Immortals to Knights) and Military Tradition (to upgrade the uber-promoted Knights to Cavalry).
Guilds also enable the unique building, though I think it's a secondary consideration to Knights. The Apothecary doesn't exactly warm the cockles of my heart. Grocers already provide additional health with the right resources--which, if I've conquered the territory I intend to, I should already have. Besides, Expansive already has a per-city health boost, so the UB's health benefit will only likely kick in long after it gets built. Overall, then, I think the plan should be to research AH out of the gate, REX briefly to claim horses and found at least 4 decent cities, then go bang some heads. After that, once Cyrus' advantages start to peter out, we'll have to weigh the situation carefully and see what the best course of action is. With cheap great generals and XPs, though, I'm pre-disposed towards pursuing either a domination or conquest victory.