Morocco underrated?

*Morocco (obviously)

Just started playing them. I had been put off by people saying their UA wasn't very good. It certainly didn't look very inspiring.

I moved 2-3 turns to find a decent start (was near the sugar NW) and found I was near Venice and Portugal. Got the first trade route up asap. Beelined to get Petra for the second and a monster cap. Just researched sailing for one more. Only have two of my own trade routes going (wonder spamming) but thanks to the other Civs I'm netting 37gpt @ turn 120. Think I'll dip into Patronage before going Commerce. (Only scouted Grand Mesa after I settled otherwise I'd probably have gone that one tile more).

Sure this could be considered situational but still early gold goes a long way. The small culture bonus is nice too.

Does the Kasbah stack with Petra?

Playing as "Monaco" and having a Venetian neighbor... do not listen to their honeyed words or buy their shiny goods, THEY WILL PUPPET YOU OUT OF EXISTENCE!

I had to check the screen shot to be sure...

I've had no problems with them. I've been lucky enough when I play them to be in a desert with lots of hills. Desert Folklore+Petra pretty much guarantees a damn good game.

I personally prefer Morocco .

Yes Kasbah does stack with Petra. Them desert hills be crazy.

Pythakoreas said:

Playing as "Monaco" and having a Venetian neighbor... do not listen to their honeyed words or buy their shiny goods, THEY WILL PUPPET YOU OUT OF EXISTENCE!

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Doh! Looking at the CS then typing *facepalm* long day. lol.

Needless to say war with Venice has started. Monaco's the next target!

yep... Morocco is one of the civs where I'll beeline straight to Petra.

I love playing as Monaco- being married to Princess Grace. Morocco is great as well- that gold never goes astray for me (And good catch to the OP.)

I would say Morocco is OVERrated. If you don't spawn in a very large desert, you lose most of your uniques. Even if you do, the Kasbah and Berber Cavalry are good at best. The best thing about the civ is that you get more trade routes coming into you early in the game (which means a ton of science on Immortal/Deity), but that's their only appeal unless you start in a giant swathe of desert.

Of course, with a big desert and Petra (a huge gamble), Morocco is great. But that only happens probably 1/10 times, assuming you don't re-roll endlessly for a perfect start.

I pretty much ran away with my first game as Morocco even though I started on a fairly small desert. Trade routes in the early game gave me the lift I needed to get Petra, plus Desert Folklore, then Kasbahs. I don't think I built a single Berber Cavalry in the entire game, and eventually conquered Shaka, who started on a much bigger desert, for a big win.

I may have just gotten lucky, but it seems that while their uniques aren't grand on their own, they come at just the right time.

I've tried a few games as Morocco...but, so far, with limited success. I re-rolled a few times to try to get a good desert location, but the problem I seemed to have was early pop growth and early production....only once was I actually able to complete Petra.... [Aside: ...and then the Aztecs, who I thought were far enough away not to be a problem until later, landed on my doorstep with a massive early army..... ]

Anyway there should be a way to crack this early pop/production dilemma in desert locations.....I'm thinking it might be in the early Social Policies...

Any ideas on good Morocco openers?.... I don't think I need to bother with "Liberty"....stealing an early worker is obviously the "cost-effective" way out of that part of the problem.....but how to boost population and production to try to assure Petra???...or at least a good shot at getting it.

Without Petra in a good desert location the game becomes, if still winnable in the end, kind of, shall we say, "ho-hum".....

[Aside:...and sometimes when I really wanted Petra, later in the game when I find out who built it and the city it was built in it often seems to be some pathetic city with only a couple of flat desert tiles ...Damn!!!...]

...and I did have one really good game going as Morocco...lots of salt....four.... IIRC, but it wasn't a desert start....so it was quickly becoming "just-another-game" ...so say....

Koiranputki, I have found that when playing as Morocco (well other Civs as well) my first few trade routes need to be establishing the cities population- that is use them as food carriers exclusively until your cities hit a critical mass. Of course if you have flood plains or heaps of fish this may not be such a priority, but it has been essential for me as a desert civ.

Cicerosaurus said:

Koiranputki, I have found that when playing as Morocco (well other Civs as well) my first few trade routes need to be establishing the cities population- that is use them as food carriers exclusively until your cities hit a critical mass.

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The problem with that is Morocco's UA only applies to foreign trade routes, and the advantage of its bonus only really matters in the early game. So if you focus on domestic trade routes early on, you're not utilizing Morocco's UA.

Absolutely correct Bonafide. It is a balancing act- I prefer to get my cities up and running before the trade routes but I see the point you make. The extra gold and culture make a greater percentage in the early game.

Morocco's Kasbah unfortunately doesn't get improved with techs that improve other tile improvements....you really need Petra to boost those Kasbahs.
But the UA, combine it with Writer Guild, could definetely help you fill up three social policy trees and an ideology, especially if you have culture civ allies.