I've been playing lately with Ramses' potential, just experimenting on Prince before trying things at higher levels. Egypt has what seems like an odd combination of traits:
-- Advantage building wonders.
-- Burial Chambers replace temples with less tech and provide extra happiness.
-- War Chariots that don't use any horses.
I play a Tradition/Aesthetics/Freedom easy win with Culture. Then a Piety/Tradition/Rationalism/Freedom less easy win with Space. Both of those are Tall, four-city starts on Continents maps. I don't launch any wars. If attacked, I may take and immediately raze a non-capital. I didn't want the city penalties for culture or tech.
I decide to try Egypt out for Domination. The early unit has the flaw of not promoting to a ranged unit, making all those ranged attack bonuses useless later. But you can crank out as many as you can afford, because they don't require horses. I played an Honor opener, followed by Liberty. And in hindsight this seems like it was right. I'm playing on a continents map, with Greece, Ottomans and Byzantines close by and England further away. I kill lots of barbarians to fill up the Honor tree quickly and get the first 30 experience on most of my units. I have only two cities up, but it's time to fight. With two spears and three war chariots, I attack Constantinople and take it without much effort. Theo surrenders. I crank out a few more units, heal up and turn to Istanbul, which is adjacent. Unfortunately, Suleiman has an early wall up and this fight bogs down. I settle for accepting Edirne when he surrenders, which puts me in Alexander's back yard. I put a citadel in a great strategic location near two of Greece's cities and line up my chariots, then declare. I kill several waves of his units and start to bonus up my chariots nicely. I take and raze Argos. But with my economy hurting and Alex's allied city states getting into the mix, I accept a peace deal that doesn't give me anything. I then use those stronger chariots to go after Istanbul again, which I take without too much trouble. I can see some mistakes I've made and know my whole continent is in an economic and tech backwater. It's about 1250 AD and from the wonders being built elsewhere, I know we're way behind. I'd rather just start over, which I'll do shortly.
What I realize is that the War Chariots become truly lethal if they get Logistics early enough. This allows them to step in, fire twice, then back off. They can also get extra range, which just adds to this tactic. This is similar to strategies that work well with England's UUs. But that's several promotions for the chariots and the window is narrow. Against good fortifications or more advanced defending units, they're not going to be effective. So the correct strategy for War Chariot early domination has to be getting them out early in large numbers and attacking quickly. Make sure you give them the right bonuses. I'm thinking Spears seem like a natural supporting unit, though swords are OK as well. Honor and Liberty seem to make sense, but not sure about the order.
Anyone else have insights on domination efforts with Egypt?
-- Advantage building wonders.
-- Burial Chambers replace temples with less tech and provide extra happiness.
-- War Chariots that don't use any horses.
I play a Tradition/Aesthetics/Freedom easy win with Culture. Then a Piety/Tradition/Rationalism/Freedom less easy win with Space. Both of those are Tall, four-city starts on Continents maps. I don't launch any wars. If attacked, I may take and immediately raze a non-capital. I didn't want the city penalties for culture or tech.
I decide to try Egypt out for Domination. The early unit has the flaw of not promoting to a ranged unit, making all those ranged attack bonuses useless later. But you can crank out as many as you can afford, because they don't require horses. I played an Honor opener, followed by Liberty. And in hindsight this seems like it was right. I'm playing on a continents map, with Greece, Ottomans and Byzantines close by and England further away. I kill lots of barbarians to fill up the Honor tree quickly and get the first 30 experience on most of my units. I have only two cities up, but it's time to fight. With two spears and three war chariots, I attack Constantinople and take it without much effort. Theo surrenders. I crank out a few more units, heal up and turn to Istanbul, which is adjacent. Unfortunately, Suleiman has an early wall up and this fight bogs down. I settle for accepting Edirne when he surrenders, which puts me in Alexander's back yard. I put a citadel in a great strategic location near two of Greece's cities and line up my chariots, then declare. I kill several waves of his units and start to bonus up my chariots nicely. I take and raze Argos. But with my economy hurting and Alex's allied city states getting into the mix, I accept a peace deal that doesn't give me anything. I then use those stronger chariots to go after Istanbul again, which I take without too much trouble. I can see some mistakes I've made and know my whole continent is in an economic and tech backwater. It's about 1250 AD and from the wonders being built elsewhere, I know we're way behind. I'd rather just start over, which I'll do shortly.
What I realize is that the War Chariots become truly lethal if they get Logistics early enough. This allows them to step in, fire twice, then back off. They can also get extra range, which just adds to this tactic. This is similar to strategies that work well with England's UUs. But that's several promotions for the chariots and the window is narrow. Against good fortifications or more advanced defending units, they're not going to be effective. So the correct strategy for War Chariot early domination has to be getting them out early in large numbers and attacking quickly. Make sure you give them the right bonuses. I'm thinking Spears seem like a natural supporting unit, though swords are OK as well. Honor and Liberty seem to make sense, but not sure about the order.
Anyone else have insights on domination efforts with Egypt?