Egyptian Strategy (Realpolitik)

As some of you may know already, there is an Egyptian Realpolitik using DoC that is just starting in the Stories and Tales forum. Our capital is in a weird location, 1 S and 1E of the Dye. We need to come up with an effective city placement plan for the future, and as such I wish to consult with you, the mighty players of this excellent mod. Using this capital, where should the remaining cities be? We need a good coastal location ASAP, but we also need a good production location. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, if you feel like joining in on the game, then join the Imperialist Party and the Triad coalition, for a strong and prosperous Kemet.

The capitol is on the river 1W of the wheat right? That's probably the best coastal location in Egypt. The forest chops and plains help, Fish for food, shared Wheat. Production wise, nothing beats a city that incorporates Wheat-Marble-Copper-Horse, so either on the Marble or 1S of it are nice. Yebu is also very nice, that's settled on the Gold. Later on you can add another city to grab the Cotton.

Took a look at that capital.



You guys are going to have a hard time turning that around.
I cannot fathom what strategic merit that particular plot has,
and it raises several issues both in the short and long term
(1 tile away from cost that isn't justifiable by UHV (Paris/Berlin) or resource access (old Beijing in vanilla)).
But I digress, since it's already set in stone.

Advice:

I would have advised a 2-city set up, for Egypt proper, but with your weird placement, it just seems incredibly unfeasible.
You will need to strike at Greece or Rome pre-emptively, but I don't think both are an option, and maybe just one.
However, because of the awful capital position, you:

1) Cannot build Galleys.
2) Cannot hook up the Iron. Unless you want some sub-par city that chokes your current capital's food access.
3) The Horse can only be obtained after your second border pop.

To achieve total Egyptian saturation and ensure no conquerors land on your soil, you'll need a port.
I would say Jerusalem, but it's not a productive city and you'll need to crush the Phoenicians to keep them from culture crushing you.
It's your only option though considering the situation you've been forced into.
You'll need to rely on whips and chops and after the fact, you'll need to preserve your Galleys as best as possible.
Which means favoring the imperialistic parties in play right now with regards to your Realpolitik game.
War Chariots need to be prioritized.

You cannot avoid war with either the Greeks or the Romans by the way.
And counting Phoenicia, and assuming you all survive, Barbs + Arabs will become a problem.

Anyways, good luck.

I know that its bad, but the creator of the game chose it for reasons that I can't begin to fathom. Thanks for the input.

Oh wow, I thought it was the Per-Wadjet plot...hmm, maybe on the Desert Hill+Yebu?

This city is actually decent (or even the best) for the UHV. In this setup the next city should be on the copper. However, since I imagine that your aim is not the UHV and you need construction to build forts, your only option is to take Jerusalem asap. Whip galleys there and hire mercs to take down Greece and then Roma. If you fail, their conquerors will be a pain.

We are currently contemplating burning Jerusalem and building a Suez Canal city.

Jusos2108 said:

This city is actually decent (or even the best) for the UHV. In this setup the next city should be on the copper. However, since I imagine that your aim is not the UHV and you need construction to build forts, your only option is to take Jerusalem asap. Whip galleys there and hire mercs to take down Greece and then Roma. If you fail, their conquerors will be a pain.

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If you aren't going for the UHV the conquerors are pretty easy to deal with as long as you pick up relatively early Writing, whip a Library, and grow into 2 scientists. Bulb Math.
Catapults make short work of the stacks they bring. For the UHV I always thought 1 city on Marble+Xou or Per-Wadjet was the way to go.

SheaferDaDawg said:

We are currently contemplating burning Jerusalem and building a Suez Canal city.

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iirc Jerusalem can't be razed.

BenZL43 said:

iirc Jerusalem can't be razed.

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....yes it can...

SheaferDaDawg said:

....yes it can...

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Only if you get it via culture-flip. Otherwise, it's raze-proof.

if you conquer it you can't raze it because there's Temple of Solomon that is un-raze-able..

FinalLegendZero said:

Only if you get it via culture-flip. Otherwise, it's raze-proof.

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You can go into World Builder and delete Jerusalem.

I had it found Zoroastrianism in one of my last games, which made it completely unrazeable.

You can also go into WB and give yourself 20 modern armors.

Leoreth, why does it deserve the un-raze approach? I mean, I understand that in real life Jerusalem was and is a thriving city of great significance to multiple religions, but in 2780 BC it was none of these things, to the best of my knowledge. Actually, that is unfair to Judaism, but it shouldn't matter in terms of the game in the respect that Judaism is not an ingame religion. If the city was better then it would be fine, but as it is Jerusalem is a drain on the resources of any civ which does not have a major shrine (i.e. Egypt).

It's basically exactly this sort of gamey tactics which are employed to make room for better cities. Don't found your capital at Siwa and you're fine, is my advice

To quote the wise and influential merchant Sheafer D. Dawg, "Of course, we can work around it, for the mighty government will go to the ends of the earth to ensure the comfort and security of the people of this glorious nation."

Jerusalem should be made more interesting to be kept then imo. It's pathetic that they're often culture-dominated by Phoenicia via Sur, and lack of anything interesting that's worth to keep.

Sounds accurate to me.