Firaxis put an incredible amount of effort into the Warlords scenarios. New art, leaders, units, maps. Many dismiss them without playing them - I think we owe it to the game makers to give them a deeper look. We start with Chinese Unification.
There are 7 leaders trying to unite China:
Qin - Aggressive and Charismatic - Yellow
Qi - Expansive and Imperialistic - Pink
Chu - Expansive and Imperialistic - Pink
Yan - Financial and Protective - Blue
Han - Financial and Imperialistic - Green
Zhao - Charismatic and Protective - Cyan
Wei - Aggressive and Protective - Purple
Notice Qin and Chu have two of the so-called "forbidden combos" of traits. Also important to your leader selelction is the starting positions, as we will see shortly. All tiles are revealed when the game starts, so this is not spoiler information.
Every civ starts with four cities, five Archer1s, one Polearm1 (spearman equivalent) and two workers. No resources are improved, and gems are now jade, wine is hemp, dyes are cotton/tea and bananas are citrus fruit.
I know Qin Shi Huang was the historical unifier of China, but in this game he is severely hosed. Start a game on Emperor level with Qin unprepared and you will get your workers captured by the barbs. His start position is exposed. On emporer, the barbarian chariots attack even before you can get slavery, and with their 2 movement points they can attack your workers before you can see them if you are close to a cultural border. With Qin you basically have to start producing Archers from the start, keeping your 1 polearm and an archer with your 2 workers while you mine the copper furiously. Then you've just got to hope that your archers can hold your cities. Once copper is connected you can whip Polearm1s and just about hold on, but you will be behind those civs which can afford the luxury of building (gasp!) workers and granaries first. Basically on a level where barbs are troublesome, it is good to be boxed in from the start. Qin, Chu and Yan are severely disadvantaged by their start positions, and Zhao is not much better. If you want a relatively barb-free game, and in my opinion a more fun game, start with Han, Wei or Qi.
The tech tree is completely revamped, here it is without the starting techs or Future Tech:
There is no tech trading. Each tech in a column costs the same. On emperor the first column techs cost 414 beakers, then 552 for the second column, then 690 and finally 828. Each tech apart from those in the first column require 2 prerequisites from the previous column, except construction which requires 3. Four of the 3rd row techs give great people when researched. Currency gives a GM, Militarism a GG, Caligraphy a GA and Construction a GE. The tree is quite flat, ie it is hard to beeline into expensive techs without picking up the earlier ones.
Perhaps the most important decision is what tech to start with. If you are Qi, expansive, you may want to start with Masonry because it enables slavery. From then you can whip in workers and start cottaging. Those who have barb-exposed start positions will also be well-advised to start with Masonry. Not only can you whip in defense in an emergency, but hasty building of the National Wall (Great Wall equivalent) will stop the barbs for good. Resources will also have a bearing on your starting tech. Camps cannot be build without Crop Rotation, and plantations need Filial Pietry. These two often improve commerce resources, so can give a civ a large start in the tech race. But perhaps the most powerful tech on the first row is Rule of Heaven. It allows Bureaucracy (same benefits as normal), Book of Heaven (National Epic equivalent) and the Great Classical Library (Oracle equivalent). If you have Filial Pietry by the time you build the GCL, you can grab Philosophy and convert to pacifism, which brings us neatly onto ...
Great People. Lightbulbing is hugely powerful in this scenario. You can build forges, temples, libraries, markets and employ specialists just like a normal game. With the Book of Heaven, you need to set up a GP farm ASAP. I think the best way to play is to lightbulb your way through the tech tree. Due to the flat nature of the tech tree, all techs are useful. Therefore an artist can be just as useful to you are a scientist for lightbulbing. There are no "useless techs" in this game, you're not going to be "Diving Right blocked" with a prophet or artist, so any type of GP is useful to you. If you get to most of the 3rd column techs first, you can use the free great people from them to lightbulb the 4th column techs and closer to ...
Winning the game. Domination, diplomacy and time are the conditions enabled. With so much empty space, domination is probably out. The true way to win this scenario is to be elected Emporer of China. The Emporers' Council (buildable with meritocracy) works in just the same way as the UN diplomatic victory voting. You can win peacefully or militarily. The peaceful way is to build emmisaries from your Family Palace buildings (enabled by Filial Pietry) and spread your bloodline (equivalent of religion). Leaders are much more willing to adopt different bloodlines than civs are willing to change religion in a normal game, so this is OK. You do need open borders though, so it is wise to prioritise emmisaries and set up resource trades before a civ closes your border. If you cannot do this, you will have to resort to ...
Military. If we ignore a very early rush, the 2nd column techs reveal the attacking units in the early game. Units fall into 4 classes:
Archers - archery units, city defenders
Polearm - melee units, bonus vs mounted
Crossbows - archery units, bonus vs melee and 1 first strike
Swordsmen - melee units, bonus when attacking cities
Heavy Cavalry - mounted, 2 move, bonus vs catapults and withdraw chance
Chariots - mounted, 2 move
Crossbows are the best attacking troops since they have no counter and ignore an archer's first strike, but are more expensive than swordsmen (60 vs 40 hammers). Both Swords and Xbows require Iron, so if you lack this you will need some horses to attack. XBows are especially good for protective civs. Cavalry and Chariots I regard as weaker city attackers because they have very poor odds vs Polearms, but with enough units they can be effective. Catapults do not come until construction - a third column tech that requires 2 second column techs. You will want to prioritise this tech if going for a military win. Galleys can bombard city defenses in the meantime, and all rivers are navigable. Some of the annoying drawbacks of warmongering are not present here. Courthouses give -80% maintenece, and WW can be nullified by the Underground Tomb (enabled by construction - you want this wonder, believe me) and suitable choices of ...
Civics. There is a new set of civics, hugely powerful ones too. There are equivalents/variations on Vassalage, Bureaucracy, Serfdom, Universal Suffrage, Nationhood, Slavery, Mercantilism, Free Market and State Property. Pacifism is there but now gives +200% GP points - massive, a huge huge civic. Some interesting new ones:
Daoism: +1 happy per forest in the BFC (!)
Mohism: +33% beakers in all cities
Educated elite: +2 free specialists per city
Absolutism: No WW, +1 hammer from mine and workshop
Barter economy: +15% commerce in every city
Feudal levy: Military produced with excess food.
To (slightly) balance these civics there are no spiritual civs in the game. In addition to -75% WW, the Underground Tomb gives +1 free specialist to every city. If you combine this with Mercantilism and later Educated elite, that's +4 specialists in every city.
To follow will be a walkthough of an attempt to become Emporer of China. I hope some of you reading this that wouldn't usually play scenarios give the game a go, if only to view the beautiful artwork.
There are 7 leaders trying to unite China:
Qin - Aggressive and Charismatic - Yellow
Qi - Expansive and Imperialistic - Pink
Chu - Expansive and Imperialistic - Pink
Yan - Financial and Protective - Blue
Han - Financial and Imperialistic - Green
Zhao - Charismatic and Protective - Cyan
Wei - Aggressive and Protective - Purple
Notice Qin and Chu have two of the so-called "forbidden combos" of traits. Also important to your leader selelction is the starting positions, as we will see shortly. All tiles are revealed when the game starts, so this is not spoiler information.
Every civ starts with four cities, five Archer1s, one Polearm1 (spearman equivalent) and two workers. No resources are improved, and gems are now jade, wine is hemp, dyes are cotton/tea and bananas are citrus fruit.
I know Qin Shi Huang was the historical unifier of China, but in this game he is severely hosed. Start a game on Emperor level with Qin unprepared and you will get your workers captured by the barbs. His start position is exposed. On emporer, the barbarian chariots attack even before you can get slavery, and with their 2 movement points they can attack your workers before you can see them if you are close to a cultural border. With Qin you basically have to start producing Archers from the start, keeping your 1 polearm and an archer with your 2 workers while you mine the copper furiously. Then you've just got to hope that your archers can hold your cities. Once copper is connected you can whip Polearm1s and just about hold on, but you will be behind those civs which can afford the luxury of building (gasp!) workers and granaries first. Basically on a level where barbs are troublesome, it is good to be boxed in from the start. Qin, Chu and Yan are severely disadvantaged by their start positions, and Zhao is not much better. If you want a relatively barb-free game, and in my opinion a more fun game, start with Han, Wei or Qi.
The tech tree is completely revamped, here it is without the starting techs or Future Tech:
There is no tech trading. Each tech in a column costs the same. On emperor the first column techs cost 414 beakers, then 552 for the second column, then 690 and finally 828. Each tech apart from those in the first column require 2 prerequisites from the previous column, except construction which requires 3. Four of the 3rd row techs give great people when researched. Currency gives a GM, Militarism a GG, Caligraphy a GA and Construction a GE. The tree is quite flat, ie it is hard to beeline into expensive techs without picking up the earlier ones.
Perhaps the most important decision is what tech to start with. If you are Qi, expansive, you may want to start with Masonry because it enables slavery. From then you can whip in workers and start cottaging. Those who have barb-exposed start positions will also be well-advised to start with Masonry. Not only can you whip in defense in an emergency, but hasty building of the National Wall (Great Wall equivalent) will stop the barbs for good. Resources will also have a bearing on your starting tech. Camps cannot be build without Crop Rotation, and plantations need Filial Pietry. These two often improve commerce resources, so can give a civ a large start in the tech race. But perhaps the most powerful tech on the first row is Rule of Heaven. It allows Bureaucracy (same benefits as normal), Book of Heaven (National Epic equivalent) and the Great Classical Library (Oracle equivalent). If you have Filial Pietry by the time you build the GCL, you can grab Philosophy and convert to pacifism, which brings us neatly onto ...
Great People. Lightbulbing is hugely powerful in this scenario. You can build forges, temples, libraries, markets and employ specialists just like a normal game. With the Book of Heaven, you need to set up a GP farm ASAP. I think the best way to play is to lightbulb your way through the tech tree. Due to the flat nature of the tech tree, all techs are useful. Therefore an artist can be just as useful to you are a scientist for lightbulbing. There are no "useless techs" in this game, you're not going to be "Diving Right blocked" with a prophet or artist, so any type of GP is useful to you. If you get to most of the 3rd column techs first, you can use the free great people from them to lightbulb the 4th column techs and closer to ...
Winning the game. Domination, diplomacy and time are the conditions enabled. With so much empty space, domination is probably out. The true way to win this scenario is to be elected Emporer of China. The Emporers' Council (buildable with meritocracy) works in just the same way as the UN diplomatic victory voting. You can win peacefully or militarily. The peaceful way is to build emmisaries from your Family Palace buildings (enabled by Filial Pietry) and spread your bloodline (equivalent of religion). Leaders are much more willing to adopt different bloodlines than civs are willing to change religion in a normal game, so this is OK. You do need open borders though, so it is wise to prioritise emmisaries and set up resource trades before a civ closes your border. If you cannot do this, you will have to resort to ...
Military. If we ignore a very early rush, the 2nd column techs reveal the attacking units in the early game. Units fall into 4 classes:
Archers - archery units, city defenders
Polearm - melee units, bonus vs mounted
Crossbows - archery units, bonus vs melee and 1 first strike
Swordsmen - melee units, bonus when attacking cities
Heavy Cavalry - mounted, 2 move, bonus vs catapults and withdraw chance
Chariots - mounted, 2 move
Crossbows are the best attacking troops since they have no counter and ignore an archer's first strike, but are more expensive than swordsmen (60 vs 40 hammers). Both Swords and Xbows require Iron, so if you lack this you will need some horses to attack. XBows are especially good for protective civs. Cavalry and Chariots I regard as weaker city attackers because they have very poor odds vs Polearms, but with enough units they can be effective. Catapults do not come until construction - a third column tech that requires 2 second column techs. You will want to prioritise this tech if going for a military win. Galleys can bombard city defenses in the meantime, and all rivers are navigable. Some of the annoying drawbacks of warmongering are not present here. Courthouses give -80% maintenece, and WW can be nullified by the Underground Tomb (enabled by construction - you want this wonder, believe me) and suitable choices of ...
Civics. There is a new set of civics, hugely powerful ones too. There are equivalents/variations on Vassalage, Bureaucracy, Serfdom, Universal Suffrage, Nationhood, Slavery, Mercantilism, Free Market and State Property. Pacifism is there but now gives +200% GP points - massive, a huge huge civic. Some interesting new ones:
Daoism: +1 happy per forest in the BFC (!)
Mohism: +33% beakers in all cities
Educated elite: +2 free specialists per city
Absolutism: No WW, +1 hammer from mine and workshop
Barter economy: +15% commerce in every city
Feudal levy: Military produced with excess food.
To (slightly) balance these civics there are no spiritual civs in the game. In addition to -75% WW, the Underground Tomb gives +1 free specialist to every city. If you combine this with Mercantilism and later Educated elite, that's +4 specialists in every city.
To follow will be a walkthough of an attempt to become Emporer of China. I hope some of you reading this that wouldn't usually play scenarios give the game a go, if only to view the beautiful artwork.
