Zardnaar
Deity
The most famous Zulu king was Shaka. Known for his ruthlessness even by 19th century and Zulu standards he was eventually murdered by his own brother. The details of his rule are probably better left to a Historical Filth article by Kafka in the history section of CFC. Shaka was known for introducing the assegai to the Zulu. The assegai is a short handled long bladed stabbing spear where other tribes used a more traditional and ineffective throwing spear. Zulu power was broken by the English in 1879.
In the game they are expansionistic and militaristic. Widely percieved as perhaps the two weakest traits in the game they are a poor combination. The expansionistc trait can be hit and miss. You start with a scout unit and can build more. Its main use is to grab goody huts and explore the surrounding terrain. If you get lucky you can get a new city or settler from a goody hut near your capital effectively doubling your expansion rate.
However the higher the difficulty level the more likely it is that you get a handful of gold, a conscript warrior or a map. It is also crippled on island maps where you may not have any goody huts at all on your starting island. However you do get to start with pottery for the all important settler factory start. In Conquests though the agricultural trait also gets this benefit and more, so its overall effect is minimal as its easier to trade for or start with. Once you exit the ancient age the expansionistic trait has little to no value however. Hopefully you make the most use of it as you can such as getting perfect city placement as for the rest of the game you're stuck with it.
The militaristic trait is another trait percieved as weak. You get to start with warrior code and it gives you half priced military building such as barracks, harbors and the almighty coastal fortress amoung others-erm bad example perhaps. Also your military units get promoted faster which leads to more elite units to try and generate military great leaders with. The trait has little value outside of warfare though. Several other traits indirectly contribute to a civs ability to wage war and the militaristic trait seems optional. When combined with another trait suited for warfare and a civ with a great unique unit (UU) it can be great. Which leads me to the Impi.
The Zulu UU is the Impi. It has a ADM of 1/2/2 that costs 20 shields and requires no resources to build. Basically a fast spearman it is a awkward unit to use as in civ you generally have two options for warfare. 1. Stack of Doom using a large amount of slow units with artillery or 2. Blitz - a large amount of fast attackers such a Knights or Tanks which rely on speed, attack power and numbers to punch their way through an AIs lines. The Impis attack value is only 1 - one of the lowest in the game while its speed of 2 makes it useless for a slow moving stack of doom. Overall its useless in either primary role units in civ tend to fall into. It is however better than a normal spearman and is good to use if you need to quickly reinforce a city or if your armys advance has left your core far behind. The Impi also makes a great pillager unit that is cheap.
Overall the Zulu are a 3rd tier civ. One big problem is that with the expansionistic trait and ancient age UU is that once you hit the middle ages all you have left is the militaristic trait to carry you through to the end of the game. As a builder civ they are hopeless when compared to most of the civs, For the warmonger player at best they're a 2nd tier civ as the UU is weak and the trait combo doesn't excel at that type of game. The AI can't play them very well either and your only option seems to be constant warfare to keep up with the AI- something that becomes harder to do as you go up the difficulty levels. Overall a very poor civ in most aspects and probably one of the worst in the game.
In the game they are expansionistic and militaristic. Widely percieved as perhaps the two weakest traits in the game they are a poor combination. The expansionistc trait can be hit and miss. You start with a scout unit and can build more. Its main use is to grab goody huts and explore the surrounding terrain. If you get lucky you can get a new city or settler from a goody hut near your capital effectively doubling your expansion rate.
However the higher the difficulty level the more likely it is that you get a handful of gold, a conscript warrior or a map. It is also crippled on island maps where you may not have any goody huts at all on your starting island. However you do get to start with pottery for the all important settler factory start. In Conquests though the agricultural trait also gets this benefit and more, so its overall effect is minimal as its easier to trade for or start with. Once you exit the ancient age the expansionistic trait has little to no value however. Hopefully you make the most use of it as you can such as getting perfect city placement as for the rest of the game you're stuck with it.
The militaristic trait is another trait percieved as weak. You get to start with warrior code and it gives you half priced military building such as barracks, harbors and the almighty coastal fortress amoung others-erm bad example perhaps. Also your military units get promoted faster which leads to more elite units to try and generate military great leaders with. The trait has little value outside of warfare though. Several other traits indirectly contribute to a civs ability to wage war and the militaristic trait seems optional. When combined with another trait suited for warfare and a civ with a great unique unit (UU) it can be great. Which leads me to the Impi.
The Zulu UU is the Impi. It has a ADM of 1/2/2 that costs 20 shields and requires no resources to build. Basically a fast spearman it is a awkward unit to use as in civ you generally have two options for warfare. 1. Stack of Doom using a large amount of slow units with artillery or 2. Blitz - a large amount of fast attackers such a Knights or Tanks which rely on speed, attack power and numbers to punch their way through an AIs lines. The Impis attack value is only 1 - one of the lowest in the game while its speed of 2 makes it useless for a slow moving stack of doom. Overall its useless in either primary role units in civ tend to fall into. It is however better than a normal spearman and is good to use if you need to quickly reinforce a city or if your armys advance has left your core far behind. The Impi also makes a great pillager unit that is cheap.
Overall the Zulu are a 3rd tier civ. One big problem is that with the expansionistic trait and ancient age UU is that once you hit the middle ages all you have left is the militaristic trait to carry you through to the end of the game. As a builder civ they are hopeless when compared to most of the civs, For the warmonger player at best they're a 2nd tier civ as the UU is weak and the trait combo doesn't excel at that type of game. The AI can't play them very well either and your only option seems to be constant warfare to keep up with the AI- something that becomes harder to do as you go up the difficulty levels. Overall a very poor civ in most aspects and probably one of the worst in the game.
. Their military has always been unstopable, unless you get a nice tech lead on them. Happens a lot, though.
