I don't remember posting here lol
anyway, some new tips for 1.17:
- If you settle Makkah 1N Islam will spawn on another city.
- My personal choice for Advanced Start is 1 Farm on Alexandria Wheat, 2 Farms between Damaskus and Baghdad, and some road near Makkah.
- Seljuk no longer get conqueror event if you vassalize them which is very easy to do.
- However do not slack on defense! You need at least 2x6 Mobile Guards to defend Baghdad and Makkah (usually). You might need 6 more to beat Mongol troops coming from Byzantine and Persia. They may also send their starting army of Keshik doomstack to the middle east. Crashing 1 Longbowman before attacking Mongol stacks might be good idea, but i haven't try it.
- Place 6 Mobile Guards in Al Quds. That way you can protect both Damascus and Makkah from Mongols.
- Plan ahead! Anti light-cav promotion have no use against Spain, but it is vital against the Mongols.
- In other words, Makkah, Cairo, and Damascus build 5 Mobile Guard each. Skip Forge. Only build Stable in Makkah and Damascus.
- But if you choose to vassalize Turks, you can build Forge before mass training Mobile Guards. You may also build some Libraries.
- You start with less Workers. But you can wait for Byzantine to work the Dye in the north of Damaskus. Usually you can kidnap 4 Workers this way.
No need to rush, you can attack the Turks first before Byzantine work the Dye.
- You can no longer settle Maghreb without Cartography (or Exploration?) so no more cheesing Wahran ahead of Moors.
- You can peacefully vassalize Moors if you are friendly enough. Not sure if this happening in every game. It happened when I successfully defended Cordoba against Spanish conqueror.
- Have 3 unit standby on the hill near Rasht to block incoming Oghuz.
- I skip Persia until Mongol invasion, if you want to do historical expansion it's up to you, i have no tips for keeping the skyhigh maintenance of Persia.
- Baghdad focus on building Spiral Minaret, Library, and House of Wisdom. Don't whip the wonders! Whipping 2 pop usually only yield 2-3 turn boost for them.
If you need more units around Baghdad, delay House of Wisdom until 1200AD.
- Al Quds focus on Aqueduct (if running Citizenship), Market, and Dome of The Rock. If you managed to mine Egypt Gold early, build the Dome right away.
- Usually i use Tripoli and Sanaa to build Galleys. Sanaa also need 2 Heavy Galley to protect from barbarians. Meanwhile Alexandria build 2 Work Boat (for feeding Al Quds).
- Without Monarchy your cities going to have a happiness crisis, whip Arena or Weaver in Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad.
- Always beeline Doctrine.
- Islam is now very easy to disappear from Byzantine cities. Taking Iconium and Trebizond to spread Islam is a bad idea.
- If able, keep focus on priests in Iskandariyah and Al Quds. Great Prophet will help with UHV3. But let Al Quds reach 8 or 9 pop first.