1.16 Arab UHV Guide

[GuitarDemon]

I may have to give this strategy a try next time. I’ve been trying to complete the UHVs on emperor difficulty and I’ve lost Arabs twice. Both too far in tech and military

A strategy I’ve been doing for workers is stealing workers from Byzantium that work the resource above Damascus. Destroy the improvements and get peace, then declare war capture more of them when they come to improve again. Last game I grabbed a ridiculous amount of workers so my cities could concentrate on other things.

However, I left Persia for the Turks and now I feel like that was a mistake. I like the vassal and controlling their research idea would make their doom stacks easier to manage

 

[Dracosolon]

Is the UHV significantly impacted by Ottomans spawning automatically if the human player has cities there?

 

[GuitarDemon]

Is the UHV significantly impacted by Ottomans spawning automatically if the human player has cities there?

In my opinion no. However ottomans are usually aggressive and want to take Mesopotamia so they have a high likelihood of attacking.

In my last game they never spawned but then Byzantium grew to be tech leader and beat me by one tech

On harder difficulties I think it’s better to let Byzantium get destroyed and delcare war on them if ottomans are at war, that way you’d on good terms with them. I think I did that one time and ottomans still attacked even with pleased disposition, be wary

 

[WhiteEyes]

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.

 

[antostor]

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.

one addition to this tactic: if you settle Makkah on spot, do get an Advanced Start sheep pen SE of it and have Saana work it. Then whip a harbor there and you can give the sheep pen back to Makkah if you want to. Saana will grow much faster and be a productive city much sooner this way. Then build a war galley or two to block the entrance to the red sea so you don't have to rebuild your work boats.

 

[Logoncal]

Does anyone have a 2024 1.17 updated guide on doing this? Alot changed.