4.17 + 4UC Arabia Emperor

[plasmidandcell]

Playing with Version 4.17 and the 4UC fix for that Version
I followed the Steam guide from lifeordeath2077 on how to best play Arabia.

With Arabia, you want to generate as much Historic Events as possible to make a big capital.

From the above mentioned guide:
"In order to gain a historic moments, you need to do one of the following

• Earn a Great Person
• Build a Wonder
• Win a war with more then 25 warscore
• Enter a new era
• Start a Golden Age(if you have the Finisher from Artistry)
• Complete an archaeological dig(if you have the Finisher from Artistry)"
  -lifeordeath2077

With Arabia, you want to go tall (--> Tradition) to work as many specialists as possible. My goal is to do a cultural game with a lot of wonders and Artistry for the juicy hidden archaeological digs.

Settings:

View attachment 737954

Starting Location:

The start seems fine. A river is always appreciated. Decided to move onto the warrior tile to have access to dessert and flood tile. After all, Arabia is located in the dessert. Jade on a hill gives nice starting yields.

I had a pleasant surprise when I settled mecca the next round. Mecca was next to Mt. Sinai! (Red X). So my first goal was to acquire the tile. 4 food and 2 faith, what more to want. The 2 faith also allowed me to postpone my shrine and rush pyramids.

Tech route:
Mining --> Calendar



Turn 27

Got pyramids on turn 27. Bought a worker on turn 26 and started to build farms until calendar is researched.
Can you spot Mt. Kailash? It is right above the red X where my second city will be settled.

Who else is in the game for now?
Bytzantine, Songhai, Netherlands, Denmark and Assyria.
Three war lining civs... The desert east of Mecca will function as a nice barrier against invasions. As there is little space available, staying purely peaceful is not an option.
The goal is to settle a third city and to defeat William. This should yield a nice defensible area.



Turn 41

I went for Tradition and then took Justice. The next policy will be Sovereignty.
For my pantheon I took Goddess of Nature. As I have two natural wonders, it was the logical choice. More faith and 4 culture are a really nice boost.
Built shrine in the capital and and now I gonna build some troupes. Before I will attack, I want to build Petra.
The farm go pillaged by an event one turn after it was constructed.

Songhai settled close to me and William built his second city.
Until I can attack him, there are some city state quests to destroy barb camps.



Turn 62- Utrecht must fall

Got my first great engineer (The factory will be built on the southern jade tile of Mecca). I bullied Monaco on turn 60 for some nice cash.
Declared war on William on turn 60 as well. Utrecht will fall next round. After upgrading to spearmen and healing I will attack Rotterdam next.

Median has a council as first building and now builds a granary. The culture from the natural wonder and the plantations was enough for me for now.
As Arabia is about getting as much historic events as possible, the Basar is a must in Mecca.
Babylon and China are in the game as well.



Tech route:

Military Strategy and then bronze working. Other way around would have been the better way.

Turn 74- Founding of my religion

Rotterdam falls on turn 70. Amsterdam is too difficult to tkae without catapults so I make peace with William (at least for now).
The favorable peace deal triggers a historic event and gives a nice boost for a great merchant. Also a great prophet is born!
Time to found a religion. I am the first to found btw.


Believes

Turn 82

Building catapults for Amsterdam. A settler will be finished next turn in Medina. The third city will be settled on the red X to the west. Located on a River, with horses and stone. No luxury but otherwise a good spot.
On Turn 103 Amsterdam falls. Before I take it, William finished Nalanda. Wont say no to that. Amsterdam has the Great Library and Colossus. More trade routes are nice as well.
However, William is still in the game. Strange.

Well, he had another city, Groningen.
We peace out on turn 104. I shuffle my units back don to Mecca. Songhai is building-up armies on my border!

To be continued!

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

I look forward to the next patch of screenshots to see how well would you fare against songhai.
If i may what is the rationale behind mandirs and ceremonial burial? Seems counterintuitive to have a founders belief that relies on spreading and a building follower belief that would compete for the early faith that would be used for missionaries.
I had a similar start in my last game and i went authority instead of tradition -immortal difficulty- as i was pinched between Songhai, Japan, and Tibet; needless to say by the Renaissance era i was so far ahead that the game was over thanks to the conquests.
Tradition arabia is great but i think Authority or even mixing both is much better in starts like this.

 

[pochesun]

Is not historic event also triggered when you comlete trade route?

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

It's tied to buildings like bazar, caravansary, customs house and zoo

Is not historic event also triggered when you comlete trade route?

 

[plasmidandcell]

Part 2 of the Arabia play-through

@SuperNoobCamper​

Ceremonial burial is kind of my to-go founder believe when I am playing tall and have lots of great people. That way I can generate a lot of faith and culture, especially in the middle of the game. I took mandirs for the extra food --> more specialist slots to work. Due to the two natural wonders I had plenty of faith and as you will see later, could convert china and Assyria (both did not found a religion) as well as Songhai. I will explain more later in this post.
The next game I will show, I played Brazil and took Way of Noble Truths as founder. This might be the better belief when doing a cultural game.

Authority Arabia? Never thought of that. Tradition is so nice in the long run for that big capital.
But I see why you suggest it. Taking some Authority policies makes wagging wars easier and might make progress a lot faster.
As my sweet spot is emperor currently, some early aggression is enough to gain some room. At immortal fighting more might be necessary for survival.
(Another point why I like to go peaceful is that rounds where fighting occurs take much more time to play.)

Additional information before i will continue:
pochesun mentioned a very important point I forgot about: With the Arabian basar, a historic event will be triggered (or strengthened) when you complete a trade route to another Civ. You will get a small tourism boost with that civ as well. And remember: Historic Events are key with Arabia!

So what is the situation on turn 102?
Completed Tradition on round 102 and will go Artistry next.
Tech wise I went iron working, than currency followed by sailing. I will finish Drama and Poetry next turn. Goal was to build Nalanda. As mentioned in the starting post, I was not able to get it myself. However, as William built it while I practically besieged his capital, I go it by conquest

Demographic wise I am in the middle of population and literacy. No wonder Babylon has the tech lead.
At least I have the most land.

Turn 112 - We will never surrender!

Spoiler :

On turn 103 Amsterdam fall. On turn 104 Assyria declared war on me. Nice, as most of my troops are far way from the capital.
Streets are important for offense and defense! Good I build some between Mecca and Medina!
Thanks to the dessert, the Assyrian troops only trickle in and do not present a big thread.
However, on turn 106 Songhai joins Assyria. And they are scary! I hate the skirmishers. My swordsmen holds the line for now with the help of a great general.
Here is the situation on turn 112. I have a mix of composite bowmen and spears mixed with some swordsmen. I am over the army cap and some units are still on the way back. I build a wall in Medina for more army capacity and gladly my puppet cities are building walls and barracks for more army capacity as well.
Mecca has walls and builds a water mill for now.

I have converted all of my cities except Amsterdam. I am saving faith now for enhancing.
Tech wise I went for Philosophy (court house!) and in 6 turns I will be in the medieval age with Education. University of Sankore come to me! The bimaristan, my second UB is nice as well.

Turn 114- The struggle goes on

Spoiler :

I have a lot of gold so I bought a second war elephant. I furthermore invested into the wall and the barracks in Medina and Damascus. I NEED THE ARMY CAPACITY!
My swordsmen still holds on the flood tile. The rest of the troops has arrived and the dessert to the south of Mecca makes defending easier. The bowmen are eager to show their skill on foolish approaching enemies!

I am denounced by everybody expect China. I have only one out of five trade routes active (Mecca to Bucharest).
The plan still stands: Hold out and defend, try to befriend China (they are still fighting against William) and enhance my religion.
Speaking of, all religions are founded by now.
Demographic wise, I am 2nd in population and crop yield and still first in land.

Turn 116 - Push'em back

Spoiler :

With the help of the war elephants, I mange to push Songhai back. I try to place the great general on a central field for maximum efficiency. Assyria only has some very damaged units left and is no threat anymore.
I decided to bully Monaco. I had the army nearby, why not take the money?
The barbarian galley close to Damascus is very annoying but I can not spare time for a ship or a bowmen.
Fitting the glorious defense, I build Heroic Epic in Mecca.

Turn 122 - Cavalry attacks

Spoiler :

I got a second great engineer thanks to an event which will go to the stone tile at the coast. Next round a great writer will be born.
I used my great general to build a citadel. Why? Mandekalu Cavalary! While I lingered around the top of the tech tree, Songhai went middle to get their UU. Damn, that knight replacement hurts.
As you can see, this fixed my army cap problem as well. Rest in peace, spear- and bowmen.
With the citadel, I am at least able to prevent flanking and force them to attack from the eastern side into the dessert. Ormus was allied by Songahi and so additional troops are on my boarder. However, William saves the day and allies Ormus shortly afterwards so that I can peace out this turn.

For newer players: Production is important in VP! It does no good if you can build unis and wonders if you do not have enough production and/or worse units than your enemies.
Next time I would stay more in the middle of the tech tree and focus on getting my production up

Oh and do you see the nice barb camp next to my great engineer? Children, don't do that at home and use your great persons for scouting.

Denmark is beating up Byzantine and has declared war on Songhai. Guess who is the new baddy?

Enhanced my religion and took cathedrals (more money) and prophecy. I want the better holy site yields and some protection against enemy conversion.
SuperNoobCamper asked why I took buildings for my religion. Well the answer lies in the reformation belief: Sacred Sites
+6 early tourism from all cities is quite nice. Plus tourism from natural wonders (remember, I have two) and from world wonders.
So next goal is to reform my religion.

From the wiki:

Turn 130 - Are we winning, Son?

Spoiler :

I am slowly beating Songhai back. Them fighting Denmark surly helps.
Promotion wise, I go for for shock on the elephants. Melee infantry is mixed between formation and drill with the swordsmen in the citadel having cover 1. Bow units have barrage for +1 range later in the game. Some more units with medic would have been nice.
I built a lot of roads around my front for faster deployment and retreat. I do not want to loose units again.
Don't ask me, why Songhai has a settler next to me.
Other than that, I was able to kill most of the knights by focus fire. I got Ormus as ally, which helps well to reduce the pressure on me.
Assyria made peace with me and I am now friends with China.
I have three trade routes up, all going to city states. When I have the range, I will sent them to China.

Mecca is building Borobudur for free and stronger missionaries. The wonder also improves existing missionaries. Could have already bought some of them and get them in position for converting the city states and China.
Annexed Amsterdam to get full control. Now is worker season to get my cities up.

Turn 133 - Peace?

Spoiler :

Songhai is beaten back and the workers are up. Now is time to build guilds!
Unlocked Humanism at turn 130.
Peace with Songhai is possible now. Should I take it?

I could generate 19 historic events for Mecca until now. That is a nice +19 boost for science and culture

Still have the most land and second in population.
Literacy 3rd place! Caught up there.
When my workers improve the tiles, GNP and crop yield should go up.

I do not have any autosaves or saves states between turn 133 and turn 152. So there will be a big jump in the next post.
Stay tuned on how I proceeded and how the map looks like on turn 152.

 

[plasmidandcell]

Welcome back to part 3 of my Arabia playthrough

Turn 152

Spoiler :

I made peace with Songhai around turn 133/134 and used my second great general to place a nice citadel close to Tombouctu. The olives are nice and the citadel nicely defends my flank against Assyria. Additionally I could use it to attack Tombouctu.
What else happened the last 19 turns?
I have all 5 trade routes operational. One caravan is sending food to Mecca.
I have converted Assyria and China. The city-states between me and China follow my religion as well.
Songhai is fighting against Assyria and Denmark. Denmark vassalised Byzantine.

Rotterdam is annexed and is working on the court house. Utrecht is going to be annexed next. The two faith buildings are built in Mecca, Medina, Amsterdam and Damascus.
If you ask me, why i did not take Stupas as building, well, they were already taken when I enhanced my religion.
I have a global monopoly on olives and a strategic one on pearls and crabs.
Tech wise I went Machinery --> civil service --> chivalry.
Added a few camel archer to my army.

Turn 173 - Fast turns

Spoiler :

All my cities are annexed and have their faith buildings. Guilds are going up and Mecca builds the Globe Theather.
The Netherlands founded two cities on ice. They are not worth attacking them.
+ 27 culture and science from traits.

China is attacking Songhai who at this part is attacked by every neighbor but me. Let them beat him up while I gain more tourism.
Ormus and Monaco are my allies.
The world congress is meeting in 15 rounds an I am the host. Immediately took global peace accords to reduce war mongering and make armies more expensive. Compared to other civs, I have the money.

Turn 188 - Trait booming

Spoiler :

Got Globe Theater and built more units. Farms are going up and more great persons are born. Use my faith now for great prophets --> tourismn from sacred sites.
202 tourism! I have Nalanda, Great Libary, Imperial Collage and Globe Theater themed!
Planted a Academy and a sacred site in Amsterdam as well.
Songhai is still defending bravely. In the meantime I converted all of his cities. More yields when using a great person.
Assyria stole on olive tile from me
The world congress takes place. All votes for Global peace accords (which passes). Sadly, scholars in residence pass as well.

+43 from traits. Quite an impressive improvement over just 15 turns!

Turn 196

Spoiler :

Songhai is finally buckling under all the pressure. One city under siege, one under attack.
In the meantime I am building Uffizi.
Tech wise I now will try to catch up with military techs again.

Turn 204

Spoiler :

Upgrading my units and improving my tiles.
Songhai will loose two cities soon.

Turn 213

Spoiler :

Songhai lost a city and I finished my Royal Collection (bonus tourism when themed because of my reformation beliefe)
Oh and I bought some missionaries. Maybe I can convert Denmark? Also I want to convert Assyria back to Catholicism.

Turn 219

Spoiler :

Assyria took Jenne. My windmills are going up everywhere and Mecca is building Porcelain Tower.
I rush to archeology which will be researched in 12 turn. Let the digging begin!
My missionaries are trying to convert Denmark in the meantime
Btw Assyria stole my olives again! (near Tombouctu)
I am in a golden age and have + 63 culture from traits

Turn 231

Spoiler :

Assyria took two more cities. Free techs for them. I stay outside of the fighting and build the Louvre. Medina builds a gallery (needed for a museum) and Damascus builds diplomatic units.
Olives and sugar is banned.

Turn 236 - War is looming on the horizon

Spoiler :

Got Louvre and start digging asap.
Finish the industry tree this round. Ideology i am coming!

Assyria is massing at my borders. Need more horses or I cant upgrade my camel archers.
I asked Assyria if the are going to attack me and they did.

Going the bottom of the techscreen now. Brandenburg Gate is nice for the increased army cap (which I terribly need) and can be rushed with great engineers.

Turn 241 - WAR

Spoiler :

My troops are well prepared for the onslaught. Show what you can! Monaco is my ally and takes some units out as well.

 

[plasmidandcell]

Turn 241 ff

Spoiler :

Falling back in Crop Yield, Population and Land. At least my people like me.
Tourism wise I am influential with Assyria and the Netherlands. The others are at least popular.
I have diplomats China, Denmark and Babylon.
I should win this game, but getting two tier 3 Ideology policies will take some time.
I go with draft registration on my first freedom policy. Money is not a problem.

Turn 256 - More war

Spoiler :

Do you know what is nice? Beeing declared war on by Babylon and Denmark. Seems they do not like my culture.
Babylon is no threat, their army is small and outdated. Denmark on the other side packs some punch.
At least Assyria want peace!
Got Brandenburg Gate. The extra XP is nice!

Lets dig up more sites for traits.

Turn 259 - Still more war

Spoiler :

Did I mention that I go sanctioned on turn 244? So I trade with the city states and have four caravans bringing production to Mecca.
Oh and do you see the orange units at my border? I think they are just here for enjoying the view. They would never attack their neighbor and try to win back their capital.

Turn 264

Spoiler :

Of course they attacked...
Bought a great merchant and was able to by some units. They still got Amsterdam down to half health.
I hate the dutch, they vote against me in the world congress an the steal/ open door my CS allies.
I am saving great musicians for concert tours when the wars end.

In the south Byzantine joined the fray. Forts and roads makes a defense possible.
Monaco is open doored, which kind of protects my flank.
China is a true friend and fights against Assyria and Denmark as well.

Turn 270- Peace

Spoiler :

I were able to make peace with Assyria and Denmark. think they had finally enough from rushing my citadels.
Props to my two great generals for their support.
Pushed William back as well. My cities are safe now. It is annoying, that Bucharest is allied with William. Thats my trading partner!
Next goal is to build a small navy and more archeologists.
I use artists and writer for their instead yields.

Turn 296 - Concert tours

Spoiler :

It is peace now. The world need some good music and I am going to provide it. Let the musicians sing!
I am building the Statue of Liberty in Mecca. It is not really necessary as I am going to finish the second tier 3 policy next round.

Did you know, you can steal embassies with great generals? And do you know whats even better? With a great diplomat you can build a new one. So one more vote for you.
I took this approach as there was no CS which I wanted to ally at the time. Open door and so on.

The other civs did not know, but Freedom is the way to go!

Turn 311 - Victory

Spoiler :

Victory on turn 311. Nice. Apparently you can not use a great engineer to rush the citizen earth protocol.

+ 144 culture and science from my UA. Impressive!
Went nearly out of space in Mecca because of so many great person improvments

Hope you did enough this play through. Next Civ gonna be Brazil. Samba ole!

 

[azum4roll]

You don't build villages?

 

[pochesun]

Thx, was interesting to read.

 

[plasmidandcell]

You don't build villages?

Uhh, in this game apparently not. I tend to forget about them. Flat tiles = farms (I try to get this nice farm triangles), hills = mines. Sometimes also some lumber mils.

From your question I assume I should build more villages. Where and when would you build them? I could have placed eg. two villages instead of the farms on the road between Mecca and Medina.

 

[redrum68]

Generally you want to build villages along your roads/railroads and if possible have a trade route go over them. Farms are generally not that good after early game.

 

[azum4roll]

You should generally maximize the number of villages on roads, optimally with a trade route passing through (you can send a trade route from a border city to a city on the other side). Only try not to disrupt unique improvements, lumber mill triangles, or fresh water farm triangles.