DJSHenninger
Megas Basileus
Small update with no real changes; just more efficient lua, xml and it no longer changes Persia to Achaemenids. More mod support and TAL should be supported now as well.
Tarmar's leaderscreen is missing
Introduction
Almanzor or al-Mansur was a statesman of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 11th century. Presiding over Córdoba's peak of power, Almanzor started as a student at the court but quickly rose to the most prestigious position. Almanzor was ultimately considered to be the true force behind the thriving of the Caliphate, as the grandson of the famed abd-ar-Rahman III was practically imprisoned in his own palace. Allegedly, to hide his usurption of power, he performed annual raids and invasions, amounting to 57 'razzias' in total, and triumphed in all of them.
Strategy
Córdoba is focused on both Science and Warfare, representing both Córdoba in general and Almanzor's reign in particular. The first part of the trait is not necessarily one for winning; a useful tactic is to wage war early on City-States and Civilizations with a relatively high number of improved Tiles. There's no need to conquer; quickly moving over all the Tiles with mounted Units should provide a fair amount of Gold and Faith. Use the Faith to found a religion quickly and the Gold to purchase an Alcazaba, which should be available early, but would likely take a long time to construct. The Alcazaba grants an early access to Andalusian Polymaths with its Scientist Specialist slot. Andalusian Polymaths are the key to a Scientific Victory, as they not only provide more Science when using the 'Discover Technology' action, but also grant early and free access to the Rationalism Policy Tree!
Notes
UA: +5 Faith and +10 Gold per Tile Pillaged (one time boost)
UB: Every repaired Tile provides Science equal to 50% of Science per Turn (one time boost)
Can't upload to Steam because Modbuddy sucks.
That first half of the UA, holy crap, get hype.
God damn that Polymath is crazy good I love it![]()
"Turns of War"
Phew, that Alcazaba is great though - I've found I don't want to pillage improvements because, if I capture the city, I just have to repair it. Which is dumb, because pillaging improvements feels like it should be a necessary path to conquest. Solves it right off the bat.
Polymath is really creative, too.
I was pondering over the Polymath and I realised it's incredibly hard to do something interesting with a Great Scientist. Since they're also relatively rare and their Discover Tech ability is very useful. I hope it's not too powerful, since Poland's trait is sometimes regarded as OP. But in this case, you don't have a choice, and it only begins in the medieval age or so.
Well, you could take the Liberty finisher and get a Great Scientist relatively early? I suppose it might still be the medieval era by the time you finish it... I know I've used the finisher to get a Great Engineer to finish a Theology wonder.