Askia/Songhai surprisingly potent starting civ

[CaptainPatch]

More warlike than I normally see myself being ("River warlord"), I decided to give Songhai a try anyway. Wowza! Triple the cash for stomping a Barbarian camp (Marathon, normal = 75, Songhai = 225) -- forget about triple cash for Pillaging, 'cuz I don't do that -- means I'm seldom hurting for cash. Barbarian camps are popping up nearly everywhere all the time. Adopt Honor ASAP and you get to _know_ where those camps are all the time, so not nearly so much hide-and-go-seek. Statue of Zeus makes you all the more powerful against Barbs, and getting Culture for stomping Barb camps means more and more frequent Social policy buys. Flesh out Patronage ASAP and with that constant cashflow -- plus the frequent Influence bump for camps worrying nearby CSs -- and you will pretty much _own_ nearly every CS for most of the game.

I used to almost always take Egypt for the rapid Wonder-building. But I think I've found a new favorite.

 

[seasnake]

Songhai has always been good, but with the increased rewards for wiping out barb camps it's even better these days.

 

[Yzman]

Doesn't statue of Zeus increase attack against cities? Not sure how that helps with barbs.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Doesn't statue of Zeus increase attack against cities? Not sure how that helps with barbs.

Quite so; my bad. But that +15 vs. cities must help to dissuade other civs from attacking you (instead of someone weaker). [Plus it was a fairly "cheap" Wonder to build, comparatively speaking.]

 

[FrostK]

forget about triple cash for Pillaging, 'cuz I don't do that -- means I'm seldom hurting for cash

You get some gold when u conquer enemy city. If I understand correctly, this gold is tripled for Askia, which is very nice boost actually.

 

[CaptainPatch]

You get some gold when u conquer enemy city. If I understand correctly, this gold is tripled for Askia, which is very nice boost actually.

I'll readily acknowledge that. But player-wise, I'm very much a "Can't we all just get along?" kind of ruler. I'll maintain a large Military as a deterrent, but about the only time I go after someone else's cities is because _they_ attacked **me**.

Barbarians, otoh, EVERYBODY hates. And if killing them gets me LOTS of cash, so much the better.

 

[sendos]

If you're playing as Songhai, hopefully you will have Egypt as your neighbour. It's not just wonder stealing. Wait for them to build burial tombs and rack in all that gold. x6 gold collected from Egyptian cities if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Depravo]

If you're playing as Songhai, hopefully you will have Egypt as your neighbour. It's not just wonder stealing. Wait for them to build burial tombs and rack in all that gold. x6 gold collected from Egyptian cities if I'm not mistaken.

I always forget about that in my eagerness to kill Egypt on sight before it builds all the best wonders in Thebes.

 

[Aaron90495]

If you're playing as Songhai, hopefully you will have Egypt as your neighbour. It's not just wonder stealing. Wait for them to build burial tombs and rack in all that gold. x6 gold collected from Egyptian cities if I'm not mistaken.

And now, with the Fall Patch, x6 gold with a certain Commerce policy, which stacks to x12 vs
Egypt. : crazyeye: