Assyria - Royal Library

[Santa Maria]

I have a big problem to fill the writing slot in the Royal Library.

Can someone explain how to fill it early and how much XP does it really give?

I kind of find it useless cause I don't know how to use the Royal Lib.

Thanks a lot

 

[Vidszhite]

To fill the Royal Library, you have to get a Great Writer, create a great work with him, then place his great work into the Library's slot (via the "my culture" screen). I think it gives the same exp as a barracks, but I could be wrong.

 

[Santa Maria]

How early can I get the GWriter?

What do I need to do to get him?
How is the GW produced?

 

[Vidszhite]

How early can I get the GWriter, and what do I need to be able to get him?

You can get a Great Writer either from the Liberty finisher, or after you research Drama and Poetry, then build a Writers' Guild. After that, keep your Writer's Guild city on pretty much anything but Production focus, make sure it has enough population to sustain 2 writer specialists, and it should start popping out writers at regular intervals.

 

[Santa Maria]

So I will benefit from the Royal Lib mainly after the Classical Era, but the benefit lasts forever.

So it can be pretty useful, Assyria seems pretty strong than (it fits well with the UA and the ST, although the GW slot will probably be filled when the ST is already obsolete).

Combined with left side of honor my units will start with 2 promotions (If I have Barracks) and than it goes relatively fast to get to another promotions.

How should Assyria be played?
How strong are they?

 

[Vidszhite]

How should Assyria be played?
How strong are they?

Assyria should probably be played with an eye towards warmongering. Unfortunately, this means everyone will hate you, as the normally penalty-free method of gaining cities in war, peace deals, does not give you free technology. Their siege towers are amazingly strong, and can easily take hits from just about anything. Unlike battering rams, siege towers buff EVERY unit around the city once they get close, so I often don't upgrade them to trebuchets until Longswords are in the game.

That said, I actually think the Huns are better for early warmongering if all you're after is prime real estate, although Assyria's UA lets you catch up in tech through your warmongering, which makes them quite strong.

 

[NiKho838]

The royal library will give 10exp instead of 15exp for the barracks.

The siege tower needs composite to protect. 3-4 siege towers with 5-6 composite is enough to take down cities under 27 defense. First clean the area with compo, then just take the city the towers are so powerfull.

The free techs when you take cites down are very nice if you are fighting against a big expanding civ like Rome because their usual techpath will help yours but it's not always the case so keep your tech path and try to discover techs that only needs 1-4 turns for a best reward when you take the city

Vidszhite is right, everybody will hate you...remember to be in good terms with CS next to you before going to war haha i love warmongering. Assyrian is a great civ

 

[Mesix]

The nice thing about Assyria is that you can ignore the top half of the tech tree. Research Archery and Bronze Working first and crank out Archers and Spearmen to start your war mongering. You will get the upper half of the tech tree as you conquer because the AI will research these techs for you. In the second phase research Construction to upgrade to CB and Ironworking to get some Swordsmen rolling. Continue this beeline strategy on the bottom half of the tech tree. You will eventually get key techs like Theocracy and Education from your enemies.

I think it goes without saying, but Honor is a very strong policy tree for Assyria. It is a lot of fun to play a game as Assyria, because you can really go all out war monger which is a diversion from the typical game as most other civs.

 

[NiKho838]

About social policies i would prefer tradition if i have a nice starting desertplace. I will try to built Petra about turn 80 and go for desertfolklore by taking the free monument and build the shrine ASAP.


Scout,shrine,granary,(caravan if a civ is near my capital for the little science boost to go for petra). then wathever:archers,watermill, hanginggardens if others civs don't go tradition.
Steal a worker, build farms on hills next to river if possible to reach 7pop.
If petra is ok, then build an army won't take long and the siege towers will still be ok to kick off your first target. The capital will be absolutely HUUUUGE with petra.

Hard in deity, pretty easy in immortal, with petra and nices hills and oasis it's always easy to win and nice to play
Assyrian became my favorite civ.

I would choose honor only if :
there are lot of production tiles near the capital
no desert hills going for petra
I do not find culture ruins early and scout-find others civ capital near mine
If i have huuuge place to expand and go for ICS(messenger of the gods) liberty shrine rush and go for total war religion.
Swords are useless when you have composites+towers. I go swords and muskeet when siege towers are useless. I try to rush artillery, brandenbourg etc... then royal library is fine because you'll steal a great work in the warmongering and with all exp+buildings your fresh new muskeets will get march(heal every turn) reaaaaly quickly.

 

[Kaigen]

Conversely, you can focus on the top half of the tech tree like normal, picking up composite bows and siege towers on the way, and take cities with those to keep up in the warmonger tech. Tech stealing on conquer makes Assyria very flexible, depending on what your strategy is and who your neighbors are.

 

[Santa Maria]

Does someone know how much Xp the filled Royal Library give? Because some say 10 and some 15.

Thanks

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I believe it is 10. I recall that my siege towers built in a city with a filled RL and a barracks had 25xp.

 

[headcase]

It's 10 for me as well.

 

[steveg700]

10 sounds about right. With barrack and RL, I couldn't quite give a new unit 2 promos.

 

[kaspergm]

Yeah, it does give 10, it says so in the game code. Kind of makes it almost pointless, because you don't even get a free promotion from it.

 

[Santa Maria]

Yeah, with 10Xp I think it's pretty weak. Should be buffed.

 

[Babri]

Yeah, with 10Xp I think it's pretty weak. Should be buffed.

Assyria UA on the other hand is freaking OP especially on higher difficulties. And siege towers are also extremely powerful as they give bonus to all units in their vicinity (even to ranged units in my experience).

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 4

 

[Louis XXIV]

Yeah, I'm not sure why 10. If it were 10 automatically, it would be fine, but you have to put work into getting it, so the reward should be a bit better.

 

[That Other Guy]

I'd be concerned about Assyria's balance if they could pump out 4 promo units in all your cities without autocracy.

• The UA's always useful when going to war.
• Siege towers are a solid choice from mathematics until chemistry, when cannons roll around (a pair of siege towers is approximately 15% more effective against cities than a pair of trebuchets).
• Dynamite is only 3 or 4 techs after cannons, at which point you could be building logistics artillery in as many cities as you have great writings, without the hassle of autocracy

Now, maybe that's what a warmonger civ needs to get by in this brave new world of ours, but it seems a little much to me.

 

[kaspergm]

I'd be concerned about Assyria's balance if they could pump out 4 promo units in all your cities without autocracy.

• The UA's always useful when going to war.
• Siege towers are a solid choice from mathematics until chemistry, when cannons roll around (a pair of siege towers is approximately 15% more effective against cities than a pair of trebuchets).
• Dynamite is only 3 or 4 techs after cannons, at which point you could be building logistics artillery in as many cities as you have great writings, without the hassle of autocracy

Now, maybe that's what a warmonger civ needs to get by in this brave new world of ours, but it seems a little much to me.

Nah, it's not that bad. You wouldn't be able to pump out promotion 4 units before Industrial era, and by this time Siege Towers are long gone. Trust me, I tried to save some Siege Towers because I thought they would be nice to keep for the bonus, but already in early Renaissance they were insta-killed by cities, so by the time you reach Military Science, you can forget about Siege Towers.