Babylonians

[alwinter]

After losing handily through several attempts with multple civs at regent level, I switched down to the Babylonians on Warlord in a huge battle royale game.

This is a good civ. the scientific experience is great because you get those extra advances at the dawn of a new era. trading them for gold per turn let me go to 0.10.0 on the reserach rate and i was getting things like industrialization starting at 4 turns

thats cool.

and the golden age i triggered was after a huge cultural buildup. I've had cities from 4 different civs convert to my empire because of cultural expansion. and i have a 94% approval rating.

 

[fsume93]

I am playing with them right now and I like them. In previous games the persians and babs gave me most of the trouble i ran into. I will play the persians next.

In current game i was able to handle the persians easy as the babs. I took their capital and they never seemed to recover.

Leading in culture and middle of the road in tech. I now am toying with my % science allocation and seem to be catching up on tech.

Other cultures basically bow to me as Babs with the high culture rating. Cool!!

 

[Magnus]

If cultural victory is what you desire, the Babylonians are THE choice. Plus I like their UU, the bowman is sweet in that it is decent offensively and defensively - the first tech I research as the babylnians is warrior code.

 

[fsume93]

Game update from previous post.

somehow the Indians were kicking my butt in culture. They didnt have any allies and were in first place by a large spread. I signed two MPP's and then went to war with the Indians. Within 2 turns the whole world was at war with them. I got most of their cities with several other civs getting one or 2 others cities each. The french were next, same thing happened. They died off rather unimpressively. I am in second place and leading space race.

 

[bakant]

My favourite civilization is the babylonions, especially if one is trying to go for cultural victory. The bowman is quite good as it can be both defensive and offensive. Also only having the 1 turn of anarchary between governments is invaliable as the AI thinks it is a great time to attack you.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

I am falling in love with the Babs. I use to post a lot thinking those Bowmen blew chunks, but now I love them to death. You can start an early genocidal campaign early and take over. It is nice to have Units that can both do offense and defense..take a city..defend the city. Especially, since you are right next to the Persians usually (or Zulu)..and you have to wipe out those bastiches before they get their damned immortals...or they come for you.

The only thing that blows is that you get your Golden Age real early if you start a campaign early with bowmen. Still worth while..I like cheap temples, Cathedrals, libraries, Universities..so it is worth it.

 

[RatSportRM]

I always enjoy shooting for a peaceful victory, and you can't beat the Babylonians for that. The free advances in each era and the culture boost from temples both give the Babylonians a huge advantage in playing a peaceful game.

 

[tetley]

I've found Scientific sucks. In Monarch and up, at least. The reason being that I never actually RESEARCH techs until I'm ready to really make my move on everybody. Science is at 0% and I buy-then-resell techs only. That keeps me even-steven with everybody else through most of the game scientifically.

Eventually, though, I'll build up a big wad of cash and make my move. Switch to Republic/Democracy, gold-hurry the libraries and universities, and start 4-turn researching techs. So I start to pull away from everybody technologically and get all the Wonders first. But by that point Scientific doesn't really help you that much.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Originally posted by tetley
I've found Scientific sucks. In Monarch and up, at least. The reason being that I never actually RESEARCH techs until I'm ready to really make my move on everybody. Science is at 0% and I buy-then-resell techs only. That keeps me even-steven with everybody else through most of the game scientifically.

Eventually, though, I'll build up a big wad of cash and make my move. Switch to Republic/Democracy, gold-hurry the libraries and universities, and start 4-turn researching techs. So I start to pull away from everybody technologically and get all the Wonders first. But by that point Scientific doesn't really help you that much.

OK..but if you hurry up Universities and Libraries then Scientific rules. They are cheaper.

I agree that it doesn't help you research faster from what I can tell. Cheap buildings are nice for cultural powerhouses. I think that is one of the huge bonuses. The Babs get cheap religous and scientific buildings. Plus, you kick in that one turn of anarchy while switching governments and that is pretty damned sweet.

 

[Arrian]

The Babs are definitely my favorite (playing on Monarch now) civ, by a mile. They are the ideal "builder" civ. The religious/scientific combo is just awesome. Religious saves you something like 8 turns of anarchy, not to mention the cheap temples/cathedrals. Scientific gets you three free techs and cheap libraries/universities/research labs. The bowman isn't anything special, but if it was, the Babs would be unbalanced as all hell. Starting next to the Zulu is great stuff, because their culture will be terrible and yours will rock... you end up with a bunch of their cities. The Persians can be dangerous, of course, but Immortals are only dangerous if they're doing the attacking

Sure they're not "naturals" at war like some of the other civs, but while those civs are waiting for their religious and scientific buildings to be completed, mine are done and I'm cranking out military units.

-Arrian

 

[Graymane]

I love the babs as well (tied with the Persians who also are great). These are what I think the main advantages are:

1. Cheap culture buildings. This is important if you want to get out of despotism fast. It can shave a bit off of despot rush building as well. This is important for getting culture producers built fast to hold off losing cities to culture.

2. Nicely balanced UUs. Bowman hold up well against both immortals and swordsmen. They are cheap and you get them fast.

3. Ability to switch governments. This is huge later in the game when you want to get buildings up fast, just switch to despotism and rush build then switch back again. Switch to communism or something to go to war.

The only downside is really your default starting neighbors (Zulus and Persians which can be all kinds of trouble if you aren't careful) and the early golden age. I don't think early ages are that bad if they happen to hit when you are ready to build wonders though.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

Originally posted by Graymane


The only downside is really your default starting neighbors (Zulus and Persians which can be all kinds of trouble if you aren't careful) and the early golden age. I don't think early ages are that bad if they happen to hit when you are ready to build wonders though.

The early Golden Age does rule if you are in a war with either the Zulu or the Persians though. You are able to support a much larger force. Usually, when I play the Babs..and I got the choice of going after the Persians or the Zulu..I go for the Persians. They just get nasty when they are able to make those Immortals. The Zulus..as mentioned prior...are weak with culture..so you can hurt them later through you cheap buildings.