[NFP] Byzantium First Look

The Bulgars were Orthodox. "Hates leaders with the same religion" would be my guess. Maybe a distinction will be made between proximity (hates nearby followers) and strength (hates weaker followers)

Hating people of the same religion would mechanically fit because the AI declare war on nation they hate, and Basil II would prefer to attack (hate) people of his religion.
 
It sounds like Basil is a top contender for either military or religion victories. His apostles are going to start quite strong, and will get stronger as you get closer to victory. Likewise, you can get very strong CS bonuses on cavalry, and could get numerous free cav units.
 
So first impressions, the Byzantines seem very strong. You could probably win a Religious Victory by accident with them whilst trying to go for Domination. I would have liked to see some economic bonuses though.

Love the visuals for the Hippodrome district! Looks really unique and visibly distinct on the map, as it should be. Probably my second favourite behind the Cothon.

But I agree that it's an odd choice to go with the Tagma over the Varangian Guard, as I don't really see what special connection they have to Basil II. Still, it's nice to see the Dromon return to Civ!
 
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Well, this isn't going to be my favorite civ. :( Lovely music, though. I understand why he's wearing armor, but it feels like a missed opportunity to show off the opulence of Byzantine clothing.
 
So, if you fail to start your own religion you might as well reroll because the abilities won't work without it?
Like a lot of Religious Civs in the game, yes. But Byzantium is at least in the camp that helps you get a Religion faster.
Byzantium seems pretty strong, but dependent on the Civs in your game. If you get say, Japan, Russia, India, and the other religious powerhouses, you’ll have some trouble getting that combat strength up. But, if you don’t get the super religious Civs in your game, you’ll be able to steamroll everyone else in your game.
I love the choice of Basil II here too. I do sorta wish that Civ tried to emulate the economic side of the Byzantines, since they were a really important trade network. But if they’re going to go all in on faith & conquest, I can understand it, and Basil II is maybe the best figurehead for that aspect of the empire.
 
So you just get a holy site and rush stirrups and start spamming entertainment districts for those upgraded knights with zero maintenance that you can use to kill neighboring civ's units, which spreads your religion to their cities, which allows the cavalry to take the cities with ease, build more entertainment districts for amenities to counter any war weariness and get more cavalry, and if they have a holy city then your military gets an additional upgrade on top. Oh and you have an upgraded ranged boat too, just for good measure.

I guess people who like 100% early game domination-focused civs will like this one too, along with the dozen other such civs we already have.

According to the screenshot of the leader info, it looks like the knight replacement is actually at Divine Right. I can definitely see myself 99% building a bunch of entertainment districts ready to drop in a bunch of knights to conquer. Since you probably want your religion early, they seem more like a medieval conquering civ, not an early game one.
 
May I please clarify for some people around here, that you don't get +3 Combat Strength per city with religion conquered? I saw this mentioned multiple times, but it's false: you get +3 Combat Strength per every Holy City, and Holy City is a city which founded a religion, so there's only 1 such city per religion.
 
Agia Sofia without em towers would look great in my Constantinople

My meaning is not really the towers; but the numerous big foothills too, and it was one of the wonders of medieval era.
Too be fair, after Constantinople Fall, it was always a symbol, but no more a wonder, it was highly renoved (with the foothills), it was needed, but it's totally changed the imagery of the building. Which is more ... "piled up" now and less "pure" (in the sense of architecture, not about the religious reconversion ). Ottomans have outclassed hagia sofia, with hugier mosques with innovative and beautiful architectures. So could be fair to have Hagia Sofia as Byzantine version, the alternative version when you build it with Ottomans, and an additional Ottoman wonder, they deserve it too, imho
 
Well, this isn't going to be my favorite civ. :( Lovely music, though. I understand why he's wearing armor, but it feels like a missed opportunity to show off the opulence of Byzantine clothing.
She wasn't necessarily the best leader choice, but I still miss Theodora in her boudoir! Also preferred the design of the Civ V iteration, to be honest.

Fingers crossed Gaul are more my cup of tea.
 
Well, this isn't going to be my favorite civ. :( Lovely music, though. I understand why he's wearing armor, but it feels like a missed opportunity to show off the opulence of Byzantine clothing.

They probably wanted both him and Tamar to feel unique?
 
Follows the trend of mimicking some of the leader¡s most iconic portrayals. Indeed Basils portrayal is indeed right out of this icon (plate bracelets included, altough missing the cape)

Spoiler :


Guess that means winged helmet, bare chest, for Amiborix, :woohoo:
 
She wasn't necessarily the best leader choice, but I still miss Theodora in her boudoir!
I don't miss her, but yeah, her wardrobe was spectacular.

Also preferred the design of the Civ V iteration, to be honest.
Me, too.

Any other Byzantine, perhaps, but Basil was a little more dour and plain in his outfits in comparison.
Like I said, it's appropriate for Basil. It's just disappointing given the sumptuous nature of Byzantine dress.
 
It looks like the Hippodrome wins an award for the proportionally most improved unique district over its basic version: triple the amenities and a free heavy cavalry unit (and more when you add buildings), all at the usual half cost for a unique district. And based on the discussion so far, that's not enough to make the unique district a particularly exciting part of the civ design. I think that says a lot about the balance status of the default entertainment complex.

Overall, this is a civ where I wish they'd stayed closer to the Civ V design. Adding an additional religious belief made for a civ you could play in a huge number of different ways: 2 enhancer beliefs for faster religious spread, 2 founder beliefs for improved benefits of spread, 2 synergistic follower beliefs... That sort of customizability and replayability appeals to me a lot more than one more spin on a militaristic civ design.
 
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That was my interpretation as well. The Dromon on the water, the Tagma to represent various special land units.

Edit: Apparently Basil's UA means "born in the purple."
Well, they must have picked that for the Leader Ability name since “Bulgar-slayer” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. :p

Good to see Byzantium being represented on land and sea both once again.
 
Yeah I would welcome bonus culture from the Hippodrome (come on) and just 1 Amenity.
 
So with a Proselytizer and Translator with two Tagmas rush a city. Convert the city could end up with: +10 Crusade belief, +3 starting holy city, +4 Tagma support bonus= +17 CS and then do full damage against city (walls?)?

That sounds a lot. Specially when the holy city convert bonus adds up

Yes, and being suzerain of Yerevan would make this strategy much easier.
 
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