Darius is underdog?

[bobshiznit]

I would definently say Darius is not weak. Being in a golden age for every turn of the game after you fill the happy bucket the first time is not weak. You build your libraries, colloseums and uni's fast, while you build/buy units. Build a warrior, buy a sword. Build a horse buy a knight. 3 turn knights Woo-Hoo.

 

[Tabarnak]

Darius is the only one leader which i burn all GGs instead of keeping one for a second army division and/or a citadel in a bottleneck.

The bonus movement and attack you get plus the extra turns in golden age make my main army stronger and i like to use them for extra rampage, and upgrade spearmen for massive double healing pikemen and rifles superior units, which make this civ a good warmonger civ.

 

[scooby_doo]

I play mainly duel, mirror, pangea (inland sea) games.
What I observed is that Darius is one the best player if not the best.
For ones who didn't play duel game, I want to highlight that the most important key is to keep balance between economy and military.
Darius' trait, unit, building maybe are not so obvious and strong as for example China or Greece,
but they complement each over, and you have access to it for all game.
Immortal - stronger than spear, you can built 4-8 of them then you can research civil service,
their trait unique ability is passed to upgrades units.
Sartrap Court (Bank)- not useful ?, very useful, in duel games military upkeep is the key issue.
Almost every city should have a bank (with golden age a few turns)
Unit moves +1, 10% stronger, GA 50% longer - this gives Dariusz huge advantage, with that
feature, you have unique ability to crush enemy army in few turns even having the
same army power, your unit can surround enemy, kill his general (a key unit),

GA bonus + Chitzen + Taj Mahal is awesome.

For single game etc. Dariusz should be also strong if properly managed

 

[KingMorgan]

Darius is top-tier without a doubt, I think you ICS fans are aproaching it from the wrong angle.

The best way to exploit the Persians is the Puppet Master strat, good syn with the UB and the cash bonus really makes TPs a good improvement, esp on a river. It can be tricky on deity to grab Chitz but if your able to grab it via a beeline, the early sacrfice really pays off - I do admit it can mean an early defeat if your gambit fails, so it's not for the faint hearted. Bit of practice and you have a high chance of pulling it off, the majority of times. Once you stack the Chitz with the Taj it's is very easy to remain in a GA for the rest of the game. blowing a GS for GAge is not usually necesary as prev stated the 2 GG you should produce from your puppeting and if required the Louvre with it's 2 GArtists will be more than enough. The way I play usually means once the GA comes to an end, the 1st happiness GA can be easily trigger in the Future Era - usually I ignore the piety SP if favour of more powerful ones. Educ Elite is also usually not required.

Immortals are nice, but as prev stated they are difficult to build in the sort of time frames you have whilst heading for CServ, personally I ignore them due to the small window of oppertunity, horseman are much prefered due to the tech path. I'd say any early disadvantage is negated by the extra moves and +10% during GAs.

I'd really encourage people to have a play with Darius you'll be surpised by the results.

 

[Txurce]

It's hard to say what civ is the best, but on Emperor and below Persia may be the easiest to play, given the perpetual GA. I'm surprised they don't do better with the AI. That +1 can be pretty annoying to go up against.

 

[alpaca]

It's hard to say what civ is the best, but on Emperor and below Persia may be the easiest to play, given the perpetual GA. I'm surprised they don't do better with the AI. That +1 can be pretty annoying to go up against.

Huh? AI Persia is almost always a big badass in my games.

 

[Txurce]

Huh? AI Persia is almost always a big badass in my games.

They do well in my games, too. More precisely, I wonder why they don't dominate the other AI more.

 

[EasyGoin]

I also think Persia is a top-tier civ, or very close, if you play to its strengths. The goal is to have a massive empire, mixing puppets and founded cities. Satraps' Court is amazing for keeping up happiness (think it replaces the bank right? something you want in every city and costs no upkeep). A massive midgame golden age along with +5 Hammers from Order = your new cities putting up coliseum in <15 turns at size 1, not probably less than 10 turns as those cities grow. Not to mention absolutely massive quantities of gold for keeping your CS alliances up to boost that new city's growth - making 500g + per turn before t300 is a pretty easy goal to achieve with Persia.

As to Immortals, I often ignore them when I play Persia simply because I've never been impressed with the spearman tech path, but every time I have built them in significant quantities I have not regretted it. Dedicating one early city to pumping out Immortals, until you get Pikes, can really benefit your army in the long-run.

And yes, in my games if AI Persia is on a separate continent, Darius is almost always the runaway civ. If he's on my continent, I prioritize him on par with Siam and Bismark for people that need to die fast.

 

[Poopin Thelift]

On marathon gamespeed I just got a 100 turn ga from taj with chichen

 

[Ahriman]

The +1 move in golden age is *fantastic* with artillery. Creeping barrage of doom; even in enemy territory, you can move forward 1 tile, set up, and fire.
KABOOM!

 

[Slowpoke]

Considering the new happiness national wonder, darius might get one heck of a head start with the new patch.

 

[Txurce]

The +1 move in golden age is *fantastic* with artillery. Creeping barrage of doom; even in enemy territory, you can move forward 1 tile, set up, and fire.
KABOOM!

I've played Persia once, and GA artillery was my favorite part. I think a workable semi-permanent GA strat makes them part of the top tier, in their unique way.

 

[Slowpoke]

Well, the taj mahal is what send them up to the top tiers. They didn't fix it in the patch did they?

 

[gcaliber]

I just finished an emperor game as Persia, when I finished Taj Mahal during my second natural golden age I had 82 turns of GA remaining.