Foreign Intelligence The Babylonians

[Provolution]

The Painting Above hangs in the Japanese State Museum in the Major Palace in Fanatikku.

Originally "The Fall of Babylon", painted 1819, by John Martin, 1789-1854

Civilization III: Civilization Intelligence Reports



The Babylonians
Profile
Leader: Hammurabi
Characteristics: Scientific & Religious
Special Unit: Bowman
Aggression Level:
Favorite Government: Monarchy
Shunned Government: Despotism
Culture Group: Mid Eastern
City Production Emphasis: Science, Culture
Default Color:
Alternate Color:


Babylonian Cities

* Babylon
* Ur
* Nineveh
* Ashur
* Ellipi
* Akkad
* Uruk
* Eridu
* Samarra
* Lagash
* Kish
* Nippur
* Shuruppak
* Zariqum
* Sippar
* Izibia
* Larsa
* Nimrud
* Zamua
* Khorsabad
* Hindana
* Tell Wilaya
* Umma
* Adab
* Telloh
* Nina
* Ebla

Great Leaders

* Agum
* Sargon
* Sumuabum
* Ashurbanipal
* Naboplasser
* Nebuchadnezzar



Background

HammurabiThe Babylonians are scientific and religious. They start the game with Bronze Working and Ceremonial Burial and build bowmen instead of normal archers.

Because of the historical significance and legendary status achieved by the city of Babylon, the term "Babylonian" is often used to refer to all of the ancient cultures and tribes of Mesopotamia. The oldest known urban and literate culture in the world was developed by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia beginning in the late 4th millennium BC. For centuries, Babylon was an insignificant suburb of the Sumerian capital of Ur until Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) came to power. Hammurabi unified the bickering Sumerians and Akkadians and created the famous Code of Hammurabi, the most comprehensive code of laws of antiquity with 283 entries covering topics from criminal punishments to family laws. Under Hammurabi, Babylon became the commercial and political center of southern Mesopotamia, but its prestige and wealth made it a target for foreign conquerors. The city and empire would be ruled, in succession, by the Hittites, Kassites, Assyrians, Arameans and Chaldeans.

Under the Chaldean leader Nebuchadnezzar II (605-561 BC), Babylon entered its second golden age, spanning the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Aside from the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, Nebuchadnezzar II is best known for his efforts to rebuild Babylon and reorganize its military forces, returning it to glory as one of the great cities in the ancient world. The fabled Hanging Gardens were constructed at Nebuchadnezzar's decree, reportedly to help his Median wife overcome her longing for the "mountainous scenery" of her homeland. He also rebuilt the great Temple of Marduk and its ziggurat, collectively known as the Tower of Babel. Following Nebuchadnezzar's death, his successor Nabonidus failed to maintain the skilled Bowmen formations and the massive fortifications of the great city. When the Persians under Cyrus attacked in 539 BC, the capital fell almost without resistance. Babylon remained in Persian hands until Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian Empire. Alexander planned to make Babylon the center of his expanded Hellenic empire; however, he died in Nebuchadnezzar's palace before those plans could be completed. Alexander's empire would not survive his death; after a power struggle among Alexander's generals, Babylon passed to the Seleucid dynasty in 312 BC. The city's importance was much reduced by the building of a new capital, Seleucia, on the Tigris, to which most of Babylon's population was forcibly transferred in 275 BC. In the 2nd century BC Mesopotamia became part of the Parthian empire, and Babylon itself a buffer region between the Parthians and the Roman Empire. By the time of Christ, the city was an extensive field of ruins and largely deserted. In the 7th century AD, Mesopotamia was conquered by Muslim Arabs. Babylon passed into legend, and from that time forward the history of the Babylonian realm is that of Iraq and Iran. The city itself would not be re-discovered until the initial surveys by the British archaeologist C.J. Rich in 1811 and 1817. Major excavation began in 1899, under the auspices of the German Oriental Society, and have continued unabated since, revealing more of the wonders of the lost city of Babylon.

Unique Unit: the Bowman

BowmanSince they were continually being attacked, the Babylonians knew a thing or two about siege tactics. Their on-again, off-again relationship with the Assyrians taught them the value of armored, yet maneuverable archers. Babylonian bowmen wore tunics of scale mail armor and helmets, and carried a composite bow that allowed them to strike targets from a long range (though not very accurately). The Babylonians also used cavalry and chariots, but the bowmen corps were the dominant force in their army.

The Bowman is a more armored version of the archer that other civilizations can build. This increased defense makes the Bowman a very useful combat unit, both as an aggressor and as a defender.
Attack Defense Move
Standard Archer 2 1 1
Babylonian Bowman 2 2 1

* end of report *

 

[Provolution]

Individual Civ Review: The Babylonians

Author: Ision; Date Added: 5/28/04

Scientific and Religious, the Babylonians are the kings of Culture. If you love a full city screen, Babylon will fill it in record time. Play this CIV enough and you will swear that you can almost ‘feel’ the pressure the neighboring CIVs are under from your relentless culture. The borders of your CIV seem like a growing spider web, ever expanding, and ensnaring rival cities with ease. The power of your culture extends to every aspect of the game – economic, military, and diplomatic.

The Babylonian CIV traits do not lend themselves to the fastest of early expansion. Often falling behind early in total cities or military strength. There is however, a ‘snowballing’ effect with the Babylonians. Once that core is up and running it will usually outpace any CIV in the game in its overall power. The ability of the Babylonians to quickly throw up a powerful infrastructure allows them to build in depth what many other civs must try to accomplish in breath. Cheap temples and cathedrals quickly alleviate any happiness issues. Cheap libraries and universities quickly outpace even much larger rivals in research speed. Couple these with a short anarchy period, a free tech with each age, and the possibility of early culture flips, and the Babylonians will present a formidable opponent on any level.

Peaceful builder type players may never want to play as another civ after a game with the Babylonians. The sheer ease at which this civ masses culture points is a builders dream. A 100k-culture victory with this civ is not nearly as intimidating a task as with most other civs. The half price cathedrals and universities are especially powerful. These buildings are very high shield buildings taking a considerable investment in time to build. For the Babylonians having both these buildings in virtually every city is very common Those that like the challenge of an OCC game or a 20k culture victory will be hard pressed to find a better CIV choice than the Babylonians. A Babylonian player that grabs a lot of early Wonders may find himself with the cultural victory in record time. Also, given the science advantages of the Babs, trying to beat them in a Space Race victory is usually an exercise in futility.

As a warmonger civ the Babylonians are also quite formidable. At first glance it appears that they have no military advantages, but this is deceiving. The fast temp/cath building allows them to manage war weariness better than most civs. They also allow the Babylonian to more quickly refocus on building military units, which in turn allows him to alternate their wars against rivals at a faster pace. When a warmongering Babylonian takes a ‘breath’ in between his wars for infrastructure building, it does not take nearly as long as for most other civs. He can then more quickly get back to the business of destroying yet another rival. Also, the Babylonian quite often finds himself as the undisputed mid-game tech leader. Those libraries and universities translate out to the most modern and up to date military in the game. Whatever you may lack in military quantity, will be more than made up in quality. While, not the best civ for conquest/domination victories they are no slouches either. For the ‘balance of power’ player the Babs are an absolute dream! If your goal is not to rule the world, but to be its undisputed cultural and military superpower – Babylon is among the top choices.

The BowmanThe Bab UU (the bowman) is a matter of taste. A 20 shield 2-2-1 archer unit, with 0 range bombard ability, the bowman is cheap, can stand in as a spearman, and is available early. On the downside the somewhat slower start of the Babs often does not allow one to take full advantage of this UU in an ultra early archer rush. Secondly, its bonus is defensive in nature, making the standard swordsman a better offensive choice. Furthermore, many players do not welcome the early Golden Age this UU will trigger. Among the Ancient Age UUs the bowman is average at best. However, given a good fast start, this UU can be deadly.

Summary:

The kings of culture and a solid all around civ that lends itself to many styles of play. Arguably the best peaceful builder civ in the game, the Babs are a solid well rounded top tier civ choice for any player.

 

[Provolution]

Chronology on the Japanatican-Babylonian Bilateral Relations

3150 BC

An alien tribe, some Japanaticans refer to the as the Babylonians, "The Babs", The Nemesis People, the Arch Enemy, and so on, suddenly showed up in the Furuyama foothills with no warning, our main capital, the blossoming riverbank city of Fanatikku was left undefended. These cavemen was lurking in the hills, ad they snarled out their intention to mae a trade with us. "The Babs", bearded and uncouth barbarians, seemed to be quite intrigued by our contraptions in the fields, our impressive wheels only nobility was allowed to roll around to the envy of the average Japanatican.

Our runners was sent back and forth to Fanatikku for consulting our complex government system. The Japanatican Foreign Ministry, was still sending transfer orders in vain to the lovely interns of the Science Ministry, tentatively putting up major slates of marble with vacant jobs in order to enroll these intriguing scientific maidens into what was referred to as the "Ministry of D'Affaires". In this confusion, certain groups advocated to buy "the Babs" off for 2 golden yen per century, in a millenium, which may sound like a neglible payment and microscopic interest rate for the ill-educated. However, 20 golden yen was a terrible large fortune of wealth, and the agreement, supported by a majority of Japanaticans, created major dissatisfaction in the minority.
However, historians disagree on the reakl version, the Babylonians hillsmen disappeared in the mists towards the East, not to be seen again for many centuries. In fact, that encounter is so old that I am amazed we managed to record this for the records.

The loss of saying no to the deal, never publicized openly by the government, but leaked out by senior officials to Japanativa Shimbun and others, was a staggering 10 golden yen on the table, plus the sought for pottery technology by the agricultural/Republican interest factions, in addition to sealing up the bronze research by educating our struggling bronze research team. This lost trade opportunity is still of controversial nature to this day, and has created some new changes in the realm.

2800 BC

Out from the fields the Japanatican scouts could to their amazement see some black people with spears coming towards them. They smiled broadly, and said they could do business with Japanatica. By a sudden, they agreed on learning Japanaticans warrior code and pottery, as well as giving away a fortune in gold, a full 35 gold. Considering this to the renewed offer from Babylonia, which has now added both pottery, warrior code and 19 gold to the plate, Japanatican officials, too far away from Fanatikku to send runners back for consultations, which would have caused the nation a century of negotiations, the general opinion in the expedition, based on the political winds from home, decided to trade with both. As it proved later, the Zulus came the strongest out of the transaction, holding both the unknown alphabeth, a series of funny signs that made Japanatican emmisaries to feel strangely dumb and inferior, and the mysterious mysticism, to difficult to be explained at that time, but had something to do with feeling scared and in awe for the unknown, shivering to thunder and so on.

Yet, even historians disagree on the prudency of this trade, the Japanatican people felt happy, knowing they had saved maybe a millennium worth of research or more. The state coffers of Japanatica came as a result up to 65 gold.

 

[Cyc]

This sub-forum is designed for government offices, Provolution. These threads do not belong here. They go in the Citizen's sb-forum. Please have them moved by a Mod.

 

[Rik Meleet]

Moderator Action: moved to citizens section

 

[Provolution]

Babylonian Intelligence update

* Babylon
* Ur
* Nineveh

Average Military
No Horses
No Iron



Special Report

The Babylonians, located some 4 tiles away from Epelonep, seems to be cautious with us. The babylonian bowmen are with access to both spearmen and swordsmen nad horsemen relatively military inferior to Japanatica.
The natural mountain range makes it virtually impossible to run an offensive campaign either way without massive military losses. Conclusively, we should contain the Babylonians through expanding Epolenep as well as building a coastal Western city procuring the local iron.


This means we need to build Zojoji up North on the coast with Iron, to build the other two Northern locations in the updated National Security Plan.

The babylonians are severely disdvantaged in that they propbably have no horses and no iron, not even iron working, at this moment. As they are militarily equal to us, they resemble only a middlelevel military threat. Still, they are cautious with us, so I see no need to provoke a war with these using scouting missions, yet we should establish a defensible border both with Baylonians in the South and the Zulus in the Northeast

I suggest the following measures to counter Babylonian influence through peaceful means:

Building a temple/maybe also a library in Epolenep in order to expand regional culture and secure a stable border. This means we need to change the build order from barracks to temple right away. Epolenep will not likely fall quickly, built on a 50 % defense bonus hill with a river close by. Epolenep must grow in order to get the diamond bonuses quickly.

Additionally we should build Umeguchi and Area 52 in line with the National Security Plan.

I also suggest we go for Monarchy as soon as we can in order to both be militrily prepared and to have a system that lets us use more than the present commerce, foods and shields bonuses. After Monarchy we should pursue literature, but only for building a library in Epolenep short term.

Monarchy has primacy due to production bonuses and economy.
__________________
"Democracy is a very bad system, but we can get none better" Winston Churchhill.

ANY prior DG game, before DG 5, references to my postings, should have thread references.

 

[Sarevok]

Provolution, your speech offends me. I do not take kindly to such slurs.

 

[Provolution]

Sarevok

what slur? If it was a joke, take it easy