Found any use for Korean civilization?

[Ladath]

I've been playing Civ III: Conquests for only 2 weeks, and still have trouble with Monarch level. I tried all civs, and I usually found usefulness in all of them, at least small one.

But I could not find any usefulness with Korean, really.

Her characteristics are Scientific and Commercial, which are also those of Greece. And the UU, Hwa'cha, seems quite needless.

All its advantages over cannon are no need for iron and Lethal bombardment. I usually have iron, or else I could not have survived till that time, and Lethal bombardment... that would be great, only if Hwa'cha had two range of bombardment or rate power of 2.

Greece Hoplites are great UUs for defensive players like me.

So, for me, the conclusion was: Same characteristics, with better UU of Greece. Why would I use Korea?

I want to hear how do you think about Korean civilization, really.

 

[ummmm........]

You can wind up with a despotic GA with Greece, maybe? I always randomize all settings, and for a long time Korea had one of my top two or three scores on my HOF. So they're not too bad.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

I do prefer Korea over Greece. As always with any kind of artillery, the Hwacha is only useful in large number,but then it can be devastating; oddly enough it's most powerful combined with Artillery - bomb down Infantry to 1HP, and use the Hwachas.

But still, it isn't the best UU. However, the Hoplites will/may trigger a GA at a time I absolutely don't want it, thus I prefer Spears.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

I recently won a game as the Koreans where I had no iron until the late Middle Ages. Thanks in part to my Hwachas, I was able to get that iron.

In my experience, the civilizations are all pretty well balanced. There's no civilization that makes me think "This game is going to be simple." On the other hand, there's no civilization that makes me think "There's no way I'll win." I tend to play a pretty balanced game -- some militarism, some culture, some science -- so all of the traits help me somewhat. As for the UUs, I don't think any of them are that great. Sure, you get a slight advantage defending with Hoplites instead of Spearmen or attacking with Cossacks instead of Cavalry, but good strategy with a cavalry force will beat poor strategy with a cossack force every single time.

 

[socralynnek]

So, it all depends on your playstyle!
And thats what I like about Civ, that everyone can choose his best suited civ.
I don't like early wars, so I prefer the Korean over the Greeks.
And lethal bombardment is very powerful just send a stack of them and you can beat every enemy without risking losing a unit!

 

[Ision]

The trick to Korea is to build Med. Infantry instead of Knights. The reason is simple: shield investement.

A knight will cost you 70 shields (expensive), a good number of these will prevent you from building a sizable Artillary force. MI will cost you 40 shields - which allows you to ALSO build a Hwacha (40 shields) to every MI at only 1/8 th a slower build rate than straight Knights. The MI and Hwachas will traval together as a single stack of death - and while obviusly slower than a stack of knights - they will be far more powerfull. Simply put, for the same cost as having 40 Knights you could build; 35 MI and 35 hwachas. Most players attempt to both build Knights AND Hwachas - which is usaully far too slow process to get a sizeabale force quickly. Naturally you may want to keep a small 'mobile' reserve of horse based units and adjust the overall numbers to your likeing.

Secondly, this strat allows you to beeline to Metallurgy, as opposed to trying to balance out researching 2 different branches of the tech tree. The obvious downside is the greater number of units - and the consequent higher support cost - this in turn should lead you to consider Monarchy Gov over REP (especially if you intend on some SERIOUS warmongering for the long term).

In large numbers Hwachas are devastating weapons that give you a huge edge over the enemy - in concert with MI they make up for the lower defense factor of MIs -

it does however, take a more patient and long range planner type of player.

hope this helps

Ision

 

[Kaboth]

Yep Hwachas give you more control over when to initiate a golden age. Though you can also do so with hopplite by bringing trebs along, another civ could initiate your golden age at an undesirable time. Personally against the AI I choose Korea, against humans I choose Greece. Having hoplites guarding cities will really dissuade other players from attacking you giving you an uninterrupted expansion phase.

 

[Nihilist]

I agree that the Koreans in and of themselves seem quite useless. The only thing I really like about them is the absolutely gorgeous color.

Nevertheless, I just played one of my easiest epic games yet as Korea a few weeks ago. I believe it was on Emperor. I had a relatively poor start, stuck in a small corner of a continent with lots of tundra and mountains and no iron, as well as a very early 2000-year war with a militarily powerful Russia. Surprisingly enough, though, I had the tech lead by the end of the Ancient Age. I had actually built the Great Library and didn't get a single tech out of it! Ended the game with a Space Race victory while all my rivals were stuck in the early Industrial/late Medieval Era.

I guess that Scientific trait really paid off...

 

[Quasar1011]

I generally like playing with the Koreans (not as them). They usually have lots of money and make good trading partners.

 

[Gogf]

Hw'atchas have lethal bombard, so all you really need to do for post of the middle ages is reasearch up up to Metallurgy. Build a ton of musketmen, and Hw'atchas. Send them in to an enemy, and kill of the units in an enemy city with bombardment. March in a bunch of muskets, but make sure to leave some to defend your Hw'atchas. Of course, keep on researching, or you'll fall behind, but you don't really need many (if not any) other military land units.

 

[Jon Shafer]

Commercial is a stealth trait, where it's hard to see the true effects unless you're looking hard.

Something to try - create a scenario with an empire of moderate or large size. Give it the COM trait in one set of tests, and then remove it for another set of tests. Compare the gold and shield difference... you might be surprised as to how large it actually is.

That having been said, compared to other civs, yes, Korea does suck.

 

[LLXerxes]

Yeah, thier good, to play against!
Their not the worst Civ, cough