Harun al-Rashid and his Sacred Bazars

[Resident Mario]

So, I thought I'd give him a try, go for a Diplo victory. I spawn on tops of tons of Sugar and Rivers - yay, civ bias! I go tall this game because of the nature of the map and because I was hoping to get it done in a single day, so I only get 4 cities. Funny, the +1 TR bonus and Machu Picchu (for kicks) didn't really help much =).

Fill out cities and concentrate on infastructure. First City State I befriend is militaristic so I barely have to build any military units. Get down to Chivalry off of a stray RA (was aiming for Civil Service...oh well), and the Archers are...lackluster. Don't see the point of another ranged unit >.> Not only are they weaker but they lose all their promotions once they upgrade to Cavalry. Real waste <.<

Concentrate on gold, so I RA Currency, and set up some Bazars. And, whoa nelly! That has to be the most powerful building in the game. My territory contained a total of 5 Sugars, 1 Gem and 1 Silk. Bazars boost that to 9 Sugars, 2 Gems, and 2 Silks! I was selling off resources like mad. That's 10 surplus resources going around for 280 each, every 30 turns. Combined with liberal Open Borders trades, for 50 apiece, I was dumping 3200 monies into my treasury every 30 turns.

Sure enough, by the time I slingshotted to Globalization, I had over 10,000 stockpiled, enough to convert every city state in the game, and then some.

Moral of the story is that the Baazar is the Best. Building. Ever.

 

[MadDjinn]

sigh...

watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utUTuXuIdWQ

 

[IgnatiusTBarfat]

Mad, nice video. For whatever reason the audio level was too low for me to hear. What was the video meant to convey in the context of the OP's comments? Thanks.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Bazaar (and resource trading in general) is practically an exploit at higher levels given that Diety AIs are just ATMs (ATMs that might attack you, but still just ATMs)....

Happiness resources payments should go down if

1. They are positive happy
AND
2. They are in or almost about to be in a Golden Age (because then excess happy gets wasted)

and the AI should be more willing to build buildings/compete for CS if it has excess gold.

 

[Delilama]

Mad, nice video. For whatever reason the audio level was too low for me to hear. What was the video meant to convey in the context of the OP's comments? Thanks.

Having watched the entire playthrough, i'm assuming he's pointing out that he was flat broke most of the time

 

[MadDjinn]

Mad, nice video. For whatever reason the audio level was too low for me to hear. What was the video meant to convey in the context of the OP's comments? Thanks.

- yeah the audio sucked for that series. I switched to fraps after that one.

Having watched the entire playthrough, i'm assuming he's pointing out that he was flat broke most of the time

It was more about the comment he had about the camel archers.

the bazzars didn't really matter for the game at all, given I was always at war.

 

[Resident Mario]

Um. What exactly about the archers...? I can't watch all of the videos atm... :/

 

[Resident Mario]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JtrriZFe1s&feature=related

I'm a little confused, how'd you have Camels and Knights at the same time?

 

[Lyoncet]

I'm going to guess he's allies with a militaristic CS.

(No, I haven't gotten to your vids yet; still trying to make it through a massive backlog of TMIT first.)

 

[MadDjinn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JtrriZFe1s&feature=related

I'm a little confused, how'd you have Camels and Knights at the same time?

militaristic CSs don't always give you UUs. So when you have a UU replacing a normal unit, they'll just give you the normal unit.

 

[Tabarnak]

militaristic civs don't always give you UUs. So when you have a UU replacing a normal unit, they'll just give you the normal unit.

You mean military cs i guess.

 

[MadDjinn]

You mean military cs i guess.

lol, yeah CSs. Militaristic Civs give you whatever units they have on hand

 

[Resident Mario]

Isn't there a bug where the opposite is true as well? (ae Military CSs giving UUs of other civs)

 

[odin_toelust]

Not sure, but I believe the bug you are thinking of is when you have the educated elite SP and the CS granting you a Khan instead of a normal GG

 

[Johan de Witt]

Isn't there a bug where the opposite is true as well? (ae Military CSs giving UUs of other civs)

It's not a bug, the chance is just low but it's fun to get a Mandelaku cavalry when you have all Keshiks. Also, getting a Khan as a GP is pretty sweet too.

What MadDjinn was trying to show you guys, is that the camel archer is one of the strongest units in the game.

 

[Resident Mario]

How so? Keshiks seem much better, IMO

 

[Pac-Dragon]

Keshiks can't take cities. Having a single Mandelaku run with your Keshiks is a lot of fun.

 

[Johan de Witt]

How so? Keshiks seem much better, IMO

Keshiks are great too.

Arabs vs. Mongols:
UA of the Arabs is not too great. UA of the Mongols is very situational. Keshiks and Camel archers are both great. The Khan is very cool and useful, but when you execute the ranged cavalry tactic right, not really needed. The Bazar is awesome... Especially early game when the AI is still friendly to you, you can make tons of gold with it. Gold that can be used to buy more camel archers

 

[IgnatiusTBarfat]

Great discussion here. Very informative. Thanks all.

 

[Resident Mario]

I personally have yet to play a game as the Mongols, so I can't say =)