Mansa Musa Strategy

[Aztec Priest]

This will be my first time trying the Malinese - who appear to be very solid as far as I can tell. If anyone can elaborate on any good strategies for Malinese strategies - please let me know. I am currently on Warlord level (This is only my 4th Civ IV game). Thanks to everyone on this forum for the wealth of information or I wouldn't know what an Archer rush or Oracle slingshot was.

Financial - One of the (if not the) strongest traits in the game.
Spiritual - I like to change civics often.

UU - Skirmisher - Begs for an early capital invasion
UB - Mint - Adds gold to production

Starts with:
Wheel - Close to Pottery for a lot of eary Cottages
Mining - Close to everyone's favorite - Bronze Working

Things I want to accomplish:

Early Skirmisher rush on nearest neighbor.
Oracle slingshot for Metal Casting and Mints.
Monotheism for a widespread Jewish empire.
Huge tech lead for a Cavalry / Rifleman / Cannon rush to take over my continent.

What do you think? Any thing else anyone can add? I would like to secure my continent before determining if / how I will win. I might want to try a space race victory if I'm even in a position to win at all.

 

[Imrahil91]

Just a tip: if you don't wanna rush to monotheism, use the great prophet from The Oracle to found christianity.

 

[Supr49er]

You picked a really good civ/leader.

Your planned strategy is good. Of course, be flexible as situations change quickly. Wheel gives you a road to copper/iron and chariots (if you have horses). Mining of course gets you right to BW.

Don't forget to build libraries and put two scientist specialists in each city to keep your research humming along.

Skirmishers are better at defense, but if you rush with them include a chariot for Axeman counter and Swordsmen promoted with CR.

You'll like Mali a lot. They're one of my favorite civs to play.

What map and game settings are you going to play?

 

[Aztec Priest]

Normal Map, Continents and everything normal default. Warlord level. All victory conditions on.

 

[Aztec Priest]

Just a tip: if you don't wanna rush to monotheism, use the great prophet from The Oracle to found christianity.

Good tip - I don't think I've used a Great Prophet for techs. I'll keep that in mind - Thanks.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Unless you have already founded a religion, all early Great Persons should be used for bulbing. You can really set up the rest of the game with a huge tech lead if you utilize early GPs well.

 

[Aztec Priest]

Unless you have already founded a religion, all early Great Persons should be used for bulbing. You can really set up the rest of the game with a huge tech lead if you utilize early GPs well.

Does the AI use Great Persons for techs? I'm guessing with a Great Prophet if they have a state religion they use them for the shrine. I definately don't remember a Great Work being done near my borders. Does anyone know the tendencies of the AI with Great Persons?

 

[magicalsushi]

I don't know the specifics, but annecdotely they really seem to love golden ages.

 

[pi-r8]

Since you start with mining and the wheel, I would just go for bronze working and attack with axes, instead of skirmishers. 5st instead of 4 makes a big difference.

 

[Supr49er]

Since you start with mining and the wheel, I would just go for bronze working and attack with axes, instead of skirmishers. 5st instead of 4 makes a big difference.

Yeah, promote them with CR.

Send along a Skirmisher for defense.

 

[KMadCandy]

Just a tip: if you don't wanna rush to monotheism, use the great prophet from The Oracle to found christianity.

once a religion is founded, the AI tends to not place as much priority on that tech. not so much for theology if they want theocracy, especially those that have it as their favorite civic, but it doesn't hurt anything. the major benefit is a headstart on the AP. i'm way too addicted to that wonder. i haven't played a BtS game without it so far, and i haven't teched mass media just to keep it active. i really have to break that habit for at least one game...

I don't know the specifics, but annecdotely they really seem to love golden ages.

golden ages really seemed to be their #1 priority in vanilla/warlords. but in BtS they like settle them. which is great since settled GPs stay when you capture a city. my current game, gandhi had four settled GPs in his capital. sitting bull's capital came complete with a settled GG, merchant, scientist, and (science) academy. one recent game fully half of the cities i captured from brennus had a settled GM in them. i love that!

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Yeah, classically they use GP for Golden Ages, but Kmad said it best. If you have founded a religion, of course the shrine should be your first Great Prophet's task. My credo is that every Great Prophet be used for shrines until no more shrines can be built (within your control of course). At that point, use them for bulbing until it is no longer efficient (ie. only getting 1500 beakers in the industrial age [Epic speed])