We've seen the Maori with their fascinating start and bias towards features and defensive nature. Hungary promotes city state engagement and district planning. Canada encourages participation in world affairs through its bonuses to emergencies. The Inca construct mountainous cities with unbeatable tile yields and food from trade routes. Mali will have you swimming in gold from trade routes and tiles. Sweden brings an amazing cultural game with a unique addition of congress events. The Ottomans introduce a unique governor that helps them maintain relations with the world as they dominate the world with their siege engines and Janissaries.
And now here we are a few days away from seeing Phoenicia proper return to the Civilization series as the final unique civilization of Gathering Storm. What do you predict they'll bring to the table? What will set them apart?
Well... who were the Phoenicians? Why do we know so little about them overall? Well they were notoriously secretive to begin with, later invading civilizations suppressed what little remained. It didn't help that there has been a historic bias against the Phoenicians, in the early recordings of Greece and Rome, up to the 19th and 20th century. However there has been a shift in perspectives and a renewed interest in Phoenician accomplishments, and hopefully Civilization will help proliferate the greatness of their civilization even further.
So where was Phoenicia located?
Phoenicia was a thalassocratic Semitic-speaking Mediterranean civilization that originated in the Levant in the area of modern Lebanon. They were a civilization composed of city states, the most famous being Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, and of course, Carthage.
So what will they bring to the table?
Production and Gold
They were a practical people, ones who mostly concerned themselves with the sphere of action. They were shipbuilders, navigators, merchants, miners, metallurgists, dyers, and engineers. They monopolized many industries from silver, to tin, to the famed purple dye, the same dye that essentially cemented purple as the color of the formal and royal.
Will we see a civilization with heavy production based on luxuries and trade? Will they get bonus production from features, representing their industriousness and affinity to shipbuilding using the famed Cedars? Will they perhaps see bonuses to production from resources, or even coastal tiles? Will their unique District, the Cothon, confer production bonuses to sea resources or even all coastal tiles? Will it perhaps be through their international trade routes?
We already see Mali with many bonuses to gold generation via trade routes which might make Phoenicia redundant, unfortunate as it may be. Would we instead possibly see bonus gold from trade deals? Or perhaps we might see bonus gold on improved features? Maybe trade routes will indeed provide gold, but as a secondary bonus.
Science
Will trade routes instead be a primary source of science? Phoenicians after all were great pioneers of civilization, preparing the way for other great civilizations to arise like the Greeks and Romans. They vastly improved the writing system, making it practical for ease of use in both arts and industry. Their contributions to shipbuilding were almost unrivaled for their time, their techniques being appropriated and improved on even by their Roman rivals. Their innovations in navigation (particularly through the stars) saw them brave distances as far as past Britannia, and be the first to circumnavigate Africa at a time where people lived and died 30 miles from where they were born.
Phoenician Alphabet influence
Unique District
Speaking of which, their travels saw them founding colonies all over the Mediterranean coast, and while the Greeks were certainly more prolific in their localized ICS, the Phoenicians ultimately cast a wider net.
Will they possibly see bonuses to coastal settling, much like we have seen in the past? Will the Cothon be a replacement Harbor, or possibly even a replacement to the City Center (as a Docks replacement) to honor the thalassocracy? Will they perhaps be completely constrained to settling on coast or near a lake? The Phoenician cities after all were almost exclusively maritime.
Cothon:
Diplomacy
What about their neighbors? Will they take issue with nearby coastal settling? Phoenicians far preferred to engage in diplomacy where possible, and very rarely attempted to impose their influence on others. When faced with war, they almost always attempted to defuse the situation with gifts and tribute. If that failed, they backed down rather than face destruction only resisting when their identity as a people was at stake or when forced to fight against their sister city states. Doing so they managed to outlive almost all their temporary suzerains.
So will they see bonuses to diplomacy via trade? Will trade deals possibly provide bonus diplomatic favor, with maybe even a connection to how many amenities or unique luxuries they have? Will they perhaps gain loyalty bonuses when settling on coast to promote said coastal settling?
Military
As an independent people, they survived as a "civilization" for a thousand years, resisting the corrupting influences from the luxuries that brought down many great empires. Phoenicia was chief of the secondary powers for quite some time, secondary because of it being relatively unconcerned with conquest, and declining only because it faced overwhelming external pressures. Their prime locations whether on the Levant or the shores of North Africa which brought them great wealth and prosperity ultimately led to their downfall due to squabbling neighbors or an unyielding Rome. Their relatively small size led to a relatively small population, and to engage in warfare they frequently employed mercenaries.
Carthage in particular, the most militant of the city states, almost brought the fledgeling Roman empire on its knees with its mercenary armies led by the famous Hannibal. Will we see some mercenary bonuses, possibly allowing Phoenicia to purchase units at reduced cost? Or will it be more ambitious, with Phoenicia being capable of hiring other civilization's unique units to defend themselves against their unwitting rivals?
Will their unique unit be an elephant (with the ability to cross mountains
), or will it perhaps be the Trireme, a glaring omission from the early game roster? Will that Trireme perhaps be able to found cities on distant lands, expanding Phoenicia's ability to settle in the early game while defending itself?
Trireme:
Religion
Less spoken about however is just how religious the Phoenicians were. While they were practical, they were deeply religious, venerating the world around them. They built magnificent temples to their gods and goddesses. Unlike their contemporaries, they preferred to worship the peace of Mother Nature (with a particular affinity towards female deities) rather than worship gods of war. Even the relatively Militaristic Carthage which gave its deities some martial qualities still vastly preferred the trade of Melqart and the peace of Tanit.
Regardless, they had an impact on Religion that continues to this day. They are immortalized in the Bible as the "sinful" Canaanites, as the Jews and Phoenicians engaged in what amounted to religious warfare. Ultimately their religion in the Levant only subsided after they zealously embraced Christianity.
So will they perhaps have some minor religious bonuses? Perhaps they'll get bonus faith from sea resources? Maybe trade routes? Maybe bonuses to gold purchasing will extend to faith purchasing as well.
Maybe their reverence for Nature will represent itself in some environmental bonuses?
So what will Phoenicia bring? What will the final new civ and leader of Gathering Storm be?
And now here we are a few days away from seeing Phoenicia proper return to the Civilization series as the final unique civilization of Gathering Storm. What do you predict they'll bring to the table? What will set them apart?
Well... who were the Phoenicians? Why do we know so little about them overall? Well they were notoriously secretive to begin with, later invading civilizations suppressed what little remained. It didn't help that there has been a historic bias against the Phoenicians, in the early recordings of Greece and Rome, up to the 19th and 20th century. However there has been a shift in perspectives and a renewed interest in Phoenician accomplishments, and hopefully Civilization will help proliferate the greatness of their civilization even further.
So where was Phoenicia located?
Phoenicia was a thalassocratic Semitic-speaking Mediterranean civilization that originated in the Levant in the area of modern Lebanon. They were a civilization composed of city states, the most famous being Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, and of course, Carthage.
So what will they bring to the table?
Production and Gold
They were a practical people, ones who mostly concerned themselves with the sphere of action. They were shipbuilders, navigators, merchants, miners, metallurgists, dyers, and engineers. They monopolized many industries from silver, to tin, to the famed purple dye, the same dye that essentially cemented purple as the color of the formal and royal.
Will we see a civilization with heavy production based on luxuries and trade? Will they get bonus production from features, representing their industriousness and affinity to shipbuilding using the famed Cedars? Will they perhaps see bonuses to production from resources, or even coastal tiles? Will their unique District, the Cothon, confer production bonuses to sea resources or even all coastal tiles? Will it perhaps be through their international trade routes?
We already see Mali with many bonuses to gold generation via trade routes which might make Phoenicia redundant, unfortunate as it may be. Would we instead possibly see bonus gold from trade deals? Or perhaps we might see bonus gold on improved features? Maybe trade routes will indeed provide gold, but as a secondary bonus.
Science
Will trade routes instead be a primary source of science? Phoenicians after all were great pioneers of civilization, preparing the way for other great civilizations to arise like the Greeks and Romans. They vastly improved the writing system, making it practical for ease of use in both arts and industry. Their contributions to shipbuilding were almost unrivaled for their time, their techniques being appropriated and improved on even by their Roman rivals. Their innovations in navigation (particularly through the stars) saw them brave distances as far as past Britannia, and be the first to circumnavigate Africa at a time where people lived and died 30 miles from where they were born.
Phoenician Alphabet influence
Spoiler :
Unique District
Speaking of which, their travels saw them founding colonies all over the Mediterranean coast, and while the Greeks were certainly more prolific in their localized ICS, the Phoenicians ultimately cast a wider net.
Will they possibly see bonuses to coastal settling, much like we have seen in the past? Will the Cothon be a replacement Harbor, or possibly even a replacement to the City Center (as a Docks replacement) to honor the thalassocracy? Will they perhaps be completely constrained to settling on coast or near a lake? The Phoenician cities after all were almost exclusively maritime.
Cothon:
Spoiler :
Diplomacy
What about their neighbors? Will they take issue with nearby coastal settling? Phoenicians far preferred to engage in diplomacy where possible, and very rarely attempted to impose their influence on others. When faced with war, they almost always attempted to defuse the situation with gifts and tribute. If that failed, they backed down rather than face destruction only resisting when their identity as a people was at stake or when forced to fight against their sister city states. Doing so they managed to outlive almost all their temporary suzerains.
So will they see bonuses to diplomacy via trade? Will trade deals possibly provide bonus diplomatic favor, with maybe even a connection to how many amenities or unique luxuries they have? Will they perhaps gain loyalty bonuses when settling on coast to promote said coastal settling?
Military
As an independent people, they survived as a "civilization" for a thousand years, resisting the corrupting influences from the luxuries that brought down many great empires. Phoenicia was chief of the secondary powers for quite some time, secondary because of it being relatively unconcerned with conquest, and declining only because it faced overwhelming external pressures. Their prime locations whether on the Levant or the shores of North Africa which brought them great wealth and prosperity ultimately led to their downfall due to squabbling neighbors or an unyielding Rome. Their relatively small size led to a relatively small population, and to engage in warfare they frequently employed mercenaries.
Carthage in particular, the most militant of the city states, almost brought the fledgeling Roman empire on its knees with its mercenary armies led by the famous Hannibal. Will we see some mercenary bonuses, possibly allowing Phoenicia to purchase units at reduced cost? Or will it be more ambitious, with Phoenicia being capable of hiring other civilization's unique units to defend themselves against their unwitting rivals?
Will their unique unit be an elephant (with the ability to cross mountains
), or will it perhaps be the Trireme, a glaring omission from the early game roster? Will that Trireme perhaps be able to found cities on distant lands, expanding Phoenicia's ability to settle in the early game while defending itself?Trireme:
Spoiler :
Religion
Less spoken about however is just how religious the Phoenicians were. While they were practical, they were deeply religious, venerating the world around them. They built magnificent temples to their gods and goddesses. Unlike their contemporaries, they preferred to worship the peace of Mother Nature (with a particular affinity towards female deities) rather than worship gods of war. Even the relatively Militaristic Carthage which gave its deities some martial qualities still vastly preferred the trade of Melqart and the peace of Tanit.
Regardless, they had an impact on Religion that continues to this day. They are immortalized in the Bible as the "sinful" Canaanites, as the Jews and Phoenicians engaged in what amounted to religious warfare. Ultimately their religion in the Levant only subsided after they zealously embraced Christianity.
So will they perhaps have some minor religious bonuses? Perhaps they'll get bonus faith from sea resources? Maybe trade routes? Maybe bonuses to gold purchasing will extend to faith purchasing as well.
Maybe their reverence for Nature will represent itself in some environmental bonuses?
So what will Phoenicia bring? What will the final new civ and leader of Gathering Storm be?
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Also Melqart and Baal Hadad were both war gods. Perhaps you're thinking of the Anatolian Magna Mater mystery cult? Canaanite gods were not quite as capricious as their Mesopotamian counterparts, but they still were not exactly charming...
