Rhye's of Civilization - the fastest loading mod Expanded

[Rhye]

Here's the Roman guide for RoC:

So you want to be a Roman.
Toga parties, lazy afternoons spent watching persecutions down at the colosseum, and good old fashioned butt kicking world domination, that's what being a Roman is all about and if you play your cards right and stick to this guide you can make like Caesar except you'll be partying your way through the Ides of March and not looking over your shoulder for Brutus and his boys.

The Romans are one of the strongest civs in Rhye's Mod. They have great starting location, excellent civ traits, and a UU that will make your neighbors tremble.

First, the civ traits. Rome gets Expansionistic and Industrious. Now in a regular epic game of civ III this combo is good in the early game, not so good later. But in Rhye's mod they're a dynamite combo that will give you a big head start and then keep paying off as you pummel the hapless AI throughout the game.
The Romans have every advantage you could ask for and with some adpet trading and pre-emptive war fighting, you can turn the Mediterrean into a Roman Lake and make all the denizens of Europe and beyond wet themselves at the approach of your Imperial Legions.

There are three goody huts around N Italy and then down the near coast of Greece. Do whatever you have to do to get them because with the cost of settlers being so high, a free settler or town can make a tremendous difference.
Regardless of whether or not you get a freebie, you're going to want to build at least 1 more city ASAP, the best spot for it is up against the Alps so you can seal off your capital and dominate the approaches to Austria, Spain, and Greece. You're also going to need to start stockpiling warriors and build at least 1 worker to hook up the luxuries and iron that are in your immediate vicinity. Lastly, take some time early to build a curragh to sail around the Med meeting people. Rome is set up perfectly to to be a major tech broker.

Once you get rolling, your toughest choice will be who to conquer first. The best choice is to lay waste to the Iberian civs first and then clean up either France or the Greeks/Byzants. With a well planned mass upgrade of warriors to legionaries, paid for with the proceeds of tech brokering, you can roll right into Spain without too much trouble. They have fertile territory and it is close enough to your capitol to remain productive once it is in your hands. If you keep 4-6 cities in Iberia you can use them as research and commerce base as you can easily seal off the peninsula and fend off any AI landings with a few mobile units. These cities can quickly build up the infrastructure you'll need to support all the troops you're going to need to subdue Europe.

Speaking of troops, your legionaries will be the same 3/3/1 curb-stomping, bad mofos that you learned to love so much back in vanilla civ. They will steamroll anybody in the ancient age without breaking a sweat except those pesky Greek hoplites. Later, your army will stay in top form because you'll find abundant sources of saltpeter and horses in the former lands of the Greeks/Iberians no matter which group you decided to conquer first.

One thing you will not have of course is rubber. Just like every other European civ you're going to have to build a boat and get your colonization on.
Lastly, multiply the usefulness of your Industrial trait by razing at least some of the cities you conquer.

SPQR!
Author: Horton

 

[Three_Crowns]

Rhye, is the strategy guide useful?

 

[Blasphemous]

Hey all.
We can add this as the graphics for Privateers in the Industrial era (you know, through that file where you can set different graphics for a unit in different ages.)

 

[lil old me]

Here is my save - just before domination victory. I got a city through cultural conversion between this turn and the next. Maybe it is necessary for victory.
savegame

Thankyou very much.
and @ Blasphemous yes please, I have the beta saved somewhere just need to find it!

 

[Rhye]

TC-> Yesterday I posted that guide immediately on the site.

 

[Three_Crowns]

Ok. Did not see it yesterday. I guess my browser had not refreshed the content.

 

[player1 fanatic]

One advice to Roman players:

Since Legion is still just a same old Swordsmen, just more expensive, it can be good idea to build group of Ballistas, so they can help softening the targets.

Worked for me, in my old Roman game.

 

[jimkirk]

patch Conquests to 1.22

i have 1.22 and still i am crashing while trying to play the mod

 

[V. Soma]

Hi!
I just want to report on that now I have the Celts on the map, too!
So the version is now with 12 civs!
I will post picture and BIQ soon..

 

[V. Soma]

here is a picture
(I "played" with China, do not worry about them):

 

[V. Soma]

As you can see, there is definitely a green field on the map, yes, the Celts!
And they have gallic swordsman... (I saw them! )

I had LOTS of problems but now it is clear that the AI puts 2 celtic cities on the northern part of the continent. Ireland is settled, too
Celts start with Londinium on the British main island...

Romans first 5 cities are quite straightforward, as you see it:
First Italia and Greece, then what is left for them to the west.

The big rush goes for Hispania!
In the above example it was the Celts who got is but I need to run tests to see other cases.

I renamed Scandinavia to
THE NORTHERN SLAVS
because, hey, let's face it, they have:
Riga, Kiev, Novgorod... and finally a city in Scandinavia: Uppsala

I have the Times World Atlas of History (published in 1991? - I have Hungarian edition), a lovely book, indeed, got it yesterday, so I will have city names.
I already have them for the European and Medit. civs.

I played tests until near end of Ancient Age - I plan to change game length from 400 to 500 or so turns, evenly stretched.

HERE IS THE BIQ - 12 CIVS!
Welcome the Celts!

 

[Three_Crowns]

Some observations from my latest RoCX-game:
- I and 5 AI-civs are a couple of techs in the modern age, but the AI has completely ignored Marxism and Totalitarianism - even though, they are in constant war. I believe, it is Marxism (non-required/gives nothing) that discourages the AI.

- The caravel and the galleass has the same defence rating - but since the galleass has a greater attack rating, the stupid AI uses the caravel (when escorted by a galleass) as the defender.

- The AI does not use the frigate anymore.

 

[Lachlan]

As you can see, there is definitely a green field on the map, yes, the Celts!
And they have gallic swordsman... (I saw them! )

I had LOTS of problems but now it is clear that the AI puts 2 celtic cities on the northern part of the continent. Ireland is settled, too
Celts start with Londinium on the British main island...

Romans first 5 cities are quite straightforward, as you see it:
First Italia and Greece, then what is left for them to the west.

The big rush goes for Hispania!
In the above example it was the Celts who got is but I need to run tests to see other cases.

I renamed Scandinavia to
THE NORTHERN SLAVS
because, hey, let's face it, they have:
Riga, Kiev, Novgorod... and finally a city in Scandinavia: Uppsala

I have the Times World Atlas of History (published in 1991? - I have Hungarian edition), a lovely book, indeed, got it yesterday, so I will have city names.
I already have them for the European and Medit. civs.

I played tests until near end of Ancient Age - I plan to change game length from 400 to 500 or so turns, evenly stretched.

HERE IS THE BIQ - 12 CIVS!
Welcome the Celts!

That's clear : you must add natives australians and japan and vietnam

 

[Three_Crowns]

I renamed Scandinavia to
THE NORTHERN SLAVS
because, hey, let's face it, they have:
Riga, Kiev, Novgorod...

Well, those cities were originally populated by many Norsemen - they were important trading cities for the Swedish vikings (who may even have founded some of those cities). The first Russian rulers were decendants of Norsemen - they ruled from Kiev.

 

[V. Soma]

Well, well, hm...
Of the three, I consider Japan as a strong candidate for a No. 13. spot...
(ehh, now I like 12 as a number a lot more, it has magic to it...)

Japan would get 3 cities on main isles, and then... maybe colonising the Indonesian islands? My guess is - yes... it could make actually a lot of cities: 7-8 in total...

Australia: I say no, well, I want to leave it for colonisation...

 

[V. Soma]

Well, those cities were originally populated by many Norsemen - they were important trading cities for the Swedish vikings (who may even have founded some of those cities). The first Russian rulers were decendants of Norsemen - they ruled from Kiev.

OK, I accept that, so let it change back to Scandinavia.
But I have no viking names for these cities, only slavic ones from ca. 1100 in real history. How could it be helped?

 

[karmina]

I've just finished a 35k game as the Germans in the patched, expanded version on Emperor with medium agressiveness, and wanted to write down my experiences. (If you like you can put this up as a strategy guide)

At first some general observations: I was surprised that my game went very similar to the one I played on 2.62, despite the numerous changes, and despite the newly introduced palace guards. I really love the mod and the expansion, but some problems still remain: AI builds one settler after another. All European AI settle in the large, far away area south of Russia and west of Mongolia. There are nearly NO wars between AIs in the first two eras. Some civs are very weak, especially India, Scandinavia, Babylon, Israel and the Maya.

Now to The Germans - RoCX :
Warning: resource location spoilers included!

As with all civs in the crowded starting regions (Europe & Middle East), you must forget about early settlers and granaries. This is epecially true for the scientific and militaristic Germans, and especially true because the AI does NOT heed this but blindly builds one settler after another - at least on emperor & default agressiveness. There are two keys to victory:

1. Tech lead. Send your first warrior south-sw, your second south-east. Avoid barbarians, and you should be able to get at least one or two techs from goody huts. This will enable you to initiate tech trading, and catapult you ahead of the crowd. Make sure your first warrior meets the Portuguese, and your second should at least make contact with Byzanz, with some luck you can even get him to Israel, Arabia and Persia. I recommend researching Nordic Mythology on lowest rate, since it's something the AI doesn't care for while low rate and generous tech trading will help to build up your much needed treasury for the early wars.

2. Early wars. We don't have immediate access to iron, so we'll simply stick to spearmen. With cheap libraries and barracks, it's possible to build both (plus one worker) in Berlin after the first 2-4 warriors but before Spearmen even become available. The library helps to keep us ahead both technological and cultural while we build up our army. About 10 spearmen suffice to capture Amsterdam. Just wait until the Dutch wander off with their first settler to found Rotterdam on the Danish peninsula. This will make conquest easier and additionally gives you another city some turns later.

With the Dutch either destroyed or banished from Europe, it's time to invade France and Austria. Depending on your army and their cities, it might be wise to only capture Paris and Vienna before a temporary peace to replenish your military strength. This is also the time to found 1-2 cities, one on the hills (Iron & Coal) between Berlin and Paris, the other to the east, either NE of Vienna (Iron) or NE of Berlin. (In my whole game I only founded two further cities, one E of Berlin, the other was Rio de Janeiro to get Rubber - pretty useless though: 15 turns before the 35k Cultural Victory )

On turn 70 (or earlier if possible) it's time to make a rush for Philosophy. Choosing the bonus tech is difficult...Monarchy might be the best choice if you still have a large army and a small population or if you had the luck to get a scientific leader to rush the Hanging Gardens. On the other hand, Republic normally gives you a commercial boost even with a mediocre army - much more importantly though, you can buy cheap libraries and barracks in your newly captured cities! And cultural growth is extremely important in every war and every crowded area, even if you aren't heading for a cultural victory. If you manage to get Stonehenge, don't fear to sacrifice captured workers in the new cities - 96 or 120 points of culture is MUCH.

Once France and Austria are eliminated, the Germans should be the leading civilization. World wide. The rest of the game is pretty straightforward: Generous tech-trading without sacrificing your lead, conquering the occasional city or civilization near your borders without sacrificing your reputation, and rushing libraries and universities whenever possible. Until my 35k cultural victory in 1620 or so, only England, Rome and Spain dared to challenge me. Their homelands quickly fell to the German empire, even without buying any other civ into an alliance.

Some final tips:
Keep an eye open for civilizations experiencing a Golden Age. Those are normally the only civs wich are able to pay a proper price for your technologies. My favorite customer in the ancient and early medieval age was Greece, later on Persia and Arabia.
Continue to explore the world until you've made contact with all 32 civs.
Make use of the medieval naval units. Especially Galleas and Galleon are great, they can move your troops from London to Rome within 4 turns - not counting oversea (un-/)loading.

 

[Three_Crowns]

OK, I accept that, so let it change back to Scandinavia.
But I have no viking names for these cities, only slavic ones from ca. 1100 in real history. How could it be helped?

Novgorod = Holmgård
Kiev = Kænugård

These are Danish translations of Oldnorse.

Riga is from 1201 AD, so...

And just if you are interested: In the beginning of the 9th century, Scandinavians (mostly Swedish vikings), known as Rhos, were very active in present day Russia - establishing trade posts and securing the rivers for trade with the Byzantine empire. They most likely, amongst other, founded Holmgård and Kænugård. Near the end of the 9th century, the viking warlord Rorik was made king of, what was now known as Rus. His warriors were known as varæger (Oldrussian: varjag - Oldnorse: væringi). Throughout the 10th and 11th century, when the king was in trouble, he would call on help from the vikings - varænger. When Vladimir I won the civil war of 1015-1019 ad, it was with the aid of the varæger. After this conflict, he sent them to Constantinople (known by the vikings as Miklagård). Here they formed the byzantine imperial guard: The Varanger Guard.

 

[Rhye]

thank you karmina - it is up on the site.

 

[J.P.Jones]

Help!
This was the first multi-part download I tried. Loading it stalls with: art\advisors\NP_all.PCX

What to do?
J.P.Jones