Rome vs The Iroquois

[ArcticPenguin]

Greetings: I seek the thoughts of fellow gamers regarding the relative merits of these two civilizations.

I am quite fond of production bonuses and early war mongering before I settle down to pursue whatever victory condition suits my fancy. I have always played Rome, as the Glory of Rome seemed suitable to my tactic of wiping out everyone on my continent and then building new cities in their smoldering ruins, and the legion\ballista combo seemed quite powerful. Post G&K, the redacted iron requirements for ballista seemed to make Rome even stronger then before, and yet seven out of the last ten maps I have played I had no iron. Furthermore more, it was not that I had no iron nearby, either my continent had NO IRON or the only deposits were next to the starting capitals of my opponents. This was, needless to say, frustrating.

As I considered alternatives and remembered in multiplayer the one civilization that always gave me fits when someone played them well was the Iroquois. Money savings for forest roads, large productive cities, quick movement and nasty forest bonuses for mohawks. The lack of iron requirement for mohawks and catapaults almost makes it seem like a no brainer for an early expansion civilization.

While granted some of this will boil down to personal preference, my question is thus: Does the Longhouse bonus exceed the bonus of the Glory of Rome. Certainly in some circumstances it can, but it is terrain dependent and only comes into play later in the game, whereas the Glory of Rome aids you as soon as you have a second city. It seems to boil down to how productive is your city, what are you building, and what is the surrounding terrain. Furthermore, does iron-free mohawks make up for not being the classical era super-soldiers that legions can realize?

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them.

 

[Option]

I personally never found Glory of Rome that much of a useful trait. If your capital ends up having inferior production to another city or even several cities (which happens to me quite often), the benefit only will help your very newly founded cities way after you built up the capital improvements.

That said, my experience with the Iroquois are limited, but to me, at least on paper, they seem much more useful since you will save the time of your workers when building trade routes. The Longhouse also seems pretty good - forest tiles are not particularly rare, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Have you considered looking into Carthage, Huns, or Songhai (latter on island/sea-based maps)? They would seem to complement your playstyle. Also, if you run into problems with your strategic resources, Russia also is a good choice.

 

[ArcticPenguin]

Option, I must confess that Russia has long been my "go to" civilization in this iteration. I just love the double strategic resources. Carthage too looks attractive, so I might give them a whirl. I have tried the Huns, but their play style seems to really force you in one direction, and though it works, it leaves me feeling kind of cold. Why do you suggest Songhai? The quick gold from barbarian raiding?

 

[Halcyan2]

In addition to not needing Iron anymore, the changes to Siege weapons (where they do ridiculous amounts of damage to cities) makes the Ballista very good.

I like Wonder building so when I do play Rome, I generally have my Capital building wonders (not buildings) most of the time. As soon as I research a tech with a cool building, I rush buy the building. That also guarantees that all my other cities instantly get the production bonus. So say I get Metal Casting, I will rush the Workshop in Rome, rather than wait for Rome to manually build it.

It does require a fair amount of gold, so you'll need to be selling lots of luxuries to afford it.

 

[smallfish]

I personally never found Glory of Rome that much of a useful trait. If your capital ends up having inferior production to another city or even several cities (which happens to me quite often), the benefit only will help your very newly founded cities way after you built up the capital improvements.

Rushbuy an essential building like Library or Workshop in that capital then.

That way your other more productive cities can produce them faster.

 

[Option]

Option, I must confess that Russia has long been my "go to" civilization in this iteration. I just love the double strategic resources. Carthage too looks attractive, so I might give them a whirl. I have tried the Huns, but their play style seems to really force you in one direction, and though it works, it leaves me feeling kind of cold. Why do you suggest Songhai? The quick gold from barbarian raiding?

No, not the gold from barbarians, although that's a nice goodie to have. Songhai gain bonuses when their units are embarked, so if you play on water-based maps like Tiny Islands or the likes, they have a significant advantage (of course, in this case, Polynesia would probably work too, because they start with embarking already).

 

[ArcticPenguin]

I see what your saying. Sending unescorted units still seems incredibly risky, especially since the a.i. has managed to improve somewhat. I played a game as Sweden to try them out, and Cathy managed to send a dozen ironclads escorting great war infantry and artillery with a few caravels thrown in to attempt to seize my capital, which would have won her the game. Thankfully I had a picket of submarines...