I'm making another civ-specific strategy post to see if I can spur some discussion about the next civ I have chosen to play. This time it's Siam! First, the kit:
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Father Governs Children
Yields from friendly and allied City-States increased by 75%. The Combat Strength of Allied City-State Capitals is increased by +25%. Influence when you meet a CS starts at 35 (I think in the current version of VP it's 40).
Naresuan's Elephant, replaces Knight.
+2 Combat, -1 Movement. +50% Combat Strength against other mounted units. Starts with the Feared Elephant promotion (Enemy units receive -10% CS when adjacent to any unit with this promotion).
Wat, replaces Constabulary.
4 Culture, 1 Faith, 2 Science. Reduces enemy spy stealing rate by 50%. +2 Science from Temples and Shrines in this City, and +1 Culture from Jungle and Forest tiles worked by the City. Reduces Crime. 1 Scientist Specialist slot. 2 Maintenance.
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Victory condition
The UA most definitely pushes us toward a diplomatic victory path as the benefit we get from friending/allying city states will perhaps be on par with the likes of Austria and Germany. The UB, on the other hand, pushes us toward a science victory with +6 science total (including shrine/temple bonus) as well as an extra scientist specialist slot. Between the two I'm going to lean toward diplomacy as the UB alone probably isn't enough to really warrant commiting to science while the UA seems much more sizeable in its benefits.
One weakness that Siam has in pursuing a diplomatic victory is that there isn't much in his UA to help increase his vote count in the world congress (whereas civs like Austria and Germany get extra votes from their UA). His CS allies having stronger city strength will help them survive which can help him keep votes due to alliances and his 40 free influence when he first meets a CS can help him secure those votes more easily, too, but neither of those directly lead to more votes. However, benefiting more in terms of yields from his alliances is something we can leverage to make our empire strong overall and more easily able to do things like build wonders or spam diplomats.
Wide vs. Tall? Aggressive vs. Defensive?
There isn't much pushing Siam to be tall. The capital certainly benefits the most from yields from CSs but I'm not sure that alone will warrant playing tall. The diplomatic victory itself perhaps leans toward wide play somewhat as a wide empire tends to have more gold and hammers to help handle the load of diplomats we'll need to build.
I also don't see much of anything pushing Siam to be an aggressor. The UU looks really interesting as a dominant unit, though. The knight is already widely accepted as the strongest unit of its era so a knight replacement UU that also has a bonus to damage against other knights seems like it could be really powerful. My default is that unless I am playing one of the many civs that really benefit from warfare I will probably play relatively peaceful so I will most likely follow that route for Siam. I *might* try to do a little conquering when I unlock Naresuans, though, especially if there is a nearby rival for CS alliances.
So tall and relatively peaceful sounds like progress will be my default tree to open with. I will try to expand rapidly and claim as much territory as I feel comfortable. After that will certainly be statecraft followed by industry most likely, but possibly rationalism.
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Early game goals
I've done a few early game play-throughs with Siam to try to get a feel for them. One thing that I notice is that finding as many CSs as early on as possible is critical. The instant 40 influence means you get an automatic friendly status for 10 turns and along with the +75% yields bonus you can get some really nice yields going in your early cities just by scouting around. I think Siam is even a case where it might be a good idea to prioritize fishing relatively early on in order to allow your initial pathfinder the ability to cross coastal tiles to find other continents and island based CSs (depending on your map script of course). I also think it might be worth building a 2nd pathfinder relatively early on in order to expedite finding every CS you can. This might have the side effect of allowing you to find off-continent settling sites that may eventually be important in being nearer to far-off CSs.
Siam is also a civ that might benefit from going after the early Roman Forum wonder. An extra great diplomat could either help with congress votes via an embassy or gain an early ally for bonus yields.
Last, being wide means that religion could naturally be a strong suit for Siam. Religion also seems natural to Siam given that shrines/temples both have synergy with the Wat. There are founder, enhancement, and reformation beliefs that directly benefit a diplomatic victory which may be crucial for Siam so investing early in founding a religion is advisable.
Later game goals
Westminster palace is probably more crucial to Siam given that they have a limited means of generating world congress votes so finding a way to get that will probably be an important mid-game objective. Also, turning your cities into economic/production powerhouses in order to be able to pump out diplomats is probably the main objective throughout the game.
Militarily, I could see some emphasis on a navy being a good idea for Siam. I will probably focus my military efforts to liberating/protecting any CSs that get into trouble and as CSs are often 1) far away and 2) on coasts, a navy could be the ideal way to project military power.
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Father Governs Children
Yields from friendly and allied City-States increased by 75%. The Combat Strength of Allied City-State Capitals is increased by +25%. Influence when you meet a CS starts at 35 (I think in the current version of VP it's 40).
Naresuan's Elephant, replaces Knight.
+2 Combat, -1 Movement. +50% Combat Strength against other mounted units. Starts with the Feared Elephant promotion (Enemy units receive -10% CS when adjacent to any unit with this promotion).
Wat, replaces Constabulary.
4 Culture, 1 Faith, 2 Science. Reduces enemy spy stealing rate by 50%. +2 Science from Temples and Shrines in this City, and +1 Culture from Jungle and Forest tiles worked by the City. Reduces Crime. 1 Scientist Specialist slot. 2 Maintenance.
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Victory condition
The UA most definitely pushes us toward a diplomatic victory path as the benefit we get from friending/allying city states will perhaps be on par with the likes of Austria and Germany. The UB, on the other hand, pushes us toward a science victory with +6 science total (including shrine/temple bonus) as well as an extra scientist specialist slot. Between the two I'm going to lean toward diplomacy as the UB alone probably isn't enough to really warrant commiting to science while the UA seems much more sizeable in its benefits.
One weakness that Siam has in pursuing a diplomatic victory is that there isn't much in his UA to help increase his vote count in the world congress (whereas civs like Austria and Germany get extra votes from their UA). His CS allies having stronger city strength will help them survive which can help him keep votes due to alliances and his 40 free influence when he first meets a CS can help him secure those votes more easily, too, but neither of those directly lead to more votes. However, benefiting more in terms of yields from his alliances is something we can leverage to make our empire strong overall and more easily able to do things like build wonders or spam diplomats.
Wide vs. Tall? Aggressive vs. Defensive?
There isn't much pushing Siam to be tall. The capital certainly benefits the most from yields from CSs but I'm not sure that alone will warrant playing tall. The diplomatic victory itself perhaps leans toward wide play somewhat as a wide empire tends to have more gold and hammers to help handle the load of diplomats we'll need to build.
I also don't see much of anything pushing Siam to be an aggressor. The UU looks really interesting as a dominant unit, though. The knight is already widely accepted as the strongest unit of its era so a knight replacement UU that also has a bonus to damage against other knights seems like it could be really powerful. My default is that unless I am playing one of the many civs that really benefit from warfare I will probably play relatively peaceful so I will most likely follow that route for Siam. I *might* try to do a little conquering when I unlock Naresuans, though, especially if there is a nearby rival for CS alliances.
So tall and relatively peaceful sounds like progress will be my default tree to open with. I will try to expand rapidly and claim as much territory as I feel comfortable. After that will certainly be statecraft followed by industry most likely, but possibly rationalism.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Early game goals
I've done a few early game play-throughs with Siam to try to get a feel for them. One thing that I notice is that finding as many CSs as early on as possible is critical. The instant 40 influence means you get an automatic friendly status for 10 turns and along with the +75% yields bonus you can get some really nice yields going in your early cities just by scouting around. I think Siam is even a case where it might be a good idea to prioritize fishing relatively early on in order to allow your initial pathfinder the ability to cross coastal tiles to find other continents and island based CSs (depending on your map script of course). I also think it might be worth building a 2nd pathfinder relatively early on in order to expedite finding every CS you can. This might have the side effect of allowing you to find off-continent settling sites that may eventually be important in being nearer to far-off CSs.
Siam is also a civ that might benefit from going after the early Roman Forum wonder. An extra great diplomat could either help with congress votes via an embassy or gain an early ally for bonus yields.
Last, being wide means that religion could naturally be a strong suit for Siam. Religion also seems natural to Siam given that shrines/temples both have synergy with the Wat. There are founder, enhancement, and reformation beliefs that directly benefit a diplomatic victory which may be crucial for Siam so investing early in founding a religion is advisable.
Later game goals
Westminster palace is probably more crucial to Siam given that they have a limited means of generating world congress votes so finding a way to get that will probably be an important mid-game objective. Also, turning your cities into economic/production powerhouses in order to be able to pump out diplomats is probably the main objective throughout the game.
Militarily, I could see some emphasis on a navy being a good idea for Siam. I will probably focus my military efforts to liberating/protecting any CSs that get into trouble and as CSs are often 1) far away and 2) on coasts, a navy could be the ideal way to project military power.
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I actually think a key play with Siam is to save up gold for a big Elephant upgrade round when their UU comes online. It is dominant, but the window is small. For example, while Conquistadors or Cataphracts still do decently well against Tercios, Elephants do not.
