It is still possible to found Catholicism with Ethiopia via the Egyptian conquest in Paragon. That is, to start as Egypt, milk the land as much as you can and to delete all units as Ethiopia spawns. I even managed to fully research Theology without using the priest to bulb and make him build the holy shrine in Aksum. What I did:
- Settle your Egyptian capital 1N of start to access the heat and copper 2E, which will be useful as Ethiopia to counter the damned barbs later.
- Worker first then followed by 5 warriors ASAP (I whipped the last one). 5 is very important because you will have to declare to pass through Jerusalem territory to rush Babylon. If you build 4, the archers will attack you and you will lose 3. Build 5 and they won't attack you at all.
- Send 3 warriors to attack Babylon (there is a small window of time where they will send out their troops leaving a single warrior to defend the city with a worker upgrading their good tiles). Send 2 warriors back to your capital ( I deleted one so I didn't have to pay maintenance).
- KEEP Babylon. Yes you will pay some maintenance but it is worth it as the city will easily bring in more commerce than the 5 commerce you will pay in maintenance and civic upkeep. In my game, I got a worker from capturing Babylon (they hadn't founded their 2nd city when I conquered Babylon) and I sent him back to Egypt to upgrade the land. I didn't have to build one in Egypt which allowed me to grow my capital while building a monument for the priest slot.
- In Babylon, immediately build a worker to upgrade the tiles (don't whip!) and grow to size 4 or 5 and pump out settlers. In my game I put some hammers in the Sphinx and built 2 settlers and a worker which I later sent back to Egypt. This helps Niwt-Rsst focus on wonders, growth and buildings (never built a settler and only a worker at the start).
- You will lose Babylon at some (civilization respawn) point so don't focus on buildings just make sure you pop those 2 settlers for settling Alexandria and that city south of your capital to grab all the flood plains, the ivory and the gold mine.
- Build order in your capital: worker, 5x warrior, monument, pyramids, hanging gardens, temple of Artemis. This is the core. No exceptions. Add in some warriors in between to keep your city happy. Then focus on normal buildings. By the time Ethiopia spawned I had built a barracks, granary, library and aqueduct in the city. Alexandria had a granary and a library built. The last city near the Ethiopian civ had a granary built in it.
- Research order: Mysticism, Masonry, Pottery, Polytheism, AH, writing, up to you. Focus on population and maximum cottage growth. When I conquered with Ethiopia I got theology before turn 240 (if I remember correctly I got it at turn 234 235 without bulbs).
- Settle your GPs in your capital (you will have 2, Gprophets are the best for production and that +10 gold from both is a godsend).
- Delete all your units when the Ethiopians spawn and pillage your horse resource (you may want to delete your workers too).
- You will need some luck here. Hope that Greece doesn't get TOA and hope for come luck with the medjay barb spawns. Watch out for the automatic Greece DOW and you should be fine.
- Don't whip wonders, only units and maybe some buildings if you won't have time to complete them before Ethiopia spawns.
- With Ethiopia I like to build Mogadishiu on the horses with my 2nd settler.
Good luck to you all.
- Settle your Egyptian capital 1N of start to access the heat and copper 2E, which will be useful as Ethiopia to counter the damned barbs later.
- Worker first then followed by 5 warriors ASAP (I whipped the last one). 5 is very important because you will have to declare to pass through Jerusalem territory to rush Babylon. If you build 4, the archers will attack you and you will lose 3. Build 5 and they won't attack you at all.
- Send 3 warriors to attack Babylon (there is a small window of time where they will send out their troops leaving a single warrior to defend the city with a worker upgrading their good tiles). Send 2 warriors back to your capital ( I deleted one so I didn't have to pay maintenance).
- KEEP Babylon. Yes you will pay some maintenance but it is worth it as the city will easily bring in more commerce than the 5 commerce you will pay in maintenance and civic upkeep. In my game, I got a worker from capturing Babylon (they hadn't founded their 2nd city when I conquered Babylon) and I sent him back to Egypt to upgrade the land. I didn't have to build one in Egypt which allowed me to grow my capital while building a monument for the priest slot.
- In Babylon, immediately build a worker to upgrade the tiles (don't whip!) and grow to size 4 or 5 and pump out settlers. In my game I put some hammers in the Sphinx and built 2 settlers and a worker which I later sent back to Egypt. This helps Niwt-Rsst focus on wonders, growth and buildings (never built a settler and only a worker at the start).
- You will lose Babylon at some (civilization respawn) point so don't focus on buildings just make sure you pop those 2 settlers for settling Alexandria and that city south of your capital to grab all the flood plains, the ivory and the gold mine.
- Build order in your capital: worker, 5x warrior, monument, pyramids, hanging gardens, temple of Artemis. This is the core. No exceptions. Add in some warriors in between to keep your city happy. Then focus on normal buildings. By the time Ethiopia spawned I had built a barracks, granary, library and aqueduct in the city. Alexandria had a granary and a library built. The last city near the Ethiopian civ had a granary built in it.
- Research order: Mysticism, Masonry, Pottery, Polytheism, AH, writing, up to you. Focus on population and maximum cottage growth. When I conquered with Ethiopia I got theology before turn 240 (if I remember correctly I got it at turn 234 235 without bulbs).
- Settle your GPs in your capital (you will have 2, Gprophets are the best for production and that +10 gold from both is a godsend).
- Delete all your units when the Ethiopians spawn and pillage your horse resource (you may want to delete your workers too).
- You will need some luck here. Hope that Greece doesn't get TOA and hope for come luck with the medjay barb spawns. Watch out for the automatic Greece DOW and you should be fine.
- Don't whip wonders, only units and maybe some buildings if you won't have time to complete them before Ethiopia spawns.
- With Ethiopia I like to build Mogadishiu on the horses with my 2nd settler.
Good luck to you all.