Sword of Islam: Strategy discussion

[Akbarthegreat]

Agree.
For PoA/KoJ very important staring situation with Abbasids(strong/weak/collapse) and development of Damaskus(it's sweet city if Harun-al Rashid was built here NoW/AM or settled 2-3 GP). I restarted many times for find ideal start
Massacre: catholic URV don't need high piety lvl, i prefer save population, especially if built mosques and madrassas.
Mercenaries: help a lot for fight aganist Rum/Zengids/Fatimids.

Yep, mega-Abbasids is just a pain in the ass.



Couple of things:

1. Could somebody explain what the random respawn mechanic requires? Like does it need at least one rebel city or what?
In a Seljuk start, I went for Iraq first since it was controlled by the Buyids, lightly defended and most of all I was worried about an Abbasid respawn. I took it easily, and Buyids collapsed after losing Baghdad and Samarra. I also took Kufah, then the Abbasids respawned on the next turn despite me being stable
Was it because of the two indie cities in lower Iraq?
Also, in such a situation, is it better to attempt to take Iraq quickly or wait and kill the respawned Abbasids?

2. The Civilopedia says the plague spreads just once, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it spread twice. It wasn't the same plague re-spreading since it was some time after all civs had lost the skull icon on the leaderboard.
Also, does the plague kill units or not? I did notice it kill a few marksmen, but not the way vanilla RFC did.

EDIT: 3. City placement in Georgia is really bad, do I really have to settle three cities in such a small province to get all the resources? What cities do you guys settle initially? Tbilisi seems like a poor location (2 resources 2 tiles diagonally away, really?), and Kars seems like a no-brainer given that I need it for the UHV.

 

[SanJose]

Couple of things:

1. Could somebody explain what the random respawn mechanic requires? Like does it need at least one rebel city or what?
In a Seljuk start, I went for Iraq first since it was controlled by the Buyids, lightly defended and most of all I was worried about an Abbasid respawn. I took it easily, and Buyids collapsed after losing Baghdad and Samarra. I also took Kufah, then the Abbasids respawned on the next turn despite me being stable
Was it because of the two indie cities in lower Iraq?
Also, in such a situation, is it better to attempt to take Iraq quickly or wait and kill the respawned Abbasids?

2. The Civilopedia says the plague spreads just once, but I'm pretty sure I've seen it spread twice. It wasn't the same plague re-spreading since it was some time after all civs had lost the skull icon on the leaderboard.
Also, does the plague kill units or not? I did notice it kill a few marksmen, but not the way vanilla RFC did.

EDIT: 3. City placement in Georgia is really bad, do I really have to settle three cities in such a small province to get all the resources? What cities do you guys settle initially? Tbilisi seems like a poor location (2 resources 2 tiles diagonally away, really?), and Kars seems like a no-brainer given that I need it for the UHV.

1. At the beginning control cities with WWs (Baghdad and Kufa), dont expand fast or bad econmics->bad stability->respawn Abbasids.
If cities in Iraq control by 3-4 fraction (indie, barbs, 2-3 civs in any combo) or one state with "shaky"/"collapsing" the mechanism of respawn can be activated. If you "solid" you keep cities in respawn areas usually, but difficult to keep the cultural pressure from Harun. I see a thrice Abbasids respawn, so my advice: keep Baghdad+ Kufa and vassalized Harun, alternative: keep Baghdad+ Kufa and razed other cities(refounded its later).

2. Does not touch a Great Person.
3. Capital - on horse, 2nd on apple, capture Baku.

 

[Akbarthegreat]

1. At the beginning control cities with WWs (Baghdad and Kufa), dont expand fast or bad econmics->bad stability->respawn Abbasids.
If cities in Iraq control by 3-4 fraction (indie, barbs, 2-3 civs in any combo) or one state with "shaky"/"collapsing" the mechanism of respawn can be activated. If you "solid" you keep cities in respawn areas usually, but difficult to keep the cultural pressure from Harun. I see a thrice Abbasids respawn, so my advice: keep Baghdad+ Kufa and vassalized Harun, alternative: keep Baghdad+ Kufa and razed other cities(refounded its later).

But say if I'm stable and I control all cities in Iraq except one rebel city, will the Abbasids still be eligible for a respawn?

2. Does not touch a Great Person.

Ah, okay. But how does it affect military units? Sometimes it kills them, sometimes doesn't even cause damage.
And does the plague spread only once or twice?

3. Capital - on horse, 2nd on apple, capture Baku.

Argh.. I generally prefer not settling cities on resources Guess I'll have to make an exception here. A city on the black sea coast working the northern apples doesn't seem bad, but then Georgia just seems too crampled

 

[Swarbs]

1. Could somebody explain what the random respawn mechanic requires? Like does it need at least one rebel city or what?
In a Seljuk start, I went for Iraq first since it was controlled by the Buyids, lightly defended and most of all I was worried about an Abbasid respawn. I took it easily, and Buyids collapsed after losing Baghdad and Samarra. I also took Kufah, then the Abbasids respawned on the next turn despite me being stable
Was it because of the two indie cities in lower Iraq?
Also, in such a situation, is it better to attempt to take Iraq quickly or wait and kill the respawned Abbasids?

I think any core province of a dead civ with either an indie city or the city of an unstable civ has a chance to respawn that civ. Even if it's just one city it can happen, but I think it's more likely the higher the proportion of core cities of a dead civ are indie / unstable.

EDIT: 3. City placement in Georgia is really bad, do I really have to settle three cities in such a small province to get all the resources? What cities do you guys settle initially? Tbilisi seems like a poor location (2 resources 2 tiles diagonally away, really?), and Kars seems like a no-brainer given that I need it for the UHV.

I settle Mtskheta on the deer, then Seti 1NW of the wine and Kabala 1W of the silk. The first two cities get every resource in Georgia, although they miss the wine in Chaldia, and Kabala gets the silk and copper and almost all the flood plains in Shirvan.

That set up works particularly well if Armenia founds Qarsi instead of Ani, as it means there is minimal overlap with the Georgian cities.