The Byzantines

If you build the Mausolleum of Mausolles and the Collossus you get a Golden Age automatically, as well as a very nice city to boot.

 

The Dromon is sure one of the weakest UUs in the game but the Byzantines make up for this with their good traits. A mid-tier civ that is weak on pangea but fun to play as!

 

In honor of a player for whom an uncorrected error of mine seemed extremely important - I have edited the review to reflect his correct observation.

Ision

 

Great article. As someone stated above, it would be great if you could also include the wonders you can build to get a golden age. For all civs!

 

It's interesting that the Byzantines have Dromon as their unique unit instead of the Cataphract.

 

Great article Ision, sums up the Byzantines well. They are one of my favourite civs to play as, even on Pangaea they can be OK provided you get lots of coastal cities for the commerce. This can give you an early science boost.

For the sake of variety, I guess. A Cataphract would either have to be a Knight variant (of which there are many) or a Horseman variant. We already have a +1 attack Horseman (the Mounted Warrior) so what could the Cataphract have been? 3/2/2 perhaps? That would have made it the same as the Gallic Swordsman though, bar the need for Horses instead of Iron. I just can't see where the Cataphract would have fit, unfortunately.

Cataphracts are not specifically Byzantine either IIRC, I think the Persians and others from that part of the world used to use them in ancient times. However, the flame-thrower on a galley is definately exclusive to the Byzantines.

 

Hi !
to get a golden age via wonders for your civ , the wonders to be built must have the same traits as your civ. So for germany f.ex. you could/must build Great Library and Sun Tzu´s Art of War to trigger the golden age. That means you normally have to build at last two great wonders to get your golden age. BUT with two-trait wonders like the Pyramids or the great Wall and the right civ,f.ex. Egypt-Pyramids / China-Great Wall , you need only one great wonder to trigger the GA. Hope this could help you.

Have Fun!

 

The Great Wall and the Pyramids are the only two two-trait wonders, or are there any others?

 

The Pyramids are in fact a three trait wonder (ind, rel, agr) and having a look in the editor I found a lot more:

Hanging Gardens/Hoover Dam: ind agr
The Colossus/The Great Lighthouse/Magellans Voyage: exp com sea
S. Trading Company: com sea
Manhattan Projekt: mil ind
Cure for Cancer: agr sci
Internet: all traits!
Statue of Zeus / Knights Templar: mil, rel
Maus. of Mausollos: sci, sea

 

The Byzantines can be used to great effect to get a 20K cultural victory- Collossus, Mausoleum, and a GA fueled Great Library build.

 

The Byzantines were the first of the Conquest races I tried out (random pick), and have become one of my favourites. I love the article, but you forgot to mention that Theodora is by far the most attractive of the female leaders.

 

No doubt about that.

 

Theodora's a honey!

 

playing the byzantines for the first time in my current game. I love the Dromon. lethal bombard early in the game, and the attack is as good as a frigate. plus the animation is cool

 

Nice articles...

Hopefully the Maya will be reviewed soon

 

There already exists a Maya review.
Here is the link:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=91429
Have a nice reading!

 

If compared to land units that is true, but it is one of the best sea units in the game with an since it has the highest attack until Magnetism or Combustion, depending on if the English are in the game or not.

 

I like the sound of the Dromon's attack. I don't think that there's anything wrong with the Dromon, because it can get you early naval domination, and in my experience, it sinks less often in Ocean squares. It's a great way to launch surprise "amphibious" attacks before the Industrial Age, too.

 

Thats true, but it is not an inherent strength of the Dromon, but a result of playing the Byzantines and getting the benefits of being seafaring.

 

It's still a Byzantine strength, and the Dromon is still the most dominant naval unit for the first age and most of the second.