The Byzantines

The Dromon is the surprise UU of CIV3 and one of the best. Never having been a seapower person, my first impression of this unit was contempt. A stronger gally, big deal! Then I tried it and realized I had a near invulnerable, mobile unit with the power to soften up cities so my ground forces can practically walk in. It's useful life may be the longest of the UU's.

 

Dromon is good on archipelago, but on other types of maps (especially panagea) it is less and less useful, compared to any fast/strong land unit.
Good article!

 

The Byzantines will always hold a special place in my heart, having done Out of the Rubble on them.

 

I played as the Byzantines once...every single Dromon I bult sank the first time they ended a turn on a sea square. Sort of left me with a bad impression.

 

The Byzantines Immediately became one of my Fav Civs when i bought conquests.
If the Dromons could enslave......

 

That would be severely unbalancing, lol.

Setting fire to a ship you are going to enslave wouldn't be that practical anyways. =oP

 

Who wants Some Steaks?

 

ROTFLMAO
sure

Michael

 

Excuse the bump.
I've only recently started playing Conquests so have not played its civs much, and my current game is my first with the Byzantines, though I must say I'm doing well. I've already had my GA via one of my favorite Wonders (Great Lighthouse) so I can't initiate it with the UU, though a war using them is probably not far off, especially once I get my border cities a little better defended. I don't thing I'll be initiating many wars in this game though, as this game is going toward 20K culture. I should declare war though just to see these Dromons in action, and to see how good I am at using them.

 

Ah, time for some foul magics.. Yes, I'm talking about necro-threading

Anyhow, just finished a game playing with the Byzantines, and what a wonderfull civ it is. And their UU might be one of the only that can be used THE WHOLE GAME LONG! Most people might think that keeping those old tubs alive is a waste of money (upkeep), and that these firespitting antiques can't hold up the race from the moment the first Ironclads appear.
Granted, on a 1-vs-1, the Dromon will certainly loose against the Ironclad, but if you get in such a situation, your strategy as poor as it gets.
By the time the first Ironclad gets launched, you should have quite the armada of Dromons. They should be sailing the seas in troops of minimum 5 each. If you encounter one of these "superior" ships, approach it and BOMBARD. Chances are, by the time the 4th Dromon has released its lethal stream of fire, that rusty tub they call an Ironclad is doing some deep-sea exploration And honestly, any other ship -even the mighty battleship- has a hard time countering this tactic. Lethal sea-bombardment is a bit of a gamebreaker, if used correctly

Now, even if its land-bombardment is non-lethal, it is far from useless. But again, one has to know how to use it. Your Dromons literally stink if you want to use them as a means for sabotaging land improvements. Also you won't come anywhere close to destroying a city-improvement with your UU. But, an 8-stack of Dromons can severly cripple a defending force in a city. And again, ranging from the humble Spearman to the mighty MechInf, everybody fears the onslaught of an endless stream of fire. True, you'll first have to burn your way through any navy harboured in the target city before you can begin roasting those defenders, but the smell of a fresh woodfire will only sharpen your appetite for the barbeque which will follow.

And this brings me to the second great trait of the Dromon, TRANSPORT. Oh yeah, I can hear you already..."We all know the that a dromon is a transport, quit stating the obvious!". But what you have to take into account is this: the Dromon is a BOMBARDING TRANSPORT! Let us go back to the previous 8-stack of Dromons. If you know how to plan, than that 8-stack will not just be giving fire support, but it will also carry troops into battle. 16 units, to be exact. Chances are big that you can redline almost all defenders in the target city, which will diminish the chances of one of your attacking units falling during the actual invasion. And it might be a weird sight to see Tanks rolling out of a Dromon, but the element of surprise is always a boon to any invader

So, in conclusion... The Dromon, eventhough depicted as a wooden ship and powered by slaves who are tugging their years away at the oars, is a UU that will continue his usefull life throughout history. In its first days, it's the terror of the seas, unequalled by none. When Magnetism comes in play - thus ending the possiblility to produce them- they become the Frigate's little brother. And as soon as Combustion arrives, I like to see them as Gunboats: little versatile coast-huggers

 

Would be great to see the dromons come across a fleet of English Man of Wars, both in human hands.

The Man of wars would slice through them

 

byzantines are brilliant for scientific games

your cities on the coast are just brutal at producing beakers and money

 

In our SPOILER Civ III League, Theodora was the Fall 2011 MVP and Rookie Team Lead of the Year (the Byzantines made their league debut that season). Together with her partner Cleopatra, the Annihilators (Byzantine/Egypt) placed fifth in a league of seven other teams. Yet Theodora came in fifth in singles ratings, scoring a league record 5804 points in winning her Warlord game. The Byzantines are masters at the Celtic Gambit, a tactic in which they funnel their military and support units into a direct road to an enemy civ, driving a wedge into their defenses and securing strongholds in the heart of enemy territory. The Dromon is the best of galley-level naval vessels and have even given England's Man-of-War ships headaches in classic contests. Together with their punishing and relentless land forces, Theodora's Byzantines are one of the toughest teams in the Civ III game.

 

Always nice to see people support the Byzantine civ