The Carthaginians by Zardnaar
Carthage was one of the great cities of the classical era. Founded by Phoenicians they built up an empire based on commerce. Carthage fought 3 Punic Wars with the emerging power of Rome and lost all of them. Hannibal was famous for leading an army containing elephants across the alps and inflicting a massive defeat on the Romans at Cannae in the 2nd Punic war. The Romans eventually razed Carthage to the ground in 146 BC after a 3-year siege.
In the game Carthage has the traits seafaring and industrious and the Numidian Mercenary for its unique unit (UU). Although not bad traits by themselves together they have little synergy and achieve little compared to some other civs. For most of the game Carthage has cheap harbors and fast workers. Like the historical Carthage its power rests on its ability to trade resources and gold. On an island map 1st contact should be made with as many AI civs as possible- Carthage makes an excellent tech broker civ. Being able to build cheap harbors its easy to trade obsolete techs to AI civs in exchange for luxury and strategic resources. You also start with masonry and alphabet techs- excellent techs for early wonder building and a head start towards philosophy and the Great Library. With masonry you can easily do the palace pre-build for any wonders you decide to build. Like most seafaring civs however Carthage is weaker on pangea maps.
For the builder/culture player Carthage is at best a 2nd rate civ. They have few cheap improvements and no cheap culture buildings. Unlike other non-religious or scientific civs their trait combo doesn't lend itself to rapid growth or high shield production. Although they have the industrious trait it is perhaps the weakest industrial civ in the game. They're not a bad builder civ just very average. Carthage is one civ the AI tends to play very badly- other civs out expand it and the AI is busy building a 30 shield UU to early in the game.
In just about every game sooner or later one of the AI civs will attack you or you decide to liberate some AI territory. Carthages UU is a good, dependable and reliable unit. For 30 shields you get a 2-3-1 Numidian Mercenary (available with bronze working) that requires no resources to build. It also has a very long shelf life- it doesn't become obsolete until the early industrial age. Basically its a super pikemen you can build very early on. However a slight drawback is you can't build spearmen and at 30 shields its a pain to build early on with small cities. The NM starts to shine in the Middle Ages once your cities have the production to build them in large numbers. As a UU it is average to weak but is still better than a normal pikeman. Its somewhat awkward to use as well as the 2 attack value isn't really used that much and is risky for a 30 shield unit. However in those games where you don't get any iron the NM is an excellent unit to have in a poor mans army of catapults and archers. It seems to be a situational UU- great in its element weaker outside of it. Despite some minor drawbacks you get a 3 defense value unit a whole age ahead of when you normally would- if you're willing to pay for it. Overall its a solid UU but is the weakest out of the defensive UU units. If it matters its one of the best looking units in the game. Overall Carthage is at best a 2nd tier warmonger civ.
Summary. On island maps Carthage can be a 1st tier civ. On pangea and most continent maps it falls a long way down to a 3rd tier civ. Overall I would rate it as a low 2nd tier civ. Its not a bad civ but is average in virtually every way. Even some of the weaker civs have more interesting UUs or traits. In its niche- an ironless island empire its one of the best civs in the game. Also wins the top 5 best-looking UU award.
Side note: Ision rates this CIV as 3rd tier overall.
below is the link to all the other civ reviews:
link to all the civ reviews
Carthage was one of the great cities of the classical era. Founded by Phoenicians they built up an empire based on commerce. Carthage fought 3 Punic Wars with the emerging power of Rome and lost all of them. Hannibal was famous for leading an army containing elephants across the alps and inflicting a massive defeat on the Romans at Cannae in the 2nd Punic war. The Romans eventually razed Carthage to the ground in 146 BC after a 3-year siege.
In the game Carthage has the traits seafaring and industrious and the Numidian Mercenary for its unique unit (UU). Although not bad traits by themselves together they have little synergy and achieve little compared to some other civs. For most of the game Carthage has cheap harbors and fast workers. Like the historical Carthage its power rests on its ability to trade resources and gold. On an island map 1st contact should be made with as many AI civs as possible- Carthage makes an excellent tech broker civ. Being able to build cheap harbors its easy to trade obsolete techs to AI civs in exchange for luxury and strategic resources. You also start with masonry and alphabet techs- excellent techs for early wonder building and a head start towards philosophy and the Great Library. With masonry you can easily do the palace pre-build for any wonders you decide to build. Like most seafaring civs however Carthage is weaker on pangea maps.
For the builder/culture player Carthage is at best a 2nd rate civ. They have few cheap improvements and no cheap culture buildings. Unlike other non-religious or scientific civs their trait combo doesn't lend itself to rapid growth or high shield production. Although they have the industrious trait it is perhaps the weakest industrial civ in the game. They're not a bad builder civ just very average. Carthage is one civ the AI tends to play very badly- other civs out expand it and the AI is busy building a 30 shield UU to early in the game.
In just about every game sooner or later one of the AI civs will attack you or you decide to liberate some AI territory. Carthages UU is a good, dependable and reliable unit. For 30 shields you get a 2-3-1 Numidian Mercenary (available with bronze working) that requires no resources to build. It also has a very long shelf life- it doesn't become obsolete until the early industrial age. Basically its a super pikemen you can build very early on. However a slight drawback is you can't build spearmen and at 30 shields its a pain to build early on with small cities. The NM starts to shine in the Middle Ages once your cities have the production to build them in large numbers. As a UU it is average to weak but is still better than a normal pikeman. Its somewhat awkward to use as well as the 2 attack value isn't really used that much and is risky for a 30 shield unit. However in those games where you don't get any iron the NM is an excellent unit to have in a poor mans army of catapults and archers. It seems to be a situational UU- great in its element weaker outside of it. Despite some minor drawbacks you get a 3 defense value unit a whole age ahead of when you normally would- if you're willing to pay for it. Overall its a solid UU but is the weakest out of the defensive UU units. If it matters its one of the best looking units in the game. Overall Carthage is at best a 2nd tier warmonger civ.
Summary. On island maps Carthage can be a 1st tier civ. On pangea and most continent maps it falls a long way down to a 3rd tier civ. Overall I would rate it as a low 2nd tier civ. Its not a bad civ but is average in virtually every way. Even some of the weaker civs have more interesting UUs or traits. In its niche- an ironless island empire its one of the best civs in the game. Also wins the top 5 best-looking UU award.
Side note: Ision rates this CIV as 3rd tier overall.
below is the link to all the other civ reviews:
link to all the civ reviews
Just curious- What IS you top 5 best-
?
... by the way i usually play on pangea and continent maps...
