The Carthaginians

[James I]

The Merc. IS one of the best ancient UU by far... but it takes some practice to know how to use it.

Against AI and cities... it is rightly weak... and generally sucks as an offensive unit

......

Thery are very similar to hopiles in that respect but that additional atack of 2 allows you to take down workers / catapults / barbarians with much more regularity.

If you treat the NM as a scout that is VERY hard to kill, and able to fortify to keep AI units out... you won't go far wrong.

NB: Was disappointed they were rated so low...

It seems we share viewpoints/Tactics Boli.....

Carthage suits my style of play down to the ground.... a compact elite army that allow a lot of money to be made, without sacrificing the prospect of conquest. Not to mention the extra naval movement that a Seafaring nation gets (In Conquests). While Building Culture may be slow...... Fast workers and ample money can remedy this without too much trouble.

I regularly play An Egyptian player of decent skill, and i'm capable of going toe to toe with him, especially by the MED ERA, where i allready have my defensive units in place!

My biggest annoyance is the (relatively)high Cost of upgrading NM to anything..... So eventually they end up becoming happiness generators, or garrisons in case of Cultural re-conversion in newly conquored cities....

My Fav exploit with NM was using a VET one to watch my friends turn in Multi/Conquests, and having 4 Sumerian Cav Impale themselves on him.....heh heh heh- of course.......the Mountain Barricaded Fortress he was in might have helped...LMAO

I have a lot more to add......but the Boss is heading over....

 

[Zardnaar]

With reflection IMHO Carthage is a 3rd tier civ- at the time I thought it was better than it was.

 

[Sukenis]

I was rereading these reviews and something about this made me wonder...

Lately I moved up to the Emperor difficulty level and read about various strategies for more difficult settings. I keep reading (and am now doing) about how you should no use spearmen to garrison cities. The AI values offensive power more highly than defensive power. Thus you appear more powerful (to the ai) having archers or swordsmen in your cities instead of spearmen. It was also said that unless the force is just too big, always attack and never defend in the early game. I no longer build many spearmen and only build 4-5 archers/swordsmen for each spear I build (this changes when I get pikes).

If I have learned correctly, the part about not being able to build spearmen should not be an issue & you can build these early on and not have to worry about pikes.

Is this worth anything or am I just rambling again?

 

[Spoonwood]

I think Carthage has great untapped potential for a 20k game.

AutomatedTeller... if he doesn't mind me referencing him... and I have discussed this elsewhere. Play without any religious tribes on an archipelago map with them. Research ceremonial burial first. Hopefully, you get an SGL on it (if not and you really want it, play another map until you do). SGL-rush The Pyramids, then research Mathematics and hope you have/get ivory soon. Trade for Bronze Working, build The Colossus. Once you have maths you can build The Statue of Zeus earlier on than anyone else can except the French (who won't play as well on an archipelago map). Since you should have ACs fairly early, throw in some pikes and you might even get an early leader whlie still having a good start towards the 20k condition in your capital. The problem comes as that all those conditions seem like a lot improbable events happening together for it to seem to me like worth trying to accomplish.

 

[CarthageFTW]

This is a VERY old thread, I have no idea why you replied, but on topic WTF?! Carthage ROCKS! Their UU is useful well into the middle ages! i can't believe this....bah. anyways, just don't post in outdated threads.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Must be due to halloween, all this thread necromancy. The dead shall rise...muahahahaha!

 

[darski]

Must be due to halloween, all this thread necromancy. The dead shall rise...muahahahaha!

ACORN made them do it!!!!

 

[CarthageFTW]

ACORN made them do it!!!!

Oh yeah. BLAZE!!

 

[1940LaSalle]

For what little it's worth, Carthage is one of my rivals in an ongoing game. I'm playing as Bismarck, and as of this writing I'm leading the league comfortably; the Carthaginians are bringing up the rear with a score that's maybe 30% of mine at most. This could be major hubris on my part but from all that I've seen, I could pretty much stomp on the Carthaginians like a cockroach almost any time I felt like it, especially since their UU is now obsolete (I have firearms).

 

[Spoonwood]

I think Carthage has great untapped potential for a 20k game.

Even without early SGL fishing they play VERY powefully for a high level 20k game (or one where you have trouble keeping up in tech). Have a good enough start, and you can build The Pyramids with Carthage... even on Sid. They can tech broker unlike anyone but France. They can get contacts fast like any seafaring tribe. That's great synergy for a continents/archipelago map. My recent small Deity 20k game write-up read

Colossus-2270 BC (only having to put out one extra worker, if that, sure is nice)

. They can also hook up luxuries faster, get those mines/irrigation, get up commerce faster, plant and chop faster than any other seafaring tribe. I wonder how the Numidian Mercenary does against Sid or Deity sedentary barbarians?

 

[thetrooper]

Agreed on Carthage being a powerful 20k candidate (even though I only play Emp). If I do get the early SGL (typically writing or CoL) I use it for the Colossus though. I tend to play archi maps when I go 20k as Carthage and the need for 7-10 free granaries is not great.

Anyway - whenever I choose to try a harder level I always rely on Carthage as I'm really tuned into their strenghts.

 

[Zardnaar]

Wow I wrote this a long time ago. Carthage like most ivs has a niche where they are incredably powerful. Englandd is another "weak" civ I used to play alot and could dominate with due to it being an economic powerhouse civ.

 

[timerover51]

I like the Carthaginians, but I also worked up a mod where the Carthaginians had the War Elephant as a unit. Had some fun with that, and it worked pretty good. They did use elephants quite a bit in combat.