The Desert and the Mountain - Empires of Africa

[Chalito]

It's an awesome scenario being able to play it several different ways depending on the Civ! Before playing as Mali, I didn't read too much about the West Africa civs though, which was a mistake! I did know I was a trading civ and north Africa was where I could make my money, but I've been learning more about the different civs and units as I play along. In any case, here goes my in progress game report as Mali in Monarch level.

1000 AD
Beta Israel destroyed, I guess they lost their first battle.

1036
Djeriba is established northeast of the capital along the Niger river.

1076
Timbuktu established southeast of the capital, around let’s say northern Côte d’Ivoire. But unfortunately, we are already pinned in by the other tribes!! Hopefully I can flip some with my culture!!

1132
Hausaland threatened us with destruction but we will not give in extortion!!! They backed down.
I can see Hausaland looks pretty big, but not sure about Ghana or Benin. I’m thinking Ghana would be good to take some of their villages as they are on the way to the trading post in Morocco.

1172
Ghana attempts to extort us for Gold too. That’s it, I’m gunning for you! I begin making preparations for War.

1194
Send 5 Fariya, 1 Sahel Archer and 1 Sahel Spearman to the border in preparation for the assault on Ghana! I first asked them politely to hand over the village of Nema in present day Senegal. They were rude in their response so I officially declared war! We lost 2 Fariya but caught the Ghanaians napping as they had only 2 units defending that we killed and took over the village!!
Tried to get the Songhai to join in on the fun, but they wanted none of it.

1196
Ayyubids make threats and then declare war. Bastards! I have no idea where their country even is!!

1202
The Ghanaians never sent anybody to fight us and we just signed a peace treaty! Yay!!! I got the Islam tech in the deal too! Allahu Ahkbar!!!

1210
Realized that the Benin tribe only has 3 villages, so it should be easy to pick off another village from them. Sending my forces to the souther border!

1216
We declare war on Benin! Once again I send 5 Fariya, 1 Sahel Archer and 1 Sahel Spearman over the border take the village of Ifa!
Meanwhile the Abuyidds refuse any peace treaty. I really hope these guys are far far away!

1218
Ifa is captured with no losses. Benin only had weak Cisse Warriors, no Sahel Spearmen. Going to recuperate my Farariya and see if I can grab another village!

1222
Grab territory maps from the Almoravid and Hafsid and now I know where the trading posts are!
-Damn it, the Ghanaians signed a MA with the Ayyubids against us!

1224
I sign a peace treaty with Benin, taking the Literacy tech and begin moving my units back up north!
I googled the Ayyubids to see where they are and their all the way in Egypt. Might have to pay them off for all the trouble they are causing.

1230
Now the Ayyubids signed up the Ethiopians against us. How are the Ethiopians still alive!?!?

1232
A single Ghanaian Cisse Warrior approached Djeriba and was quickly cut down. Tried to capture a Worker from Ghana, but they died instead!
-Those damn Ayyubids now got the Hafsids against us!!

1234
Oh an Ayyubids Arabian Spearman actually made it all the way to our border from Egypt!

1236
Ayyubids got the Makurians to declare war on us too!

1242
Makuria and Songhai sign MA against us. That’s another border Civ, oh oh.
I can’t get anyone to declare war on any of these other bastards either. What, is my money not good enough for you!!!

1248
Makurians and Benin sing MA against us. This is getting out of hand now as I see a bunch of Songhai Archers making a beeline to Timbuktu. Ghanaian Spearmen pillaging roads now. I’m losing Fariya units faster than I can regenerate. None of the waring civs will talk to me. I’ve wasted so much money building Embassies throughout and nobody wants to sign a military alliance with me!!!


It was after this, that I realized Mali has weaker units than the rest and I'm really supposed to pay everybody off to avoid war. Fatal error in not just paying off the Ayyubids. To be continued...

 

[Plotinus]

Ha, yes, warmongering as Mali isn't easy! Thanks for the write-up!

 

[Chalito]

Okay, so I changed my strategy to accommodate the Mali civ. Sent research down to 0% and I'm just going to collect enough Gold to buy everyone off!

1256
Peace with Ghana, did have to give them a tech though.

1258
Peace with Songhai, cost me 180 Gold. But they were approaching or towns rapidly! Let them have it.
-New war with Chollo, it’s those damn Ayyubids again!!

1262
Chollo declared war on Hausa. Maybe this can start a great big war and get people off of me!

1266
War with the Alwans, once again the Ayybids getting everyone on me. Had enough of those guys and sign a peace treaty with the Ayyubids. Cost me 134 gold, plus 7 gold per turn, ugh!
Peace with Benin, have them Currency tech. How sad that even Benin is extorting us.
Still at war with 5 other Civs though!

1276
Peace with Chollo, didn’t have to pay them anything!
Hausaland and Ghana are at war and they’re fighting in our Territory. Front row seats to the big show!!!

1282
Peace with Hafsids, Ethiopians, And Alwah all for free!
Peace with Makurians for 20 Gold and I’m done. No more War!!!!

1292
My first trade item showed up! Forgot to build any camel units though, so time to get on it and make that money!

1298
RoP with Ghana to move our camel units through their territory. We are friends now!

1320
Ugh, Finally reached the Trading Post in Morocco and there are 2 Sanhaja Raiders sitting on it!!!!!!!
Meanwhile the Hausan have the Ghanaians down to 2 cities.

Camel traffic jam!

1330
First Trader was lost in Morocco, murderers!!!
There’s tons of trade items in Mali, but I can’t move them until I get better camel units to Morrocco.

1338
Adal threatens war for 35 gold. Yeah sure take my money!

1346
33 gold to Makuria in another extortion racket.
Ghana is down to 1 village and they sign peace with Hausaland who now are a very scary looking Civ on my border!

1354
All of these trade items that are just stuck in Mail is costing me money! What’s worse is I can’t disband them! So in a desperation move, I just send my 4 Wangara Traders to attack the scum sitting on the Trading Post. I lose 2 Traders (almost lost all 4) but in the end kill 2 of the enemy and take over the Trading Post! Should've done this sooner!
-35 Gold paid to Yemen. They are shameless.

1364
We build our first Wonder Abubalari’s Voyage in Nema!!

1376
After a massive jungle clearing project in Sierra Leone I established the village of Djenné! Shouldve done this sooner.
I’m losing 27 Gold per turn, but increasing my Treasury with the constant flow of goods to Morocco!! I'm making it rain in Mali now!!!

1380
Looks like another big war is starting up again between many Civs. I am staying out of this one!! Meanwhile the barbarians have disrupted my flow of Trade. There are a ton of Berbers and they got powerful units. Still waiting on these techs to come in to get better camel units. I've lost several camels in the deserts and can't realistically cross anymore!

1400
After a ridiculous long wait for Piracy we are now able to build better Camel units. Let’s go get the trade started again!!!

1410
Songhai and Hausa are at war. Another front row seat to a war!
Ayyubids take 21 Gold from us...

I've been waiting on these new camel units to come in, but all the new trade items that keep popping up and staying in Mali have become a huge burden and my economy collapsing. 0% tech and still losing -20 gpt! Will be forced to sell buildings and disband some military very soon. I'm 2 techs away from my unique unit, but not sure if I'll get there. I should've went straight to that tech from te very beginning to support my trade.

 

[Geffalrus]

Just played a couple games as Ghana and Songhai. Game as Ghana, I rushed a settler to the east to grab the iron/gold/river spot, then I spammed a few Ghana swords. The rush against Mali went well and I got a few cities including capital. Signed a peace deal with them and grabbed a bunch of techs. Then I attacked Songhai and got one city, but I couldn't take Gao. Sahel Spears are just too tough once they get dug in. After that I sat back and prepared to be peaceful.......but it was not to be. Next thing I knew, both Adal and Ayyubids had stacks of units marching to my territory. Apparently I needed to be punished. I had no hope of surviving.

Game as Songhai is ongoing, but I went for the early rush again, just to show that I could. 3/1/2 Heavy Cavalry did well enough, allowing me to blitz a few cities from Ghana and Mali. Now I own the Niger River and established a tech lead over my neighbors. I called off the wars relatively quickly, as once the AI starts stacking Sahel Spears, you have no chance of breaking them. On the plus side, Songhai is now quite well set up, though that is frankly not necessary. It's a fun challenge, but you can do just fine with 4 cities and the Merchant government. You'll generate a ton of commerce and pump out plenty of treasures. The AI doesn't do the treasure thing, so you really don't have competition.

###Biggest Piece of Advice for West Africans######

(Other than stay out of war after the early game)

Do not, I repeat, do NOT, build treasure generating buildings before you are ready. The only exception is......."Nonconsenting Employees Dormitory".....since that boosts production by 50%. Once you have Desert Warfare and start building top tier camel units, then you can build the treasure buildings and start forming trade caravans. If you want to get an early start, be ready to build a bunch of Wangara Traders and send them East along the edge of the Sahara, up through Makuria, and into Ayyubid territory for their trade node. It's longer, but it's less dangerous. Once you have top tier camels, you can go the shorter, direct route to Hafsid or Almoravid territory.

 

[Geffalrus]

Continuing my game as Songhai......one interesting thing I just noticed is that because I did those early conquests and gained some good city spots along the Niger River, I have a pretty high population. Apparently it's just high enough that I qualify for the second spot in the Baqt Election ahead of the Ayyubids? As such, I can spread my wealth around a bit and get mutual pacts with neighboring civs and create a massive alliance against the current boogeyman, Adal Sultanate. Now when the election happens, I split the votes with Georgios and prevent his victory.

On one of the Songhai saves I tried out getting the Autocracy government. Even with my increased city count, I'm not entirely sure it was worth it? At least from a wealth generation perspective. I guess if I somehow got a more massive empire it might repay things via decreased corruption? Maybe if Mercantile Monarchy had to pay 2 gold for each unit it would be competitive, but as it stands, the extra commerce per tile is just too powerful. *shrug

 

[Chalito]

Oh man, I made a ton of mistakes as Mali. Definitely overbuilt the treasure buildings, went for Desert Warfare way too late. Also didn't think to send the Wangara Traders through the other civ territories to Egypt for safety, that is a very good idea!!! Totally forgot about changing governments until it was too late. Do you have advice on recommended governments for the 4 type of Civs? There are a lot of different governements! I did notice Songhai built quite a few Trade Items and that was probably devastating to their economy. I wonder if we are able to disband these Trade Item units the AI will know to get rid of them??? Or maybe have some other way the AI can participate in the trade game like in the Age of Discovery. I'll bet there are a bunch of ideas on this thread that were discussed years ago. Gonna see what was discussed.

I also noticed that the research slider would reset at a certain percentage after every turn and this is why I was losing a lot more money than I was supposed to. Never seen this in any game, is this a feature of this scenario? Not even sure how that could be done in the editor.

Anyway, here is the continuation...

1416
I’ve built the Sanhaja Raider units now, but the problem is they are apparently HIdden Nationality and are being attacked by all Civs! So I think I have to bring Wangara to escort them through the other territories and then the reverse happens in the desert, where the Wangara are vulnerable. HA!
-Paid 15 gold to Adal.

1418
Decide to change of government to Mercantile Monarchy. I did not read any of the benefits of this government, but just deduced from the name that this is the proper one for Mali! Anarachy period was quick, than goodness!

1434
Got the system in place by now and cash is coming in again!! I should note that I used the Sanjaha Raiders to pick up items and bring them to Morocco, which ended up being a complete confusing mess depending on whether I was in the desert or other territories. I would have been better off just placing the Sanjaha Raiders (with no treasures) in the desert and letting the Wangara do all the traveling back and forth.

1438
Traded for Autocracy, now researching Desert Warfare!!! Malí's time will come! 81 turns to go though.

1444
Oh no I’ve been defeated!!! The Adal have claimed victory with 20,065 points. We only had 12,015 at this point. However in consolation I was able to see the Ayyubids had been taken to the woodshed by the other civs and that me me smile a bit!

 

[tjs282]

I also noticed that the research slider would reset at a certain percentage after every turn and this is why I was losing a lot more money than I was supposed to. Never seen this in any game, is this a feature of this scenario? Not even sure how that could be done in the editor.

Yes, it's a feature. This is the "rate cap", which can be set individually for each government-type available in the .biq — under the "Governments" tab in the Editor.

Under a rate-capped government, the F1-sliders (SCI%- and/or LUX%- spending) cannot exceed the cap (I can't remember offhand if each slider is capped separately — but I think not). That is, although you can manually force a slider over the rate-cap in-game, it will reset every turn (as you noticed).

None of the governments in the base-game (or any of the Firaxis Scenarios, IIRC) are subject to a rate-cap (that is, the 'cap' is set to 100% for all governments), but a lot of fan-made mods and scenarios do use rate-caps to add more differentiation between governments.

 

[Geffalrus]

Oh man, I made a ton of mistakes as Mali. Definitely overbuilt the treasure buildings, went for Desert Warfare way too late. Also didn't think to send the Wangara Traders through the other civ territories to Egypt for safety, that is a very good idea!!! Totally forgot about changing governments until it was too late. Do you have advice on recommended governments for the 4 type of Civs? There are a lot of different governements!

Haha, don't worry about it. West Africa is quite a different beast from normal Civ3, so it's easy to have the wrong instincts about what to do. My first few times I also over-invested in military and treasure buildings. It took a few play-throughs to realize that you can do just fine staying relatively small, being nice, and focusing on developing a camel caravan plan. Diplomacy is almost as important for West Africa as it is for the Nubian civs.

Governments eh? I was working on a massive write-up about the various military rankings of the civs, but I can put that on hold to do a quickie about the various governments.

Governments

Tribal Monarchy - Your basic despotism from vanilla civ3. Everyone starts in this, and not everyone gets out of it at the same time. You can't rush build, you lose extra resources when you improve tiles above 2 of food/shield/commerce, and you can't set any slider above 70. As always, you want to get out of this government ASAP.

West Africa

Mercantile Monarchy - In my opinion, this is the best government for this civ group. Corruption and war weariness may be high, unit support per town/city may be low, and you can only set your sliders to 80% max.....but that doesn't matter. Every tile that produces commerce will produce 1 extra. That's just a disgusting amount of money or science coming in, especially when you combine that with West Africa getting TWO science buildings and TWO treasury boosters (Bogolan Weaver and River Port for treasury, Koran School and University for science). The grassland around the Niger River can support some serious population AND the West Africans are the only ones with access to an Aqueduct type building, the Bazaar. This means that you're not restricted to just rivers for cities bigger than 6. One final thing is that this is the commerce bonus government that comes the earliest in anyone's tech tree. All the similar governments for other civs come later, assuming similar research rates. This balances out the fact that West Africa has no early game government.

Autocracy - I don't use this one very much. Theoretically, with a big enough number of cities experiencing corruption, the better corruption value of this should balance out the lack of commerce bonus. I've found it hard to get that many cities, though. I guess Autocracy can use your high population to rush build and not waste money that way? I just feel that MM has better synergy with the massive amount of money you can generate and use for Diplomacy or buying an army. Probably room for experimentation, but seeing as how Autocracy comes late in the tech tree, you've probably acheived your ideal setup with MM and may not have any need to change.

Central Africa

Nomadic Federation - One of the earliest available governments in the game. It's main selling point is that it no longer has the despotism resource penalty. That penalty is not a huge deal for Central Africa, because they don't get workers until much, much later, so their tiles are less likely to have more than 2 resources of any one type generated. The exception to this is during a Golden Age, when you might lose some shields or commerce from bonus/luxury/strategic resource tiles and forests. In that case, this government is a high priority for Hausaland - if - they are doing a very early Fulani rush that would trigger an early GA. Otherwise, this government has worse unit support, but better corruption management than TM. Oh, and you can now rush construction using population.....but that's less attractive due to how slow your population growth is without irrigated tiles.

Divine Monarchy - Comes a bit later than NF, but it is debatable if it is an improvement. Unit support is slightly worse unless you have cities bigger than size 6. You still rush construction with population and have low corruption. You can use 4 units instead of 3 to act as military police. You can set your slider to 80% instead of 60, which is nice. One downside is that any city you conquer won't generate culture until you have more citizens of your nationality present. This can leave you vulnerable to culture flips in your new conquests, so be careful.

Jihadist State - This is the best early/mid game government for Central Africa in most situations, in my opinion. Corruption, war weariness, and forced labor all stay the same. However, you now have a draft rate of 4 (only useful later in the game), a military police limit of 6(!!!!), and every town/city supports 8(!!!!) units. This is by far the best warmonger government in the early/mid game. This is when you will be building spam stacks of units and spawning lots of free Baguirimi Warriors and Imams, so free upkeep is what will keep your economy afloat. Sadly, you cannot change your slider beyond 50%, your newly conquered cities will not generate culture, and when you adopt this government, all towns/cities will lose some population. Switch into this government - only once - when you want to do a big early/middle game expansion through military conquest. And then just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. Ideally, this will propel you to a massive empire that can then be switched to.......

Imperial Monarchy - This is your incredible end game government. Never switch out of it. Your workers will now act 150% faster, which is perfect as this is right around the time when you are mass producing them to build your infrastructure and sew your empire together. Special note: Central African workers cost NO population!!!! Spam and spam and spam them to build roads and farms and mines like mad. Your corruption and war weariness are now a little worse than the early governments, but this won't matter as you have specialists to combat that. Maybe I'll do a quick write-up on Central African Specialists next? Anyway, we're not done with this government yet. Military police and draft rate are back to NF levels, and unit support is back to DM levels. But that doesn't matter, because you get the MM commerce bonus for every commerce tile now. So all those roads you're building are twice as profitable. And all that money can be thrown into a 100% slider rate if you want, or used to rush production. Finally, you have no culture restriction now, so newly conquered lands will be less likely to flip.

Nubia

Christian Monarchy - You get this a bit earlier than West Africa gets MM, but later than the Central African early governments. You desperately need this, though, as it unlocks the full potential of your flood plains and irrigating workers. Corruption and War Weariness are pretty bad, unit support is average, military police is low....but you can at least pay to rush production now. Not an amazing government, but frankly, all you needed was the removal of the despotism resource penalty.

Theocracy - This one is a weird hybrid between the Jihadist State and Imperial Monarchy. Compared to CM it has slightly better unit upkeep and corruption, but now pays population to rush production and has terrible war weariness. Your workers perform at 150% capacity, which is nice, though not as crucial by late game for the Nubians. You now have the culture problems of the Jihadist state and lose population when adopting the government.......but to compensate, you now get the commerce bonus of IM. Which considering all the roads and rivers you have to work with, this can be pretty substantial. You can throw 100% of that into science if you would like, though there are usually only a few techs left at that point. Still, this government is a solid improvement for the Nubians as it gives them a massive cash infusion that they can use to power a late game Diplomatic Victory. The commerce bonus is just that good.

Ethiopia

Feudal Monarchy - Available relatively early if you beeline the tech like I do (it gives you access to a good defensive unit). You will need this if you get a Golden Age through the Tsur Rider and/or if you are successfully protecting your mining operations in the mountains. Additionally, the pay to speed production is massively important for getting out a defensive unit or building a turn or two early while under constant assault. Not much else to say. You need it to get out of TM, but a better government is on the horizon.

Imperialism - Better in every single way that I can see. You get 150% workers, the commerce bonus for big money, better unit support, better draft rate, and can set your sliders to 100%. Just amazing.

Beta Israel

Rebel Movement - Much like NF, I prioritize researching this first. So long as you have a few Insurgents and maybe the Ayhud Swordsman for defense, you can afford a few turns of Anarchy to get this government in place. Corruption is bad, but you barely have any cities, so who cares. You can pay to rush production now, your military police limit is up to 4, and your cities under size 7 (aka all of them this early on) support 6 units each (aka your entire military basically). You need this government to fully exploit those crazy sea resources you have near Adulis and Avalites, as well as any improved tiles, and the Golden Age you'll get from your Rebel unit. It does have the culture penalty associated with Jihadist State and Theocracy, though, so be wary of culture flips while you're conquering Ethiopia. And once you're done taking them down, it will be time to switch to something else......

Semi-Autonomy - Coming with the early/middle tech Local Leadership, this government makes it seem like you're part of a bigger state, even though you want this when you're victorious and dominant. Anyway, it has a few key advantages over RM. First, your workers are now at 150% capacity, which helps a lot in the mountainous terrain. Second, you can set your sliders to 100% should you feel the need. And third, it has no culture penalty, which is very helpful when you're dealing with a bunch of conquered Ethiopian cities. Otherwise, your unit upkeep and military police is a little weaker. Most importantly, this is the only civ without a commerce boosting government. So late game money might be tougher to come by than Ethiopia in the same position. Fortunately, Beta Israel gets Mobilization levels and a very, very good military to compensate.

 

[Chalito]

Awesome, that's some incredible detail Geffalrus!!! I'm saving this to follow in future games. I am always clueless about governments. I haven't gotten around to playing the Central African civs yet.

I tried Ethiopia again using your Qest Warrior rush strategy and was able to survive the first wave attack. I had built 5 Amah Warriors to take back Adulis from Beta Israel but it was a disaster. After this the Adal Swordsmens started to appear and I was just playing pure defense till the year 1200. Then a bunch of other civs ganged up on me and t'was the end. But I'd never played Ethiopia pass the very first turns, so that was cool!

 

[Geffalrus]

Awesome, that's some incredible detail Geffalrus!!! I'm saving this to follow in future games. I am always clueless about governments. I haven't gotten around to playing the Central African civs yet.

I tried Ethiopia again using your Qest Warrior rush strategy and was able to survive the first wave attack. I had built 5 Amah Warriors to take back Adulis from Beta Israel but it was a disaster. After this the Adal Swordsmens started to appear and I was just playing pure defense till the year 1200. Then a bunch of other civs ganged up on me and t'was the end. But I'd never played Ethiopia pass the very first turns, so that was cool!

Central Africa is a very interesting experience. If I have the time, I'll do a quick rundown on some of their special characteristics. Once you know how they work, they're really a lot of fun. Not a passive group of civs at all. Victory points through combat and conquest is really the only way they have to win. Anyway, more to come later.

Ethiopia and Beta Israel are probably the two toughest challenges in the scenario. Not that any are particularly easy, but locked wars against the AI are tough in the early game. Personally, I don't go on the offensive against Beta Israel until I have access to Nilotic Archers and Tsur Riders. There's no rush dealing with Beta Israel because they can't do better than 3/1/1 Rebels until they get access to either Iron or Incense. As such, they're relatively easy to control once you get - your - better units in play. Adal is the primary threat, but you also don't need to attack them until you're ready. So long as you can draw a battle line to the east of Roha and attack them on the low ground, you should be safe from anything but Arabian Muskets. Your goal is building a critical mass of defensive troops (a mobile defensive force of Nilotic Archers and/or Tsur Riders) and then a shift to investing in your cities.

Have you had any luck producing settlers and grabbing the Tribal Village resource to your west or the iron to your south? If you can get those resources, you can stay on defense as long as you like. Time is on your side due to your cultural path to victory. Just make sure to send the Ayyubids some gold periodically. Maybe Makuria too. Those two are the biggest trouble makers.

 

[Chalito]

Ah, I didn't even think about creating a new town, as I was just desperately holding on to the 4 I had. Although in the first few posts Plotinus seemed to be hinting that we needed to abandon some of the existing towns on Ethiopia and maybe build new ones in the mountains.