The Iroquois by Zardnaar
Although not a new civ as such the Iroquois were changed from Religious and Expansionistic in Civ 3 to Commercial and Agricultural in the Conquests expansion pack. Agricultural was one of the new traits introduced in Conquests and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful traits in the game. One could make a convincing argument its the most powerful trait but with all things in civ that’s a matter of play style and opinion. With a bonus food in your city box if you start beside a river or change your government from despotism, you can often expand faster than any other trait in the game. You also get half priced aqueducts to help you grow faster and start with the pottery tech for the all important settler factory start. As if all of the above wasn't enough it also gives you bonus food when you irrigate a desert.
The Commercial trait is perhaps one of the most under rated traits in the game. It doesn't help you grow any faster and its effects are subtle often not being noticed until later in the game. Each city you build generates an extra gold per turn for your treasury. Although a minor effect it is noticeable. The greatest benefit from the Commercial trait is reduced corruption. Its effect is similar to having a courthouse in every city you build. The trait is powerful and with a constant effect. Some other traits are limited to what type of map you are on or are situational or sometime vary in usefulness depending on the difficulty level of the game. The Commercial trait takes effect from the time you build your 1st city right through to the end of the game and it doesn't matter if you are playing on Chieftain or Sid. The starting tech is alphabet, which will give you a head start toward the writing- philosophy tech tree, which the AI often neglects.
Put together the two traits have a decent amount of synergy between them. Certain civs are well known for being very good at culture or science or rapid expansion due to their trait combo. The Iroquois are one of the most productive civs in the game. In general their cities are some of the largest in the game and with the reduced corruption often produce the most shields and gold as well. Its also one of the civs the AI plays reasonably well. The next time you see the Iroquois in the game have a look at their empire- often its large and packed full of wonders you can acquire.
Despite having traits that wouldn't normally be regarded as ideal for war, the Iroquois are one of the best warmongering civs in the game. This is due to the power of their unique unit (UU) and faster growth. The Mounted Warrior is an early ancient age unit that requires horses to build. For 30 shields you get a 3/1/2 unit. No other unit in the middle age has an attack power of 3 and a movement of 2 in the ancient except the Gaelic Swordsman- and that costs 40 shields! The MW allows the Iroquois player a huge advantage of unmatched speed and firepower for the price that doesn't become obsolete until the discovery of chivalry a whole age later in the game. An early ancient age MW blitz can overpower most AI civs this early in the game. It also triggers your golden age to keep a seemingly unending supply of them coming. Like all fast units it has a 50% chance of retreating vs. a slow unit if it loses its combat. In effect you can throw a large stack of MW at a city defended by spearmen or even pikemen and be confident of capturing it with minimal loss. It also allows rapid deployment times to threatened areas of your empire or to reinforce critical attacks as your empire expands. There’s a huge difference between 5 turns to reach the AI civ vs. 10 compared to a swordsmen. Speed kills. The hard-core warmonger should try to beeline to horseback riding ASAP, followed by a switch to monarchy later on. In the middle ages you can easily beeline for chivalry and/or military tradition and upgrade your MWs to knights or cavalry. Although expensive, remember that the Iroquois have the commercial trait to help pay for upgrades. If possible, building or capturing Leonardo’s Workshop can save you thousands of gold-more than most other civs in the game. Once in the industrial age a final switch to communism is often the coup de grace for any remaining AI civs. Overall a 1st tier warmongering civ.
For such a strong warmongering civ the Iroquois also make a decent builder civ. They can easily research writing, code of laws, philosophy and get republic for free in the easier difficulty levels - or grab literacy and attempt to build the Great Library. They can vary this approach as the situation demands- map-making on an island map for example. Their trait combo makes for a solid builder civ despite the lack of half price cultural buildings. A beeline to republic and then later democracy in combination with the lowered corruption from the commercial trait can allow for an economic powerhouse civ. The extra gold from their traits allows you to maintain a good research rate or use the luxury slider to keep your rapidly growing civ happy and productive. A few civs can beat the Iroquois for expansion, but they can match or beat most of the 31 civs. Another point to consider is the timing of the Iroquois golden age. The most likely time for their GA with a builder strategy is the late ancient age or early middle age. Although they have no half price cultural buildings they can often build temples, libraries, courthouses, marketplaces etc during their GA. Having large cities and decent infrastructure is important to get maximum use out of the republic government. Although for a non-scientific/religious/industrial civ they're good at being a builder civ, only through sheer size or money will they excel at it. A few small wars slowly expanding one or 2 cities at a time is also an option- they're not a great civ to just sit there and build - overall a 2nd tier builder civ.
The true power for the Iroquois is the versatility they have. They are very good for war and can make for a decent builder civ. You can easily combine the two in an early war of expansion, followed by a switch to Republic once its over. They can adapt to virtually any role in the game warmonger, builder, banker, tech-trader, tech leader etc. Any win condition is viable with this civ- depending on your skill level of course.
I would rate the Iroquois as a 1st tier civ. Not only that I would say they are one of the best civs in the game. They have one of the best unique units and one of the best set of traits as well. They have no real weakness except certain civs may be able to out perform them on certain map types – a near perfect blend of power, versatility, and speed.
Side note: Ision rates this civ as 1st tier overall.
Below is the link to all the other civ reviews:
link to the individual civ reviews
Although not a new civ as such the Iroquois were changed from Religious and Expansionistic in Civ 3 to Commercial and Agricultural in the Conquests expansion pack. Agricultural was one of the new traits introduced in Conquests and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful traits in the game. One could make a convincing argument its the most powerful trait but with all things in civ that’s a matter of play style and opinion. With a bonus food in your city box if you start beside a river or change your government from despotism, you can often expand faster than any other trait in the game. You also get half priced aqueducts to help you grow faster and start with the pottery tech for the all important settler factory start. As if all of the above wasn't enough it also gives you bonus food when you irrigate a desert.
The Commercial trait is perhaps one of the most under rated traits in the game. It doesn't help you grow any faster and its effects are subtle often not being noticed until later in the game. Each city you build generates an extra gold per turn for your treasury. Although a minor effect it is noticeable. The greatest benefit from the Commercial trait is reduced corruption. Its effect is similar to having a courthouse in every city you build. The trait is powerful and with a constant effect. Some other traits are limited to what type of map you are on or are situational or sometime vary in usefulness depending on the difficulty level of the game. The Commercial trait takes effect from the time you build your 1st city right through to the end of the game and it doesn't matter if you are playing on Chieftain or Sid. The starting tech is alphabet, which will give you a head start toward the writing- philosophy tech tree, which the AI often neglects.
Put together the two traits have a decent amount of synergy between them. Certain civs are well known for being very good at culture or science or rapid expansion due to their trait combo. The Iroquois are one of the most productive civs in the game. In general their cities are some of the largest in the game and with the reduced corruption often produce the most shields and gold as well. Its also one of the civs the AI plays reasonably well. The next time you see the Iroquois in the game have a look at their empire- often its large and packed full of wonders you can acquire.
Despite having traits that wouldn't normally be regarded as ideal for war, the Iroquois are one of the best warmongering civs in the game. This is due to the power of their unique unit (UU) and faster growth. The Mounted Warrior is an early ancient age unit that requires horses to build. For 30 shields you get a 3/1/2 unit. No other unit in the middle age has an attack power of 3 and a movement of 2 in the ancient except the Gaelic Swordsman- and that costs 40 shields! The MW allows the Iroquois player a huge advantage of unmatched speed and firepower for the price that doesn't become obsolete until the discovery of chivalry a whole age later in the game. An early ancient age MW blitz can overpower most AI civs this early in the game. It also triggers your golden age to keep a seemingly unending supply of them coming. Like all fast units it has a 50% chance of retreating vs. a slow unit if it loses its combat. In effect you can throw a large stack of MW at a city defended by spearmen or even pikemen and be confident of capturing it with minimal loss. It also allows rapid deployment times to threatened areas of your empire or to reinforce critical attacks as your empire expands. There’s a huge difference between 5 turns to reach the AI civ vs. 10 compared to a swordsmen. Speed kills. The hard-core warmonger should try to beeline to horseback riding ASAP, followed by a switch to monarchy later on. In the middle ages you can easily beeline for chivalry and/or military tradition and upgrade your MWs to knights or cavalry. Although expensive, remember that the Iroquois have the commercial trait to help pay for upgrades. If possible, building or capturing Leonardo’s Workshop can save you thousands of gold-more than most other civs in the game. Once in the industrial age a final switch to communism is often the coup de grace for any remaining AI civs. Overall a 1st tier warmongering civ.
For such a strong warmongering civ the Iroquois also make a decent builder civ. They can easily research writing, code of laws, philosophy and get republic for free in the easier difficulty levels - or grab literacy and attempt to build the Great Library. They can vary this approach as the situation demands- map-making on an island map for example. Their trait combo makes for a solid builder civ despite the lack of half price cultural buildings. A beeline to republic and then later democracy in combination with the lowered corruption from the commercial trait can allow for an economic powerhouse civ. The extra gold from their traits allows you to maintain a good research rate or use the luxury slider to keep your rapidly growing civ happy and productive. A few civs can beat the Iroquois for expansion, but they can match or beat most of the 31 civs. Another point to consider is the timing of the Iroquois golden age. The most likely time for their GA with a builder strategy is the late ancient age or early middle age. Although they have no half price cultural buildings they can often build temples, libraries, courthouses, marketplaces etc during their GA. Having large cities and decent infrastructure is important to get maximum use out of the republic government. Although for a non-scientific/religious/industrial civ they're good at being a builder civ, only through sheer size or money will they excel at it. A few small wars slowly expanding one or 2 cities at a time is also an option- they're not a great civ to just sit there and build - overall a 2nd tier builder civ.
The true power for the Iroquois is the versatility they have. They are very good for war and can make for a decent builder civ. You can easily combine the two in an early war of expansion, followed by a switch to Republic once its over. They can adapt to virtually any role in the game warmonger, builder, banker, tech-trader, tech leader etc. Any win condition is viable with this civ- depending on your skill level of course.
I would rate the Iroquois as a 1st tier civ. Not only that I would say they are one of the best civs in the game. They have one of the best unique units and one of the best set of traits as well. They have no real weakness except certain civs may be able to out perform them on certain map types – a near perfect blend of power, versatility, and speed.
Side note: Ision rates this civ as 1st tier overall.
Below is the link to all the other civ reviews:
link to the individual civ reviews
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