Those crazy mongols

[NaZdReG]

I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to have the mongols get the ability to take over huts and keep them as cities.

admittedly, occasionally a defeated hut will spawn a settler, and so will a regular goody hut.

but a diligent player can quickly go from 1 city to atleast 3, plus another settler when they cross 100 gold.

I did this on king and had a territory dominance for the rest of the game. I guess I really should be playing at emperor or diety.

I don't think its nessessarily cheap, everybody seems like they have some sort of advantage.. I've expanded nearly as fast with the romans because of starting with republic.

I think it is a bit balanced out by the fact that keshiks aren't fantastic, but I think the mongols are sitll pretty crazy.

NaZ

 

[dfinzown]

But the thing is, barbarian huts are usually placed in terrible locations for cities. They usually have very few grasslands for food, or very little production nearby.

Barbarian huts are also usually covering resources, like silk or wheat, so you can't use those resources later in the game, like you could if you placed a city in a better spot.

It's definitely a cool bonus, I just don't think it is as great as it seems.

 

[Shinseng]

But the thing is, barbarian huts are usually placed in terrible locations for cities. They usually have very few grasslands for food, or very little production nearby.

So true. I'm playing as them now, and while it's great to have 8 cities in the Ancient era, most of them are totally useless for production purposes. One is stuck on the end of a penninsula, next to a hill with no adjacent food tiles. That 1 hammer per turn isn't exactly kicking out units (only 30 turns to make an archer army. Woot?!).

It would be nicer if they turned to settlers, so you could plant them next to mountains and other high production areas. Then again, that would seriously break the game to the Mongol's favor.

And is it just me, or does it seem that when playing as Genghis there are more barbarian villages strewn about? Normally it seems my warriors find four to five villages on the initial exploration jaunts, but in this game I acquired nine villages quite easily. Unfortunately one was on the immediate cultural border of Paris, so it flipped rather quickly (which I had no investment in, so no problem other than giving those uppity French a freebie. D'oh!). Small matter though, since my catapult armies will be taking it back before the march on Paris...

 

[Double Barrel]

I agree about the Mongols. I was excited to play as them due to the barbarian village bonus, but quickly realized that they are mostly in lousy locations.

 

[Nocterminus]

I agree about the Mongols. I was excited to play as them due to the barbarian village bonus, but quickly realized that they are mostly in lousy locations.

They are great for pumping early tech or gold if you get several early in the game. If you go for economic victory, production won't matter as you can rush all of your units. Most of them them seem to have a lot of sea tiles around them so rushing a harbor as soon as you can would help a lot.

They have their advantages and disadvantages.

 

[Masquerouge]

Agree with the rest here. The awesomeness on paper of the Mongol antiquity bonus is balanced by the crappy cities you'll get. So while it is good, it will require you to actually focus on counterintuitive strategies for the Mongols - like using gold to get your units, and focus on the sea tiles technologies...

 

[KingDerfliw]

Settlers would be better, but this is still an extremely good bonus. I easily won my first game as the Mongols on Deity (Domination Victory) because I was able to expand so quickly and get an early tech lead. The problem is adequately defending the cities, but if you can, you can quickly seize up a lot of real estate and force the AI into small areas... I think they are currently my fav civ.

 

[Double Barrel]

They are great for pumping early tech or gold if you get several early in the game. If you go for economic victory, production won't matter as you can rush all of your units. Most of them them seem to have a lot of sea tiles around them so rushing a harbor as soon as you can would help a lot.

They have their advantages and disadvantages.

Great point! Each civ has strengths that you can follow to your advantage. You just have to be willing to change your gameplan depending on what you're given.

 

[I-am-a-panda]

Mongols are made for production. The ability to make cities when you defeat a barb is one example, as is communism once you hit modern , which will reduce factory cost by 33% ( ur more than likely to get it first) and 50% % + production if you're willing to let your borders shrink.

 

[patrickkrebs]

I agree they should turn into settlers, still 3 extra cities at the beginning of the game is a pretty sweet starting bonus.

 

[Rixa]

Playing with em right now. Got about 9 cities now. And few turns after that found The Ark of Covenant. Ding 300 BC and 9 cities with temples on em. Ah so nice culture boost . AI has 2 or cities so kinda easy game coming (King).

 

[KrikkitTwo]

What's really good is the mongols on the Beta Centauri Scenario

1. there are Lots of Barb cities
2. new cities get a Modern Infantry automatically
3. you have all the techs

so go communist, pump out a tank to get the barbs on your continent and a cruiser+infantry to get the island barbs and you'll have a massive empire... was able to get three of the Deity achievements easily that way (tech victory is impossible in that one.