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. ................................. . . ..... ... . ....... ...............
. .................................... .....................................
Author: Warfreak
Version: 0.1
Date Started: 28/09/10
NOTE: This Guide will Contain Spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
REMEMBER, IF YOU LIKE THIS GUIDE, RECOMMEND IT TO OTHER USERS USING THE LINK
ABOVE!
*('@')~~~~~~Watch In Awe, Watch In Awe, Aeria Gloris, Aeria Gloris~~~~~~('@')*
Use Ctrl+F to quickly navigate this guide.
Table of Contents
�1 Introduction
[1.01] Introduction
[1.02] Version History
�2 Civ V
[2.01] Game Intro
�3 The 18 Civilizations
[3.01] Arabia
[3.02] Aztecs
[3.03] China
[3.04] Egypt
[3.05] England
[3.06] France
[3.07] Germany
[3.08] Greece
[3.09] India
[3.10] Iroquois
[3.11] Japan
[3.12] Ottoman
[3.13] Persia
[3.14] Rome
[3.15] Russia
[3.16] Siam
[3.17] Songhai
[3.18] United States
[A] Contact Information
[B] Credits
[C] Webmaster Information
[D] Copyright Notice
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now, Let the Guide Begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.01] Introduction
If you stand back enough, you will be able to recognise the V as the same
V behind the name of the game. Anyway this is my guide, number 63 actually,
and I will probably support all the Civ 5 games, so future expansion packs,
just like my coverage on Civ 4. Basically, this game is a lot different, so
first things first, cover the differences.
First off, I know there is going to be a lot of copy pasta from the
Civilopedia from the game, however, given how clunky I find it now, and how
it is more annoying to use, it will be put here, and besides, you might want
to get some context on why some leaders are so, well, out there.
And for anyone curious to my game edition, it's the lovely Special Edition
or the Collectors edition. Who can resist metal figurines of archers and a
metallic death robot?
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.02] Version History
Version 0.0 [29/9/10]
Template done, started on the guide proper.
Version 0.1 [4/10/10]
Guide is way too big for starters, might have to remove history, but Chapter
2 and 3 are done.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.01] Game Intro
There are many differences between this game and Civ 4. As someone who has
played pretty much every single Civ game since Colonization and Civilization,
which were released all that long time ago on DOS, there has been a lot of
differences, but let us start small.
- Hex Tiles -
Yes, the square tiles are gone, the diagonal tiles are in the dustcans of
history, they are replaced with hex tiles, and although it might be a bit
of a shock, they look horribly nice. They are very well done, and old civ
players really wouldn't notice too much of a difference.
- Cities can Bombard and Defend -
Yes, that is right, cities can now bombard enemies that come within 2 tiles
of the city. That means, get too close, and watch the city rain projectiles
on you. Therefore, there cannot be a rush early in the game, because they
can just attack enemies that decide to get too close. This makes them very
strategic as well in terms of placement, they can be used as offensive weapons
as well, and they are very useful overlooking a chokepoint or bottleneck.
- Leadership Traits -
The way each leader is arranged is different. There are 18 civilisations,
and each have a single leader. There are no more dual leaders, which is a bit
of a shame, but that makes thing a little more tolerable. Each civilisation
has a specific power, the Americans have the Manifest Destiny, whereas the
Chinese will have the Art of War, something that is related to each of them.
Each civilisation will have 2 unique features that are specific to them,
besides their power. They will either have 1 unique building and 1 unique
unit, or they will hav 2 unique units. For example, the Americans will have
the Minuteman and the B17 as their unique units, whilst the Chinese will have
the Chu-No-Ku as their unique unit and the Paper Maker as their unique
building.
- Religion -
What was introduced in Civ 4, the concept of religion, has been removed. This
was done mainly because it wasn't very effectively implemented, but it has
been removed.
- Civics -
Yes, Civics have pretty much been redone completely. This means that you
don't get to choose a government system when it is time to do so, however,
you will be picking civics or rather, social policies. This is where you
accumulate culture points from your cities, and from here, you will be able
to pick new policies from that. This is talked about heavily in the manual,
and I'll jibber a bit more about it later.
- Technology -
Whilst the tech tree is still there, ready to be pruned, tech trading has been
changed. No longer can you just trade technology back and forth like some sort
of commodity, rather, technology is traded in the form of agreements, where
you and another party will basically create a research pact, and that,
although costing money, will lead to a joint venuture to create new tech.
And the biggest change is, no more Leonard Nemoy.
- Stacks -
No more stacks. Stacks of units are now gone, banished, erased. No more can
you send a stack of 50000 armoured units into a city and watch them pulverise
the enemy defences. One hex tile can only hold a civilian unit, such as a
settler or worker, and a military unit, such as a warrior or catapult, no
more. Of course, you can move past them, but you cannot now have stacks.
That concludes most of the major changes, now we will go into depth about the
smaller changes and the overall scope of the game.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.01] Arabia
Leader - Harun al-Rashid
Unique Unit 1 - Camel Archers, replaces Knights
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Bazaar, replaces Markets
Civilization Power
TRADE CARAVANS
- +2 Gold per Trade Route
~ History
"The Muslim Empire of the Caliphate - also known as the Islamic Empire or the
Arab kingdom - came into existence after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632
AD, created by Mohammed's disciples as a continuation of the political
authority he established. During its long existence the Caliphate would grow
to enormous size and power, dominating Spain, North Africa, the Middle East,
Anatolia, the Balkans and Persia, ruling an empire that at least rivaled that
of the Romans at the height of their power.
The Arab Empire began in Medina, on the Arabian Peninsula, in what is now
known as Saudi Arabia. The interior is generally inhospitable desert -
barren, sandy and hot with summer temperatures reaching as high as 130
degrees F. Medina and Mecca occupy the more fertile coastal regions along
the Red Sea.
The Umayyads were a merchant family based in Mecca. They had converted to
Islam in 627, becoming prominent supporters of Mohammed and his successors.
The early Umayyad caliphs were based in Damascus, Syria, and the Syrian army
formed the backbone of the Arab military forces. The Umayyads expanded
Arabian power east, building outposts and sending expeditions into Central
Asia and northwestern India. In addition the Umayyads launched the invasion
of North Africa. In the 7th century they constructed a Mediterranean fleet
with which they launched a series of unsuccessful raids against Christian
Constantinople.
The Umayyad Caliphate reached its zenith under the reign of Abd al-Malik
(reigned 685-705). In the west, Abd's armies overran much of Spain, while in
the east the Caliphate invaded Sind in India and conquered Bukhara,
Samarkand, Khwarezm, and many more places too hard to spell. al-Malik also
oversaw a reorganization of the Caliphate's bureaucracy, economy, and the
institution of a post service. During his reign the arts flourished,
particularly architecture.
The empire suffered a decline after Abd al-Malik's death. A series of
mediocre caliphs combined with economic troubles and military reverses in
the east and west fueled tribal rivalries within the Caliphate, and in 750
the Umayyads were defeated and overthrown at the Battle of the Great Zab
River.
The Umayyads were defeated by the Abbasids, another powerful family. The
first Abbasid Caliph, Abu al-Abbas, was a ruthless leader who upon achieving
power immediately set about exterminating anyone else who might have a
legitimate claim upon the throne. He was successful, as the Abbasids would
remain in power for another three centuries. Not without a certain grim
panache, he gave himself the name as-Saffah, which translates as "the
bloodletter."
The Abbasids shifted the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad. This reflected
its concentration on events in the east - Persia, India, Central Asia - and
subsequent de-emphasis on North Africa and the Mediterranean. The Abbasids
were more overtly religious than the Umayyads, and under them the Caliphate
more closely followed Islamic law.
Harun al-Rashid (reigned 786-809) was the fifth Abbasid caliph. He ruled
Arabia at the height of its wealth and power. In his early years Harun led
military expeditions against the Byzantine Empire; his successes earned him
the nickname al-Rashid, "the one following the correct path." While Rashid
did have to put down a number of internal revolts, the empire was mostly at
peace during his reign, and the Caliphate grew monumentally, spectacularly
wealthy. For more details on Harun al-Rashid, see his Civilopedia entry.
The Arab empire of the medieval period was far more advanced than
contemporary Europeans; Harun al-Rashid's Baghdad may have held a million
people at the same time that Charlemagne's Aachen was a "capital" of ten
thousand. Centers of learning attracted scholars from across the Muslim
world to great cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, and Cordoba. The Arabs of
this period made many advances in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and
other areas, as well as translating many of the classics of the Ancient
Greeks into Arabic, thereby saving them from destruction.
During the period of the Crusades, Christian Europe began a sustained assault
against the Arabic world. The greatest of Muslim generals from this period
was Salah al-Din, better known as Saladin, who successfully defeated the
Third Crusade and recaptured Jerusalem for the Arabs.
As the Middle Ages ended, however, the Empire began to fragment under
increasing pressure from both external and internal forces. The sheer size
of the Empire made centralized government nearly impossible, and the caliphs
were forced to put down numerous insurrections by rebellious local leaders.
The debate over the rightful heirs to Mohammed's leadership continued to
fester. In the west the Europeans wrested control of Spain from the
caliphate, while in the east the Ottomans began their inexorable expansion
into the heart of the Arabian Empire.
In 1258 a Mongol army under Hulagu Khan captured Baghdad and executed
Caliph al-Musta'sim, bringing the Arabian Empire to an abrupt end.
For most of the past five centuries, much of the Arab world has been ruled
by foreigners; first by the Ottoman Turks, then by the Western colonial
powers. Since the onset of de-colonization in the 1950s, traditional Arab
values have been modified through the combined pressures of urbanization,
industrialization, and Western influence. However, the ancient tenets of
Islam are still followed by millions of faithful across the globe.
Although now divided between dozens of different countries, the lands once
part of the greater Arabian Empire owe much to their ancient common
ancestor."
The Arabians are a fun race to play with, you can always mimic the current
Middle East conflict, however, their power is very useful for a large
empire. An extra 2 gold per trade route, with an empire of 40 cities connected
to the capital will lead to an extra 80 gold per turn, in addition to the
usual benefits that trading brings into the civilisation.
The Bazaar is a nice building, it replaces the market. It does the same job
as the market, with the 25% extra gold as well as the specialist slot, but
the unique thing is that an additional luxury resource for each resource
near the city. So 1 wine turns into 2, 2 into 4, and so forth.
The unique unit is the Camel Archer, a unique mounted unit which allows for
movement after attack, as well as a powerful ranged and melee attack for
units within the Medieval Era, which is when you get access to this unit.
However, like all mounted units, pikemen and spearmen are their worst
nightmare.
Harun al-Rashid
~ History
"Harun al-Rashid (which translates roughly as "Aaron the Rightly Guided") was
the fifth Abbasid Caliph, ruling the Arabian Empire from 786 to 809 AD.
During his reign the Caliphate stretched from Spain in the west to Anatolia
in the north to India in the east, and it was the largest and most powerful
political entity in the world. Harun was an able ruler, and his reign was a
time of scientific and cultural advancement and prosperity for his subjects.
The son of the third Caliph and al-Khayzuran, a Yemeni slave girl, Harun
came to power following the death of his brother, Abu Abdullah Musa ibn Mahdi
al-Hadi. Al-Hadi died of a stomach ailment under somewhat suspicious
circumstances, and some believed that his mother had al-Hadi poisoned because
she had much stronger influence with her younger son, Harun. True or not,
al-Khayzuran was one of Harun's chief advisors until her death in 789.
At the start of Harun's reign, the Caliphate's capitol was in Baghdad, a new
city founded by an earlier Caliph. The city was a center of arts, science and
religion, with many beautiful buildings. There Harun founded the "House of
Wisdom," a library and research facility which collected and translated
scientific writings from Persian, Indian, Greek, and Roman texts. Under Harun
Baghdad would blossom, becoming perhaps the largest and richest city in the
world. Later Harun would move his government to the strategically important
city of ar-Raqqah, but Baghdad would remain a great city of arts, science and
commerce for centuries to come (the city would be conquered and sacked by the
Mongols in 1258).
A somewhat fantastic description of Harun may be found in "The Thousand and
One Nights," in which the Caliph is described as living in a sumptuous palace
flowing with gold, silver, and jewels. Although exaggerated, there is a
strong element of truth to the tale. During Harun's reign huge amounts of
wealth poured into the Empire, and a goodly portion of it made it to the
Caliph's coffers. According to ancient historians, Harun's wife insisted that
all utensils and plates at her table be made of gold and festooned with
jewels.
Politically, Harun attempted to maintain cordial relations with the European
powers. He had direct diplomatic relations with Charlemagne, and in these
pre-Crusade years Europeans had free access to Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.
He also had diplomatic relations with the Imperial Court in China. However,
his relations were somewhat less friendly with the Byzantines.
Under his father, Harun had led an army through Turkey to the gates of
Constantinople, capitol of the Byzantine Empire. After negotiation with the
Empress Irene, Harun agreed to spare the city in return for an annual tribute
of 70,000 gold coins. When Irene was deposed and the Byzantines reneged on
the agreement in 806, Harun led another army north and once again forced the
Byzantines to capitulate.
Harun became ill and died in 808 while on his way to deal with a revolt in
Iran. He was succeeded by his son, al-Amin. His passing marked the beginning
of the slow decline of the Arabian Empire, after his death pieces of it were
carved away by external enemies and internal revolt. Although the Empire
would continue to exist for some centuries, it would never again reach the
brilliant heights it had under Harun al-Rashid.
Although there were wars and internal trouble, most of Rashid's reign was
peaceful and prosperous. The Caliphate enjoyed economic and industrial
growth, plus an explosion in trade. Harun was a lover of music and poetry,
and he gave lavish gifts to artists in his court. Although not necessarily a
great leader, Rashid did rule the Arabian Empire competently at the very
height of its power and wealth."
Harun is an interesting enemy to face. With this guide, along with a nice
history about them, for those who can't be bothered using the Civilopedia,
which is a lot more confronting to use, I will give you their actual
approaches to the game, as how they will, as the AI, will fight you in the
game. As a future note, if you don't want to read the history, just skip
past the second chunk of history for the Leader, and you'll get to the
analysis of the AI Leader.
All scales are out of 10, the closer to 10 they are, the more likely they
are going to use that type of approach to whatever the scale is on.
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 4/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 7/10
City State Competitiveness - 4/10
Boldness - 3/10
Harun is very competitive in terms of building wonders, he is one of the
mostly likely leaders to compete in terms of building Wonders, so if you
want those Hanging Gardens in your city, you will really want to build them
quick, Harun will also want them, the race is on. He is interesting in the
city states, as well as aiming for victory conditions, but not as much as
some other leaders. And he isn't the type to go demanding what he wants or
tries to get his way.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 3/10
Hostile - 5/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 6/10
Neutral - 5/10
Harun is more likely to use deception and be guarded, he is likely to play
all nice, and offer you some trade agreements, such as a research pact to
remove your gold reserves, or be guarded, not giving anything away. He is
friendly somewhat, if the price is right. He is least likely to go to war
to get what he wants, which is nice. No one likes war, unless you start to
piss me off.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 3/10
Friendly - 6/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 4/10
Harun will be more willing to build up a strong alliance with the city
states, and offer to protect them, so that if you were to declare war on the
city state, they will declare war on you, and then there will be some real
issues. He will, on occasion, take their lands for his own personal gain
though.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 4/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 7/10
Mounted - 6/10
When you are going to face his army, Harun will be playing the defensive
side. He is more likely to used ranged units, such as archers and his camel
archers, which will be harder to counter with melee units, and will be using
a fair amount of mounted units. He will scout out your area though, and he
will be training his troops through buildings such as barracks. When you
decide to advance, make sure you bring enough to smash his defences.
Naval Scales
Naval - 4/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 4/10
Naval Growth - 4/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 4/10
Harun isn't a powerful naval user, he is more likely to just use the seas to
transport his forces, not to use them to bombard your cities, which is nice
if you have a fair amount of coastal cities.
Air Scale
Air Power - 3/10
When it comes for the time for air power to dominate, Harun won't be using
his air units to his advantage. He won't be sending helicopter gunships to
rain on your parade, or bombers to blow up your city. Something nice to know
at least.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 5/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 6/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 8/10
Science - 7/10
Culture - 6/10
Harun will concentrate mainly on gold production, apt given that his special
power is to do with gold, but he will focus on science and culture as well,
which makes him fast to research new technology as well as adopting new social
policy. In terms of improvements, he will build them, but he will build them
to improve gold first, and gold foremost.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 7/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Despite his inability to use air power well, he will nearly always go for the
spaceship victory, building and completing the Apollo project, which is very
handy when you are facing him, he will be less likely to kill you than to
build up his little spaceship, which drains his production from units to kill
you with.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.02] Aztecs
Leader - Montezuma
Unique Unit 1 - Jaguar Warrior, replaces Warrior
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Floating Gardens, replaces Watermill
Civilization Power
SACRIFICIAL CAPTIVES
- Gain Culture for each enemy unit killed
~ History
"The Aztecs were a Native American civilization that occupied central Mexico
for roughly one hundred years in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Aztecs
ruled a mighty empire and possessed a rich culture, producing some of the
most impressive pre-Colombian architecture in North America. Today the Aztecs
are best remembered for the bloodiness of their religious practices and
rapidity with which they collapsed in the face of external assault.
The Aztec Empire was located in the "Mesa Central" or central plateau in the
heart of modern Mexico (Mexico City is built atop the ruins of the Aztec
capital city of Tenochitlan.) The Valley of Mexico is dominated by a number
of conjoined lakes: Zumpango, Xaltocan, Texcoco, Xochimilco, and Chalco. The
area features abundant rainfall and a temperate climate, and the land is
incredibly fertile.
The origin of the Aztec people is uncertain, but their origin stories suggest
they were a tribe of hunter-gatherers on the northern Mexican plateau before
they migrated down to Meso-America in the 12th century. The word "Aztec"
comes from "Aztlan" ("White Land"), an allusion to northern Mexico. The
Aztecs reached central Mexico sometime around 1250; what happened to them
before that period is mostly speculation and myth.
At the time of the Aztecs' arrival, the population of central Mexico was
divided between hundreds of small tribes or city-states, the most important
of which were the Azcapotzalco and the Culhuacan. During the early period the
Aztecs were vassals of the Azcapotzalco, who in 1325 gave them permission to
settle on a small island in Lake Texcoco, where they founded their capital
city, Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs remained subject to the Azcapotzalcos for
around 100 years.
By the fifteenth century, the Azcapotzalcos had become a strong regional
power. In 1427 the Azcapotzalco leader, Maxtla, had the Aztec leader
Chimalpopca assassinated and laid siege to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
To defeat the Azcapotzalcos, Chimalpopca's successor Itzcoatl allied with two
other powerful city-states, Texcoco and Tlacopan. The allies successfully
raised the siege of Tenochtitlan and shortly thereafter conquered the
Azcapotzalcos themselves.
Over the next century the "Triple Alliance" would come to control all of
central Mexico, eventually extending its power across the entirety of the
country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Tenochtitlan would become the
dominant member in the alliance, making the Aztecs de facto rulers of a vast
continental empire.
In 1440, Montezuma I succeeded his uncle Itzcoatl to become ruler of the
Aztecs. During his reign Montezuma solidified the Triple Alliance. He
extended the Alliance's control to the Gulf coast, subjugating the Totonac
and the Huastic people. He also led successful campaigns against other
neighbors, including the Mixtecs, Cotaxtla, and Orizaba. (It's important not
to confuse Montezuma I with his unfortunate and incompetent namesake,
Montezuma II, about whom see below). Montezuma I died in 1469. For more
details on Montezuma I, see his Civilopedia entry.
While Montezuma I held the throne, his half-brother Tlacaelel was engaged in
reforming the Aztec state. He literally rewrote the Aztec religion, according
to some sources ordering the burning of hundreds of texts because of
historical inaccuracies. Under Tlacaelel, the Aztec religion stated that the
Aztecs were chosen people, destined to be above all others. Tlacaelel also
emphasized the importance of militarism and ritual sacrifice in the Aztec
religion, a change which would have far-reaching and devastating effects upon
the Aztecs and the region as a whole. Tlacaelel oversaw the creation of many
temples and religious buildings, including the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan,
dedicated to the Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli.
Politically, Tlacaelel was one of the architects of the Triple Alliance. He
is said to have ordered the burning of conquered people's histories to ensure
that his people's worldview was dominant. He also strengthened the Aztec
nobility and priesthood at the expense of the peasants.
Tlacaelel died in 1487, probably much to the relief of Central American
historians everywhere.
At the height of its power, the Aztec Empire dominated an area of nearly
200,000 square miles (slightly under a third the size of modern Mexico), with
some five to six million subjects. Somewhat like the Mongols, the Aztecs left
the subject tribes to their own devices as long as the requisite tribute was
paid. The Aztecs were great traders, and Aztec merchants happily did business
with allies and enemies alike. Lacking a monetary system, trade was based
upon the barter system.
Possessing no draft animals or wheeled vehicles, the Aztecs constructed a
vast road network designed for foot travel. In addition to merchants, these
roads were in constant use by soldiers and military couriers, making them
safe enough for women to travel on alone.
The Aztec religion as revised by Tlacaelel believed that a steady stream of
sacrifice was required to keep the universe operating properly. Sacrifice
was required to keep the rain falling, the crops growing, the sun rising, and
so forth. Sins were expiated by sacrifice. The Aztecs sacrificed animals,
wealth, food, their own blood - and human beings. The Aztecs claimed that
they sacrificed over 80,000 prisoners to reconsecrate the Great Pyramid of
Tenochtitlan in 1487, though many historians believe this to be a massive
exaggeration, with 5,000 or fewer being the most that would be logistically
possible given the size of the sacrificial table. Even if the smaller number
is closer to the truth, that's still quite a lot of blood and beating hearts
to deal with.
The Aztec religion placed a premium upon the sacrifice of enemy warriors
captured in battle, which became something of a problem once the Empire had
conquered pretty much everybody within reach. This led to a form of
ritualized combat known as the "Flower Wars," under which two sides would
meet at a prescribed time and place for the specific purpose of battling to
acquire prisoners. Once the battle was over, each side would take their
prisoners back to their cities for religious sacrifice.
In 1502 the ninth emperor Montezuma II (1502-1520) succeeded his uncle
Ahuitzotl as the ruler of an empire that had reached its greatest extent,
stretching from what is now northern Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua. The
Aztec empire was still expanding, and its society still evolving, when its
progress was halted in 1519 by the appearance of Spanish adventurers on the
Gulf Coast.
In February of 1519, Hernan Cortes led an expedition into Central America,
leading a force of 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannon. In
mid-August he marched on Tenochtitlan after burning his ships to discourage
retreat. Along the way he gathered many Native American allies eager to
assist in the downfall of the hated Aztecs.
According to Spanish records, Cortes was greatly assisted in his conquest by
Aztec religious traditions that said that the God Quetzalcoatl would return
as a white man from across the water. The Aztecs were not certain if Cortes
was Quetzalcoatl, which made them reluctant to fight him. Cortes' godhood was
further confirmed by his command of horses, dogs, firearms and cannon which
the Aztecs had never seen, and which at first naturally terrified them.
By the time Cortes reached Tenochtitlan, he had a huge following of native
allies. Montezuma II welcomed the Spaniards into the city peacefully,
whereupon Cortes made him prisoner. Through Montezuma Cortes ordered the
Aztecs to provide the Spanish with huge amounts of treasure. Eventually, the
Aztecs stoned Montezuma to death and drove the Spanish out of their capital,
but Cortes got reinforcements and returned, laying siege to the city. In 1521
the city fell and was razed, and in August the last ruler of the Aztecs was
captured.
The Empire was vanquished, destroyed by ambitious foreigners with advanced
weapons who took advantage of the native majority's hatred for their Aztec
overlords. Unfortunately for the natives, the Spanish were not especially
nicer to their subject people and it would be some time before they would
once again be free from oppression and once again have some control over
their own destinies."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ITXPfHltRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRrTEFZs60
2 Videos that any self-respecting Civ Fan must watch, who hasn't had one-more-
turn-itis? No one, that who. Anyway, the Aztecs are a funny bunch, they are
especially strong in terms of war, given their special power. They have the
best in terms of early starts, they will get the Jaguar Warriot, which is
superior to the normal warrior, and they will get the Floating Gardens,
which gives 15% more food and 2 extra food for each worked lake tile as long
as the city is located next to a river or lake.
Montezuma
~ History
"A mighty warrior and leader, Montezuma I helped propel the Aztec nation to
greatness and glory. He should not be confused with his unfortunate grandson
Montezuma II, who watched helplessly as his empire was dismantled by Spanish
Conquistadors.
Montezuma (whose name means "he frowns like a lord") came from a royal
family. His father Huitzilihuitl was the second Aztec "tlatoani" or emperor,
and his mother, Miahuaxihuitl, was the daughter of the ruler of the city of
Cuauhnahuac. Following his father's death, Montezuma's uncle Itzcoatl was
elected. Montezuma's older brother Tlacaelel was one of Itzcoatl's closest
advisors, while Montezuma served as a general in the Aztec army.
Following Itzcoatl's death in 1440, Montezuma was elected emperor. Tlacaelel
did not seem at all unhappy about being bypassed (perhaps he thought he'd
live longer if he didn't get the crown), and by all accounts he served his
brother faithfully. Montezuma's coronation was a huge ceremony involving the
sacrifice of many prisoners.
Despite the opulence of his political title, it appears that Montezuma
himself lived modestly, in a simple palace with "just a few wives." When not
engaged in religious duties or matters of state, he spent much of his time in
consultation with his friends and advisors.
During his reign Montezuma and his brother Tlacaelel worked to improve the
Aztec city Tenochtitlan. Among other improvements they constructed an
aqueduct system which brought a good deal of fresh water into the city. Of
course as Tenochtitlan grew, in addition to fresh water it required ever
greater amounts of food to sustain its hungry population. Since Central
America lacked draft animals, every single morsel of food had to be
transported to the city on somebody's back. Montezuma's government employed
state inspectors to ensure that every piece of arable land within walking
distance was planted and maintained. He also ordered the construction of a
dike system to alleviate flooding and to provide more farmland.
Montezuma and his brother also constructed many temples in and around the
city, including a new temple to Huitzilopochtli, the god of battle. The
temple of Huitzilopochtli was consecrated in 1455 with the sacrifice of a
large number of Huaxtec prisoners of war.
Probably at the urging of his brother, Tlacaelel, Montezuma instituted
Sumptuary Laws which codified and reinforced the already-stratified Aztec
class system. A person's station in life determined what he or she could
wear and how he or she could speak. The poor were not allowed to wear cotton
cloth, sandals or any clothing that extended below the knee. Only the
nobility could live in homes of greater than one story. Crimes were punished
by slavery, the lowest of all classes, or by being sacrificed.
During Montezuma's rule, his brother Tlacaelel worked on reforming the Aztec
religion. He rewrote the Aztec religious texts, ordering the destruction of
many others which did not agree with his interpretations of the Aztec history
and religion. Under Tlacaelel the Aztec religion became more militaristic,
demanding ever more sacrifices of captured enemy soldiers. The need for
prisoners for sacrifice would over time become one of the driving forces
behind Aztec foreign policy.
As ruler Montezuma sought to strengthen the "Triple Alliance" between the
Central Mexican city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan. He also
expanded the Aztec empire by conquering Panuco, the Totonacs, Coatzocoalcos
and the Chalca. Some theorize that he conquered the tribes for their tribute,
hoping to ensure a continuous food supply for Tenochtitlan, which despite his
best efforts continued to suffer from periodic famine. Another theory is that
he did so to feed the Aztec religion's every-chronic need for prisoners of
war to sacrifice. Yet another theory is that he did it because that's what
Aztec Emperors did - conquer stuff. The answer is likely to be something of
a combination of all three theories.
Montezuma died in 1469. He was succeeded by his 19-year-old cousin,
Axayacatl, who would be the father of Montezuma I's namesake, the unfortunate
Montezuma II who would lose everything to Spain.
Generally, Montezuma was a successful ruler. He expanded his empire,
personally led his armies to victory, and worked hard to improve the lot of
his people. He certainly was a bloody man, personally sacrificing thousands
of prisoners to his thirsty gods. But his religion said such barbarity was
necessary - blood was required to ensure that the sun would rise, the crops
would grow, and the Aztec nation would continue to prosper.
Could he have cut back on the ritualized murder? Possibly. But the thought
might never have occurred to him - or anybody else in the area at the time.
It's useful to remember that the more "enlightened" people of Europe were
busily burning heretics alive at roughly the same time. And while that
doesn't in any way make Montezuma's actions any better, at least it puts them
in some kind of context."
Montezuma is very aggressive, and when you watch that video, you will figure
that he expands and conquers all those who get in his path. So if you are
near him in terms of civilization, you might want to build up some defences and
have units around him 24/7, just to make sure he doesn't pull off anything
sneaky on you.
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 6/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 2/10
City State Competitiveness - 5/10
Boldness - 8/10
Montezuma isn't going to compete with you on Wonders, but he will compete for
the favours from the City States, but what really does set him out is his
boldness. He will demand what he wants, if he doesn't get it, he will get very
pissed, and will be, as you will see later, declare war on you.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 6/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 5/10
Afraid - 7/10
Friendly - 4/10
Neutral - 5/10
Montezuma is one that deals with strength. When he meets you, he is more
likely to declare war on you, and be willing to deceive you and then declare
war, rather than to be friends with you and be involved in a group hug.
However, build up an army strong enough to match him stride for stride, or
declare war on him with a superior force, and he will back down. It is
either put up or shut up with Montezuma.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 3/10
Conquest - 7/10
Montezuma isn't there to be friendly towards the city states, he is there to
conquer them. He is one of the most likely leaders to attack the city states
and take them over. He will ignore what others are doing towards the city
states, which will tend to get him into more wars than necessary, but that is
his culture, no to respect others. Beside, he only sees the city state as a
small city with a few military units, not looking at the protector with a
few hundred riflemen on their borders.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 8/10
Defensive - 3/10
City Defence - 4/10
Military Training - 6/10
Reconnaissance - 6/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 5/10
Montezuma will focus on his ground units a lot. He will focus on the offensive
units, anything that can be used to attack, he will use it. He will scout out
your lands, and then send in units, including siege units, to march on your
lands. However, the lack of defence will help you significantly, you will be
able to easily take over his lands once you defeat his standing army.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 4/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 4/10
Montezuma will, by large, neglect his naval units significantly. He will be
more likely to use them as a support role at most, but more likely, the extent
of his naval prowess will be to ship units across the sea to set your cities
on fire.
Air Scale
Air Power - 4/10
Air power isn't something that is on Montezuma's mind, he isn't there to use
air units as an offensive strategy, rather, as best, support. And that's a
good thing, bombers aren't the best thing you want to face when they decide
to rain death on your cities.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 4/10
Culture - 5/10
The only thing that stands out, above average, is that Montezuma expands and
he will expand aggressively. This is why he is one of the most hated enemy
leaders to face, he will expand and declare war to gain land, and he does
not build an economy to match that expansion. It is nice to note that he
isn't that tech inclined though, so whilst you will be using riflemen, he
will still be stuck using Jaguar Warriors.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 6/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 7/10
For someone who doesn't like to tech up, he will go for the spaceship
victory, more often than not, although it will take him a fairly long time
to get there. This is quite good, although his armies marchingn into your
land isn't that good.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.03] China
Leader - Wu Zetian
Unique Unit 1 - Chu-Ko-Nu, replaces Crossbowman
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Paper Maker, replaces Library
Civilization Power
ART OF WAR
- Great General effective and spawn rate increased
~ History
"Summarizing the rich history of China in several paragraphs is a daunting
task indeed. China is a civilization spanning some six thousand years and
comprising a large fraction of humanity. There is evidence of man's
prehistoric ancestors living in China some two million years ago, and modern
man has lived in the area for at least 18,000 years, possibly much longer.
Geographically, China can be divided into three main areas: the mountainous
highlands of the west, the rugged south, and the eastern lowlands bordering
the Yellow and East China Seas. Bisected by a number of major rivers, the
incredibly fertile lowlands have been the center of power in China, and
whoever controls that area controls Western Asia.
The Xia Dynasty is the earliest known centralized political entity in China.
While the specific dates of the dynasty remain open to debate, many reputable
scholars agree that the Xia existed from around 2000 BC to 1600 BC. The Xia
did not control all of China; their power was largely centered in northern
China, the area which would eventually become known as Manchuria. The Xia
were eventually overtaken by the Shang, who lasted from around the 18th to
the 12th century BC. The Shang were in turn ousted by the Zhou, who held
power until around the 9th century BC. From the 9th century to the 2nd China
suffered through the unending agony of near-constant civil war during the
so-called Spring and Autumn period, which in turn was followed by the Warring
States period. Eventually, in the second century BC, the Qin Dynasty
conquered its rivals and established the first truly unified Chinese state.
Their successors, the Han, introduced the office of the Emperor, the single
leader who would rule all of China.
Over the succeeding centuries China would be ruled by the Tang and the Song
dynasties. In 1271 AD the country would be conquered by the Mongol leader
Kublai Khan, who would begin his own dynasty, known as the Yuan. A century
later, the Yuan would be overthrown and the Ming dynasty would gain power,
lasting until the 16th century AD. The Qing replaced the Ming, ruling until
1912 AD, when the Republic of China was established. The Republic lasted
some fifty years, until it was overtaken by the People's Republic of China
in 1949. As of this writing, the People's Republic remains China's current
ruler.
A creative and innovative people, China has given the world some of the most
important inventions in history, including paper, gunpowder, the compass, and
movable type. (This section is mandatory whenever Chinese history is
discussed, in case you were wondering. It's a law.)
Throughout much of its history China has remained an insular and isolated
civilization, largely ignoring - and ignored by - the rest of the world. This
was not difficult, as for many centuries China long held a distinct
technological and military edge over any and all external foes. And any
threats it could not defeat militarily (such as the Mongols, who conquered
China in 1271), it simply absorbed into its own dominant culture.
This changed during the 18th and 19th centuries. By this period, the European
powers and Japan had achieved a significant technological advantage over the
Chinese. This edge, combined with vastly superior naval forces, better
armaments, superior communications and advanced military tactics, allowed the
foreign powers to dominate much of the rich Chinese coastal cities, where
they could engage in extremely profitable business (including the infamous
opium trade). The weak and corrupt Chinese central government was unable to
oust the hated foreigners, who remained until most were driven out by the
Japanese during and following World War II.
Emerging triumphant over the Nationalists shortly after World War II, the
Communist government spent the subsequent fifty years consolidating power,
modernizing infrastructure, and improving the lives and education of its vast
population, a process which included a number of massive missteps, including
the idiotic "Cultural Revolution" which did its best to destroy China's
intellectuals. In the past 40 years China has emerged as a major world power,
an economic behemoth which will soon dwarf all other economies including the
once unstoppable United States.
China is not without its difficulties, however. Much of its energy is
expended simply supporting its huge and growing population base. Pollution
is becoming a major problem as more and more factories are built, and more
and more automobiles are clogging the bigger cities. Tibet - which depending
upon your point of view is either a captive nation or an integral part of
China - remains an open wound and major political distraction for China. None
of these are insurmountable, though, and China stands poised to dominate the
21st century."
The Middle Kingdom, China is a powerful nation to play. With the Paper Maker,
you will get a nice boost to your gold reserves, since it does give you some
gold per turn as well. The Chu-Ku-No is a very nice unit, it has the ability
to attack TWICE and as a ranged unit, it will be effective in removing the
biggest threat, the Longswordsmen, at a distance before they have a chance
to strike. The Art of War will allow you to get Great General quicker, and
this is useful for 2 reasons, the ability to build Citadels, and more
importantly, the source of a new Golden Age.
Wu Zetian
~ History
"Like most civilizations, China has been male-dominated throughout much of its
history. Until very recently, women were afforded few rights, and direct
power was all but totally denied to them. For a woman to attain the rank of
Emperor, to become the most powerful person in China, was almost unheard of.
Only one person in the entirety of Chinese history was able to do so. That
person was Wu Zetian, one of the most remarkable rulers - female or male -
the world has ever seen.
A shockingly beautiful child, at the age of 13 (in approx. 639 AD) Wu became
a concubine of Emperor Taizong. She did not have any children with the
Emperor, and at his death in 649 she left the palace to become a Buddhist
nun, as was common for childless concubines at the time. That should have
been the end of her story. However, Fate was to give her another chance at
glory.
Like much of Chinese politics of the day, this gets extremely complicated.
Empress Wang, the wife of the current Emperor Gaozong (son of the late
Emperor Taizon), was afraid that Gaozong was becoming too infatuated with
Consort Xiao. This was indeed a matter of some concern, as consorts had in
the past been known to supplant empresses, who were often killed as a result.
To divert her husband's attentions from Consort Xiao, the Empress had Wu -
who was still young and beautiful - returned to the palace and reinstated as
Consort.
This tactic was a complete success - too complete, in fact, for in a few
years she had supplanted both Consort Xiao and Empress Wang in Emperor
Gaozong's affections. Both ladies were killed, and she attained the rank of
Empress. Some historians believe that she killed her own infant daughter and
framed the Empress for the murder. While this is not proven, subsequent
events have suggested that such an act was well within her scope.
As Empress Consort, Wu moved quickly to consolidate her power. Forging
alliances with certain powerful officials, she had those who opposed her
demoted, exiled, or killed. She was an able advisor to the Emperor, and he
delegated more authority to her as time passed. By 660 AD, the Emperor began
to suffer from a debilitating illness (which some said was caused from slow
poisoning by Wu), and he passed much of the day-to-day management of the
Empire to Wu, who was then about thirty-five years old. Wu showed herself to
be an able administrator, with sharp wit and extensive knowledge of history
and literature. She also showed a remarkable ability to seek out and destroy
those who plotted against her as well as those who might someday pose a
threat. When Emperor Gaozong died in 683, she was inarguably the most
powerful person in China.
Following Gaozong's death, Wu's son Zhongzong became Emperor. He immediately
began displaying troubling signs of independence, including appointing
officials to important posts without consulting with his mother. This
threatened to undermine Wu's power base, and she took decisive action.
Zhongzong was deposed and exiled, and Wu's youngest son, Ruizong, became
Emperor. Taking no chances this time, however, Wu kept the new Emperor in
virtual isolation. Having no doubt learned from the unhappy example of his
older brother, the titular Emperor kept very quiet and did nothing to offend
the Dowager Empress.
In 690 AD, Wu took the throne herself, her son Ruizong reduced in title to
Crown Prince. This caused a certain amount of displeasure among
traditionalists, which Wu handled in her usually efficient and brutal manner.
She expanded the powers of the secret police, who answered directly to her,
and hundreds were exiled, imprisoned or murdered. She held this post for some
15 years, until, at the age of 80 and seriously ill, she was deposed. She
died later the same year.
As a leader, Wu was considered to be an able administrator and shrewd judge
of character. She promoted and supported able men, and in return she received
their firm loyalty. Generals appointed by her conquered Korea, adding that
wealthy land to the Empire. She was quick to destroy any she saw as a threat,
and the early years of her reign as Emperor were bloody and repressive, even
by Chinese standards. As she grew more secure in her throne, however, she
reined in the secret police, and even her enemies grudgingly praised her for
her competence and decisiveness.
In short, her rule was benevolent to those who were no challenge to her, and
lethal to those who were. All in all, Wu Zetian remains one of the most
fascinating rulers in history, and well worth further study."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 3/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 5/10
City State Competitiveness - 7/10
Boldness - 7/10
The Dowager Empress isn't there to win ultimately, she is there to make your
life as miserable as possible. She will strongly compete to take and corrupt
the City States, as well as making relatively bold moves. She is someone you
want as an ally, not as an enemy, because she isn't a big threat as an enemy.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 4/10
Hostile - 6/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Wu Zetian is about as likely to hate you as she is to love you. She is either
friendly towards you in the game, or she is going to threaten you with her
armies. She is willing to use deception to get her way, such as decoy
agreements to drain your gold and resources, and is willing to defend her
lands.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 4/10
Friendly - 6/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 5/10
Wu Zetian is quite protective of the City States, she will be friends with
them and then protect them, so declaring war on them will lead to you
declaring war on her. However, that doesn't exclude her from conquering
the city states, she just prefers to make them her pawns, rather than to
send her troops needlessly against them.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 5/10
Defensive - 7/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 4/10
Reconnaissance - 4/10
Ranged - 7/10
Mounted - 5/10
Given that the unique unit is a ranged unit, you can gather that Ranged Units
are going to be a big hit with Empress Wu. She is more than willing to use
ranged units, so you are going to have to quickly take them out with your
mounted cavalry units or attain first strike. She is also quite likely to
play real defensive, so don't be surprised to see walls all around her cities
with garrison within them.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 4/10
Naval Growth - 5/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 5/10
Empress Wu isn't afraid to use naval units, which isn't a bad sign, but you
don't have to worry about her to use a navy as a real threat, to her, a navy
under her control will be there to support naval invasions or bombardments,
but it isn't her main strike weapon.
Air Scale
Air Power - 3/10
Empress Wu won't really use air units as much as other nations would, she is
more likely to use a ground force to blow something up, rather than a nice
shiny stealth bomber.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 4/10
Growth - 8/10
Tile Improvement - 4/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 8/10
Culture - 6/10
The Chinese are really big on growing nice big cities, so you can expect them
to concentrate most of their effects around resource tiles related to food
production. They are likely to have big cities, and that means big production
and gold production. Also, they are very quick to tech up, given their unique
building, and will adopt social policies quickly as well, so you might want
to keep an eye out for them.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 6/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 3/10
Spaceship - 8/10
As you can see, Wu Zetian isn't really interested in a diplomatic victory, the
UN? Screw the United Nations, more like Useless Notion! Anyway, they are most
likely to develop a space program and shoot of into the stars, and given their
quick growth and tech growth, that is a pretty credible threat, so if a space
victory is an option, you might want to keep an eye on them, and declare war
if you want to stop them from winning.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.04] Egypt
Leader - Ramesses the Great
Unique Unit 1 - War Chariot, replaces Chariot Archer
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Burial Tomb, replaces Temple
Civilization Power
MONUMENT BUILDERS
- Wonders are constructed 20% Faster
~ History
"Few civilizations have left such an indelible mark on history as that of
Egypt. Living astride the mighty Nile River for some 5,000 years, Egypt is
one of the oldest surviving civilizations on the planet. Among many other
firsts, Egypt is credited with the invention of writing around 3000 BC. Using
sophisticated mathematics, Egyptian scholars plotted the movement of the
planets with great precision. And of course, the Egyptians were the ancient
world's greatest architects, creating monuments and temples that still awe
and inspire us today.
Egypt is a riparian (river-based) civilization lying alongside the Nile,
which, at some 4000 miles in length, is the longest river on the planet.
Egypt occupies the northern section of this river in a narrow but extremely
fertile corridor running through otherwise harsh desert terrain of the North
African Sahara desert. While the physical area of Egypt extended a great
distance to the east and west, the vast majority of that terrain is empty
useless desert, and through its history almost all Egyptians have lived
within walking distance of the river.
Until the implementation of damming projects in the 20th century, the Nile
flooded its banks in the summer of every year. Egyptian farmers relied on
these floods to bring water and fresh nutrients to their fields, and a dry
year could easily spell famine and disaster to the population. The Nile also
provided a good deal of protein to the Egyptians, who were adept fishermen
and who early on mastered the construction and handling of small watercraft.
The Mediterranean Sea lies to the north of Egypt. A mild and generous sea,
the Mediterranean encourages exploration and trade between all civilizations
who live on its borders.
The first settlers of the Nile valley are thought to have arrived around 7000
BC, driven to the river as climate change turned the surrounding once-fertile
lands to desert. By 5000 BC crops were being raised in local settlements
along the river, and as agriculture improved the settlements grew in size and
power. Luxury items such as mortuary pottery, copper ornaments, beads, and
cosmetics begin to be seen in burial sites from that period, suggesting a
significant growth in wealth and leisure in the culture.
Increased wealth also allowed for the creation and maintenance of military
forces which could be used to conquer other nearby cultures. By approximately
3000 BC much of Egypt was unified. The first king mentioned in the historical
records is Menes, who founded the capital Memphis, is credited with many
irrigation works. His "First Dynasty" would last for some two centuries.
The First and Second and Dynasties are known collectively as the "Early
Dynastic Period" and last from approximately 3100 BC to 2600 BC. During this
period Egypt extended its control south along the Nile and east and west
along the coast of the Mediterranean.
This period spans the years from approximately 2600 BC to 2100 BC. The Old
Kingdom period is best known for the large number of pyramids constructed as
tombs for pharaohs. Egyptian vessels traveled the Mediterranean and Red Seas,
trading for items such as food, spices and Lebanese cedar, as well as
luxuries like myrrh (a type of incense), ebony, and gold. The Old Kingdom
ended when a severe drought caused the collapse of the central government,
already weakened by corruption and civil war.
The Old Kingdom Period is followed by the First Intermediate Period, then the
Middle Kingdom Period, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom
Period, the Third Intermediate Period, then the Late Period. During these
periods (lasting from 2100 BC to perhaps 600 BC) the Egyptian government
would rise and fall several times, and periods of strife and internal
conflict would be followed by periods of great peace and prosperity. External
foes would invade when Egypt was weakened, and the pharaohs would extend
their empire when Egypt was strong.
In 525 BC Egypt was captured by Persia, who would control the country until
it was taken by Alexander the Great in 332 BC as he systematically dismantled
the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death the Greeks established the
Ptolmeic Dynasty.
The able Ptolemies ruled in an unbroken line until the death of Cleopatra VII
in 30 BC. Her suicide marked the end of Pharaonic rule and the beginning of
Egypt's centuries as a Roman and Byzantine province. Although swept by the
Islamic tide in 642 AD, Egypt was to remain under foreign occupation -
Arabic, Ottoman, French, and British - until after World War I, when she
finally gained her independence from a British administration weary of
overseas conflict. From 1922 through 1952, Egypt appeared to be one of the
world's most successful constitutional monarchies. But it was ripe for
revolution; the military coup of July 1952 led by Gamal Nasser, ironically,
finally made Egypt an island of stability in a turbulent Middle East.
Egypt's mastery of monumental architecture is virtually unmatched in history.
The Egyptians were also great sculptors, creating many quite beautiful
statues of their pharaohs and gods. They also made beautiful and delicate
works of gold, jewels and other precious metals, many of which have been
discovered in tombs and vaults. Actually, much of Egyptian culture and arts
seems to have been dedicated to death, entombment and the afterlife (or
perhaps art on those subjects was most likely to have been entombed and thus
has survived better than non-death-related artwork).
Religion was extremely important to Egyptian society. The religion has an
incredibly rich pantheon of gods, and a detailed and complex creation mythos.
The pharaoh was both a man and a god, and he was responsible for interceding
with the gods on his subjects' behalf. The priests also served as the
society's civil servants. (If the Egyptians ever heard of the concept of
separation of church and state, they wanted nothing to do with it.) The
Egyptians believed in an afterlife for those judged worthy, and they believed
in sorcery and magic. Many historians believe that the Egyptians saw the
pyramids as pathways to the realm of the gods for those buried inside.
Clearly, it is impossible to do justice to a 5000-year-old civilization in
the space of these short paragraphs. At her height Egypt was a mighty,
continent-spanning empire, whose scientific and cultural advancements brought
incalculable benefits to humanity. And its greatest works, the pyramids, can
still astonish the modern viewer, much as they did to those who saw them
4,000 years ago."
Egypt is very useful to play if you are to build Wonders. 20% off the actual
production cost of wonders is useful, and couple that with the effects of
marble and one of the social policies, and you will be building the wonders
like they were normal buildings. The War Chariot is nice, it doesn't require
you to have access to horses to build, and there is improved movement. But
the best is the Burial Tomb, besides improving culture like a normal temple,
it will give 2 Happiness as well, and trust me, that gets VERY USEFUL later
in the game. But this comes at the cost of double pillage gold for the enemy
when they capture the city.
Ramesses the Great
~ History
"Ramesses II is considered to be Egypt's greatest and most powerful pharaoh.
Taking the throne in his twenties, Ramesses ruled Egypt for more than 60
years. Ramesses is remembered as a great military leader as well as for the
extensive construction programs he instituted. He is also remembered for
building a new capital city, Pi-Ramesses. Some historians believe that
Ramesses is the pharaoh in the biblical story of Moses.
Egypt having recently emerged from a period of declining power and prestige,
Ramesses' father, Seti I, spent a good deal of time subduing rebellious
provinces in Asia. The Hittites, based in Asia Minor, were extending their
power southward, and the two great civilizations were engaged in a protracted
struggle for control of Syria and Palestine. The young Ramesses accompanied
his father on some of these campaigns; by the age of 10 he was given the rank
of captain - though this was almost certainly ceremonial, it does suggest
that his military training began at an extremely young age. Ramesses assumed
the throne in his early twenties, following his father's death.
Four years after becoming pharaoh, Ramesses led an army north to retake the
rebellious provinces that his father had been unable to conquer. The campaign
was apparently successful, and the army advanced as far as Beirut.
In the following year Ramesses attacked the Hittite stronghold at Kadesh. The
Battle of Kadesh is one of the few battles from that period of which we have
records. Believing the citadel to be abandoned, Ramesses approached
incautiously and was ambushed by a large Hittite chariot force hiding beyond
the fort. Although Ramesses achieved a marginal victory in that battle, his
army was so weakened that he had to retreat to Egypt, leaving the fort in
Hittite hands. Ramesses continued to battle the Hittites for some twelve more
years, attaining tactical victories, but unable to hold the contested land
for any time.
In addition to his wars with the Hittites, Ramesses campaigned in Nubia and
Libya, extending his rule to the west and south. However these were of much
less importance as these enemies posed little threat to the survival of
Egypt.
Eventually realizing that further combat was pointless, in the twenty-first
year of his reign, Ramesses agreed to a peace treaty with the Hittites. This
is the earliest known peace treaty in recorded history. Interestingly, the
treaty was written in two versions: the Egyptian version states that the
Hittites sued for peace while the Hittite version states that it was the
Egyptians who requested an end to hostilities.
This treaty appears to have stabilized the borders between the two great
powers, and no further combat between Egypt and the Hittites occurred during
Ramesses' reign.
Early in his reign Ramesses moved his capital from Thebes north to a city in
the Nile Delta, which he renamed "Pi-Ramesses ." The new location was near to
his ancestral home, but more importantly it was far closer to the troublesome
Northern provinces and the dangerous Hittite border. In a few short years the
once-sleepy village was transformed into a major governmental center as well
as an arms manufactory. The city was graced with a beautiful palace and many
temples, as well as numerous statues and other ornaments.
Pi-Ramesses was abandoned long after Ramesses' reign. For many centuries the
site was lost, but archeologists have recently discovered ruins that they
believe belong to the ancient city.
During his reign Ramesses constructed many public works across Egypt. Many of
these were temples and monuments, but he also constructed storehouses,
government buildings, water works, and so forth. Evidently a tireless
self-promoter, Ramesses covered Egypt with statues and carvings of himself,
often recarving those of previous pharaohs with his name and image. (Ramesses
ordered his masons to deeply engrave his image in the stone so that future
pharaohs would have trouble doing the same to him.)
Many historians believe that Pi-Ramesses is the city "Raamses" mentioned in
the Old Testament of the Bible, one of the "Treasure Cities" constructed by
the Israelites during their Egyptian Captivity. Some believe that Ramesses is
in fact the pharaoh of the Biblical story of the Exodus, the ruler who Moses
forced to free his people. However, this is open to debate (particularly
since Ramesses II lived a very long life and emphatically did not drown in
the Red Sea).
Ramesses died at the age of 90. He was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the
Kings, but he was later moved to a secret location. His body was discovered
in the late 19th century and is now on display in the Cairo Museum. It is
difficult to guess whether the pharaoh would be outraged by the desecration
or if he would enjoy the publicity.
Ramesses II ruled Egypt as pharaoh for approximately 66 years, the second
longest reign in Egyptian history. He stabilized his empire's borders and
concluded a highly successful peace treaty with its most important rival, the
Hittites. He clearly cared for his people's welfare and spent much treasure
on massive public works. He is regarded by later Egyptians as the greatest
pharaoh in history, a conclusion it is difficult to dispute."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 4/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 9/10
City State Competitiveness - 5/10
Boldness - 5/10
As you can gather from Ramesses' power, you can tell he will be a VERY STRONG
competitor to build Wonders. If you want to build wonders, you will want to
build them quickly, otherwise, Ramesses will be there to build them before you
even get a chance to do so. He is an average player in terms of city states
and being bold, but again, build Wonders quickly, they contribute to score,
and although Ramesses will not want to win that much, if it comes down to
score, you might be in some sort of trouble.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 3/10
Hostile - 7/10
Deceptive - 6/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 6/10
Friendly - 5/10
Neutral - 5/10
Ramesses will not really want to declare war, but he will get to the point
where his sabre-rattling will really piss you off. When I was playing as
China, his constant threats that I was a puny empire annoyed me so much that
his was suing for peace after I took his capital city and had riflemen look
at his spearmen. He will be hostile to you, and he will be defensive, and he
will also be very scared of you, move troops to the border and he will take
notice of you. And it won't be pretty.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 5/10
Ramesses isn't there to take over city states, he is quite opportunitistic, if
it is in his way, he probably would take the city, but he is more likely to
protect City States, and as such, entering war with a City State will probably
drag him along as well.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 4/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 3/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 6/10
Mounted - 6/10
Ramesses is likely to use all sorts of units, so expect a good mix of ranged,
melee and mounted units attacking your lands. However, the good news is that
his army will be lacking in training, he will lack promotions on his units,
and this will be interesting, battlefield-tested veterans against green
recruits is murder in any situation.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 5/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 5/10
Another leader who doesn't use their navy as they should, it is really there
to support and sometimes as an offensive armed force, but what is interesting
is that Ramesses will not really use naval units to scout, but will use them
to attack you, which is interesting.
Air Scale
Air Power - 4/10
Really, Ramesses may use aerial units, but won't really use them exclusively
as their only military force, realistically, his army will be quite balanced,
a nice even mix between ground, naval and aviation units.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 5/10
Growth - 6/10
Tile Improvement - 7/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 7/10
Gold - 6/10
Science - 5/10
Culture - 7/10
As you will expect from a man who likes to build Wonders, he will concentrate
heavily on production, and you can expect him to build mines and lumber mills
where he can. This will also lead to a lot of tile improvement, so get your
pillage axes ready. And as a byproduct of his Wonder production, you can
expect big growth in culture from Ramesses.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 6/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 8/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Ramesses is quite interested in building wonders to advance his score to
victory. This makes him quite dangerous if you cannot win outright, in
particular, on huge maps where you can't possible conquer the entire
planet quickly.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.05] England
Leader - Queen Elizabeth I
Unique Unit 1 - Longbowman, replaces Crossbowman
Unique Unit 2 - Ship of the Line, replaces Frigate
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
SUN NEVER SETS
- All Naval units capable of Ocean travel get 2 extra Movement Points
~ History
"England is located on Great Britain, a "green and pleasant" island off of the
western coast of Europe. It is the largest member of the political entity
known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Historically a seafaring people, for much of the past 500 years the English
have used their incomparable navy to project their power into Europe and
across the globe.
England occupies the greater part of the island of Great Britain (along with
the Welsh to the west and the Scots to the north). At some 80,000 square
miles in size, Great Britain is slightly larger than the state of Kansas in
the USA. Until approximately 6000 BC a land bridge connected Great Britain to
Europe; since that time the two have been separated by the English Channel,
which is some 20 miles wide at its narrowest point.
England is endowed with rolling hills and plentiful natural resources,
including coal and (at one time) extensive forests. Benefitting from warm
water brought to its shores by Atlantic Ocean currents, England enjoys
plentiful rainfall and relatively mild winters.
The first detailed written description of England comes from the Romans, who
under Julius Caesar invaded Great Britain in 55 BC. Caesar found an island of
perhaps one million Celtic people divided into various warring tribes and
possessing an Iron Age level of technology. Caesar led two expeditions to the
island in total, and though he fought several successful battles, unrest in
Gaul drew him off the island before he could solidify his conquests.
The Romans returned to Great Britain 90 years later - and this time they came
in force. In 43 AD four legions (some 20,000 soldiers) under Aulus Plautius
landed somewhere on the southern or south-eastern coast (the exact location
is unknown) and made their way inland. After a number of stiff battles they
crushed the local opposition, establishing a provincial capital at
Camulodunum (Colchester). Over the next fifty years the Romans extended their
borders west, conquering Wales despite fierce resistance, and north as far as
the river Tyne. In 122 AD construction was begun on Hadrian's Wall, a
fortification designed to protect Roman Britain from the fierce Picts
(proto-Scots) in the northern highlands.
The Romans remained in power in Great Britain for another three centuries,
until approximately 410 AD. They had a profound effect upon the natives
during their occupation, introducing important advances in agriculture,
technology, architecture, and letters.
As the Roman military presence retreated from Britain and Western Europe -
under pressure from invading Germanic tribes such as the Vandals - local
warlords appeared to fill the power vacuum. But none were strong enough to
hold off the ever-increasing attacks on the island by the Picts, the Irish,
and other barbarian invaders. According to legend, King Vortigern invited the
Germanic Saxons into Britain to fight the Picts, but in 442 AD the Saxons
turned on their hosts and conquered much of the lowlands. The Saxons remained
in power for roughly fifty years until they were driven out largely thanks to
the skilful use of cavalry by the surviving British.
In the mid sixth century a fresh wave of Germanic invaders, the Anglo-Saxons,
reappeared, and they all but annihilated the original inhabitants, driving
the remnants of the population west into Cornwall and Wales. The Anglo-Saxons
would remain in power for several centuries, a period which saw the
conversion of the population to Christianity, and a great increase in
scholarship on the island, largely centered on the new Christian monasteries.
It is during this period that the inhabitants of south-east Great Britain
began to consider themselves "English."
By the ninth century England (and Scotland and Ireland, not to mention much
of Europe) was under continuous assault from Scandinavian raiders known as
the Vikings. The Vikings captured cities and towns along the North Sea, and
by the middle of the century they controlled almost half of Great Britain,
including London. In 877 Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was able to stop
their advance into Southern England, and over the next 50 years he and his
heirs fought relentlessly to retake all of the Danish conquests. Athelstan,
Alfred's grandson, was the first man to rule all of England in 927.
However, the Danes were not finished with England, and another wave of raids
began in 980. Worn down by 20 years of continuous fighting, in 1013 the
English surrendered and accepted Sweyn of Denmark as their king. Sweyn was
succeeded by Canute, who ruled until 1035. The Danes and the English
coexisted fairly peacefully for the next 30 years until 1066, when England
was once again subject to invasion.
On September 27, 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, launched a major invasion
against England, leading 6000 knights and foot soldiers across the English
Channel. After defeating the English army and killing the English King Harold
at the Battle of Hastings, William marched on London. By December of 1066
most of the English nobility had sworn allegiance to William, and he was
crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas. Under Norman rule the country's
historical ties with Scandinavia were largely severed and England came into
much closer contact with Europe.
Lots of history occurred in England over the next 400 years. There were
bitter power struggles, revolts, civil wars, as well as wars in Europe,
Scotland and elsewhere. There were several Crusades, a number of plagues and
famines, and there were many kings named Richard and Henry, some of whom
appeared to be quite mad. Unfortunately, space and time constraints require
us to move rapidly to the 16th century, and the rise of Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most remarkable rulers in English history.
The daughter of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth took the throne in a period of
great social and religious upheaval in England (and across Europe).
Intelligent, beautiful, and with a great deal of courage, Elizabeth
inherited a country that was virtually bankrupt, on the brink of religious
civil war, and under threat of conquest by its much stronger neighbor, Spain.
During her reign Elizabeth I united the country, confounded Spain's attempts
at conquest, and ushered in one of the great golden ages of arts and
literature in human history. She also oversaw a major expansion of the
English navy, which would dominate the world's seas for centuries.
Elizabeth I died childless, and the English throne passed to James, the
Stuart King of Scotland, who became James I of England. Charles I, James's
successor, was overthrown by Parliament after the English Civil War
(1641-1645). The crown was reinstated in 1660, but much weaker, serving "at
the will of Parliament."
In 1707, the "Acts of Union" united the kingdoms of Scotland with that of
England and Wales. The English and Scottish Parliaments were merged, and
England ceased to exist as a political entity. However, England was the
largest, wealthiest and most powerful part of the United Kingdom, so much
so that many still use the terms England and the United Kingdom
interchangeably, much to the annoyance of the Welsh and Scots (and later,
the Northern Irish).
In 1800 the United Kingdom attempted to unite with Ireland, becoming the
"United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." Many of the largely Roman
Catholic Irish were bitterly opposed to the union, leading to a terrible
insurgency that lasted for over a century. In 1922 the southern portion of
Ireland was granted its independence, and the UK was once again renamed,
this time becoming "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland."
Queen Elizabeth's reign saw the first British colony established on the New
World, while the powerful British navy protected the growing British
interests across the world. England's earliest colonial interests lay in the
Caribbean and North America, but over time they expanded into Asia and the
South Pacific as well. As British power grew in India, all European
competition was driven out, and the English East India Company came to rule
the subcontinent in everything but name.
In the late 18th century Britain lost control of much of North America to the
Thirteen Colonies (later, the United States of America) in a long and
difficult revolution. While this was a great blow to British prestige, the
Empire continued to expand unabated, and by the early 20th century the
British Empire was the largest and most powerful in history, encompassing one
quarter of the Earth's landmass and human population.
For much of its history, the UK has sought to keep anyone from becoming a
dominant power in Europe, and to keep anyone from developing a navy to rival
that of the UK's. During Elizabeth's reign Spain was the biggest threat, and
the UK sought to bankrupt Spain by intercepting the Spanish treasure fleets
from the New World and to support insurgencies taking place in Spanish
possessions. In the 17th century the UK fought a series of wars against the
Netherlands when Dutch ships threatened British naval primacy.
In the 19th century the UK faced off against the mighty French Empire under
Napoleon Bonaparte. The French had an incomparable army and perhaps the
greatest general in human history, while the UK had its navy and the wealth
from its worldwide empire. The titanic struggle lasted some 12 years, but
eventually Napoleon was defeated and the UK emerged victorious.
The 20th century of course saw the UK pitted against Germany (and allies) in
two terrible conflagrations, World Wars I and II. These wars would test the
British to the limits of human endurance, and though the UK would be on the
victorious side, the cost in wealth and human lives would leave the nation
exhausted and virtually bankrupt, bereft of much of its once-great empire."
As you can gather, England is best on maps with a significant amount of water
on them. Maps such as archipelago are best for them because of the significant
advantage 2 movement points has. On maps with large swathes of land, such as
Terra or Continents, then it is really to use the navy as a support role,
whereas you should be using it as a mighty force in it's own right. The first
of the nations with 2 units, the Longbowman is an improvement over the
Crossbowman in that it gets +1 to it's range, making it attack from 3 tiles,
which is also outside the city's bombardment range. The Ship of the Line is
an advancement on the Frigate as it gets extra vision and extra attack
power.
Queen Elizabeth I
~ History
"Elizabeth I was a remarkable woman living in a remarkable age. Beautiful,
brilliant, and as tough as nails, she survived and indeed thrived, ruling in
an era when most women were little more than chattel.
Born to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who her father had executed for
failing to give him a male heir, Elizabeth's early life was filled with
danger. Growing up an unwanted daughter of a insane father who was destroying
England's ties to the Catholic Church and engaging in civil war so that he
could legally marry another woman (several other women, as it turned out),
Elizabeth had to use all of her wits to survive. Elizabeth received an
excellent education at the hands of various tutors, including the great
scholars of the day. She was an outstanding student, and could speak five
languages fluently.
When King Henry VIII died, the throne passed to his young son, Edward. At
fifteen Elizabeth was implicated in a plot to overthrow him. She came close
to being executed, surviving only because she was able to convince her
skeptical interrogators that she knew nothing of the plot.
When King Edward died in 1553, Elizabeth's older sister Mary assumed the
throne. An ardent Catholic, Mary was quite unpopular with a number of
Protestant noblemen, who attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow her in 1554.
Once again Elizabeth was implicated, but once again she talked her way out of
execution. Queen Mary died in 1558, and at last Elizabeth became Queen.
Elizabeth was an extraordinary ruler. She established the Protestant Church
as the official Church of England. However, she attempted to stem the
persecution of Catholics in the country - at least as much as was possible
when the Catholic nobility were actively plotting her demise. She also
restored the debased currency of England, a step crucially necessary to
restore the nation's flagging finances.
Elizabeth used all of the tools available to her to achieve her goals. She
carefully crafted an image for herself as the "Virgin Queen," greatly
increasing her popular support. She received countless offers of marriage
from nobility and indeed from kings across Europe. But she accepted none of
them, instead using her unmarried state to control her friends and foes
alike; if one faction got too strong, she could drive them back into line by
suggesting that she was considering marrying someone from an opposing
faction.
Elizabeth was a great patron of the arts, particularly music and literature.
She made England a center of culture, where great artists like William
Shakespeare flourished. During her reign the first English playhouse was
built, followed shortly by others including Shakespeare's Globe. And in 1574
weekday performances were made legal. An admirer of poetry, Elizabeth wrote a
number of noteworthy poems herself.
Militarily, Catholic Spain was England's greatest threat. Spain was the great
continental power of the day, and its leader, King Philip, had upon more than
one occasion expressed the intent of invading England. In 1588 he tried,
building a huge armada to conquer the upstart nation. Elizabeth quickly
organized the country's navy to fend off the fleet, and by a combination of
superior tactics, ship design, and some foul weather at just the right
moment, they defeated the Spanish foe. England was not to be seriously
threatened with invasion for about 400 years.
During Elizabeth's reign England, France, Spain and the Dutch all set up
colonies in the New World. Elizabeth employed a large number of privateers to
attack foreign ships and colonies, as did most other nations. Spain and its
New World wealth remained the privateers' favorite targets.
Overall, with the exception of her lucky triumph over the Spanish Armada,
Elizabeth was not a successful war leader. She oversaw various half-baked
military incursions into Ireland, France and the Netherlands, none of which
redounded to her credit.
Elizabeth died in 1603, having ruled 45 years. Although in her later years
military and economic reversals had dimmed her luster to the point that many
in England were relieved that she finally passed on, history acknowledges
that she left her country in a much better state than when she came to power.
Her great skills were an unerring survival instinct and flair for
self-promotion, personal charisma, and toughness matching that of the
strongest rulers in history. No better words can serve to describe her than
her own: "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the
heart and stomach of a king."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 5/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 5/10
City State Competitiveness - 8/10
Boldness - 4/10
Queen Liz is extremely competitive, she is evenly matched to go for gold as
well as construct nice big wonders, but she is most competitive to go for the
City States, she will want them under her control, one way or another. The
good thing is, she isn't really big on threats, which is nice if you are
scared by her.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 5/10
Hostile - 7/10
Deceptive - 6/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 4/10
Neutral - 5/10
She isn't going to be one of the friendly leaders, she is more likely to go
to war with you than to be friends. Given the historical context, it is quite
understandable, her foreign policy was to be defensive, and not really attack.
The reason for such a high hostility score is simple, back in her era, pretty
much the whole of Europe was against her, given that Catholicism was strong in
nations such as France and Spain.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 6/10
Liz is about as likely to be protective of the city states as she is going to
conquer them. That does leave you in a bit of a bind, to protect them, you
need to defend against her, whilst if you want to attack them, you need to
attack her. And given how competitive she is to gain the furvor of the the
city states, this is a credible threat.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 3/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 6/10
Ranged - 8/10
Mounted - 3/10
Given that one of their unique units is a ranged unit, it is understandable
that Liz will want units to blow you up from range, including archers and
later on, artillery units. She is far more likely to use her units to bolster
her defences, rather than attack, something that the history makes rather
clear when your read it.
Naval Scales
Naval - 8/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 8/10
Naval Growth - 7/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 7/10
This scale makes her the first real standout from the other leaders already
talked about. Whereas other leaders will use their navy as a support/escort
role, Good Queen Bess will be using her navy a lot, she will use them to
attack your coastal cities, blockade them, and set you up for a ground
invasion. In this sense, her Navy is her Army, whereas many leaders will
use their Army to do the talking, she will use the Navy to do the talking.
Air Scale
Air Power - 5/10
Nothing really stands out here, Elizabeth isn't really likely to use air
power to it's fullest, such as stealth bombers dropping payloads out of the
sky, but she is willing to use them in conjunction with her powerful navy, and
given the deadly mix of Carriers and Aircraft, along with her powerful
units to scoff out Submarines, she is quite deadly if you let her develop
some naval force.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 6/10
Growth - 4/10
Tile Improvement - 6/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 6/10
Gold - 8/10
Science - 6/10
Culture - 6/10
If you want to take out a leader with a large stash of Gold, Elizabeth is one
of the prime targets, she is likely to have a ton of cash on her. However,
given her good defensive capabilities, she isn't going to let you have the
gold without a fight, and hope that her cities aren't all around the coast
where her Navy will give you a powerful run for your money.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 5/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 6/10
Spaceship - 6/10
Her civilization overall won't be too unbalanced, she will go for any
victory really, she doesn't stand out here, but she is willing to use
military force to get her way, something that is reflected above, but not
here.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.06] France
Leader - Napoleon Bonaparte
Unique Unit 1 - French Foreign Legion, replaces Infantry
Unique Unit 2 - Musketeer, replaces Musketman
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
ANCIENT REGIME
- All Citys get 2 Culture Points per turn until Steam Power
~ History
"Located in Western Europe, bordering six (or seven, depending upon how you
count them) European countries and with coasts on the Atlantic Ocean, the
English Channel, and the Mediterranean, France has long been one of the great
political, military and cultural powers of the Western world.
France is a country of plains and green forests with ancient mountain ranges
on its south-east and west borders. A beautiful, fertile land, France is
blessed with some of the best wine-growing climate and terrain in the world.
Located in a temperate zone and bordered on the south by the warm
Mediterranean, the French climate is generally kindly and conducive to
agriculture.
The gentle waters of the Mediterranean facilitated exploration and settlement
of the coast of southern France. Greece founded the colony of Massilia
(modern Marseille) as early as 600 BC, but the earliest written records of
exploration of the country's interior comes hundreds of years later from the
Romans, who began campaigning in "Transalpine Gaul" (Gaul across the Alps) in
the first century BC. There the Romans encountered mostly Celtic people, plus
a few surviving pre-Celtic Iberians and Ligurians. They also met many
Germanic people emigrating into Gaul from points north and east.
Roman control over Gaul was gradual but inexorable. In 121 BC Rome sent
armies into Gaul to assist Massilia against encroaching Celts, and also to
defend its overland route into Spain (where it had important possessions).
This led Rome to claim a chunk of southern Gaul as a province, which survives
today as the "Provence" region of France. In 58 BC Caesar launched a major
campaign against the interior of Gaul. The war lasted some eight years, at
the end of which Gaul was more or less securely a Roman possession.
With the exception of a few notable but easily-crushed rebellions, Gaul
remained fairly content as a Roman province for several centuries. The
country thrived under Roman rule, and remnants of wealthy Roman-style villas
can be found across the French countryside. As it was pacified Gaul became a
springboard for further Roman expansion, both northwest across the Channel
into Great Britain, and northeast into the barbarian Germanic lands.
During the third and fourth centuries AD, as Roman power began to wane across
Western Europe, Gaul came under increasing pressure from invaders from the
north and east. Rome concentrated its power upon holding the Danube River and
stopping barbarians from crossing into Italy, leaving Gaul under-defended. In
the mid-third century Gaul suffered major incursions by the Germanic Alemanni
and Franks, and the territory wasn't retaken by Rome until 274. As the
countryside grew hostile and dangerous, the cities and towns fortified, a
process which would continue through the Middle Ages.
Christianity, which was introduced to Gaul around 250 AD, had taken root
across the country by the end of the fourth century.
In 395 AD, Rome was divided into an eastern and western half, and Western
Rome all but abandoned Gaul as it tried desperately to protect Rome itself
from barbarian invasion out of Austria and Germany. As a result, in 405-406 a
large number of Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine into Gaul, carving out
permanent homes for groups such as the Franks and Burgundians. The Visigoths
drove far south, occupying land in Aquitaine. By 476 the Romans had been
totally driven from power in Gaul by Germanic invaders.
During the Middle Ages (400-1200 AD), France was divided into a number of
smaller kingdoms ruled by the heirs of the various Germanic invaders. In the
late 5th century King Clovis of the northern Franks unified most of the
country (with the exception of some stubborn Visigoth holdouts in the south).
Clovis was the first of the "Merovingian" kings to rule the unified country.
He moved his capital to Paris, and he gained a degree of recognition from the
Roman Emperor, which gave his rule legitimacy.
When Clovis died in 511, the kingdom was divided between his four sons, who
spent the next five decades fighting each other for the country. As a brother
died, his land was apportioned among the surviving brothers. This continued
until 558 when there was only one brother standing. The Merovingian kingdom
remained united a whopping nine years, until that king died and the kingdom
was once again apportioned between his sons. This cycle of conquest and
division would continue for centuries, costing the lives of thousands every
generation.
As the eighth century opened, another strong Frankish family arose to
challenge the Merovingians. Based in northern Austrasia, the Carolingians
defeated their local neighbors and came to dominate northern France/Germany.
At first they threw their support behind the Merovingians, but when King
Theodoric IV died in 737, the Carolingian King Charles Martel was strong
enough to assume direct power, leaving the throne empty. During his reign
Charles was able to stop the Muslims' incursions into France and extend his
power into Germany as well.
Charles was followed by Pippin the Short, who, with the blessing of the Pope
in Rome openly assumed the throne. Upon his death the kingdom was divided
between his two sons, Carloman, who didn't last long, and Charlemagne, who
did.
Charlemagne's father died in 768, and his brother in 771, leaving him sole
king of France. He pursued a policy of expansion into Germany and Muslim-held
Spain, having more success against the Germans than he did against the emirs
in Spain. He intervened in Italy on the side of the Pope, whose territories
were under threat from the Lombards to the north. He conquered the Lombards
and had himself crowned their king, and he created the Papal States, earning
a good deal of gratitude from the Church.
By the end of the eighth century Charlemagne was the undisputed power in
Western Europe, ruling much of the territory which would become modern
France, western Germany, the Benelux countries and northern Italy. In 800 AD
Pope Leo III crowned him emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, making him the
legal successor to the Caesars of the western Roman Empire.
Following Charlemagne's death in 813, his son Louis the Pious inherited the
throne. When he died Charlemagne's grandsons once again began fighting over
the kingdom, and in 843, at the Treaty of Verdun, the Holy Roman Empire was
divided into three sections along north-south lines. These were Francia
Orientalis, the eastern territories, Francia Occidentalis, the western
territories, and Francia Media, perilously wedged between them. Although
smaller, Francia Occidentalis approximated the borders of modern France, and
some scholars date the creation of the modern country to the Treaty of
Verdun.
The new kingdoms weren't especially stable, and the people of France endured
another 300 years of incessant warfare and familial backbiting as the various
kings and nobility struggled for dominance. Life wasn't made any easier by
the arrival of the Vikings, who raided as far inland as Paris, often
demanding a huge ransom before they would go away. They remained active
through the ninth and tenth centuries, some settling permanently in Normandy.
The rulers also had to deal with English monarchs who claimed territories in
the west, including portions of Aquitaine, Brittany, and Lombardy. It took
several centuries to push the Brits entirely off of the continent.
As the new millennium approached, the Capetian family gained the French
crown. They too spent much time fighting each other as well as the various
nobility who challenged their reign.
King Philip II, who reigned from 1180-1223, did much to strengthen the
monarchy. When not off fighting at the Crusades with his friend Richard the
Lionheart, Philip reorganized the government, modernized the French economy,
and defeated the English, Flemish and Germans singly and in groups. King
Louis IX (reigned 1226-1270), further consolidated the country.
As the fourteenth century opened, France was the most powerful country on the
continent. In 1328, Philip VI assumed the throne. Edward III, King of
England, owned Aquitaine and also had a slender claim to the French throne,
which he hadn't pressed at the time of Philip VI's succession. However, in
1337 Philip VI confiscated Aquitaine, and in response Edward III reinstated
his claim, bringing France and England to war.
The English pursued the war on the seas and by fomenting rebellion among
France's Flemish subjects. In 1346 an English army won a famous battle at
Crecy but were unable to follow this up with any further success and were
forced to evacuate the continent more or less empty-handed. In 1347 the Black
Death struck, killing huge numbers of people and delaying the war. Hard
fighting broke out anew in the 1350's, during which the French king managed
to get himself captured by the English, who demanded a huge ransom for his
release. The French refused to pay, and the king died in captivity in London.
The war continued to drag on until 1420, when the Treaty of Troyes declared
the unification of the French and English crowns on the infant head of Henry
VI, king of England and France.
This did not sit well with everyone. The French nobleman Charles VIII had a
fairly strong claim to the throne, and many French patriots preferred him to
any English ruler. This included a strange young peasant woman named Joan of
Arc. Within a few years Joan had led the French on to victory, driving the
English back on all fronts. Charles was anointed king in 1429, and Joan was
burned at the stake a year later.
By the 16th century, there was a good deal of resentment against the Catholic
Church across Europe, which was seen to be greedy and corrupt. In 1517 Martin
Luther nailed up his "Ninty-Five Theses," condemning the excesses of the
Church. Martin Luther's movement gained many followers in France, and by 1534
the king issued the first of a series of anti-Huguenot (Protestant) edicts.
This did little to stop the spread of the movement. By 1562 the two sides
were in open warfare, which continued on and off for decades. It ended in
1598, when the Edict of Nantes granted tolerance to the Huguenots.
In the seventeenth century the power of the crown was enhanced, largely
through the work of one man, Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duke of
Richelieu. Richelieu was an extremely able minister and one of the most
colorful characters in history. Brilliant, calculating, and ruthless, he
worked ceaselessly to expand the king's power and prestige and to destroy his
enemies. He also moved against the Huguenots, who retained their religious
freedom but lost their military power.
In 1643, the remarkable Louis XIV took the throne. Known as the "Sun King,"
Louis seduced and tamed the French monarchy, establishing the Palace of
Versailles as the most opulent court the world had ever seen. Underneath the
foppish trappings Louis was an ambitious ruler. During his reign he fought in
three major wars and several minor conflicts. Louis would reign for an
astonishing 72 years, dying in 1715. He still holds the record for the
longest reign of a European monarch.
The eighteenth century saw an increase in power and wealth of the nobility,
the emergence of a French middle class, and the further destitution of the
peasantry. Philosophically, the Enlightenment tended to undermine the belief
in the traditional institutions such as the Church and the monarchy. In 1776
the American Revolution broke out, and the French saw a free people throw off
an oppressive monarchy in favor of democracy and self-rule. This would
further stoke unrest already building throughout the country.
In 1789, close on the heels of the American Revolution, the French peasants
and middle class revolted against the nobility and the king. The Revolution
was a brutal, bloody affair, with the king and perhaps 50,000 other French
citizens being executed by the newly-invented guillotine (a triumph of
Enlightenment science).
In the early phases of the Revolution the people marched on the Bastille,
abolished the nobility, and forced the king to accept a constitutional
monarchy. But the new Assembly degenerated into warring factions struggling
for primacy and was unable to govern. Without government sanction the Paris
Commune murdered some 1350 prisoners. In September 1792 a Constitutional
Convention met and abolished the monarchy, declaring a republic. Austria and
Prussia demanded the restitution of the king, threatening retaliation against
the French population if they resisted. The revolutionary government saw this
as evidence that the king was conspiring with the enemy; he was condemned to
death and executed in January of 1793.
Later in 1793 the "Committee for Public Safety" unleashed the "Reign of
Terror," ensuring public safety by guillotining some 15,000-40,000 of the
public, many without trial. Several local revolts broke out, primarily caused
by peasant outrage at the treatment of the Catholic Church at the hands of
the Revolutionaries, but these were crushed with great ferocity.
In 1795 the new French constitution established an entirely new form for the
French government. Executive power was held by "The Directory," a panel of
five directors elected annually by the new bi-cameral legislature. However,
the new form of government proved unmanageable, and in 1799 a man named
Napoleon Bonaparte seized power.
This extraordinary man was born in French-owned Corsica and trained in
artillery in the French army. In 1799 he staged a coup d'etat, installing
himself as First Consul, a position he pretty much invented. Within five
years he crowned himself Emperor. For sixteen years he ruled France, taking a
bankrupt, revolution-torn country and making it into the most powerful force
in Europe. Time and again he fought and defeated every other country within
reach, singly and in alliances against him, save one, England. Unable to
create a navy that could stand up to the unmatched British Navy, he could not
reach and destroy his most implacable foe.
For fifteen years Napoleon marched and counter-marched triumphantly across
Europe, until finally defeated by yet another coalition at Leipzig, and then
a year later at Waterloo.
After Napoleon's final defeat, the victorious countries instituted a
constitutional monarchy in France, which lasted for some 40 years, until
Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon was elected president by popular vote in
1848, declaring himself king in 1852. He remained in power until 1870, when,
goaded by Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, he made an unfortunate
decision to go to war against Prussia. The war was a humiliating disaster.
The Prussians made brilliant use of their rail network to concentrate before
the French were ready to fight, and on September 2, 1870, Napoleon and his
entire army were captured.
The war resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy once more, replaced by the
Third Republic, the humiliating loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Prussia/Germany,
and a burning desire for revenge which would serve France badly in the coming
years.
The First World War was caused by a huge failure of European diplomatic
common sense and imagination, as countries formed a bewildering web of
alliances and treaties, binding their fates together in ways that they barely
comprehended. The war was initiated by a blatant land-grab of Serbia by
Austria-Hungary, using as casus belli ("our excuse for shooting at the
neighbor") the murder of an Arch Duke by a Serbian terrorist. The Arch Duke
was killed on June 28, 1914, and by August Europeans were killing each other
on three different continents.
There were two sides in the conflict, the Central Powers, consisting of
Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria, facing off
against the Triple Entente, of the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. On the
Eastern Front the Germans struck quickly, destroying a completely outclassed
Russian army and nearly driving them out of the war. On the Western Front,
they drove deep into French territory before being stopped east of Paris by
desperate defensive operations from France and the UK.
For the next four years France was divided by a hellish 5000 foot-long line
of trenches across the countryside, with men fighting and dying in the tens
of thousands, and success being measured in advancing inches. The land was
poisoned by thousands of corpses, exploded and unexploded ordnance, and
chemical warfare. In 1917 the United States entered the war, and German
morale began to collapse. By 1918 the German government fell and the new
government signed an armistice.
France had been bled white by the war, with two million dead (four percent
of their entire population) and over four million wounded. The territory that
had been at the front or behind enemy lines was a wasteland of festering
corpses and cities and villages in ruin. Their fury at Germany resulted in a
demand for huge reparations, both to help France rebuild and to punish the
enemy. While this policy might have had short-term benefits, it had two major
negative results: it embittered the German people, making them thirst for
revenge, and it disgusted the Americans, making them less inclined to become
involved in European messes in the future.
The Second World War was a painful and humiliating disaster for France. As
the Germans rebuilt their war machine after World War I, the French, who were
desperately short of manpower following the Great War, constructed the
Maginot Line, a rather magnificent line of fortresses, underground bunkers
and trenches on the border facing Germany. If the German army had tried to
punch through that line, it would have certainly suffered great losses of
manpower, and more importantly, taken precious time.
Unfortunately, for political reasons the French had not extended the Line to
the sea, as it would have placed Belgium outside of the defenses, and for
their part the Belgians refused to fortify their border with Germany for fear
it would anger the Germans. Thus when the Germans decided to invade France
they simply bypassed the Line and drove through Belgium. The French and
British were never able to establish a stable defensive line against the
crushing German blitzkrieg, and France was overrun in weeks, surrendering on
June 22, 1940.
On June 6, 1944, British, American and Free French troops landed at Normandy
and began liberating France from German occupation. The German army retreated
slowly, putting up a stubborn defense, but with Soviet troops closing in on
German soil from the east, catastrophic troop losses on all fronts, the total
loss of air superiority and an unending rain of Allied bombs on German
factories and cities, defeat was inevitable. Paris was liberated on August
25, 1944, and Germany surrendered on May 7-8, 1945.
The years following World War II saw France grudgingly divesting itself from
its overseas possessions, fighting painful and ultimately futile wars in
Vietnam and Algeria. At the same time it was rebuilding at home, creating a
new and modern country out of the ashes of the Great Wars. It possesses a
large immigrant population, including many Muslims, and it too is suffering
through the difficulties caused by the current painful clash of cultures
between Islam and the West.
French arts are flourishing as never before, and Paris - the "City of Lights"
- is once again the cultural center of the world. France has become a leading
member of the European Union, alongside its former enemy Germany. In
historical terms this is an astonishing triumph of common sense and suggests
a bright future for France, Europe, and the world."
France has probably the longest of histories, but rightfully deserved, besides
being surrender monkeys, thank you popular culture. Anyway, France is pretty
powerful in terms of culture, an extra 2 culture per turn might not sound
like a lot for a city until you have a large empire, and 2 culture a turn
for 40 cities sounds like a fair amount. Enough to discount the 15% increase
in policy costs after creating a city.
France has 2 decent infantry units, the Musketeer, which replaces the
Musketman, does more damage than the Musketman, and indeed makes it a viable
alternative to a person using Longswordsmen, which will be outdated with
the advent of rifling. Also, there is the French Foreign Legion, which
will replace Infantry, which share identical firepower and combat
effectiveness on the field, but the French Foreign Legion get a 20% boost to
combat strength when they fight outside friendly territory.
Napoleon Bonaparte
~ History
"It is virtually impossible to overstate the military genius of Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica, where he entered a
military academy at the age of ten. In school he displayed a great aptitude
for mathematics, history, and geography, as well as a total indifference to
literature and the humanities. At fourteen he was commissioned as a
sub-lieutenant in an artillery regiment. When the French revolution broke
out, Napoleon sided with the Revolutionaries and was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of artillery, where he quickly made a name for himself as
a successful commander.
Early on Napoleon displayed both his military brilliance and his ability to
navigate the perilous political landscape of Revolutionary France, where one
false step could cost you your head - literally. By 1794 he was a
brigadier-general, and by 1795 he was appointed command of the French Army of
the Interior. He was 25 years of age. Over the next few years Napoleon led
French armies to major victories over various continental foes, including the
extremely powerful Austrians.
Capitalizing on his success and his growing popularity with the citizens and
the army, in 1800 he overthrew the government and appointed himself "First
Consul." Five years later he would crown himself "Emperor and Consul for
Life," displaying his fine contempt for the democratic roots of the
Revolution that brought him to power.
An exceptional administrator, Napoleon rapidly reorganized the government,
repealed the more radical and violent laws of the Revolution, and reopened
the churches, cementing his popularity with the people of France. However,
France was still at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon once again took to
the battlefields, where he won stunning victories against Austria, causing
that country and England to make peace.
England remained nervous of France's imperial intentions, and war resumed in
1803. Napoleon found himself facing a daunting alliance that included
England, Austria, Russia and Sweden. Acting with amazing speed and cunning,
Napoleon used his "interior lines" to concentrate his forces against the
dispersed enemy. He rapidly marched across Europe, capturing the capital of
Austria and then crushing the Russian forces at the battle of Austerlitz.
Austria sued for peace once again. For several years Napoleon would defeat
every foe that came against him. He crushed the Prussians, the Spanish, and
the Austrians yet again. However, Russia and England remained undefeated.
Eventually Napoleon decided that he would never be safe in Europe as long as
Russia, aided by the perfidious English, was on his flank. With England
secure behind the Channel and its superb navy, he had little choice but to
attack Russia, the only foe in the alliance his armies could reach. In 1812
he led half a million men to attack Moscow. The Russian forces retreated
before his advance, taking or burning anything that might be of use to the
invaders, while in the rear Cossack raiders destroyed Napoleon's supply
lines. Bonaparte did reach and capture Moscow, but once again the Russians
had removed or burnt anything there that might feed his men, and he was
forced to retreat, fighting the Russian troops and the even more deadly
Russian winter mile after bitter mile. By the end of the campaign Napoleon
had lost 96% of his army.
Upon returning to Paris, Napoleon immediately recruited another army of
350,000, but his image of invulnerability was gone, and all Europe rose
against him. Prussia, Russia and Austria allied against him, and England
threw more troops into contested Spain. Though Napoleon was to again win
famous victories, his enemies continued their relentless attacks. Eventually
the allies drove their way into Paris, and Napoleon abdicated. For his
trouble he was given rulership of the island of Elba, along with an income of
six million francs, to be paid by France.
Later he would return to France and try to regain power one last time, but he
was finally and irrevocably defeated by an English and Prussian army at
Waterloo in Belgium. This time he was confined for life at the island of
Sainte-Helene, a thousand miles from the coast of Africa. He died there in
1821.
Napoleon was one of the most brilliant generals of all time. He moved his
troops with astounding rapidity, and he always knew exactly where to strike
in order to cause the most damage. Domestically he turned out to be a decent,
imaginative ruler and France flourished under his control (until his endless
wars sapped her strength and will to fight). An Army general to his core, he
never was able to create a navy able to seriously challenge England's
dominance over the oceans.
In the end, he just couldn't beat everybody."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 8/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 6/10
City State Competitiveness - 7/10
Boldness - 8/10
Napoleon is a hard foe to face, simply because he is just very competitive,
and is often overlooked by people and their blind hatred of Montezuma. He
is willing to do whatever it takes to win, and that means competing in all
arenas, and that is what makes him hard to face. He will build Wonders to
dazzle the world, he will influence the City States, he will make threats
against you should you annoy him.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 3/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 6/10
Afraid - 2/10
Friendly - 6/10
Neutral - 5/10
Funnily enough, Napoleon is quite willing to work with you, when he first
meets you, but he is most likely to declare war on you with the French forces
behind him. He won't be afraid by your show of force, so you will just have
to crush him utterly and burn his empire to the ground to show him who's
boss.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 4/10
Friendly - 6/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 7/10
Napoleon is as likely as to protect a City State as he is to conquer it, he
will not hesitate to use ones near you as buffer states between you and him,
and he isn't worried about people crying when he captures a city state being
protected by someone else.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 7/10
Defensive - 3/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 6/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 6/10
Mounted - 5/10
Napoleon isn't that big a fan of Artillery as you would think, however, he
is willing to go full out and be extremely aggressive. You can expect him to
deploy a lot of frontline infantry, the melee type, such as spearmen early
on in the game to riflemen and the French Foreign Legion later in the game
if you let him live that long. His forces are going to be hard to defeat in
battle less you have a technological advantage, and the only downside to his
military abilities is that of defence and defending.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 6/10
Naval Growth - 5/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 5/10
As you would expect, Napoleon isn't that interested in a Navy, at best, it
will be used as a support role, or a self-defence force, he really isn't
interested in using them to the fullest. This is expected though, he was
outclassed by England during the Napoleonic Wars, and clearly, going to
sea against the foes at the time was quite a foolish move.
Air Scale
Air Power - 5/10
Again, Napoleon is another leader that really doesn't use Air Power to the
fullest capacity, he will use them at best, in support roles, such as
bombarding your cities or just taking out close units, he won't be using them
exclusively, he has men on the ground to wipe you out for that purpose.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 6/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 4/10
Science - 7/10
Culture - 8/10
Surprisingly, Napoleon is a man of Science and Culture, not a surprise given
his actual administration of France. He is willing to expand quickly, so if
you have the units, you can easily take a few settlers and workers off him. He
is quick to move up the technology tree, and very quick to adopt social
policy, in my Marathon game, I have reduced Napoleon to 3 cities, and he has
already fully completed 2 policy trees, the best anyone has gotten to.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 4/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 4/10
Diplomacy - 4/10
Spaceship - 7/10
It seems that the AI loves to have a spaceship victory, probably because
that is the easiest way to do it without bloodshed. It isn't that interested
in keeping his people that happy, well, that's a given, seeing that most
people were in the Army when he was in charge, so there were no one to be
unhappy at all.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.07] Germany
Leader - Otto von Bismarck
Unique Unit 1 - Landsknecht, replaces Pikeman
Unique Unit 2 - Panzer, replaces Tank
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
FUROR TEUTONICUS
- When destroying a Barbarian Encampment, 50% chance to gain 25 Gold and a
Barbarian Unit.
~ History
"While various "Germanic" peoples have occupied northern-central Europe for
thousands of years, the modern political entity known as "Germany" is
extremely young, created almost singlehandedly by the brilliant Prussian
politician Otto von Bismarck some 140 years ago. During its brief existence
Germany has had a profound effect - for good and for bad - on human history.
Germany encompasses a variety of terrains, from snow-covered mountains in the
south to rolling hills in the west to the flatlands of the east. It is
crossed by several major rivers which provide water for crops and transport
for goods. Its hills and mountains are rich with natural resources and its
plains are fertile. Germany has a temperate climate and abundant rainfall,
ideal for European-style agriculture.
For centuries northern-central Europe has been occupied by Germanic people,
roughly defined as people who speak Germanic languages (rather than say the
Romantic languages of Italy, France and Spain). Evidence suggests that
Germanic tribes lived in northern Germany as far back as the Bronze Age. It
appears that during this period Southern Germany was originally populated by
peoples of Celtic origin; they were however eventually "Germanized" as the
Germanic tribes' influence spread south.
The first historical information on the Germanic tribes comes to us from
about 50 BC, when the Roman general Julius Caesar encountered and fought
various tribes while conquering the province of Gaul (an area roughly
encompassing modern France). Caesar established the eastern border of Gaul at
the Rhine River, beyond which most of the "barbaric" German tribes lived.
The Romans and Germanic people maintained an uneasy peace (punctuated by
various raids and border skirmishes) for some forty years until approximately
10 BC, when the Roman armies invaded Germanic territory from two directions,
crossing the Rhine to the west and the Danube to the east. This proved to be
a catastrophic miscalculation: the barbarians were astonishingly tough
opponents and a number of Roman legions were destroyed. The humiliated Romans
retreated to the previous borders of the Danube and the Rhine, no further
incursions were attempted for several centuries, and the two sides coexisted
more or less peacefully until 350 AD.
During that period there was a good deal of commerce between the Romans and
the Germans, with the Germans trading raw material in exchange for Roman
manufactured and luxury goods. Over time the Germans learned pottery and
advanced agricultural techniques from the Romans, and they even began using
Roman money.
As the fourth century progressed, the Germanic tribes began to come under
increased pressure from "Hunnish" tribes migrating into Germanic territory
from further east. This pushed the Germanic people into Roman territory. Over
the next fifty-odd years parts of Rome were overrun by the Visigoths, Suebi
and Vandals. The city of Rome itself was sacked several times, and several
Roman emperors died fighting the invaders. The Romans eventually came to
terms with some of the invaders, granting them territory and some measure of
protection from the advancing Huns.
With the death of Attila in 435 the Hun Empire collapsed, and the Germanic
tribes no longer needed Rome's protection. A number of tribes declared their
independence from Rome, and within a short period a Visigoth kingdom was
established in southwest Gaul, a Burgundian kingdom was declared in southeast
Gaul, a Frankish kingdom was established in the north, and the Lombard
kingdom was created on the Danube - and the Western Roman Empire ceased to
exist.
Once established in north-western Gaul, the "Franks" (the Germanic peoples in
Roman Gaul) began to expand eastward across the Rhine and back into
non-Romanized Germanic territory, where the non-Romanized Germanic tribes
remained as stubbornly independent as ever. The subjugation of the tribes
spanned three centuries of war, conquest, rebellion, treachery, punishment,
and more war. Religion was one of the great impediments to peace: the Franks
had become Christian and they sought to spread the gospel into the barbarian
lands. The Germanic tribes were pagans and did not want to abandon their
religion. Christianity would emerge victorious, eventually, but it was a long
and difficult (and often bloody) process.
The Franks themselves were not a unified monolithic entity: they spent as
much time fighting themselves as they did battling external foes. The
earliest line of rulers, the Merovingians, remained in power until the middle
of the seventh century, when they were overthrown by the Carolingians, a
rival faction from the north. The Carolingians were blessed with a series of
extremely able kings who, allied with the Catholic Church, extended Frankish
power across much of central Europe.
The greatest of the Carolingians, Charlemagne (742-814) was a brilliant
military leader and a canny politician. He continued his father's and
grandfather's subjugation of the Germanic tribes, and he extended his empire
into southern France and then Italy. In exchange for protecting Rome from the
Saracens and the Byzantines, the Pope crowned him Emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire. Today Charlemagne is considered to be one of the founders of France
and of Germany, not to mention the first man to unite Western Europe since
the Romans.
Upon Charlemagne's death, his only son Louis I (Louis the Pious) assumed the
throne. Louis had more than one son, and when he died the Empire was divided
between them. Many years would pass before any single person would again rule
so large a portion of Europe.
Louis the Pious' son, Louis the German, inherited the eastern portion of the
Holy Roman Empire, which included the Kingdom of Bavaria and other
territories in what would become Medieval Germany. Much of his reign was
spent fighting the Slavs, the Vikings and his brothers, inheritors of the
middle and western portions of Charlemagne's empire (the areas which would
later become France and the Benelux countries). Louis the German ruled for
some 50 years (ca. 825-876), providing political stability to his war-torn
kingdom. When not engaged in battle with his neighbors, Louis was an early
patron of German letters who promoted the creation of monasteries in his
kingdom.
In the two centuries following Louis' reign, external pressure from Danes,
Saracens and Magyars, weakened the central government, and as it proved
incompetent to protect its citizens from attack, power devolved to local
authorities, resulting in a patchwork of smaller mostly independent duchies
who became independent political units in everything but name. Following the
death of the last Carolingian German king, the German dukes elected first a
Frankish duke to be king, but when he proved incompetent the title went to a
Saxon duke.
The Saxons remained in power for some centuries. They successfully held off
the attacks of the eastern barbarians (though an attempt to expand German
power east proved disastrous). By the late 10th century Otto I had invaded
and conquered much of Italy. Pope John XII crowned him Emperor, beginning a
powerful alliance between the German state and the Church that lasted over a
century.
This alliance was not permanent, however. Eventually, the popes grew to
resent the German kings' increasing power over the Church's property and
personnel. Reformers within the Church decried the corruption of bishops and
abbots who purchased their positions from kings and duchies (the sin of
"simony"), claiming that only the pope should make such appointments. Matters
reached a peak in 1075, when King Henry IV demanded that Pope Gregory VII
abdicate; Gregory responded by excommunicating Henry. Facing a civil war,
Henry was forced to beg the pope for forgiveness. The pope gave it, but Henry
was badly weakened and was unable to quash the rebellion, which dragged on
for some 20 years. Although Henry IV survived, the German monarchy was
permanently weakened by the struggle.
During this period German power continued to grow in Central Europe, as
German kings and duchies conquered and colonized non-German territory to the
east and west. King Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa), who reigned from
1152-1190, campaigned to reconquer Lombardy and Italy. Although unsuccessful
against the Lombards, he (and his heirs) did make substantial gains in Italy.
Frederick died in 1190, while leading the ill-fated Third Crusade towards the
Holy Land. According to legend he drowned while bathing.
Frederick's heirs were unable to unify the increasingly fragmented Germany,
and when Frederick II, Barbarossa's grandson, died in 1250, the crown was
left vacant for some time. Although others would eventually claim the crown,
none would again wield true monarchical power.
By the late 14th century the dissolution of Germany was all but complete.
Germany would remain divided for some five long centuries. By the 18th
century Austria (under the Habsburgs) and the kingdom of Prussia were the two
dominant powers; at the beginning of the 19th both were engaged in the
desperate struggles of the Napoleonic wars that convulsed Europe. In the
Congress of Vienna in 1814 which followed Napoleon's defeat, many of the
states which comprised the old German empire were joined together in the
German Confederation. Austria and Prussia both sought to dominate the
Confederation; their incessant squabbling and jockeying for position left the
new state weak and divided.
In 1861 King William I of Prussia appointed Otto von Bismarck Prime Minister
of Prussia. Three short years later Bismarck led his country into war with
Denmark, adding that country to the growing Prussian empire. In 1866 Prussia
went to war against Austria, after Bismarck's cunning machinations left the
Habsburg Empire isolated and vulnerable. Prussia easily defeated its once
mighty competitor, driving Austria from the Confederation.
In 1870 Prussia went to war with France, utilizing its incomparable railroad
network to launch a lightning assault that the French were totally unprepared
for. The French were crushed and the Prussians claimed the disputed
territories of Alsace-Lorraine. Having decisively beaten the only two land
powers who might have stopped them, Bismarck and the Prussians announced the
formation of the German Empire, the direct ancestor of modern Germany.
Germany would dominate central Europe for the next 50 years.
The story of World War I is well known. At heart, that war was a horrible
failure of diplomacy as lesser men tried to emulate Bismarck's tactics. In
the years leading up to that cataclysmic event, the Great Powers of Europe
found themselves almost helplessly falling into two armed camps, each side
linked together by a labyrinthine of diplomatic agreements which left little
room for actual diplomacy. Country A was treaty-bound to Country B, who had
promised to come to Country C's aid if it went to war with Country D, who was
similarly allied to Countries E, F, and G.
In 1914 the entire house of cards came tumbling down following a blatant
attempt to engulf Serbia by Austria-Hungary. Using the assassination of an
Austro-Hungarian nobleman by a Serbian anarchist as an excuse,
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia honored its treaty with Serbia
and declared war on Austria-Hungary, and Austria-Hungary's ally Germany
mobilized its forces to attack Russia, which caused France (still smarting
from the loss of Alsace-Lorraine 40 years earlier) to mobilize against
Germany. England, France and Russia's ally, had little choice but to also
declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Although it enjoyed great initial success early in the war, crippling Russia
and overrunning half of France, Germany and its allies were unable to deliver
the final killing blow to its enemies, and the war degenerated into a hideous
stalemate which lasted for four horrible years of trench warfare. Britain's
command of the seas and the United States' entry into the war finally broke
Germany's will to resist. Sick of war, under pressure on all fronts and
seeing no chance of victory, the German people revolted. The Kaiser fled to
the Netherlands; the Germans declared a Republic, and on November 11 1918
they signed an Armistice agreement. By war's end some 15 million people had
been killed and much of Europe was a stinking wasteland of mud, corpses and
unexploded ordnance.
The victors were not overly kind to Germany following the war. France took
back the disputed territories of Alsace-Lorraine, and the allies imposed huge
war reparations on the already-destitute country, which was forbidden to
maintain a significant military. (Austria-Hungary fared no better: the empire
was dismembered on ethnic lines into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia, and the Ottoman Empire was similarly hacked into pieces.)
Germany was prostrate, bankrupt, and under threat of occupation if it did not
pay huge sums of money to its neighbors (who it should be noted in fairness
were not in much better shape themselves and who desperately needed the money
to rebuild). Many wondered if Germany would ever be able to recover from the
catastrophe of World War I.
Again, the events leading up to World War II are well-known. Trading upon the
anger and humiliation felt by the German people, Adolf Hitler and his fascist
Nazi (National-Socialist) party gained control of the German government. The
Germans rebuilt their country, economy and military with astonishing
rapidity, while Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies and other minorities were
persecuted with increasing ferocity.
While Germany's former enemies watched supinely, Hitler united Germany with
Austria, then gobbled up Czechoslovakia. Isolated by France, England and the
US, Stalin's Communist Russia helped Germany dismember helpless Poland. This
caused France and England to declare war against Germany, but neither country
had the military power to launch an offensive war against Hitler's growing
army.
In 1940 Germany invaded France via the Netherlands, Belgium and the Low
Countries. France's defenses were outflanked, and the German tanks made short
work of the inferior French and British armaments. In a little over a month
France had surrendered and the British had been driven off of the continent.
In 1941 Germany turned its attention to the East. The mighty German war
machine carved a bloody swath into the belly of the Soviet Union, destroying
entire Soviet armies hurled into its path to stem the assault. By late 1941
Germany seemed on the verge of destroying Soviet Russia and achieving
undisputed mastery of continental Europe.
Despite its early astonishing successes, Germany was unable to destroy the
Soviet Union. Crippled by Stalin's purge of the officer's corps some years
before and ill-equipped and ill-trained, the Soviet army fought heroically to
stem the German advance. Though it cost them huge, terrible casualties to do
so, the Red Army halted the Germans before they could capture Leningrad or
Moscow, buying Stalin time to train and equip a huge military force with
which to launch his counter-offensive.
In the Western Front, things were looking no better for Germany The United
States had entered the war (following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor),
and American and British forces began to undermine German power first in
Africa and then Italy. As the Russian forces ground their way west against
extraordinary German resistance, the Americans and British invaded France,
opening up another front against Hitler's forces. Bled white and unable to
defend fronts, the German army finally collapsed. Hitler committed suicide,
and in May 7-8 1945 Germany surrendered.
Germany paid heavily for its transgressions. Millions of Germans died in the
war, including a staggering number of German Jews who were murdered by their
Germany countrymen. The Soviet Union (which itself suffered tens of millions
of casualties) expanded its borders westward into Polish territory and Poland
was in turn awarded German eastern territory, including all of Prussia, where
fifteen million Germans were driven from their homes into what remained of
Germany. Germany herself was divided and occupied by the Allies, Russia
occupying Eastern Germany while France, the United Kingdom and the United
States occupied Western Germany and half of Berlin.
In the years after World War II Germany has made yet another remarkable
comeback. Following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet
Union, East and West Germany have reunited, becoming once again an economic
powerhouse unrivaled in Europe. Germany has become an enthusiastic member of
the European Union, and perhaps most astonishingly, a close friend and ally
of France. The German people seem to accept responsibility for their nation's
horrible crimes in World War II and seem determined to make sure that they
never reoccur. In short, Germany has become a powerful force for world peace
and unity in the twenty-first century."
It is surprising, that one of the most dangerous and powerful nations in the
20th Century has now become one of peace, rather than power. That said, at
least one of the iconic military units will be noticed in Germany. The
Landsknecht is only different to the Pikemen in terms of production cost, for
the cost of 1 Pikemen, you get 2 Landsknecht, despite similar attack values.
The Panzer, the iconic image of Germany during World War 2, replaces the
Tank, and benefits from 20% more strength than the Tank as well as an extra
movement point compared to the Tank.
Their unique power is quite useful early in the game. Given the spawn rate
of barbarian encampments, and how military strategies are different this
time round with attacking cities, it is possible to rush early game by getting
many units from encampments, and then attacking cities with them. Later in
the game however, this ability is next to redundant.
Otto von Bismarck
~ History
"Otto von Bismarck, also known as the "Iron Chancellor," is perhaps the most
significant figure in German history. During his long political career
Bismarck unified Germany and founded the German Empire; Germany was
transformed from a weak and loose confederation of states into a powerful
united country that would come to dominate continental Europe.
Descended of a noble Prussian family, Bismarck certainly inherited the
arrogance of the Prussian Junker class. He was a poor student who excelled at
dueling and was quite a historian and linguist. However, he spent much of his
time drinking with the other aristocrats in their exclusive fraternity.
Unable to accept the discipline required for military service, Bismarck
instead entered the Prussian diplomatic corps, where his skill quickly
brought him to the attention of the Prussian Kaiser. Appointed to the German
Federal Diet (congress), Bismarck worked to increase Prussian status and
power within Germany. Eventually he would rise to the rank of Prussian Prime
Minister, where after years of long struggle, he succeeded in unifying
Germany under Prussian rule. Bismarck would accomplish this through crafty
diplomacy, aided by a series of successful wars.
Once Germany was unified, Bismarck's main foreign policy aim was to keep the
peace in Europe, mostly by isolating France, Germany's historic enemy. In
this he was largely successful. He engineered a war with France in 1870 in
order to draw several German states (Bavaria, Baden, and others) into the
German empire. In the war, France was quickly defeated.
Having achieved his objective of acquiring the German states, Bismarck argued
for fairly lenient terms, but the German people and military wanted more, and
he was forced to annex the French provinces of Alsace and Loraine. Bismarck
knew that this would be trouble in the long run - before the war he had told
a colleague, "Supposing we did win Alsace, we would have to maintain our
conquest and to keep Strasbourg perpetually garrisoned. This would be an
impossible position, for in the end the French would find new allies - and we
might have a bad time." This, of course, is exactly what happened in World
War I, where Germany had a very bad time indeed.
Although an ardent conservative and monarchist, Bismarck was the first
European leader to promote a system of social security for workers. He
rebuilt the German monetary system, introducing for the first time a single
currency. He also helped fabricate the new country's code of civil and
commercial law. His benevolence was not universal, however; while
emancipating the Jews, Bismarck also enacted laws aimed at restraining
Germany's Catholics.
As a diplomat, Bismarck's greatest weakness was his single-minded desire to
weaken France. He was largely successful during his lifetime, but in doing so
he made France into an implacable enemy, which would have dire consequences
in the next century. Domestically, Bismarck's great flaw was his indifference
to the lives of the German people. As Germany grew in power and stature, the
people's lives improved but little. His social security system did some good,
but he enacted that mainly to avoid having to make greater concessions to the
German Socialists.
Bismarck was a great leader, perhaps the greatest European leader of the 19th
Century. His triumphs outweighed his defeats, and he almost single-handedly
turned a group of bickering kingdoms into a mighty state. Although his
policies did contribute to the disasters in Germany's future, those were more
so a result of his successors' inability to adjust to the changing
geopolitical climate in Europe."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 7/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 6/10
City State Competitiveness - 7/10
Boldness - 4/10
Like most leaders, Bismarck is quite competitive, and loves to build his
Wonders alongside taking City States, but he is quite lacking in boldness, he
isn't the type to come along and start trash-talking you, but that doesn't
mean he won't do it.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 4/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 4/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 4/10
Bismarck is quite difficult to follow. He loves war as much as he loves
trying to be your ally. He isn't afraid of you, but the problem is that he
either is allies with you, or is at war with you. And for some reason, if he
manages to build up his forces, it will be war. Of course, when he decided to
attack my outnumbered forces with his Landsknecht, he forgot that pikemen have
a massive disadvantage when they attack Riflemen.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 4/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 7/10
Like Napoleon, he is either going to protect the city states or attack and
conquer their lands. This is another thing that is really up to the AI, they
will more likely protect city states close to you, because declaring war on
you will lead to city states sending units against you, whilst conquest is for
areas that you won't get to.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 5/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 8/10
Reconnaissance - 8/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 7/10
Bismarck is a big fan of using strong military units for the time. What unit
he uses depends on his tech, and to a lesser extent, how much money he has to
play with. He will have an extensive army of scouts early in the game, mainly
to ensure that he knows what he is up against, and will use a lot of mounted/
armoured units, because they are fast and powerful, so be prepared to counter
that with AT guns and Pikemen when he sends such units.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 4/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 4/10
As one would expect, Bismarck doesn't concentrate on a navy, at best, it is
used to protect his crossing forces, but he doesn't use them like Elizabeth
does in terms of bombarding your cities with them. As such, you can pretty
much be sure to gain the element of surprise when you send in a fleet around
the back of his empire, and some firepower to take a few cities, and that
should really rile him up.
Air Scale
Air Power - 6/10
Bismarck is willing to use air in a more strategic and tactical role than
other leaders, who tend to use it as support at best. He will drop bombs on
your cities, and counter your own efforts with interceptors, so at least he
is will to fight an air war, rather than just give you air supremacy right
from the get go.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 6/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 6/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 8/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 7/10
Culture - 5/10
Bismarck is concentrated heavily on production, which is apt given that
he does tend to produce a hell of a lot of military units. Even when his
frontline may be worn out from heavy fighting, you will see a lot of units
just being fed from his cities to your killing fields. He is also pretty
quick to tech up as well, which requires you to keep up with him, or you will
face some highly developed units at your doorstep.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 5/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 4/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Another person going for the Spaceship victory route, it seems that most AIs
like to go to this route to win, rather than relying on Diplomacy, which is
rather disappointing for someone like Bismarck, who was a very good statesmen,
managing to isolate France well, so I would have expected him to have done
better here.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.08] Greece
Leader - Alexander the Great
Unique Unit 1 - Companion Cavalry, replaces Horseman
Unique Unit 2 - Hoplite, replaces Spearmen
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
HELLENIC LEAGUE
- City-State influence is decreased at half its usual rate, and recovers
at double the speed of normal civilizations.
~ History
"It is difficult to overstate the impact that Greece has had upon Western
culture and history. Classical Greece has given birth to some of the greatest
artists, philosophers, scientists, historians, dramatists and warriors the
world has known. Greek warriors and colonists spread their culture throughout
the Mediterranean and into the Near and Far East. The heirs to Greece, the
Romans, further promulgated Greek thought throughout Europe, and from there
it spread across the oceans and into the New World.
Greece and her people are credited with an astonishing number of inventions
and discoveries, including the first theatrical performance, work of history,
and philosophic treatise. The Greeks provided the West's first recorded
sporting event, poem, and building dedicated to theatre. In politics, the
Greeks created the world's first known democracy and republic. Greek
influence is still all around us: today's doctors still take the Hippocratic
Oath, and modern architects still look to classical Greek forms for
inspiration. To a large degree, Western civilization is Classical Greek
civilization.
Greece occupies a large, wide peninsula which juts south from the Balkans
into the Eastern Mediterranean, between the Ionian Sea and the Aegean. The
peninsula is almost bisected by the Gulf of Corinth, which opens into the
Ionian Sea and runs east almost all the way across the landmass, leaving only
a narrow isthmus connecting north and south. Greece is quite mountainous,
with narrow fertile valleys separated by imposing hills and peaks. Summers
are warm and winters are mild in the coastal lowlands, but snowfall is not
uncommon in the mountains.
Historically the Aegean Sea has been a Grecian lake. Classical Greece
dominated the hundreds of islands of the Aegean as well as the rocky coast of
Anatolia (Turkey) to the east.
Little is known about the earliest inhabitants of Greece. They were all but
destroyed during the Bronze Age, circa 1900 BC, when a large wave of
Mycenaean tribes migrated into Greece from the Balkans. The new inhabitants
were largely dominated by the Minoan civilization of Crete for some 500 years
until approximately 1400 BC, when the Mycenaeans threw off Minoan control.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey date from the Mycenaean period. Although altered by
time, they nonetheless provide at least a glimpse into Mycenaean warfare,
politics, religion, and daily life.
Mycenaean civilization collapsed in 1100 BC, for reasons that are still under
debate, but which might be linked to the influx of a yet another new group of
immigrants from the north, the Dorians. For approximately 300 years following
the Mycenaean collapse, Greece entered a period known as the "Greek Dark
Ages," from which little written record survives.
The so-called "Archaic Period" begins in the mid-seventh century BC, at the
end of the Greek Dark Ages. During this period the Greeks begin once again
keeping records; however, the Mycenaean written language had been lost in the
Dark Ages, so the Greeks borrowed from the Phoenicians, modifying their
letters to create the Greek alphabet.
The first recorded date in Greek history is 778 BC, the year of the first
Olympic Games. This earliest Olympics apparently consisted of one event, a
foot race of some 200 yards in length, and it was won by Coroebus of Elis,
a cook. The Games were held every four years. Over the next decades the
Greeks added other events, including a 400 yard race, a marathon, wrestling,
the javelin and discus, and eventually boxing and chariot racing.
The Archaic Period is marked by a great Greek colonization movement, in which
a large number of communities sent out groups of citizens to colonize the
islands and coastline of the Eastern Mediterranean. Exactly why the Greek
citizens left their homes to form colonies is open to speculation; some think
the settlers were motivated by greed, believing that they could more easily
make their fortunes elsewhere, while other historians believe that population
pressure was at least partly responsible. Over the next several centuries
Greek colonies were formed on the coast of North Africa, Sicily, Mainland
Italy, Anatolia, Egypt and the Middle East. The colonies tended to be
independent, but they generally maintained close ties to the colonizing
polis.
The term "polis" is used to denote the ancient Greek city-state.
Traditionally the term denotes the classic Athenian-style political unit - a
large central city dominating much smaller nearby towns and villages, but the
term also describes a group of allied smaller towns with no totally dominant
central city (this is closer to the organization of Sparta). Both forms began
to appear in the eighth century BC. Some historians believe that the major
cities grew up around religious temples, while others believe that the Greeks
copied the organization from the Phoenicians, who had been building similar
political organizations for years.
Each polis was a sovereign political organization, answerable only to its own
citizens. Although the citizens of the city-states shared a common language,
history and nationality (Greek, of course), that did not stop them from
bickering among themselves constantly and going to war with one-another as
the mood took them. The polis might band together to face a common enemy, but
such alliances were quickly abandoned when the immediate crisis was over.
There were four dominant Greek city-states - Corinth, Thebes, Sparta and
Athens. Of those four, Sparta and Athens were the most powerful. Eventually
the battle for supremacy between the two would shake the Greek world to its
foundations.
The Spartan polis was located in a relatively poor and forbidding area in
central southern Greece. In the 8th Century BC Sparta went to war with nearby
Messenia. Sparta was victorious, conquering Messenia and enslaving its
people, who came to be known as the "Helots." The Helots bitterly resented
their enslavement and attempted several revolutions. In order to keep their
slaves in place Spartan society became highly militarized, with every Spartan
male required to leave home and enter military service at an extremely young
age. The Spartan soldiers were highly disciplined and virtually fearless, and
were generally acclaimed as the best foot soldiers in Greece.
Athens was located in south-eastern Greece, in a wealthy and fertile region
known as Attica. In stark contrast to Sparta, the Athenians were a mighty sea
power. They celebrated arts and culture and learning rather than the austere
military life of the Spartans. (However, lest one become overly-fond of
Athens and overly-censorious of Sparta, it should be noted that the Athenians
too had slaves and were not adverse to conquering rival cities for plunder.)
In the late 6th century BC Athens was ruled by the tyrant Peisistratos,
followed by his sons. An Athenian aristocrat asked the Spartan king Cleomenes
I to help overthrow the tyrants; after doing so the Spartan king appointed
his own puppet ruler in their place. In response the Athenians kicked out the
Spartan puppet and formed a new government in which all citizens (excluding
women and slaves, of course) shared power equally, thus creating the world's
first democracy. The Spartans attacked Athens, seeking to restore their
puppet, but the Athenians defended their city with great tenacity, and the
Spartans were forced to withdraw. This began a rivalry between the two powers
that would last for centuries.
The period known as "Classical Greece" begins when the Athenians overthrow
their last tyrant and continues until the death of Alexander the Great. The
Classical period sees an explosion of art, architecture, literature, science
and political thought, a glorious Renaissance of human culture and knowledge.
Consider how many Greeks from this period that we are familiar with -
Leonidas I, king of Sparta, Pericles, the leader of Athens, the historians
Herodotus and Xenopohon, the philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the
playwrights Euripides, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, Hippocrates the physician
- these men lived 2500 years ago, and we still remember them. Is there any
other period in history that can claim so many great men appearing at one
time, in one tiny corner of the map?
While this was an extraordinary era, this period also contained a whole lot
of really bloody, nasty warfare, and many of the great men of the time
devoted much energy and effort to killing one-another. It is interesting to
speculate whether this was a golden age in spite of the incessant warfare, or
because of it.
At the start of the fifth century BC, the Greek cities on the coast of
Anatolia (Ionia) were under the control of the Persians, a vast and powerful
empire to the south-east. In 499 BC the Greek cities revolted. Although
several mainland Greek cities came to their aid, they were unable to stand up
to the strong Persian response, and all were retaken.
Seven years later (492 BC), the Persians launched a massive assault on Greece
in retaliation. The Persian invasion came in two wings - a huge army
accompanied by a powerful naval force which covered its flank. The army
advanced through Thrace and Macedonia, but the force's general was wounded,
and the army retreated back to Asia Minor.
In 490 BC the Persian fleet landed a huge force (somewhere between 20,000 to
100,000 soldiers) in Attica. They were met by a much smaller force of perhaps
9,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plateans, who defeated the Persian army in detail.
This bought the Greeks some 10 years of peace.
In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes I launched another massive attack on
Greece, this time leading some 300,000 troops onto the peninsula. The huge
force rapidly overwhelmed the central Greek cities and marched inexorably
towards Athens. The invaders were met by a far smaller group of Spartan and
other troops at Thermopylae; the defenders fought tenaciously and to the last
man, buying enough time for the Athenians to evacuate their city. Although
homeless, the Athenians still had their powerful navy, which they used to
destroy the Persian ships and cut off supplies to the Persian army in Athens.
Within a year the Spartans gathered a great army and attacked the occupiers,
who were defeated and largely destroyed.
By 478 BC the Athenians had returned to their largely ruined city and began
reconstruction. They formed an alliance (the "Delian League") with various
island cities, and permanently expelled the Persian navy from the Aegean Sea.
Following the defeat of Persia, the Athenians demanded large amounts of money
from the other members of the Delian League, which they planned to use to
rebuild the destroyed city. As the Athenians had by far the biggest navy, the
island cities were forced to comply. The Athenians grew richer and more
powerful than they had ever been in history, and the Delian League became in
fact, if not in name, the Athenian Empire.
Alarmed at Athens' growing power, Sparta formed the Peloponnesian League, an
alliance with other concerned Greek land powers including Corinth and Elis.
By 458 BC war broke out between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian
League. The war ground on inconclusively for several years, until a peace
treaty was signed in 445 BC. The uneasy peace lasted until 431 BC, when the
two sides once again came to blows.
The war continued for decades. The Spartan forces invaded Attica and besieged
Athens, and the city fell victim to a massive and deadly plague which killed
thousands, including the great leader Pericles. But Athens survived, and the
Spartans were driven back. The Athenian navy harassed the enemy coastlines
and overseas allies, draining the Peloponnesian League's larders and
treasuries. Neither side was able to gain an advantage, and in 421 BC they
signed another peace treaty.
The "Peace of Nicias," lasted six years. It ended in 415 BC when Athens
launched a massive invasion of Sicily, which contained a number of cities
allied with Sparta. The Athenian attack was a long, costly catastrophic
failure which resulted in the annihilation of the invading army and the
almost total destruction of the Athenian navy. Athens was badly crippled,
both at land and at sea.
In 405 BC the Spartan navy (with the help of the Persians) defeated the
Athenian navy and imposed an impenetrable blockade on Athens. Starving and
with no hope of external aid, Athens capitulated. The victorious Spartans
imposed heavy penalties on Athens, divested it of its overseas possessions
and forbid it from building a navy.
With the city-states of southern Greece badly weakened by decades of brutal
warfare, the balance of power moved north, to Macedon. In 338 BC Philip II
led an army south, accompanied by his 16 year-old son, Alexander, who had
already proven himself in battle, having led a small Macedonian army to crush
a Thracian revolt. After dispatching several smaller forces, Philip and
Alexander thoroughly defeated a combined Theban and Athenian army at the
Battle of Chaeronea. He then moved to Corinth, which capitulated without a
fight.
Philip made preparations to launch a major invasion of Persia, at the head of
a large army of Macedonian and other Greek warriors. However, he was
assassinated in 336 BC and at the age of 20, Alexander was proclaimed King of
Macedonia.
Upon news of Philip's death, the southern Greek city-states attempted to
revolt, but Alexander moved south at the head of 3000 Macedonian cavalry, and
the terrified city-states quickly surrendered. He then headed north into the
Balkans, where, in a lightning campaign he defeated several armies much
larger than his force.
While Alexander was securing his northern borders, a number of southern
city-states including Thebes and Athens rebelled once more. In response
Alexander burned Thebes to the ground, selling most of its citizens into
slavery. Athens immediately capitulated and pleaded for mercy. Having made
his point, Alexander had no further trouble with the southern Greek
city-states.
In 334 BC Alexander led an army of 40,000 Greeks across the Hellespont into
Persian territory. For here suffice it to say that in 10 short years
Alexander conquered all of Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, and parts of Western
India. He died at the age of 32 in 323 BC with no heir, leaving his
fragmented empire in the hands of his generals and their children.
Greece did not remain unified after Alexander's death. As the polis returned
to their squabbling, they fell piecemeal under the control of Rome, the
growing power to the west. By 146 BC Macedon was a Roman province, and over
the next century the rest of the country was taken.
In 330 AD, the Byzantine Empire supplanted the Roman rule in Greece. The
Byzantines remained in power for some 1,000 years, until they were supplanted
by the Ottomans. The Ottomans ruled Greece from the mid-fifteenth century
until the early nineteenth, when Greece regained its independence in 1829,
almost one thousand, eight hundred and fifty years after the Roman conquest."
Greece was quite a powerful nation back in its day, and no more 300 Jokes or
THIS IS SPARTA! jokes. Anyway, The Greeks are very good with city states, so
your influence and gold spent there will last much longer compared to that
of normal city states. Even if you piss them off, they will be happy once
again, in a while. However, their greatest flaw will lie longer in the game
where their units and power isn't as useful.
Their Hoplite is more powerful than the Spearman in terms of raw strength,
whilst their Companion Cavalry is more useful as it has more power, better
movement, and has the unique ability to produce a Great General after going
into battle, which isn't a bad thing at all. Everyone loves a nice Citadel
to plop down next to their aggressive neighbour.
Alexander the Great
~ History
"Alexander the Macedonian is unquestionably one of the great warlords of all
time. In 17 short years he marched his army to victory after victory across
Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, conquering every civilization he
could reach.
Alexander was the son of King Phillip II, an extremely successful king and
warlord who had restored his kingdom from the verge of extinction and then
led his people to triumph by conquering Athens, Illyria, and Thrace - the
three powers who, a few short years before, had been on the verge of
conquering Macedonia. As the son of the most powerful monarch in the
"civilized" world, Alexander got the best of everything, including education
- the scholar Aristotle, the great thinker of Western Civilization, was his
tutor.
Taught by his mother Olympias that he was descended from Hercules and
Achilles, Alexander did not lack for self-confidence, even at a very young
age. At the age of 14 Phillip left him in charge of Macedonia while he was
away attacking Byzantium; Alexander crushed a Thracian rebellion during his
father's absence. Two years later he commanded the left wing of his father's
army during the battle in which Phillip's forces defeated the allied Greek
states and conquered all of Greece.
The next year Alexander's good fortune deserted him, for a while, at least.
King Phillip divorced Alexander's mother for a woman named "Cleopatra
Eurydice", and mother and son fled Macedonia. Alexander and his father were
reconciled some time thereafter, but Alexander's position as Phillip's heir
would have been in grave jeopardy had Phillip not conveniently died before
producing another son.
Following the conquest of Greece and the Balkans, King Phillip had been
working on building an army to invade and conquer Persia. In 336 Phillip was
assassinated by the captain of his bodyguard, Pausanias, while attending his
daughter's wedding. (Some believe that Alexander's mother, Olympias - or
indeed Alexander himself - was behind the assassination, but as Pausanias
conveniently died during the murder there was no actual proof.) At the age of
twenty Alexander was proclaimed king by the Macedonian army and nobility. He
celebrated his victory by murdering all potential rivals to the throne, then
resumed planning his father's interrupted invasion of Persia.
Alexander's force consisted of 30,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 cavalrymen, a
huge army for the day, and was accompanied by engineers, surveyors,
scientists, and even historians.
In battle Alexander had amazing success against the Persians. He repeatedly
beat their best soldiers, routinely fighting against odds of 10-to-1. His
success can be attributed to his military genius, his force's superb training
and equipment, and their magnificent esprit de corps, largely engendered by
their faith in Alexander's invincibility.
Alexander appeared to be without fear. He commonly led the elite Macedonian
Companion Cavalry into the thick of battle personally, and he received a
number of dangerous wounds during his military career, none of which dampened
his military ardor.
Having secured Persia's surrender, Alexander then moved south, conquering
Syria, Palestine, much of modern Iraq, and eventually Egypt herself. He
returned to Persia, destroyed the last of the Persian forces and took over
the entire country. He continued east, eventually coming into contact with
the great Indian King Porus, who fought him to a standstill. Alexander
eventually won the conflict, but at such a heavy cost that his men begged him
to end the campaign and let them return to their families. Alexander himself
returned to rule his empire from the captured city of Babylon.
In eight short years of fighting, Alexander had conquered more territory than
any other living being. He successfully led his forces into battle against
all of the great nations of the day, but none could stand against him. He was
the absolute ruler of the largest empire the world had ever seen.
Apparently he found this boring.
Once in Babylon, Alexander began an inexorable decline. He began drinking
heavily and engaging in all kinds of available debauchery (and there was much
debauchery to be found in Babylon). He became subject to fits of anger and
bouts of paranoid delusion. One night, in a state of blind rage and under the
influence of alcohol, Alexander murdered Clitus, his closest associate. This
barbaric act was to haunt Alexander for the rest of his life - which wasn't
very long.
In June of 332 BC, his body weakened by his excesses, Alexander died of
malaria. He was 32 years old.
"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no
more worlds to conquer."
This extraordinary man (and his father before him) conquered Greece, the
Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Persia, and Asia as far east as
Afghanistan. His empire did not long survive Alexander's death - it was
simply too large for any mere mortal to hold - and it was divided between a
number of Alexander's generals. But Alexander's conquests allowed Hellenic
culture to spread across most of the known world, and Greek would become the
language of culture, art and science for centuries to come.
With the exception perhaps of one or two religious leaders, no single man has
had such a great effect upon western civilization as did Alexander the
Great."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 8/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 7/10
City State Competitiveness - 3/10
Boldness - 8/10
Alexander is bold indeed, he pretty much will do what he pleases, and that
mainly is to exterminate you. He is very competitive and one of the main
contenders to get into fights and defeat you. He is also very competitive to
build wonders for his nation, but if you are chasing city states, then don't
worry too much, Alexander doesn't really have much interest in them.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 7/10
Deceptive - 4/10
Guarded - 5/10
Afraid - 3/10
Friendly - 5/10
Neutral - 4/10
Well, Alexander is one who is pretty much without any allies in the game,
simply because he is pretty damn hostile to everyone and is quite willing to
go to war with them. So if you are defending against him, sure, it is bad
news that you are at war with him, but the good news is that he is probably
stuck at war with a lot of other nations, and that will be his downfall, his
troops will be spread thin across multiple fronts.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 4/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 3/10
Conquest - 8/10
Alexander really doesn't care about he city states, but like the city states
in Greece, he will conquer those who get in his path. So if you are the
protector of one of these cities, then you might need to watch out for
Alexander because his attack on a city you are protecting will drag you into a
war with him, something that he is clearly not afraid of.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 8/10
Defensive - 5/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 3/10
Mounted - 8/10
Alexander will really concentrate on two types of units, the cavalry units,
which later turn into armoured units, and the melee units, such as your
standard warrior, hoplites, pikemen, and the like. That does make him hard to
defeat, but knowing the counters to melee infantry are good ranged units that
can pick them off and anti-cavalry units to take out his mounted units, it
does make him predictable in terms of attack.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 5/10
Naval Growth - 6/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 6/10
Alexander really won't look to the seas, again, the navy for him is more of a
supporting act, rather than the main player, and that is another good thing
for your empire, especially on water-heavy maps, where naval combat is key.
You can quickly take out his ground units as they travel across the water
with powerful naval units, and he won't do a thing to stop you.
Air Scale
Air Power - 3/10
Alexander will really ignore the air when you have the ability to use air
units, but although he won't challenge you in the skies, he will challenge you
with Anti-Air units on the ground to shoot your guys out of the sky, and that
could make life that much harder on you.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 4/10
Tile Improvement - 4/10
Infrastructure - 4/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 3/10
Science - 6/10
Culture - 7/10
Another cultural leader, he will focus heavily on expansion of his empire, and
that means a lot of settlers that you can intercept and capture for your own
nation. He will focus on science a fair bit, so he will get stronger units
along the way, and will adopt policy rather quickly as well. He is clearly not
one to be underestimated.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 5/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 7/10
Diplomacy - 7/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Alexander, like most leaders, will focus heavily on the Spaceship victory
method, and will tend to use diplomacy when it suits him, but that is at odds
with his military abilities, who is going to vote for you when you have
already conquered everyone? Like mentioned above, he will tend to build
Wonders as well, so you will want to beat him to the race.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.09] India
Leader - Gandhi
Unique Unit 1 - War Elephant, replaces Chariot Archer
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Mughal Fort, replaces Castle
Civilization Power
POPULATION GROWTH
- Unhappiness from Cities is doubled, but Unhappiness from population is
halved.
~ History
"The Republic of India is the second most populous country in the world and
the largest democracy. A land of contrasts, India contains great wealth and
grinding poverty. It possesses high-tech cities and primitive villages. In it
one can find beauty and squalor, hope and despair. It is one of the oldest
civilizations on the planet, yet India is considered an "emerging" market.
In short, India is one of the most fascinating civilizations on the planet.
India is a diamond-shaped country. It borders the Himalayan Mountains to the
north, while to the south a relatively flat plane juts out into the Indian
Ocean between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The plains are bisected
by a regular series of west-to-east running rivers, many of which are prone
to flooding in the Monsoon season.
India is some 1,270,000 square miles in area, roughly one-third the size of
the United States of America. Its climate tends to be tropical/sub-tropical,
with a more mountainous climate to the far north.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of agricultural cultivation in India
dating as far back as the 7th millennium BC, with the first signs of urban
communities appearing around 2500 BC. The so-called Indus civilization
flourished for eight centuries. Some experts believe that the Indus had an
empire of some 500,000 square miles in size, with a (more or less) uniform
language and currency and which supported an extensive trading network.
For reasons that remain unclear, the Indus civilization collapsed some time
around 1800 BC. The major cities all but disappeared, as did all traces of
central authority. Some scholars believe that this was the result of
environmental degradation resulting in widespread starvation, making larger
urban populations unsustainable, while others suspect that large migration
into the area by foreign invaders are responsible for the collapse. Whatever
the cause, this post urban period lasted for almost one thousand years.
The "Early Vedic Period" is dated from approximately 1500 to 800 BC. It is
named after the "Vedas," which are the earliest surviving Indian written
material, composed some time during this period. Four major Vedic texts have
thus far been discovered - the Rigveda, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda, and the
Atharvaveda. These texts describe religious/mystical practices of the
so-called "Aryan" people of India, a group which probably migrated from
Europe into India some time around 2000 BC. The Hindu religion traces its
origin back to this period.
At the beginning of the Vedic period many people had returned to a nomadic
way of life, and the clan was the major political unit. Over time the
population returned to a more stationary existence, and the clan chief
evolved into a king with political and religious - as well as military -
authority. As taxation evolved, the state grew in wealth and power.
This period also saw the widespread use of iron and the return to urban life,
especially in the Ganges valley. Indian civilization was once again on the
rise.
The Rigveda, the earliest of the Vedic texts, describes the mythological
basis for the Indian "caste" system, which apparently developed during this
period. Caste is hereditary: a person is born into his or her station, and no
advancement is possible.
There appear to have been four major castes in Indian culture during this
period: the Brahmans, the priestly caste, the Kshatiriyas, the military and
land-owning caste, the Vaishyas, the merchants and skilled workers, and the
Sudras, the unskilled workers.
The caste system has proven remarkably persistent throughout Indian history.
Vestiges can still be found in modern times, despite the Indian government's
rigorous attempts to stamp it out.
By around 500 BC more than a dozen major states could be found in India. Some
of these states were monarchical, while others had a more oligarchic system
of government. They fought with each other regularly, seeking to expand their
influence and power.
In addition to their internal conflicts, the Indian states were under
pressure from forces outside of India. In 326 BC Alexander the Great invaded
northwest India, conquering the province of Punjab before turning back. In
the early 2nd century BC Demetrius, the Greek king of Bactria, conquered a
large portion of northwest India, and his heirs ruled the area for some time.
In the meantime, the eastern portions of India were invaded by Central Asian
nomadic tribes, driven out of China by the Han emperors. Over time the
invaders were driven out or assimilated, leaving behind a powerful influence
on Indian history and culture.
Chandragupta Maurya (340 - 290 BC) was the founder of the Maurya Empire. A
great military and political leader, he unified much of the Indian
subcontinent under his rule. The empire was further expanded by his son
Ashoka the Great (304 - 232 BC). Ashoka continued his father's conquests for
some years, but later in his life he embraced Buddhism and non-violence,
constructing many Buddhist temples across India and doing much to further
that religion in Southern Asia. The Maurya Empire went into decline after
Ashoka's death, and in 185 BC the Brahmin general Sunga assassinated the
Maurya king and seized power, establishing the Sunga dynasty.
Religion has always been a powerful force in India. Three major world
religions were established in the sub-continent, and other external religions
have found significant favor among the populous.
Hinduism is the predominant religion of India. The roots of Hinduism date
back to the Vedic period, making it the oldest surviving religious tradition.
Approximately one billion people practice Hinduism, 90% of whom reside in
India. Hinduism is less a specific creed and mythology than a collection of
religious traditions and tenets. A remarkably open belief system, Hinduism
embraces monotheism, polytheism, pantheism and several other "isms" as well.
Dharma, ethics, Samsara, the cycle of life, death and rebirth, Karma, cause
and effect, and Yoga, the paths to enlightenment, are important concepts in
the Hindu religion.
Buddhism is a set of beliefs based upon the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama
(563 BC - 483 BC), the Buddha. Buddhism teaches its followers how to achieve
nirvana and escape the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth through ethical
conduct, meditation, exercise, and study. Buddhism spread slowly throughout
India until it was embraced by Ashoka the Great, who constructed many
Buddhist temples throughout India and actively exported the religion to other
countries. Over time Buddhism was supplanted in India by Hinduism (and later
Islam), until it was virtually extinct by the twelfth century AD. It has
enjoyed a slight resurgence in India in modern times.
Jainism is a religion that teaches its practitioners how to achieve the
highest state of consciousness through study and self-discipline; it is a
non-violent religion. It originated in the 9th century BC and survives today
with perhaps 4 million followers in India and 100,000 more worldwide.
The Gupta Dynasty ruled Northern and Central India from AD 320 to AD 540.
Some scholars have called this period the "Golden Age" of India, a period in
which Indian literature, art, architecture, and philosophy flourished.
However, by the mid-fifth century much of the Gupta Empire had been overrun
by Central Asian invaders known as the "Hunas." (It's unknown whether this
group had any relation to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe.) This period
brought further Central Asian influence into India.
Following the collapse of the Guptas, India saw the rise and fall of a series
of smaller kingdoms, none of whom rose to the size or power of the Guptas.
The Muslims began raiding the Indian coast in the seventh century AD.
However, the first significant military incursion into northern India
occurred in the late 12th century by Muslim Turks under Sultan Mahmud of
Ghazna, who conquered the Punjab and led many successful raids into northern
and central India. Delhi was conquered in 1193, and the Delhi Sultanate was
established. The Mamluk dynasty ruled the sultanate until 1290, when they
were supplanted by the Khalji dynasty. The Khalji were in turn overthrown by
the Tughlaq, and so forth. The fun continued until 1526, when Babur of Kabul
defeated whoever happened to be in charge at that time and established the
Mughal Dynasty, which would survive some three centuries.
While the Muslims would never quite manage to conquer all of India, they did
rule a large majority of the country. Much of the population remained Hindu,
despite several Muslim rulers' vigorous attempts to convert them to Islam.
Over time the Mughal Empire gradually declined, coming under increasing
attacks from the Afghans, Sikhs, and Hindus. It received its death blow at
the hands of the British.
The first European known to sail from Europe to India was Vasco da Gama,
the Portuguese explorer who reached Calicut, India on May 20, 1498, after a
voyage of some nine months. Upon leaving India, da Gama left behind several
men to start a trading post, the first of many such European posts upon the
long coast of India. The Portuguese quickly followed up da Gama's success
with both trading and military vessels, setting up strategic bases in India
and East Africa, seeking to dominate trade in the Indian Ocean. The sturdy
Portuguese ships were easily able to defeat any Arab and Indian vessels that
might dispute their mastery. (It was the Indian weakness at sea which
ultimately made them so vulnerable to European conquest.)
The Portuguese maintained their trading posts through the 16th century, until
they were annexed by Spain in 1580. The Spanish concentrated their naval
power to protect their vast interests in the New World, allowing the Dutch
and English to challenge their dominance of India.
In the 1600s the Dutch began setting up their trading empire in the Pacific
and Indian Oceans. They had no interest in conquest or in spreading their
religion: they just wanted the spices. The majority of their trade was with
the East Indies (Indonesia), although they did establish a few posts in
southern India (for pepper and cardamom). The Dutch successfully dominated
Indian trade for years, defeating other European countries' attempts to cut
into their monopoly.
In the early 17th century the English sought to challenge Dutch dominance
over the East Indies, hoping for a piece of the spice trade. They were
decisively rebuffed by the Dutch navy. Looking for somewhat easier prey, they
attacked the Portuguese forces in India. After defeating the Portuguese in
1612, they received a favorable trading treaty with the Mughals, who had
resented the Portuguese dominance of the sea. The English traded peacefully
with the Mughals for 70 years, until they unsuccessfully attacked the Mughals
in 1686. Having learned a lesson, the English returned to peaceful relations
with the Mughals for the next 50 years.
The French too sought to establish trading relations with India in the 16th
century. They enjoyed success for some years, but events in Europe left them
open to attack from other European powers. Their fortunes rose and fell in
inverse proportion to those of the British and the Dutch.
In 1757, the British East India Company's army fought the forces of the Nawab
of Bengal, who was angry at the company's refusal to pay taxes. The Company's
army was victorious, and the victors occupied Bengal, the first of many
cities and provinces it would conquer in the name of "free trade." Over the
next century the Company expanded its rule, taking advantage of the fractured
Indian landscape of small, weak kingdoms and princely states. The British
used bribery, threats and military means to expand their power, and by 1850
they controlled most of the sub-continent.
In 1857 the Indians rebelled against the British. This rebellion is variously
called "The Indian Mutiny" or the "First War of Independence." While the
rebellion enjoyed initial success the British Army sent in large numbers of
troops to reinforce the Company's beleaguered forces; these professional
soldiers quickly defeated the rebellious Indians. Following the rebellion the
British Crown took over governance of India from the British East India
Company. India would remain the "Jewel" of the British Crown for the next
ninety years.
While the British Empire profited greatly from its domination of India,
British rule was not entirely without benefit to the Indian people. The Brits
educated the Indians, bringing them into contact with more advanced European
science and technology. They constructed a solid network of telegraph lines,
roads and railroads across the country. They also united the Indian people
against them, giving everyone an equally-detested common enemy. It is this
last effect that made an Indian independence movement possible.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Indian Independence movement was fueled
by growing frustration of Indian intellectuals who were barred from
participating in their own government. The British constructed institutions
of higher learning in India, giving the Indians the general understanding
that they could take over control of the instruments of government once they
had received the proper education and served the necessary apprenticeships.
It soon became apparent that these were hollow promises, as the British kept
the higher offices for themselves and froze out the most promising native
candidates, no matter how brilliantly they did in university. This was a
disastrous policy for the British, for it created a class of highly-educated,
highly-dissatisfied Indians.
The first Indian National Congress convened in December, 1885 with 73
representatives, most of whom were lawyers, businessmen, and landowners.
Among other things, it demanded parity between Indian and British candidates
for governmental positions, a reduction in the amount of money that India
paid to its British government, and an end to the Anglo-Burmese War (largely
fought with Indian soldiers under British officers). By the turn of the
twentieth century, the Indian National Congress was calling for self rule.
In the meantime, Muslim Indians feared that their interests would not be
served by the majority Hindu Indian National Congress, and they created a
parallel organization, the Muslim League, to fight for Muslim independence.
The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress worked together only with
great difficulty, and eventually differences between the two organizations
would have catastrophic results for the country.
When World War I broke out, the Indian National Congress enthusiastically
backed the British war effort. In fact, Gandhi himself toured Indian villages
urging men to join the British army. The support was given on the assumption
that Britain would repay Indian loyalty with political concessions, if not
dominion status or even independence. In the event the British did not move
quickly enough to satisfy the Indian expectations, and Indian resentment
grew.
In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) assumed leadership of the Indian
National Congress. He implemented a policy of "satyagraha," resistance
through non-violent civil disobedience. He led mass rallies, marches and
protests, including the famous "Salt March" in 1930, in which he and
thousands of followers marched to the sea to make salt in protest of the
British tax on that vital mineral. He was imprisoned on a number of
occasions, including a two-year stint in 1942 during which his wife died and
he contracted malaria. He was eventually released because the British feared
he would die in prison.
Despite his enormous popularity in India and around the world, Gandhi was
unable to bridge the growing differences between Indian Hindus and Muslims.
Even as he was bringing independence to his country, religious strife was
tearing it apart.
Weakened by two World Wars and unable to find an answer to Gandhi's
satyagraha tactics, in 1947 the British Parliament passed the Indian
Independence Act. The Act recognized two countries: Hindu India and Muslim
Pakistan. Pakistan was divided into two sections, one on the east and the
other on the west, separated by 1000 miles by the much larger India between
them. Something like 15 million people were displaced during the
disintegration of India: Hindus fled from the newly-created Pakistan into
Hindu India, and Muslims fled India into Muslim Pakistan. Perhaps one million
people died during the upheaval.
The new nations were openly hostile to each other, and over the years have
fought a number of wars. Much of the tension has been related to border
disputes. In 1971 India intervened in a civil war in East Pakistan, which
gained its independence from West Pakistan and became the nation of
Bangladesh.
The three nations that once comprised historical India have taken very
different paths in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Bangladesh is a
parliamentary democracy, a highly-dense country much subject to floods,
cyclones and famine, though life for its population has steadily improved
since its independence in the '70s.
Pakistan is the sixth largest country in the world and the second largest
Muslim country. While its economy has done well in the past 25 years, it
remains locationally-challenged. To the east is India, its old enemy, with
whom it has an ongoing border dispute, and both sides have recently acquired
nuclear weapons. To the west is Afghanistan, which is loaded with Taliban
terrorists who use Pakistan as a refuge, and really angry American soldiers
equipped with the finest and most powerful weapons the world has ever seen.
If Pakistan can achieve some kind of stable peace with India and figure out
a way to keep the Taliban and Americans from tearing it apart from within, it
might have a glorious future.
India is the world's second most populous country and a thriving democracy.
It is loud, boisterous, and has a growing and vibrant economy. It has a
technological base second to none, and an education system that rivals that
of the United States. It also has a large army and an arsenal of nuclear
weapons, both mostly pointed at Pakistan. If it can figure out how to step
down hostilities with Pakistan, it stands poised to be one of the great
powers of the next century."
India is a powerful nation with one of the best powers in the game, the
ability to double the unhappiness from cities, from 2 to 4, to halving the
unhappiness from cities due to population, which is especially useful later
on in the game, where population spirals beyond 10. This is quite a useful
perk, but it has really bad effects early on in the game, so it is hard to
balance it out.
The War Elephant is a nice mounted unit, that does not require horses in
order to produce, which is evidence since I see an elephant and not a horse
underneath the rider, but is significantly stronger than the unit it
will replace. The Mughal Fort provides additional culture on top of the
defensive bonuses for the city, as well as gold after you have learn the
Flight technology, which is a nice touch as well, to counter the maintenance
cost.
Gandhi
~ History
"Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian patriot who led India's nonviolent independence
movement against British Imperial rule in the early to mid-twentieth century.
He pioneered "satyagraha," or resistance to tyranny through mass civil
disobedience, a ploy used to great effect against the British Raj.
Mohandas Gandhi was born in an India under British rule. The son of the Prime
Minister of the small state of Porbandar, in his youth Gandhi displayed none
of the brilliance that would mark him as an adult; in fact the young man was
a mediocre student and quite shy. He entered into an arranged marriage at the
age of 13, the usual custom of the period. Apparently he did not enjoy the
experience, later calling the practice "the cruel custom of child marriage."
Upon graduating from high school, Gandhi decided to follow his father into
state service. To this end he decided he would go to England to study. His
father having just died, Gandhi's mother did not want him to go, allowing him
only after he had promised to abstain from wine, women, and meat. His caste
looked upon traveling over the ocean as unclean; when he persisted they
declared him an "outcast." He learned much about England and the English
during his time in that country, knowledge which was to prove invaluable
later in his career. In 1891 Gandhi passed the bar and set sail for India. He
attempted to set up practice in Bombay, but was unsuccessful and shortly
relocated to South Africa.
Gandhi enjoyed more professional success in South Africa, but he was appalled
by the racial bigotry and intolerance he found there. He spent the next
twenty years of his life in South Africa looking after the interests of all
under-classes, not just the Indians. It was here that Gandhi began to refine
and teach his philosophy of passive resistance. He was jailed several times
for opposition to the so-called "Black Acts," by which all non-whites were
required to submit their fingerprints to the government. When the government
ruled that only Christian marriages were legal in South Africa, Gandhi
organized and led a massive non-violent protest, which eventually caused the
government to back down. It was here that Gandhi acquired the title of
"Mahatma," which means a person venerated for great knowledge and love of
humanity.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India. He shocked the world when he expressed his
humiliation that he had to speak English in his native land, and he shocked
the Indian nobility when he chided them for their ostentatiousness, telling
them that they should hold their jewels and wealth in trust for their
countrymen.
Thus Gandhi began his long campaign to free his country from English rule.
He followed two paths - he shamed the oppressors and he demanded sacrifice
from his people. For the next thirty years Gandhi was to tirelessly exhort
his people to passive resistance, leading strike after strike, march after
march, fasting himself to the point of incapacity, enduring innumerable
beatings, and months and even years in prison. At one point he made a
historic trip to England, where he won over much of the English working and
middle classes, to the great irritation of the government. Despite
innumerable setbacks and years of endless toil, he persisted. In 1946,
exhausted and virtually bankrupt by World War II, the English agreed to
vacate India, but in doing so divided the country between Hindu and Muslims,
which Gandhi abhorred.
The partition sparked an outbreak of religious violence, in which Muslims
were massacred wholesale in India, and the same fate awaited Hindus in
Pakistan. The countries were in chaos. In response, Gandhi went on a fast,
refusing to eat again until the violence ceased. Astonishingly, his fast
worked: the peoples of India and Pakistan were unwilling to see their great
hero die, and they sent him letters and representatives promising to stop the
killings and begging him to end the fast. He did so, to the relief of
millions. Twelve days later, Gandhi was assassinated.
Today Gandhi is considered to be one of the great figures in human history.
He is recognized as a courageous and tireless champion for justice and moral
behavior, in South Africa fighting just as hard for the rights of other
downtrodden people as he did for fellow Indians. He is also acknowledged as a
brilliant political leader who organized a successful independence campaign
against one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen. Of him,
Martin Luther King said, "Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the
tactics."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 2/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 3/10
City State Competitiveness - 3/10
Boldness - 2/10
Gandhi is a peaceful leader, so he really won't be threatening you or will
he be attacking you, or competing for wonders, which is relatively odd. So,
he isn't a big threat, what is he then?
Diplomacy Scales
War - 3/10
Hostile - 4/10
Deceptive - 3/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 3/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
As you could guess, Gandhi is a peaceful soul, so his military reponse is
mainly to guard his empire, and he is quite friendly, so that he will more
than willing ally with you, which is good. This also makes him a nice target
to take over, when no real army to speak of.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 3/10
As you can guess, Gandhi will be there to protect the city-states, but not
there to conquer them. So if you are going to declare war on some city
states, you might want to make sure you can handle Gandhi and his many
defensive units that he will be using.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 4/10
Defensive - 5/10
City Defence - 7/10
Military Training - 3/10
Reconnaissance - 4/10
Ranged - 7/10
Mounted - 7/10
Gandhi is there really to defend, and ranged units will do this well. He will
concentrate heavily on city defence, so you will pretty much need to bring
in siege units to attack his cities. Also, the amount of mounted and armoured
units he will use will be quite high, so make sure that if you are facing him,
you will need to bring in appropriate counters.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 3/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 3/10
Gandhi will really not focus on a navy at all, he is more likely to focus on
city defence. If anything, a navy will be used as a defensive mechanism, there
to guard the city against naval invaders, but that would be the extent of his
naval power.
Air Scale
Air Power - 3/10
Again, Gandhi is not there to use military force, it doesn't fit him or his
historical character. He will use air power sparingly, he will have them
around his cities, but he won't be there dropping bombs from the cargo bay
as you would expect.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 3/10
Growth - 8/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 4/10
Science - 6/10
Culture - 8/10
Gandhi will focus on several big cities, rather than a sprawl of many cities
in a big empire. He will focus heavily on culture, which will have him
building up his social policies rather quickly, which will be a problem if
you are aiming for a culture victory.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 8/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 8/10
Spaceship - 7/10
As you can see, besides the standard spaceship victory, Gandhi will focus on
the diplomatic victory, and that means controlling the votes via the UN.
He will focus a lot of his resources on keeping his people happy, since that
does have good effects on growth. Basically, Gandhi will be there to fill
the void, rather than attack, like other leaders.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.10] Iroquois
Leader - Hiawatha
Unique Unit 1 - Mohawk Warrior, replaces Swordsman
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Longhouse, replaces Workshop
Civilization Power
THE GREAT WARPATH
- In friendly territory, units move through forest and jungle with the
movement cost as if it were a road.
~ History
"According to tradition the Iroquois Confederation came into being around AD
1570. The Confederation was a union of five (later six) Native American
tribes. The Iroquois are an amazing people: with a population that probably
never exceeded 20,000, lacking a written language and possessing no
manufacturing base at all, for two centuries the Iroquois managed to hold
their own against the French, English, Dutch, and later Colonial Americans.
The Iroquois occupied a large section of upper New York State bordering Lake
Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The land is hilly and forested, and in
the 17th century teemed with abundant game including deer and beaver. The
Iroquois had access to many waterways, including Lake Ontario, the St.
Lawrence, the Finger Lakes and dozens of rivers, which provided excellent
fishing, as well as rapid movement by canoe.
Winters in Upstate New York can be long and bitterly cold - particularly when
Arctic air is blowing southeast across the Great Lakes - and heavy snowfall
is not uncommon. Summers are cool and pleasant.
Members of the Iroquois Nation call themselves "Haudenosaunee," which
translates roughly as "People Building a Long House." The term "Iroquois" was
used by non-Iroquois. Its original meaning is unclear, but it may be a
bastardization of a Huron word meaning "snake." (The Hurons and the Iroquois
did not much like each other.) Alternatively, it might be a corruption of a
Basque (Spanish/French ethnic group) term meaning, "killer people." (The
French didn't much like the Confederacy either.)
With apologies to the Haudenosaunee we will use the more common term,
"Iroquois," because few non-natives would recognize Haudenosaunee - and
because Haudenosaunee is too long to fit on the game screen. For similar
reasons we have chosen to use the name "Hiawatha" for the Iroquois leader
rather than "Ayonwentah" (see below).
According to legend, the Confederacy began when a Chief named Dekanawidah or
"the Great Peacemaker" convinced a warrior named Ayonwentah to give up
violence and cannibalism and advance "peace, civil authority, righteousness,
and the great law." (Ayonwentah is believed to be the basis for the poet
Longfellow's character "Hiawatha.") Together the two great men unified five
tribes who formed the league: the Seneca, Onondaga, Mohawks, Cayuga, and
Oneida. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined the Confederacy many years
later, in 1722.
The Iroquois had a remarkably advanced government, particularly for people
with no writing. The Confederacy was governed according to a constitution
known as the Gayanashagowa, or "Great Law of Peace." Each tribe governed its
own internal affairs; the Great Council dealt only with issues which faced
the entire nation - treaties, border disputes, war and peace, and so forth.
The Great Council was comprised of 50 sachems (roughly, "chiefs"). Each tribe
provided between 8 and 14 sachems (depending upon the tribe's population and
status) to the Council. The sachems were elected by councils of clan mothers.
The Tadadaho was the symbolic leader of the Grand Council but had no real
political power; the Council worked on consensus and required majority
agreement before any action could be taken.
Once united, the Iroquois rapidly became the most powerful native group in
northeastern America. In 1609 the Confederacy went to war with the French and
their Canadian Indian allies. The fight was over control of the fur trade,
particularly the skin of the beaver.
In the early 17th century, Europe craved beaver pelts, which they made into
hats. Having hunted the European beaver nearly to extinction, European
traders turned to the New World, where there were still plenty of beavers
left. When native Americans discovered that Europeans would give them metal
tools and even guns for the pelts, competition for the lovable toothy rodent
became quite fierce.
In 1610 the Iroquois made contact with Dutch traders at Fort Orange, New
Netherland (present-day Albany, New York) who supplied them with large
numbers of firearms in return for pelts. This increase in firepower allowed
the Iroquois to beat back the French and their allies and expand their empire
west to Lake Michigan and south to the Tennessee River. Access to guns also
accelerated the extinction of the beaver in Iroquois territory, which in turn
caused the Iroquois to attack north, seeking land where the beavers were
still plentiful.
For several decades the bloody war persisted. By the middle of the 1600s the
Iroquois had defeated the Huron, Erie, Neutral and Susquehannock tribes,
assimilating thousands and driving the remainder out of their territory.
By 1660 the Iroquois had secured their southern and western flanks and were
launching regular raids against New France. The French Canadians were unable
to stop the attacks and appealed to the motherland for support. France
responded by sending a regiment of French troops, the first professional
European soldiers seen in Canada. The French troops went on the offensive and
invaded Iroquois territory several times, with mixed results.
In the meantime the English captured the Dutch colony of New Netherland,
cutting the Iroquois off from their major European trading partner. Under
mounting pressure from the reinforced French forces and unable to resupply
themselves with weapons, the Iroquois made peace with the French. However
they continued their westward and southern expansion, finding easier prey
among the native tribes with little or no access to modern European weapons.
After taking over the Dutch territories, the English made contact with the
Iroquois. As always the English were happy to stick a thumb in the eye of the
French, and they cheerfully resumed trading weapons to the Iroquois, urging
them to use them against the northern foe. By the 1680s war had resumed
between the French and Iroquois.
In 1687 the French launched another invasion of Iroquois territory, this time
with a massive army of some 3000 soldiers and militia. The French employed
"scorched earth" tactics, burning Iroquois villages and crops, and many
Iroquois died of starvation in the subsequent winter. The Confederacy
responded with a number of reprisal raids, killing colonists and burning
French supplies as far east as Montreal.
In 1688 England went to war with France over some European issue that seemed
extremely important at the time (the conflict variously named, "King
William's War" and the "War of the English Succession"), and each side's
colonies dutifully began to do their best to destroy each other. The Iroquois
allied with the English colonies, the Canadian Indians with the French, and
both combatants engaged in brutal raid and counter-raid, resulting in
indiscriminate slaughter of those unable to run away very quickly (e.g.,
women, children, and the aged). Eventually everybody pretty much ran out of
money and decided to call the whole thing off, and fighting ceased in Europe
and the New World.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Iroquois' attitudes toward the two
European powers began to change. As English power on the continent grew,
English settlers began to encroach on Iroquois territory. In the meantime,
the French too were feeling pressure from England, and they sought allies
against the southern menace. The Iroquois played one power against the other,
buying time for their tribes to recover from decades of fighting.
In the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the Iroquois sided with the British
against the French. The British were victorious, pushing the French right out
of North America. This greatly increased British power over the native
populations, including the Iroquois, who were totally dependent upon the
British for weapons.
The American Revolution began in the 1770s. At first the Grand Council
remained neutral, but by 1777 they decided to join the war on the side of the
British. Like the previous wars against the French, the Iroquois and Colonial
forces engaged in bloody hit and run raids, burning villages and crops,
killing the weak and unlucky on either side.
The American Revolution ended in 1783. The treaty between the United States
and Great Britain ceded all Iroquois territory to the United States, ignoring
the unfortunate fact that a sovereign nation happened to already be living on
that land.
The Iroquois Confederacy basically ended with the end of the American
Revolution. A group of Iroquois moved north into Canada, onto land given to
them by Britain in gratitude for their help in the American Revolution.
Others chose to stay in upstate New York, trying to maintain their tribal
existence in the face of American colonial and cultural imperialism. Many
still survive today despite some two centuries of terrible hardship, a
testament to the amazing spirit of the Haudenosaunee people."
The Iroquois are a funny bunch, their powers are not what you would expect
at all. Their power is quite useful on heavy forest maps, the ability to
move quickly allows them to respond against threats to their empire real
quick, compared to the slow movement that units will have to face when they
normally enter forest tiles.
I don't get the point of their unique buildings and units though. From both
stats and manual, the Mohawk Warrior is identical to the Swordsman in every
aspect, there is no superiority there, which is very odd. The Longhouse will
increase production by 1 for each forest tile that is worked, but that is
up to you.
Hiawatha
~ History
"Hiawatha (or "Ayonwentah") is the legendary chief of the Onondaga Indians
who, with the equally-legendary Chief Dekanawidah, formed the Iroquois
Confederacy. Little is known about Hiawatha the man; according to Iroquois
tradition he taught the people agriculture, navigation, medicine, and the
arts, using his great magic to conquer all of man's supernatural and natural
enemies. Hiawatha is also believed to have been a skilled orator who through
his honeyed words persuaded the five tribes - Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas,
Senecas, and Mohawks - to form the Five Nations of the Iroquois.
What little the West knows about Hiawatha is usually seen through the prism
of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's remarkable epic poem, Song of Hiawatha.
No verdict is possible on such a legendary figure. The only thing that can be
said is that however it occurred, the alliance of the Five Nations proved to
be long and remarkably sturdy, even in the face of ever-increasing pressure
from the advancing Europeans to the east. Whoever built that alliance
certainly did an outstanding job."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 3/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 4/10
City State Competitiveness - 3/10
Boldness - 2/10
Hiawatha is an odd leader, he really doesn't concentrate that much on trying
to compete with you as a leader, or does he decide to make any threats with
you, so like Gandhi, he does appear to be a peaceful leader, rather than one
who is willing to rain ICBMs on you.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 4/10
Hostile - 3/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 4/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Hiawatha is going to be a friendly leader to play with, he is more likely to
be friendly than he is to be declaring war on you, yet again, it doesn't mean
that he won't declare war, just less inclined to do so. He is quite deceptive
that he will trick you before leading into war, but hey, people do that all
the time, nothing new.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Protective - 6/10
Conquest - 3/10
Another leader who won't go for the jugular when it comes to City States, he
will do the noble thing and try to protect them from harms way. He will be
more than willing to protect them, and often be on good terms, so watch out
when attacking city states that are near him. They will often be protected by
him.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 3/10
Defensive - 7/10
City Defence - 7/10
Military Training - 4/10
Reconnaissance - 6/10
Ranged - 6/10
Mounted - 4/10
As you can see, Hiawatha plays real defensive, he doesn't attack, just defends
really well, and once you get past his units, often it will be a very tough
fortress of a city that you will be facing as the last battle. He will have a
fair amount of scouts everywhere, and don't be surprised that he has ranged
archers hiding in the trees somewhere, that's just what he does.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 4/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 4/10
Again, another leader who really doesn't pay much attention when it comes to
the high seas, and delegates it to the role of support rather than a force of
it's own, which, later in the game, it will be, with aircraft carriers and
submarines making havoc for anyone crossing waters without an escort.
Air Scale
Air Power - 4/10
And again, another leader who doesn't really look at the strengths of air
power as it should be viewed as. However, given the defensive nature of
Hiawatha, he will be pretty willing to use lots of anti-air defences
against you to stop you from using air power to its fullest, so be
careful.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 6/10
Growth - 6/10
Tile Improvement - 4/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 6/10
Science - 5/10
Culture - 7/10
Hiawatha is going to focus on his cities evenly as far as production, science,
culture and gold is concerned, but the thing is, don't expect him to go and
build improvements that will take down forests, this guy is more than
likely to end up with a lot of forest tiles on his lands, and that does make
things harder for your forces when they invade.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 7/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
And again, the AI will tend to go for a spaceship victory here, which is
nice, more competitors for the spaceship. He will tend to have a pretty
happy empire, which is really good for growth on his part, so when you sack
his cities, you will be getting quite a bit of gold.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.11] Japan
Leader - Oda Nobunaga
Unique Unit 1 - Sumurai, replaces Longswordsman
Unique Unit 2 - Zero, replaces Fighter
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
BUSHIDO
- A units combat strength and defensive strength remains unchanged even when
damaged in combat.
~ History
"The islands of Japan are born of the unimaginable violence of plate
tectonics, arising as the Pacific Plate is ground beneath the Eurasian Plate.
The result is a mountainous land of great beauty and peril, where the people
live and thrive in a narrow corridor between volcano and sea.
Japan is a small country, with a total landmass approximately equal to the
size of the American state of Montana. Mountain ranges cover 80% of the
country. Japan is made up of four main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku,
and Kyushu, plus dozens of smaller islands. The land is young in geologic
terms, meaning the mountains are high and rugged and the rivers are narrow
and torrential. There are many volcanoes in Japan, some quite active.
Earthquakes are not uncommon (nor are attacks by giant radioactive monsters).
Japan possesses a monsoonal climate - its climate is governed by wet and dry
seasonal winds. In the winter the western side of the country faces cold, wet
air from Siberia and the Sea of Japan, resulting in steady rain or snow. In
the summer the eastern portion of the country gets steady wet air from the
Pacific.
It is generally believed that settlers moved into Japan some 20,000 years ago
(give or take 10,000 years) during the Paleolithic Period, the stage of human
development characterized by the use of primitive stone tools. The migrants
probably crossed the Sea of Japan via several land-bridges which for a time
connected the islands with Korea and Asia.
While little is known about the pre-historic Japanese, it is clear that at
some early point they gained enough sea-craft to travel safely and easily
between islands, as Japanese culture and language is remarkably homogeneous
throughout the chain. (This would not be the case if the island populations
were isolated from each other for an extended period of time.)
The "Pre-Ceramic" culture was followed by the Jomon, which occurred from
7500 - 250 BC. (The term "Jomon" refers to a style of pottery in which cords
are pressed into the clay to make artistic patterns.) In addition to the
invention of pottery, this period saw the important progression from chipped
to polished tools. The Jomon people were largely hunter-gatherers and
fishermen.
The Jomon culture was followed by the Yayoi, which ran from roughly 250 BC
- AD 250. This culture originated in Kyushu and featured advances in pottery,
basic agriculture, plus utilization of iron and bronze implements. The Jomon
also adopted ceremonial burial practices, irrigation, and textile weaving.
Some of their technological and cultural advances were likely
self-discovered, while others were probably gained from contact with China
and Korea. With these advantages, the Yayoi culture quickly spread across
Japan, overwhelming the more primitive Jomon culture.
The earliest surviving written accounts of Japan are found in China, dating
from the Han period of that culture. It stated that in approximately AD 50
the "state of Nu in Wo" sent emissaries to the Later Han court. "Nu" was one
of more than 100 states that made up "Wo" (Japan). Chinese court later states
that some time after AD 250 a "Queen Himiko" ruled over a confederation of
more than 30 states, with a capital at Yamatai. No one is certain where
Yamatai was located, and no written Japanese records survive from that
period.
Because of the scarcity of Japanese records, there is a lot of controversy on
exactly when and how Japan unified. It is known that some time during the 4th
century Yamatai disappeared and the Yamato kingdom arose. By the mid-4th
century Japan had sent a large army on a mission of conquest to the Korean
peninsula; to do so would require a great deal of central control fairly
early in that century.
During the Yamatos' reign, farmers began using iron tools for cultivation,
and the land saw more advanced creation and flooding of the fields used to
grow rice, a tasty and highly-nutritious grain that would quickly become the
cornerstone of Japanese cuisine. These advances meant that fewer farmers
could grow greater amounts of food, allowing the Yamatos to dedicate surplus
manpower to conquest and to the construction of large tombs for themselves.
At this time the Japanese imported a number of technological advances from
its neighbors, the most important of which may be writing from China; along
with Chinese script came Confucianism.
The 5th century saw the Yamatos change to a more militant posture. The
reasons for this are under debate. Some believe it is the result of an
invasion and conquest of the kingdom by external warriors, while other
historians believe that the Yamatos simply began more aggressively utilizing
their advanced military and agriculture technology without any particular
foreign influence. Whatever the cause, the Yamatos made use of their military
to attack southern Korea, evidently in order to seize control of iron
resources found in the area. The need for access to resources unavailable on
the home islands would be a primary driver of Japanese foreign policy in the
coming centuries.
This period also saw the genesis of the "uji-kabane" system in Japan. The
term "uji" can be translated as "clan," while kabane refers to a hereditary
title of nobility. Under this system people living in an agricultural
community became members of a single clan, each member of which had a
specific place within the communal hierarchy. It was believed that a
bountiful harvest could be assured by paying proper respect to one's
ancestors and clan gods, and thus ancestor-worship became an important
component of the uji-kabane system.
The 6th century saw the decline of Yamato status and influence as the
military suffered reverses at home and abroad. As the Yamatos lost power,
local clan leaders gained it. The loss of central authority naturally
resulted in greater internal conflict, as warlords sought to fill the growing
power vacuum.
The 6th century also saw the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, probably from
Korea. Prince Shotoku was a proponent of Buddhism. Ruling at the turn of the
century, he took the principles of peace and salvation as the ideal for his
court. Interestingly, Chinese Confucianism was also gaining ground among the
Japanese nobility; Shotoku apparently looked to Confucianism for guidance as
well. Shotoku was in power from 592 - 628 BC; the Yamato clan saw a temporary
revival of its power and influence during his realm.
The Japanese court fell into chaos following Shotoku's death. The powerful
Shoga family seized power and killed Shotoku's heirs. They in turn were
overthrown in 645 by Prince Nakano Oe and Nakatomi Kamatari, who killed all
of the Shoga and anyone else who opposed the imperial family. After
destroying their foes they instituted political reforms which increased the
strength of the central government and weakened the more powerful clans.
At about the same time that the Japanese codified their administrative laws,
they instituted criminal and civil laws as well. In doing so they borrowed
heavily from the T'ang Chinese codes, altering them as necessary to fit
Japan's specific needs. Under the Japanese system the people were divided
into free men and slaves. Less than 10% of the entire population of Japan
were slaves; the majority of people were freemen engaged in farming.
The political system survived reasonably intact for several centuries, but by
the 10th century flaws in the structure began to undermine the government.
Several great clans gained control of important government positions, using
their power to funnel huge amounts of wealth into their coffers. Taxes were
increasingly high, and power and wealth continued to accrue to the central
aristocracy, at the expense of the provincial clans and the farmers
everywhere. Partly as a result of growing dissatisfaction with central
government, a new class of warrior aristocrats known as "Samurai" began to
emerge.
The tenth and eleventh centuries saw the rise of the Samurai as a major new
power in Japan. Outside of court Samurai warlords conquered entire provinces;
inside the court they became bodyguards and generals for the aristocracy.
Towards the end of the 11th century the Samurai general Taira Kiyomori gained
so much power and influence that he became the prime minister and virtually
ran the Imperial court. In fact, his son Antoku ascended to the Imperial
throne in 1180. Taira rule did not last long, however; in 1185 they were
destroyed by the Minamoto clan in a sea battle which culminated a five-year
bloody struggle for primacy known as the "Gempei War."
After the victory, Minamoto leader Joritomo established a military
government, or "shogunate," in which the shogun (short for seii taishogun, or
"barbarian-quelling generalissimo") would rule Japan in the name of the
Emperor. This form of government proved remarkably persistent, surviving
almost 700 years before it was abolished in 1868.
Over the next several centuries power passed to the Hojo family, who in the
early 12th century beat back an attempt by Emperor Go-Toba to regain actual
power. At the end of the 12th century they defeated several Mongol attempts
to invade Japan, helped by two fortuitous typhoons which destroyed large
numbers of attackers at crucial points in the battles. The Japanese called
these storms kamikaze, or "divine winds" sent by Heaven to protect them from
the barbarians.
The Hojo clan remained in power until 1333, when Emperor Go-Daigo launched
a coup to return actual power to the imperial family. He was assisted in the
battle by a large group of aristocrats, plus several Samurai clans and some
militant Buddhist monks. A number of important allies of Go-Daigo were
unhappy with their cut of the spoils, however, and in 1336 they revolted,
driving the emperor north into the Yoshino Mountains. For the next 60 years
there were two imperial courts, the Northern and Southern, with control of
Japan split between them. The Southern emperor remained a figurehead, with
real power in the hands of the Southern shogunate. In 1391 the imperial
courts were reunited, with power held by the great shogun Ashikaga Takauji.
The 14th century saw growth in the power of the farming families and
communities, and concomitant increase in resistance to the warlords. Large
uprisings broke out in 1428, 1429 and 1441, and almost yearly afterwards.
In 1467 civil war broke out over who should succeed the shogun Ashikaga;
this war would drag on for some 10 years and see the destruction of many
large temples and the displacement of great numbers of civilians. Although
the war ended in 1477, central authority was badly eroded, and the era saw
numerous local rebellions and the rise of a new class of local warlords
known as "daimyo."
The years 1338-1573 are known as the "Warring States period." This period saw
near-incessant warfare, as the shogunate and the imperial family were both
nearly powerless, and battles for primacy among the daimyos raged across the
countryside. Many castles were constructed during these years, and Japanese
warriors grew quite adept at siege warfare, especially after European traders
taught them how to manufacture muskets.
In 1549 the father of a young nobleman named Oda Nobunaga died, leaving his
son some land, some money, and a group of Samurai retainers. Within eleven
years he had defeated all opposition and taken control of Owari province. A
brilliant visionary and military leader, Oda quickly adopted the new musket
firearms, using them with deadly efficiency against those who stood against
him. In 1562 he allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu, a neighboring feudal lord who
would turn out to be one of the great leaders of all time.
In the 1560s Nobunaga marched on and captured Kyoto, the historical center of
power of Japan. In 1573 he deposed the Shogun, consolidating his actual and
ceremonial power. By the time of his death by assassination in 1582 Oda had
unified nearly half of Japan. See Oda's Civilopedia entry for more details on
this remarkable leader's life.
Oda was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the son of a peasant who rose to
prominence as a warrior and later commander in Oda's service. By 1590
Hideyoshi had unified all of Japan. As part of his policy to strengthen the
central government, he disarmed the peasantry and instituted tax reform. He
also instituted a feudal system, forcing farmers to stay in their villages
and artisans and merchants to remain in the cities. Hideyoshi died in 1598,
and Tokugawa Ieyasu took his place. In 1603 he assumed the title of shogun.
Having happily utilized western weapons and personnel to achieve the
unification of Japan, Tokugawa quickly came to see them as potential threats
to his rule. He (and his heirs) all but obliterated Christianity in Japan,
ousted virtually all westerners from the islands, and forbid the use of
muskets to any but his warriors. For the next several centuries Japan
remained stubbornly isolated from the west, a state that probably saved it
from the humiliating European occupation and colonization suffered by so
many of its Asian neighbors.
In the 19th century the Netherlands were the only European power trading with
Japan, and their contact was quite limited. By mid-century several attempts
had been made by various European powers to establish diplomatic relations
with Japan, but with no success. Seeking ports to fuel its merchant and
fishing fleet, the United States decided to press the issue, sending a
modern fleet under the command of Commodore Matthew C. Perry into Uraga Bay
in 1853. The shock of foreign military power displayed right at Japan's
hitherto inviolate shores destroyed the ancient Tokugawa shogunate, and power
at long last reverted back to the Emperor.
The young Meiji emperor, who succeeded to the throne in 1867, began a policy
of radical reform in Japan, seeking to make it militarily and economically
equal to the western powers whose modern warships ruled the seas around it.
The so-called "Meiji Restoration" was an extraordinary effort in which in a
period of less than a century Japan abolished feudalism, almost entirely
disbanded the Samurai class, and returned ownership of land to the farmers
who worked it. The government initiated a program of industrialization, which
proved remarkably successful in a very short period of time. In the late 19th
century Japan adopted a constitution roughly based upon European models.
By the early twentieth century, Japan had emerged as a major power - the
great power in the Pacific, save for the United States - though other
countries were slow to recognize it, much to their misfortune.
In 1894, China went to war with Japan over who would control Korea. Japan won
easily, gaining nominal independence for Korea from China, plus Formosa, the
Liaotung Peninsula, the Pescadores Islands, and several other pieces of
territory for itself. Japan also extorted unfair trade agreements from China.
The western powers insisted that Japan return the Liaotung Peninsula to
China, who then leased it and its important naval base to Russia. This
infuriated Japan.
In the Boxer Rebellion (1900), Chinese citizens rose up against all of the
foreigners busily selling them opium and robbing their country blind. The
western powers and Japan responded by sending in troops who slaughtered the
Chinese citizens and occupied yet more Chinese terrain. Russia occupied
Manchuria, which Japan saw as a threat to its Korean and Chinese possessions.
In 1904 the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet without warning (a strategy
which they would reemploy later against other inattentive westerners with
great effect). The Japanese were spectacularly successful against the
Russians, proving to an astonished world that they could take on a major
western power and lick it.
In the peace treaty with Russia, Japan received primacy in Korea, plus it
acquired Russia's possessions in China. President Roosevelt received the
Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the treaty. (There were not many Chinese or
Koreans on the Nobel committee at that time.)
Bolstered by its success against China and the west, Japan seized the
opportunity to increase its power in East Asia. It tightened its grip on
Korea and its portion of China, and in World War I it seized Germany's
possessions in Asia and the Pacific. In the post-war period a series of
military treaties between European powers, the United States and Japan
sought to limit Japanese expansion while assuring Japan of its independence.
In the 1930s the militarists came to power in Japan, in part as a response to
the hardships the country faced during the Great Depression. Western and
Chinese tariffs (and anti-Japanese racism) limited Japan's ability to earn
money through exports, money it needed to purchase food for its growing
population. The militarists argued that the only way to open foreign markets
was through force. That, plus fear of communists and growing anger with the
government caused the Japanese military to seek to expand its power
structure. In the late 1920s the military increased operations in Manchuria
without government approval, and the government was too weak to stop them.
In May of 1932 naval officers murdered the prime minister, and in 1936
several important politicians were assassinated as rebellious military units
took over central Tokyo. Though the rebellion was quickly put down, it was
clear that the government survived only at the military's pleasure. The new
young Emperor Hirohito was believed to be a progressive, but he remained
silent over fears that the throne itself would be imperiled if he spoke out.
It was clear that the Japanese military was in charge of the country, in
fact if not in name.
By the 1930s Japan's relations with the USSR, England and the United States
were bad, and getting worse. The USSR resented its defeat by Japan in the
last century, and it also hoped that the Japanese government would be
overthrown and the country would become a workers' paradise just like Russia.
England and the US were opposed to Japan's brutal policies in China and
Korea, and feared that Japan's growing naval might would threaten their own
considerable interests in Asia and across the Pacific. Attempting to counter
the English/American pressure, in 1936 Japan signed a mutual defense pact
with Germany and Italy, and another in 1940. Facing a growing German threat
on the west, the USSR sought to shore up its eastern borders by signing a
non-aggression pack with Japan in 1940.
After the Nazis attacked Russia in 1941, Japan occupied northern Indochina,
seeking to block British supply routes into China, where it supported the
Nationalist Chinese forces against Japan. In response the United States froze
Japanese assets and, worst of all, implemented an oil embargo against Japan.
Japan had two choices: agree to US terms and retreat from Indochina and
possibly China itself, or seize the rich oil fields of the Dutch East Indies.
Negotiations between the US and Japan went nowhere, and the Japanese
government decided upon war.
World War II started out remarkably, shockingly well for Japan, with hugely
successful surprise attacks on the US bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and in
the Philippines. The Japanese Navy nearly drove the battered US forces right
out of the Pacific Ocean, but they were never quite able to deliver the final
killing blow. Over the next few years the United States industry built ships,
planes, guns, and submarines, more than replacing their early losses. The US
Navy and Army learned quickly and soon began the grindingly, heartbreakingly
difficult task of driving the tenacious Japanese back across the Pacific.
In August of 1945 the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan,
largely destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japanese
surrender followed quickly.
After the war Japan lost all of its overseas possessions. In addition, it was
subject to United States occupation, and the USSR occupied some northern
islands (the ownership of which still remains under dispute).
American occupation was relatively benign, as these things are judged. The
Americans imposed a democratic constitution on Japan and barred Japan from
possessing a military. The US also helped (forced) Japan to dismantle the
remnants of its feudal system and institute a vast program of land reform. It
also helped Japan to rapidly rebuild its infrastructure and monetary system.
The US hoped that Japan would become a vital, thriving democracy and
capitalist nation, a counter-balance to the growing Communist power in Asia.
In this it has succeeded far beyond its wildest dreams.
Benefitting from the terms imposed upon it by the victors of World War II,
Japan has used the money other nations have had to spend on militaries on
more beneficial and profitable endeavors. Japan today is indeed a thriving
democracy and an economic powerhouse. Although it has suffered from
government/business cronyism which led to a collapse of the Japanese banking
system in the '90s, overall Japan has enjoyed a meteoric rise in economic
power since the war. Its people are highly educated and motivated and quite
technologically advanced.
As the United States' position in the Pacific has weakened and other powers
have grown, Japan has cautiously begun to rebuild its military. It still
relies on the US for the bulk of its defenses, but for how long it can
continue to do so remains unknown.
Assuming that Japan can maintain cordial relations with its neighbors,
Russia, China and South Korea - and assuming that North Korea doesn't
implode - Japan's future is bright."
Japan is a nice country to play as. They have a nice power, the Bushido,
which is very useful in combat. A riflemen that has been weakened to 3 health
points left will still be as effective as one that is on full health, and
that is a major benefit, allowing them to inflict heavy damage on their
last breath or defend like crazy before sending them back to healing.
Their units are nice as well. The Samurai is 20% more powerful when it is
fighting in open terrain, on top of all the other bonuses that may be on
them, and they during battle, they are more likely to create a Great
General from an epic battle. The Zero is the same as a normal fighter, but
it receives a bonus when it engages other fighters as well, which is a nice
powerful boost.
Oda Nobunaga
~ History
"Oda Nobunaga was a 16th century Japanese warlord. Both a brilliant general
and a cunning politician - as well as an early adopter of new technology -
Nobunaga fought and backstabbed his way to domination over nearly half of
feudal Japan. His two lieutenants, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu,
would complete the job after his death, reunifying Japan for the first time
in over a century.
Oda Nobunaga was born in 1534 AD, well into the "Sengoku" or Warring States
period in Japanese history. During this period feudal Japan was divided into
provinces run by powerful "daimyos" (territorial lords), while a weak shogun
ruled in the name of a still-weaker Emperor. The Sengoku period saw an almost
complete overthrow of the established order, with local lords overthrowing
their daimyos, retainers overthrowing their lords, and inferior family
branches fighting each other for dominance. It was a remarkably brutal period
in Japanese history, and the nobility had to be smart, powerful and lucky to
survive.
Nobunaga was born the son of a wealthy government official in the small and
unimportant Owari province. Following his father's death in 1551 he inherited
his father's title, wealth and military vassals. He was all of 17 at the
time, and by all accounts was a wild and unruly child. According to legend
Nobunaga acted so badly at his father's funeral that one of his friends and
retainers committed seppuku (ritual suicide) in humiliation. Shocked and
sobered by his retainer's death, Nobunaga began to take his position and
obligations seriously.
Over the next ten years, Nobunaga rose to dominate Owari province,
systematically co-opting or destroying anyone who stood in his way. The
series of alliances, battles, betrayals and murders Nobunaga engaged in to
achieve victory is bafflingly complex, rivaling the most intricate plot of a
South American "telenovela" (soap opera). Here's how it went:
At the time of his father's death, the Oda clan was divided into many
factions. Some favored Nobunaga as the legitimate heir, while others favored
his younger (and less wild) brother, Nobuyuki. Meanwhile, his late father's
brother, Nobutomo, used his position as deputy to the powerless Owari
province's "shugo," (military governor) Shiba Yoshimune, to advance his claim
to leadership of the Oda clan. But when he learned that the shugo secretly
favored Nobunaga's claim, Nobutomo had Shiba Yoshimune murdered.
Meanwhile, Nobunaga convinced another of his father's brothers, Oda
Nobumitsu, to turn on Nobutomo (who, we must remember, had just murdered
Owari shugo Shiba). Nabunaga and his Uncle Nobumitsu attacked and killed
Uncle Nobutomo in Kiyosu Castle. By destroying his uncle, Nobunaga gained
control over Owari province's new shugo, Shiba Yoshikane (Shiba Yoshimune's
heir). He used Shiba Yoshimune to gain alliances with the Imagawa and Kira
clans, who also owed allegiance to Shiba.
Nobunaga then fielded an army to Mino Province to aid Saito Dosan against his
rebellious son, Saito Yoshitatsu, but he was unsuccessful and Dosan fell.
In 1556 Nobunaga's brother, Nobuyuki (remember him?) rebelled with the aid of
Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Hidesada. Nobunaga defeated the conspirators at
the Battle of Ino. Showing unusual mercy, he pardoned his brother and his
allies. His brother repaid him by immediately planning another revolt, but he
was betrayed by his onetime ally Shibata Katsuie, who informed Nobunaga of
his plans. Nobunaga then murdered his brother.
And so on. By 1559 Nobunaga had destroyed all of his rivals and was
undisputed master of Owari Province, though he kept Shiba Yoshikane in place
as a puppet shugo (at least until he discovered that Yoshikane was secretly
plotting against him with the Kira and Imagawa clans, at which point Nobunaga
removed him from his position).
Having secured Owari province, Nobunaga began to expand his power across
Japan. In 1560 he led a laughably small army against a far superior force
which was on its way to Kyoto to overthrow the weak Ashikaga Shogun,
achieving a shocking victory against brutally long odds.
One key to Nobunaga's military success was his early adoption of the new
weapons which were beginning to appear in Japan at the time, brought in by
European traders. He was one of the first daimyos to organize entire musket
units, giving him a great advantage against his more backwards foes. He was
also a gifted manager, making full use of the agricultural and mercantile
wealth of Owari to support his war efforts.
In 1568 Nobunaga marched on Kyoto, putting up his ally Ashikaga Yoshiaki as
his puppet Shogun. By 1573 the two men had fallen out, and Nobunaga deposed
Ashikaga, at last ending the long Ashikaga Shogunate.
Nabunaga consolidated his hold on Japan by attacking various politically
powerful Buddhist sects. The monks put up incredibly stubborn resistance,
some holding out for more than a decade. Nobunaga distributed the captured
religious property to various samurai and nobility, further earning their
loyalty. Nobunaga was friendly with the European Jesuit missionaries who
appeared in Japan in ever larger numbers (probably because they had no
political power with which to threaten him). He did not convert to
Christianity, however.
By 1582 Nobunaga had established firm control over central Japan and had
begun attempting to expand his power westward. However, during a military
campaign he was betrayed by a subordinate at Honno-ji temple and was forced
to commit seppuku. His murderer survived him by just eleven days before
being defeated by Nobunaga's loyal lieutenants, who would go on to complete
the unification of Japan he so ably started.
Oda Nobunaga is generally agreed to be one of the three greatest leaders in
Japanese history. His two lieutenants, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa
Ieyasu, are the other two. By 1590 Hideyoshi had completed the conquest of
Japan, and following his death Tokugawa Ieyasu would come into power,
creating the Tokugawa Shogunate which would rule Japan for centuries to come.
Together these three men created the modern state of Japan.
Nobunaga was a brutal man in a brutal time. But by helping to unify Japan he
brought an end to the brutal wars that had been ravishing his country for
more than a century.
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 7/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 5/10
City State Competitiveness - 6/10
Boldness - 8/10
Oda is an aggressive leader, he will charge you down if you appear weak in
front of him, and he plays to win, he doesn't play to lose, like other leaders
who are more than content just to hold your hand and bide your time. That does
make him dangerous and very hard to fight.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 5/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 2/10
Friendly - 4/10
Neutral - 5/10
Yes, when he meets you, he isn't likely to make friends with you, he is more
than likely to attack you and set your cities on fire. He isn't afraid if you
either, so in a time of peace, don't expect a few powerful units on the border
deter him from not attacking you, he will attack you regardless. He is a
dangerous foe, a brutal man, but his was a brutal time.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 4/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 7/10
Oda is either going to protect or destroy the City States and it is more of a
coin toss, rather than an equation as to what he would do. Again, he is more
likely to protect the ones that are next to his enemies, since the armies of
the City State can be used as well.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 8/10
Defensive - 5/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 8/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 4/10
Oda is going to march you down with a good old physical beatdown. Oda is more
likely to use melee units, but they will be trained, so expect him to
establish barracks to train his troops up from the ground, so you aren't going
to be facing green recruits, but some battle-seasoned veterans. He is still
powerful on the defensive as well, so just because you have defeated the
incursion, doesn't mean you will defeat the defences of his empire.
Naval Scales
Naval - 7/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 5/10
Naval Growth - 6/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 6/10
Oda will use naval units on you, and not in a supporting role, rather, as a
force of its own. This will be different, you will actually have to face
attacking naval units, and given that they normally attack from a range, you
will need to develop some nice tactics to get the upper hand. Submarines are
useful here.
Air Scale
Air Power - 6/10
Given that one of the unique units for the Japanese is the famed Zero fighter
from World War 2, it isn't surprising that Oda will use air power a fair bit
during his battles against his enemies. If you annoy him enough, he will bomb
your cities using bombers, and that is something you want to protect yourself
against. He isn't that willing to hand air supremacy over to you.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 6/10
Science - 4/10
Culture - 6/10
Oda will tend to expand quickly, but that is about it, he really doesn't have
too much of a preference on how he runs his cities, or where he will settle,
but he will settle quickly, so have units around in order to capture a free
settler or worker off him, and save you the trouble of getting one yourself.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 5/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 7/10
Spaceship - 7/10
Again, with the spaceship victory, but it is odd considering the diplomatic
victory there, however, given the protective nature of City-States Oda has,
it isn't all that surprising. Otherwise, there isn't really that much of a
surprise in how Oda will approach his neighbours. With a samurai sword and a
nice swing.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.12] Ottoman
Leader - Suleiman the Magnificant
Unique Unit 1 - Janissary, replaces Musketman
Unique Unit 2 - Sipahi, replaces Lancer
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
BARBARY CORSAIRS
- When destroying a Barbarian naval unit, there is a 50% chance of
converting it to your cause and earning 25 Gold.
~ History
">The Ottoman Empire was born in Anatolia (in modern Turkey) at the start of
the 13th century. It expanded into three continents and thrived for some six
centuries. Many Americans know very little about the Ottoman Empire (it
occupies the blind spot Americans have for pretty much everything between
Greece and China). This is a great pity, for the Ottoman Empire was vast,
powerful, and extremely interesting.
At its peak, the Empire stretched from Hungary in the north to Basra in the
east to the shores of the Indian Ocean in the south to Morocco in the west.
With enormous holdings of land on three continents, it's impossible to
generalize about the Ottoman terrain or weather. They ruled over mountains,
hills, plains, swamps and desserts. Temperatures in Egypt in the summer can
rise to as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and in Hungary they can fall to
well below freezing during the winter.
The Ottoman Empire is named for Osman I (1259-1326). Osman was a prince of
Bithynia, a small province in Anatolia (Turkey), strategically located
bordering the Black Sea, the Bosporus, and the Sea of Marmara. Bithynia had
until recently been a part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, a Muslim empire
that had ruled much of Anatolia for over two centuries. As the Sultanate
declined in power (following crippling invasions by Mongols), the neighboring
power of Byzantium sought to expand into Anatolia. It was unable to fully
pacify the region, and Osman I took advantage of Byzantine weakness to push
west toward Byzantium.
In the 14th century, Byzantium power was fading rapidly. The eastern heir to
the Roman Empire, Byzantium once possessed enormous holdings in Italy,
Eastern Europe, Anatolia, the Middle East and North Africa, but by 1300 its
domain was reduced to portions of Greece, the Balkans, and western Anatolia.
Over the next century the Ottoman Empire would steadily grind away at the
fading empire, first in Anatolia, then in the Balkans. When the Ottomans
captured the Bulgarian capital of Nicopolis, located on the strategic Danube
river, the Bulgarian king appealed to Christian Europe for assistance against
the growing Muslim menace. In 1396 an army of Knights from Hungary, Burgundy,
Venice, the Knights Hospitaller and Bulgaria set forth to defeat the
Ottomans.
The Battle of Nicopolis is often called the "Crusade of Nicopolis." The
numbers of combatants involved is unknown, with estimates ranging from around
10,000 knights, footmen and archers on either side to 200,000 on either side.
(The latter numbers are generally agreed by modern historians to be absurdly
high.) According to early historians, one side in the battle was outnumbered
by at least two to one, though they tend to disagree vehemently on which side
that was. In any event, the invading Crusaders marched south from Hungary and
laid siege to Nicopolis.
From all accounts the Crusaders suffered from divided command and gross
overconfidence, a not uncommon problem among mixed armies of the day. The
siege was sloppy and the Crusaders posted no sentries. However, one
Burgundian leader, the experienced veteran Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy,
disobeyed orders and sent out a reconnaissance in force that encountered the
approaching Ottomans, saving the Crusaders from an extremely rude surprise.
On the morning of the battle, the Ottoman forces, under the command of Sultan
Bayezid I, were arrayed on a hillside overlooking the city of Nicopolis. The
Crusaders were lined up opposite the Muslims in front of Nicopolis, their
backs to the Danube.
One of the Crusader leaders noted that the first line of Ottoman troops were
militia, untrained and ill-equipped, designed to blunt the force of an
attacker before it met the main Ottoman infantry. He recommended that the
infantry lead the assault against these troops, and that the Crusader knights
be stationed on the flanks, supporting the infantry and engaging the
dangerous Ottoman sipahis (cavalry). The French knight Philippe d'Eu
denounced this plan, claiming that it was dishonorable and demanded that the
knights have the honor of leading the charge against the enemy. This plan was
adapted.
The Ottomans had placed a wall of sharpened stakes in their front lines,
designed to kill advancing horses and stop a determined cavalry charge.
Although the Crusader knights crushed the Ottoman militia, many were unhorsed
in the charge, and the attack became quite disorganized. The Ottoman infantry
retreated and the Christian knights followed triumphantly without reforming,
believing they had crushed the cowardly enemy.
However, the Ottomans had kept a force of sipahis in reserve, and Bayezid
committed them at this point - a large force of fresh cavalry facing the
exhausted and unhorsed knights. At the same time other Ottoman troops began
to flank the exposed Crusader positions. Badly outgeneraled at every point,
the Crusader force collapsed and surrendered. Many of the European noblemen
were ransomed for a good deal of treasure, while a lot of the common soldiers
were massacred in retaliation for similar European behavior earlier in the
campaign.
The capture of Nicopolis secured the Ottoman holdings in the Balkans for some
time. Now all that remained of the once mighty Byzantine Empire was the city
of Constantinople.
In 1399 the Mughal leader Tamerlane (Timur) declared war on the Ottoman
Empire, disrupting Bayezid I's European campaign. Tamerlane was a descendant
of Mongol conquerors who led his troops triumphantly through Persia, India,
central Asia and Anatolia. In 1402 Bayezid's troops met Tamerlane's army at
the battle of Ankara.
Once again it's almost impossible to determine the number of forces involved
in the battle, with numbers ranging from 1,000,000 on each side to as few as
140,000 for Tamerlane and 80,000 for Bayezid. Whatever the number, it is
generally agreed that Tamerlane's army significantly outnumbered Bayezid's.
The battle opened with a large attack by the Ottomans which was broken up by
accurate arrow-fire from the enemy horse archers which inflicted significant
damage to the attackers. As the battle progressed a significant portion of
Bayezid's troops deserted and joined Tamerlane's army. Now badly outnumbered
and exhausted, Bayezid's army was defeated and he was captured shortly
thereafter, dying in captivity. Having secured his flank against the
Ottomans, Tamerlane left Anatolia and returned to India to continue his own
empire's expansion.
After Bayezid's death civil war broke out in the Empire as his four sons
fought over the crown. The so-called "Ottoman Interregnum" lasted for some 11
years until 1413, when Mehmed Celebi, the last surviving brother, assumed the
title of sultan.
Sultan Mehmed I and his son Murad II spent a number of years restoring
central power within the Empire, repairing the damage done during the
Interregnum.
Having secured his control of the Ottoman Empire, in 1423 Murad II besieged
Constantinople, leaving only after he had extorted an exorbitant sum from the
Byzantines. Murad then went to war with Venice, an extended affair that ended
with an Ottoman victory but on terms that kept Venice as a major mercantile
power in the Eastern Mediterranean. He also began a long-running war with
Hungary over control of Walachia.
As the Ottoman Empire grew, so too did the power of the Turkish nobility, who
Murad II saw as an increasing threat to his rule. To counter the Turks, Murad
created the Janissaries, a military force of Christian slaves. He gave the
Janissaries lands from his latest conquests, the income and status from which
made them an effective balance to the old-moneyed Turks in the Empire. Murad
continued to attempt to expand further into Europe until 1444, when he made
peace with all of his enemies and retired, passing the throne to his son
Mehmed II.
Sultan Mehmed II reigned for some thirty years, 1451-1481. One of his early
acts was to once again lay siege to Constantinople. His vizier and other
Turkish nobles bitterly opposed the attack, which they rightly saw as a
prelude to still further Ottoman expansion and diminution of their power
within the Empire.
The siege lasted less than two months. Mehmed had a force of 100,000 at his
command, and Constantinople was defended by perhaps 7,000 soldiers. The
defenders fought stubbornly, beating off waves of Ottoman assaults
accompanied by heavy cannon fire. Eventually the Ottomans broke in and
flooded the city, overwhelming the defenders through sheer weight of numbers.
Although the Ottomans enthusiastically sacked the city, Mehmed treated its
citizens with mercy, sparing their lives and leaving them their houses and
possessions (or at least those that hadn't already been looted). He treated
the non-Muslims with respect, and many Jews emigrated to the Ottoman Empire,
seeking protection from European persecution.
Mehmed II made Constantinople the capital of his Empire, giving him a
strategic foothold at the edge of Europe.
Over the next century the Ottoman Empire continued to expand into Europe, as
well as into the Middle East and Africa. In addition to its superb land
forces, the Empire had developed a powerful navy. The Ottoman navy dominated
the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea, and it had a significant force in
the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, where it competed with growing European naval
powers such as Portugal.
Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) continued the Ottoman expansion into
Europe, primarily targeting Hungary. His chief European rivals were the
Habsburg family, who at the time ruled Hungary (along with much of the rest
of Europe); however, he had a powerful ally in the King of France who feared
the Habsburgs' designs on his kingdom and was happy to aid any power that
could weaken them. In 1521 Suleiman took Belgrade, and by 1526 the Ottomans
had conquered perhaps half of Hungary. The war continued for several years,
and by 1529 Suleiman had advanced to Vienna, the most powerful European city
in the area. Although unable to capture the city and ultimately forced to
abandon the siege, Suleiman put the Europeans on the defensive and secured
Hungary for more than 10 years.
At sea, Suleiman responded to European pressure by creating a powerful navy
under the command of Barbarossa, an ex-pirate turned admiral of the Ottoman
navy. Barbarossa captured Algiers in 1529, and Suleiman assigned the entire
province to Barbarossa to support his fleet. In the 1530s Barbarossa fought
several naval battles against a variety of European forces, emerging
victorious from all of them.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire had expanded to about the limit possible given
the weapons and supply systems of the day. Suleiman invaded Iran repeatedly,
but ran out of supplies before he was able to bring the Iranian army to
battle. Once he left, the Iranians simply moved back in and reconquered
everything he had taken. In 1555 he agreed to permanent eastern borders,
keeping Iraq and Eastern Anatolia but renouncing claims to Azerbaijan and
the Caucasus.
At its peak during this period, the Ottoman Empire was both a military and
an economic powerhouse. The Empire's treasury was filled by tributary
payments from its possessions in Egypt, North Africa and Eastern Europe,
and it sat athwart the trade routes between Europe and the Far East, giving
it a slice of the profits from the growing spice trade. This is largely
responsible for the European Age of Exploration, as they looked for ways to
avoid Ottoman territory and trade directly with India, China, and other
providers of spice.
Over the next few centuries the Ottoman Empire endured a slow, steady
decline. Although it remained a powerful and vital state for many years, it
never again reached the height of power it had attained under Suleiman. By
the mid to late 16th century the Janissaries had gained almost total
ascension in Istanbul (the new name for Constantinople), and with greater
power came greater corruption. The position of grand vizier became more
powerful as the sultans grew more decadent. Eventually the viziers
overstepped their bounds and were overthrown, with power first going to the
harem (the "Sultanate of the Women") from 1570 - 1578, and then to the
military from 1578 - 1625.
The basic problem facing whoever was in charge was that the empire was simply
too large to rule effectively, and over time more and more of it began to
slip into something approaching anarchy. Because of increasing corruption as
well as external trade pressure the economy of the Empire all but collapsed,
with rampant inflation occurring during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Despite its internal weakness the Empire remained a potent international
power, greatly feared by Europe. Although it suffered the occasional defeat,
it was still far more powerful than any external enemy. It continued to
expand over the years, gaining Tunis, Fez and Crete in the Mediterranean, as
well as Azerbaijan and a portion of the Caucasus.
However, at the end of the 17th century the Ottomans pushed their luck just a
bit too far. In 1683 Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasa once again besieged
Vienna. The defenders, led by Polish King Jan Sobieski, held out easily
against the Ottoman assault.
Emboldened by the weakness the Ottomans displayed, Sobieski was able to
assemble a massive coalition of European forces against the common enemy. The
Hapsburgs sought their lost territory in the Balkans, the Venetians wanted
their lost Adriatic bases back, while the new power of Russia sought (as
always) a warm-water port in the Mediterranean.
This was an uneasy alliance at best, and the allies would periodically break
off the assault to fight each other. In addition, the Ottomans were supported
by France (still seeking to weaken the Habsburgs) as well as Britain and the
Netherlands, who feared that whoever took over the Ottoman Empire would
dominate Europe and threaten their growing naval ascendency.
Still, the allies were victorious, and they gobbled up much of the Ottomans'
European possessions over the next century. By 1792 the Ottomans had been
driven back to the Danube, losing possessions they had held for nearly two
centuries. Soon thereafter they lost the northern coast of the Black Sea, the
Caucasus, southern Ukraine and the Crimea.
In the mid-19th century, several sultans began earnest efforts to modernize
the Ottoman state, attempting to enact huge reforms to the army, government,
and education system. These reforms occurred slowly, not only because of
resistance from those whose power was threatened by the new ideas, but also
because the state was nearly bankrupt and under increasing pressure from the
external forces who sensed its weakness and who wanted to be in on the kill.
Still, by the 20th century thousands of primary schools were in existence, as
were a growing number of secondary schools and universities. Advanced
military colleges were created on the European model. The government even
experimented with a parliamentary system, but this was abandoned after less
than a year.
In 1909, a group of reformers known as the "Young Turks" led a revolt to
restore the parliament that had been abolished 30 years earlier; this in turn
led to a wider mutiny which overthrew the existing government. A new sultan
was put in place; he was compelled to reinstate parliament, but real power
resided in the military that had put him in power.
In 1914 the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on the side of the Central
Powers (Germany, Austria and Bulgaria). During the war they held off a
spirited but ill-planned assault on the Dardanelles by forces of the British
Empire, stopping the British fleet from linking up with Russia. They fought
against the Allies in Europe, Egypt, the Balkans, and the Middle East. They
also perpetrated a ghastly massacre against Armenian nationals living in Asia
Minor, killing perhaps half a million men, women and children.
By late 1918 it was clear that the Central Powers were going to be defeated;
the Ottomans agreed to an Armistice on October 30. The victorious Allies
dismantled what was left of the Empire, with Britain, France and Italy
dividing up North Africa, Egypt and the Middle East as well as portions of
Asia Minor. Other sections that no European power especially wanted were
carved off and made into new independent countries. The Ottomans were left
with just Istanbul and a portion of Thrace.
Much of the Allies' plans came to naught, however, because by 1923 a
brilliant Ottoman general named Mustafa Kemal, later called "Ataturk" or
"Father of Turks", had reunited much of Asia Minor in a new country called
"Turkey." By doing so he finally brought to an end the political entity known
as the Ottoman Empire, 600 years after it was born.
To summarize: the Ottoman Empire lasted six centuries. It took on all of
Europe and beat it. It conquered Persia, Egypt, and North Africa, not to
mention a goodly chunk of the Balkans. It destroyed the Byzantine Empire.
The Ottoman Empire was cool."
The Ottomans have one of the worst powers in the game in my opinion, simply
because the barbarian pirates are just too little in the game and they appear
early on. Furthmore, the barbarian pirates are too hard to counter effectively
early in the game as well, they will really only move close to land to
bombard your ground units, but other than that, it is hard to get them.
The Janissary is a powerful unit however, if it manages to destroy the enemy
unit that it is attacking, it will be completely healed of all battle woulds.
They will also get a 25% attacking bonus when they attack first, which makes
them even more deadly on the battlefield. The Sipahi has better movement than
the lancer, they will also not use up movement points when pillaging a tile
and they will have better sight as well.
Suleiman the Magnificant
~ History
"Suleiman I, known as "The Magnificent," "The Legislator" and "The Grand
Turk," was the caliph of Islam and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, taking
the reins of the Turkish kingdom in 1520 and ruling until his death in 1566.
During his rule Suleiman greatly expanded the Empire's territory, earning the
fear (and grudging admiration) of leaders across Europe, Africa, Asia and the
Middle East.
Suleiman was the son and grandson of sultans. At an early age he studied
science, literature, theology, and the military arts in Istanbul. At 17 he
was appointed governor of Kaffa by his grandfather, and he was made governor
of Manisa during the reign of his father, Sultan Selim I. His father died in
1520 when Suleiman was 26, and he ascended to the throne. Although still
quite a young man, Suleiman had nearly ten years of leadership experience
when he came to power.
According to some historians, Suleiman deeply admired Alexander the Great and
hoped to emulate him and create an empire that encompassed Europe, Asia
Minor, Africa, and the Middle East. Upon achieving power, Suleiman began
planning a campaign against Europe and the Balkans.
In 1521, just a year after achieving power, Suleiman captured Belgrade. In the
following year he took the Island of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John. In
1526 he defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs, killing the Hungarian
king Louis II in combat.
Following Louis II's death, the Hungarian throne was taken by Ferdinand I,
the Habsburg archduke of Austria. Seeking to weaken Habsburg power in Eastern
Europe, Suleiman supported the claim of John Zapolya, lord of Transylvania.
In 1529 he laid siege to Vienna. The siege was unsuccessful, however, but it
did serve to keep Hungarian power concentrated on Vienna, effectively ceding
control of most of Hungary to Suleiman's puppet, John. When John died in 1540
the Austrians moved back into central Hungary. The two forces would continue
to battle inconclusively for the next twenty years, until a peace treaty was
signed in 1562, four years before Suleiman's death.
To support his land campaigns Suleiman also created a great navy on the
Mediterranean, the first such in Ottoman history. He put his forces under the
command of admiral Khayr al-Din (known in the west as "Barbarossa"), a
sometime pirate with a natural genius for naval warfare who defeated the
combined Spanish-Venetian fleets in 1538, effectively giving the Ottomans
dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean for the next forty years.
Suleiman waged three major campaigns in Persia during his reign. The first
campaign (1534 - 1535) won the Ottomans control over a portion of eastern
Asia Minor as well as most of Iraq. The second campaign some ten years later
(1548 - 1549) won some additional terrain around the strategically important
Lake Van on the border of Persia and Asia Minor. The third campaign was
inconclusive, as the Ottomans were unable to sustain an offensive deep in
Persian territory and thus were unable to hold onto their gains.
As sultan, Suleiman surrounded himself with competent, often brilliant,
statesmen and administrators. He built mosques, bridges, roads and
fortresses across his territory, and the period is seen as a golden age of
Ottoman architecture. He also worked to reform and codify the empire's
legal system. "The Lawgiver's" legal system would survive almost unchanged
for three centuries. He paid attention especially to the plight of his
Christian subjects, who until then had been little more than serfs. Jews
also were protected, to such an extent that many emigrated to the Ottoman
Empire from Europe, where they were much more harshly treated.
While his territorial accomplishments were impressive, the Sultan did not
ignore the culture of his homeland, Suleiman himself a skilled poet and
fervent Muslim. During his rule hundreds of artistic societies flourished
across the country. Suleiman commissioned numerous new mosques of a
previously unseen grandeur, many designed by master architect Sinan.
Suleiman died in 1566 while (once more) campaigning in Hungary. At the time
of his death he was famous across the known world. In Europe he was envied
for his unbelievable wealth, his magnificent treasury containing more riches
than any other leader had possessed in history. He was admired for his
military prowess and respected for his fair treatment of non-Muslim subjects.
Muslims respected the Sultan for his belief in the rule of law. The Sultan
adopted Islamic sacred law to compliment the traditional law already in
place from his predecessors, providing a model for Eastern powers for
centuries to come.
Almost everyone - Christian and Muslim alike - agreed that he was fully
worthy of the title "The Magnificent."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 5/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 5/10
City State Competitiveness - 6/10
Boldness - 8/10
Suleiman is quite bold, as you can gather, he is will more than likely tread
on your nerves somewhat, which is interesting. Other than that, he isn't
more likely than any other of the leaders to compete for the city states or
build wonders in his civilization before you.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 6/10
Hostile - 6/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 4/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Suleiman wil be friendly, but if he does not get his way, he will turn ugly
and he will declare war on you, which is clearly not a good thing, for either
him or you, depending on who has the upper hand. Other than that, it is nice
to note that as long as you stack enough powerful unders on the border, he
will back off.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 6/10
Another leader that is about as protective as he is bloodthirsty, Suleiman
will either protect or conquer, it is that simple.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 7/10
Defensive - 4/10
City Defence - 4/10
Military Training - 6/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 6/10
Suleiman doesn't concentrate as much on his defence than he does on his
offence, and that means you will be facing a fair amount of melee units,
in conjunction with other units when he decides to come aknockin when he
signs a declaration of war against you. Make sure that you have the counter
to armoured and cavalry units, Suleiman won't hesitate to use them against
you if he needs to.
Naval Scales
Naval - 8/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 10/10
Naval Growth - 6/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 6/10
Suleiman is a big user of the Naval power that is available to him, and
that makes him that much harder to counter, because if you can't match him
on the land, the odds are against you that you can match him in the sea.
He will scout out your lands and the coastal areas around it pretty quickly
and it is only a matter of time before his warships sit outside your city
firing cannon broadside after broadside into what was your city.
Air Scale
Air Power - 6/10
Suleiman is a user of air power, and given that he is also a big fan of
naval power, it is a big worry when he has the ability to develop carriers
and the aircraft to launch off them. However, that is not to say he won't
use bombers to pulverise your cities into a nice ground pulp.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 4/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 6/10
Culture - 6/10
Suleiman, as you can gather from his warmongering ways, is a little bit
trigger-happy when it comes to expansion. He will use his army and navy to
expand aggressively, and he will destroy all that stands in his path. On
the bright side, you will have a ready source of workers and settlers when
you decide it is time to rain on his parade.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 4/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
No real surprises that there is another spaceship victory here, but other
than that, Suleiman is kind of average in terms of what type of victory he
would like to seek. There isn't much for him to choose from really.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.13] Persia
Leader - Darius I
Unique Unit 1 - Immortal, replaces Spearman
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Satrap's Court, replaces Bank
Civilization Power
ACHAEMENID LEGACY
- Golden Ages will last 50% longer, and all units receive a movement bonus
and +10% attack power during a Golden Age.
~ History
"The term "Persia" derives from a region in southern Iran formerly known as
"Persis;" it is commonly used to describe areas where the Persian language
and customs predominated. There have been a series of "Persian Empires"
throughout history; in this article we are specifically examining the
Achaemenid dynasty, which began in 559 BC and ended some two centuries later
under the onslaught of the Greek military genius Alexander the Great.
The Iranian Peninsula, which formed the heart of the Persian Empire, is a
high plateau surrounded on the east and west by mountains. To the south lie
the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, to the north the Caspian Sea and more
mountains. At its height the Persian Empire also encompassed Egypt, the
Middle East and much of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). It's useless to
generalize about the terrain and weather of such a huge and varied region
spanning two continents.
Before the Persians, the Medians were the ascendant power in the area.
According to the ancient historian Herodotus, the first Median king was
Deioces, who ruled from 728 to 675 BC. Deioces' son Phraortes subjugated the
Persians; he later died in battle against the Assyrians. At some point in the
sixth century Medes came under Scythian domination, but they withdrew or were
assimilated by the end of the sixth century, and the kingdom was once again
under Median control.
By all accounts king Cyaxares (625 - 585 BC) was a brilliant ruler who
reorganized the Median army and took it successfully into battle against the
powerful Assyrians, capturing several important Assyrian cities. Cyaxares
allied with the Babylonians, and the two powers destroyed Assyria. In the
division of spoils Babylon received all of the Assyrian territory in the
Fertile Crescent (the area between and adjacent to the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers), while the Medes took possession of the Assyrian holdings in the
highlands to the east and north of Babylon, including territory in Asia
Minor.
Cyaxares' son, Astyages, was evidently not as politically or militarily
astute as his father; he would be the last king of the Medes.
According to legend, King Cyaxares gave Persia to his vassal Cambyses I.
Cambyses I passed the crown to his son, Cyrus II, who solidified his
political position by marrying Medes King Astyages' daughter. Despite his
royal connection Cyrus was not satisfied with his subordinate position, and
after allying with nearby Babylon, he rebelled against the Medes. By 550 BC
the Persians had emerged victorious and the Medes were no more.
Cyrus II was the first of the "Achaemenian" kings of Persia. After conquering
Medean territory, Cyrus expanded Persia into Asia Minor. First he
diplomatically isolated and then conquered Lydia (whose king was the famously
wealthy Croesus), and then he systematically besieged and took all of the
Greek city-states on the west coast of Asia Minor. With his northern flank
secured, Cyrus II then turned south against his previous ally Babylon.
While a great power, Babylon was internally divided, had an unpopular king,
and by allowing Cyrus to destroy Lydia, was fresh out of potential allies.
In the event, it fell almost without Persia striking a blow. In 539 Cyrus
marched triumphantly into the city, now ruling an empire that stretched all
the way to the borders of Egypt.
Cyrus did not get to enjoy his triumphs for very long. He died in battle in
Central Asia in 529 BC.
Cyrus II was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II. After allegedly securing his
thrown by murdering his brother Bardiya, in 525 BC Cambyses led a campaign
against Egypt, which fell after battles at Pelusium and Memphis. Cambyses
then attempted to further extend Persian power west, but attacks against
Carthage, Nubia and Amon were all unsuccessful. In 522 Cambyses learned of a
revolt in Iran led by an imposter claiming to be his brother, Bardiya. He
died while hurrying home to regain control of the rebellious region. It was
said that he committed suicide, but some historians believe that was just
propaganda spread by his successor.
Upon Cambyses II's death, one of his generals, a man named "Darius," led his
troops back to Iran to crush the rebellion, which was apparently well
advanced by the time Darius arrived. A member of the Achaemenian house and a
distant relative of Cambyses II, Darius had himself declared Cambyses's
rightful heir. It took a year of hard fighting to break the back of the
revolt and to secure his claim to the throne, but by 521 Darius I was in firm
control of the Persian Empire.
Darius I was by all accounts a superlative leader. After squelching the
rebellion through a combination of harsh punishment of rebel leaders combined
with clemency of local populations, he then worked to reorganize the empire
and to codify its laws. He further expanded Persian power into northern India
and he established a bridgehead across the Hellespont, giving Persia a
permanent toehold in Europe. He successfully suppressed a revolt of the Greek
city-states, earning Greek citizens' goodwill by removing local tyrants and
returning democracy to the people.
In 492 Darius's forces had retaken Thrace and Macedonia in the Balkans,
setting the stage for an invasion of Greece. At first Darius underestimated
the difficulties of a Greek campaign, and in 490 the allied Greeks beat him
decisively at the Battle of Marathon. Darius was forced to retreat and
regroup. He began preparing for another campaign, but on a far larger and
more powerful scale.
Darius I died in 486 BC, and he was succeeded by his son, Xerxes I. Xerxes
immediately had to deal with a serious revolt in Egypt, which he did in one
quick campaign in 484. Unlike his predecessors, Xerxes dealt harshly with the
rebellious province, removing the local leaders and imposing direct Persian
control on the citizens. He did the same to the Babylonians when they
revolted in 482 BC.
In 480 Xerxes led a huge army into northern Greece, supported by a powerful
Persian navy. Northern Greece fell to the invaders fairly easily, and despite
the heroic stand of the Spartans and the Boeotians at Thermopylae, the Greeks
were unable to stop Xerxes' army from marching to Athens and sacking the most
powerful city-state in Greece. However, the Athenians had evacuated their
city before the Persians arrived, and their navy very much remained a potent
force.
At the battle of Salamis (480 BC) a Greek fleet of some 370 triremes soundly
defeated 800 Persian galleys, destroying perhaps 300 Persian vessels at a
cost of 40 Greek ships. This defeat delayed the planned Persian offensive
further into Greece for a year, giving the Greeks time to strengthen their
defenses against the invaders. Xerxes was forced to return to Persia, leaving
his general Mardonius in command, and the Greeks promptly won several
important naval and land battles against the new leader. With Mardonius's
death in the battle of Plataea, the campaign was over and the surviving
Persians withdrew from Greece in disorder.
Xerxes never mounted another invasion of Greece. In 465 BC he was
assassinated.
Ruling from 465-404 BC, the three Persian kings who followed Xerxes I -
Artaxerxes I, Xerxes II, and Darius II - were weak and uninspiring. At the
end of the 4th century the Persians regained some power in the Aegean,
successfully playing the Greeks off against one-another during the long
Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta; however in 405 BC Egypt revolted
and Persia was unable to regain control of the wayward province for more than
50 years.
Darius II was succeeded by Artaxerxes II, who ruled for 45 years (404 -
359 BC). During his reign Artaxerxes II fought a war against Sparta, once
again over the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. Persia allied with the Athenians
(who were recovering from their disastrous defeat in the Peloponnesian War)
and Sparta was forced to come to terms.
Despite these occasional successes, as the third century BC progressed
Persian weakness and disorganization grew. In 373 BC a group of the Empire's
satraps (provincial governors) revolted. They were put down, but other
revolts followed, and with growing frequency. The position of king was
increasingly unstable; Artaxerxes III came to the throne as a result of
treachery in 359 BC; in an attempt to secure his position he promptly
murdered as many of his relatives as he could find. In 338 Artaxerxes III was
poisoned at the orders of the eunuch Bagoas, who placed Artaxerxes' youngest
son Arses in power. Arses promptly tried to poison Bagoas, but his effort
failed and he himself was killed. Bagoas then elevated Darius III to the
throne. Darius III was a former satrap of Armenia; although he was but
distantly related to the late king, pretty much everybody else with a better
claim was already dead.
Darius II may or may not have been an especially effective leader, it is
difficult to tell. When he assumed the throne the Persian Empire had been in
decline for well over a century, its many component parts in near-constant
revolt against the increasingly inept central government. Palace intrigue
further crippled the monarchy, and leaders who wished to survive spent as
much time watching their backs as they did looking out for the interests of
the Empire. Any leader who took power under those circumstances would be in
trouble. However bad things at home were, they paled into insignificance when
compared with the troubles headed Darius III's way from across the
Hellespont.
In 359 BC, King Philip ascended to the throne of Macedon, a country
straddling the line between Greece and the Balkans. Within 20 short years
Philip had conquered all of Greece and then began preparations to invade
Persia. Following Philip's assassination in 336 BC a young man named
Alexander took the Macedonian crown. After securing his throne and
suppressing a Greek rebellion, Alexander resumed Philip's invasion into
Persia.
Alexander was a military genius and a man of great courage and even greater
ambition. At the head of a highly-disciplined Greek army equipped with
superior weaponry and tactics, he drove through Persia like a hot knife
through butter. Darius repeatedly met him in battle, often with far superior
numbers, and Alexander simply destroyed his armies one after another. The
Persian capital Persepolis fell to Alexander's armies in 330 BC, and Darius
was murdered the same year. The last Achaemenian ruler had fallen to the
invaders.
The Achaemenian Persian Empire survived and thrived in a dangerous
neighborhood for some 200 years. At its height it dominated land from India
to Egypt, from Iran to the Balkans. It was an awkward and ungainly empire,
spanning three continents with citizens speaking dozens of different
languages. At their best, the Achaemenian kings were lawgivers who treated
their subject populations with clemency and fairness, interfering as little
as possible with provincial internal policies as long as the subjects behaved
themselves. At worst, the Achaemenian kings were incompetent bullying
backstabbers.
Whatever else they were, the Achaemenian kings were survivors. Two hundred
years is a long time for a single family to remain in power. If they hadn't
lived next to Alexander and Philip they might have remained in power another
100 years. Alexander the Great himself was a brilliant leader and warlord,
but his own empire barely survived his death by a year."
The Persians are best during a Golden Age, without a Golden Age, they really
are useless, simply because their power has no real use. Therefore, in order
to use the power, you either need to have a very happy empire, or you will
need to have a lot of Great People in your empire to satisfy the need for
the Golden Age.
The Immortals, despite being so famous thanks to 300, are just marginly
more powerful over the Spearmen, however, they do heal at double the normal
rate, which does make them somewhat more useful to you. Satrap's Court will
be replacing the bank, and whilst providing the normal gold bonus, will also
provide 2 extra happiness as well.
Darius I
~ History
"The son of a satrap (governor) of Parthia, Darius I forcibly took the throne
of Persia upon the death of Cambyses II in 522 BC. An administrative genius,
during his reign Darius reorganized the sprawling Persian empire, greatly
increasing its wealth and power. He also implemented many great construction
works across Persia.
Much of our knowledge of Darius I comes from the early Greek historian
Herodotus, as well as from Persian inscriptions commissioned by Darius
himself. According to Herodotus, as a youth Darius was suspected by Persian
king Cyrus the Great of plotting against him. Darius survived this suspicion,
later becoming a general and bodyguard of Cyrus' son and heir, Cambyses II,
after Cambyses assumed the throne. Cambyses died in 522 BC while in Egypt.
Upon his death Darius returned to Media and killed Cambyses' brother,
Bardiya, who Darius claimed was an imposter who had usurped the throne.
After killing Bardiya (or the imposter, depending upon whose story you
believe) Darius claimed the Persian throne. This did not go over well in the
provinces, and Darius faced serious revolts in Babylon, Susiana, Media,
Sagartia, and Margiana. Babylon revolted twice, in fact, and Susiana three
times. The insurrections were uncoordinated, however, and Darius was able to
suppress each separately. According to one of his inscriptions, Darius
defeated nine rebel leaders in 19 battles. By 518 or so his throne was
secure.
After establishing his position, Darius initiated a series of wars to expand
and secure Persia's borders. In 519 he attacked the Scythians east of the
Caspian Sea, and shortly after he conquered the Indus Valley. He later
attacked northwest from Asia Minor, conquering Thrace and then Macedonia. He
tried to expand his European bridgehead north across the Danube, but he was
forced to withdraw by stubborn resistance of the Scythian nomads. Finally, he
secured the Aegean islands of Lemnos and Imbros.
Persia now held the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, the straits of Bosporus
(which gave them control over the Black Sea), Macedonia, which bordered
Greece to the north, as well as a number of strategic islands in the Aegean.
This inevitably led to conflict with the powerful but divided Greek
city-states watching Persian expansion with jealousy and alarm.
When not battling one of his empire's neighbors, Darius took a series of
actions to unify the empire and to improve its administration. He completed
the organization of the empire into satrapies (provinces) and set the annual
tribute due from each. He improved the Persian road network and standardized
coinage, weights and measures, greatly expanding the opportunities for trade
throughout the empire. He funded exploration expeditions from India to Egypt,
and he completed a canal in Egypt leading from the Nile River to the Red Sea.
Darius was the greatest builder in the Achaemenid Persian history. He
constructed fortifications, a palace, and administrative buildings at Susa,
his administrative capital. In his native Persepolis, Darius began
construction of a new palace, as well as a council hall, treasury, and more
fortifications (though these would not be completed until after his death).
While firmly putting down any attempts at insurrection within Persia, Darius
showed a good deal of tolerance to his subject peoples' religious beliefs. He
constructed a number of temples in Egypt honoring the Egyptian gods, and he
ordered his Egyptian satrap to codify the Egyptian laws in consultation with
the Egyptian priestly class. In 519 he allowed the Jews to begin
reconstruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Darius himself is thought to have
been a follower of Zoroastrianism, which was eventually made the state
religion of Persia.
In 499 BC the Greek city-states of Athens and Eretria supported a revolt of
some Greek colonies in Asia Minor against Persia. Darius crushed the
rebellion and began plotting a campaign against the meddling Greeks.
In 492 BC Darius' son-in-law Mardonius was put in charge of an expedition
against Greece, but his fleet was destroyed in a storm off of Mount Athos and
he was unable to advance. In 490 another Persian force successfully invaded
Greece, destroying Eretria and enslaving its inhabitants before being
defeated by Athenian warriors at Marathon. Darius was in the middle of
planning yet a third expedition when he died in 486 BC.
History's view of Darius is generally quite favorable (if you put aside his
questionable ascension to power, which was pretty much standard operating
procedure throughout much of history). He constructed roads, reorganized the
Persian provinces and government, secured the empire's borders, and generally
treated his subjects about as well as or better than anyone in that time.
Although not primarily known as a warlord, he fought a number of successful
campaigns against both internal and external foes. It is quite possible that
he could have successfully subjugated Greece if death had not intervened. His
son, Xerxes I, certainly wasn't up to the task. All in all, Darius left his
empire in better condition than he found it, which is a pretty good epitaph
for any leader in any time period."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 7/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 4/10
City State Competitiveness - 4/10
Boldness - 3/10
Darius isn't that bold, so you don't have to worry too much about him going
to threaten you and pissing you off. However, Darius will be there to play
to win, so you will want to make sure that you will keep him in check, just
to not let him win.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 4/10
Hostile - 3/10
Deceptive - 5/10
Guarded - 6/10
Afraid - 6/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Darius, as you can see, isn't the war mongering type, he is there to be
friends, and if you start stacking units on the border, he will be rightfully
concerned. He will be willing to defend his land though, so don't expect him
to be a pushover.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 4/10
Conquest - 5/10
Darius is really must opportunistic to the city states, if they are in the
way, he will take them over, if they serve as a buffer between him and his
external enemies, he will protect them, but really, he isn't a threat to
the city states.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 3/10
Defensive - 7/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 4/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 5/10
Darius is again, one of the defensive leaders who rather defend his land,
rather than aggressively take it from his enemies, or soon to be enemies.
Darius will concentrate on units that can defend, and he will use a mix
of all units, rather than focus one type over another. He will have units on
the border, and in the city, so you will need a lot of siege power in order
to get your way.
Naval Scales
Naval - 4/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 4/10
Naval Growth - 5/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 5/10
Darius doesn't concentrate heavily on his navy, something that is lacking
given his defensive stance. He might have a few ships here and there to have
a look around, but that is about it. Which is a shame, I always want to sink a
few thousand triremes with cannon fire.
Air Scale
Air Power - 5/10
An average user of air power, he really won't concentrate on bombing your
lands with air units, just enough to defend his airspace, to make sure that
your bombers don't have an easy time when they decide to take a stroll over
his lands.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 5/10
Growth - 6/10
Tile Improvement - 7/10
Infrastructure - 7/10
Production - 6/10
Gold - 7/10
Science - 5/10
Culture - 5/10
In terms of empire building, Darius will concentrate a lot on tile
improvement, which is useful if you decide to rake and pillage all his
lands. He will also concentrate heavily on gold production, which will make
him a nice rich target. And with all the infrastructure that he builds, he
will be quick to conquer, all roads load this his Capital.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 8/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Aside from the usual spaceship victory, you would expect Darius to concentrate
on a happy population, since that is the main way his power will be drawn
from, the Golden Age. As such, Darius will have pretty high growth as a
result, so his cities are going to be nice to capture.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.14] Rome
Leader - Augustus Caesar
Unique Unit 1 - Ballista, replaces Catapult
Unique Unit 2 - Legion, replaces Swordsman
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
THE GLORY OF ROME
- +25% production bonus for buildings constructed outside the Capital that
has already been built in the Capital.
~ History
"The Roman Empire is the most remarkable and long-lived political entity in
the history of Western Civilization. It was founded around the 8th century
BC, and portions of it survived until the 14th century AD. The Romans were
great innovators in some areas, and they were not shy about appropriating
good ideas they found in other cultures. They greatly shaped Western culture,
law, art, architecture, religion, language, and warfare.
The city of Rome stands near the Tibur River in central Italy. A series of
hills and mountains run along the spine of boot-shaped Italy; the coastal
regions are flatter and make better farmland. The central highlands can be
cold and snowy in winter, while the coastal lowlands enjoy milder,
stereotypical Mediterranean climate.
At its height the Empire controlled much of Western and Central Europe along
with a great chunk of the Middle East and most of the northern coast of
Africa, and naturally the Empire's terrain and climate varied greatly from
province to province.
According to legend, Rome was founded by twin brothers named "Romulus" and
"Remus," the sons of the god Mars and a king's daughter. The children were
abandoned at birth, but they were rescued by a she-wolf who suckled and
raised them. Upon reaching maturity the boys founded a new city, then
quarreled over who would rule. Romulus won: he killed his brother and became
the first king of Rome.
Archaeologists date the first major settlement in the area from the eighth
century BC (though there is some evidence suggesting that there were
settlements in the area as far back as the 10th century BC). The city was
founded by the Latin tribe atop the Palatine Hill, which overlooks a crossing
of the Tibur River. The city's strategic location made it a natural trading
post between the Etruscan civilization to the north and the Greek settlements
to the south. Thus Rome benefitted from technological and cultural advances
of both groups. Its location also made it greatly prized by its neighbors,
and for two centuries the Latins fought off attacks by the Etruscans and the
Sabines, another local tribe.
Roman tradition states that the last Roman king was a brutal tyrant. The
villainous king, Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown after his son raped a
virtuous noblewoman. Modern historians believe that the truth is far more
prosaic. According to one current theory Rome was captured by the Etruscans,
who ejected the Roman king, but external events forced them to vacate the
city before they could install their own monarch. Finding that they preferred
being kingless, the Romans did not recall Tarquinius to power but instead
implemented a Republic loosely based upon the Greek model. It is believed
that the last Roman king fell at the end of the fifth century BC.
The Roman political system evolved over time, but the early structure was
something like this: Rome was ruled by two consuls. The consuls acted as the
city's chief magistrates as well as the military commanders. The two consuls
possessed equal power. The consuls were elected annually by the "centuriate
assembly" - the Roman army. To ensure unity of command in times of great
danger a "dictator" could be appointed. The dictator had supreme military
command. However, the dictator's term lasted only for six months, at which
time power reverted to the consuls and senate.
The second power bloc in Roman government was the Senate. The Senate was
composed of approximately 300 men drawn from the leading Roman families.
According to theory the Senate was strictly an advisory body, advising both
the Consuls and the assemblies (see below), but in fact it held enormous
political power, and its "advice" was almost always followed by the
assemblies (see below).
Two assemblies met periodically in Rome, and they (theoretically) held all
political power. The centuriate assembly met outside the city's borders in
the Field of Mars. As stated before this assembly was composed of Roman
soldiers; they elected consuls and magistrates and voted on peace and war.
The "tribal" assembly met inside the city; it was comprised of all male
Roman citizens. This assembly enacted laws and sat as a court for public
offenses involving money.
During much of its history, the Roman Republic was at war with one or more of
its neighbors. It was constantly expanding its territory at the expense of
other Italian tribes. It fought and conquered the nearby town of Fidenae in
426 BC after an eleven-year struggle, and this was followed soon thereafter
by a painful ten-year fight to conquer the Etruscan city of Veii. Much of
these gains were swept away in 390 BC, when a Gaulish tribe defeated the
Roman armies and sacked the city. It took almost half a century for Rome to
recover from this devastating defeat.
By the middle of the third century, however, Rome was master of most of
central Italy, with Latin colonies extending far to the north and south.
Further, work was progressing on the incomparable Roman road network linking
the growing empire, and Rome was in the process of constructing its first
navy.
As Rome's power grew, it began to come into conflict with other regional
powers. One such power was Carthage, a one-time Phoenician colony based on
the North African coast in Tunisia. At the time Carthage had a mighty
trading empire which covered most of North Africa west of Egypt, coastal
Spain and France, and much of Sicily. Rome and Carthage fought three "Punic
Wars" (264 - 146 BC) to decide who would control the Western Mediterranean.
While Roman historians placed the blame for the wars on Carthage, modern
historians believe that the Romans actually provoked the conflict by
attempting to muscle in on Carthaginian territory in Sicily.
The First Punic War (264 - 241 BC) found the Carthaginian mercenary army no
match for the Roman legions, who inflicted upon them a massive defeat at the
Battle of Agrigentum in 261 BC. The elite Carthaginian navy had much better
initial success against the untried Roman navy, but over time this advantage
faded as the Romans constructed new vessels and gained combat experience.
Eventually the Carthaginians admitted they were overmatched and ceded Sicily
to Rome. Shortly thereafter the Romans took advantage of unrest in the
Carthaginian army to take the Carthaginian islands of Corsica and Sardinia,
as well.
With Rome restricting Carthaginian operations in the Central Mediterranean,
Carthage sought to recoup its losses by expanding into Spain. Rome responded
by allying with the Spanish city of Saguntum, making it clear that they were
going to oppose Carthage's interests pretty much anywhere on the
Mediterranean. In 219 BC the Carthaginian general Hannibal laid siege to
Saguntum and Rome declared war once again. The Second Punic War (219 - 201
BC) had begun.
A brilliant general, Hannibal realized that Carthage could not defeat Rome as
long as Rome had unrestricted access to all of the resources of Italy. To
win, he had to disrupt Roman cooperation with the other Italian cities. To do
so, he had to get his army into Italy. As a Roman navy now commanded the
seas, he had to take the long, arduous land route. This remarkable six-month
journey included a perilous trip across the Italian alps. By 218 BC Hannibal
arrived in Italy with 20,000 foot soldiers and some 5,000 cavalry.
In 217 BC Hannibal defeated and largely destroyed a Roman army of some 15,000
soldiers. He moved south, hoping to stir up unrest in the Italian subject
cities, but few joined the Carthaginian cause. His forces roamed about the
countryside to no great effect.
By 216 BC the Romans had regrouped and fielded another, even stronger army of
some 50,000-80,000 soldiers against Hannibal. The two forces met at Cannae.
Hannibal let his center fall back in the face of the Roman attack, but he
then wheeled his cavalry in behind the Roman army, who had neglected to
adequately protect their flank. The Roman force was hemmed in and attacked
from all sides, and Hannibal had destroyed yet another Roman army, this one
much bigger than the last. This triumph totally demoralized the Romans. More
importantly, it at last convinced the southern Italian people that Hannibal
could win, and a large number of them deserted Rome and rallied to Carthage's
support.
While Hannibal's forces had greatly expanded, he now had numerous allied
cities he had to protect. While Rome had lost a great army and much of its
southern possessions it still had northern Italy, not to mention naval
control of the Mediterranean. The war degenerated into stalemate.
In 207 BC Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother, duplicated Hannibal's storied march
and brought yet another army across the Alps and into northern Italy. He
sought to move south upon the east coast of Italy (the side away from Rome),
join up with his brother, and launch a final assault on Rome. Rome managed to
scrape up yet one more army and the two forces met at the Metaurus River.
Stealing a page from Hannibal's book, the Roman general Gaius Claudius Nero
outflanked Hasdrubal, cutting off his army's retreat. Most of the
Carthaginian army was destroyed, and Hasdrubal himself was killed. His head
was cut off and thrown into Hannibal's camp. That broke the back of the
invasion. Although Hannibal remained in the area for some years, he was
unable to again challenge Rome in Italy.
In the meanwhile, the great Roman general Scipio had captured most of Spain
from Carthage. Despite Hannibal's presence in southern Italy, he convinced
the Roman senate to back an invasion of Africa itself. In 204 he sailed
across the Mediterranean. He destroyed the opposing Carthaginian force and
another in 203 BC. In 202 BC he faced Hannibal, who had been recalled from
Italy in the face of the crisis. Although Hannibal fielded a slightly larger
army, Scipio's troops were veterans and they had a superior cavalry wing.
Hannibal's army was outflanked and largely destroyed. Prostrate and
defenseless, Carthage sued for peace. Rome stripped them of all of their
remaining Spanish and island possessions and hit them with a huge indemnity
of 10,000 talents (a fantastically large amount of gold).
The Third Punic War (149 - 146 BC) occurred some fifty years after the
Second. It is generally agreed that this war was little more than a Roman
mugging of the nearly helpless Carthage. While Carthage no longer had any
significant military power to threaten Rome, the Empire greatly envied the
wealth of the African city and its growing commercial empire. The Romans
imposed a series of intolerable demands on the city, including that the
citizens abandon Carthage and move inland so that they could no longer
engage in commerce by sea. The Carthaginians refused, and the Romans
besieged the city, which put up a stubborn resistance. In 146 BC Carthage
fell. The city was destroyed, its fields sown with salt, and the few
surviving citizens were sold into slavery. Rome was undisputed master of
the Mediterranean.
Although Rome continued to expand, fighting wars across the Mediterranean,
the first century BC saw tens of thousands of demobilized soldiers return
from foreign lands. There was not enough work for the ex-soldiers,
especially since Rome was being flooded with slaves from overseas
possessions. These men were angry, and they had the vote. Several men
attempted to enact land reforms, taking property away from the extremely
wealthy and distributing it to the soldiers, but the senate (which was
largely comprised of wealthy men) stymied these reforms. To be elected
consul, Roman politicians had to appease the ex-soldiers, and Roman
politics turned increasingly populist, and political infighting became
increasingly bitter.
In 88 BC Sulla, an elected consul, marched his army into Rome to force the
assembly to enact laws that would permanently weaken the opposing party.
After his army left, the opposition retook the city and negated Sulla's laws.
In 83 BC Sulla returned again with his army and slaughtered most of the
members of the opposing party. He then passed a series of constitutional
reforms and retired.
It was now clear that control of Rome would fall to whoever commanded the
loyalty of the army. In 62 BC three men agreed to share power between them.
This "First Triumvirate" consisted of the generals Gnaeus Pompey the Great
and Marcus Lucinius Crassus, and a soldier and sharp politician from a very
wealthy family named Julius Caesar.
These men had the same ability to cooperate and desire to share power as one
might expect to find in your average killer shark, and following Crassus's
death in battle, Caesar and Pompey were at each other's throats. Caesar was
in the field at the time, and the Pompey and the senate sought to remove him
from his army. He refused the orders and advanced on Rome. The army defending
Rome was untrained and Pompey did not believe it would stand against Caesar's
highly-motivated veterans, so he and the senate fled the city, and in 49 BC
Caesar marched into Rome unopposed.
The events surrounding Julius Caesar's last years are well known. While
maintaining the fa�ade that Rome was a republic, he became a de facto
dictator. He gave himself the power to appoint all senators, and he altered
the constitution so that the assemblies would vote only on candidates and
bills he submitted. In 44 BC he was assassinated by members of the senate.
Following Caesar's death, his lieutenant Mark Antony allied with Marcus
Lepidus and Caesar's adopted son Gaius Octavian to defeat Caesar's assassins.
Shortly thereafter members of the "Second Triumvirate" quarreled, and
Octavian - now known as "Augustus" - became undisputed Emperor of Rome.
While the Roman Republic was dead, the Roman Empire had just begun, and the
world would tremble at its power and glory.
The mighty Roman Empire is an endlessly fascinating and complex entity.
Although long dead, the Empire's shadow still falls across the world, and
events in Rome 2000 years ago still affect our daily lives. One wonders if
the same will be said about any of today's civilizations."
If you have a powerful capital city with quick production, the Glory of Rome
will be an exceptional power, it will really hope your newer cities as you
build them from the ground up. With some wonders under your belt that also
improves building speed and other buildings, you can quickly turn a small
settling city into a flourishing metropolis.
The Ballista is simply more powerful than the Catapult, but really, it isn't
much, until you get to the Cannon, I love that toy. The Legion is probably
one of the best unique units in the game, simply because of they can build
roads as well as having a power bonus over your enemies. Since building a
nice road network does use up your worker's time a fair bit, you can use
Legions on the borders, simply because they can build and defend.
Augustus Caesar
~ History
"Born Gaius Octavius, Augustus would become the first (and possibly greatest)
Roman Emperor. He ended a century of civil wars and initiated two hundred
years of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) while overseeing a golden age of Roman
literature and culture.
Octavius was born in 63 BC. His father (also named Gaius Octavius) was a
respectable but undistinguished member of the equestrian order. His mother,
however, was a niece of Julius Caesar. Octavius' father died when he was only
four years old, and he was brought up in the house of his stepfather Lucius
Marcus Phillippus.
At the age of fifteen, Octavius put on the toga virilis ("manly robes"), the
symbol that he had reached adulthood, and was elected to the College of
Pontiffs. In 46 BC he joined Julius Caesar during Caesar's last campaign in
Spain. In Spain he made such a fine impression on the great general that
Julius Caesar changed his will to make Octavius his heir.
When Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March in 44 BC, all the wealth that
Caesar had spent a lifetime accumulating passed into the hands of the 18-year
old Octavius. At the time of Caesar's assassination, Octavius was with some
of his soldiers in modern-day Albania. Upon hearing the news he went to Italy
and recruited an army from among Caesar's veterans, gaining their loyalty by
stressing that he was Caesar's heir. Once in Rome, Octavius allied with Marc
Antony and Marcus Lepidus to form what is known as the "Second Triumvirate,"
directed against Caesar's killers Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius. Octavius'
and Antony's armies tracked down Brutus and Cassius in Greece, where they
defeated the assassins' army at Philippi (42 BC). Brutus and Cassius both
committed suicide after their defeat.
Antony married Octavius' sister Octavia to cement their alliance, and the two
leaders divided Rome's territory between them. Octavius took the west, while
Antony went to the east, where he entered into a torrid affair with
Cleopatra, the ruler of Egypt. Octavius saw Antony's actions as an insult to
his sister and to his family, and relations between the co-rulers soon
soured. While Antony enjoyed the pleasures of Egypt, back in Rome Octavius
strengthened his political position and his armies. The two eventually went
to war, and in 31 BC Octavius defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra at
the naval battle of Actium. The lovers were pursued to Egypt, where they
both committed suicide.
Octavius was now the undisputed master of Rome. He surrendered his
extraordinary powers to the Senate, which was filled with his allies; in
return the Senate named him "Augustus" (one who is marked by dignity and
greatness) and showered him with honors. More importantly, they also gave him
the powers of a Roman consul, tribune, and censor, which had never before
been combined into one office. All permanent legal power within Rome
officially remained within the Senate - but since Octavius controlled the
Senate, this was mostly a legal fiction. Although he had all of the power of
an Emperor, Augustus preferred to style himself "Princeps," or "first
citizen" (probably to avoid further antagonizing the few remaining
republicans in Rome).
During his reign Augustus presided over four decades of peace and prosperity,
a welcome relief to Rome after almost a century of civil strife. He carried
out a great building program in the ancient city, constructing a new Senate
house as well as great temples to Apollo and "Divine Julius" (his deceased
great-uncle). Later, Augustus would boast - with justification - that he had
found Rome a city of brick and left it marble. Under his patronage many of
the most famous Roman authors and poets created their great works: Virgil,
Ovid, Horace, and Livy all flourished during his reign.
Augustus' generals also enjoyed great success and were quite relieved to be
once again turning their military strength against external enemies instead
of one another. Rome's borders were extended to the Danube, northern Spain
was finally conquered, and Armenia was pacified in the east.
Augustus did suffer two significant military defeats during his rule. In 15
BC Gaul's Roman governor, Marcus Lollius was defeated by an alliance of the
Sicambri, Tencteri and Usipetes tribes who had crossed the Rhine into Gaul;
little permanent damage was done to the Roman position in Gaul, and Suetonius
calls this defeat "more humiliating than serious."
The second defeat, however, was of an entirely different magnitude. In 9 AD
Publius Quintilius Varus, Governor of Germania, led three legions across the
Danube and deep into barbarian territory where they were surprised by German
Cherusci tribesmen and, after a three-day battle, captured or killed to the
last man. Varus himself committed suicide and the victors sent his head as a
present to King Marbod of the Marcomanni in Bohemia.
Hearing of the catastrophe, Augustus sent troops into the city to watch for
uprisings. He also prolonged the terms of the governors of the provinces to
ensure that experienced men would be in charge if the subject people
revolted. In addition he dedicated great games to Jupiter if he would improve
the Empire's lot. It is clear that Augustus was badly shaken by the defeat.
Suetonius says that "for several months in succession he cut neither his
beard nor his hair, and sometimes he would dash his head against a door,
crying, 'Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!'"
Fortunately, the natives did not revolt and the Empire survived the
catastrophe without long-lasting consequences.
By Augustus' death in 14 AD, a return to the old system of the Republic was
unthinkable, and he was peacefully succeeded by the Emperor Tiberius.
During Augustus' long rule Rome flourished and the Empire came to dominate the
Mediterranean basin. The policies he put in place kept the Empire running
smoothly, so much so that Rome would continue to rule the entire known world
for almost two centuries without any major wars or other significant threats
to its survival. Few if any leaders in world history could make the same
claim."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 7/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 6/10
City State Competitiveness - 8/10
Boldness - 6/10
Augustus is very competitive as a leader, he will go for the victory
conditions, and if you are getting close, he will come down on you like a ton
of bricks. He will take on the City States pretty damn aggressive as well, so
if you want to woo the city states over, you might want to take note.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 5/10
Hostile - 5/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 6/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 4/10
Neutral - 5/10
Augustus is more likely to play dirty, he will form pacts of secrecy and
cooperation with your enemies, research agreements to drain your gold, all
this to ensure that you are nice and alone when he decides to declare war. No
one is safe, especially his allies, who he is prone to backstab at the last
minute. Out of all the leaders, it is probably Augustus that has given me the
most research pacts.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Protective - 6/10
Conquest - 6/10
Again, Augustus is one of those who is about as likely to protect a city state
as to conquer it. Like other leaders, those tend to act as a buffer between
him and enemies he will protect, whilst those who are away from the action
will see their cities burnt down to the ground.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 5/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 7/10
Reconnaissance - 3/10
Ranged - 6/10
Mounted - 4/10
What is interesting with Augustus is that he will rarely send out scouts, and
that is quite an problem for him, a good thing for you, as long as he doesn't
know where you are, he can't attack you. He will focus a lot on training, so
he will be spending his time building Barracks and Stables, which will make
his troops slightly harder to crush. And when he does attack, you can expect
a fair few archers to rain arrows on your land as well.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 5/10
Naval Growth - 4/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 4/10
Surprisingly, Augustus doesn't seem to worry about building a naval power
base that much, given that one of his most famous conquests was the Battle
of Actium, although to be fair, he wasn't one of the generals in that, it was
really up to Agrippa during that battle. Still, it doesn't mean he won't have
naval units around, just don't expect them in force.
Air Scale
Air Power - 4/10
Augustus isn't a fan of air power, which is a shame, I love my air units a
lot, however, what you must be wary of is that although the AI might not like
air units, it doesn't mean it won't build appropriate counters to shoot your
planes out of the sky.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 5/10
Tile Improvement - 7/10
Infrastructure - 8/10
Production - 6/10
Gold - 6/10
Science - 5/10
Culture - 5/10
Augustus is really heavy on expansion, which is expected given that he does
tend to pursue the path of war more often than not. Also note that
infrastrucutre is high up there, mainly because his Legion units can build
roads, and well, roads is pretty much infrastructure until you get access to
railroads. Also high on the list is tile improvements, so make sure your
pillage axes are ready, you will want to make some money when you attack.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 8/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 6/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Augustus is clearly a leader that will want to keep his people rather
happy, and that means he will expand for luxury resources quickly, and that
means you will either settle at them before he can, or just blow up his cities
with some cannon fire. Augustus is a strong leader, he won't be easy to beat,
but he isn't impossible either.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.15] Russia
Leader - Catherine the Great
Unique Unit 1 - Cossack, replaces Cavalry
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Krepost, replaces Barracks
Civilization Power
MOTHER RUSSIA
- All resources will provide +1 production values, and all Horse, Iron and
Uranium deposits will be doubled.
~ History
"As Winston Churchill once said, Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery,
inside an enigma. It is a part of Europe and a part of Asia, yet separate
from both. It is rich with natural resources, yet its people have
historically been grindingly poor. It has been invaded and overrun by Goths,
Huns, Mongols, French and Germans, yet remained uniquely Russian. It has been
a superpower and a nearly failed state, a monarchy, communist dictatorship
and democracy - all within a span of 100 years. Indeed, Russia is one of the
most fascinating civilizations in all of human history.
Russia is a huge country. At 6,500,000 square miles in area, it's nearly
twice the size of the United States of America, but with only half its
population. It's a country of great mountains, enormous steppes, and raging
rivers. On the east, Russia borders the Pacific Ocean, and on the west the
Baltic Sea. The southernmost portions of Russia can be broiling hot in the
summer and Russian winters are famously brutal - long, cold and dark.
Archaeological evidence states that portions of Russia have been occupied
for some four thousand years, but not much is known about the earliest
settlers in this vast land. Greeks and Persians settled in the Ukraine at
some early date, and they seem to have hunted and harvested resources from
the vast Russian forests to the north. Various nomadic tribes crossed the
country between the fourth and 10th century AD before settling further west
in Europe; these included the Huns, Goths, and Magyars. During the same
period the East Slavs began migrating east into the area, followed by
Germanic commercial explorers looking for trade goods as well as new routes
to the east. They encountered Finnic tribes moving south.
The eighth century saw the first written record of "Kievan Rus." The Rus are
believed to have been Scandinavian Vikings who migrated south from the Baltic
coast (although this is disputed by some Russian scholars, who believe that
the original founders of Kievan Rus were Slavs). By 860 the Rus were sending
raiding parties as far south as Constantinople, and by 1000 AD Kievan Rus
controlled a trade route from the Baltic to the Black Sea; this would form
the economic backbone of the growing regional power.
By the 12th century, the Kiev Empire covered much of what would become
eastern Russia, extending from Poland in the west to the Volga in the east,
and from Finland in the north to the Ukraine in the south. It was a vast
territory to manage from one centralized location, especially as component
parts of the Empire began developing individual identities and national
aspirations. Economically, the Empire also became divided, with northern
provinces aligning themselves with the Baltic powers while the western areas
were drawn to Poland and Hungary, and the southern regions to Asia Minor and
the Mediterranean. By the closing of the 12th century Rus Kiev was dissolved
in all but name, replaced by a number of smaller quasi-feudal states.
The first Mongol incursion into Kievan territory occurred in 1223, when a
Mongol reconnaissance unit met the combined warriors of several Rus states
under the command of the wonderfully-named "Mstislav the Bold" and "Mstislav
Romanovich the Old" at the Battle of the Kalka River. The Rus forces enjoyed
early success, but they became disorganized in the pursuit of the retreating
foe. The Mongol horsemen rallied and defeated the pursuers in detail before
they could reorganize. A large portion of the Rus forces surrendered to the
Mongols on the condition that they would be spared; the Mongols accepted the
conditions then slaughtered them anyway. The Mongols then left Rus for
several years before returning in much greater force.
In 1237 a vast Mongol army of some 30,000 or more horse archers once again
crossed the Volga River. In a few short years the Mongols captured, looted
and destroyed dozens of Russian cities and towns, including Ryazan, Kolomna,
Moscow, Rostov, Kashin, Dmitrov, Kozelsk, Halych and Kiev. They soundly
thrashed every force raised to oppose them. By 1240 most of Rus was a smoking
ruin, firmly under the control of the Mongols, who then turned their sight
further west, towards Hungary and Poland.
The Western Mongol Empire, which included much of Russia, was called (though
probably not by the Mongols themselves) the "Golden Horde." Its capital was
at "Sari," a new city they constructed on the Volga River. Although the
Mongols (also known as "Tatars") were ruthless invaders and conquerors, they
were relatively benign rulers. Generally they had little direct dealings with
the subject people, much preferring to keep the existing power structure
intact, ruling through the current rulers. Originally Shamanists, the Mongols
were late converts to Islam, and they were extremely tolerant towards other
religions. Generally, as long as they got their tribute, they left the people
alone.
The Golden Horde survived until the end of the 13th century, when it fell
prey to attacks from Timur (Tamerlane) from the south. Seeking to capture
their commercial trade, Timur overran and destroyed the Mongol cities of
Sarai, Azov, and Kaffa, fatally weakening the Mongol rulers. Local Rus
leaders, particularly those ruling the Principality of Muscovy, were quick to
fill the growing power vacuum.
Under the rule of Ivan III (1462 - 1505), Muscovy began the process of
"gathering of the Russian lands", in which Moscovy sought to annex all East
Slavic lands, including the traditional Russian territories as well as the
Belarusian and Ukrainian principalities, neither of which had any traditional
link with Muscovy. In 1478 Novogorod was annexed, and in 1485 Tver was
similarly absorbed. This work was nearly undone in 1497, however, by a deadly
struggle among Ivan's relatives over the succession to the throne. Ivan had
originally picked his grandson from his first marriage, but he was eventually
forced to name as heir his second wife's son, Vasily.
Ivan's reign also saw Muscovy's first entry into the maelstrom of European
diplomacy. Ivan sought to engage more closely with Byzantium in order to put
pressure on the growing Polish-Lithuanian state to Muscovy's west (the powers
were competing to gobble up the smaller principalities left after the
collapse of the Golden Horde).
After Ivan's death his son, Vasily III, strengthened the monarchy and further
expanded Muscovy's territory. However Vasily failed to produce an heir until
late in his reign and he was forced to create a regency to rule after his
death until his son Ivan was able to take the throne. As Ivan was three and
sickly at the time of his father's death (1533), the regency was prolonged
and subject to a great deal of political intrigue, and the kingdom suffered
accordingly. Once Ivan achieved maturity, things went from bad to
exceptionally bad - one might even say "terrible."
At the age of 16, Ivan the Terrible (1530 - 1584) was crowned "tsar" of
Muscovy, the first to bear that title. (The word is related to the Roman
title "Caesar.") Very little is actually known of Ivan the man, except that
he was sickly and he married six times. Many believe that in his early reign
he was a figurehead - a puppet ruler fronting for one of the factions
striving for dominance in that unsettled land. During that period he enacted
a series of reforms rebuilding the military and the legal system, and laws to
severely limit the power of hereditary landowners (i.e., the nobility). These
reforms appear designed to improve the Russian military in preparation for
major campaigns to expand Russian territory. These adventures were less than
totally successful.
In his mid-twenties, Ivan began a program to dramatically increase his power
at the expense of virtually anybody else in the vicinity. The Imperial Court
was swept of independent-minded nobility and stocked with sycophantic
bullies. The upper echelons of the military were similarly purged. Ivan
declared millions of acres of the best land to be "oprichnina" - or crowned
land - subject to his direct control only.
Ivan was about as good a military leader as he was a humanitarian: he
virtually destroyed the army and bankrupted the country in the disastrous
Livonian War, which dragged on for some twenty-five years (1558 - 1583). He
died in 1584, and not a moment too soon.
Things improved for a time after Ivan's death, when one of his cronies named
Boris Godunov assumed the throne, but when Boris died in 1605, everything
once again went straight to hell, so much so that this period (1606 - 1613)
is known as the "Time of Troubles." Central authority was gone; foreign and
domestic armies marched and fought their way across the countryside, as one
pretender after another took the crown only to be overthrown by the next in
line. Eventually the merchants of northern Russia financed an insurgent army
(largely staffed with Swedish troops) who swept the foreigners out of Moscovy
and brought the Cossacks back in line. In control of the government apparatus
(what was left of it), the insurgents called for the election of another
tsar.
Michael Fyodorovich was just 16 when he was elected Tsar. He faced
innumerable problems. Decades of insurrection and neglect had left much of
the country in ruins, its citizens fled and its croplands fallow. Portions of
the country were occupied by foreign troops, and those that weren't often had
their own local military forces which were not answerable to any central
authority. It took the first Romanov Tsar nearly twenty years to regain
control of the country.
The Tsars following Michael continued the expansion of Russia, fighting or
allying variously with Sweden, Poland, and/or the Ottoman Empire, depending
upon where the territory they were trying at that moment to nab lay.
Territory under contention included the eastern Ukraine, the Baltic
territories, and Belarus.
Peter (1672 - 1725) jointly ruled Russia with his half brother Ivan V for the
period 1682 - 1696, and he ruled singly following Ivan's death from 1696 -
1725. During the early part of his reign Peter was all but exiled to the
village of Preobrazhenskoye while his half-sister Sophia ruled as regent. He
thus missed much of a young Tsar's standard education, concentrating instead
on sports, mathematics, and military training.
While a growing land power, at the start of Peter's reign, Russia lacked
direct access to the Black Sea, the Caspian, or to the Baltic Sea. Peter
believed that Russia could never be a great state unless it possessed a navy.
Much of his foreign policy was turned to that end. In 1695 Peter attacked
southward, capturing Azov from the Crimean Tatars and moving that much closer
to the Black Sea.
In 1697 Peter formed the "Grand Embassy," a group of some 250 people who were
to travel across western Europe to gather information on European culture and
economy. Peter traveled with the group incognito. For four months Peter
worked as a ship's carpenter in the Dutch East India Company's shipyards, and
this was followed by a similar period in the British Royal Navy's dockyard.
As he progressed around Europe Peter hired hundreds of European workers to
help improve the Russian cities, economy and infrastructure.
Peter was looking for allies to assist him in his campaign against Turkey,
but was unsuccessful. Believing that Russia could not move alone on that
front, the pragmatic Tsar signed a peace treaty with Turkey and turned his
attention to the Baltic.
At the end of the 16th century the Swedes occupied the Baltic coast including
Karelia, Ingria, Estonia and Livonia. Peter formed an alliance with Saxony
and Denmark-Norway, and in 1700 the alliance attacked. The "Northern War"
dragged on for some 21 years. Peter took an extremely active role in
prosecuting the war, and he could often be found on the front lines, under
enemy fire.
Meanwhile, in 1703 Peter began construction of the city of St. Petersburg in
the far north of Russia, near the Gulf of Finland. By 1712 it was named the
new capital of Russia. By 1721 Russia had driven Sweden from the eastern and
southern Baltic. In 1724 Peter helped rescue some sailors whose ship was
aground in the frigid waters of the Gulf of Finland. He caught a chill during
the adventure and died shortly thereafter.
Peter died without declaring a successor, and the forty years following his
death saw a series of more or less weak regencies and short-lived rulers, the
best of whom was probably his daughter, Elizabeth, who ruled from 1741 to
1760. Under her reign the Moscow State University was founded in 1755 and
Russia extended its control over western Ukraine.
Elizabeth was followed by her nephew, the hugely unpopular Peter III. Peter's
reign lasted only two years - when he was overthrown and (eventually
murdered) by his wife, the remarkable Catherine II.
Catherine was the daughter of a German prince. She came to Russia at the age
of 15 to marry Peter III, the heir to the Russian throne. She educated
herself by reading European literature. Beautiful, intelligent, and witty,
she captured the hearts of the Russian nobility, who greatly preferred her to
her husband, who was said to be feebleminded. She received their enthusiastic
support when she engineered a palace coupe and assumed power at the age of
33.
Catherine reigned for thirty years. During that time she expanded the Russian
Empire's borders, gaining important territory along the Black Sea and the
Caspian Sea, as well as expansion east, beyond the Ural mountains. Catherine
also added large chunks of Poland to the Empire when that country was
partitioned between Austria, Prussia and Russia in 1772, though these would
in the long run be far more of a liability than a benefit.
During her reign Catherine also implemented many important reforms in Russia,
attempting to improve the organization of and battle corruption in local
governments. Despite her liberal reputation she was no especial friend to the
Russian peasantry, however; in fact the odious practice of serfdom (slave
labor) increased significantly during her reign, and the lot of the average
peasant grew even harder.
Catherine died in 1796.
The first two decades of the 19th century saw the rise and fall of one of
Europe's greatest military figures, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France.
Following the French Revolution, Bonaparte took a divided and weakened France
and turned it into the most powerful nation in Europe. Russia and its allies
were defeated at Austerlitz in 1805; the Russians and French fought again in
1806 and 1807. There were five years of peace, followed by Napoleon's
catastrophic invasion of Russia in 1812. Russian armies fought the French for
two more years and were greatly responsible for Napoleon's final defeat and
expulsion from Europe. Russia emerged from the wars as the preeminent
military power on the continent.
Russian military prestige suffered a major blow mid-century, when it was
unable to defeat a small, incompetently-led French-English force during the
Crimean War (1853-1856). This led the new Tsar, Alexander II, to attempt
sweeping modernizations in the Empire, including the abolishment of serfdom
in 1861. However the emancipation terms were highly onerous, requiring that
the peasants pay annual "redemption payments" to buy their own freedom, and
in many cases the newly-freed men were worse off than they had been as
slaves. At this time Russia also instituted a series of legal reforms based
upon European models, but although these were an improvement over the older
system, the new laws still treated the peasantry as less than full citizens.
The 1870s saw an increase in revolutionary activity, especially among
university students. In 1873 students attempted to rouse the peasantry to
revolution, but the peasants were mostly unimpressed, and many students were
imprisoned or sent off to Siberia. The surviving revolutionaries then turned
to covert action, including assassination attempts against high officials. In
1881 a terrorist group successfully assassinated Alexander II. The main
leaders of the group were captured and hanged.
Alexander III, the new Tsar, implemented a series of repressive laws that
restricted education and further restricted the citizens' already-limited
freedoms.
In 1894 Alexander III died and his ill-fated son, Nicholas II, took the
throne.
The Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905) saw a series of crushing Russian defeats
at the hands of the Japanese. This significantly weakened the central
government's prestige, and Russia underwent a series of damaging strikes and
protests as various groups demanded a variety of reforms. In 1905 a group of
St. Petersburg workers marched on the Winter Palace to give the Tsar a list
of demands; they were met by troops who opened fire, killing 130. News of
"Bloody Sunday" spread quickly throughout Russia, and riots broke out across
the country. Later in the year the Tsar reluctantly agreed to implement an
elected assembly. This did not satisfy the revolutionaries however, and
unrest continued for two hard years.
The creation of a new assembly, the "Duma," did succeed in splitting the
opposition, as some chose to attempt reform from within the assembly, while
the more radicalized opposition remained outside the system, throwing bombs.
The country limped along, bleeding, until the cataclysmic Great War brought
the entire system to the ground.
World War I was an epic failure of diplomacy and rational thinking. In the
pre-war years the nations of Europe had allied themselves to or against
one-another in a series of defensive/offensive pacts that virtually
guaranteed that any small conflict would drag the entire continent into a
giant conflagration. In the event, in 1914 an Austro-Hungarian land-grab of
Serbia brought Russia into the war on Serbia's side, Germany into the war on
Austria's side, and France and Great Britain in on Russia's side, and so
forth.
Tsar Nicholas II mobilized his forces as rapidly as possible, then marched
them west to meet the German foe, who promptly encircled and captured most of
the Russian armies. Then in 1915 a German/Austrian offensive marched
virtually unopposed into Poland and from there into Russia's western
provinces. This, plus the entry of Russia's traditional enemy Turkey into
the war on the side of Germany placed incredible strain on the tottering
Russian government.
Tsar Nicholas II did not acquit himself well in the crisis. He moved his
court to Belarusia, to be in "personal command of the army," which left
day-to-day governing of the Empire to his wife and her hated advisor,
Rasputin. In 1916 Rasputin was murdered by a conspiracy that included many of
the Royal Family's most loyal allies.
In 1916 the military situation improved, but the situation at home grew even
worse. Food was short everywhere, as more peasants were called into the army
and imports were cut off by the enemy. That plus rampant inflation led to
increasing worker unrest. In 1917 the March Revolution called for the
abolishment of the aristocracy. The government summoned Cossacks to disburse
the crowd, but the Cossacks mutinied and went over to the insurgents. Soon
thereafter the Duma joined the insurgency and on March 15, the Tsar was
forced to abdicate. Later he and his family were executed.
Imperial Russia was dead. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had
arrived.
The USSR survived for fifty years. Its greatest triumph was its victory over
Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (World War II). It also served as a
counterbalance to the United States, which in post WWII had nearly unlimited
power. (Whether that was a good or a bad thing depends upon one's point of
view.) Its greatest failure was its inability to improve its citizens'
standard of living to match the other countries of Europe and the West. The
Soviet Union ended in 1991, brought down to some extent by external pressure
from the United States and its allies, but mainly by massive internal
economic problems.
The New Russian Federation is still a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an
enigma. It has abandoned communism for what might be called oligarchic
capitalism. It has created many multi-millionaires but many of its citizens
are still poor. It has freed many of its client states - East Germany, the
Ukraine, the Baltic States - but it still casts a heavy shadow on its
neighbors (witness its recent invasion of ex-Soviet state Georgia). It's a
democracy, but power seems more and more concentrated in one man. It's
uncertain what will become of this long-lived country in the 21st century,
but it surely will remain one of the most powerful and important nations on
Earth."
Russia has one of the best powers in the game, hands down. Resources will
give an extra 1 production value, which is invaluable early on in the game,
and when it comes down to it, extra horses, iron and uranium will lead to more
units that you can field on the battlefield, which is important, when it is
later in the game, and technology advantages will be nullified somewhat.
The Cossack is will get a powerful bonus when attacking, which is nice when
you are on the attack, and they are probably the mainstay of your forces
during the Medieval Era. The Krepost is an early building, which replaces the
barracks, it will reduce the culture cost of acquiring new tiles by 50%, which
is very useful early on in the game.
Catherine the Great
~ History
"Catherine the Great ruled Russia during the latter half of the 18th century.
She oversaw a great expansion of the Russian empire, adding tens of thousands
of square miles of territory through conquest and shrewd diplomacy. A
beautiful and intelligent woman, she beguiled and seduced the best minds of
Europe, making her court one of the centers of Enlightenment thinking on the
Continent. Although born in Germany, Catherine is one of the greatest rulers
in Russian history.
Sophie Friederike Auguste Von Anhalt-Zerbst was born in Szczecin in 1729, a
princess of Pomerania, a small kingdom in Prussia. At 16 she was married to
Carl Peter Ulrich, the heir to the Russian throne, becoming Grand Duchess
Catherine Alekseyevna. Catherine quickly learned Russian and joined the
Russian Orthodox Church. Largely self-educated, Catherine immersed herself
in the literature of the time. Endowed with both beauty and intelligence, she
became strong friends (if not more) with the great thinkers of the day,
including the brilliant French philosophers Rousseau and Diderot.
Catherine's marriage was extremely unhappy. Her husband, the Tsar Peter III,
was by all accounts a shabby and neurotic person. He was described as mean,
cruel, hideous (from smallpox scars) and a drunkard. He was said to detest
Russians and loved Prussians, which didn't endear him to the Russian court.
Although born a foreigner, Catherine was far more popular with the nobility
and, most importantly, with the Russian military.
At the age of 33, with the support of the Imperial guard, she overthrew her
husband, who was soon killed "in a hunting accident," leaving Catherine the
sole ruler of Russia.
As Empress, Catherine pursued an expansionist policy backed by military
muscle. The "First Russo-Turkish War" (1768-1774) - declared by Sultan
Mustafa III after a border incident in which a Cossack entered Ottoman
territory and allegedly slaughtered the residents of Balta - was a resounding
Russian success, gaining for Catherine the Southern Ukraine, Northern
Caucasus and the Crimea, expanding Russian access to the Black Sea.
The Ottomans tried to take their territory back in the Second
Russo-Turkish war, but they failed miserably.
In the years following the French Revolution, Catherine became afraid that
Enlightenment movements throughout Europe would threaten the monarchies of
Europe. Toward the end of the century Poland, a Russian puppet, began to show
disturbing signs of edging toward democracy. In 1792 Russian forces defeated
Polish loyalists in the Polish "War in Defense of the Constitution,"
following which Poland was partitioned between Russia, Austria and Prussia.
Throughout her reign Catherine maintained cordial relations with the great
powers of Europe, Prussia, France and Austria, who in return did not stand in
the way of Russian expansion.
During her reign Catherine undertook a wide range of political reforms,
attempting to shape up the notoriously corrupt and incompetent Russian
bureaucracy. She tried to model her government and court on Versailles,
France. She paid for her reforms by seizing property from the clergy, who
owned almost one-third of the land and serfs in Russia. She curried favor
with the aristocracy, expanding their already-great power over the Russian
peasants.
In 1773 a plague broke out in Russia, which was already suffering from
ill-effects of the long war with Turkey. Taking advantage of growing public
disaffection, Pugachov, a Cossack officer, pretended to be Catherine's dead
husband, Tsar Peter III, and attempted to raise a peasant army to overthrow
the Empress while the Russian military was locked in battle with the Turks.
Fortunately for Catherine, the First Russo-Turkish War ended at just the
right time, and a Russian army was able to return from the Front and crush
the rebellion before it could reach Moscow. This made Catherine suspicious of
the Russian peasants and she implemented even more repressive laws against
them.
A patron of the arts, Catherine commissioned many statues and paintings.
Under her rule St. Petersburg was transformed from a primitive and forbidding
city into one of the most beautiful and impressive European capitals. Her
private art collection formed the basis of the famous Hermitage Museum, one
of the world's great art museums.
Despite her many public successes, Catherine is best known for her private
excesses. Her affairs are legendary; it has been suggested that she slept
with a fairly large fraction of the Russian officers corps, not to mention
her many well-publicized dalliances with a horde of well-known European
politicians and artists. It is said that once she tired of a lover Catherine
would "pension him off," giving him a large gift of cash, peasants, and land
somewhere far away from Moscow.
Catherine's reign was notable for imperial expansion. Most important were the
securing of the northern shore of the Black Sea, the annexation of the
Crimea, and the expansion into the steppes beyond the Urals. This permitted
the protection of Russian agricultural settlements in the south and the
establishment of trade routes through the Black Sea. Catherine's partitioning
of Poland also helped bring Russia closer to the rest of Europe, at least
geographically.
Catherine implemented many public work projects throughout Russia and its
possessions. She also increased internal and foreign trade. On the other
hand, she did little to improve the lot of the Russian peasant; in fact,
their lives grew distinctly harder during her reign.
Catherine died at the age of 67, having lived longer than any other Romanov
monarch. Like Queen Elizabeth I of England, she proved that a woman could be
smart enough and tough enough to lead a great country."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 6/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 7/10
City State Competitiveness - 7/10
Boldness - 3/10
After playing Catherine, seeing she was the most powerful neighbour I had, I
can say that although she is very competitive in all aspects, she is one of
the least likely to piss me off with annoying messages saying how puny and
weak I was, mainly because I had a few riflemen on the border. She is hard
to fight though.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 4/10
Hostile - 6/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 5/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Yes, Catherine is more likely to be friendly rather than warlike, however,
she is rather hostile if you get on her bad side, such as denying her a
treaty that she wants, or parking a few units near her border. Given the low
war bias, it doesn't mean she won't declare war, she will, after making sure
that you are all alone.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 4/10
Friendly - 6/10
Protective - 6/10
Conquest - 7/10
Catherine is more likely to take over city states, but just. She is also quite
likely to protect them, which is annoying if you don't want to go to war with
her, but hey, nothing much you can do about it, if you want Belgrade, you will
get it.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 6/10
Defensive - 6/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 6/10
Catherine is quite average in terms of what units she will use, it is normally
a balanced mixed. From being her neighbour on a massive map, invariably, she
will use more infantry, simply because it is cheaper to build, but she will
use mounted units. However, these scales are just bias towards one over the
other, it isn't the same throughout.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 3/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 3/10
Another leader that doesn't really care about the Navy, given that Russia,
during Catherine's reign, wasn't about the sea, it is will deserved. At
most, I've seen her use the sea to transport her land units, so as long as you
can intercept them, that's about all you need to counter her in the sea.
Air Scale
Air Power - 3/10
Again, what tends to happen is that if you don't care about the sea, you
won't care about their air war either. She doesn't use air power, hardly if
ever, but again, that doesn't mean that your air units will get free reign,
most likely, lack of air power means a lot more AA units on the ground.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 8/10
Growth - 3/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 6/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 8/10
Culture - 6/10
Catherine will expand very quickly. She will have tons of cities, by the time
I had 16 cities, she had about 30, which was odd. If you are close to her at
the start, you might as well declare war on her and sit outside her borders to
capture her settlers. She will tech up relatively quickly, which isn't good as
her aggressive expansion will lead to a larger military response, so you will
want to take her cities quickly if you want to wear her out.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 3/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 6/10
Spaceship - 9/10
Besides the massive bias to go for the spaceship victory, Catherine will,
interestingly enough, not care about happiness. This is very strange, with a
unhappy empire, she will have very little growth, and that will drop her
science research abilities.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.16] Siam
Leader - Ramkhamhaeng
Unique Unit 1 - Naresuan's Elephant, replaces Knight
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Wat, replaces University
Civilization Power
FATHER GOVERNS CHILDREN
- The food and culture gifts from City-States are increased by 50%, the
amount depends on your relationship.
~ History
"Located in Southeast Asia between Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar), Laos, Cambodia and
Malaysia, Siam - now Thailand - has a long and storied history. A beautiful
and mysterious land of dark forests and ancient mountains, Siam has seen
occupation and revolution, flood and famine, and the rise and fall of
empires.
Siam is a semi-tropical country located in a monsoon zone. From May to
October warm northwestern winds bring huge amounts of rainfall to the
country, the west coast receiving an astonishing 160 inches of rain annually
(the hilly north much less so). The wind reverses course from November to
February, bringing cooler, drier weather to the country. The countryside is
covered with forests, swamps and wetlands. The Siamese people have
traditionally used water buffalo, horses, and even elephants as draft animals
(though the late 20th century has seen the introduction of farm machinery
across much of the country).
The earliest known settlers of Siam spoke Mon-Khmer languages. There were
several different groups on the southeast Asia peninsula. One, the Mon, were
known to have accepted Buddhism as far back as the sixth century AD. Another
group, the Khmer, were primarily located in Cambodia, their capital at Angkor
(home of Angkor Wat); in the 12th century they possessed an empire stretching
over half of modern Thailand. The Khmer tended to follow Hinduism rather than
Buddhism.
Around 1,000 AD the area saw an influx of Tai-speaking people called the
"Tai." Modern historians generally believe that the Tai originated in
northern Vietnam. In a few centuries the Tai had spread across much of
Southeast Asia, as far west as northeastern India and as far south as the
Malay Peninsula. By the 13th century the Tai were numerous enough to threaten
the Mon and Khmer primacy in Siam.
In the mid-thirteenth century a Tai ruler successfully revolted against the
Khmer Empire, founding the Sukhothai kingdom. It remained a small,
unimportant power until the ascension of its third ruler, Ramkhamhaeng, in
1279. In twenty short years this extraordinary leader would transform the
small kingdom of Sukhothai into a major regional power.
During his reign Ramkhamhaeng expanded his kingdom's dominance west into
Burma, east into Laos, and south down the Malay Peninsula. The king was a
shrewd diplomat as well as a warlord; many territories joined his
confederation voluntarily. Towards the end of his rule Ramkhamhaeng had a
stone inscribed detailing his triumphs. It portrays a wealthy, contented
kingdom ruled by a loving and benevolent monarch. Ramkhamhaeng died in 1298.
For more on Ramkhamhaeng, see his Civilopedia entry.
Sukhothai would last a century past its greatest leader's death before being
consumed by Ayutthaya, a new Tai power rising in the south.
The kingdom of Ayutthaya was founded by Ramathibodi I in 1351 on the Chao
Phraya River Basin, a fertile plain just north of modern Bangkok. The kingdom
was formed on the remains of an earlier kingdom, Lavo. In 1352 King
Ramathibodi attacked the Khmer, driving them east out of Siam. By 1387
Ayutthaya was strong enough to attack north, conquering Sukhothai. And in
1431 the kingdom attacked the Khmer once more, this time capturing and
sacking the capital city of Angkor after a seven-month siege.
By all accounts the city of Ayutthaya was beautiful and wealthy. It was
traversed by a series of north-south canals which brought water to all
sections of the city. The remains of magnificent palaces and temples can be
seen in the city today. The Tai of Ayutthaya were the first people in the
area to be called "Siamese," and this of course eventually became the name of
the entire country.
From the Khmer, the Ayutthayans adopted the belief in the divinity of the
king. The king was above all people. None could gaze upon his face, except
for members of the royal family. In addition to the king's increased
religious/ceremonial power, King Trailok (1448-1488) reorganized the state to
concentrate political power in the hands of the monarchy as well.
Socially, the Ayutthayans lived under a rigid caste system that assigned a
numerical value to each person according to his or her rank. A slave was
worth five units (called "sakdi na"), a freeman 25 or so, and the heir to the
throne perhaps 100,000 units. (The king himself was probably worth a
gazillion - or even more!) Both Buddhism and Hinduism were followed in the
country.
Having dealt with Sukhothai to the north and Khmer to the southeast, the
greatest threat to Ayutthaya lay in Burma, to the west. In 1569 Ayutthaya was
overrun and conquered by Burma. It regained its independence at the end of
the 15th century. Burmese troops once again sacked the city in 1767. This
time they deported the royal family, burned the city to the ground, and
destroyed all of the Ayutthayan works of art and historical records. The
Kingdom never recovered from this attack. However a new Siamese kingdom would
rapidly rise to power in Ayutthaya's ashes.
In 1767 (the same year that saw the final destruction of Ayutthaya), a Tai
leader named "Taksin" founded a new capital city at Thon Buri, some forty
miles downstream from Ayutthaya (near present-day Bangkok). Built on the
eastern side of the Chao Phraya River, the city was easier to defend from
Burmese forces; located closer to the open sea, the city was ideally suited
to accommodate international trade as well. In fact Taksin encouraged Chinese
merchants to establish businesses in Thon Buri, and tax revenue from this
trade was used to rebuild the Siamese economy, devastated from the recent
Burmese attack.
Taking advantage of his country's wealth, Taksin constructed a powerful army
and began expanding its territory. After retaking the territory that had
belonged to Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, Taksin's troops conquered additional
territory in Laos, and pushed the Burmese forces out of traditional Tai lands
to the north. In 1782 Taksin began showing signs of serious mental illness
and was overthrown and killed. He was succeeded by a general named "Chao
Phraya Chakri" (he later changed his name to Rama I). The Chakri dynasty has
remained in power in Thailand until today.
Shortly after assuming the throne, the new king moved his capital to Bangkok,
a small village across the Chao Phraya River. Bangkok quickly grew into a
bustling trading city, largely due to the many Chinese who immigrated to the
metropolis.
King Rama I and his successors continued to expand Siamese power into Laos
and south down the Malay Peninsula. They also continued to clash with Burma,
who remained a perennial menace until that country in turn was menaced by
Great Britain (approaching from India).
King Rama I was also a great patron of Siamese culture, religion and the law.
He rebuilt Siamese temples and palaces, and he greatly updated the Siamese
legal system. His successor, Rama III (ruled 1809-24) was a patron of the
arts, and no mean poet himself.
Perhaps the greatest triumph of Siamese diplomacy was that it avoided
occupation by Western powers, unlike every other country in Southeast Asia.
In 1826 Siam signed a treaty with Great Britain, and in 1855 this was
expanded to allow the British unrestricted - and untaxed! - trade in Siamese
ports. The British also secured the right to set up separate law courts to
try cases involving British subjects. This was a humiliating loss of
sovereignty and income for Siam, but it kept Britain from invading and
occupying the country, and Siam soon signed similar treaties with other
European powers and the United States.
King Rama IV (ruled 1851 - 1868) was a keen student of the West. He
appointed to his court several Western advisors. He also hired the
Englishwoman Anna Harriette Leonowens to tutor his children. Mrs. Leonowens
later wrote a book about her adventures, and that book became the basis for
the musical "The King and I." Both the book and the musical are highly
entertaining and (according to historians) highly inaccurate.
In some ways King Rama IV was rather enlightened for that place and time. A
former Buddhist monk before assuming the throne, he sought to reform Buddhism
in the country, which he believed had become corrupt and filled with
superstition. He also began to remake the Siamese monarchy, removing from it
the more onerous trappings of godhood. Although he remained largely an
absolute ruler, at least his subjects were allowed to look directly at him.
King Rama IV's son, Rama V, reigned from 1868 to 1910. He continued his
father's practice of granting concessions to the West to maintain Siam's
independence, losing large chunks of Laotian and Cambodian territory to the
French and various bits of Malaysia to the British. He further reformed the
monarchy and the government in general, including abolishing slavery,
introducing a modern school system, constructing railways and telegraph
systems, and establishing a new law court and judiciary.
King Rama V's two successors, the aptly-named Rama VI (ruled 1910-1925) and
Rama VII (ruled 1925-1935), continued the modernization of Siam. In 1917 Rama
VI opened the first university in Thailand. In that year he also entered
World War I on the side of the Allies. He was able after the war to convince
the victors to give up their special concessions in Siam, regaining for the
first time in seventy-five years full independence for his country. However,
Rama VI's reforms and wars were extremely expensive and necessitated
reductions in government spending which caused deep resentment from the
people. The discontent continued into his successor's reign, and it was
exacerbated by the Great Depression.
In 1932 a group of students under a lawyer named "Pridi Phanomyong" and
supported by the Siamese military staged a bloodless coup, compelling the
king to agree to rule under a constitution and to accept the formation of a
National Assembly. In 1933 members of the royal family attempted
unsuccessfully to stage a counter-coup, and King Rama VII was forced to
leave the country, abdicating in 1935. A regency council was appointed to act
until the very young Prince Ananda Mahidol came of age.
In truth, however, the military was now running the country. In 1938 a field
marshal (and one of the co-conspirators of the '32 coup that toppled Rama
VII) became military dictator. Dictator Phibun Songkhram changed the name of
the country to Thailand, encouraged Thai nationalism as well as anti-Chinese
and pro-Japanese sentiment. In 1940, following the conquest of France by
Germany, he invaded and captured French territory in Laos and Cambodia.
Late in 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops marched
into Thailand and requested right of passage through the country to
facilitate their attack on Singapore, which was held by Great Britain. The
Thai forces put up minimal symbolic resistance and then were ordered to lay
down their arms. In 1942 Thailand signed an Alliance with Japan and declared
war on Britain and the US. Resistance groups formed in the country and
overseas, attacking the Japanese and the collaborating Thai government. In
July 1944 Phibun was forced to resign, and the dictatorship collapsed
following Japan's surrender in 1945.
Thailand got off relatively lightly following World War II. It had to return
the territories it had snarfed up from the French, but generally it suffered
no other penalties. It did suffer from a great deal of internal strife,
however. In 1946 the king was found dead of a gunshot wound. The current
leader of the government was blamed for the king's death and forced into
exile, the proto-fascist Dictator Phibun Songkhram returning to power.
In the Cold War years the United States funneled huge sums of money into
Thailand, most of which was taken by the military and the dictatorship. A
majority of the country's industry was owned by the dictator and his cronies,
and in 1957 the military staged another coup, placing yet another field
marshal, Sarit Thanarat, in charge.
Thanarat ruled for five years. While maintaining total control over the
government and military, he implemented economic reforms that spread the
wealth among the growing Thai middle class, earning a good deal of popular
support for doing so. The US gave him even more money, which he used to
support the military, but also to improve the Thai infrastructure. Thanarat
also gave support to the monarchy, which by then had no political power, but
which once again became a powerful symbol of Thai nationalism. A popular
leader during his life, after his death Thanarat's popularity waned a good
deal when it was discovered how much of Thailand's money he had stolen and
hidden away.
Thanarat's successors continued to receive huge amounts of American money,
and in return they supported the American adventure in Vietnam. By the end of
the 1960s more than 10,000 Thai troops were serving in Vietnam, and thousands
of American soldiers were stationed in Thailand, which provided an important
base for the US Air Force. Popular discontent for the war and the government
grew, and in 1973 a student-led revolt drove the current leaders into exile.
Thailand enjoyed a brief period of parliamentary democracy, but in 1976 the
military staged yet another coup, this time with the support of the monarchy.
This in turn drove many disaffected Thais into the jungles, swelling the
ranks of the insurgent Communist Party of Thailand. In 1980 the military
ousted the right-wing government they had just installed and replaced it with
a dictator with more democratic leanings. For the next eight years the
military shared power with parliament, mediated by the king, and in 1988 an
elected Prime Minister was put in power...for three years, when he was
toppled by the military.
In 1992 the military "junta" held elections, which one of its own members
won, much to nobody's surprise. The public were dissatisfied with this
outcome, staging massive protests, which were put down with bloody force.
Eventually the king intervened, the current dictator resigned and a more
democratic government was put into place. This lasted for eight glorious
years, until in 2006 increasing public dissatisfaction and government
excesses led to... another military coup.
With the elderly king's backing, another caretaker government was formed
with a retired general put in charge. Another new constitution was drafted
and ratified by popular vote in August of 2007. In September 2008 another
prime minister was found guilty of a conflict of interest by the
Constitutional Court. In October his replacement was unable to enter his
office, which was occupied by protestors, so he was forced out of office.
The latest prime minister (as of this writing) took office in December of
2008.
Who can tell? Thailand is a great country with a great history, beset by a
seemingly never-ending series of political troubles. Things are especially
uncertain because the current King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, arguably the only
man capable of holding the country together, is over 80 years old. It is
greatly to be hoped that the country can survive his passing without
further chaos. Given the battered country's recent history, the odds do not
seem to be in its favor."
The power of Siam is pretty weak, City States generally don't give too much
of a benefit overall, well, I don't tend to use their powers much at all, I
capture them, they often are in good strategic positions. This is why Siam
is harder to play, simply because the Civilization power is so critical in
the game, and with such a weak one like this compared to ones like Russia,
it is a shame.
Now, Naresuan's Elephant is useful as it doesn't require Horses as a
strategic resource to build, but it is slower than your average Knight that
it replaces. However, it does have a 50% bonus against enemy mounted units,
so you probably won't be needing Pikemen to do that job. The Wat replaces
the university, and removes the science bonus from working Jungle tiles, and
replaces that with an extra 3 culture points per turn.
Ramkhamhaeng
~ History
"In 1278, a prince named "Ramkhamhaeng" inherited the small and unimportant
kingdom of Sukhothai. In twenty years, employing a brilliant combination of
military genius and shrewd diplomacy, he expanded his country's borders and
influence to cover much of Southeast Asia.
Not much is known about Ramkhamhaeng's early life. His parents were King Sri
Indraditya and Queen Sueang. He had two sisters and two older brothers, one
of whom died early and the other, Ban Mueang, became king on their father's
death. Ramkhamhaeng was said to have studied under the poet wise-man
Sukathanta.
At 19 he served under his father during the latter's attack on the city of
Sukhothai, which was held by the Khmer. The success of this attack greatly
expanded the king's power, essentially establishing Sukhothai as an
independent kingdom. Because of his heroic actions during the battle the
prince was given the title "Phra Ram Khamhaeng," or Rama the Bold.
Upon the death of his father in 1257, his brother, the new king Ban Mueang,
put Ramkhamhaeng in charge of the city of Si Sat Chanalai. Ban Mueang died
twenty years later, and Ramkhamhaeng ascended to the throne.
During his reign Ramkhamhaeng expanded his kingdom's dominance west into
Burma, east into Laos, and south down the Malay Peninsula. The king was a
shrewd diplomat as well as a warlord; many territories joined his
confederation voluntarily. Ramkhamhaeng did not seek to dominate Southeast
Asia, rather he promoted trade and diplomatic alliances with surrounding
kingdoms.
Most of what we know of Ramkhamhaeng's rule comes from a stone inscription
he created in 1292 towards the end of his rule. This is the earliest
surviving example of Thai language, and it portrays him as a wise and
benevolent leader.
Ramkhamhaeng was an ardent patron of Buddhism. He also supported the arts
and Thai artistic expression achieved an especially high level during his
reign, especially in bronze sculpture and ceramics.
Ramkhamhaeng died in 1298. His extended empire, held together by his
personal magnetism and brilliant international diplomacy, did not long
survive his death, and the furthest provinces soon broke away. Sukhothai
itself survived another century before it fell.
Ramkhamhaeng is viewed today as a great leader and the first to rule over a
united Siam (later Thailand). It should be remembered however that almost all
that we know about him comes from the stone inscription that he himself
created. If he did have any major flaws, would he have carved them into the
living rock for all of history to see? (Would any of today's world leaders
do so?)
Still, there is plenty of independent evidence to show that he successfully
created a great empire and his people prospered during his reign. And that's
a record that any leader could be proud of."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 3/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 4/10
City State Competitiveness - 4/10
Boldness - 5/10
Ramkhamhaeng is a relatively tame leader. In all my matches that I have seen
him, he doesn't last very long, he gets conquered pretty quickly. In this
game, if you aren't aggressive half the time, you will lose quicksmart. He is
relatively benign, just don't take him for a total pushover though, you might
be surprised.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 6/10
Hostile - 3/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 7/10
Afraid - 5/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Again, he is a friendly leader, he isn't there to blow you up completely.
However, if he does hate you, he will declare war, really, up to what the AI
perceives of you and your current situation that will decide between war and
peace. He will be rather deceptive, everyone loves those pacts, and he will
be very defensive, so as long as you can crush the defence, no dramas.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 3/10
Friendly - 7/10
Protective - 7/10
Conquest - 5/10
Again, his peacefulness will extend to the city states, he won't conquer
them too much, he will most likely go ahead and protect them from any real
predators, such as you, and help them out. Given that his power does rely
heavily on city states, they are a good target if you want to soften him up
a little before the attack.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 5/10
Defensive - 8/10
City Defence - 6/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 4/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 4/10
As you can guess, his peacefulness will impact how many offensive ground
units he will use on you, which means he won't be having warriors all over
your borders. He will defend his lands pretty well, and that means a lot of
garrisoned units as well as walls around his cities. He isn't that hard to
beat, just fire a few cannons into his cities and watch him turn around and
run away.
Naval Scales
Naval - 3/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 3/10
Naval Growth - 3/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 3/10
Ramkhamhaeng won't pay attention to the navy or to the seas as much as some
leaders would, like Elizabeth. He will pretty much only use the seas to
improve fish tiles or to send his units across, but other than that, you
don't have to worry about him sending frigates after you.
Air Scale
Air Power - 5/10
Ramkhamhaeng will use air power a fair bit, he isn't afraid to take to the
skies unlike other leaders, although he will use mainly interceptors to take
out enemy fighters and bombers over his lands, he isn't there to fly stealth
bombers on your cities or the like.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 6/10
Growth - 6/10
Tile Improvement - 6/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 5/10
Science - 5/10
Culture - 8/10
Ramkhamhaeng is mainly focussed on culture, and that's about it. All the
rest, he will do as a normal AI player would do, slowly expand, build up his
empire, and the like, but culture, he will go crazy over, so be careful when
you face him in a cultural victory battle, he might just win.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 6/10
Great People - 5/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 8/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Despite the usual spaceship bias, Ramkhamhaeng will try to win via the United
Nations as well. As a peaceful leader, he won't be using military force, just
pure diplomacy. Just take down a few of his protected city states to quash
that dream before it becomes a reality.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.17] Songhai
Leader - Askia
Unique Unit 1 - Mandekalu Cavalry, replaces Knight
Unique Unit 2 - None
Unique Building - Mud Pyramid Mosque, replaces Temple
Civilization Power
RIVER WARLORD
- Embarked ground units can defend themselves. All pillaged cities and
destroyed barbarian encampments will provide double gold.
~ History
"The Songhai Empire was a civilization that flourished in West Africa during
the 15th and 16th centuries. The Songhai first appeared near the city of Gao,
which was a vassal of the Malinese Empire. In the early 14th century the
Songhai gained independence from the Mali, and over the next two centuries
it expanded, eventually becoming the largest empire in African history.
The terrain of western Africa that was occupied by the Songhai is largely
flat and arid, dominated by two major river systems, the Niger and Senegal,
which provide cheap and rapid east-west transport as well as rich farmland
along their banks. The climate is hot and tropical with two main seasons,
dry and wet. From March until June a hot, dry wind blows out of the Sahara,
and daytime temperatures are often above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Before the rise of the Songhai, much of central Western Africa was controlled
by the Mali Empire. This empire is believed to have been founded sometime
before 1,000 AD. It was largely a trading empire and literally the crossroads
of Africa, controlling the important north-south Saharan commercial routes as
well as the east-west river routes. Under the great leader Mansa Musa (1307
- 1331?), the Malinese Empire conquered the wealthy cities of Timbuktu and
Gao and gained control of the valuable salt deposits to the north.
Mali was a Muslim empire, and under Musa the city of Timbuktu became an
important center of learning in the Muslim world. However, by the turn of the
14th century the empire had grown too large for sustainable centralized rule,
and major territories began to assert their independence and calve off. This
included Gao, the home of the Songhai.
The Songhai are believed to have first appeared in Gao around 800 AD. Little
is known about their early history, but it is known that in the 11th century,
King Kossoi converted to Islam, and he also made Gao the capital of the
growing Songhai kingdom. Under Songhai rule Gao grew wealthy and prosperous,
and in the early 13th century the Mali conquered the Songhai, making the
kingdom a vassal state. Songhai remained under Mali control for perhaps fifty
years, before regaining its independence under King Sulaiman-Mar.
Songhai maintained a precarious freedom for the next century, until a great
new leader, Sunni Ali Ber, propelled it into greatness.
>Sunni Ali Ber ruled the Songhai for thirty years (1464-1493). He was a
brilliant military leader and strategist. Taking advantage of Mali's growing
feebleness, Sunni led Songhai armies to conquer the wealthy city of Timbuktu,
driving out the marauding Taureg people who had taken over the city as
Malinese power declined. He expanded his empire further west, gobbling up all
Malinese land north of Jenne (a.k.a., Djenne). He was not unopposed in his
expansion. Over the course of his reign he repelled assaults from the Mossi,
Dogon, and Fulani.
In 1473 Ali Ber sought the greatest prize, the wealthy trading city of Jenne.
Jenne was still a part of the Malinese Empire, and its people put up a stout
defense. Unable to take the city by storm Ali Ber laid siege to it. The city
held out stubbornly for seven years before capitulating.
The records of the day generally regard Ali Ber as an unstable tyrant, who
was by turns generous and brutal, who ruled with an iron fist and who
slaughtered and oppressed those he captured. There may be some exaggeration,
as the Muslim scholars who recorded the histories disliked Ali Ber for the
unorthodox form of Islam he practiced, apparently a kind of fusion between
Islam and traditional Songhai religious observances.
Muhammad I Askia ruled Songhai from 1493 until 1528. The word "Askia" means
"usurper," which is how he came to power, overthrowing Ali Ber's son and heir
less than a year after Ber's death. That he chose "usurper" for his title and
dynastic name suggests that this extraordinary man had an extraordinary sense
of humor.
Although he fought a war to gain the crown of Songhai, Askia was more than a
warlord. He fought several battles during his reign, with mixed success, but
he is primarily known as a reformer, organizer, and man of god. During his
reign he created a bureaucracy to help rule the empire and to bring coherency
to its tax, military, and agricultural policies. He opened many religious
schools across Songhai, and in 1495 he made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca.
Askia ruled until 1528, when he was deposed by his son.
In the years following Askia's removal, no other leader was able to take and
hold power for any significant length of time. Askia's son, Musa reigned for
three years; he was followed by Muhammad II, who lasted for six years; and
the next two leaders lasted for two and ten years respectively. In 1549 Askia
Dawud came to power; he ruled for some thirty-three years, until 1582. This
relative stability was shattered when the Sultan of Morocco raided the
Songhai's valuable salt deposits at Taghaza.
The end came in 1591. Seeing that the Songhai were weak and divided, and most
of all, lacked modern weaponry, a Moroccan army armed with muskets launched a
major attack. The Songhai warriors were completely routed, the leaders driven
into the hills and the Moroccans captured the major cities of Timbuktu and
Gao. In one shocking campaign, an entire empire was virtually wiped from the
planet.
The fall of Songhai was brutal and rapid. In many ways it resembled the
conquest of the Aztec Empire some seventy years earlier in 1521. In their day
both of these empires were mighty, rich and powerful and thought themselves
invulnerable. Both were brought down by a small force armed with markedly
superior technology. It reminds us of the famous rule, "Never bring a knife
to a gunfight. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns." This is as
true in empires as it is in gunfights."
The Songhai empire is best early on in the game, where barbarians roam freely
and you will have a lot of encampments to pillage. Later on in the game, you
will be able to pillage enemy cities, and this is a very rich source of gold
later in the game.
Mandekalu Cavalry is significantly more powerful than the knight, which is a
good advantage to have during the Medieval Era, and they will also have a good
bonus when they are attacking against enemy cities. The Mud Pyramid is the
same as the temple, but instead of providing 3 culture, it will provide 5
culture instead.
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 5/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 8/10
City State Competitiveness - 4/10
Boldness - 7/10
Askia will compete heavily for Wonders, and that does make him annoying if
you are like me, wanting to build every single Wonder known to man in my
cities. He will also be quite in your face, and given how he is displayed in
the portrait, warlike and all, not a surprise.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 7/10
Hostile - 6/10
Deceptive - 4/10
Guarded - 6/10
Afraid - 3/10
Friendly - 6/10
Neutral - 5/10
Askia is more likely to declare war on you than anything else, which is rather
annoying, or useful if you are planning on annexing some of his fine cities
for your empire. He is also friendly at times, but this is normally when he
can't declare war on you, basically, when you outnumber the hell out of him
and he can't defeat you.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 5/10
Friendly - 5/10
Protective - 4/10
Conquest - 8/10
Like Montezuma, this guy is more likely to see a city state as a weak empire,
and kill it quickly. There will be no talk, there will be no diplomacy, there
will just be pillaging. Well, on the bright side, when he kills off the city
state, you can take it back, and keep it under your control, as most City
States are placed in nice locations, close to resources.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 8/10
Defensive - 4/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 6/10
Reconnaissance - 5/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 7/10
Askia will pack a lot of offensive units, basically, a hell of lot of melee
units will be on your border. There will also be a hell of a lot of mounted
units, so you want to pack a few pikemen or counters to such units to ensure
that your infantry won't be decimated. Otherwise, once the offensive push is
crushed, Askia will be pretty easy to conquer.
Naval Scales
Naval - 6/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 6/10
Naval Growth - 6/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 6/10
Askia will often use a navy to his advantage, mainly to ensure that you don't
have an easy time on the seas. This isn't that bad, compared to other leaders
such as Elizabeth, his idea of a navy isn't that bad, just a few leaky boats
that you can sink.
Air Scale
Air Power - 4/10
Askia isn't that big on air power, he won't tend to use it as often as he
could, and this, combined with his ground assaults, is good for you. Since he
will be on the offensive, in your land as much as possible, your air units
will pretty much have an easy time to eliminate him since the ground units
won't be that well protected.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 5/10
Growth - 6/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 8/10
Science - 4/10
Culture - 6/10
Askia is very slow to tech up, which is one of the best things, you can
easily defeat his big army with smaller amounts of highly advanced units.
He will tend to concentrate to settle and attack areas with lots of luxury
resources, things like gold and gem mines, silk and spice plantations. He
is pretty much average in other respects.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 4/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 3/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Again, the spaceship bias, other than that, Askia won't concentrate much on
anything else. At least you don't have to worry about the issue of the
United Nations with Askia. He'll just kill everyone who doesn't vote for him,
that's all.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.18] United States
Leader - George Washington
Unique Unit 1 - B17, replaces Bomber
Unique Unit 2 - Minuteman, replaces Musketman
Unique Building - None
Civilization Power
MANIFEST DESTINY
- Sight increased for all land units and all tile costs are discounted.
~ History
"The United States of America is a world "super-power" (which more or less
means that it possesses weapons capable of destroying everything on the
planet). A relatively young civilization, the United States formed in the
18th century, nearly self-destructed in the 19th century, and became the most
powerful and dominant military, technological, cultural and economical
civilization in the 20th. One can hardly guess what will happen to it in the
21st.
The United States spans the continent of North America and includes Alaska in
the far north and several islands in the Pacific Ocean. Conditions vary
widely across the country, from near-Arctic in Alaska to near-tropic
conditions in Florida, to arid desert in Arizona. The continent is bisected
by two mountain ranges, the older and lower Appalachians in the east, and
the much younger and bigger Rockies in the west. The central plains between
the two ranges drain into the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri/Mississippi
River system. The country borders on the Great Lakes, some of the largest
freshwater bodies of water on the planet.
Despite several centuries of enthusiastic harvesting, the United States
still has plentiful forests, coal supplies and other natural resources.
Some historians hypothesize that North America was originally settled by
Eurasian people who migrated onto the continent via the "Beringia"
land-bridge that once connected Alaska and Russia. This theory is under
debate, and even more so is the question of how many waves of settlers there
were and when the first settlers arrived. There appears to be some agreement
that the natives migrated between 9,000 and 50,000 years ago (which is quite
a spread). It's also quite possible that the natives arrived in a series of
waves over many years, with some groups migrating south along the western
coastline, while later groups moved inland, into the heart of Canada and the
United States.
Over time these groups spread across the continents, developing language,
hunting skills, arts and crafts, and so forth. They did not domesticate
horses, however (having consumed all of the horse's ancestors before figuring
out that they might be good for something else).
Estimates on how many natives lived in the portion of North America that
would eventually become the United States also vary, ranging from five to
twenty-five million. In any event, the first European visitors brought with
them a number of extremely unpleasant diseases (like measles and smallpox)
that the natives' immune systems were totally unaccustomed to, and 90 percent
or even more of the North American native population died from disease within
a century of the first white man's arrival.
Having lost 90% of their population, lacking guns or any significant
industrial technology, the natives were relatively helpless in the face of
massive European assault.
Four European groups set up colonies in North America, beginning in the 16th
century: the French in Canada, the British (with a small settlement of Dutch
right in the center), and the Spanish in Florida and points south. Over time
the English would conquer the French colonies to the north and the Dutch
colony at Manhattan, and with the exception of Florida, the entire eastern
seaboard would be English. As discussed above, the native population was
ravaged by disease and badly outgunned, unable to resist the European
incursion.
As the 18th century progressed, the British colonies in North America grew
and prospered. Immigrants from Great Britain and elsewhere arrived in the
country in great numbers, drawn by the promise of land, wealth, and often to
escape religious persecution in the mother country. The slave trade provided
plenty of cheap labor, and British North America began to establish
agriculture and light industry.
Tensions grew between the colonies and the British government as the century
progressed. The colonies were controlled by Crown-appointed governors and
they did not have direct representation in the British Parliament. Further,
the colonials chafed under what they considered to be unfair trade
restrictions from Great Britain. Meanwhile, the government thought that the
colonials were in large ungrateful rabble who had no idea how much money the
Crown was spending on their protection.
By the late 1770's the American colonies were in open revolt, and on July 4,
1776 the United States declared their independence. As the war opened the
Colonists were grossly outgunned and outmanned by the highly-trained British
Army, particularly since the British Navy had absolute control of the seas
and thus could move large numbers of troops up and down the coast with
impunity. The Continental Army, untrained and untested, was no match for the
"Redcoats."
The commander of the Continental Army was George Washington, a wealthy
Virginia landowner with some military experience (he was a colonel in the
British army in the French and Indian War). His first major battles were
nearly catastrophes - his overly-complex battle-plans collapsed in the face
of enemy action and his troops' inexperience. Washington had several
important qualities: his personal heroism and calm in the face of disaster
allowed him to extract his army from almost certain destruction, and he also
learned quickly from his mistakes.
The Redcoats having failed to crush the Continental Army when it had the
chance, the American Revolutionary War became a long, drawn-out, grinding war
of wills. The British Army couldn't pin down the American forces long enough
to defeat them, and as the years passed British war-weariness grew.
In 1778 the French entered the war on the side of the United States, and in
1779 so did Spain. While unable to match the British Navy ship for ship the
French were occasionally able to gain local superiority, and this proved
decisive. In 1781 the Continental Army besieged the British Army at Yorktown,
Virginia. With the French Navy off-shore the British were unable to escape,
and British General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington on October 19,
1781.
In 1787 the states convened a Constitutional Convention, and the new
Constitution was ratified the next year. In 1789 George Washington was
elected president.
In 1803 the United States purchased 828,800 square miles of North American
territory from France. This territory included most of the terrain in the
Mississippi Valley, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to Ohio in the east.
This deal, which doubled the size of the United States, cost around
$15,000,000, a shockingly good deal for the US. It was also a good deal for
France: France was at war with Great Britain (see below), and as the British
controlled the seas, the French had no way to profit from or to protect this
territory from the British. The French also saw it as a poke in Britain's
eye. French leader Napoleon Bonaparte said of the deal, "This accession of
territory affirms forever the power of the United States. I have given
England a maritime rival who will sooner or later humble her pride."
President Thomas Jefferson received a good deal of criticism for the purchase
at the time, but historians tend to agree that he got one hell of a bargain.
As the eighteenth century opened, France was convulsed in its own revolution.
Many Americans believed that France would become a democracy, but instead
Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as ruler and within a few years had himself
declared emperor. As Napoleon extended his power across continental Europe,
Great Britain countered with its unmatchable navy, imposing an embargo on
trade with France and at times most of the rest of Europe. This hurt American
commerce deeply. Further, British warships routinely stopped and searched
American vessels looking for deserted British sailors. This was considered
an intolerable breach of American sovereignty, and in 1812 the United States
declared war on Great Britain. (Some historians believe that the US declared
war primarily to justify a land-grab of British possession Canada.)
The primary American weapon in this war was the commerce raiding vessel.
Small to mid-sized American ships plied the oceans, snatching up British
merchant ships, strangling British trade. On land the Americans launched an
invasion of Canada, which the British and Canadian forces repelled without
great difficulty. The British navy, stretched thin by the decade-old conflict
with France, found it almost impossible to blockade the American coast or
track down its commerce raiders. It was far more successful on land, and in
fact a British army fought its way to Washington, DC, the American capital,
and burned much of it to the ground.
Despite this stinging blow to American pride, the British and American
governments both realized that neither had much of a chance of winning the
war, and that further conflict would merely expend valuable treasure and
lives to no purpose. In December of 1814 the two countries signed the "Treaty
of Ghent," which simply called for the cessation of hostilities: neither side
gained or lost territory, and none of the root causes of the war were
addressed. The war was a tie.
In 1835, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna abolished the Mexican
constitution, replacing it with a new constitution that concentrated power in
the Mexican central government. Several Mexican states revolted at that time,
including the state of Coahuila y Tejas (which included the territory that
would become Texas). Despite early successes (including the capture of the
Alamo fort), eventually Santa Anna was defeated and captured. Bargaining from
this position of extreme weakness, Santa Anna grudgingly agreed to Texan
independence.
The Mexican government deposed Santa Anna while he was captive and disavowed
the treaty. Low-level fighting continued between the new "Republic of Texas"
and Mexico, while parties in Texas and the United States schemed for ways to
get Texas into the Union. In 1845 the American Congress passed a bill that
would allow the US to annex Texas, and then president John Tyler signed it
into law. At the same time, Mexico saw an influx of other American citizens
into its northern territories (including California), some of whom openly
avowed that they were going to take those into the US as well. Late in 1845
Texas was made into a state, and in 1846 American troops were occupying the
disputed territory. When Mexican cavalry clashed with an American patrol,
killing 11 soldiers, the US government used that as an excuse to declare war.
The war was short and decisive. After a few opening skirmishes in Texas and
northern Mexico, an American army of some 12,000 soldiers landed at Veracruz,
Mexico, and marched west. The Mexican army was defeated at every turn, and in
short order United States troops occupied Mexico City. Defeated, the Mexican
government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding to the United
States the land that would become the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
California, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming, Oklahoma and Colorado. In return
the US paid Mexico $18,250,000, or roughly half a billion in today's dollars.
In addition to stealing large chunks of valuable land from Mexico, the war
had one other benefit: it taught a number of American soldiers their craft.
These men would use these skills to great effect fifteen years later in the
American Civil War.
As the eighteenth century progressed, the United States was divided roughly
in half between slave states in the south and free states in the north. The
South, which had an agrarian economy, needed cheap labor to work the fields.
Slaves were far less useful in the North, which had a growing industrial base
and access to plenty of cheap labor from Europe. Further, slavery had woven
itself into the fiber of Southern life to the extent that many found the
concept of "abolition" abhorrent, inconceivable, and (by an extremely twisted
interpretation of the Bible) a grave sin. By the same token, a lot of people
in the North hated slavery, considering it totally evil - the country's
original sin. (It should be noted that many in the South saw the issue in
terms of "states rights" - the Federal government had no constitutional right
to meddle in internal conditions in states, but it was the slavery issue that
made this question so explosive.)
By the 1850s the situation had become intolerable. Tensions between the North
and South were at an extremely high point, and the 1860 election of the
moderately anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln started a sequence of
events which led inexorably to Southern succession and civil war.
The war started very badly for the Union (the North). The Rebels (South) had
a stronger military tradition than the North, and most of the country's best
officers came from southern states and felt bound to protect their homes from
Northern invasion, no matter how they felt personally about the cause of the
war. Further, the South was entirely on the defensive, and it's far more
difficult for an untrained army to attack than it is to defend - and both
sides began the fight with untrained armies.
Many people believed that the war would be over after one big battle but they
were shockingly wrong. The first big battle (Bull Run) was a Union defeat,
but the Southern army was unable to follow up its victory. What ensured was
four years of grinding warfare across the length and breadth of the country.
Despite its victories the South was unable to break the North's morale
(especially that of President Abraham Lincoln), and as the war continued the
Northern generals became better at their craft, and the Northern advantage in
numbers and industry began to dominate the battlefield. In 1865 the Southern
capital fell, and shortly thereafter the remaining Southern armies laid down
their arms. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865,
shortly after the capture of the Southern capital and the surrender of the
South's main army.
The war had a number of major effects on the United States, the most
important of which was the abolition of slavery across the country.
Unfortunately, many of the gains made by blacks were steadily whittled away
during the Reconstruction period following the war. As the 19th century
progressed blacks could in no way be considered equal to whites anywhere in
the country, but at least they were no longer subject to being bought and
sold like cattle.
The rest of the 19th century saw a steady migration of American citizens
west, filling in the vast plains of the mid-west and along the Pacific coast.
American engineers built train tracks across the steppes and through the
mountains, and cities and towns sprang up in their wake. The surviving
Native American populations were forced into smaller and smaller pockets of
the least desirable land, but showing a remarkably stubborn refusal to die
under the most extraordinarily desperate circumstances. Immigrants continued
to pour into the country from all corners of the world, all looking for their
piece of the American dream (and many finding it).
In the late 19th century the United States fought another unfortunate war for
territory, this time against the moribund Spanish "empire." Spurred on by the
jingoistic cries of so-called "yellow journalists" like William Randolph
Hearst, the US rapidly defeated the Spanish armed forces, gaining for its
trouble the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Spain further lost the island
of Cuba, which after a short period as a US protectorate, quickly gained its
independence.
While American industrial and economic power continued to grow, American
military power did not. The United States possessed a large enough army and
navy to beat up Spain (and to keep Canada and Mexico in line), but it was
hardly a world military power in any sense of the word. Primarily it relied
on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which were the domain of the
incomparable British Navy, for protection.
As Europe stumbled its way into World War I, most Americans wanted nothing to
do with the conflict. (In fact, many had immigrated to the United States
to avoid Europe's endless wars.) Americans came from all parts of Europe,
including Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia and the UK - so no matter
which side the US came in on, they'd be fighting somebody's cousin. Whatever
American politicians felt privately, the American government declared
neutrality.
In actuality American neutrality greatly favored the British and French,
since Britain's dominance of the sea meant that the US could only trade with
the UK and her allies. This was bad for the Germans, since they needed to cut
Great Britain's supply lines to achieve victory. In 1917 a German "U-boat"
(submarine) sank the ocean liner Lusitania, then Germany declared
unrestricted submarine warfare against neutral shipping. The American
declaration of war against Germany and her allies followed shortly
thereafter.
At the start of the war the United States had just a small professional army,
but by 1918 the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) had over 1,000,000 men in
Europe. This huge influx of fresh soldiers made a substantial difference on
the battlefield, and also on enemy morale. The war was over by year's end.
During its brief stint in France the AEF saw significant combat, suffering
some 50,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries.
After the war US President Woodrow Wilson attempted to mediate what he
considered a "just peace" and create a League of Nations, but the victorious
European nations were more interested in imposing heavy penalties on the
losers, understandable given the amount of damage they had suffered, but not
conductive to future comity between nations. As a result American public
opinion turned against Europe and especially against any further military
adventures there. This would have grave consequences some two decades later.
The aptly-named "Great Depression" is indeed depressing, and so will be
covered quickly. The Depression was triggered by the US stock market crash of
1929, and rapidly spread across the country and the world. Banks collapsed,
American unemployment rose to 25%, crop prices fell by some 60%. There were
bread lines in all major cities. The Depression dragged on for years. The US
economy began to revive in the mid-thirties, but did not fully recover until
World War II.
During the Great Depression the political doctrine of fascism gained
popularity around the world, particularly in Europe. Mussolini came to power
in Italy, Francisco Franco in Spain, and Adolf Hitler in Germany. Crippled
and exhausted by the twin blows of World War I and the Depression and
distracted by an excessive fear of Communism, the democracies watched as
Germany rebuilt its army, navy and air force and gobbled up the smaller
countries around it. It wasn't until Germany (and the Soviet Union) invaded
Poland in 1939 that France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.
Meanwhile, Japanese forces were carving up China and menacing European
interests in the Pacific.
Isolationist sentiment kept the United States officially "neutral" through
1940 and 1941, as France was conquered and German troops ground through the
Soviet Union. However, as in World War I, American neutrality heavily favored
the British, whose navy still controlled the Atlantic. At home President
Franklin Roosevelt built up the American armed forces as quickly as possible,
while trying to turn public sentiment towards active military intervention
and war with Germany. In the Pacific an American oil embargo on Japan was a
crushing military and economic burden and a deep insult to Japanese pride. In
response to the growing American pressure, the Empire of the Rising Sun made
one of the most catastrophic military and political blunders in modern
history.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed the American Pacific fleet in Pearl
Harbor, in the American territory of Hawaii. While many of the nation's
battleships were destroyed, its aircraft carriers were not in port at the
time of the attack. This would prove to be of decisive importance in the war
in the Pacific.
Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Germany also declared war on the United States.
This too was a colossal error, as it allowed the United States to intervene
heavily in Europe, which President Roosevelt might not have been able to do
in the face of "Japan First" sentiment in the US.
World War II was an astonishingly complex military, industrial and political
challenge for the United States. Although the US had been building up its
military forces for some years, it was still woefully underprepared in all
areas: manpower, arms, ships, planes, tanks and so forth. The government had
to balance the need for manpower with the need for workers to construct arms
and vehicles for itself and its increasingly desperate allies.
Further, it had to maintain an extremely difficult alliance with the United
Kingdom, its possessions and the Soviet Union, each of which had differing
political and military objectives. This was especially tough because before
the war the US and UK had been implacable enemies of Communism and the USSR.
And finally, its largely untested military had to face two superb opponents
in battle: the triumphant Japanese Navy and the deadly German Army.
As the US entered the war it found itself on the defensive in all theatres.
The Japanese Navy captured Allied bases across the Pacific, drawing ever
closer to Australia and New Zealand.
The German U-boats destroyed hundreds of thousands of tons of Allied shipping
in the Atlantic, nearly starving Great Britain right out of the war. But the
incomparable American industrial base roared into action, building warships,
planes, and tanks at an astonishing rate. As it fought the US military
learned from its early mistakes and with its allies stopped the enemies'
advances on all fronts. By 1942 the US was on the offensive in North Africa
and the Pacific.
By 1944 American and British troops were in France, and, caught between this
new peril and the Russian juggernaut grinding from the East, Germany
collapsed in May of 1945. Japan held on for several months longer, fighting
bitter rearguard actions on islands across the Pacific until the United
States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The US had learned two important lessons from World Wars I and II: first,
that it ignored the world at its peril. It was clear that while the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans provided enormous security for the American mainland,
American security was inexorably bound up in events across the world, if for
no other reason than that it needed foreign markets in which to sell its
goods. The second lesson it learned was that it was a bad idea to harshly
punish a defeated enemy. It was better to help rebuild the enemy so that it
would become an ally and buy your industrial output. Thus at the end of the
war the United States spent billions rebuilding Europe and Japan, former
allies and enemies alike (with one important exception, the USSR).
At the end of World War II the United States found itself the most powerful
country in the world. The US mainland had not been invaded or bombed during
the war, and its industrial base was bigger and better than ever. Its
military was battle-tested and equipped with the best weapons in the world,
and it had sole possession of the Atom bomb. On the other hand, the Soviet
Union's army was the strongest military force in Europe. In the US there was
little appetite for further conflict with the Soviet Union; people just
wanted the troops to come home.
As World War II ended, the latent hostilities between the US and UK and the
Soviet Union became a lot less latent. There were plenty of good reasons for
this. The US feared that International Communism backed by the Soviet Union
(and later, China) would if unchecked overrun Europe and the world. The
Soviet Union, on the other hand, wanted to make it absolutely clear to
everyone that it was sick and tired of being overrun by foreign troops every
twenty years or so, and it would be as tough and ruthless as necessary to
make sure it didn't happen again. (It also despised American-style capitalism
and wanted to spread International Communism across the world as well.)
Over the next fifty years the US and the Soviet Union and later China spent
huge amounts of energy and treasure building weapons, subverting foreign
governments, and engaging in proxy wars around the world. The US fought
International Communism in Korea (a tie), and later on in Vietnam (a loss).
The Soviet Union took over much of Eastern Europe (a win), and later on
invaded Afghanistan (a huge loss).
By the late 1980s its many internal flaws (corruption, greed, incompetence
and so forth) and excessive military expenditures had virtually bankrupted
the USSR. By the 1990s the Soviet Union was no more and the US was trading
freely with China. The Cold War was ended.
By any reasonable measurement the Cold War was a colossal, expensive blunder
for everyone concerned. If the US had convinced the USSR that it wasn't its
implacable foe, the USSR might have been able to relax its massive
overwhelming paranoia and perhaps stop oppressing and killing huge numbers
of its own people. The US might have been able to devote its wealth to
something other than building more and more dangerous and exotic weapons and
supporting foreign despots around the world.
On the other hand, the Cold War drove both sides into outer space for both
military reasons and for national prestige. This has led to many critical
technological innovations such as communications satellites and Tang�, as
well as a moon landing, perhaps the most important and coolest accomplishment
in all history.
The end of the Cold War brought a new era of peace and happiness to the
United States. For maybe a couple of years.
On September 11, 2001, a group of terrorists hijacked four jet planes and
drove them into the World Trade Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in
Washington, DC. A fourth attack was spoiled by the heroic actions of a group
of passengers aboard another jet plane. The attacks were traced to an
organization named "al-Qaeda," a Muslim extremist group based in Afghanistan
dedicated to driving foreigners out of the Middle East and to destroying the
United States, which they saw as the "Great Satan."
The United States responded by invading Afghanistan and driving its
fundamentalist leaders who supported al-Qaeda out of power. Then, in an
extremely controversial move, it invaded Iraq, home of its long-time enemy
Saddam Hussein.
At present the US is attempting to repair its international image, recruit
allies in its war against terrorism, and extricate itself from Iraq.
Afghanistan remains an incredibly difficult challenge, and it is by no means
certain that the US will emerge victorious in either of its current
conflicts.
The United States is no longer the sole superpower in the world. It shares
that dubious title with China, at least. Internally it's struggling to
recover from economic excesses of the late 20th century, as well as trying to
finally banish the ghost of slavery and racism that still haunts it. The US
is somewhat battered but is by no means broken. It still possesses the
resources, drive and human capitol to be a vital and important civilization
in the coming century."
The United States, probably the biggest influence any nation has on modern
society today, deserves the biggest history section. Anyway, the US have on
of the best powers, the Manifest Destiny allows them to increase sight, which
is invaluable early on for scouting new lands, and purchasing tiles at a
discount, reflective of the Louisana Purchase and annexing of lands belonging
to Mexico, is a nice boost as well, especially useful when fighting proxy wars
with other nations.
The B17 is the unit that replaces the bomber, talking only half the normal
amount of damage that is dished out by enemy interceptors and fighters, as
well as getting a nice boost against enemy cities. There is also the iconic
Minuteman, which replaces the Musketman, where all terrain types will only
cost 1 movement point, so no penalties moving up hills or through forest
tiles.
George Washington
~ History
"George Washington was one of a group of remarkable men who lived in the
American Colonies in the late eighteenth century. Although not as pugnacious
as John Adams, as imaginative as Benjamin Franklin or as brilliant as Thomas
Jefferson, Washington had the capacity to lead, in war and in peace. He led
the Continental Army to victory against extraordinary odds, and by so doing
he led his country to independence.
The descendent of English colonists who migrated to Virginia in 1657, George
Washington was born into a family of wealth and privilege - or as much wealth
and privilege as could be found in the Colonies in the early eighteenth
century. As a young man Washington studied mathematics, writing, geography,
and probably Latin, but he never attended college. Instead he concentrated
upon learning how to raise stock, farm, and manage his family's growing
estates. Washington was also trained as a surveyor and spent several years
scouting and mapping the lands in and around the colony of Virginia.
In 1754 war broke out between England (and her colonies) and the French and
their allies the Indians. Washington fought in several engagements during
this war, showing a great deal of courage and coolness under fire, but of no
especial strategic or tactical brilliance. Eventually the war ended with the
English victorious, and Washington resigned from the Colonial forces with the
honorary rank of Brigadier General.
After the war Washington married and devoted himself to his growing estates.
He apparently greatly enjoyed managing his farms and plantations and was not
above shedding his coat and helping with manual labor. He also sat in the
House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, the mostly-impotent local governing body
of Virginia (real power definitely resided with the Royal Governor of the
colony and with King and Parliament back in England).
Although a loyalist, Washington too chafed under the growing burden of
taxation placed on the Colonies by Parliament (largely imposed to help pay
off debts from the recent French and Indian War). As tensions grew and
England ratcheted up the pressure on the Colonies, Washington's position grew
more radical, and by 1768 he declared himself ready to take up arms against
England whenever his country called him. By 1774 Washington was a member of
the Continental Congress, the first truly national organization of the
nascent country. When actual fighting broke out in and around Boston in 1775,
Washington was named as commander of the military forces of all of the
Colonies, a post he maintained once actual independence was declared in 1776.
As military commander of the Revolutionary forces, Washington displayed the
same strengths and weaknesses he had years before when fighting for England
against France. He was personally courageous, almost to the point of
foolhardiness. Early in the war he tended to favor overly-complex military
actions beyond the capabilities of his volunteer soldiers, resulting in a
series of near-catastrophic defeats at the hands of the professional British
forces. But almost by force of will alone - through long, discouraging years
of privation and defeat - he kept his army alive and in the field, and by so
doing kept the revolution alive in the Colonies. Eventually, the sheer
tenacity and growing skill of the Colonial Army and its general would win it
the grudging admiration of even its fiercest enemies.
The entrance of France into the war on the side of the Colonies and
increasing Colonial power and success on the battlefield led to growing
anti-war sentiment of the British people. In 1781 Washington led his troops
on a daring forced march into Virginia, where he (with the aid of a large
contingent of French soldiers) besieged an entire British army on the
peninsula of Yorktown. The French naval maneuvers having given them
temporary command of the sea, the British general was unable to escape his
predicament and surrendered his command. Although sporadic fighting
continued for some months, the war was essentially over: America had won her
independence.
After the war, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention, which
determined the form of the new nation's government, and later served as its
first President. As President, Washington sought to keep the country free
from foreign entanglements, resisting close alliances or wars with any. He
attempted (with little success) to keep the country free from political party
rivalry and strife. Washington served two four-year terms as President, and
then retired back to his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he died two
years later in 1797.
George Washington is known for good reason as the "Father of the United
States of America." While not the greatest general in world history, nor the
greatest statesman, Washington had a great steadiness and courage in the face
of adversity, and he was able to get men to willingly die for him. Without
Washington, it's unlikely that the United States would have been born."
Leader Scales
Victory Competitiveness - 4/10
Wonder Competitiveness - 3/10
City State Competitiveness - 5/10
Boldness - 7/10
Washington is a nice powerful leader, he won't be too in your way in terms
of competing with your directly, but he is rather daring when it comes to
attacking, and he will make threats when you are weak, so just make sure
your forces are ready.
Diplomacy Scales
War - 5/10
Hostile - 3/10
Deceptive - 7/10
Guarded - 6/10
Afraid - 4/10
Friendly - 7/10
Neutral - 5/10
Washington is a friendly chap, he won't straight out declare war, but if you
are weak, then that is something he won't hesitate doing. Like all leaders,
they always have their hidden agendas, so just make sure that you defend
yourself, less you want US forces inside your borders.
City State Scales
Ignore Others - 6/10
Friendly - 7/10
Protective - 5/10
Conquest - 4/10
Washington is there to protect his empire, and he will generally not be
busy talking to city states. He will be generally friendly to get the good
benefits, but he will ignore what others are doing. So if Siam is protecting
a city state, good old George won't care if they are in his way.
Ground Military Scales
Offensive - 6/10
Defensive - 8/10
City Defence - 5/10
Military Training - 5/10
Reconnaissance - 8/10
Ranged - 5/10
Mounted - 5/10
Washington will focus heavily on recon, sending out scouts to know exactly
what is going on. He will then focus on playing defensive, he won't normally
go on the attack, he will keep his forces to defend his land. And that does
make most pushes harder, you will be sending unit after unit against counter
after counter.
Naval Scales
Naval - 5/10
Naval Reconnaissance - 4/10
Naval Growth - 5/10
Naval Tile Improvement - 5/10
Washington won't concentrate on his navy too much, he may have a few ships
here and there, just to make sure no one will blockage him, but other than
that, he will not be that much of a threat on the seven seas. It could be
worse, he could have a flotilla of aircraft carriers outside your capital.
Air Scale
Air Power - 6/10
Washington will tend to use air units more often than not, given that one
of their best units is the B17, and that is a powerful force in the air.
So don't think that your helicopters will have an easy time, they will be
shot down.
Growth Scales
Expansion - 7/10
Growth - 3/10
Tile Improvement - 5/10
Infrastructure - 5/10
Production - 5/10
Gold - 6/10
Science - 6/10
Culture - 6/10
Although Washington isn't warlike at all, but he will expand pretty damn
quickly. He will settle and probably end up with a lot of land, and a lot
of well defended land. That does make things easy for you though, most of
the time, his front will be large, and defences thin, so a breach somewhere
along the line, will pretty much seal his fate.
Civilisation Scales
Happiness - 7/10
Great People - 6/10
Wonder - 5/10
Diplomacy - 5/10
Spaceship - 8/10
Again, the bias for the space victory, however, Washington is all about
keeping his people happy, and that means relatively good growth in his
cities, which then leads to higher production, gold, etc. Just keep a little
eye on him, he is dangerous if he advances quickly.
*~~~~~~~~~~Save your tears for the day when the pain is far behind~~~~~~~~~~~*
[A] Contact Information
APPEARS IN g,a,m,e,f,a,q,s.c,o,m always. Remove the commas. Never on that
c,h,e,a,t,c,c.c,o,m. Remove the commas.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!Before you Email me, read everything in this Contact Information section and!
!check the guide. If the information is already listed, your email will be !
!promptly deleted. !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
E-Mail Me, and for the love of all that isn't sacred, make sure that the title
of the game is smacked into place. IF THERE IS NO TITLE ON THE MESSAGE, IT
WILL NOT BE READ, AND PROMPTLY DELETED. Also, email with courtesy. If you just
hurl abuse, I will promptly hurl more abuse back, and save it so the entire
world can abuse you and see your stupidity.
When you write the Email, you have to do so in English, and English only. No
foreign languages allowed, Chinese, French, Spanish, Antarctic Penguin and so
forth, mainly because I won't be able to understand it.
There will be absolutely NO INTERNET SPEAK IN ANY EMAILS. Seriously, I will
not read emails full of lols, rofls or the like. No lazy English either. I
won't read crap like "Hw Tis in Gme" because it is lazy and inconsiderate. But
that doesn't mean you send me a business letter detailing what information you
want to know either.
Finally, if you see that there is something wrong in this FAQ, or something
that you think should be included in it, please send it in, the worse you can
do is to have it rejected, but if I think it is a good addition, I'll add it
with the next update as well as give you credit for the addition. Corrections
are always welcome.
I will also NOT RESPOND to the following:
* Phishing Sites
* Attempted Scams
* Mass Spamming
* Forward Messages
* Advertising
* Technical Issues
* Illegal Activities
* Unrelated Emails to the Game
* Emails about Another Game
All problems with technical issues to do with the gameplay such as bugs and
glitches should be sent to the developer or publisher, or look for fixes or
ways to avoid it. All technical issues with hardware should be sent to the
manufacturer of the piece of hardware in question.
The secret email address is:
hillsdragon13 [at] [ho.tm.ail] [dot] [co.m]
Now, the legend:
[at] = @
[ho.tm.ail] = Remove the .'s
[dot] = .
[co.m] = Remove the .'s
If you feel generous, you can send money via Paypal to that address. It is
completely optional, but I'm curious to see how much I can milk, I mean make
out of this. All donations are appreciated, seeing I have to pay for the
game this guide is for, and that does cost money, more since I'm faced with
the outrageous prices found in Australia.
It may be a pain in the ass, but most smart people could figure out the real
email address. The problem is that people would normally Ctrl+F to find the
email address without reading the relevant guidelines, as well spamming sites
which always find their way to my inbox.
Also, do not add me to your MSN, Yahoo or any other instant messaging system
because you will be blocked and deleted permanently. Also, I will not accept
invites to be your Facebook friend, or join any other social networking site
because all invites will be rejected.
*~~~~~~~~~~On your feet come with me. We are soldiers, stand or die~~~~~~~~~~*
[B] Credits
The credits section is where all the credits for the guides go. Anyone or
anything that remotely helped out with this guide goes here, and that goes
for all those people out there who have interesting information to send in.
You know, your name could be on this list as well.
CJayC, The Creator of GameFAQs, thanks for all the memories
SBAllen for administrating GameFAQs, keep up the good work
You, no point of writing if no one is reading
2K Games for the distribution of the game
Sid Meier and Firaxis for developing the game
ASCGen for their program making ASCII Art
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex, for all those little sayings
Me, for a shameless piece of self promotion
*~~~~~~~~Save your tears, take your place. Save them for Judgment Day~~~~~~~~~*
[C] Webmaster Information
This is where all the sites that this guide can appear on are listed. If the
site name is not on this list, that means that either they are accepted by
me but not listed, due to logistical reasons (this is the same copyright
section as all the other guides, and no point listing a Civ 4 site on a Sims
game), or they are not allowed outright.
Anyway, POINT OUT ALL SITES NOT LISTED HERE. It will be up to me what site is
allowed or disallowed.
www.GameFAQs.com <Master Copy>
www.NeoSeeker.com
www.SuperCheats.com
NeoSeeker and SuperCheats will have the guides a full day after it appears on
GameFAQs. This is because those two sites grab any new update from me from
GameFAQs itself, so if you are itching for the newest version, please check
www.GameFAQs.com first.
It will NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPEAR ON
www.cheatcc.com
Why? Because they stole some of my works before, and I will not forget that.
No amount of goodwill will be able to repair what you have done.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~Fast and free, follow me. Time to make the sacrifice~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[D] Copyright Notice
This game is Copyright 2010 2K Games and Firaxis. All Copyrights are held by
their rightful owners as well as any Trademarks used.
This document is protected by copyright laws in many countries, so please
don't steal. This FAQ can be used for personal use, which means you can store
a copy on your home PC, your IPod, USB Drive, etc. You cannot use this FAQ to
sell for your own financial gain. Doing so is fraud, and I will promptly have
all the money gained wired for directly to me.
If you do sell it, and you are caught, I will launch court proceedings if
necessary. If a website steals this, I will have your site shut down, either
through talking to your server, Internet Service Provider, and if you are a
big site, through your advertisers. It might start with a small email of
request, but I can snowball it. In fact, I will.
You also cannot claim this guide as your own. You are not allowed to use this
guide and submit this to another website, claiming it as your own work. I will
google search random phrases from my own FAQ just to ensure that it hasn't
been stolen or hijacked by other people.
I am also not affiliated with any corporation, and I was not paid by any
developer, publisher or distributor for the production of this guide. This was
done solely out of my own free time and will, a dedication to the video gaming
industry in general.
This document is Copyright 2010. All Rights were not conquered by barbarians.
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