Some EitB changes that affect our civ:
*Stables give +1 Trade Route -> Not overwhelmingly powerful, but a nice boost.
*Foreign Trade gives +1 Trade Routes, +1 Coastal Trade Routes, and +100% Improvement growth rate -> That's an early civic, if you gun for it soon enough, and a very powerful one. Depends on if we want more of a cottage based economy or a more farm based.
*Republic gives +1 Hammers and +1 Commerce from Enclaves and Towns, +3 Happy in the Largest Cities, +25% GPP, and +20% Culture -> Might acutally be decent to gun for it as a long term objective. Need to see the EitB tech tree again to be more specific about it.
*Mercantilism gives +2 Free Specialists per City, +1 Gold from Specialists, +1 Happy from Markets, and No Foreign Trade Routes -> Conflicts with foreign trade in the civic category, but can probably be used onde the cottages have grown, if we went that way. It's in the tech path that I find good for the Hippus.
*Pillage Values doubled ->
*Units with the Esus Steward Promotion (Shadowrider, Nightwatch, Shadow) can cast some spells for money if CoE is state religion.
o Extort (All)
o Blur – 12 GP (All)
o Shadow Walk – 60 GP (Shadow Rider)
o Haste – 60 GP (Shadow)
o Poisoned Blades – 90 GP (With Poisons, Nightwatch)
o Regeneration – 120 GP (Shadow Rider)
This is an awesome change and one that fits the Hippus perfectly. CoE is on the desired tech path, it has a knight replacement that is very good and now it supplies our civ with something it would really lack otherwise: spells. Regeneration and haste, sign me up! Only religion that comes close to CoE to the Hippus is Empyrean for Rathas, in my opinion, and rathas + a late switch to CoE are not mutually exclusive.
*Stirrups (HAs) got more expensive ->
*Most mid to late game mundane technologies got a price cut -> Warhorses is way, way, way cheaper now and with way less prereqs. A reasoned beeline is certainly possible. It gives Knights, our amazing hero (which can hire mercenaries -> but not only mounted mercenaries, he can hire a lot of different units), Ride of the Nine Kings and Shadowriders.
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My brief study makes me think that the best path for the Hippus is: focus on expansion and economy (cottages - probably with foreign trade to help them grow) early -> prepare for a transition to full gold once everything we need is researched (warhorses, CoE and Mounted mercenaries) -> go full gold (financial trait, consumption, undercouncil means +55% at all cities, if we consider two free merchants from mercantilism, that's 12 free gold at every city already, no commerce involved) and buy the way to a conquest victory.
The desired techs would be in the gold line, the horse line and the CoE line, which are pretty interconnected, if you think about it.
Of course, pure theorycraft. But I haven't theorycrafted in a while, so i could not hold myself.
*Stables give +1 Trade Route -> Not overwhelmingly powerful, but a nice boost.
*Foreign Trade gives +1 Trade Routes, +1 Coastal Trade Routes, and +100% Improvement growth rate -> That's an early civic, if you gun for it soon enough, and a very powerful one. Depends on if we want more of a cottage based economy or a more farm based.
*Republic gives +1 Hammers and +1 Commerce from Enclaves and Towns, +3 Happy in the Largest Cities, +25% GPP, and +20% Culture -> Might acutally be decent to gun for it as a long term objective. Need to see the EitB tech tree again to be more specific about it.
*Mercantilism gives +2 Free Specialists per City, +1 Gold from Specialists, +1 Happy from Markets, and No Foreign Trade Routes -> Conflicts with foreign trade in the civic category, but can probably be used onde the cottages have grown, if we went that way. It's in the tech path that I find good for the Hippus.
*Pillage Values doubled ->
*Units with the Esus Steward Promotion (Shadowrider, Nightwatch, Shadow) can cast some spells for money if CoE is state religion.
o Extort (All)
o Blur – 12 GP (All)
o Shadow Walk – 60 GP (Shadow Rider)
o Haste – 60 GP (Shadow)
o Poisoned Blades – 90 GP (With Poisons, Nightwatch)
o Regeneration – 120 GP (Shadow Rider)
This is an awesome change and one that fits the Hippus perfectly. CoE is on the desired tech path, it has a knight replacement that is very good and now it supplies our civ with something it would really lack otherwise: spells. Regeneration and haste, sign me up! Only religion that comes close to CoE to the Hippus is Empyrean for Rathas, in my opinion, and rathas + a late switch to CoE are not mutually exclusive.
*Stirrups (HAs) got more expensive ->
*Most mid to late game mundane technologies got a price cut -> Warhorses is way, way, way cheaper now and with way less prereqs. A reasoned beeline is certainly possible. It gives Knights, our amazing hero (which can hire mercenaries -> but not only mounted mercenaries, he can hire a lot of different units), Ride of the Nine Kings and Shadowriders.
----
My brief study makes me think that the best path for the Hippus is: focus on expansion and economy (cottages - probably with foreign trade to help them grow) early -> prepare for a transition to full gold once everything we need is researched (warhorses, CoE and Mounted mercenaries) -> go full gold (financial trait, consumption, undercouncil means +55% at all cities, if we consider two free merchants from mercantilism, that's 12 free gold at every city already, no commerce involved) and buy the way to a conquest victory.
The desired techs would be in the gold line, the horse line and the CoE line, which are pretty interconnected, if you think about it.
Of course, pure theorycraft. But I haven't theorycrafted in a while, so i could not hold myself.
![[Image: civ4screenshot0140.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/a/img41/6067/civ4screenshot0140.jpg)
![[Image: civ4screenshot0138.jpg]](http://imageshack.us/a/img94/6613/civ4screenshot0138.jpg)
