Epic VIII - Gideon’s Arabian Knights, aka Camel Archers

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Game Info
The game info, which can be found at Epic Eight, can be summarised as follows:

Sponsor: Sirian
Opening Date: Monday, August 28
Duration: Five Weeks

Difficulty: Monarch
Civilization: RANDOM
World Size: Standard
Opponents: Seven
Terrain: Pangaea, Natural Shoreline
Climate: Temperate
Rules: Standard
Victory: Any

Variant Rules: You may not declare war on any rival prior to 1000BC.

I got to be Saladin (Arabia) and was playing against Julius Caesar (Rome), Mao Zedong (China), Tokugawa (Japan), Elizabeth (England), Hatshepsut (Egypt), Mansa Musa (Mali) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (America). My traits are Philosophical and Spiritual. I start with Mysticism and The Wheel and my unique unit is the Camel Archer, which has a 25% percent withdrawal chance over the Knight unit, which it replaces.


Starting Off



It looks like I’m in the South West corner of the Pangaea. I move the two warriors to scout out some more territory before deciding where to settle. Settling on the spot would make Mecca a coastal city with Cattle, Silk, Incense and Gold in the immediate city radius and another Gold with the first border expansion. However, the Silk and Incense will only be really useful with Plantations. Also, working the Gold Grassland Hills gives no food, so Mecca would need some serious Food-generating tiles (which doesn’t seem to be abundant) in order to be able to work the great Commerce generating tiles. What’s more, settling on the spot would waste the extra food that can be obtained from working the Flood Plains. Settling on the Cattle is also possible, which would still make my Capital a coastal city, but halve the number of Coastal tiles in its City Radius. However, that would also waste the extra Food and Production that could be obtained after building a Pasture.



So, I decide to use one turn to move the Settler NW, and found Mecca. Mecca loses (unfortunately) its Coastal status, but it also loses (fortunately) all but one of the water-tiles with it. Furthermore, it loses the Freshwater health bonus, but that shouldn’t be too big a problem on this difficulty level. Anyway, without any food a higher Health Cap wouldn’t mean a thing. Unfortunately (but expectedly), there are no Food resources on the extra revealed tiles, but the move puts two extra Plains tile (more Food) into the City Radius. All-in-all, I think this site will give me a better capital, especially in the all-important early game. The Hut gives me $44.

Early Strategies

I may not declare war before 1000BC, so an early warrior rush is out. Anyway, I went that route (might I say, with great success, read luck) in Epic VI, so I’d like to do something different this time around. I want to predominantly play a builder’s game with quick early expansion. However, I doubt the warmongers will delay full-scale war to very much later than 1000BC. So, I’m probably not going to have an early finish. Anyway, we’ll see how the game, and the fighting, goes along. I think I may go for a domination victory …

No other Civ starts with Mysticism, so I’m planning on going for both Buddhism and Hinduism. The extra income and happiness will be most welcome to sustain my economy and make rapid early expansion possible. If the Religions spread, it will also cause my borders to expand faster, making the second-row tiles workable much earlier. The Philosophical trait doubles my Great Person birth rate, so I want to build Stonehenge and/or Oracle (preferably in two different cites) to get a few Great Prophets as soon as possible to build Shrines for the extra income, especially if I can spread my Religions widely on the Pangaea. The opportunity cost is probably not getting an early Great Scientist to boost Mecca’s Gold-based research. Maybe I can slip one in …

For now, I start researching Mediation and set production to Stonehenge. I’ll change it to a worker as soon as Mecca reaches size 2 (or later if Farming and/or Mining is not yet visible on the horizon).

Early Exploration



My warriors start exploring and the first hut lands me a scout in 3910BC. Hopefully I can grab more than my share of huts with this guy. In 3850BC I find $86 in a hut, followed by $89 in 3730BC. One Warrior is sent back to guard Mecca, and my Scout pops into another village. 30 years later, he and a young man that, suspiciously, looks very much like him, leaves the village to do some further scouting. Some villagers with a funny-looking implement teach me Agriculture in 3700BC. During this time I also meet Hatty, Lizzy and Mansa, which seem to be my closest enem-, uhm, neighbours, and all have slightly higher scores than me. In 3670BC I snatch $42 from under Lizzy’s nose, and the second Scout also picks up $42. Having learnt Agriculture, I change production in Mecca to a Worker when it hits size 2 – Mecca desperately needs some surplus Food. I found Buddhism and go for Hinduism next, which I also found, in 3070BC.
My two Scouts successfully defend against a Panther and a Wolf, and goes on to learn all about keeping animals (3400BC) and getting shiny stuff out of the ground (3250BC) from two more very friendly villages. I also find Julius Caesar and, to my surprise, a Barbarian city in the Northern Icelands, that I’m sure was added by Sirian.

So, the situation in 3000BC, after the early exploration and hut-grab (I don’t think I’ll find another one), is as follows. I’ve founded two religions. I’ve got quite a bit of money ($416) saved up that should come in handy when trying to found my second and third cities early on. I can (excuse the pun) “Pasturise” the Cattle and build some farms to get Mecca’s Food surplus going, as well as some mines to start utilising that Gold.

So, the situation in 3000BC, after the early exploration and hut-grab (I don’t think I’ll find another one), is as follows. I’ve founded two religions. I’ve got quite a bit of money ($416) saved up that should come in handy when trying to found my second and third cities early on. I can (excuse the pun) “Pasturise” the Cattle and build some farms to get Mecca’s Food surplus going, as well as some mines to start utilising that Gold.

Next, I need to start building Settlers for some land-grabbing. Hatty is going along very nicely score-wise, so I should go and claim my stake, especially in her direction.

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Early Expansion

One remark about building Settlers in Mecca: As soon as the Gold Hills are mined and Mecca has reached size 3 (or more), building a Settler greatly increases my research rate, since working the farmed Flood Plains (and possibly Cattle) gives enough food to sustain the population, and the rest of the population can be set to work the Gold Hills for 3 shields towards the Settler production, and the big commerce income (see top-left of screenshot below):



I discover Bronze Working in 2530BC, and go for Masonry and then Monotheism (founding Judaism in 1930BC, making Mecca a thrice-holy city). At this stage I’m the most advanced civilization. I start chopping forests to get an extra worker and then some settlers out quickly – I want to grab some land! My scout miraculously beats a bear but, some years later, a Barbarian warrior kills him off. Never mind, he has done more than his part for the great Arabian civilization.

I found my second city, Medina, just south of Hatty’s borders, and my third city, Damascus, just East of her borders, hitting “b” just before she can, and sending her to look for another city spot (more on that later). That was a really close shave, and for an extremely good city spot too. My forth city, Baghdad, is founded next to the Marble, and I immediately connect the marble and set Baghdad to build the Oracle.

At this stage I have four cities, and I lose 10 gpt with 100% science.



Hatty sent her Settler around the lake and settled a city which interfered greatly with my plans, so I plan on razing that city later on and settling where I want my city to be (to take advantage of the Bronze, Rice and Elephants).



I complete Stonehenge in Mecca in 1060BC and I’m definitely not ready for war in 985BC (just after the date we are first allowed to declare war). However, Toynbee does bring some good news, namely that Hatty and Lizzy, my closest enem-, uhm, neighbours, are also not the most powerful. That would make my early wars a bit easier, I hope …

Mathematics is learnt in 940BC and I’m finally comfortably ahead in Score. Also, Stonehenge kicks in in 820BC, with the Oracle just 1 turn away. I choose Code of Laws, and found Confucianism in Damascus. At this stage Mecca has a library and is working on the Pyramids. At first, Confucianism doesn’t appear to be accepted with open arms by my people, but it would very soon spread to all my neighbours, and I built the Kong Miao in Damascus in 415BC. My gold stashes have since been depleted, and I’ve been running science at 70%, but the religious income made it possible to go back to 90% - and I haven’t even built Missionaries yet (as it turned out, I wouldn’t for still a long time to come – maybe too long).

In 355BC I decide to double-whip the Pyramids in Mecca. It was at size 5 with only 2 health resources, so it was growing very slowly. I revolted to Representation, and also to Confucianism, since it has spread like wildfire (Hinduism was at 2% and Buddhism and Judaism at 0%).

The AD years are just around the corner, but first ...



I’ve had Alphabet for a while, but I thought I’d wait a bit until there were more Technologies available for trade. In 310BC I traded Mathematics, Polytheism and Monotheism for Iron Working, Fishing, Hunting and Pottery with a pleased American and a cautious Roman. I quickly built a camp to acquire the Elephants, and I also discovered 2 sources of Iron. One was on a mined hill next to Mecca, the other was discovered when a farmer bent some of his equipment on some hard rock near Damascus. Damascus really turned out to be a great city. I research Literature in 145BC and Mecca, after finishing another Settler (I was running +2gpt at 100% Science again), was set to The Great Library. The Settler is sent South West to found Najran in 115BC on the Southern tip of my lands. That left me with 5 cities going into the AD years, running 100% science with -2gpt. All land was grabbed at this stage, with England and Egypt the most likely first enemies, and Mao building a city on my borders (more about that later). I decide to trade Technologies with Lizzy and Hatty rather than the other Civilizations, since I’m planning on taking them out not too far in the future, and would rather not strengthen the other Civilizations. They take Monotheism and Code of Laws for Archery and Monarchy in 130BC and 10BC.

Then the AD years arrive with the sounding of trumpets, as Lizzy declares war on me. I guess she was just too restricted by Mecca and Damascus, with no place else to expand but into my lands. Luckily she’s second to last in score, my first War Elephant is right next to Damascus, and her first attack consists of a single Warrior. More units were on their way, but it gave me a turn or three to prepare for battle. Well, she declared war on me, so here goes...

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The Battle of Britain



Needless to say, my War Elephant gained some experience by running over the English warrior. By the way, in 80AD Christianity is FIADL, and the Parthenon is BIADL, while Taoism was also FIADL a bit earlier. So, Damascus starts churning out War Elephants for the battle of Britain, but Lizzy loads up a ship instead of just wandering over. Mecca still had only a warrior, but an archer was on the way, and a War Elephant was also coming to the rescue. She did pillage my Pasture, though. She’ll pay …

In 95AD we get Currency, and Baghdad starts on the Hanging Gardens in 140AD. By now, with -2gpt at 100% science, my gold is almost depleted again, so I sell some knowledge (Polytheism and Priesthood) to Tokugawa and Mao for $130 and $110. Also, Caesar gives Calendar and $220 for Code of Laws and Monotheism. Stonehenge is cancelled, but cultural borders have pretty much hit their limit in any way. It will have to be war from now on. Finally, Roosevelt gives me $390 for Monarchy. Financially, I should be fine for a few years again, although I’m at -5gpt at 100% Science by now.

A Great Engineer is born, and he hurries the Hanging Gardens in Baghdad, which takes my expenses to -8gpt at 100% Science. Still, I have more than $600 to spare. The great Library is completed in 275AD, while my catapults reduce the defences of York to 0%. I’m also really pulling away in Score now. However, Hatty has adopted Taoism, making her a bit more intolerant of me. I’m guessing another war, this time on the Western Front, isn’t too far away, so I start building up some more forces.

In 290AD I deal Lizzy a decisive blow, destroying 2 Archers and 2 Horse Archers while attacking York and 2 more Horse Archers while defending, all this using 2 Catapults, 2 War Elephants and a Spearman. Needless to say, they’ve got very little strength left, even after promotions (except the Spearman), and they a fall back for some healing. Another reason for not finishing York off is that I do not want to lose units, since I also need units to strengthen the Western Front. Even if it takes a while longer to take York, the units Lizzy sends over while I’m healing means fewer units to kill later. In this way I can really take her out of the equation, and be left with 5 very strong units on the Eastern Front. Civil Service comes in while healing, and in 410AD I go in for the kill, capturing York and a welcome $139. Lizzy launches a counterattack and I lose a catapult and my Spearman, so I'm down to 4 units, but all in all I have no trouble keeping York. I guess Lizzy’s spare units were just about depleted by now.

I decide to press on slowly with these veteran units once they’ve healed, but I decide to focus my aggressive attention to the West for now, instead of finishing off Lizzy. If I could quickly break Hatty like I’ve just broken Lizzy, I would be a made man. Also, I don’t want to take the remaining 3 or 4 English cities in too quick succession, since I do not want to raze them, and it would cripple my economy to acquire them too quickly. Maybe I’ll take one more city, then see what I can get for peace… For now…

The Egyptian Wars

And so we move on to Egypt. I had a few units at Damascus to attack from the East, and a few at Medina to attack from the South. I didn’t really have all my units in place yet, but this situation convinced me to attack a few turns earlier: I could cheaply take out the archer guarding the iron next to Alexandria, and capture that worker before he finishes whatever he’s doing there and moves away. So, the trumpets sounded once again, but this time it was me declaring war. As if triggered by the war, Toynbee completes his research and informs me that I have just made war with the second largest civilization on the planet. Luckily, I’m the largest.



Not content to be put on the backburner, Lizzy sends two boats around to Mecca again. Luckily, she brought mounted units (as was almost all her non-archer units), so my 3 Spearmen (and a forth almost finished) warded off the little attack with ease. The first Great Scientist was also born this year, and in 515AD Mecca gets an Academy. That speeds up the research a bit, and in 530AD I discover Music and Homer is born. I can’t remember what exactly I did with him – I can’t seem to find a screenshot... Anyway, my Elite Eastern Front Company has since healed and moved on to Hastings, which I take in 560AD without any trouble. I decide to take what I can get from Lizzy for Peace, and that turns out to be Horseback Riding, $160 and 1gpt. Lizzy now has only 2 cities left. I’ll regroup and heal during this time of peace before moving in for the final time.

Meanwhile, my close neighbours, the people of Xian, seem to be very impressed by my civilization, and a revolt takes place in 605AD. It doesn’t take long for Xian to want to join my illustrious empire, and I welcome them with open arms. It’s not the best of cities, but it's certainly not a bad one, and with such an overcrowded Pangaea - what a bargain.

Not forgetting that this is actually The Egyptian Wars, my forces leave Alexandria be for the time being (longbows on a hill and move on to Thebes. Hatty sends her own forces to the party in numbers too, and some open field battles occur. Still, I press on to Thebes. I was hoping her open field units would attack me on the forest, but they seem to be heading for Damascus, which is not well-enough defended to quell more than about 2 units. So, I decide to suicide 3 catapults on her Longbows and take Thebes, then sue for peace, rather than chase after that Swordsman and War Chariot to the East. However, it turns out to be much easier since 2 of the catapults withdraw from combat with Longbows. I take out the hurt Longbows and the remaining units, and clean up the open land units where the odds are high enough in my favour, then get 3gpt for peace. Hatty had 2 Technologies that I didn’t have, but she didn’t want to hand them over. O well, I’ll be back in no time for some more warring…

While the troops are healing, take a quick look at Damascus. Sure, it’s lacking commerce, but boy is it a great city. Currently, I’m running 2 specialists off a size 7 city, with another food resource tile to spare. Furthermore, this has also been my main military producing city from the start. OK, onwards. Paper is discovered in 770AD, and I’m running 80% Science for -37gpt, but wars and trading has kept the gold coming in. Also, another Great Prophet is born and constructs the Kashi Vishwanath for some more income. I’m at about one-and-a-half times the score of the second placed Mao, and Hatty is sliding down the ladder. Medina has to stop building Chichen Itza, but is given $298 for its troubles – very handy, though I would have liked the wonder. I give Mansa Music and he hands over $90 and Theology, and yet another Great Prophet is born. Note that I have not spread any religions manually at all at this stage (it could have been a mistake, but I was so busy with all the other stuff, and my gold has always been enough even while running at huge deficits per turn), so I decided settling him as a Great Prophet in Mecca would be a bit better at this stage. But enough of this, back to war!



Heliopolis falls easily in 965AD. Note the Settler at Damascus is 2 turns from completion, and in 995AD I found Kufah where I’ve been planning for so long.

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Lizzy and Hatty Wars

Next up in 1085AD, after some open field battle, Memphis falls with no big losses, mainly due to 2 big blows by my “suicide” catapults. I think at this stage Hatty paid Roosevelt to declare War against me, although he’s on the other side of the world, and only has one wondering Warrior in these parts. Actually, for a long time I didn’t even register that that lone warrior was an American. Only after he destroyed a pasture and a cottage right next to Elephantine in 1214AD did I destroy him. Notre Dame is finished in 1112AD and The Temple of Solomon in 1148AD.



Hastings revolted twice to England, and Memphis once to Egypt, and later once to Mali. I rushed some theatres to help out, but the Malinese culture was pressing on especially Memphis and later Elephantine to a lesser degree.



First, lets take care of the English culture. I declare War against Lizzy in 1148AD, but only after giving her Philosophy, Music and Civil Service in exchange for Machinery and Feudalism. She’ll not be on this earth for too long, so I don’t mind giving her a great deal – everything I get out of it is a bonus. Nottingham looks to be well defended, but there are a few Galleys in there. I decide to suicide 3 Catapults, but one withdraws and one actually beats a Longbowman, and I take the city in 1196AD. Meanwhile, on the Western Front, my troops arrive at Elephantine, where they meet quite a few Longbowmen. All my catapults are sacrificed, but I manage to take the city in 1960AD, although my units need some turns to heal. Also, I didn’t want to take a change with that Crossbowman that sneaked through to Medina, so I made peace, and got some goodies for it. After taking Nottingham, I make peace with Lizzy too, to regroup before the final push – only London is left. Mao meanwhile takes the opportunity to try and score some Egyptian cities and declares war against Hatty. However, she’s only got two cities left, one way up North (she probably got there by Galley) and Alexandria defended by a few Longbowmen on a hill, so Mao doesn’t actually get very far, except for pillaging Alexandria bare … but more on that later.

For now, I’m at peace with everyone (except Roosevelt, who’s too far away for anything in any case). Of course, peace will be short lived, but I’m going to go for Liberalism before wiping out Lizzy.