CIV OF THE WEEK: Zulus

Provost Harrison · October 19, 2001, 12:20

Yay got there first. They are up at www.civ3.com

Provost Harrison · October 19, 2001, 12:23

They are a militaristic and expansionistic civ (sound like nasty little bastards

) headed by Shaka Zulu, and start with Warrior Code and Pottery. Their special unit is an Impi, an upgraded Spearman, so they have 1-2-2 (ADM) as opposed to 1-2-1 for a normal Spearman, so they sound like a useful reconnaisance unit.

And there is a bit of babble about who the Zulu are.

Dr. Nick · October 19, 2001, 12:27

Well, I dunno why the Impi is a defensive unit, as the idea of the Impi was to attack the evil colonial overlords, and the Zulus were always on the offensive... still...

Provost Harrison · October 19, 2001, 12:37

Well the concept Firaxis seem to describe is that they are a 'mobile defence force', which can move from one part of the empire to another reasonably quickly to reinforce positions against attack...

orange · October 19, 2001, 13:14

221 would have been better, IMO.

Provost Harrison · October 19, 2001, 13:28

Actually yeah Orange, that would strike me as a more useful unit!

orange · October 19, 2001, 13:30

Yeah, I mean...a phalanx with a decent attack basically

btw: don't bother trying to post this at CGN first, I already beat you to it

Mahdimael · October 19, 2001, 13:37

Aha, but if you read correctly, it also said that the Impi also require no resources, which will undoubtedly be a great boon in the beginning of the game. That means you'll be able to pump these guys out without having to worry about colonies or anything. Looks like a strong unit to have

cyril25376 · October 19, 2001, 13:49

Don't forget that the Impi unit can also retreat.

orange · October 19, 2001, 14:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Mahdimael
Aha, but if you read correctly, it also said that the Impi also require no resources, which will undoubtedly be a great boon in the beginning of the game. That means you'll be able to pump these guys out without having to worry about colonies or anything. Looks like a strong unit to have

Definitely, but wouldn't it be better if you could pump out these guys with 2 attack?

Dauphin · October 19, 2001, 14:31

I don't like the name Impi, the names gives me images of small imps. If their abilities are proved to be poor compared to other UU I will no doubt end up calling them Gimpies instead.

Comrade Tribune · October 19, 2001, 14:45

I think the Impis are great competition for the job of "most useless UU". And people were complaining about Cossacks!

orange · October 19, 2001, 15:45

I don't know about that Comrade...

think about the benefits of a mobile phalanx for exploration purposes, especially early in the game. The problem with using a horseman is that it is easily defeated by barbs. At least now you'll have an easier time exploring

Martinus · October 19, 2001, 17:09

Quote:

Originally posted by orange
At least now you'll have an easier time exploring

And since they are expansionistic and would have most of Africa for themselves on the world map, they would get all these goodie huts in no time. Scary

joer · October 19, 2001, 17:11

I said that the Cossack was lousy UU, and I think the Impi is cool. A movement of 2 for a cheap defensive unit you have nearly right at the start is great.

Think about it: In the beginning, the computer enemy is usually strongest and can wreak havoc among you. As a peaceful expansionist, I often neglect my defence in new cities a bit, concentrating on infrastructure.
A 2-movement defender (twice as fast as the standard) can just hop over much faster from neighbouring cities to defend an attacked city. It can also be used to explore safely, defend against barbarians and just hinder the enemy to expand, be stationed in strategic bottlenecks and be used as quick resupply in case you really need to rush a defence into a city. All that for the same cost as your standard spearman.

A 2-2-1 unit would probably be useless once Legions (3-2-1?) are availible.

On the other hand, your cossack gives you only 30 percent more defense for a costly attack unit at a much later period of time.

And I even think that the Impi measure up pretty well against the war chariot (Egyption, 2-1-2, as good as any horseman) and is certainly cooler than the Jaguar warrior (Aztec, 1-1-2).

Too bad I don't like the Zulus otherwise.

Buck Birdseed · October 19, 2001, 17:58

Not exactly good for a peaceful expansionist, are they?

I have probably been one of the most vocal proponents of the Zulus as an included civilisation, and I hate to say so but that description was a little lacklustre. No age regiments? No Rourke's Drift? A completely inaccurate description of the Mfecane, which usually is used as a name for the indirect conflicts that resulted from Shaka's displacement of neighbouring tribes, and no mention of everyone's favourite Mfecane-related statistic, 1 000 000 dead? More description of Shaka's decline and fall than of his rise and rule? No mention of the blackest day in Zulu history, the Battle of Blood River? Very limited mention of Shaka's most famous achievment, his tactical reorganisation, and only as an afterthought in the unit description. Instead we get a load of nonsense where the focus seems to be Shaka's madness, the apparent untrustworthiness of his successors, and how easily Zulu rebellions were put down. Have you got something against them, Dan? I remember that when doing them in a History of Southern Africa course a few years ago, they were by far the most interesting bit, and kept the entire class enthralled (unlike the rest of the course, which was mostly colonial/post-colonial). This certainly does not do that for me.

Faboba · October 19, 2001, 18:10

The other signifact benifit of the impi people seem to have overlooked is the fact it needs nothing to build.

People mentioned horsemen, well if you're in a grassy, mountian filled, artic dessert region ( or a combination of these not involving plains ) then you'll probably not HAVE any horses, but your the zulus so who cares - you can just build impis to your hearts content as soon as you discover bronze working.

The Templar · October 20, 2001, 04:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Big Crunch
I don't like the name Impi, the names gives me images of small imps. If their abilities are proved to be poor compared to other UU I will no doubt end up calling them Gimpies instead.

The impis are king sh_t next to the Jaguar Warriors of the Aztecs. And if you feel impis should have more attack, well, Firaxis is including an editor ...

And I have to go with snapcase here - that was horrid treatment of the whole Shaka period.

Rakki · October 20, 2001, 04:56

I don't get why they gave impis 1 2 2 when it would've probably been more logical to give them 2 1 2.... presumably they were trying real hard to differentiate it from the jaguar warrior or something when the two units were basically in essence the SAME (same tactical doctrine and both used to expand and both got wiped big time when the white men came and attacked)

Comrade Tribune · October 20, 2001, 07:23

Quote:

Originally posted by orange
I don't know about that Comrade...

think about the benefits of a mobile phalanx for exploration purposes, especially early in the game. The problem with using a horseman is that it is easily defeated by barbs. At least now you'll have an easier time exploring

You are right. They are fast, they are cheap, and they are early. I do now see that they can be quite annoying.

I hereby state officially that I have changed my mind on the Impis.

By the way, expansionist/militarist is a formidable combo; they will be the ultimate culture demolishers.

Skanky Burns · October 20, 2001, 09:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Comrade Tribune
They are fast, they are cheap, and they are early. I do now see that they can be quite annoying.

Thats for sure, i think soon after Civ 3 is released, everyone will really hate the Zulus. The units are fast, hard to get rid of, and they retreat rather than being destroyed fully... very annoying

They will be a major pain for everyone, and potentially dangerous as well.

Gangerolf · October 20, 2001, 20:05

I don't get it why Zimbabwe is the Zulu capital.
The city of [Great] Zimbabwe didn't have anything to do with the Zulus, did it?

Steve Clark · October 20, 2001, 21:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Martinus

And since they are expansionistic and would have most of Africa for themselves on the world map, they would get all these goodie huts in no time. Scary

Are you planning on only playing with the world map?!?! My god, nearly every single regular games that I or most of my comrades in Civ2-Strategy played were on RANDOM maps. With the dramatically increased map sizes in Civ3, don't you think that having a pre-defined map, esp. with non-random settings, would be irrelevant?

Ironwood · October 20, 2001, 21:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Gangerolf
I don't get it why Zimbabwe is the Zulu capital.
The city of [Great] Zimbabwe didn't have anything to do with the Zulus, did it?

Yeah, and the Iroqois didn't have a city called Salamanca. I think it's primarily because the Great Zimbabwe is a really cool African place, and the Zulu represent all Africa much in the same way the Iroqois represent all the North American tribes.

The Commodore · October 22, 2001, 13:23

I'm starting to want to play these guys...if only so that I don't have to fight an AI using 'em.

Green Giant · October 22, 2001, 15:21

The Zulu UU is rather lame in my opinion. Defending units are stationary a lot of the time. What use is an extra movement point? Half the reason for the UU is to get the "golden age" by winning a battle with your UU. To get a win with the Impi I would have to wait for the CPU to initiate combat with me, not the other way around.

I plan on rolling over the Zulu's consistently. While their Impis, with the weak attack rating, are dashing themselves against my defensive units, I will be investing in culture and annihlate them. Too easy.

Comrade Tribune · October 22, 2001, 18:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Green Giant
What use is an extra movement point?

Survival by tactical retreat. You might need chariots or horsemen to annihilate them.

Half the reason for the UU is to get the "golden age" by winning a battle with your UU.

They can also build a wonder.

I plan on rolling over the Zulu's consistently. While their Impis, with the weak attack rating, are dashing themselves against my defensive units, I will be investing in culture and annihlate them.

If they are clever, they won´t dash against anything. If I were Mr. Zulu, I would use Impis to sprint into hill/forest/mountain bottleneck positions, and fortify there. I bet I would succeed in being annoying.