Civ strategy: the Aztecs

[Solver]

Let me give a little bit of strategy for civilizations. I feel this is a rather poor attempt here, but what the heck... the Aztecs!

Aztecs:

At a glance: Military and Religious, Unique Unit the Jaguar Warrior (1-1-2).

Now that is a very interesting civilization, and though many people would say the Aztecs are underpowered, I must disagree here entirely.
Aztecs are the best choice for players who like to be aggressive in the Ancient times. Players who rarely engage in wars probably will want something different, as Military ability certainly isn’t for pacifists.
Now, on to the Aztec special abilities.

Militaristic bonus by itself means that you can build Archers and Barracks since turn one, and you’ve got a higher chance of battlefield promotions. This is very handy, and you have an excellent early game unit, anyway, so the trait is surely of use to you. Aztecs do it excellent at striking another civ early on, especially cutting off their resource supply.

Religious bonus is always very nice to have, though not exactly something you’d die for. However, the short anarchy period will save you time as you switch to Monarchy (you’ll probably want to), as well as easier citizen control, and in a sideway, higher culture. Aztecs are well played with aggressive tactics, but if you want to run Republic or Democracy, then the Religious trait will be an excellent friend for you. Consider the cheap Cathedrals, and the ability to switch, if forced to, to Communism or Monarchy instantly.

And don’t forget you can build those Temples early one, which will be pretty high on many people’s list, since the culture effect really kicks in. I personally love it a lot to play pursuing a high culture strategy, making the other civs like me more, and having a high chance of grabbing those border cities.

And finally, you have the real killer here: Jaguar Warrior. At the first glance, it’s nothing more than a fast running warrior, but you will soon see there’s much more to this unit. True, after the 1.17f patch it’s no longer the overkill it used to be, but that’s only good, as otherwise the Aztec player had his time just much too easy killing off any neighboring civ.

I will now give a little bit more of strategy with this group.

First, about the Aztec early game. You should be sure to build some Jaguar Warriors early one, due to their extreme value in exploration (same as Scout, but can fight!) and actually a possibility to become Elite pretty fast, especially if Barbarian level is anything higher than Roaming. This, in turn, gives you a possibility to think about Leader later, be sure to upgrade all of your Elite Jaguar Warriors to Swordsmen, since Elite Swordsmen can really kick some butt, even until Gunpowder comes, these remain solid units.

I think that the Aztecs should pay more attention to culture in the early gaming, possibly building a Temple sometimes instead of a Worker. That might get you down on terraforming a bit, but will improve your overall culture rating, which is crucial.

If you discover that there’s a really close neighbor to you, then, as the Aztecs, you really should declare war. Getting rid of an enemy early on is very good, since there’s more land for you to settle, and you have all the tools to conquer nicely. Barracks are probably built in some city already, you can crank out Jaguar Warriors at some great speed, and these guys are actually useful! If this takes place a bit later in the Ancient Age, add some Horsemen to the mix. Anyway, do the attack, and you’ll see that it’s a pretty nice thing. Jaguar Warriors do get that 50% chance of retreating, and, as their experience grows, the retreat chance grows as well.

When fighting an early Aztec war, I love to do a Jaguar Mass. This means that I assign many cities to build Jaguar Warriors, most towns should complete one in 5 turns, oftentimes less. Then, I get the Jaguars into enemy territory, let them pillage the improvements, cut down any resource connections he has, and catch any workers running around. If there’s a unit in the field, it’s nice to attack, too. Jaguar Warriors are also nice for a city assault, especially if the enemy has still got no Bronze Working. Otherwise, bring Archers/Horsemen/Swordsmen for protection.

Later in the game, as you have got a nice chunk of land and probably a formidable army, it’s a nice idea to build up the infrastructure. It happens so to me, I am a little bit behind with Workers and Libraries, when Aztec, because I build a big army early on, and still race to expand much. In the Middle Age, it’s just about the right time to catch up with the entire infrastructure. The army you’ve built earlier is still here, and might even make other civs respect you more. If you can get the money, you can get Swordsmen, with upgrading all of those Jaguar Warriors, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War is really a wonder you’d like to grab, especially if you’ve started on a continent, not an island.

Later again, you will probably want to win your game by conquering the other civilizations. After you’ve spent some peaceful time building your empire up, you can attend to building a military again, with the though of just invading the closest civ, given you have an army bigger than theirs. The Militaristic trait will still help you, and if you get a group of Elite Tanks inside enemy’s land, he’s screwed up pretty much.

I’d also like to add that I played my first Civ 3 game as the Aztecs, and had a very high culture rating, big army, though lagged in science a little bit.

And finally, about using the Jaguar Warrior later in the game. You can, both during the Middle Ages, and even later. If you happen to have a city that doesn’t have any natural resources (distant colony, or whatever), don’t hesitate to build Jaguar Warriors, since they still can get into enemy land and do some pillaging for you, at minimal cost. When enemy Riflemen get out to shoot them, it’s 50% they’ll retreat… and if they don’t, it’s not that you’re losing anything more than 10 shields worth of production.

[Jaguar]

I love the Aztecs. I've only beaten deity with them, although I've come close with the persians and chinese.

[Solver]

I assume you played your Deity victory by an aggressive conquest strat?

[Skanky Burns]

Just a quick note - upgrading elite units gives you veteran units.
So Elite JWs-> Veteran Swordsmen

[Solver]

Ah, that's it... thanks for the update.

[Pius Popprasch]

It's not my favorite Wonder but the Aztecs have a good chance to finish the Hanging Gardens first(first monarchists). With Sun Tzu it's harder. Veteran & Elite(!) Jaguars don't have many problems with regular Spearmen so that I barely upgrade. Pikemen are almost impossible.