First game with Greeks

[SpencerH]

I'm just finishing my first game with the Greeks so I thought I'd post a few comments. I found them to be a pretty good civ trait-wise now that commercial has been fixed a little with 1.29. Its still irritating that marketplaces and banks are not cheaper for commercial civs (at least I dont think they are, I didnt check )

The UU is a strong defender of course, but for this game I used an offensive early strategy where the lack of early effective offensive firepower cost me a bagfull of archers (it took me a long time to get iron).

Overall, a pretty good civ for a non-militarist.

[Harovan]

If you love the new commercial trait (like I do), you may give the Indians (rel/com) and especially the French (ind/com) a shot. Because religious and industrious are better traits than scientific (the 2nd Greek trait), these civs are now very powerful. In addition, both have a medieval UU, which is poor by stats, but perfectly timed and cool looking (pure eye candy, I know, but anyway).

[Theseus]

I would think, then, that Rome would be attractive as well coming from a non-non-militarist).

[SpencerH]

Rome was and is very good but I liked them in earlier patches because of the UU. I disagree about the scientific trait though, I find with 1.29 that I have to do way more of my own research than I did before since the AI wont trade as much with me.

[FrustratedPoet]

Speaking of trying new Civs .... I played my first game with the Russians today, on a Tiny map.

I'm playing random Civs on random tiny maps now to get used to the unpredictability and rush-centred game that MP will probably be (in some game modes)

Anyway, I found that even on a map that small the Expansionist trait was very useful. My ability to rapidly expand meant that I knew very quickly that the AI civs next to me (a scary duo - Iroquis and Chinese) were right on the edge of the continent. In fact, I probably knew it before they did. This meant that I could trap them into tiny parts of the landmass through the cunning placement of cities and scout blockades while building up my military to crush them. The power I gained from this conquest was more than enough to see my easily steamroller the French (who had a better start position).

This was only on Regent ... and Tiny maps are easy, but I was impressed with how the Expansionist trait, which I'd always thought was weak on smaller maps, was my key to victory in many ways.

[Catt]

Originally posted by SpencerH
I'm just finishing my first game with the Greeks so I thought I'd post a few comments. I found them to be a pretty good civ trait-wise now that commercial has been fixed a little with 1.29. Its still irritating that marketplaces and banks are not cheaper for commercial civs (at least I dont think they are, I didnt check )

The UU is a strong defender of course, but for this game I used an offensive early strategy where the lack of early effective offensive firepower cost me a bagfull of archers (it took me a long time to get iron).

Overall, a pretty good civ for a non-militarist.

I have grown to appreciate the Greeks a little more under 1.29f also. Scientific is nice for cheap buildings, and commercial is helpful, particularly in the late game -- neither are my favorite traits by any stretch of the imagination, but they seem to work pretty well together.

What I've really come to enjoy is the hoplite - a 20-shield defender that I often keep around until Nationalism or even Replaceable Parts, with limited upgardes as needed in times of war and/or on border areas. The commercial trait, combined with cheap libraries and with the extra gold saved by not having to upgrade defenders makes for a competitive research civ, and a great trading powerhouse. Big downside for me remains my inability to control the timing of my GA -- if an AI attacks, a hoplite is going to win a battle and boom! I'm in GA mode.

Catt

[Jawa Jocky]

That GA problem is a deal breaker for me, however the Greeks can get early GLs on defense

[Arrian]

The problem with that is the GL generation rate is halved for defenders (1/32 or 1/24 with the HE).

-Arrian

[Jawa Jocky]

Originally posted by Arrian
The problem with that is the GL generation rate is halved for defenders (1/32 or 1/24 with the HE).

-Arrian

They are not common, but your defenders do need to survive in the 1st place. Spearmen have a habit of dying often (unless of course its a tank thats attacking )

[SpencerH]

I love this quote from the Reynolds on RoN interview

"“I was the one in Civilization II who said no, no thank you, we're not going to have phalanxes beating tanks”, Reynolds says. "

He's gone and guess what....

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by SpencerH
I love this quote from the Reynolds on RoN interview

"“I was the one in Civilization II who said no, no thank you, we're not going to have phalanxes beating tanks”, Reynolds says. "

He's gone and guess what....

I know, I know!!!!!!!!!

They dropped the Phalanx from Civ 3.