Info file for "The Age of Vikings" by S.C. Brain

I always wanted a scenario where different nations were attempting to do different things, unlike most scenarios which depict a war that one country must win, with everyone's attention on that war. So I tried. There is only one real flashpoint: the Byzantines are in the midst of all the action. Everybody else is doing their own thing. Those things conflict, however.

There's another thing I didn't like about nearly every Civ game, scenario or not: after a while, every country looks the same. Everyone develops knights and tanks and builds factories and port facilities, though in real life countries have different lifestyles and create different weapons. I tried to change that too.
 
I designed the Tech tree so that each civlilization will develop units that only they could have. The following is a list, plus possible strategies, for each country. Don't read on if you want to develop your own without my help.


BYZANTINES. The Byzantines had an early form of gunpowder, called Byzantine Fire, which was a mixture of naphtha and saltpeter. They guarded the stuff closely and used it to set the Muslims' weapons
on fire for many years. It is a great defensive weapon. The Byzantines also had the heritage of the Romans, so they alone can build the chariot, and an improved form of the legion (3a 2d), the Roman legion (5a 2d). However, these weapons are not great attacking weapons, so they must play defense and hope to find real gunpowder, late in the game. I would suggest expanding northward toward the Bulgars for some breathing room.

MUSLIMS: The Muslims at the outset have very enthusiastic Arab herdsmen (3a 2d movement of 3), but the Muslims were undisciplined back then, so if you develop Military Discipline (the Muslims alone can develop this) you can build the Muslim Horde (5a 2d move=3). Later comes the Islamic Jihadins (7a 2d move=4). These will really help your raids. Furthermore, the Muslims had huge siege cannons, Magonels (6a 1d, but a firepower of 3) which shot really big stones. With these weapons, you should be the most marauding nation, until the advent of gunpowder, but that won't be for a long while. One note: the computer bangs its head against Byzantine Fire. Since the Muslims commanded the seas at this time, I would suggest an invasion behind enemy lines.

FRANKS: The Franks begin with Knights and Crusaders, and are the only nation who can build these. They are good units, and cheap, too. However, if you get Crusader Leadership, you can build the Knights Examplar(8a 2d move=3), the best unit in the game until Heavy Cavalry(10a 2d move=2), which might never actually be built at the deity level. You've gotta be aggressive. Make sure to get Theology. You can build the great wonders (Bach and Michelangelo) and get Crusader Leadership that way.

TOLTECS: The Toltec-Maya are the only republic, and since government switching is not allowed, this can be an advantage. Their only specialized unit is the Imperial Guard (2a 4d), so you have to use these guys with catapults to get anywhere unless you make it to gunpowder. An attack on the Indians may be unavoidable.

AMERICAN INDIANS: The Indians have a special government called Communalism, which keeps them poor and with few advances, but happy. However, they have some interesting units. The Indian Planters can irrigate, etc, like engineers, but can attack and defend (2a 2d). The Braves (4a 2d) can be used in great numbers to repel attacks. If they can get somebody to give them horses (there were no horses in America until the Europeans brought them) they can build Mounted Braves (6a 3d move=3). Of course, all special Indian units move like Alpine Troops, to reflect how good these guys could read the landscape. It will be hard to be them.

VIKINGS: The Vikings have two good weapons: the Berserker (5a 2d), who can make amphibious assaults, and the Longship, the only ship in the game who can get to Greenland in one turn. They also get the Lighthouse and Magellan's Voyage to reflect how well these people could sail. However, after these initial benefits, the tech tree has little fruit for the Vikings, (until Gunpowder, which they likely will not develop) so the early units have to be good enough.

CHINESE: The Chinese are very close -- only a few discoveries away -- to getting gunpowder. Plus they have the Great Wall, which only expires with Ballistics. However, their mounted units aren't great--with advances, you can get Light Cavalry (3a 2d move=3). A good Chinese attack would consist of Cannons rolling slowly across the land with Light Cavalry to scout for them.


SOME NOTES: It is imperative that you play at the DEITY level unless you are the Americans, where you can play at King. Otherwise things happen way too fast. I hope you only get Gunpowder (if at all) at the last century or so -- only the Chinese had for a long while. But then again, it is fun to pretend you could do things a little better, so I made it POSSIBLE to get gunpowder, if you really push.
	City Walls, Barracks and Missionaries (the equivalent of Diplomats) are all VERY expensive. This is to keep the game open and not have it be impossible to conquer cities, or have one country just buy the cities up.

I hope you like this. Please e-mail any criticisms or comments to:

brains@mail.telis.org

Thanks, SCB