Rhye's and Fall of Civilization RAND - Babylonian strategy

From Rhye's Mods Wiki

The Babylonians (UHV)

by Fierabras

Overview

As Babylonia you start with stone and/or marble and 1 good food resource nearby. Sometimes it's better to not settle in place and you can even afford to lose a turn moving your settler to a better spot. If you are playing for a UHV, make sure there's good commerce in the first ring around Babylon. If you have gold nearby, it's sometimes useful to devise an alternative strategy. A high-yield commerce tile is excellent for the early tech race.

In the screenshot below, I moved the settler 1 tile north and settled on the stone. The riverland sugar tile will provide for commerce.

The UHV

In comparison to Rhye's and Fall of Civilization the Babylonian UHV RFC RAND is relatively easier to obtain, depending on your starting location.

The first step is to get to Writing before the Chinese do. This means you probably must beeline straight for it. Research order: Pottery-Writing. Getting writing on turn 28 or before is very likely to achieve this goal. Make sure you manage you city tile assignments and focus on commerce before growth. As usual, training a worker first is a good move. Then build (a part of) a granary.

After getting to Writing first, the key in RFC RAND is getting Stonehenge early. Research order: Mysticism - Masonry/Mining. When you get Mysticism start building Stonehenge immediately. Apart from food for rapid growth, you need production, so choose the next tech wisely. A lot of times you don't need a stone quarry for building Stonehenge.

When you get Stonehenge, switch the labor civic to Caste System and run as many artist specialists without losing too much growth. If you need more food and have a resource for it, tech Animal Husbandry next.

Research order: Polytheism - Priesthood. The reason for going for the more expensive Polytheism is that you want to generate a Great Artist in Babylon to lightbulb Monarchy before the Persians spawn.

Try to finish Priesthood around the same time the Great Artist appears, so you can assign hammers for the Oracle. Don't worry if you don't have marble in reach. The Oracle is not needed for getting to Code of Laws first, although it's the fastest way.

A city size of 5 or 6 will be enough to reach the first UHV goal at turn 84. Check the F8-screen regularly for the progress of competing cities. In RFC RAND independent cities like Jerusalem can also grow big.

Choose Code of Laws as the free tech from the Oracle and switch civics to Hereditary Rule and Slavery before your golden age starts. After the Oracle, build defensive forces like the Asharitu Bowman. The Persians are likely to attack you sooner or later.

For the third UHV goal you are likely to have enough culture from the artists specialists, Stonehenge and the Oracle. Visit the competing Indians to make sure you have enough and watch the F9-screen.

Summary

Research Order: Pottery – Writing – Mysticism Masonry/Mining – Polytheism – Priesthood – Monarchy (Great Artist) – Code of Laws (Oracle)

Build Order: Worker – Granary – Stonehenge – Oracle - Library - Bowman

Worker tasks: Farm commerce tile - quarry stone/marble or mine hills