Not every civilization, just the ones I play or play against most. For each one: what the game gives it, how I'd play it, and, in the shaded box, a word about the real people behind it. The game's bonuses are a designer's shorthand, and I don't hold them to the standard of a history exam. But I can't resist.
Egyptians
Gold miners work faster and chariots are tougher. A chariot-and-priest army in the Bronze Age is hard to stop, and the gold bonus pays for the priests.
| The horse-drawn chariot arrived in Egypt fairly late, in the troubled period before the New Kingdom. Once it came, it became the pride of pharaohs' armies. |
Greeks
Academy units move faster, and so do their warships. The hoplite line is slow in most hands; with the Greeks it arrives in time to matter. Good on water maps.
| The hoplite fought in the phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, each man's big round shield partly covering the man beside him. It was a citizen's way of war: farmers who bought their own armor and stood together. |
Yamato
Mounted units cost less. That makes early scouts and later cavalry and horse archers very attractive. A Yamato player who isn't on horseback is doing it wrong.
| The Yamato were the rulers who unified much of Japan in the first centuries AD. Clay tomb figures from the period show armored horsemen, so the cavalry bonus isn't pure invention. |
Shang
Cheaper villagers. The Shang boom better than anyone. The trick is surviving long enough for it to matter, so wall early.
| The Shang dynasty ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC. We know them from their extraordinary bronze vessels and from oracle bones: questions to the ancestors, scratched onto bone, which are the earliest Chinese writing we have. |
Persians
Faster hunters and faster elephants. Hunting gives them a quick start, and a war elephant that can actually catch something is a frightening thing. Bring priests of your own to deal with the enemy's priests.
| The ancient sources say Darius III had about fifteen elephants at Gaugamela in 331 BC. They don't seem to have done much. The Persian army's real strengths were its cavalry and its sheer size. |
Babylonians
Stronger walls and towers. The Babylonians turtle beautifully. They're my least favorite civilization to play against, which is a compliment.
| Fair enough. Babylon's walls were famous in antiquity, and Nebuchadnezzar II's Ishtar Gate, covered in blue glazed brick, is one of the great surviving monuments of the ancient world. |
Hittites
Tougher siege weapons. Stone throwers and catapults that survive a counterattack. Good for a slow, grinding game.
| The real Hittites were famous for chariots, not catapults. Their great battle was Kadesh, against Ramesses II of Egypt, around 1274 BC. Both sides claimed they won. |
Macedonians (Rise of Rome)
Their units are much harder to convert, and their siege weapons are cheaper. Against a priest-heavy opponent they're a nightmare.
| Philip II rebuilt the Macedonian army around a phalanx armed with the sarissa, a pike much longer than the Greek hoplite's spear. His son Alexander took it to India. |
Palmyrans (Rise of Rome)
Villagers cost more but are tougher and work faster. Camels are faster too. A strange, strong economy. The early game is slow, so be patient.
| Palmyra was a rich caravan city in the Syrian desert, and camels were its trade. In the 270s AD its queen, Zenobia, broke away from Rome and held much of the East for a few years before Aurelian brought her down. |
Romans (Rise of Rome)
Buildings cost less, towers especially. Build everywhere. Roman tower rushes on the Zone are a menace.
| Rome's genius was building: roads, forts, camps dug fresh every night on the march. The cheap buildings are the most historical bonus in the game. |
Carthaginians (Rise of Rome)
Elephants and Academy units are tougher. On land, an armored elephant charge is one of the scariest things in the expansion.
| Everyone knows Hannibal took elephants over the Alps in 218 BC. Fewer people know that very few of them survived the next winter. Carthage was above all a sea power, and its real strength was its fleet and its money. |
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