Theology instead of Construction for Ancient Warfare?

[QuixotesGhost]

When I want to push deep into an enemy empire in the early game I normally tech to construction to grab catapults. My last game as Saladin on Monarch I tried a different approach. Instead of climbing the mathematics tree, I climbed Religon instead and used a Great Prophet to lightbulb Theology and switched over to Theocracy.

I built me an army of City Raider 2 Axemen and Swords and knocked on my neighbor Tokugawas door. It worked amazingly well, his border cities fell very quickly and by the time I marched on his capital I had a sizable contigent of City Raider 3 troops. Though he had a cultural defense of 60%, catapults where never needed and his capital fell in a single turn with a loss of only 2-3 of my own units.

It was Definaley a quicker victory than if I used catapults. No waiting around for them to bombard, and my production cities were able to turn out rank and file troops the whole time. Plus I had some nice City Garison 2 archers to defend the cities just taken.

Anyone have similar sucess prioritising Theology over Construction for ancient warfare?

[cal_01]

I guess it really depends on the situation.

In the early game, yes City Raider 2 Swords will quickly stomp over any opposition as long as they do not have Axemen or Longbows for defense.

However, that depends on very ideal conditions, such as terrain of the city (ie. on a hill) and what kind of garrison it has. City walls also play a factor, too.

Moreover, the strategy is contingent on whether they get to longbows soon enough. Once they enter the game, you're toast. Axemen are a pretty good defense against Axemen/Swords, but I've never really seen the AI keep them back before.

[Swiss Pauli]

Re: Theology instead of Construction for Ancient Warfare?

Originally posted by QuixotesGhost
My last game as Saladin on Monarch I tried a different approach. Instead of climbing the mathematics tree, I climbed Religon instead and used a Great Prophet to lightbulb Theology and switched over to Theocracy.

Anyone have similar sucess prioritising Theology over Construction for ancient warfare?

Can't say I've tried it, but it seems a reasonable approach for those Civs starting with Mysticism, and especially the SPI ones. If you can time production of an army to shortly after the GP lights Theorcracy then you're ready to go sooner than with a tech that allows a new unit. Saladin's obviously the perfect Civ for this strategy cos he's PHI as well, but Monty should also work well.

With Maths now giving a chop boost, I'd tend towards Construction with other leaders.