Underestimated by many yet, powerful and dynamic, one of my favorite civilizations is the Byzantines. Credited as a “Defensive Civilization”, I feel can be the most aggressive one till the imperial age. This guide, I have written to take a look over the strengths and weaknesses of this all round civilization.
Civilization Bonuses
25% cheaper skirmishers, spearman and camels
Of all the bonuses of this civilization, this is the most useful. This bonus helps mainly during the feudal, castle and early imperial age when the last blacksmith researches are not that important. A Byzantine player can easily take the FAST CASTLE mode providing a bigger than expected army. This bonus also helps to repel SCRUSH and CRUSH.
Buildings receive hit-point bonus (+10% dark, +20% feudal, +30% castle, +40% imperial)
Not so noticeable but still an important defensive bonus... Think of the times when enemy villagers are trying to break your watchtower or when knights are attacking your castle.
Free Town Watch research
The top up of an ice-cream… Saves you 75 food and 30 seconds of your TC time, a very useful bonus that helps you in TRUSH and DRUSH. Don’t forget to setup some radar houses early.
Upgrade to imperial costs 33% less
Hohoho… A very-very useful bonus for a team player. You only require ~650f and ~550g to advance to imperial age. This bonus makes this civ the best for FREB (Fast Trebuchet).
Fire-ships do 20% more damage
Well, a not so useful bonus. Both galleons and cannon galleons still prove to be much better than the best fire-ships of the game.
TEAM BONUS :: Monks heal 50% faster
Well, this bonus comes really handy when you are playing “King of the Hill” or when you have a Persian ally.
Unique Unit :: Cataphract
A nightmare for Aztecs and other infantry dependent civilizations, this unit is easily one of the best in the game. Cataphracts have attack bonus against infantry. This makes them invulnerable to their most common rival, the pike men.
However, upgrading cataphracts can be very costly. Both the Elite upgrade and Logistics (Crown Research) cost 1600f, 800g and 1000f, 600g respectively. The thing to remember is to research Logistics before the elite upgrade (and research only if you plan to build a pretty number of cataphracts). This technology adds trample damage for cataphracts meaning any enemy infantry nearby cataphract will suffer damage from it.
Another thing to note is that cataphracts lack bloodlines and have low pierce armour. This makes them vulnerable to archers. But they still win over skirms because of their cavalry nature.
Civilization Summary
This civ is well suited for TRUSH, FLUSH, CRUSH, HEAVY DEFENSE and most importantly FREB mode. Byzantines is a dynamic civilization and each of its military building has a variety of units to choose from. So make counter units for whatever enemy you face… scouts for skirms, pikes and camels for cavalry and so on. And try to make the game as short as possible so that its blacksmith incapabilities are not high lightened.
However, because the civilization lacks economic bonus, it lags behind a little earlier in the game, but makes up for it when you start building the army. Moreover, they don’t really excel in anything.
And as far as navy is concerned, Byzantines lead a decent navy with cannon galleons and the best fire ships of the game.
Some Brainstormers
- Byzantines is the only paladin civilization with arbalests.
Civilization Bonuses
25% cheaper skirmishers, spearman and camels
Of all the bonuses of this civilization, this is the most useful. This bonus helps mainly during the feudal, castle and early imperial age when the last blacksmith researches are not that important. A Byzantine player can easily take the FAST CASTLE mode providing a bigger than expected army. This bonus also helps to repel SCRUSH and CRUSH.
Buildings receive hit-point bonus (+10% dark, +20% feudal, +30% castle, +40% imperial)
Not so noticeable but still an important defensive bonus... Think of the times when enemy villagers are trying to break your watchtower or when knights are attacking your castle.
Free Town Watch research
The top up of an ice-cream… Saves you 75 food and 30 seconds of your TC time, a very useful bonus that helps you in TRUSH and DRUSH. Don’t forget to setup some radar houses early.
Upgrade to imperial costs 33% less
Hohoho… A very-very useful bonus for a team player. You only require ~650f and ~550g to advance to imperial age. This bonus makes this civ the best for FREB (Fast Trebuchet).
Fire-ships do 20% more damage
Well, a not so useful bonus. Both galleons and cannon galleons still prove to be much better than the best fire-ships of the game.
TEAM BONUS :: Monks heal 50% faster
Well, this bonus comes really handy when you are playing “King of the Hill” or when you have a Persian ally.
Unique Unit :: Cataphract
A nightmare for Aztecs and other infantry dependent civilizations, this unit is easily one of the best in the game. Cataphracts have attack bonus against infantry. This makes them invulnerable to their most common rival, the pike men.
However, upgrading cataphracts can be very costly. Both the Elite upgrade and Logistics (Crown Research) cost 1600f, 800g and 1000f, 600g respectively. The thing to remember is to research Logistics before the elite upgrade (and research only if you plan to build a pretty number of cataphracts). This technology adds trample damage for cataphracts meaning any enemy infantry nearby cataphract will suffer damage from it.
Another thing to note is that cataphracts lack bloodlines and have low pierce armour. This makes them vulnerable to archers. But they still win over skirms because of their cavalry nature.
Civilization Summary
This civ is well suited for TRUSH, FLUSH, CRUSH, HEAVY DEFENSE and most importantly FREB mode. Byzantines is a dynamic civilization and each of its military building has a variety of units to choose from. So make counter units for whatever enemy you face… scouts for skirms, pikes and camels for cavalry and so on. And try to make the game as short as possible so that its blacksmith incapabilities are not high lightened.
However, because the civilization lacks economic bonus, it lags behind a little earlier in the game, but makes up for it when you start building the army. Moreover, they don’t really excel in anything.
And as far as navy is concerned, Byzantines lead a decent navy with cannon galleons and the best fire ships of the game.
Some Brainstormers
- Byzantines is the only paladin civilization with arbalests.
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