Overview
A general guide on how to best play as Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
Introduction
So you’re vying for greatness, and want to create a civilization that will triumph over all and stand the test of time. If dominating the opposition without the fatigue of war to impede you, Alexander the Great is your ideal leader!
Alexander’s Leader Bonus
“To the World’s End” – Cities do not incur war weariness. All military units heal completely when this player captures a city with a World Wonder.
No war weariness allows you to fight wars to your heart’s content, with your cities free from the thought of ever tiring for conflict. This means no pesky rebels will spawn in cities from extended war and no reduced amenities. The only discontent your cities will ever incur will be from a lack of amenities and population size.
All this means that Macedonia’s ideal victory path is conquest, plain and simple. This civilization simply has no desire to win by any other way other than glorious battle. Forget Cultural, Religious, Science, or Time victories, for you as Alexander triumphs most from conquering the known world!
Cities with World Wonders will be a prime target for your armies, as capturing them instantly heals your forces, land, sea, and air! If strategically viable, consider capturing these cities if your armies have taken a beating and need reprieve. Such conquest will guarantee you do not lose any momentum, and continue the fight.
Macedonia’s Civ Ability
“Hellenistic Fusion” – Receive boosts upon capturing a city. Get a Eureka when the city has a Campus or Encampment, and an Inspiration when it has a Holy Site or Theater Square.
This ability serves to give Macedonia the technological and cultural edge to keep up with the rest of the world. Your top priority will be military, economic, and industrial development for clear reasons. First, once your cities are up and running, you should start building your army. Second, if you have the right resources or a viable trade route with a City State, start filling your coffers with gold, as money will be the blood of your war machine, the Unique Units are expensive to maintain, the price to pay for such overwhelming power this early in the game. Industrial development is third by virtue of the fact that the Industrial Zone district is unlocked in the Medieval Era with the Apprenticeship technology.
The catch to these developments, is that you may sacrifice Science, Culture, and Religion, all in the name of conquest. Then again, why focus on these when these yields will simply become your spoils of war?
The Eurekas and Inspirations are random, dependent on what Techs or Civics you still have to research, and of course on what districts the enemy’s cities possess. It goes without saying, but by conquering these cities, you’re reaping the benefits of your opponent’s labor by seizing their cities, on top of getting a boost in progress just by capturing them. Think of all the time saved in fulfilling certain Eurekas and Inspirations by only having to conquer cities!
Macedonia’s Unique Units
The Hypaspist is a unique Swordsman replacement for Macedonia. These warriors gain +5 Combat Strength when attacking a district, has a +50% support bonus when adjacent to other friendly units, and best of all, DOES NOT REQUIRE IRON!
On analysis, this makes the Hypaspist your premier unit for capturing cities, or attacking enemy units in districts. Their support bonus means they and adjacent friendly units get an extra defensive bonus when they are under attack. This trait isn’t exactly visible during your turn, but it basically helps soften the blow of the enemy attack. Keep your forces close together to reap this benefit and maintain an offensive formation. Finally, the key advantage to the Hypaspist is that unlike Swordsman, you do not need Iron to build them. The only disadvantage is that they are 10 Production Points more expensive to build than Swordsman, so it may be more economically viable to build maintenance free Warriors while in the Ancient Era, then upgrade them when possible with gold.
The research path to the Hypaspist also conveniently requires you to start with Mining, into Bronze Working, into Iron Working. Since Bronze Working unlocks the Encampment district, you might want to consider making this your first district, so that you can also build the Basilikoi Paides, which like the Barracks it replaces, grants +25% combat experience for both the Hypaspist and the Hetairoi!
The Hetairoi is a unique heavy cavalry replacement for the light cavalry Horseman. It receives +5 combat strength when adjacent to a Great General, grants you +5 Great General points for every enemy it kills, and best of all, starts with the Level 1 promotion of your choice and DOES NOT REQUIRE HORSES!
This unit serves as a Classical era Knight that is only 12 points weaker than those (7 points weaker when paired with or adjacent to a Great General), but 1 point stronger than a Horseman, and 8 points stronger than a Heavy Chariot! Crushing your enemies under the feet of your Hetairoi will guarantee a chance at the first available Great Generals if no one else has claimed them, as having them will give an even greater boost in strength and movement for your troops. Finally, starting with a free promotion guarantees they’ll have an immediate edge in combat, choosing between Charge, a damage modifier against defending enemies, or Barding, a defensive strength bonus against ranged attacks. Thus, the ideal tactic is to use Hetairoi to wipe out enemies that are anywhere EXCEPT DISTRICTS, those are your Hypaspists targets.
Macedonia’s Unique Building
The Basilikoi Paides is built in Encampment districts as a Macedonian replacement for the Barracks. Apart from sharing the same traits as the Barracks (+1 production, +1 housing, +1 Citizen slot, +1 Great General point per turn, +25% combat experience for melee and ranged units), the bonus experience also applies to the Hetairoi, and grants you Science equal to 25% of a military unit’s production cost when complete.
The latter bonus helps give a light tech boost, which can be useful in the Ancient and Classical eras to help speed up early tech research, and thus incentivizes raising an army to compliment your progress, especially if you have yet to build any Campus districts of your own. Of course, the more expensive the unit, the bigger the yield, which can still be mildly useful in much later eras, but only if your cities have Encampments with the building, and are producing military units. Having Industrial Zones in your cities can be synergetic with this bonus, simply by helping to build units faster, which means more science!
The building only obsoletes in a fraction of its purpose once both your Unique Units have been obsoleted. Stables should only be built in place of the Basilikoi Paides for cities where you intend to build cavalry units from later eras.
General Strategy
When starting the game, consider three things; the lay of the land, available resources, and your closest targets. Certain luxury resources will yield enough gold to maintain one of your Unique Units, or one and a half. Improving these resources, establishing trade routes to any nearby city states or civs will guarantee a small but steady cash flow.
For districts, consider building Encampments first, to get your Unique Buildings up and ready to give your forces the edge over your enemies, and serve as a line of defense should you end up on the recieving end of aggression.
For research, consider Iron Working or Horseback Riding as top priorities, to gain access to your Unique Units ASAP. The first requires you start with Mining, then Bronze Working. Since the Eureka for Bronze Working is slaying 3 enemies, barbarians can make good practice for your forces. The Eureka for Iron Working requires you to be able to build a mine over a tile with iron, which are revealed after you research Bronze Working. While iron is not necessary to build Hypaspits, it does speed up the research significantly, allowing you to build, or rather upgrade your existing Warriors into them faster.
To mitigate the production cost, consider grabbing the “God of the Forge” pantheon, which grants a 25% production bonus for Ancient and Classical era units. Adopting the Military Policy “Agoge” grants a 50% bonus, which combined makes building your army even easier!
Horseback Riding requires the starting tech Animal Husbandry and Archery. The latter can be tricky to fulfill as its Eureka requires you to kill an enemy with a Slinger. The Eureka for Horseback Riding itself is to build a pasture over a relevant resource, Cattle, Horse, or Sheep. Though Horses are not necessary, it helps to fulfill this Eureka to get your Hetairoi out faster.
After either (or both) techs are complete, consider Currency your next priority. You’ll need money to upgrade your Warriors, and ultimately maintain them with Commercial Hubs. A good way to plan your districts is to start with an Encampent one tile away from your city center, the place the Commercial Hub in between both, preferably on a river, as that grants a +2 gold bonus when built on a river, plus 0.5 for every adjancet district. On a side note, try to prioritize Military any Economic City States to have a production and gold bonus.
Early aggression with a few Warriors and an Archer or two is only viable if you have a neighboring Civ in your immediate proximity, and if you know they don’t have an Ancient era Unique Unit more readily available to them (e.g. Aztec, Sumeria), or if they don’t have a sizeable defense already. It would be more tactically viable to start with an army, research your key techs, then work on infrastructure to better maintain your forces.
Once you have your Unique Units, hit hard and fast, to maintain the tactical advantage you have for both the Classical and Medieval Eras. The Hetairoi will obsolete sooner with the research of Stirrups. Upgrading them into Knights will remove the Great General point bonus. Hypaspists will last until you research Gunpowder, where they will require Nitre to upgrade into Musketmen. Since Gunpowder requires the Stirrups tech, it is a natural transition that can be maintained if you manage to research the Feudalism civic before researching Stirrups, then build an Armory in an Encampment after researching Military Engingeering. Despite obsoleting, staying ahead of your enemies tech-wise can still give you a tactical advantage, since successful conquest can be a snowball effect in terms of science and culture.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy? It’s you against the world. You don’t need no stinkin’ diplomacy. Not for other civs, anyway. City State diplomacy, however, can be an asset to Macedonia’s economy, since war with major civs means you won’t be conducting trade with your non-City State competition. If there is a civ further from you, you could always try to send trade routes to them, but don’t count on any business beyond that, since everyone will learn to hate and even fear you for your “war mongering,” or as you would rather call, “your daring exploits.”
Military City States are good allies because of the production bonus they provide for up to 6 Envoys, making a total of +6 production. Prioritize Carthage (+1 trade route for every Encampment you own), Kabul (double combat experience), and Valetta (purchase specific buildings with Faith) when possible, and at all costs.
Economic City States are just good business no matter what. All that extra gold means being able to field a bigger army, that’s +4 in your capital and +8 for every Commercial Hub in your empire when you have 6 Envoys.
Religion
If you manage to found a religion, it can serve you well. Your priority of conquest can forgo the spiritual pursuit, but under the right circumstances, such can benefit your plans.
The God of the Forge pantheon is the most immediately useful choice for Macedonia, bar none. For a founding belief, consider Religious Community, Work Ethic, or Zen Meditation.
The first choice would be viable if Holy Sites are the third district (available at 7 population) you build after Encampments and Commercial Hubs. If for any reason this is your first district in a city, it could help the city to grow by +2 housing to reach 3, which allows your second district to be built.
Work Ethic can be viable if you can ensure your cities are only following YOUR religion. Any outside religions will only interfere with this, and the bonus itself is +1% production for every follower, i.e. point of population, for a maximum potential of 15%. Any bonus can go a long way to making building your army slightly easier, but only if you can keep any heathen faiths out.
Zen Meditation is the most viable, since most cities you conquer will potentially have a district or two. The extra amenity from having two districts can help maintain a content population of conquered subjects.
Government
Politics are essential to how you will conquer the world. Policies should be used to help you…
1. Build and maintain your army more effeciently (Agoge, Maneuver, Conscription, Veterancy, Levee en Masse)
2. Maintain a viable economy to finance your army (Caravansaries, Town Charters, Free Market, Colonial Taxes, Triangular Trade, Economic Union, Market Economy, Ecommerce)
3. Increase productivity to get your districts up and running (Urban Planning, Craftsmen, Five Year Plan)
While Autocracy can provide 2 slots for Military Policy Cards, the +4 strength bonus and combat experience legacy bonus provided by Oligarchy would bolster your forces more. Consider the pros and cons when choosing either government. For the Medieval Era, consider adopting Monarchy just to have the extra slots for Military Policies, and consider Merchant Republic for the Renaissance for the two extra trade routes it grants you. For the Modern Era, Fascism and Communism can both be useful, just consider how you want to balance your military industrial complex, should you reach this era.