Asian Civ

• Name: Great King's Levy

• History: The Persians could and did levy a large number of infantry during wartime due to the sheer size of the Achaemenid Empire and the way in which it was set-up. In general the Persian infantry was well trained and fought with great tenacity. However while this was true the infantry were poor hand-to-hand, close combat fighters. Also, with the exception of the elite regiments, the Persian infantry was not a standing professional force.

• Effect: Population cap for the Persian player is increased +10% (e.g., if the max pop for the match is 300, the Persian player's max population is 330; likewise, 200/220, and so on).

Team Bonus

TB 1

• Name: The Royal Road.

• History: Coinage was invented by the Lydians in 7th Century BC, but it was not very common until the Persian period. Darius the Great standardized coined money and his golden coins (known as "darics") became commonplace not only throughout his empire, but as far to the west as Central Europe.

• Effect: Higher income (+25%) from land trade routes, for the player's traders and his ally's traders.

Technologies

• Infantry: Since the Persians relied mostly on archers and cavalry, the Persian infantry should be individually weak. If he chooses to use them effectively, he will have to rely on combined arms. Infantry are therefore cheap and can be trained quickly, but individually weak, with no combat upgrades. The Persians get Bow upgrades, as Archers were strong. Virtually no armor upgrades.

• Cavalry: Cavalry were strong. They should have the strongest cavalry prior to the introduction of Parthians and Huns. Virtually no armor upgrades. Once again, combined arms for maximum effect.

• Naval: The Persian navy, while being of great stature, actually consisted entirely of non-Persian elements; ships generally came from Phoenicia, Egypt and Cyprus. Strong navy, so they'd get some naval techs, but without the rare Quinquereme.

• Siege: Neither here nor there. The Achaemenids were not renown for siege warfare, Assyrian service notwithstanding. Persian siege expertise would have to wait for the Sassanid period. So average level at best.

• Economy: Most techs.

  • Farming: Very good agriculture.

  • Mining: Average.

  • Lumbering: Average.

  • Hunting: Average.

  • Land Trade: They had a good trade infrastructure, such as the Royal Highway, so would have good land trade techs. Neither the Persians nor the Parthians engaged readily in trade themselves, leaving most of it to the subject peoples.

  • Naval Trade: Mediocre. Certainly nothing to match the Carthaginian's naval trading bonus.

• Architecture: Extremely strong and impressive. They should get most techs that enhance the strength of structures and defenses.

  • Defenses: Formidable walls.

SPECIAL TECHNOLOGIES

(Note: depending on how the pool of shared techs above turn out, two possible STs are proposed below, since it's likely there'll be a standard tech similar to Persian Architecture)

ST 1

• Name: Naval Craftsmanship

• History: Early Achaemenid rulers acted towards making Persia the first great Asian empire to rule the seas. The Great King behaved favourably towards the various sea peoples in order to secure their services, but also carried out various marine initiatives. During the reign of Darius the Great, for example, a canal was built in Egypt and a Persian navy was sent exploring the Indus river. According to Herodotus, some 300 ships in the Persian navy were retrofitted to carry horses and their riders.

• Effect: Phoenician Triremes gain the ability to train cavalry units.

ST 2

• Name: Persian Architecture

• History: The Persians built the wonderful 1200 mile-long Royal Highway from Sardis to Susa; Darius the Great and Xerxes also built the magnificent Persepolis; Cyrus the Great greatly improved Ecbatana and virtually "rebuilt" the old Elamite capital of Susa.

• Effect: Increases health of all structures, but also increases their build time.

ST 3

• Effect: Decreases train time for Anusiya champion infantry by half.