Notes on Hellas, Civ II Scenario (Final)
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750 B.C. - 360 B.C.

Players Notes on "Hellas"

Background

"Hellas" attempts to reconstruct the periods known as the Archaic and Classical Eras of Greek History. The first of these - the Archaic - was generally reckoned to start around the early 8th century B.C. and marked the resurgence of Greek culture and energy after their long Dark Age. Historically, and in the game, the first 250 years are a period of expansion, colonisation and fundamental scientific development.
After around 500 B.C. the focus changes to a struggle for supremacy within Greece, compounded by a greater struggle against the encroaching Persian Empire. Historically, the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon (490), Salamis (480) and Platea (479) and were soon in a position to wreak their revenge on a weakened Empire. However, rivalry between the leading city-states of Athens and Sparta escalated into the Peloponesian War - and when Sparta finally emerged victorious she was so depopulated and distrusted by most of the other Greeks that it was left to the northern kingdom of Macedonia to unite Greece by force and lead the way east to overturn the Persian Empire.
This later period (500-400 B.C.) was also the time of the finest flowering of Greek "Classical" culture. The scenario extends to 360 B.C. when Alexander the Great was born, but if you have succeeded in uniting the Greeks yourself, "Alexander" will be an Athenian, Spartan, Corinthinan, Chalcidean or even a Theban!
"Hellas" was the term used by the Ancient Greeks (the "Hellenes") to refer to their country. "Greek" is a word derived from a Roman name for them - and a none too complimentary one at that!

General

Supplied as part of this zip file is a picture of the Tech Tree. This will be viewable in your browser, or you may prefer to print it out. It is a handy guide to a rather complex situation. I still refer to it myself! I haven't cluttered the image with notes on the units, improvements or Wonders available with each tech, but the civilopedia contains thorough notes on each so I suggest you find what you are after there, then use the tech tree to work out how to get there.

The civilopedia cannot handle terrain type changes, so here is a summary:

Grassland: 1 food (3 with crops), 1 shield if lightly wooded, 1 Movement Point (MP)
Plains: 0 food (2 with crops), 1 MP [Can be transformed to Grassland]
Hills: 0 food (2 with crops), 2 MP, x2 defence, NO MINING!
Wooded Hills: 1 food, 1 shield, 3 MP, x1.5 defence
Forest: 2 shields, 4 MP, x1.5 defence [Can be "irrigated" to Scrub]
Scrub: No resources, can be transformed to Plains. 1 MP
Mountains: No resources, unless mined. 6 MP, x2 defence
Mountain Pass: 4 trade, 2 MP, x3 defence
Wetland: 1 food, 3 MP, x1.5 defence [Can be transformed to Grassland]
Shrine: 2 shields, 5 trade, 1 MP, x2 defence. 

Transforming requires the Farmer unit. As you can see, Wood was a precious resource in a country of rocky plains and even rockier mountains. Generally, resource shields and food are at a premium.

Hills are ideal for the shield-wall defensive tactics of the time, as are the narrow mountain passes. Most major cities are built on Hills for defence.

The various special resources are:
[Name, MPs, defence multiplier x 0.5, food, shields, trade]

Temple of Zeus, 1,4, 0,5,9,
Horse Herds, 1,2, 0,4,4,
Grassland, 1,2, 2,1,0,
Timber, 4,3, 0,4,2,
Olive Groves, 3,4, 2,2,4,
Gold, 6,4, 0,1,12,
Goats, 1,2, 3,1,2,
Trading Post, 2,6, 0,0,7,
Potter's Clay, 3,3, 0,3,6,
Copper, 3,3, 0,3,5,
Fish, 1,2, 3,0,2,
Oracle, 1,4, 0,7,12,
Town, 2,3, 1,3,3,
Grassland, 1,2, 2,1,0,
Game, 4,3, 2,2,1,
Vines, 2,4, 3,1,4,
Silver, 6,4, 0,2,8,
Driftwood, 1,2, 0,3,0,
Trading Post, 2,6, 0,0,7,
Reeds, 3,3, 1,2,4,
Iron, 3,3, 0,5,2,
Tunny, 1,2, 4,1,1,

Paths (Roads) add one trade to Grassland, Plains, Mountains Passes and Shrines.
The Sea gives one trade, plus one food if you build fishing boats.

Most mountains, except special resources, have invisible mountain peaks that prevent units entering the square. These peaks are usually only destroyed by Events for strategic reasons, but if you take a Minor (Barbarian) city, you may "inherit" some (unfortunately), which you should probably disband as they all take one resource shield to support. You may also be able to "bribe" some peaks [i.e. pay locals to show you the passes through] but most peaks are doubled to prevent this.

Although their description has changed, the shortcut keys for settlers are the same as standard Civ II. "R" builds a road, "I" irrigates and "F" builds a fort. "O" transforms terrain.

Governments

Government changing is permitted, although the names have changed.
The standard Despotism has been renamed Monarchy. Monarchy is now called Tyranny, and is the starting government for all of the player-civs.

Republic (now called Oligarchy) and Democracy (same name) can be researched, although I find that Tyranny works best until maybe the very end of the game. Historically, most city-states were Tyrannies during the Archaic Era, and then a mixture of Tyranny and Oligarchy thereafter. Athens developed the first real Democracy in around 500 B.C. although women and - of course, slaves - were excluded. Some Athenian allies copied the Democratic forms, with varying degrees of success. To fight effectively as a Democracy (or even an Oligarchy), you really need to build the Parthenon first.

Sparta is a special case. They start in Twin Monarchy. This was a form of Constitutional Monarchy unique in history. One king ruled at home, the other commanded the army abroad. The domestic king was overseen by a council of "Ephors" - a sort of tribune of the people - who could vote to depose the king if he was considered to have infringed Spartan law. There was also a council of elders (the "Gerontia") who were the only ones who could propose new law.

The Ephors were elected for a year by the "Equals" - adult Spartan male citizens - and could not serve two terms. The overall effect was similar to an ideal form of Communism, and this is what Twin Monarchy is, really. No other city-state can adopt a Twin Monarchy. Due to their rigourous suppression of non-Equals, each military unit makes TWO unhappy citizens content.

The Persian Empire is Fundamentalism, renamed. No city-state can adopt this form, either. The Persians switch to Monarchy when the AI sees fit. Personally, I would never switch, but the AI seems to think Fundamentalism should not be used early in a game, with onlt a few cities. As most Persian units are created by Events and have a home city of NONE, it doesn't really matter, as long as the AI plays the Persians.

General Tactics

Even at Tyrant (King) level, it is hard to keep the people happy. Especially as you found or conquer new cities. Therefore only conquer cities that give you VPs or are strategically useful. Only found new cities sparingly, in good colony sites. Too many little, unproducive cities are more trouble than they're worth, as there is a high riot factor that makes for a lot of angry citizens if you have a lot of cities..
As for techs, try and get Organised Religion early. It will make your life a lot easier and is on the path to many very useful later techs.

Some of my playtesters found that they could get good results in the earlier, Beta version by ignoring technical advances and just building lots of swordsmen to conduct mass attacks. I think that tactic will be harder now, but it is certainly valid - probably even vital - to go a-slaving and a-plundering, especially early in the game. All city-states are running a budget deficit, but each village taken gives 150,000 drachmae (a lot) and generates Slaves to plough your fields and build pathways through the hills and forests. By the way, paths (roads) give no movement bonus through 1MP terrain [Grasslands, Plains, Shrines and Scrub] only a trade bonus in non-Scrub, but they are key to quick movement through harder terrain.

I think you need to get a few good colonies going to have a hope in the tech race. Alternatively, you can get tech by taking enemy cities or stealing it with heralds (Diplomats). Only the Persians can build heralds, though, so use your few, randomly-generated heralds well. If you play the Persains, only use heralds to steal tech or bribe units. You are on your honour here, because if you bribe cities, the Persians are easy winners.!

City Notes

The game has been designed to be played as any other nation apart from the Persians and other Greeks. However, the Persians could be playable, although it would be boring at first as only their Carthagenian allies are active. After 500 B.C. it might get too easy. Why not try it sometime and see? I have only tried once myself. To make it anything of a challenge, play at the hardest level, and refrain from any tech trading AT ALL. Also, never use your easily-built heralds to incite revolt in cities. It just makes it too easy.

The other Greeks are not playable, really. They are much too strong for the others to begin with, although you'd have to have a fire sale of improvements to keep solvent.

Athens

One of my favourites. It is easy to conquer Attica (Salamis to Oropus and down to Sunium) but after that it's tricky. I've tried various tactics but whatever you do, you're going to be in the front line against the Persians when they come. The city of Athens also represents its port of Piraeus. Athens proper was about 7 kilometers from the coast.

Sparta

No ports to begin with (or shipbuilding tech), which counteracts the advantageous government form somewhat. The Spartan Military Reputation means all your cities effectively have walls, other cities will always make peace if you let them, and the Minor Cities will fall like ripe plums. Spartiate Culture - rigourous military training and a fanatical devotion to the army - mean that all your troops start as veterans. Expand in Messinia to begin with.

Watch out though, your military reputation might not last forever. Full Spartan Hoplites, whilst the best units in the game, are very expensive to build as your qualifying population is so low. When the AI plays the Spartans they usually undergo a major population crisis in Sparta. I'm not sure why this is, but it is completely historical, as Sparta was down to around 1,000 Hoplite citizens ("Equals") by 400 B.C. 
Sparta is probably the easiest City to win with, though.

Corinth

Another favourite. Less scope for expansion close to home, except maybe in Achea (Rhium, Sycion, Mantinea) but a good chance to build a large colony in Sicily or thereabouts. The Carthagenians [Persian allies in the West] are likely to be a bigger threat than the Persians themselves.

Chalcis

An interesting one. A far flung trading empire already exists, but it is militarily weak. Likely to come up against the Persians early. Your home island of Euboea is prey to a lot of pirates but it should be an early goal to pacify it completely.

Thebes

The hardest to play. A rotten starting position, hemmed in by aggressive neighbours. You must secure or build a port early on, then expand abroad to build a reasonable power base before trying to expand at home.

Notes on the techs

Hopefully, most of the techs are self-evident and are explained by the tech tree. However, a few of the techs deserve special notes and I can't include them in the 
civilopedia. So:

Hoplon: This tech allows nothing of itself, but is key to much military development. The Hoplon is the large, metre-diameter shield that all the Hoplites have - and which gives them their name. It required the development of a long and strong spear to become truly effective in a shield wall.

Gymnetes: The Greek word for the light, athletic skirmishers that accompanied (and could sometimes successfully oppose) the heavy hoplite. For Persians, the tech gives Javeliners.

The Cult of Apollo: The Ancient Greeks were very religious (although tolerant of other religions) and the god which whom they most identified was the young, handsome, athletic, jealous, competitive, quarrelsome Apollo. The centre of his cult was at various times Delos, Delphi, Sparta and Athens.

Archery: Requires Simple Bow (logically) and Coinage. Coinage because most good early Greek Archers were Scythian Mercenaries, and coin was required to pay them efficiently. Scythia was in the area of the long northern coastal strip at the upper right of the map. Home-grown Bowmen were not so good, athough OK as cheap attackers.

Powersharing: Not shown on the tech tree is the fact that Powersharing requires Hoplites. The logic for this is that it was the yeoman-farmer type, owning enough land to generate the wealth required for the expensive Hoplite armour, that formed the backbone of all Hoplite armies. Realising they were now essential to their city's power and status, they soon forced the Tyrants and Kings of their time to share power more widely. 

Notes on the map

The map area was chosen to represent the main area colonised by the Greeks in the Archaic Era, but to enable representation of central Greece at a high enough resolution to be playable. Ideally, the scale would be larger, but the map is at maximum size for a Civ II map as it is.
The mountains near Satres are not really there. They have been invented to keep the Persians in Thrace focused on the conquest of Thessaly and central Greece.
Aside from that, the map is as accurate as my atlas and sources from the period can make it. The "blacked-out", unexplored area for each city is artificially large. This is to make the gameplay better and to keep the excitement of discovery going.
Several of the island Minor Cities are defended with robust "Pirate Strongholds". These cities are not meant to be taken as they generate Storms and pirate attacks. Basically, if it's a one-square island with a Minor City, leave it alone.

Events

These are crucial to the whole game. They generate almost all the Persian effort and are the source of slaves and general inter-Greek squabbling. There are also a few "hidden" surprises. I've said it before and I'll say it again. This file should be 10 times larger!

The events that are there now I consider essential to the game. Maybe if the AI was better, the Persians wouldn't need so much help....

Miscellaneous

If you leave a city undefended the Minor Cities (barbarians) will not attack it. Useful to know if you've just founded a city in bandit country. Fight them outside the city unless you are sure you are going to win. The other civs have no such sporting instincts!

Miletus often holds out against the Persians all game. This is quite neat, as the Persians did allow the city to retain its independence up to around 510 B.C. when it led the Ionian revolt against the Persian overlords. I've no idea why the AI lets it off the hook so often, though.

Often, your Greek rivals will make peace with the Persians, and are often gifted techs by them to help them catch up. You may be appalled at this un-patriotic conduct, but it is spot-on historically. The Greeks (of course) even had a word for it - "Medizing" - it was so common.

The Spear-and-Shield that replaces the flag on an occupied city uses historically-accurate shield patterns for those cities. However, they are only "typical" as most cities used a wide variety at different times. The exception was the Spartans, who in keeping with their conformist/commune/military culture, adopted uniform. This was of red cloaks and Hoplons with a large red L (for Lacedaemon, as the region around Sparta was called). In the Greek alphabet, the L looks like an A without the crossbar. 

When a city is subverted by a herald, the ensuing revolt is called "Stasis". This is the Greek word for the ongoing power struggles within a city, and a state of stasis was when the dominant faction was in open war with one or more others, trying to cling on to power. The term is used elsewhere in the game, as well.

If a ship comes to rest at a single-square island port, it will probably be lost to a storm. The AI thinks it's still at sea!

Most commodities are self-explanatory. Votive Offerings are anything from a small pottery cup to a large golden throne, offered by the devout to placate or bribe the gods at various different shrines. The "recycling" of these goods by the priests at the shrine concerned is one reason the Shrine terrain offers so many shields!

If you attempt to transform some type of terrain that you shouldn't be able to, sometimes you can - but you get a strange result. I have seen converted Forests sprout Olive Groves before now! Worth a try, perhaps?

You will see some threating-looking storms race around the seas from time-to-time. Unfortunately, they rarely attack anything, but if you sail into them, you'll regret it! Anyway, I like the "atmosphere" they give...
:-D

Designers Appendix

I have played a lot with the pace of tech advance. The final solution of 7/10 seemed to give the best balance. Research to begin with is slow. Historically, Warships (Penteconters), Hoplites, Epic and Lyrical Poetry, Standard Currency and The Pantheon had all made an appearance by c700 B.C. You are unlikely to get further than Warships by that time. However, everything speeds up with increased empires and knowledge improvements and Wonders. I could have done away with a few of these to slow things down, but I liked them all so much they are still in.

An alternative that works is to change the tech paradigm to 5/10 and get rid of all knowledge Wonders and Libraries. Your choice if you want to make the edits.
Losing your home city will usually lose you 60% of your science and around 40% of your income. Basically you're out of the game, which is as it should be. The AI is so hopeless at sieges it's never happened to me, though. If the Persians can get far enough south and west they might be more of a challenge, as all of their Infantry ignore City Walls.. 

John Ellis
netdesign@globalnet.co.uk