Ah the Shona. I know its an easier word to use, but for the same reason we got Ethiopians over Axumites, Zimbabwe is just more known to most people, even if it’s only known today as being Alphabetically the very last country when going from A to Z.
Fun fact, only 2 civs have a Z in them (Aztecs and Byzantines) in the English phonetic version.
So the Shona/Zimbabweans are known for their defensive prowess, their ability to rally great cities and enclosures. Hundreds of years of oral traditions and a variety of known fighting and hunting weapons.
Interactions with Portuguese lead to a gun trade, and unlike America, the prescence of Europe wasn’t as detrimental as they did not fall to diseases… horses on the other hand would die to Tsetse flies.
If we want to get technical, Great Zimbabwe is said to have fallen off before Europeans arrived, but I find that hard to believe because I’m almost certain that Shona did great trade including guns for Zimbabwean goods.
There’s also stories of the Mwenye/Lemba, who are thought to have been migrated Jewish or Muslims, or least brought those faiths a few thousand miles south but I’m not touching that.
Zimbabweans (900s-1500s)
A Tower civ
- Walls benefit from Masonry and Architecture
When you have a great city, you need great walls. If this pushes walls over the edge, and the added armor might do that more than the extra HP, then maybe at half effect?
- Elite Assegai (slightly altered halb replacement for Southern Africans) upgrade cost and research time reduced by 70%.
As stated in Swahili/Kongo threads, Assegai is an alternative upgrade to the Pikeman with slightly different stats. The Elite upgrade is the Halberd replacement. Free is too good especially since the tech does cost more than Halberdier, but 70% is nice savings. This is your Cowhorn formation bonus.
- Gains 2 food every 15 wood gathered
There are plenty of jungles in Zimbabwe. And delicious jungle fruit and exotic jungle animals getting killed as you fell forests. Look its a bit filler and might seem weak, but free food as you cut trees? Can’t find the right number truthfully.
- Buildings attack 5% faster, 15% starting Feudal and their projectiles travel 20% faster to their destination
This is the bonus that defines the civ as tower. With great walled cities come great walled towers! You need the towers. But it effects all buildings. One could argue this would encourage a TC drop. 5% faster is meager enough that dropping a TC in Feudal or catching an enemy scout out of position isn’t an instant win.
Team Bonus: Stone Mines within 25 range of Town Centers are revealed.
Finding stone was key to city building. While it seems meager, on maps like Nomad for instance, as you extend your TC access. You will start seeing new Stone Mines as you build more TCs further away.
Missing Techs:
- Barracks: Elite Savannah Runner (Remember the Savannah Scout and Savannah Warrior are reskinned Eagle Warriors. So no Elite means no Elite Eagle)
- Archery Range: Parthian Tactics, Elephant Archer, Cavalry Archer
- Stable: Building
- Siege Workshop: Siege Onager, Armored Elephant
- Dock: Fast Fire Ship, Heavy Demo
- Blacksmith: Cavalry Armor, Blast Furnace
- Economy: 2 Man Saw
- University: /
- Monastery: Redemption
- Castle: Hoardings
UU: Humbwa - Axeman who can swap between being a fast and hard hitter to a slow moving, slow attacking, tanky unit that can protect units behind him, halving projectile damage when they pass near it.
Humbwa | Stats | Elite |
---|---|---|
Health | 65 | 75 |
Attack (both) | 11 (+3 vs Eagles and buildings) | 14 (+4 vs Eagles and buildings) |
Range | melee | melee |
Accuracy | 100 (both) | |
RoF (defensive) | 2.7 | 2.4 |
RoF (Aggressive) | 1.85 | 1.85 |
LoS | 6 | 6 |
Movespeed (defensive) | .75 | .75 |
Movespeed (aggressive) | 1.05 | 1.05 |
Armor, defensive (Infantry/UU) | 4/3 | 4/3 |
Armor, aggressive (Infantry/UU) | 0/0 | 0/0 |
Cost | 50f/50g | |
Train Time | 16 | 16 |
To Elite | 700w/600g | 60s |
To quote The Material Culture of Zimbabwe by H. Ellert, 1984, page 37: humbwa or gano … was much used for defence and hunting.
So let it be both! Stance dancing between guard up and being mobile is going to be an interesting game. Throwing a few defensive mode units into a pack of archers can help defeat other archer civs by sheer damage reduction.
UU2: Mhondro - Healer with an ax trained at the monastery. Can heal at monk speed and at . Can become elite. Needs atonement to be converted. Can carry relics but cannot fight or heal while doing so. Benefits from most monk and infantry techs. Has healing range of 4 (5 when elite).
Mohondro | Stats | Elite |
---|---|---|
Health | 50 | 60 |
Attack | 8 (+2 vs Eagles and buildings) | 10 (+2 vs Eagles and buildings) |
Range | melee | melee |
Accuracy | 100 (both) | |
RoF | 2 | 2 |
LoS | 6 | 6 |
Movespeed (defensive) | .85 | .85 |
Armor (Infantry/monk/UU) | 1/1 | 1/2 |
Cost | 30f/60g | |
Train Time | 26 | 26 |
To Elite | 900f/700g | 60s |
To quote that same book, on page 135: the identifying mark of the Shona spirit medium, mhondoro, whose duty is to protect the chief and his family. Ritual specialists, nganga, also carry this axe
So yeah this is a monk with an axe. He defends himself. Not very well mind you, but having armor helps. The fact it benefits from Squires, Infantry armor AND Fervor makes them excellent Relic gatherers! The axe looks kinda like this:
Not a great combat weapon, but for swatting some enemies in a pinch? Sure, works fine.
Castle UT: Jerusarema - Savannah Runners cost no gold transferring half that cost to food.
This is a Shona war dance that has roots that go ancient and is still practiced today. It turns your “Eagles” who lack Blast Furnace and Elite upgrade into 45f trash. If too good then maybe they become 70f trash but Chinese Light Cav are technically more dangerous.
Cost: 600f/450g 35sec
Imperial UT: Great Enclosure - Castles 2x HP.
Cost: 700w/900s 45sec
The Great Enclosures are just well known. Big fortresses hyper defensive. If 2x is too much, I could go lower. No Hoardings is an obvious balance choice.
Strategy: Early wood gathering will line your pockets with extra snack food. This means decent drushing potential and your TC should have an easier time vs most aggressive enemies.
As the game goes on, Archers and Infantry without bonuses seem to fall off the map. Sure the full University (vital to keep their siege and towers relevant) will go big. Even Heated Shot has value when your Towers go machine gun and castles have 11616 HP if you can spare the 900s. Bombard Towers become very good. Not Artillery Turks good, but viable as an offensive force. Humbwas in defensive stance up front will reduce the ranged damage they take, unless the mechanic doesn’t work that way.
The problem probably comes down to a lack of a fast raiding unit. Sure a force of Humbwas with Archers, Siege and a few Mhondro healers sounds fantastic, but even costing no gold, Eagles who max at 9 base damage aren’t going to be the game closer that say, Light Cav or Hussars locked at 9 max damage can pull off.
I’m honestly not sure where their window of winning is. Tower aggression will be key and Mhondro going after relics and providing mobile healing support will also be important. So it sounds like this civ is good on fortress maps. Just remember Mhondro are slaughtered by anti-monk and anti-infantry so a civ that highly utilizes units that have either such property, such as Incas, will be a pain to handle but you should be able to work around this.
In Imp, remember if your enemy has horses, discourage them asap with lightning fast and cheaper Elite Assegai research. Otherwise, archers are probably the play.