I know, another Eagle civ? Yes! Let’s fill South America
Courtesy of Seicing! Go upvote him until he suffocates in butt loads of cash!
Chimu - Hundreds of years before the times of the mighty Inca Empire, a major power known as the Chimor held control of much of the Peruvian landscape. They began close to the Moche river and expanded from there, grabbing a foothold of the Peruvian coast by the 10th Century. With no good rival until the rise of the Inca, the Chimu could convey far and wide with their art and warfare, duked out with the finest copper and bronze weaponry.
Less than a century before the arrival of Europeans, the Chimu were dismantled fully in the year 1470 by Incas but held an empire worthy of giving this game more Eagle using civs.
Chimu (845-1470) An Infantry Civ
- Dropsites and Houses 2x HP
- Repairmen work 2x faster but pay nothing extra.
The historical application of both bonuses is that the Chimu are characterized by gorgeous and sturdy architecture. Seems fitting for a defensive bonus.
- Villagers carry 20% more resouces and move 4% faster per age (cumulative)
At first this bonus was just going to be 30% more food gathered per age (in and including the Dark Age) but then I figured… what if we had a civ without Hand Cart? How would it fare? Could it be done without stealing Viking thunder? I think so, but I’m also convinced Vikings will do fine vs. this civ for other reasons such as better archer access.
In Castle Age the value is, with Wheelbarrow researched, just about on par with Hand Cart civs. Their speed will never catch up to FU Berber villagers. Aztecs they’ll care more than by Age 2, but Aztecs can certainly apply far more early pressure with extra gold and faster training military.
- Barracks techs cost no gold
The Chimu armies wore bronze armor and wielded bronze maces. Why this effects gold, a completely different metal, and swords/spears is a mystery. In any case, the savings are significant: as the only tech missing is Arson and that’s 50g lost. Compared to the Spanish however, this bonus takes longer to kick in. In fact, the best benefactor techs, Halberdier and Elite Eagle, are very late game techs. By the time that happens, the Spanish will be saving much more gold in the Feudal and Castle Age and enable a far more versatile army. The big issue? This is a later game bonus on a Meso civ which has no horses but it gives you plenty of gold for Eagles.
Team Bonus: Eagles/Militia line +2 LoS (+1 if +2 is too much for Eagles)
There’s no true history behind this. It’s a filler bonus and could go on any civ with Eagle access. It’s also the only direct bonus their Eagles have, other than the 700g saved upgrading to Elite. Swords are tacked on because otherwise you’re boosting like 11 civs in the next 10 years of development at this rate and it will still be only 5% of the game’s civ count at best. On top of that, most of the civs you want to team with probably aren’t looking to have access to Eagles of their own anyway.
Missing Techs
- Barracks: Arson
- Archery Range: Hand Cannoneer, Parthian Tactics, Cav Archer, Arbalest. Elephant Archer
- Stable: Building
- Siege: Bombard Cannon, Siege Ram, Siege Elephant
- Dock: Cannon Galley, Fast Fire Ship
- Blacksmith: Cavalry Armor
- Economy: Hand Cart, Two Man Saw
- University: BBT, Heated Shot
- Monastery: Illumination, Atonement, Heresy, Sanctity
- Castle: /
A fairly meaty infantry tech tree with good Siege but a lack of Siege Rams and weak monks might be brutal. But the biggest hurdle is probably the lack of Arbalests.
Unique Unit: Camaquen – An armored, decent durable warrior who believes himself possessed of by the spirit of a dead, fallen warrior with a bonus vs. buildings. While somewhat sluggish, and otherwise unremarkable, he takes 0 bonus damage of any kind.
| Camaquen | Stats | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Hit Points | 65 | 80 |
| Armor | 1/2 | 2/2 |
| Melee Attack | 9 | 12 |
| Attack vs. Eagles | 3 | 4 |
| Attack vs. Standard Buildings | 8 | 12 |
| Attack vs. Stone Defense | 9 | 14 |
| Range | melee | melee |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 5 |
| Accuracy | 100% | 100% |
| Rate of Fire | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| Movement | .8 | .8 |
| Cost | 65f,55g | |
| Train Time | 19s | 18s |
| Elite Upgrade | 1000f,725g | 50 seconds |
| Armor Types | NONE |
So an expensive, yet hopefully viable unit the Camaquen Warrior is slow and armored but not as durable as the Teut Knight (they also costs more), and pretty much forces you to consider raw damage instead of bonus damage. For most civs, this tends to mean archers unless 3/3 base armor is too much. It means units like Leitis and Knight are far more effective than Cataphract although Hand Cannons still do a fair chunk of damage to them as is. 50g per unit is brutal, that’s Eagle Warrior cost! If stats need tweaks, let me know.
Unique Unit 2: Bolasi – Ranged infantry with attack ground and splash damage like a mobile onager. Has minimum range, and considered infantry. Trains from Barracks in Castle Age. Does extra damage to siege and cavalry, making them prime partners for your Xbow armies who they keep up with in movement speed. Min range of 2. In addition, attacks that strike enemies yield a small amount of stone. Simply attacking ground to get infinite stone doesn’t work, actually hit something!
| Bolasi | Stats | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Hit Points | 40 | 50 |
| Armor | 1/0 | 2/0 |
| Melee Attack | 5 | 6 |
| Attack vs. Standard Buildings | 2 | 2 |
| Attack vs. Cavalry | 6 | 10 |
| Attack vs. Siege | 4 | 7 |
| Attack vs. Eagles | 1 | 1 |
| Range | 4 | 5 |
| Line of Sight | 5 | 5 |
| Accuracy | 100% | 100% |
| Rate of Fire | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Movement | .95 | .95 |
| Cost | 40g/25s | |
| Train Time | 24s | 23s |
| Elite Upgrade | 800w,400s | 40s |
| Armor Types | Infantry, Unique Unit |
The Bolas is a very special unit. An infantry with an attack ground button, their best function is to be placed in formations with Crossbows to scare away Cavalry and Siege. While this may sound dominant, the fact is, this unit costs stone and gold, the 2 rarest resources the longer the game goes on! This means every Bolas is precious, meaning enemy archers (possibly not Cavalry Archers) will just obliterate them way cost effectively as wood is better than stone. They’re also not a sure fire Mangonel counter. Mangonels can almost one shot them, so a clump of these guys taking a mangonel shot before they go down (they are out-ranged) means they might not be trading cost effectively. I honestly would need the expert math of an expert player. I’m just the blacksmith making the sword for the sword master who can wield but cannot make. The problem with the Bolas/Crossbow combo is… well you saw the missing techs list, didn’t you?
Bolas have a bonus vs horse because the rope and stones were effective at roping up and breaking unguarded horse legs.
UT1: Braided Leather – Bolas have +1 range, -1 min range and +8 vs infantry. Cost: 200s/200g 25sec
This tech is pretty vital vs Infantry civs. With the discovery of Leather straps for Bolases instead of string you can throw a better Bolas! Without a specialized anti-infantry unit of the other Mesos, this civ can struggle hard to maintain a sense of safety. Jaguars of all things walk all over you! Even with the sturdy Camaquen, Jaguars should be able to 1 for 1 with these guys with Garland Wars and all that although Aztec’s own Champions should hold out well as well.
UT2: Gourd Telephone – All Units/buildings move, train, research, work and attack 10% faster. Cost: 650s/900g
This is expensive but the history behind it is very real. No seriously, look it up. It was either that or Chimu sculptures depicting men doing… let’s keep it PG. Anyway 900g and 650s are pretty steep. The effects make most of your units pretty scary. But for this tech everyone drools over you are stuck with a mostly Infantry army mixed with Skirmishers and Siege. If it’s too much, I could reduce some values, but when you have ‘telephone’ 900 years before the rest of the world, you kinda deserve to have it!
Strategy: The big play is infantry push, probably with a pivot into Xbows and Bolas Castle Age, and then getting out of that combo for the Imperial Age. Early on, the Chimu can mount a good defensive with 2x HP houses and dropsites, and a repair rate to keep melee units from getting through house walls so effectively it hurts… maybe a bit too much so even. It also works forgoing on the offensive and repairing towers more effectively.
Their Eco is based on the carry capacity but Eagle LoS is also welcome.
As a team bonus, it’s awkward as most of the time, you’ll want a civ with cavalry to provide a sturdy backbone for Knight with Crossbow/Bolas pushes if you’re in say, a 2vs2 Tournament.
The Chimu certainly have an unorthodox early game presence. By Feudal Age, they have the following stand out attributes: +4 carry (+15 for Hunt), 2x House and dropsite HP, faster and cheaper repairs, 40 gold saved on Men At Arms and 75g on supplies if you choose to research them, and Eagles/Sword line with boosted LoS. Put together, this is a nifty combination of bonuses that culminate, hopefully, into a good Feudal civ that can continue to grow into a strong infantry force that saves lots of gold.
Interestingly, I think other Mesos are the best civs to counter the Incas, because they have a strong focus on having anti-infantry units. Plumes have an infantry bonus and just run circles around Camaquens, Slingers destroy Bolasi although this civ’s Skirmishers do just fine at destroying them. The biggest late game counter, IMHO, is the Jaguar Warrior. The Camaquin cannot trade cost effectively against them even without their anti-infantry bonus. If the Chimu go for their great siege, the Aztecs can match them with Siege Onagers of their own. Without Arbalests, they’re forced to even consider for full Xbow in Imperial Age, to kill a niche unit because even with Braided Leather, Jaguars should still win vs Bolas 1v1! I suppose similar issues arise for Teutons with their unmounted juggernaut knights mixed with Hand Cannons, can that civ can keep up with Mesoamerican economies?
That’s what makes this matchup more lopsided than Mayans vs. Goths unless my math is mistaken. The Aztecs can keep up with their powerfully early economy much better than the Goths vs. Mayans situation. Your best hope is going to be using all the saved gold on siege weapons, including, surprisingly, the ever underused Scorpion.
From a technical standpoint, the gold savings means their champions should do well vs other infantry and getting to Halberdier is surprisingly cheap.
But… is it balanced? I don’t know. I’m honestly thinking it’s a bit lacking the later the game goes as its Eagles best benefits kick in before the late Imp Age (no gold for several techs and extra LoS) compared to the Aztecs extra damage and faster training, Mayans extra HP and Incas extra armor. Once that saved gold is gone, or in say a team game, the other Mesos pull ahead.
Best to get your Chimu win early!
