I have played a couple of games with them already, although I can't say I have managed to master them fully, and found them to be a very powerfull civ. They have very good Stable units, which can be mixed with a variety of Archers, Barack units, Siege Weapons and even priests.
Even though the missing Engineering definitely makes the siege weapons less efficient, they can still be usefull in taking care of walls or towers while the scytes/HCavs/Armored Eles charge into the town backed up by your choice of archery unit. Note that all this is just a small overview. I want to let the experts here go into the details.
IMO, they are the most balanced civ in all ages. The tooling time is not that affected by the high villager cost, as that is somewhat ballanced by the bonus in resource gathering. They can hold their own pretty well in the case of a tool attack, and once in Bronze they can do a lot of damage with the camels/slingers/chariots/compies/cavs.
Their Iron time can be comparable to the Shang due to the bonus in villager resource gathering, and in this conjucture they should be feared by the Shang player.
The only problem with all this is that the beginning of the game requires a lot of micromanagement from the player, as he's not allowed to waste any time at all. That period is the most sensitive to the Palmyran player, and also the time when he's most vulnerable. At the same time, the late Stone Age/early Tool is not exactly a very popular time for attacks, and the Palmyran player should be able to wall his town undisturbed at that stage. I think that's the most important task at that point, on the top of the list even before bronzing. The only problem with this is that intense scouting is to be done for the wall to be placed effectively. Therefore, as soon as the Palyran player hits Tool, he should get a scout or two to be able to place the walls in the best locations. The bronze time would normally be terribly affected by this with any other civ, but not with the Palmyrans. Once again, their res. gathering bonus can reduce this handicap quite a bit, and the Palmyran player would be safe and sound behind his walls while the late Tool/early Bronze attacks begin. This however is easier said than done, the same as any other strategy, and requires an advanced player to be effective (and I'm not claiming I'm one such player - I'm just pointing out possibilities).
As bronze age begins, and I assume some fighting has already taken place with bowmen and slingers or axemen, the slingers from tool can still be usefull in case the town is attacked with CAs before the player had time to bronze. During the time this fighting may take place, and especially before that, some vills should be switched from wood to gold, as gold is very important for the camels. Also, try and get the goldmining upgrade as well. As soon as the player hits bronze, and assuming the stables he used for building the scouts are still standing, camels should be the first priority. This is obvious for many of you, as the Palmyran camels are extremely effective against both cavs and chariots/CAs.
They are not as usefull against vills however, but they should be used for attacking the enemy's town because in the meantime the enemy will most certainly build CAs/Chariots or cavs to get your camels away from hitting his vills. Also, for this reason, I bring the camels only for backing up my archers. While the camels take care of any attacking units that may come from the enemy buildings, my archers take care of the vills (and quite effectively I might add).
All this has one important flaw however. We shouldn't assume the enemy hasn't built any walls or towers in the meantime. These would pose some problems to this attacking force, and you'd need some siege weapons. However, if the enemy went for a fast bronze and army build-up, it is most certain that he didn't have time for walling in completely - so a hole in the wall will do Otherwise, the game will probably become one of those long games where both players (teams) will get to Iron, fight it out there, and then the resources will be exhausted, etc...
In this case, the Palmyran player still has the edge IMO, as he has the capability to counteract almost any type of army. That is because of the extremely wide range of Stable/Archery Range/Siege Workshop units/priests available.For now I will leave out Academy units due to the lack of Aristocracy. Against other dumbos, like the Phoenician ones, the Palmyran player can back up his own units with ballistas - which I found very effective against the eles. in combined arms.
Even though the missing Engineering definitely makes the siege weapons less efficient, they can still be usefull in taking care of walls or towers while the scytes/HCavs/Armored Eles charge into the town backed up by your choice of archery unit. Note that all this is just a small overview. I want to let the experts here go into the details.
IMO, they are the most balanced civ in all ages. The tooling time is not that affected by the high villager cost, as that is somewhat ballanced by the bonus in resource gathering. They can hold their own pretty well in the case of a tool attack, and once in Bronze they can do a lot of damage with the camels/slingers/chariots/compies/cavs.
Their Iron time can be comparable to the Shang due to the bonus in villager resource gathering, and in this conjucture they should be feared by the Shang player.
The only problem with all this is that the beginning of the game requires a lot of micromanagement from the player, as he's not allowed to waste any time at all. That period is the most sensitive to the Palmyran player, and also the time when he's most vulnerable. At the same time, the late Stone Age/early Tool is not exactly a very popular time for attacks, and the Palmyran player should be able to wall his town undisturbed at that stage. I think that's the most important task at that point, on the top of the list even before bronzing. The only problem with this is that intense scouting is to be done for the wall to be placed effectively. Therefore, as soon as the Palyran player hits Tool, he should get a scout or two to be able to place the walls in the best locations. The bronze time would normally be terribly affected by this with any other civ, but not with the Palmyrans. Once again, their res. gathering bonus can reduce this handicap quite a bit, and the Palmyran player would be safe and sound behind his walls while the late Tool/early Bronze attacks begin. This however is easier said than done, the same as any other strategy, and requires an advanced player to be effective (and I'm not claiming I'm one such player - I'm just pointing out possibilities).
As bronze age begins, and I assume some fighting has already taken place with bowmen and slingers or axemen, the slingers from tool can still be usefull in case the town is attacked with CAs before the player had time to bronze. During the time this fighting may take place, and especially before that, some vills should be switched from wood to gold, as gold is very important for the camels. Also, try and get the goldmining upgrade as well. As soon as the player hits bronze, and assuming the stables he used for building the scouts are still standing
They are not as usefull against vills however, but they should be used for attacking the enemy's town because in the meantime the enemy will most certainly build CAs/Chariots or cavs to get your camels away from hitting his vills. Also, for this reason, I bring the camels only for backing up my archers. While the camels take care of any attacking units that may come from the enemy buildings, my archers take care of the vills (and quite effectively I might add).
All this has one important flaw however. We shouldn't assume the enemy hasn't built any walls or towers in the meantime. These would pose some problems to this attacking force, and you'd need some siege weapons. However, if the enemy went for a fast bronze and army build-up, it is most certain that he didn't have time for walling in completely - so a hole in the wall will do
In this case, the Palmyran player still has the edge IMO, as he has the capability to counteract almost any type of army. That is because of the extremely wide range of Stable/Archery Range/Siege Workshop units/priests available.For now I will leave out Academy units due to the lack of Aristocracy. Against other dumbos, like the Phoenician ones, the Palmyran player can back up his own units with ballistas - which I found very effective against the eles. in combined arms.
I think I will stop here for now, and listen to your criticism to what I have said so far. I don't expect everything to be exactly as I have described it, therefore I will appreciate any corrections or any contributions that you guys may have.
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