Strategy[]
The Babylonians focus more on defense rather than offense. Their increased Stone mining and additional hit points for defensive buildings make them less susceptible to enemy rushes early in the game. In the beginning of the game through the Tool Age, a Turtling strategy is recommended once enough stone is gathered. By investing time to mine stone instead of other resources, the player can defend themselves from early rushes if defensive structures are placed at strategic locations. Be forewarned though, if too much time is spent on gathering stone for fortifications, the player may fall technologically behind compared to other players since Food production will stagnate, making advancing ages more difficult. The Babylonians are a well balanced civilization and are best if played offensively in the Bronze Age after the player has established fortifications during the Tool Age. Babylonian priests are a force to be reckoned with since they can convert enemy units faster than other civilizations can. Since there is no limit to the amount of units to be converted, the Babylonians can simply reach past the population limit with ease without spending time on constructing houses or training more units. They are a good choice in random maps and are the most powerful in the Bronze Age but their power slowly declines once Iron Age takes place in the Deathmatch mode of the game. The Babylonian player's Dock and Academy are terrible in the Iron Age, and the only upgrade in the Stable is the Scythe Chariot. The Archery Range is somewhat better with access to Composite Bowman, Chariot Archer and Horse Archer, but the Babylonian player cannot field elephant units of any kind. While the Barracks offers a complete upgrade tree including the Legionary, the Storage Pit has nothing to offer in the Iron Age, and the Siege Workshop, while granting the Heavy Catapult, does not allow even the basic Ballista to be built. On the other hand, the Iron Age Babylonian player can exert good map control by aggressively building Ballista Towers, a force to be reckoned with considering the +75% hit points.
Since update 38862, the tower and wall hit point bonuses for Babylon were reduced to +60% hit points; major nerfs to all chariot units have also significantly weakened the civilization's ability to attack. However, the hit points bonuses to all towers across the board may help to offset the nerf, and Babylon gained a 30% resource discount to all Market technologies, improving their economic boom and further establishing them as a super-defensive quantity-over-quality-warfare civilization.
If the computer controls this civilization on random map settings, the Babylonians will start by creating Scouts in the Tool Age, transitioning to mass swordsmen supported by Priests and the Catapult line in the Bronze and Iron Ages. In deathmatches, their entire army will consist of Scythe Chariots, Priests, and Catapults, provided they are in the Iron Age with a sufficient amount of surplus resources.
Strengths and Weaknesses[]
Strengths
- Good choice in land maps.
- Best if played in random map.
- Can surpass the population limit with ease (priests).
- Good from Tool Age to Bronze Age.
- Excellent for those who favor the turtling strategy, as they have the strongest walls and towers of the game.
Weaknesses
- Not as good in Deathmatches.
- Cannot implement hit-and-run attacks.
- Not as powerful in the Iron Age.
- Cannot train a variety of elite units.
- Not recommended in large maps, especially if it is a water map.