Civilization 5 – Arabia Guide

Arabia (Harun al-Rashid)

Unique Ability:

Trade Caravans (Vanilla and Gods & Kings):*
+1 from each Trade Route (City Connection)
Oil resources provide double quantity
Ships of the Desert (Brave New World):*
Caravans gain 50% extended range
Your trade routes spread the home city’s religion twice as effectively
Oil resources are doubled

Start Bias

Desert

Unique Unit: Camel Archer

Replaces: Knight
Mounted Unit (Ranged)
Cost: 120
Combat Strength: 17
Ranged Combat Strength: 21
Range: 2
Movement: 4
Can move after attacking
Unable to melee attack
No defensive terrain bonuses
Upgrades to: Cavalry

Unique Building: Bazaar

Replaces: Market
Cost: 100
Maintenance: 0
25% Incrased output in city
1 Merchant Specialist slot
+2
+2 for nearby Oasis and Oil resources
+1 per incoming trade route (+1 for the owner of the trade route)
1 extra Luxury resource from each improved luxury near the city.

Strategy

We’re excited to bring you our civ of the Month thread. This will be the 38th of many monthly themed threads to come, each revolving around a certain civilization from within the game. The idea behind each thread is to condense information into one rich resource for all viewers, which will be achieved by posting similar material pertaining to the weekly civilization. Have an idea for future threads? Share all input, advice, and criticisms below, so we can sculpt a utopia of knowledge! Feel free to share any and all strategies, tactics, stories, hints, tricks and tips related to Arabia.

Arabia is a fantastically balanced civ. The Bazaar makes them ideal for trading and rakes in a lot of money. The extra lux from each city makes this one of the best UBs in the game. At the same time, the Camel Archer is one of the best UUs in the game (we all know) and makes land wars in the Medieval and Renaissance eras a breeze.

And the UA helps at all points of the game.

Extended caravan range helps you in the early game to get a trade route the right civ/city state
Higher religious pressure from trade routes helps you in the mid game when you’re trying to spread your religion
Double oil resources helps in the late game for either trading or building a large air force (or both)

The desert start bias synergizes well with Arabia’s uniques. It gives the opportunity for Desert Folklore, one of the strongest faith pantheons, and Petra, which gives an extra trade route. Both of these align nicely with the UA.

All in all, Arabia is one of the strongest civs in the game. The Bazaar alone is game-changingly strong in a peaceful game and the Camel Archer alone is game-changingly strong in a domination game. 9.5/10 for not being Poland.

Original Link – Continuation of discussion

GTAmes