Military Policies
Raid
Made obsolete by:
- Total War
Required Civics:
- Military Training
Yields gained from pillaging are doubled for pillaging improvements.
To pillage, plunder, and generally demoralize a foe – there’s nothing like a raid. Since the barbarians couldn’t stand up (usually) to open battle with the armies of the Greeks, Persians, Romans, Chinese, and other civilized sorts, their incursions tended to take the form of extended raids.
In time, these and other empires also used raids against the barbarians, often dispatching auxiliaries to devastate their lands… driving off their livestock, burning their camps, and worse. So well did this strategy work that some “wars” were nothing more than a series of bloody raids, and the practice became part of the military repertoire that survives even today.
Veterancy
Required Civics:
- Military Training
+30% Production toward Encampment districts and buildings for that district.
The term “veteran” comes from the Latin vetus, meaning “old” (just don’t refer to one that way). Although there had been those lucky ones who had survived military service before, it was the Romans who established the practice of honoring survivors with privileges and rewards.
Any non-Roman soldier honorably discharged was granted Roman citizenship (not to be taken lightly). The normal term of enlistment was 25 years, and upon discharge, both Roman and non-Roman veterans were given pensions (the praemia, established by Emperor Augustus) and land grants, usually on the frontiers. Since Roman veterans were subject to recall, the latter meant that reinforcements were never far away when barbarians invaded.
Bastions
+6 City Defense Strength. +5 City Ranged Strength.
Made obsolete by:
- Public Works
Required Civics:
- Defensive Tactics
A bastion is an angular bulwark projecting out from a fortified wall, usually with two faces and two flanks; from the flanks missile fire could be directed along the wall against attackers that would otherwise be screened from above.
Although more common in the Middle Ages, early examples can be found that were constructed during the Roman Empire. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, and later when those annoying barbarians started pushing past the borders – added bastions to several of these (such as the Aurelian walls of Rome and Theodosian walls of Constantinople).
Limes
+100% Production toward defensive buildings.
Made obsolete by:
- Lightning Warfare
Required Civics:
- Defensive Tactics
Limites (the plural of limes) delineated the fortified frontiers of the Roman Empire, signified by fortified cities and military outposts. Hadrian’s Wall was often referred to as the Limes Britannicus; the far eastern edge facing the desert was the Limes Arabicus… the Limes Germanicus, Limes Alutanus, etc., etc.
The military bases of the limites were designated as castra (fortresses of the legions) and castella (bases guarded by auxiliaries, usually local native infantry). Although the empire always looked to its defenses, the period between 40 and 280 AD was the highpoint of building limes.
Indeed, Roman writers of the time presented the limites as a sort of sacred border beyond which civilized people did not go.
Economic Policies
Insulae
+1 Housing in all cities with at least 2 specialty districts.
Made obsolete by:
- Medina Quarter
Required Civics:
- Games and Recreation
Once people came pouring in on all those roads that led to Rome, they had to live someplace in the urban sprawl; thus, the ‘insulae,’ a kind of apartment building built of stone and concrete (which the Romans invented), evolved as housing for the lower and middle class plebs.
Five or six stories high (although some were larger), the ground floor was taken up by shops with residential apartments upstairs… the best being those nearest to the ground. But the insulae were prone to collapse, and fire was an ever present danger. Augustus and later Nero set construction standards; nevertheless, by the 4th Century it is estimated that there were around 42,000 to 46,000 insulae in the city.
Natural Philosophy
+100% Campus district adjacency bonuses.
Made obsolete by:
- Five-Year Plan
Required Civics:
- Recorded History
From the days of Aristotle, natural philosophy was the study of the physical world, the first systematic “science.” Every other science – biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and all – has its roots in natural philosophy, and most of Aristotle’s predecessors such as Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus centered their beliefs on the natural order.
Aristotle’s conceptions of the laws that govern the real world, set down in the Corpus Aristotelicum (the bits that survived), prevailed into the Middle Ages. Although the empirical study and understanding of everything would separate into various scientific disciplines, it all began with natural philosophy. And now the boundaries between the disciplines are getting blurry again.
Scripture
+100% Holy Site adjacency bonuses.
Required Civics:
- Theology
The oldest religious text found so far dates to ancient Sumer around 2600 BC. It was the first example of scripture, a text that is considered to be sacred or central to a religious tradition. The oldest of a still existing religion is likely the Rigveda of Hinduism, composed between 1700 and 1100 BC.
The claim of God’s (whoever it may be) Word “made manifest” is an undeniable selling point to would-be converts; it is not surprising that the five largest existing religions all have a primary scripture: Buddhism (the Tripitaka), Hinduism (Vedas and Upanishads), Islam (Qur’an), Judaism (Tanakh), and Christianity (Bible).
Diplomatic Policies
Charismatic Leader
+2 Influence points per turn toward earning city-state Envoys.
Made obsolete by:
- Gunboat Diplomacy
Required Civics:
- Political Philosophy
German sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic authority as “resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him.”
That pretty well sums it up, for charismatic leaders shape the lives of their people, for good or bad, or sometimes both simultaneously. “Charisma” comes in two sorts:
1) a compelling charm that inspires obedience,
2) a divinely conferred power or talent for leadership.
In ancient days the latter tended to be the case (at least, those barely civilized folk thought so); recently, it’s been all about charming the media.
Diplomatic League
Required Civics:
- Political Philosophy
The first Envoy you send to each city-state counts as two Envoys.
The ancient Greeks were enamored of diplomatic leagues – loose and limited alliances between city-states, cobbled together for a variety of purposes. In the Archaic Period, the Amphictyonic League was a religious association of tribes.
By the end of the 7th Century BC, Sparta was the most powerful city-state in the Peloponnese; to counter its influence some 150+ cities formed the Delian League in 477 BC under the leadership of Athens. It spent most of its existence fighting off Persian invasions.
Around 338 BC, Philip II of Macedonia formed the Hellenic League … and Alexander conquered (briefly) the known world with it. The Achaean League existed between 280 and 146 BC, formed to resist the Romans. Didn’t help.
Great Person Policies
Literary Tradition
+2 Great Writer points per turn.
Required Civics:
- Drama and Poetry
Every linguistic group has developed a literary tradition; in part, it is what distinguishes one civilization from another – the passing down of stories which give meaning to human experience.
Early literary traditions were oral (such as the tales of Homer), but once writing progressed beyond daubing pictographs on walls, the various literary forms were immortalized, and no longer had to be memorized to be passed on. In ancient China, its oral poetry was collected in works such as the Shijing and Songs of Chu.
And the Western literary traditions were largely set by the early Greek and Roman authors, and by the Bible.
