Mayan (Civ3)

Maya
Introduced in Conquests
Leader	Smoke-Jaguar
Strengths (Conquests)	Agricultural Industrious
Unique unit	Javelin Thrower
Startingadvances (Conquests)	Pottery Masonry
Aggression	3/5
Favorite government	Feudalism (government)
Shunned government	Democracy (government)
Culture group	American
Production emphasis	Defensive land units, Workers, Production, Culture
Colors
Default
Default
Alternate
Alternate

Back to Civilizations (Civ3)

The Mayan people (or Maya) represent a civilization in Civilization III: Conquests. They are led by Smoke-Jaguar.

The Maya are Agricultural and Industrious. They start the game with Masonry and Pottery and build the Javelin Thrower instead of the Archer.

Strategy

The Maya are a strange match of the best trait pair in the game, balanced out by the worst Unique Unit. They are overall a very strong civilization, able to bloom very quickly in the early game without slowing down later in the game and to contest any Victory condition.

Agricultural & Industrious

Agricultural -with it's increased city growth and acceleration of Settlers & Workers pumping- & Industrious -with it's faster Workers- aren't just two individually excellent traits, they are also terrifically synergistic.

From the start of the expansion phase, you will be able to pump settlers at an exceptionnal speed. Just make sure to place every cities you can near a Fresh Water Lake or a River in order to benefit from the Agricultural bonus food even under Despotism and do not hesitate to produce a worker per city pretty quickly.

Do not hesitate to claim Desert city locations in the last stages of the expansion phase, since you will be able to make them productives with the irrigation bonus on desert tiles Agricultural provide & the fact your workers irrigates faster thanks to Industrious.

All game long, your cities will gain population at a rapid pace as long as you also keep the pace with tile improvement (which is facilitated by your faster workers). However be wary of happiness related issues. You nearly always want to avoid using Entertainers since the cost of loosing a tile worth of yields is nearly never worth 1 gold or luxury, you rather wanna use the Entertainment Slider from the domestic advisor if you cannot produce Temples, Cathedrals & Colosseums fast enough nor bring Luxuries. These big cities working ameliorated tiles allows you to play whatever playstyle you want.

Javelin Thrower

The Javelin Thrower replaces the Archer for the Mayans. It cost 10 more shields (from 20 to 30) & looses the defensive Bombard ability to gain one point in defense and the ability to Enslave 1/3 of it's vanquished foes into Slave Workers (working 50% slower).

There is no real reason for the unit to cost 30 shields, other than the fact the Maya would be overpowered if it where not the case. The comparison with Babylonian Bowman -another unique replacement for the Archer- is harsh, so is the comparison with the Swordsman who isn't even unique or even with the Archer.

This deprives the Mayans from the capability to perform efficient Archer rushes during the expansion phase (the production cost being too high in a decisive moment of the game & the resulting despotic golden age suboptimal). This makes the Mayans dependant on Iron if they want to fight, thanksfully they have the best trait combinaison to secure it early.

The two main niche uses of the Javelin Thrower are his abitily to trigger Mayan's Golden Age (as we will see below) and to farm slave workers from barbarians (their spawn rate at higher barbarian levels and the fact they never have more than 1 defense point can justify sending 1 or 2 unit in a non settled part of the map to get slaves, even if settling in every possible location will be better most of the time.)

Golden Age

Triggering a Golden Age might proove a bit more challenging than you might think, especially at higher difficulties and if you want to avoid doing so while Despotism impair your yields. Every options having a serious drawback.

Initiating it with a Javeling Thrower do not only necessitate to build one, but to make it win a fight against another civilization. The later condition might prove difficult if you logically want to have switched Government from Despotism before triggering it, since most cities will be defended my Spearmen. You mix put 2 or 3 units into a stack of Swordsmen and made them fight at the end of the battle, against a weakened Spearman, a Warrior or an Archer.

If you want to trigger it more peacefully throught Wonders, note that these is no Agricultural Wonder during the Middle Ages & only 4 before Modern Era: The Pyramids, The Hanging Gardens, Hoover Dam & Universal Suffrage. However, a good point is that they also are all Industrious but Universal Suffrage.

• For The Pyramids, while doubling your city growth on a continent is incredibly strong, the opportunity cost of having to build it during the expansion phase, the fact that it is highly contested by the AI & the fact that it will trigger your Golden Age under Despotism and the associated malus makes it suboptimal.
• Hoover Dam is basically too late game to make an impactfull GA.
• This let the Hanging Gardens, whose happiness bonus will be quite usefull for your civilization and that is easy to beeline to. However Monarchy it quite inferior to Republic if you are going for a peacefull built.

Civilopedia entry

The Mayan civilization of ancient Mesoamerica is shrouded in mystery. The Maya developed their unique culture in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. The lowlands of northern Guatemala, western Honduras, Belize, and the Yucatán peninsula, are hot and humid, teeming with jungles boasting an annual average rainfall of 120 inches. And yet, these stalwart peoples toughed it out and forged a civilization that stands, to this day, as a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of ancient man.

Where did the Maya originate? The earliest archaeological evidence was discovered in and around Belize, and dates as far back as 1200 BC. Primitive tools and pottery, small religious figurines of animals and humans became abundant, and by 900 BC, small villages of one-room dwellings made of poles lashed together with henequen rope, began to appear everywhere. By 600 BC, the Maya were the dominant people in the region. Between 300 BC and 150 BC, Mayan villages grew into larger and more populous cities, ruled by powerful kings and noble families. It was during this so-called Pre-Classic period that Maya society defined its cultural identity.

It was also during this time that the Maya began to worship a pantheon of gods, from the creator of the universe, Huabku, to Itzamna (creator of man); from Ix Chel (goddess of childbirth), to Chac (the rainmaker - an all-important god to the peasant class); from Yam Kax (the young corn god), to Ah Much (the lord of death). As more and more gods were added to the pantheon, the rituals needed to glorify them became quite elaborate, and thus it was necessary to create a priest sect to maintain the ceremonies.

One of the most important cultural traits developed during the Pre-Classic period was the act of human sacrifice. Though the Maya never practiced it as prominently as the Aztecs, various acts of blood letting became commonplace and (ultimately) essential to the Mayan way-of-life. Mayan kings ruled through semi-divine right, and they believed that their connection to the gods could only be maintained through ritual sacrifice.

Thus, temples (in the staircasestep design) were constructed with sacrificial altars. On these altars were laid human offerings. Stone knives were produced and the bodies cut to let the blood flow. Then, with speed and determination, the chests were cut open and hearts ripped out. It was these ritual offerings that allowed Mayan kings and priests to hold absolute control over their subjects.

By 300 AD, the Mayan Classic period was in full bloom. This was the age of kings. Great rulers such as Smoke-Jaguar (or Smoke-Imix), Pacal, Eighteen Rabbits, and Blue-Quetzal Macaw, rose to prominence and ruled brilliantly over their lands. Mayan society was divided into city-states, each with its own king and cultural center. During the Classic period, the political influence of various cities rose and fell: Chichen Itza, Palenque, Copan, and Tikal, to name a few. It was also during the Classic period that the Mayan military grew in organization and in strength. The Mayan soldier carried knives and spears, clubs, bows and arrows, javelins, and even perfected the art of throwing hornets nests (called hornet bombs) into enemy troops to create confusion and panic. For defense, they used small shields made of jaguar skins. And Mayan generals called upon their priests to divine the gods and determine the best place and time to attack the enemy. It was through warfare that the Mayans collected slaves to sacrifice to their gods.Thus, temples (in the staircasestep design) were constructed with sacrificial altars. On these altars were laid human offerings. Stone knives were produced and the bodies cut to let the blood flow. Then, with speed and determination, the chests were cut open and hearts ripped out. It was these ritual offerings that allowed Mayan kings and priests to hold absolute control over their subjects.

By 850-900 AD, Mayan culture began a decline that saw its ultimate dissolution. One city after another began to fade away into the jungle in this Post-Classic period, as the populations vanished. Where did the Maya go? There is no consensus on this matter, but there are many theories. Environmental evidence suggests that a massive drought (hastened by volcanic activity), lasting for decades, hit the Yucatán Peninsula around this time. Another theory suggests that the peasantry, dissatisfied with their rulers, revolted. Another suggests disease savaged the populations and destabilized the local economies. Whatever the reason, by 1100 AD, the last of the great Mayan cities were swallowed by the jungle, and there they lay fallow for centuries until wealth-seeking Conquistadors and archaeologists unearthed their wondrous remains and reintroduced the Mayan culture to the world.

Cities

Main article: Mayan cities (Civ3)

Great Leaders

Main article: List of historical figures in Civ3 § Mayan

Military	Scientific
Blue-Quetzal-Macaw	Ah Cacao
Eighteen Rabbit	Smoke-Monkey
Cauac-Sky	Stormy Sky

See also

• Mayan in other games