Civilization VI - Hammurabi of Byzantium

Firaxis will be releasing Civilization VI DLC packs with new game modes, new civilizations, and new leaders through March of 2021. November's update added a very unique leader to the Civilization VI roster: Hammurabi of Babylon. Both the Babylonian civilization and its leader Hammurabi have been playable in multiple past iterations of the Civilization series, but Hammurabi's leader ability is so unique and game-changing that I felt I had to cover it immediately.

Patreon

For future releases that include multiple leaders or civilizations, I may put up polls on Patreon to let my Patrons decide which civ or leader to cover first (if Firaxis gives enough advance notice). I may also put up polls asking if my Patrons would prefer that I make guides focused on the new game modes. So if you would like to vote on which content you would prefer to see sooner, I hope you'll consider supporting the creation of this content on Patreon.

The city of Babylon is one of the earliest cities ever built, having been settled between the 23 and 19th century B.C.. It was built along banks of the Euphrates River, south of modern-day Bagdad, with steep embankments in order to contain and utilize the river's seasonal floods. It is believed that Babylon was the most populous city in the world during the two heights of the Babylonian empire in 17th century B.C. and 6th century B.C., and it was the first city to reach a population of 200,000.

Civilization VI - Hammurabi portrait

Hammurabi is an ancient Babylonian king who ruled in the 18th century B.C.. He is famous for his Code of Laws that was long believed to be the first set of codified laws ever created. There were, however, earlier codes of laws, but Hammurabi's code differed from earlier codes by establishing the principle of the presumption of innocence for the accused, and that the accuser and accused must both provide evidence to establish guilt or innocence. It also limited the amount of retribution that the victim my inflict upon the guilty by prescribing set penalties for specific crimes. Though many prescribed punishments were brutal (such as disfigurement or execution), the code ensured that the victim of a minor crime would not respond by murdering the criminal. Hammurabi had his law transcribed (in the common language) onto a cylindrical stele and placed at the center of town so that every literate person could read it, presumably so that everyone would know what constitutes a crime and what the punishment for each crime is, so that the administration of justice would be seen as fair to the populace.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the "New Frontiers" November 2020 Update (ver. 1.0.8.4)

Babylon is a powerful technological force in Civilization VI, that acquires technologies primarily by completing eurekas. It also gets large food bonuses when settling adjacent to rivers, that allows its cities to grow quickly and grow large, and new districts get a head start in infrastructure.

[More]

UPDATE (September 9, 2014, 2:45 PM Pacific Time)

Shortly after publishing this blog, I came across a forum post that contradicts the information presented in this blog post. As such, I will review the actual source code in the Civilization V dll, do some more testing with the game, and revise the post as necessary. In the meantime, I'll leave the unaltered post here, for posterity. I apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Civilization V

A lot of buildings in Civilization V mention that they are affected by tiles or resources "near the city", but this quality of being "near a city" is poorly-defined within the game. So what exactly does it mean? I haven't seen any in-depth articles about this topic on the web or in the game's Civilopedia, so I thought I'd outline the important bits here.

Basically, a tile is "near" a city if that city was the first city in its respective empire to claim that tile within its workable radius.

So if you have a single tile or resource that lies between two cities, and both cities' workable ranges overlap that same tile, then that tile is not "near" both cities. It is only "near" the first city that owned that tile. This means that if you go into the city management screen and assign the second city to work that tile, it may receive yield bonuses associated with any improvements or buildings that affect it (such as the stable buffing pasture resources), but the tile's contents will not be considered "near" that second city for other purposes. This includes:

  • requirement of an improved Horse or Ivory to build a Circus,
  • requirement of an improved Horse, Cow, or Sheep to build a Stable,
  • requirement of an improved Iron to build a Forge,
  • requirement of an improved Stone or Marble to build a Stone Works,
  • requirement of an improved Gold or Silver to build a Mint,
  • wonder production bonus from nearby Marble,
  • requirement that the city be adjacent to a Mountain in order to build an Observatory,
  • trade route income from resource diversity,
  • and so on...

Say you have two cities (for example Rome and Antium) whose workable ranges overlap a pastured Horse. Rome was the first city to claim the Horse tile. Rome can, therefore, build a Circus (assuming Trapping has been researched). If you go to the management screen of Antium, you can assign it to work the Horse tile (which prevents Rome from being able to work that tile), but Antium still cannot build a Circus. That is, two cities cannot build a building that requires they both have the same tile.

Civilization V - Rome has horses Civilization V - Antium doesn't have horses
[LEFT] Rome has annexed a tile containing horses and is building a Circus.
[RIGHT] Later, that tile overlaps with Antium's workable radius, but it cannot build a Circus because the horse was originally claimed by Rome.

Alternatively, if a resource is claimed by a city's culture, but is outside of a city's workable radius (four tiles or more away), then it never counts as "near" that city...

[More]
Grid Clock Widget
12      60
11      55
10      50
09      45
08      40
07      35
06      30
05      25
04      20
03      15
02      10
01      05
Grid Clock provided by trowaSoft.

A gamer's thoughts

Welcome to Mega Bears Fan's blog, and thanks for visiting! This blog is mostly dedicated to game reviews, strategies, and analysis of my favorite games. I also talk about my other interests, like football, science and technology, movies, and so on. Feel free to read more about the blog.

Check out my YouTube content at YouTube.com/MegaBearsFan.

Follow me on Twitter at: twitter.com/MegaBearsFan

Patreon

If you enjoy my content, please consider Supporting me on Patreon:
Patreon.com/MegaBearsFan

FTC guidelines require me to disclose that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made by clicking on Amazon product links on this site. All Amazon Associate links are for products relevant to the given blog post, and are usually posted because I recommend the product.

Without Gravity

And check out my colleague, David Pax's novel Without Gravity on his website!

Featured Post

The Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season RecruitingThe Humanity of NCAA Football's In-Season Recruiting08/01/2022 If you're a fan of college football video games, then I'm sure you're excited by the news from early 2021 that EA will be reviving its college football series. They will be doing so without the NCAA license, and under the new title, EA Sports College Football. I guess Bill Walsh wasn't available for licensing either? Expectations...

Random Post

Zack Snyder's vision of Justice League is flawed, but better than what Warner Bros and Joss Whedon shat into theatersZack Snyder's vision of Justice League is flawed, but better than what Warner Bros and Joss Whedon shat into theaters03/24/2021 Fanboys have been demanding it for years, and now, finally Warner Brothers has seen fit to grace audiences with a version of Zach Snyder's original vision for the Justice League movie. And you know what? It's actually not that bad. I would have been much less tolerant of the movie's 4 hour runtime if I had been stuck having...

Month List

Recent Comments

Comment RSS