The Algerians ability focuses them towards religion, and when used together with its UB, makes careful terrain management important. The UU allows for some flexibility in strategic endeavors, and resource grabbing.

Downloads

• CivFanatics: {LINK REMOVED}http://www.mediafire.com/download/2vntl2tyckq2xzm/Algeria+%28BNW%29.rar
  
• Steam Workshop: http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=330260967

In the early BC's, the Algerian provinces were prominent weapon makers. Around 30,000 BC, the Flake Tool Method was used in the province of Bir el Ater. It is after this paleological dig site that the weapons of the time got their name: Aterian. The Iberomaurausian blade industry opened in the Oran region, which brought weapons to Neolithic Northern Africa. As depicted in the Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, the Mediterranean peoples learned to domesticate animals and practiced agriculture. Eventually, the people of this area became known as the Berbers, who are largely considered the indigenous population of the area.

By 600 BC, a Carthaginian presence was made known in Africa. Despite the conquering nature of Carthage, these cities existed primarily as markets and anchorages. Even so, by the 4th century, enslavement made the Berbers the largest portion of the Carthaginian army. This was caused by aggressive land expansion on the part of the Cathaginians. In 241 BC, the Berber soldiers rebelled after being unpaid after Carthage's defeat in the First Punic War. Following this, the Berbers reclaimed much of Carthage's North African territory. It was around this time the Berbers minted coins labelled "Libyan", which was the word the Greeks used to describe Africa.

In 146 BC, Carthage was destroyed, and the Carthaginian empire was replaced as the Berber leaders in the hinterlands grew in power. By the 2nd century BC, large but loosely administrated kingdoms had formed, particularly in Numibia and Mauretania. This was the high point of Berber civilization under Massinissa in 2nd century BC. When Massinissa died in 148 BC, the kingdoms were divided and reunited several times. At 24 BC, the remaining Berber territory was annexed into Rome.

Under Roman rule, it functioned as one of the breadbaskets of the empire. Around 429, the vandals of Geiseric moved in, but made little headway, and in fact, by the time of the Byzantines, they had been forced out by the local tribes.

Despite fierce fighting, in the 7th century the Muslims conquered Algeria. It was during this time where large swathes of Northern Africa converted to the Muslim faith. After the Umayyad Caliphate fell in 751, the provinces fell into numerous kingdoms, including the Aghlabids, Almohads, Abdalwadid, Zirids, Rustamids, Hammadids, Almoravids, and Fatimids.

During the middle ages, North Africa, and particularly Algeria, was home to many scholars, saints, and sovereigns. The Fatimids formed a powerful, long lasting government that boasted a strong, secular inner core and a powerful military. When the Zirids threatened to secede and offered challenge to those who opposed them, the Fatimids fought back, and the Zirids found themselves overwhelmed despite early promise.

In the early 16th century, the Spanish began making fortified encampments along the the land. By 1510 they possessed the major settlements of Oran, Tlemcen, Mostaganem, and Tenes. After this proved to be an expensive and ineffective method of controlling the land, the motion ceased. But afterwards, in 1516, two privateer brothers overthrew the leader of Algiers, and were granted titles by the Ottoman Sultan. With 2,000 janissaries, they subdued the land between Constantine and Oran, bringing it under Ottoman rule. Leaders known as "pashas" were elected on three year cicles, and lead contingents of janissaries known as "ojaq". The ojaq were ultimately their undoing, as the pasha did not regularly pay them, which lead to ojaq revolts. At the end of the revolutions, the pasha were replaced with deys, which at first were mainly ojaq chosen, but later were their own governing. The dey were elected for life as a form of constitutional autocrats. Despite repeated assassinations, usurpations, and mob rules, day to day ruling was remarkably stable.

A period of piracy (16th century to 19th century) followed this time, and multiple wars with Europe and America were had during this time. This took a heavy toll on both sides, but ultimately lay in the Western Powers' favor. At the same time, in the mid 17th century, the French began to colonize the provinces on the pretext of a slight to their consul. The war for control reduced the population of Algeria by a third. The rule was claimed to "civilize" the people, but literacy actually dropped in Algeria at the time of French rule. A political elite of French speaking Berbers came into place, who were heavily favored by the french; in fact, 80% of French schools in the area were only for these French Berbers. A resistance grew in the form of the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), which drove the French out at the cost of 1.5 million Algerian lives, and hundreds of thousands of orphans, widows, and injuries.

Ben Bella was the first leader of free Algeria, being the prior FLN leader. Morocco's claim to West Africa instigated the Sand War, and Ben Bella was overthrown by his ally Houari Boumediene. Both rulers had made the government increasingly socialist and authoritarian, though Boumediene was the worse of the two. In the 1960's, he pushed an agenda of industrialization, but his successor brought more liberal reforms and promoted Arabisation, and began the process of becoming politically Islamic. The Oil Glut of 1980 hit Algeria hard and brought the nation down a peg due to its heavy reliance on the mined liquid.

In recent times, elections have proved vital for the Algerians. With every election, threats of violence have been present, but repeated amnesty efforts and reforms have kept the nation strong. Several terrorist groups like the AIS actually disbanded due to efforts on the Algerian government's part. Boutefilika, who has been elected three times, is the current president of Algeria, having been elected a fourth time.

The Algerian UA has two parts:

• Gain bonus city defense based on total faith generation.
  
• Strategic Resources on desert count double when improved.

One of the big problems with religious civs is the fact that they have to build a number of cities to get their faith generation high enough. Having a large number of cities means that each city is less likely to have X or Y structure built, in particular, defensive structures. With this though, the total faith of the entire empire improves every city's defense, meaning that a wide religious empire actually has some inherent defense, even for newly settled cities. The conversion rate is +2 defense for every 10 generated faith, and is capped at 100 fath a turn (+20 defense). When paired with the UGP's generation method, this makes Algeria a tough nut to crack. Focusing on faith producing beliefs like Pilgimage will not only allow your religion to spread, but it will make Algeria more defensible.


I had previously been lacking in any coal, but this expansion gave me more than I would ever need. The coal on the desert hill was only three, but it doubled to give me what you see above, as well as the coal under the ksar.

To add fuel to the fire of survivability, one of the most common causes of expansion is to claim resources, particularly strategic ones needed for specific buildings or units. It can be hard to justify an expansion for three coal when it offers nothing else, but if that coal is on desert, it becomes 6 coal, which is much easier to do than the prior situation. These extra resources can be traded away as well, providing much needed gold or luxuries that one lacks. As an added note, this ability works well with the "Third Alternative" tenet of Autocracy, which helps make strategic resources in non-desert locales stretch further as well. The previous example of three coal soon becomes twelve, which is higher than anything you'll find naturally. And that's only with three coal; a seven coal tile becomes a wopping 28 coal.

Similar to the Dene, the Algerians have a Unique Great Person instead of a unit unit. In this case, it replaces the Great General, though it has a little bit more flexibility than the base unit. In addition to the standard combat bonus, the Dey can also:

• Construst a Ksar, which is similar to a citadel in all regards except that it may be placed outside of friendly territory (but not inside of already owned land).
  
• Be generated passively by defensive structures (each defensive structure provides +2 Dey points per turn).

As seen in the UA picture above, the Ksar may be placed in the open, allowing one to claim resources far away from home without having to settle a city. Paired with the UA's ability to double desert resources, this can make Dey great army generators. Spare Deys can be used to either shore up defenses in particularly hostile borders, or sent to far corners of the world with a unit or two to defend the land. Even better, since the Ksar isn't attached to a city, there is no way for the enemy to claim it unless they use their own generals to snatch the land, which requires at least two generals.

The second exception is one of the nice parts. Early on, getting walls in a city can start generating the Deys before you're ready for war. When pairted with Warrior Code, land claim is easy, as the quicker produced units can be used to instigate more war, which generates more Deys. When paired with the "Fortified Borders" Autocracy tenet, each defensive structure provides happiness as well, which helps support the wide empire that the UA suggests.

As a final note, the official description states that the Ksar may not be placed on resources. However, as seen in the UA pic, it was indeed placed on coal, but that is a strategic resource. Which resources it can be set on and where seem to rely on which individual resource it is. So when planning Ksar placement, don't rely on being able to place in on an individual resource.


The Ksar, seen above.

Planning the location of the first Zawiya is important. With this city, I got a 15% boost, which is slightly under half the possible max

Replacing the University, the Zawiya is a mid-game building. It provides the same bonuses as the base building, but also provides the following:

• For every different terrain adjacent to the first city a Zawiya is constructed in, they all gain +1 faith and +5% great person generation.
  
• Terrains that count include: desert, grassland, plains, snow, tundra, mountain, and coast.

The highest possible value of the Zawiya is +35%, but that is highly improbable to get, as the city would have to be next to a mountain and be set on a different terrain than the surrounding five terrains, of which each would have to be different. The most common variety is about two or three terrains in one city, which provide +10%-+15%, or slightly less than a garden. The fact that it's paired with the University is the strong part though, since the University provides a percentage boost to science, which means that its own existence improves science without having to use the slots.

The faith is the really strong part, as it provides more faith at a point where faith buildings run out and prophets are unreliably generated. The highest possible bonus is +7, but again, this is unlikely, and a +2-+3 is more likely. The fact that this is applied universally without regards to the individual cities is the best part, as even the most homogenous city can get the benefits, so after the first one, build Zawiya's everywhere.

Early on, focus on buildings walls in cities, since the Deys generated can be used to grab far off resources to support your rapid expansions. If you can grab two to three resources you wouldn't have access to early on, do it, as that can mean a city or two more. Trying for the first religion is important to get the best beliefs, and the beliefs chosen should be heavily faith focused (pilgrimage, desert folklore, etc). Your defense early on will be a tad higher than average, but not enough to hold off dedicated early war-mongers like Attila. It is important to make the guilds, as culture is a very powerful tool for the Algerians. Great AWM's should be used for their tourism bonuses.

Mid-game is Algeria's strong point. With the Zuwiya coming into play, great person generation gets a kick, and so does science. With more defense structures being unlocked, deys become easier to produce. Particularly interesting is the Red Fort synergy, since it improves science and defense, of which the Zawiya and the UA do individually. (Fun fact: the Ksar icon is actually the Red Fort icon re-used!) Around this time, natural Dey generation will slow due to the other great people being generated, so going to war will be important. In particular, focus on people who have the strategic resources you need, or pose the greatest threat to you or your lone Ksars.

Late game, Autocracy is a very powerful ideology for Algeria. Not only does it help increase the usefulness of defensive structures by giving happiness, it increases the number of strategic resources available. Since you'll be focusing on faith generation, a large portion of the world will likely be following your chosen religion, helping your tourism. Futurism and Cult of Personality can help pull the late game culture leaders into your grasp. Deys can also be used to snatch important late game resources from enemies, like coal or aluminum. If Piety is pursued, one could even buy armies with the faith they produce. In the end, the world will fall into your sandy domain, by sword or song.

A special thanks today for the creator of this mod, who signed off permission for this guide to exist!

• Zigzagzigal, for inspiring these guides with his lovely work.
  
• DJSHenniger, who made the Algeria mod, along with a number of other that will appear here!

And to you, for reading this guide! See ya next time.

Colonialist Legacies

• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377660317
  
• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=335364423
  
• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=332524113
  
• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=398451043

LS Civs

• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=289136932
  
• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=296805897
  
• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=302024057
  
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• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=352829397

Additional Civs

• http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=366420729