Sicily/Strategic Overview

Faction Overview	Strategic Overview	History

• Strengths: Robust economic bonuses, strong late-game navy, and well-rounded Castle Age military
• Weaknesses: highly subceptible to factions with good heavy cavalry, such as France and the HRE, and highly dependent on merchants and trade.

As Sicily, you will be able to control its massive trade empire. The Power of Commerce also includes the ability to collect bonuses from rare resources without having a merchant to collect them. With rare resources can be a big advantage as some of their bonuses are as powerful as civ powers, the wise Sicilian player will invest in exploration of territory thoroughly to be able to collect these bonuses, just as how the Normans explored Europe for possibilities. What is more, your civilisation's ability to gather wealth is also enhanced, as you have access to a market and buying and selling from the start, allowing you to fine-tune your production better than other players without access to the 2 Economy upgrades required to do so.

At the military level, Sicily's multicultural society and trade links with Egypt, Byzantium and Italy makes for an all-rounder, but with very few hard-hitters. The closest Sicily ever comes to this would be its Byzantine-styled cavalry, but as with Venice this line is terminated at the end of the Castle Age. At the same time, you also have the hardier Muslim Ghuzat Volunteers, which can be upgraded to Rizico Infantry which collect resources from fallen foes — but these units are not expected to turn the tide for you alone, and are probably better off as light raiders.

Perhaps then the most interesting unit would be Sicily's Norman-born and -armed Milites, which are very powerful against factions which have not reached the Imperial Era in their ability to deal added damage against "regional" infantry units, namely units such as the Middle Eastern-styled heavy archer line, or the Dark Age Feudal Retinue which can be found in many nations of Western and Northern Europe. With Milities, Sicily could gain easy infantry superiority against many European factions, and even the Asiatic factions too if they dare to train infantry!

Sicily is a maritime faction and also has its own naval perks. Although weaker than most war galleys, the Sicilian Fusta is good for attacking unarmoured support vessels like merchantmen and fishing boats, and thus Fusta fleets are raiders par excellence. Moreover, the Fusta is exceedingly cheap, meaning that Sicily (and her other rival, the Turks) can amass naval superiority fairly quickly once the Imperial Era hits.

Taken together, this hodgepodge of military traditions - cheap light ships; tougher cavalry; and specialised infantry — results in a faction capable of flexibility and speed in the Castle Age, but will have to rely on its economy in order to outpace players with stronger units, such as Spanish infantry, French and Byzantine cavalry, or Asians with their hordes of infantry and cavalry when in the Imperial Era.

Faction summary

• Naval-based faction with the ability to train a variety of specialised units: heavy cavalry for charging, and infantry and light ships for raiding, militia for filling in gaps where required.
• Jack of All Trade, Yet Master of None — Sicily's unique units are the most mixed and varied of any other nation, allowing them advantages in their ability to develop different strategies. Cheaper light ships can be used to dominate the seas; having 2 heavy cavalry UUs, along with enhanced militia and light infantry, allows Sicily to field a reasonable Castle Age military force.
• Counter-Cultural Clash — The added attack bonus of Milites against regional melee infantry units shared between different factions means that they are very effective against many infantry civs.
• Knight Watch — Sicily's unique lines after the Imperial Era are rather weak — the only unique units available are the Pavise Crossbowmen and possibly the Ghazi militiaman. You will have to ensure that at this point you had acquired sufficient resources to train the chivalric orders to boost your military when on the march.
• Muslim menace — Although it shares the same militia units with the Muslim civilisations, players should be wary that all is not as it seems: a Muslim player's ghuzat can be upgraded sufficiently to defeat Sicily (which as a Catholic lacks the technologies necessary) if their militia fight toe to toe.

Leader names: Ruggeru, Ziyadatullah, Custanza, Asad ibn al-Furat, Petru, Abu Abbas, Firdinannu, Al Qaim, Tancred de Hauteville, Ismail, Gugghiermu

Best age(s):

Castle to Imperial

Strategic Overview
Basic gameplay	Rise of Chivalry	Renovatio Europam