Ok, it seems from the pros around here, Ghandi is actually a very strong leader for harder levels. A bit of a surprise especialy when I thought he was a junker. Anyhow, I will give him another test whirl on just Prince for now, and see how it goes. IF I pull this one off I'll step him up to the next level. Any suggestions?

I think he's a wuss. He might make my top 10 favorite leaders, but barely.

I think he's a wuss. He might make my top 10 favorite leaders, but barely.

Just curious, what's your top 10?

Ghandi's my favorite, I like the industrious trait, and I like to swtich Civics depending on what I need at that time. I also like the UU, quicker infrastructure means stronger economy, faster. Then I can get the tech lead early and hold it.

My top 10? Hmm... Lets whip a quick one up:

1. Julius Caesar
2. Huayna Capac
3. Mansa Musa
4. Victoria
5. Cyrus
6. Peter
7. Elizabeth
8. Catherine
9. Saladin
10. Qin Shi Huang

Something like that. This is for Immortal. I'd say Gandhi is somewhere between 10-15, in the middle of the pack.

My top ten? All the ones I haven't tried.

To me, part of the challenge/fun is maxing out a strategy and tricks I haven't used before. If there's a leader I think is weak, I might just spend quite a bit of brainpower trying to figure out some tricks/strategies to get the most out of that leader's traits and UU.

To some extent, what's the fun in replaying the same leader using the same strategies on the same world/climate every time? About the only thing that will make it even halfway exciting is that you will have different AIs to fight, and those dynamics will make for at least some variety/excitement.

Wodan

I'm playing Ghandi for the first time in my current game. Playing on Noble, only level I've played, and this is the first game that I'm within the top three in score. Normally I'm in the bottom two-thirds of the pack. I don't believe I've changed strategy. I think with having fast workers throughout the game has helped my infrastructure grow to keep me up in the techs.

I've tried other leaders and have never really been able to keep up.

If you play Gandhi, make sure to take your socks off. They simply do not go with the sandals. Makes you look like a dork, even with the longer robes.

Well a little detail on Ghandi for you:

As you know, he walked around a lot barefoot, and so he would get a lot of callouses on his feet. In addition, he didn't eat very much which made him rather skinny, and what he did eat tended to give him bad breath.

Does anyone know what that makes him?





...




Wait for it....



...



A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by hallitosis!

Well a little detail on Ghandi for you:

As you know, he walked around a lot barefoot, and so he would get a lot of callouses on his feet. In addition, he didn't eat very much which made him rather skinny, and what he did eat tended to give him bad breath.

Does anyone know what that makes him?





...




Wait for it....



...



A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by hallitosis!


Did you make that up? :lol: Or is it some sort of internet joke that has been around for years that I am just now hearing about. Either way it is brilliant!

Ok I am back from my trial (Prince Level). I did a big blunder. I am used to quick mode, so I changed back to normal. What a difference! I totaly screwed myself by not realizing how slow it takes to make things, and my whole projection was wrong. I ended up beelining for something, then it would end up all for nothing as I had to wait for something else to go (or not go) and to make a long and terrible story short, I lost my town to a barbarian! Ughhh

Lesson learned. I switched back to Quick mode, and everything fell into place like clockwork, no more serious miscalculations. However, I did notice that on quick mode the Indian worker loses his movement bonus. So I guess for users who play on quick mode, I can see why ghandi is not that big of a deal.

Anyhow, I won. Though barely. While I had over a thousand times more culture than the biggest nation, I also almost lost due to the space race. My opponent has just 1 more piece to add (it was that close!) Luckily, I hit the time victory just in time [sic].

I started off in a very bad spot, capital right next to an ocean (ugh...) But slowly I took one city after another while trying to trick the AI into fighting against each other to buy me time. I even went to war with the space racing AI at the end even though he was on another continent. There was no chance in hell I would get over there in time and do enough damage to stop him, but i declared war on him anyway. It seems the AI slows down its space race production while at war... though I can't prove it yet, this has been evident in most my games.

Also screw the obelesk thing.... I find it very hard to found religions on the harder levels. Half the time you are gambling weather you can get there in time or not.

BTW, I noticed in the manual it mentions ghandi has one favourite civic (now I forget which one it was). What I don't understand, is why would a leader have a favourite civic? I thought you should adapt your civics to the situation on hand. Or do some guys get a special bonus with certain civics?

BTW, I noticed in the manual it mentions ghandi has one favourite civic (now I forget which one it was). What I don't understand, is why would a leader have a favourite civic? I thought you should adapt your civics to the situation on hand. Or do some guys get a special bonus with certain civics?

A favorite civic reflects "real life" ... whatever that is. I suspect that there are modifiers if the civ is not in their favorite civic. There may be a hated civic and that is where the trouble starts. An AI will be passive in their favorite civic... I think...

With Gandi, you can road up quicker, connect luxaries and spend less time building workers which is a big deal in civ4.

Hmm, but there are some leaders who don't have a favourite civic at all. Interresting.

A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by hallitosis!

For the benefit of those who didn't get it, think Mary Poppins.

Ah, I wondered what was so funny about it. Totally went over my head.

Favorite civics is an AI diplomacy thing. If you have an AI leaders favorite civic you get some brownie points with him. The favorite civic of a leader you play is completly irrelevant.

Hmm thought i'd re-try again. Man, what a crap ending to my game. I tried Romans again so I could see how well I did in comparison to Ghandi. Geeze... I was with victoria on my continent so I wiped her out early... And was able to build a few wonders. Well I expanded over my island. I noticed Cyrus was stuck with an opponent on another continent. I ended up giving all my techs and all my stuff to cyrus since he looked a little weak. I was hoping to keep a good ally with him for diplomacy. WEll... this AI screwed me up the ^@$^#$ again!

Despite all the favours I did for him... and he had his own troubles withhis opponent... when I built the UN wonder and went for the votes... can you blieve it.. that bastard voted for his enemy neighbour over me??????????

WHAT!!!!!

Then to top that one off... Poof I was declared war on and raped quicker than it took the AI to move one square.

I give up on giving away techs.. Youre ally is nothing but your future enemy. I think too many people see too much into this ally nonsense.

As a side note, I've noticed in teh past when ever I build the UN wonder, it seems the AI suddenly gets VERY agressive. I guess it was coded that way to make it tuffer than it already is.

I've played as him a couple of times on Noble. It's difficult to know what to research at times. Usually I beeline for Bronze Working first so I can chop, but with Gandhi I sometimes like to go for a religion first. Or Masonry so I can get the Pyramids.

The thing is, I'm still having a lot of trouble. It might just be bad luck, but the first game I played with him, my Fast Worker was killed by a bear. Restarted. The second time, I was continually harassed by barbs pillaging my stone resource. If that wasn't enough, I started next to Monty who, as so many on these forums have said, cannot be trusted. Surely enough, he sent an army of chariots around to wipe me out.

Maybe it's just bad luck. I am playing on Noble, and I find it a lot easier to win with other civs. But maybe I need some help, too. Can anyone suggest a good Indian build order?

I just tired ceasar again. Man... what a long game, I had it on quick mode and this still took many, many hours. It's now past 3 am. I tried soemthing new and stupid... interresting thing is it worked. I only built one city the entire game. And I avoided building anything in them for 99% of the time. Intead I took pretorian (sp?) units and just made unlimited groups. Marched them all over my giant continent and one by one picked fights. Surprisingly no one declared war on me early. I think the AI knows when it is out-matched so it decides to settle down. I was even able to FORCE them to give me free techs without going to war?

Anyhow, took bloody ages, but I became so over-power by the time I hit tanks. Eventualy I was finaly backstabbed. China send in a LOT of cavalry units but eventualy I ground him down. He took out 2 of my cities but nevertheless, I got my revenge and continued to plow into him until his last city was toast. I could have easily won the space race or the diplomacy thing, but instead I went for domination. Got it about 8 rounds before the time victory would have set in.

Right now I got a migraine from all this, I hope I don't play again for a week!

I've played as him a couple of times on Noble. It's difficult to know what to research at times. Usually I beeline for Bronze Working first so I can chop, but with Gandhi I sometimes like to go for a religion first. Or Masonry so I can get the Pyramids.

The thing is, I'm still having a lot of trouble. It might just be bad luck, but the first game I played with him, my Fast Worker was killed by a bear. Restarted. The second time, I was continually harassed by barbs pillaging my stone resource. If that wasn't enough, I started next to Monty who, as so many on these forums have said, cannot be trusted. Surely enough, he sent an army of chariots around to wipe me out.

Maybe it's just bad luck. I am playing on Noble, and I find it a lot easier to win with other civs. But maybe I need some help, too. Can anyone suggest a good Indian build order?

Most of my Gandhi games on Noble I tried this:

1. Establish first city on first turn and make worker first.
2. While your worker's being made, get Buddhism -> Bronze Working
3. Chop Rush two warriors, a settler, then stonehenge in Capital OR second city.

I've always started this way and have done rather well. One thing with Gandhi is culture and great people are easy to come by early, so use them to your fullest and the rest of the game will be a breeze.

Most of my Gandhi games on Noble I tried this:

1. Establish first city on first turn and make worker first.
2. While your worker's being made, get Buddhism -> Bronze Working
3. Chop Rush two warriors, a settler, then stonehenge in Capital OR second city.

I've always started this way and have done rather well. One thing with Gandhi is culture and great people are easy to come by early, so use them to your fullest and the rest of the game will be a breeze.


Agreed! One thing tho....
I can never seem to get to Buddism in time. So I beeline for Hinduism.

Indians ARE culture monsters! Gotta love em.

:borg: We are The Gandhination. Your culture will adapt to service....us :borg:

:borg: And....yes! I do want fries with that! :borg:

A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by hallitosis!

Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle aye -
Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle aye!

:goodjob:

I use Ghandi in most of my games.

I personally think he's really good as a peaceful leader. And keeping peace is not really that hard because in many cases (in Prince or below) you can get all religions. Furthermore, because of the fast workers you can connect resources much faster, giving you a head start on the early wonders. Getting stonehenge, the pyramids and the oracle is not uncommon either.
Also, the fast worker is not as strong as many other UU but they remain effective throughout the entire game.

The biggest disadvantage is that if you miss out on the initial early boost, e.g. because of an early warmonger, you'll be lagging behind during the entire game. And secondly, your UU is not a military unit so a military 'golden age' is out the question.

Grr I just died on Prince again. I was on a smaller continent than Another AI. To make a long story short, not only was I going to lose a time victory, but the AI also built the space race because he had bigger territory and bigger resources.

What do you do when you start off on a small continent? I am finding it impossible to keep up. IF i try to do an amphibious attack, all that happens is you fall even further behind!

Agreed! One thing tho....
I can never seem to get to Buddism in time. So I beeline for Hinduism.

Indians ARE culture monsters! Gotta love em.

:borg: We are The Gandhination. Your culture will adapt to service....us :borg:

:borg: And....yes! I do want fries with that! :borg:

To ensure you get Buddhism first, at least on Noble and below, always start researching it on the FIRST turn and not the second--if you let it default, it always starts on the second for some reason. What often happens is a bunch of civilizations are trying to get Buddhism at the same time, and the computer calculates who gets this religion either by who started researching for it first, or just chance. If you start on the first time I assure you'll always get Buddhism.

You cannot start researching until after you've built your first city. What the game should've done is give the research pop up as soon as your city is built and not the next turn, but I guess someone in Firaxis missed that. ;)

It's not a bother to me, but a lot of other people miss that thought.

You cannot start researching until after you've built your first city. What the game should've done is give the research pop up as soon as your city is built and not the next turn, but I guess someone in Firaxis missed that. ;)

It's not a bother to me, but a lot of other people miss that thought.

Actually this seems to happen in all civ games, the research pop only comes up on the second turn. I've always been smart and started my research on my first turn after making my first city though, and it seems this is even more important now if you're trying to get the first religion. I've always had Buddhism now that I do this.

It seems common sense to me you should not be able to research unless you have a city. How else are you getting money?

I love NOT playing India , I let them get a few religions and holy shrines , let them spread it everywhere and then ......... invade and take it all for myself ! > those fast workers are great ........ do all the work for me !.

Actually this seems to happen in all civ games, the research pop only comes up on the second turn. I've always been smart and started my research on my first turn after making my first city though, and it seems this is even more important now if you're trying to get the first religion. I've always had Buddhism now that I do this.

When I start research on the 2nd turn after founding the city the bar of research generally seems filled a bit already (not just the upcoming amount!). I suspect the amount researched in the 1st turn is remembered. So it might not make a difference ;).

Ok after doing a few tests on monarch level, I really give up with Ghandi. I swear he is so useless on those higher levels. Every single time I have Ceasar next to me.... I had not even a chance in hell even if I were able to keep up in the tech race, which is impossible.

Ok after doing a few tests on monarch level, I really give up with Ghandi. I swear he is so useless on those higher levels. Every single time I have Ceasar next to me.... I had not even a chance in hell even if I were able to keep up in the tech race, which is impossible.

Try this strategy, though it may not work well on every start.

Bronze Working > Meditation > Priesthood > Writing

Chop rush stonehenge and then the oracle (yeah, you need a bunch of forest) and use the free tech to grab code of laws (you need to time your chop rush of the oracle to be completed just after you finish writing. You should have time to get a 2nd city founded somewhere in there and this city is your military production center.

This should give you Confucianism and a Great Prophet to build the religious wonder for it shortly thereafter.

Start churning out missionaries from one city, negotiate open borders with those near you and convert potential enemies to friends. Soon you will be running at 100% science and either be able to out expand your neighbors or else support a large enough military to take them out...

good luck!