I have never played as India but I am looking at it. Do you like that fast worker? It seems really nice especially at the start of the game for getting a real nice jump ahead. That and they are the only UU that is going to be used on turn one all the way through the game.

I am not a big fan of the spiritual trait usually though.

How do you enjoy playing as Asoka or Ghandi?

(any links to articles or threads I missed in my search would be great too!)

I haven't yet played a game with India Civ. Check out this thread regarding the spiritual trait.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=160682

Actually, you don't start with your UU. (You can build it immediately.) Incas are the only civ which gets theirs on turn 1. I like the Fast Worker, but it's really not that great of a UU. Most worker turns are spent working; i.e., you move somewhere, then spend 3-4 turns there building a cottage, mine, or farm. So, perhaps cutting a turn off of the move only saves you 20% or 25%.

Fast workers are easier to run well, though, without MM tricks.

Starting with Mysticism is very powerful, typically allowing you to get at least one of the early religions. Both, on lower play levels. So, experiment with it, but you can certainly go for early religion very easily.

Of the two leaders, I prefer Gandhi, since Industrious fits well with a peaceful builder sort of civ. Get religions, build wonders. Asoka would be better suited to an early conquest run, perhaps necessary on higher levels of play (Emperor and higher).

I like the starting techs of India and there are a large number of strats you can use with both leaders. And they don't even have to be peaceful. ;)

Although I tend to be peaceful when I am Ghandi.

I'm going to start a game with Asoka tonight, I'll post my impressions of the game when I finish, or when something interesting strikes my fancy.

First time I've played India.

Tom

For what it's worth, I think that the fast worker UU is underrated.
It's available immediately, useful for the entire game, and never obsoletes. In fact, it gets better with age (as do all workers) from certain techs and wonders.

Sure, it has no military value (except as a decoy/bait), but other than that, this is a great unit.

I prefer the industrial and spiritual mix given by Ghandi, but that's just my style of play.

(Oh, and as for the comment from Wreck about not starting with a fast worker UU immediately, this is true. However, I swear that previous to the 1.52 patch/perhaps 1.09, I played as India and had the fast worker to start with, rather than a warrior or scout. Anyone else recall this?)

(Oh, and as for the comment from Wreck about not starting with a fast worker UU immediately, this is true. However, I swear that previous to the 1.52 patch/perhaps 1.09, I played as India and had the fast worker to start with, rather than a warrior or scout. Anyone else recall this?)

If that were true it is no wonder they nerfed it. That would be absolutly HUGE! Way to huge.

So, perhaps cutting a turn off of the move only saves you 20% or 25%.


"only"? IMO this is a lot! Anecdotally, when I play India, things seem to go quite a bit faster! This advantage really seems to give a good kick-start to your new cities.

Best thing about Fast Worker:

You can move into a forest and chop in the same turn.
You can move onto a hill and mine in the same turn.

The former saves you one turn every time you do a chop rush.

Incas are the only civ which gets theirs on turn 1.

Mali does also on the higher difficulty levels.


I was kind of disappointed by the fast worker as a UU. I thought it would be more useful than it was but as it turns out simply building a second regular worker does an even better job. Unlike military units that go obsolete both last the whole game, so once the second worker is built they are equal forever.

There are also periods when your workers don't really have anything important to build. I now prefer to have a military UU instead.

India does have nice traits though.

indian fast worker rocks. i love indians. i mean.... i'm not an indian, but the fast worker is a great UU.

it has 3 movement points, so it will build faster as well. doesn't it? every improvement "consumes" movement points and is built when enough are thrown at it...

it has 3 movement points, so it will build faster as well. doesn't it? every improvement "consumes" movement points and is built when enough are thrown at it...

No. Improvement tasks consume worker-turns, not movement points. Actually performing the improvement task takes just as many turns for a fast worker as for a regular one. BUT because you can move onto a forest/hill/jungle tile AND start on an improvement in the same turn (and because you can redeploy your workers to the far corners of your empire more quickly) you get more jobs out of the worker over a given span of time, so your economy grows more quickly, and everything benefits from this.

In fact, this advantage will be greater on the faster game settings than on Epic or Marathon.

Best thing about Fast Worker:

You can move into a forest and chop in the same turn.
You can move onto a hill and mine in the same turn.

The former saves you one turn every time you do a chop rush.

Quoted for truth. I have no idea how much impact this has for me over the course of a full game, but it certainly feels like it makes all the difference.

Fast workers are one of the most powerful units in the early game IMO. If you stack 3 of them together they chop every turn a forest. You can get really many hammers to build wonders, armies, settlers, what you prefer. When chopping indian workers are in fact 100% better than normal ones.

....However, I swear that previous to the 1.52 patch/perhaps 1.09, I played as India and had the fast worker to start with, rather than a warrior or scout. Anyone else recall this?

I preordered Civ4 and after it arrived the first game I played was as Gandhi. I did not start with a worker. I also played Gandhi after each of the patches and in none of them did I start with a worker.

A start with a settler, worker, and scout would be awesome!

I think I received a free worker the first time I played without patches (prior 1.09), at settler difficulty.