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Game #25 - Celts/Boudica
Game #25 - Celts/Boudica
In the next ALC game, I'll be playing as Boudica, leader of the Celts--one of the new leaders added in the Beyond the Sword expansion pack. The purpose of this thread is to discuss, before the game, how to best exploit this particular leader's characteristics, which is the main feature and purpose of the ALC series. Just so we're clear, I'm playing with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack with its most recent official patch (3.17) as well as Solver's unofficial patch. (I should also note that I elected to allow tanks to still get barrage promotions.)
Here's the fact sheet:
- Traits: Aggressive (Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units; double production speed of Barracks and Drydock) and Charismatic (+1 happiness per city; -25% XP needed for unit promotions; +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower).
- Starting Techs: Hunting and Mysticism
- Unique Unit: Gallic Warrior (Replaces Swordsman; Strength: 6, Movement: 1, Cost: 40; Unique Characteristics: Starts with Guerilla I.)
- Unique Building: Dun (Replaces Wall; Cost: 50; Unique Characteristics: Free Guerilla I promotion for units built in the city)
Boudica is a natural warmonger.
I mean, come on. She's got two of the best warmonger leader traits: Aggressive for the free Combat I and cheap barracks and drydocks, and Charismatic for the low-XP promotions. What a combination! (Full disclosure: I did play an off-line game once with unrestricted leaders on, as Queen Boudica of Rome. Agg/Cha Praetorians... can you say, "ridiculously overpowered?" ) With free Combat I, her melee and gunpowder units have a head start and will accumulate promotions at breakneck speed.
The drawback here is that she doesn't have an obvious economic advantage. A lot of conquering could wind up destroying the Celtic economy. I would argue, however, that Boudica has a subtle economic advantage thanks to Charismatic: her cities can be just a little larger, especially early on--meaning they can grow to either work more cottages or run more specialists, depending upon the type of economy that's chosen. I'd lean towards SE myself, but its success may depend on the map.
The rest of her unique characteristics leave me cold, however. Her starting techs aren't bad, but they're not helpful to a warmonger. Hunting for Scouts? They can't attack, remember? I will try to leverage them to assist in scouting out enemy locations. And Mysticism? I don't expect to be founding any religions. However, maybe I should try to use it to build Stonehenge for an automatic +1 happy in all new cities until Astronomy comes along. And diverting hammers from monuments to barracks and unit would help war efforts. Hmmm...
The unique unit and unique building are even less thrilling. Honestly, Gallic Warriors are a pretty lame unit; Swordsmen, on which they're based, are offensive units, yet under the Celts they have a defensive promotion. Couldn't they have given the free Guerrilla I to Axemen instead? Anyway, the best thing I can say about Gallic Warriors is that at least, unlike Jaguars, they aren't weaker than the unit they replace.
And the Dun... hey, a free promotion is nice, but again, why that one? I'm not saying it's useless; I give Guerilla promotions to a couple of units a game, just to protect a stack while it's on a hill. It's just not that useful a promotion for scads of units. And for the Gallic Warriors, well... like Robin Williams used to say, look up "redundant" in the dictionary, and it says "redundant". (What's with Firaxis associating Celts and hills anyway? If that's based on Alesia, someone should remind Firaxis that the Celts lost that one. Come to think of it, the Romans eventually handed Boudica's no doubt finely-shaped tush to her as well.)
I suppose the lacklustre UU and UB compensate for Boudica's awesome warring traits. Basically, she lacks the advantages most other leaders have, so I'll have to make the most of the few she possesses.
Okay, now it's your turn.