Genghis Khan is AWESOME!!!or Genghis Khan, an excellent Warmongerer

Who here has tried playing as Genghis Khan in Warlords? In my opinion he is now the best war mongerer in the game. Obvioulsy he has the Agressive trait, thus giving you better melee and gunpowder units, and half-priced barracks and drydocks.
He also has the contoversial Imperialistic trait, which I think works very well for Genghis Khan specificaly. More on that later. (like in the next paragraph)

But the new Mongol UB rocks and awesomely combines with the UU, Keshiks. Though Firaxis' version of the Keshik may not dominate as much as it did historicaly, but it still is really great. They're really fast, being able to always move 2 squares per turn, and they have first strike, the only mounted unit with first strike actually. AND they are immune to the first strikes of your enemies. The Monglolian Ger gives +4 xp to Keshiks, so they'll be all around better, and your (half-priced) barracks give even more xp. Very strong Keshiks. But what about the Imperialistic trait? Well more Generals to lead you Keshiks, or, as instructors to give your Keshiks MORE xp. You can also quickly send in settlers to resettle the land your Keshiks have pillaged.

+3 xp from (quickly built) barracks
+4 xp from Ger
+2 xp from military instuctor
(optianal) +2 xp from vassalage
(optianal) +2 xp from theocracy
12 total xp that your Keshiks START with

So in conclusion, Genghis Khan of the mongols can quickly get strong Keshiks, then initiate a massive blitzkrieg of burning down cities, and that land can claimed by your settlers. Genghis Khan is truly the ultimate warmongerer.
(Maybe I should have posted this under strategy articles )

Discuss

Don't barracks just give there bonus to foot units?

Also dont forget the Combat I bonus he'd get from Agressive trait.

I'm defiently trying him next though... Sounds like a right monster!

I was under the vague impression (don't get rolled Mongolia much) that Keshik give up their first strike for first strike immunity. And they still suffer the -10% attacking city modifier I think.

Also remember that by the time you have vassalage and theocracy, longbows are already around and the AI should be shoving macemen at you soon. The age of Keshiks is over by then. Also, if you can get a GG by this stage..well done!

Still, a good warmonger.

The trick with Keshiks is to get them out ASAP. Their ability to move full speed through jungles and over hills with 2 movements per turn makes them terrifyingly quick. You can send them off long range to kill off easy targets, get some experience, and work up points for a great general. Just look at a power graph, find out who's the weakest, and go hunt them down. Once they've got quite a few promotions, you can use new keshiks as meat and old keshiks to finish the fights. It's fairly easy to conquer nearby nations with them up until spearmen and war elephants. When those come along, you have to start using catapults and melee units in conjunction with the keshiks. Your attacks will slow down a bit, but they continue to be useful for a very long time. They even have minor value in the modern era. Due to their rapid movement capability, they can be sent into your enemy's countryside to pillage tile improvements and steal workers. If you can't afford to upgrade to helicopters, keshiks will still do fine.

I like the mongols, but I think that Kublai Khan is better. with the Aggresive trait you capture cities, and with the creative trait their borders will expand without mounument or stonehenge. I like the keshik, but firaxis made a disadvantage of 10% when attacking cities to balance him. The time of the keshiks isn't short. Even when I attack a civilization with lots of clavries, I also bring some keshiks as catapult/trebchet killers

The beauty of the Keshik played properly (get 'em early and use them!) is the promotions they'll rack up. Bump at least one up with a general. Then you turn 'em into Knights and keep right on rolling. The limiting factor is simply money and if you can raze and pillage enough, you don't need much other income.

Really bad tho' if you're the Mongols and turn out to be on an isolated landmass!

Be great if they got the free combat1 and HBR wasn't so expensive (you'll probably want to more cities than usual with cheaper settlers).

I really love the Mongols in general now. This is a UB that simple works very well and Keshiks were always good. Great warmonger leaders both of them (creative is a good trait imo).

Also you get a GG quickly and can add that to a city and get another +2xp.

I find the Mongols one of the best warmongeriing civs, but they are the best as raiders.Keshik IMO are the best raiders in all the game, everytime i play as mongols and Keshik are available i declare war not just to conquer cities but to pillage their lands and make them weak later when courthouses are available and i can afford to conquer cities

Genghis is a powerhouse warmonger, no doubt about it. But this isnt entirely due to keshiks, the agressive/imperialistic combo is very strong and ger will lead to strong mounted units. I believe Genghis is the second best warmonger in the game, after Cyrus (Charismatic/imperialistic with immortals).

The Mongols are certainly fanastic. I adore the Keshiks. In a current game, I have just conquered Isabella's empire in four turns, with Keshik's ONLY. Te amount of promotions they get is unbelieveable, I currently have a Combat V, Shock, Keshik, and that's from war alone! These guy's must be respected, and used correctly, will be devastating.

You forgot 1 serious think. If you want to use the full potential of the mongols, you MUST have horsers. Without this resource, you are in trouble.

That is certainly true Devil, but many units require resources, and if you do not have them, they cannot be built. What you said is a very general statement.

Dnomal said:

Don't barracks just give there bonus to foot units?

Also dont forget the Combat I bonus he'd get from Agressive trait.

I'm defiently trying him next though... Sounds like a right monster!

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barracks work on all land units, not just foot units. And the Combat I promotion from Agressive only goes to melee and gunpowder units.

DevilJin said:

You forgot 1 serious think. If you want to use the full potential of the mongols, you MUST have horsers. Without this resource, you are in trouble.

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not really with the agg/imp combo you can still field a formidable army of catapults, swordsman etc

i prefer cyrus for warmongering but genghis is also a great

I'm currently having a disappointing first go as Ginghis Khan. Having popped AH from a hut really early I thought this should be great. Got to HBR early and built 14 Keshiks coming out with 7 exp. from the Gers. Had no iron so eyed up my neighbour Tokogawa who had 2 iron mines, and my Keshiks just got slaughtered. I lost all my Keshiks trying to take 2 Jap cities. One city had just 1 Archer, 1 Spearman defending against 7 Keshiks, all Keshiks died still leaving 1 spearman and 1 archer in the city! I guess you're immune to them with the Protective trait and city walls! and Keshiks now lose 10% city attack. Another iron rich neighbour to the South is Brennus with most of his cities built on hills; my Keshiks would fair worse. So far I'm not a fan of Keshiks and the Ger.

Yeah you did have bad luck. Toku's protective trait and aggressive traits means that his cities are virtually impregnable, and Brennus' Duns means that units build in walled (dunned) cities have free guerrila I promotion (which of course gives units +20% defence). But in other situations keshiks would fare alright. And not only keshiks, but also other mounted units eg cavalry.

Calder said:

I'm currently having a disappointing first go as Ginghis Khan. Having popped AH from a hut really early I thought this should be great. Got to HBR early and built 14 Keshiks coming out with 7 exp. from the Gers. Had no iron so eyed up my neighbour Tokogawa who had 2 iron mines, and my Keshiks just got slaughtered. I lost all my Keshiks trying to take 2 Jap cities. One city had just 1 Archer, 1 Spearman defending against 7 Keshiks, all Keshiks died still leaving 1 spearman and 1 archer in the city! I guess you're immune to them with the Protective trait and city walls! and Keshiks now lose 10% city attack. Another iron rich neighbour to the South is Brennus with most of his cities built on hills; my Keshiks would fair worse. So far I'm not a fan of Keshiks and the Ger.

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Keshiks are not Cavalries, you can't capture cities that easily againts tokugawa, so sould bring some(maybe a lot) catapults.

Stalin is the best im sorry, Kosaks + aggrasive + industrious = Realy dominant mid game.

I had recently played a game with Genghis and yes is 7xp keshiks are good. I didn't really get to see the power of Genghis until much later in the game. Since I used swarms of keshiks to pillage and attack every unit left out alone I was able to have an extremely large amount of GG's. These large amount of GG's that were accumalated made a very powerful army of cavalry. I had one city pumping out 21xp cavalry every 2 turns. Now if there is anyone that can say anything bad about that army, there is something wrong with them.