Civ 4 BTS Who is the best Leader to play?

Best leader also depents on map probably - Gandi traits and fast worker is good almost at any map

But Quenchas and Industrial traits are map dependent i.e Huge Archipelago 18civs, Raging Barbs for example

player getting unlucky and alot of AI civs is Industrial also + AI got wonder rescues

Or player starts isolated alone on the isle = that will decrease quenchas power a bit, and sometimes if player playing Huge/Isle map like archipelago and islands player could be isolated on the isle until optics/astronomy

When I was a newer player learning the game the FIN trait helped so much. It allowed me to keep up in the science race with the computer as the levels of difficulty increased.

I then read the Wiki and saw that some players viewed the "FIN" trait as a crutch. I decided to find out and stopped playing with FIN. I had to back off the difficulty level and learn a bit more on micro and SE to climb back to where I was.

I think the FIN trait is great for war, as a player can leverage a tech leader into a powerful military advantage.

My favorite leader is Hannibal, but my highest scores come with Willem Van Orange, and those are either Domination or conquest victories. Love HC as well.

Lately I have been playing random leaders trying to better leverage the other leader traits. It has been an interesting learning experience to say the least.

What about Cyrus? -25% exp need for promotions from charismatic combined with +100 % Great General emergence + vassalage + theocracy is any good? Atleast he is better then Boudica?

And who is better for researching Darius or Elizabeth?

Also Montesuma maybe not best leader he is not even overpowered, but Montesuma is one of most fun leaders to play because of Sacrificial Altar (most useful building in game) combined with Spiritual trait


(Sacrificial Altar is the unique building of the Aztecs. Compared to the Courthouse which it replaces, the Altar costs 30 fewer hammers and cuts in half the duration of anger caused by whipping.)

I cant image a leader that is more fun to play then Montesuma

Spiritual / Creative is the best kind of leader, so that means Hatshepsut

I love many of them

my favorites are - Mansa Musa(cottage economy techer), Mehmed II(Exper), Ghandi(Specialist economy techer), Louis XVI(Cultural builder guy), Willem(CE Techer/Cultural pressure), Darius(Exper, lategame Techer to tanks/nukes/spaceship).

rosynelson said:

Hi,

I just installed Beyond the Sword, who is the best Leader to play?

Thank you,
Rosy

Click to expand...

I myself play this game a lot and experiment with many different leaders. Like most people will tell you, it all depends on your personal playstyle. But as for the ones I have had most experience with, these are the most successful.

Julius/Augustus Ceasar (Rome): Their special unit, the Praetorian, is a replacement for the swordsman, a classical era unit. But the Praetorian has the stats of a medieval era unit, giving you a very distinct early game assault advantage. Just pack some archers to counter axemen that get an advantage against melee units.

Genghis Khan (Mongolia): So, this is actually for the vanilla game, not BtS, but its noteworthy nonetheless. His advantage doesn't come from his unique units or structures, but rather the fact that he is Aggressive/Expansive (Instead of Expansive, in the BtS version his is Imerialistic). This allows for a unique playstyle of instead of razing cities, you can conquer them and quickly expand your borders. The best way to do this is to focus a good bit on culture (just don't overdo it. Get a good balance so you're not focusing on only one aspect.) so that you can push your borders out to constrict rival expansion. Also, continuously refuse deals or requests with anyone asking for military technologies. Its always good to stay one step ahead. Then invade your neighbors with a large army and take their territory. I've never lost after inputing this technology, but i've never tried it with the highest difficulties.

Asoka/Ghandi (India): Their special unit, Fast Worker, allows for you to build improvements much faster, and in turn, save you time by not having to build near as many worker units, so that you can make up for the lack of military benefits from India. India is also great for cultural victories, so if you're not really an aggressive player, India is a great choice.

Hope this Helped!

Gregory Williams said:

Hope this Helped!

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Rosy hasn't been seen on the forums in over 2-1/2 years.

While most people love HC, IND doesn't really suit my usual playstyle. He still has FIN, a top tier UB and I guess the UU is alright for barb defense, but I like WvO a lot better, there's just something about him. Amazing REXer, better starting techs.

Just for his traits (since his Civ is average at best), Sury is one of my favourites as well, he develops new land so quickly.


My least favourite has got to be Justinian, his start is very slow even with IMP due to his horrible starting techs, and I haven't done well in a single game with him. While Saladin, Charlemagne or either Celt are probably strictly worse, somehow I don't get hosed nearly as often when playing them.

Slip de Garcon said:

So am I! Mysticism is crucial to getting an early religion in BtS, and most of the other leaders that come with mysticism, IMHO, suck.

Click to expand...

Why do you want a Great Prophet? All they do is muck up the works. The other GP is what you want. Religion adds nothing you can't get some other way. Also nothing pisses off other dog as much as religion. Avoid it. Go for financial and tech advancement. Screw religion.
?

Hannibal, Justdian

Capac, Ghandi and Musa are easy and strong.
Perhaps very strong, not easy to play, is Elisabeth.

I had my two upmost games, power superb, and everything imaginable came to be, with Maya and Mali nations (MP with Mali). The fact with financial, an excelent trait needless to say, is it´s ease of use (hence the unnecessary 'crutch' peyorative). While I consider PHI to be halve a notch up nevertheless, less map dependant (though some situation might favor FIN play, it is more rare). The versatility and sheer unbalance PHI allows so early puts it on top of the economical traits.

Personally I like playing with the creative leaders when I want to take it easy. Wilhelm, Cathy, Pericles, Sury, Gilly, Zara, Kublai, Louis, and Hatty (although Rama might outdo the last 2 if he gets Stonehenge). Creative isn't the best trait, but I think it's the best 2nd trait, it allows you to focus more on leveraging your civs other abilities.

For newer players, any of the Creative Leaders are good bets. Especially Gilgamesh and Willem. Giggles has a fantastic UB, solid UU, good starting techs and all that together with Creative means he has a powerful early game that can transition well. Willem is simply the only CRE/FIN leader in the game, FIN is a very good trait for those even a basic understanding of cottages and is one of the easiest ways to give a boost in tech that doesn't require a lot of game knowledge. He, Hannibal, and Joao also have UBs that always make it worth it to settle coastal/island cities.

JC is a good pick for a player wanting to learn the benefits of early war, and they are very successful at pulling it off due to the power and simplicity of the "noobtorian." Augustus is the better leader I feel because IND is so powerful compared to ORG (despite ORG being my favorite trait), but either has their merits that would help one trying to grip the game. JC's ORG makes war and expansion more sustainable and less harsh on your economy, while Augustus would help the newer players indulge their build-lust by helping get wonders while still having a powerful early war option regardless of his traits.

Organized is also a great newbie trait, as it requires a lot less involvement for the economic cushion it gives. Zara is a great pick for those wanting to just have a lot of general ease in play: free fast border pops, ORG makes it easier to support REX, his UB+CRE trait makes border wars easier, and his UU is okay if Gunpowder is pick up quickly and you crank Drill promotions on them. If Giggles was ORG instead of PRO he'd be one of the top leaders in the game, though with his UB it's obvious why he isn't.

Although I haven't done the math for an early granary, but I consider the EXP trait one of the best. A cheap granary speeds up the whole game.
I very like to play as Surry (EXP + CRE). Also, he won't be an opponent, because he's the most annoying leader in the game. Mehmed and Shaka are also very strong when there's a lot of land to settle.
The SPI trait is also very good, because of its flexibility. This way you can avoid collecting negative diplo points when a leader asks for a religion and/or civic switch.

While he's probably not a top ten leader in terms of raw strength, Justinian is definitely my favorite leader to play. I love Spiritual; playing a Spiritual leader opens up tons of diplomatic and economic possibilities. Switching from Caste System/Philosophy (to churn out great people) to Slavery/Theocracy (to churn out troops) or Slavery/Organized Religion (to churn out buildings), or swapping religions so you can bribe and tech trade to your heart's content... it's just so fun. The trait really shines on Deity when clever diplomacy becomes absolutely essential to victory. I also rate Imperialistic highly; I like to REX and I like to go Bronze Working ASAP, which means I can get a lot out of the Settler bonus. Great Generals are admittedly not very powerful in this game, but super units are still really fun.

I love the Cataphract. It's kind of hard to use on Deity but sometimes you can combine them with Trebuchets to good effect. An undeniably cool unit.

The Hippodrome is only so-so but in my opinion most unique buildings in this game are worthless anyway, so that's not a big deal. Honestly I think the Terrace, the Ikhanda, and maybe the Sacrificial Altar are the only unique buildings that really make a difference. Everything else is either too weak or too late to matter--at least for my playing style.

The one thing I dislike about Justinian is his Mysticism starting tech. But you can't have it all.

I also enjoy playing Augustus (though Praetorians are kind of cheesy), Catherine (a fun REXer), and Suleiman (fun traits and starting techs). Generally speaking, I like leaders who are Spiritual, Philosophical, Industrious, Imperialistic, or Creative--these traits are the most fun to play, in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of Expansive, Aggressive, Protective, or Organized.

hi
for me i enjoy playing Stalin and Augustus Caesar.
Stalin is good mid-late game with his cossacks, as they are reasonably powerful, i have wiped out large nations than me only using cossacks
Augustus is OP early game with his praetorian units. in the game im playing now i have currently destroyed 5 nations and have only one more city left on the next one im fighting. but sadly the praetorian unit is only good (OP good) early game and is mediocre mid game and is crap late game.
DON'T PLAY INDIA, IT IS REALLY CRAP. seriously the special unit is a worker that works a bit faster. wtf.

Generic_Civ_IV_BTS_Player said:

DON'T PLAY INDIA, IT IS REALLY CRAP. seriously the special unit is a worker that works a bit faster. wtf.

Click to expand...

Actually the Fast Worker is among the best UUs in the game and it never goes obsolete. It can move into a forest and start chopping it immediately. That should not be underestimated.

We all have probably lurked on forums before we have signed up and posted. So number of posts isn't always a true demonstration of knowledge and experience.
However, I have to agree with the guy with 8475 posts over the guy with 1 post.
Fast Workers can be quickly sent all over your empire, especially with roads and railroads are available. They can usually start on their task immediately, getting their jobs done sooner for that city. If all cities have everything, you can prep up new ground (with spotters) for the next city.
Conquer a foe and don't like the Ai's improvement choices? send that fast Worker over. He'll get there quicker than any other and start working.
Playing multiplayer? I'll bet your ally would like some of your Fast Workers.

CaiusDrewart said:

I'm not a big fan of Expansive, Aggressive, Protective, or Organized.

Click to expand...

Funny, Mehmed II who is Expansive and Organized is one of my favorites.
He builds workers faster, which we use all game.
He builds Granaries, Courthouses and Factories faster, which I usually build in practically every city.
He builds Lighthouses and Harbors faster for my coastal cities.
His Civics are half cost all game long, which I realize isn't much at the start of the game. It is a savings that adds up and is a bigger later in the game.
He gets +2 health, which is probably the least reason for me to choose him, but is handy when I have a Flood Plains start or Jungle nearby. Settling that new city to get Gems, Dyes or Ivory and seeing the city immediately in need of health is not an issue for him.
Think of it this way, with some key buildings built more quickly (especially if chopped out by that worker we got sooner), our units can be built sooner.
When I don't play him, Mehmed II is usually one of my tough foes when he is near by.
He might be the best one on your list of least favorites to try sometime.

Bit disappointed, i would have expected @lymond to jump on that Fast Worker statement