Religious & Political Leaders

This is an idea I posted a little bit about in another thread but I have been thinking about it a bit more and feel it deserves a thread of it's own.

Well, there are the scientific and military leaders, as you know, in CIV 3, and I think it would be a great idea to have Religious and Political leaders in CIV 4. How would they work? Well, they would come around randomly at different times in different cities and once there they will begin proselytizing their religious or political views. There can be monotheist leaders, communist leaders, democratic, republican, polytheist, animist, secular, and so on and so forth. They may or may not have success in converting some or many of your citizens to your views and you can try to stop them but you may make a martyr out of them and that would make things worse... if they manage to convert a large majority of your population to their ideology then there is a danger that your Civilization could fall into anarchy, and a revolution will be initiated which may possibly change your CIv's official religion and/or government type. Another interesting thing I think should be is that they will ignore borders and they may begin converting the citizens of a neighbouring civilization and possibly initiate revolution there. Perhaps you can actually sent them into an enemy's country to incite revolution, a good example of this is when Germany freed Lenin and funded his efforts to convert Russia into the Soviet Union. Imagine how fun it would be to incite revolutions to create a government or religion that is more favorable to your own?

Some examples of such leaders: Lenin, Ghandi, Che Guevara, Jesus Christ, and I'm sure you can think of many others.

Thoughts?

GOOD IDEAS
great leaders should be more sophisticated.
i would add cultrual great leaders as well.
So, my list of great leaders
Prophet, Firebrand Preacher (religious)
Composer, Painter, Writer, Poet, Singer (cultural great leaders)
Elder Statesmen, Revolutionair, Reformer, Diplomat (political)
General, Hero (military)
Scientist, Wisemen (scientific)
Philosoph (several purposes)
Dictator (in the original meaning /in the Republican Rome, they elected a dictator when the City was endangered/ several purposes)
Tradesman, Bussinesman (economic)

These great leaders should be able to do many tasks. Boosting culture or science or trade, lowering corruption, forming armies, finishing wonders, changing govment in one turn, changing religion, making other civs more friendly etc.

Good ideas, but I would not want political or religious leaders pop up totally randomly. Imo, triggers could be researching a tech (Polytheism, Monotheism, Communism,...) the number of unhappy people or cultural border expansions. Maybe religious leaders appear when you as a leader do not convert your people into the newly researched religion (with a % chance every turn). I think impacts of a political leader could be a shorter transition into the related government type or reduced corruption for a number of turns. Cultural leaders could rush cultural buildings or increase the culture output of a city (20k victory). With religious leaders I´m not sure since I lack detailed information on how religions will be implemented. Economic leaders are also a possibility with either similar impact as the wall street for a number of turns or increased tax income from a city.
But for me as a player the triggers for an appearance must be logical and comprehensive, totally random appearance sucks.

Since leaders appear by chance I suggest lowering their impact on the game. They should not be able to ever rush a great wonder, however they should be allowed to rush small wonders and city improvements. Here is how I'd have them appear and the extra effects each would have:

• As to the appearance and effects of Military and Scientific leaders, I would leave those as is.
• Naval leaders would have the same 1/16 chance when elite naval units win battles, and could build armadas.
• For a religious leader it should have something to do with your total religion. Maybe each time you build a religous building in a city, you'd get a 1/16 chance at a religious leader. You could use the religous leader to increase happiness in all your cities for 20 turns.
• For a cultural leader, it should mirror the scientific leader. For each turn your civilization is leading in culture you get a chance at a cultural leader. The cultural leader would gain your civilization extra culture over 20 turns. It would be really cool to lauch the British Invasion with a Paul McCartney cultural leader.
• Economic leaders could have a chance at appearing when your civ is generating the most commerce that turn. Thier effect would be increased commerce and reduced corruption over 20 turns.

The rate of cultural and economic leaders would have to be matched with the appearance of other leaders but you get the idea. I think about 2-3 leaders total per game is about right. It would also be cool if once you took one of the 20 turn abilities it opened up a new small wonder, the same way a victorious army does for military leaders.

plastique and mr.blonde

it seems that we agree in the basics of the question.
let me detail the tasks of each leader type.
1. Military Leaders: they would appear the same way like now. forming army, creating war college (small wonder, maybe enabling you to produce units in the city with bonus HP), finishing smal wonders&improvements, or if combat-system changes in Civ4 - enable some other combat options
2. Naval leaders - the same, concerning naval and fleet matters (build armadas, etc.)
3. Airforce leaders/air marshalls (Douhet, Göring etc.) same, concerning airforce matters.
4. Political leaders - they would appear after spending some time in the same government form or after building a certain a wonder, or when experiencing a golden age. Tasks: finishing improvements/wonders, introducing a reform (decreasing corruption), altering the government form in 1 turn, reducing war weariness, making your civs reputation better.
5. Cultural leaders - appearence: after finishing certain wonders, or spending 10-20% commerce on culture for several turns, or possesing a certain number of cultural improvements in your cities. Tasks: boosting cultural output, finishing wonders, reduce war weariness (just think of the heroic theme pieces of art!!! or recently the war-movies or the propaganda).
6.Economic leaders: (plastique's ideahave a chance at appearing when your civ is generating the most commerce that turn, or after finishing some wonders, or when being in a golden age, or when trading with other civs succesfully for a long time. tasks: finishing imps/wonds, reducing corruption, +1/+2 commerce output/city, trading with other civs more succesfully and effeiciently
7. Religious leaders: yet to be thinking of, because we are not sure that any part of religion would be implemented in the game.
8.Scientific leaders: remain the same.

Ideas?

Didn't even think of airforce leaders but thats a good one.

As for the appearance of political and cultural leaders, I think getting them after a wonder or during a golden age is too good. Think about it, you just got a great wonder or golden age that gives you a great ability and on top of that your getting a great leader.

How do you spend 10-20% of your commerce on culture?