Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
In my All Leaders Challenge thread in this forum, several people suggested having a pre-game strategy session before each new game with each leader so that I (any anyone else also playing the challenge) is not going into the game cold, with no ideas as to how to best leverage the leader-in-question's traits, UU, and founding techs.
(In case you didn't see that thread, my All Leaders Challenge is to play one game as each leader on your current level--mine is Prince--through to the end. I'm not going to say through to a win, as that could take several games. The only caveat is to skip leaders you've already been successful with on that level, and to especially try leaders you've never played as before.)
As I mentioned in the ALC thread, I've played and won as the Americans (Roosevelt and Washington), so I'm giving them a miss. I already played my Arabs/Saladin game, so next up is the Aztecs and everybody's pal, Montezuma. I remember someone mentioning that one of the best ways to ensure that you don't have the hyper-aggessive Aztec as a neighbour is to play as him. So that could count as a strategic advantage right there.
Montezuma has an interesting combination of traits: Spiritual and Aggressive. His starting techs line up with these: Mysticism and Hunting. Seems like a contradiction at first glance. Spiritual tends to lend itself to cultural wins, while Aggressive, obviously, points to conquest or domination. So your heart yearns to be one with the cosmos while your hands yearn to feel the death-rattle in your enemies' throats as you throttle them. Huh. No wonder Monty is kinda schizo.
Still, it seems to me that you can leverage this by using the Mysticism head start to collect religious techs, then use a Great Prophet or two to get Theology and maybe Feudalism ASAP for the Theocracy and Vassalage civics. Then Monty's units are getting 4 free XPs just from civics alone, on top of the free Combat promotion and the cheap barracks. Monty could, theoretically, be building Level 4 units (or the equivalent, 3 promotions) before 1 AD. And the free civics change means you can shift easily to peace-time civics to catch up tech-wise. Sounds like a recipe for conquest in early wars, all right. So, how does one get there? Discuss.
However, it seems a truth universally acknowledged that Monty's UU, the Jaguar, sucks. Sucks donkey. Sucks rhino. Sucks blue whale, the largest animal known to have lived on the face of the earth. I mean, this is the only unit that is LESS powerful than the one it replaces (5 strength for Jags, 6 for Swordsmen). It's a little cheaper than Swordsmen and doesn't require Iron, but when I've been up against these things, they remind me of the suicide squad in Life of Brian ("Suicide Squad... attack! Suicide Squad... commit... suicide! ARRGGHH..."). And a jungle defense bonus? Sheesh. Yeah, you stay fortified in your jungle, Mr. Jaguar, while I go right around you...
So how do you leverage these guys? Or do you just not bother with them, in which case, how do you compensate for not having Swordsmen?
I look forward to your responses, then heading out to conquer the world for the glory of the Aztec Empire. Montezuma's Revenge, indeed.
(In case you didn't see that thread, my All Leaders Challenge is to play one game as each leader on your current level--mine is Prince--through to the end. I'm not going to say through to a win, as that could take several games. The only caveat is to skip leaders you've already been successful with on that level, and to especially try leaders you've never played as before.)
As I mentioned in the ALC thread, I've played and won as the Americans (Roosevelt and Washington), so I'm giving them a miss. I already played my Arabs/Saladin game, so next up is the Aztecs and everybody's pal, Montezuma. I remember someone mentioning that one of the best ways to ensure that you don't have the hyper-aggessive Aztec as a neighbour is to play as him. So that could count as a strategic advantage right there.
Montezuma has an interesting combination of traits: Spiritual and Aggressive. His starting techs line up with these: Mysticism and Hunting. Seems like a contradiction at first glance. Spiritual tends to lend itself to cultural wins, while Aggressive, obviously, points to conquest or domination. So your heart yearns to be one with the cosmos while your hands yearn to feel the death-rattle in your enemies' throats as you throttle them. Huh. No wonder Monty is kinda schizo.
Still, it seems to me that you can leverage this by using the Mysticism head start to collect religious techs, then use a Great Prophet or two to get Theology and maybe Feudalism ASAP for the Theocracy and Vassalage civics. Then Monty's units are getting 4 free XPs just from civics alone, on top of the free Combat promotion and the cheap barracks. Monty could, theoretically, be building Level 4 units (or the equivalent, 3 promotions) before 1 AD. And the free civics change means you can shift easily to peace-time civics to catch up tech-wise. Sounds like a recipe for conquest in early wars, all right. So, how does one get there? Discuss.
However, it seems a truth universally acknowledged that Monty's UU, the Jaguar, sucks. Sucks donkey. Sucks rhino. Sucks blue whale, the largest animal known to have lived on the face of the earth. I mean, this is the only unit that is LESS powerful than the one it replaces (5 strength for Jags, 6 for Swordsmen). It's a little cheaper than Swordsmen and doesn't require Iron, but when I've been up against these things, they remind me of the suicide squad in Life of Brian ("Suicide Squad... attack! Suicide Squad... commit... suicide! ARRGGHH..."). And a jungle defense bonus? Sheesh. Yeah, you stay fortified in your jungle, Mr. Jaguar, while I go right around you...
So how do you leverage these guys? Or do you just not bother with them, in which case, how do you compensate for not having Swordsmen?
I look forward to your responses, then heading out to conquer the world for the glory of the Aztec Empire. Montezuma's Revenge, indeed.