Recent content by Alex Vance

I agree with your general outlook on the faction. I don't think it's worth putting everything on hold for Tagmata every game. That said, there have been games in which I had a bad start, and wasn't able to properly begin a Horseman rush in a reasonable timeframe. Under those conditions, it's...

Listen, I'm just going to be honest about this: you're one of my favorite posters here. I generally agree with what you say. On this aspect, however, we'll have to agree to disagree. Tagmata are, in my experience, an extremely powerful UU; and PotatoMcWhiskey recently speculated that Tagmata...

I picked Theodora, Tokugawa, and Ludwig for my personal top 3. Yongle is definitely S tier, but he's just not my style. Varangian Harald is my runner-up and I'm still on the fence whether he is S tier or B tier.

I'm happy with Varangian Harald. I view him as the opposite of Basil II: he starts off extremely strong, but his abilities lose overall power throughout the game. That's okay, though - by the time his abilities decline, you should have already snowballed hard. Compared to Basil II, who also...

I have a subtle yet persistent feeling that he's going to be really, really strong. He has spent so long being subpar. I think they saved his alt version for last because they're going out with a bang.

So this is how I view things, after reading all the responses: Theodora is more consistent. Basil II is more explosive and snowballs harder. Theodora is better if you're on a map that has more water, or less Civs. Basil II is better on a map with less water and plenty of Civs close together...

One of your resident Basil II fanatics back again with a quick question: which leader to you prefer, Theodora or Basil II? Obviously Basil II is more domination-focused, while Theodora is more culture-focused. However, they both get Taxis - which in Theodora's case works well offensively early...

I'm beginning to wonder if Tagma are meant to be a unit capable of being consistently rushed. 1) I'm tried building around Culture, but Byzantium has zero ways of boosting their Culture output in any significant way except by building Theatre Squares next to Hippodrome -- yet you want to save...

They already made Rome great again when Basil II dropped.

You want a truly unpopular opinion? I believe most people who criticize the AI in Civ 6 do not have a clearly formed idea of what "good AI" would act like, or even why specifically they believe Civ 6 has bad AI.

Yeah I think the whole "Bombers in the Medieval age" is just a load of bullfeathers.

Agreed 100%. This difficulty -- along with the payoff -- is what attracted me to Basil II's playstyle to begin with. I would say no aspect of Basil II is easy until after you've already established a winning global position; then all that is left is mop-up duty (which at that point is more...

No unit created by a hippodrome will ever cost a resource-per-turn except gold. Tagma produced freely by hippodrome will never cost Iron; tagmata upgraded into tanks will never cost oil-per-turn, either. Upgrading the "free" unit will not make it cost a resource like a normally created unit. As...

Crusade is essential. All other religious perks are not, which makes Basil II quite flexible at building a religion that works under any particular scenario. And since NPCs never pick Crusade, your most important perk is very safe. If you want the advice of a Basil II main: I never build more...

Remember all those Youtube videos when Basil II was spoilered? How "insane" he would be, how fun, how easy it would be to win, etc... I'm not here to disagree with that. I'm here to point out that the "average player" (i.e. people who go on TierMaker to broadcast their personal opinion)...