All Leaders Challenge Game 31: Greece/Pericles
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack

Round 0: Move the Scout
Round 1: 4000 BC to 2360 BC (41 turns)
Round 2: 2360 BC to 550 BC (52 turns)
Round 3: 550 BC to 275 AD (33 turns)
Round 4: 275 AD to 1090 AD (43 turns)
Round 5: 1100 AD to 1540 AD (48 turns)
Round 6: 1540 AD to 1765 AD (45 turns)
Round 7: 1765 AD to 1902 AD (59 turns)
Post Mortem
Introduction
The idea of the All Leaders Challenge is that games are going to be played with each of the Civ IV leaders. With the help of all the posters who participate, an attempt will be made to make the most of the leader's unique characteristics: traits, starting techs, unit, and building. Aside from the leader, the other game settings are (mostly) kept constant for the sake of comparison. I will post the saved game files, screenshots, and status reports here as the game progresses.
Everyone is invited to offer opinions and advice, and to make your own attempt at playing the same game. But if you do play a "shadow game", I kindly request that you refrain from posting spoilers--i.e. any facts or even hints about the map, opponents, and so on--before I'm there myself. I'm trying to play the game as authentically as possible.
In this ALC game I’ll be playing as Pericles of the Greeks. Before we start the game, a more detailed discussion of Pericles is in order.
Traits
Creative: gives us +2

Philosophical: increases the birth rate of great people by an incredible 100 percent. And it also doubles the production speed of the ever important university. Philosophical is an awesome trait by itself as it allows us to get double the amount of great people we normally would for the first few thousand years, but join it with creative and it's excellent. The fast library + the fast great scientists mean that very early academies and bulbs are open to us. If any leader was designed to have a few killer GP farms it's this guy. That being said, I want to caution people away from relying exclusively on specialists. Just the way that it's bad play to avoid specialists and only build cottages when financial, it's bad to avoid a few good cottage cities when philosophical. Overall Pericles has an excellent combination of traits and I'm really excited to see what we can do with him.
Starting Techs: Fishing and Hunting
Hunting and fishing are both pretty situational technologies. Hunting is nice to have if we get fur, ivory, or deer in our capital's cross, but otherwise it's kind of lame. Fishing is a little better, as it leads to sailing which allows trade routes on the coast. Obviously, if we start on the coast, fishing is great to have, but if not it's only mediocre. So, while the traits are superb, the starting techs are not. But we'll wait and see what the map looks like before we get too low on either of these techs.
Unique Unit: Phalanx
The Phalanx is an axeman replacement that gets an addition +100% versus chariots. As chariots are the only thing that can threaten the axe, the Phalanx is a great unique unit for early rushes. Unfortunately, they do require copper or iron. So unless we get lucky with our strategic resources, a Phalanx rush might not happen. But if copper is nearby except to see some early AI decimation.
Unique Building: Odeon
The Odeon is a replacement for the coliseum. It has not only the normal benefits of +1






Starting Position
In this ALC game, I'll be playing as Pericles, leader of the Greeks. I'm playing the game using the Beyond the Sword expansion pack and its latest patch. The difficulty level is Immortal, the map is Fractal, and the speed is Normal. I’m leaving all the boxes unchecked except for huts and events, both of which are off. All victory conditions are enabled. If you have any questions about why I picked what I did, feel free to ask.
Here is a more detailed look at the initial game settings:
And, finally, here is the starting position:
Have at it!