All Leaders Challenge Game 32: Holy Roman Empire / Charlemagne
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Played with the Beyond the Sword expansion pack

Pre-Game Thread
Round 1: 4000 BC to 2760 BC (turns 0-31)
Round 2: 2760 BC to 2000 BC (turns 31-50)
Round 3: 2000 BC to 425 BC (turns 50-98)
Round 4: 425 BC to 50 BC (turns 98-113)
Round 5: 50 BC to 680 AD (turns 113-144)
Round 6: 680 AD to 1210 AD (turns 144-181)
Round 7: 1210 AD to 1540 AD (turns 181-218)
Round 8: 1540 AD to 1804 AD (turns 218-272)
Round 9: 1804 AD to 1874 AD (turns 272-307)
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 Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire. Before we start the game, a more detailed discussion of Charlemagne is in order.
Traits:
Protective: This trait, lovingly referred to as the worst trait in the game, gives free Drill I and City Garrison I promotions for archery and gunpowder units. It also lets us build walls and castles at double speed. The archer and gunpowder promotions are actually not bad. On defense their benefits are obvious but even when attacking it means that fewer city garrison troops need to be left to defend from counterattacks when the main force moves on. Walls I rarely build and castles I never do. So getting them at half price isn't particularly useful. However, when price goes down, demand goes up (note we're moving along the curve, the curve is not shifting). The question then is, does making castles half the price mean I will build them? The answer is still a pretty decisive nope.
Imperialistic: This trait is slightly better though still not one of my favorites. It makes great generals appear 100 percent faster and it gives us a 50% bonus on the raw hammers being used to build settlers. Be careful, this is not the same as a 50% production bonus to making settlers as might be suggested Firaxis. For example, a city with 6




Starting Techs: Hunting and Mysticism
Well these are perhaps the two worst starting technologies. In his current teaching nobles to play thread, VoiceOfUnreason lists 27 different technologies that should be gotten before these two. Hunting let's us build camps on deer, fur, and elephants while Mysticism let's us build monuments, Stonehenge, and get a quick religion.
Unique Unit: Landsknecht
This is a replacement for the pikeman, which, maybe not surprisingly, is a unit I don't build very much. The Landsknecht is exactly the same as the Pikeman in that it requires Engineering and a source of iron and gets a 100% bonus against mounted units. But the Landsknecht also gets a 100% bonus against melee units. Unfortunately, they get nothing against archery units which is particularly troubling since the longbowman is the only unit of the era we have trouble attacking anyway.
Unique Building: Rathaus
Yay, something good to say about Charlemagne! To go along with his lame traits, starting techs, and unique unit, is what is lovingly referred to as the best unique building in the game. That's more debatable the protective being the worst trait, but the Rathaus is certainly terrific. It's a courthouse that decreases maintenance cost by 75% as opposed to 50%. That might not sound like a big deal, but it is! And it will allow for pretty much unlimited expansion once we get Code of Laws. I'll also admit that the Rathaus does make the Imperialistic trait more appealing since those settlers can be settled guilt-free.
Starting Position
In this ALC game, I'll be playing as Charlemagne, leader of the Holy Romans. I'm playing the game using the Beyond the Sword expansion pack and its latest patch, as well as the BUG mod. 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:
Here's a reminder as to Charlemagne's unique characteristics:
And, finally, here is the starting position:
I'll let you guys figure this one out, I'm going bowling.
