Alexander the Great

[iamdanthemansta]

I've been growing more and more impressed with Alexander. I like his trait combo a lot. Philisophical allows a specialist economy, in fact it's really the backbone of it, and agressive is a great trait. I think agressive gets somewhat lost in the shuffle of the new traits but a free combat 1 promotion is huge. This allows not only the imideate benifit of +10%, but it allows access to more powerfull promotions later. And since it doesn't count as a promotion it's still easy to get the earliest promotions. With a trait like Charasmatic you may get promotions faster but after a certain point there still very hard to get, while agressive essentally allows you to reach a higher level in the promotion chain. Also his UU is somewhat under rated. True it'll never be a great offensive unit, but it has great defensive utility. It's can counter and early horse unit, which are becoming more and more popular, and it at least stands some sort of chance against axe men or sword men. His UB is also under rated as an extra happyness in one of the first happyness building is huge on higher levels. I've been thrilled to get this on Emporer. True Alexander's starting techs suck, what's with no minning, but he has some real power.

 

[DigitalBoy]

Alexader has always been a favorite of mine. While I'm not crazy over the phalanx, it is moderately useful in early rushes, where it serves as protection for axemen stacks as well as doubling as a shock troop for attacking enemy cities. The computer loves to use archers to defend early on, which makes the phalanx every bit as good as an axemen on the offensive. The phalanx is also useful once stronger mounted units like war elephants come along. The odeon can be useful every now and again. In a recent game, I bee-lined Construction in order to build catapaults and got the double bonus of the odeon, which was very useful since I had no luxuries or religions. Starting techs aren't so great. I love Hunting since it grants an early scout, but the usefulness of Fishing as an early tech is entirely situational.

 

[iamdanthemansta]

the one advantage of fishing is that I feel the CPU tends to give you more starts with a fishing resourse, which means you can get the resourse while still growing your city.

 

[Eqqman]

And since it doesn't count as a promotion it's still easy to get the earliest promotions.

It does count as a promotion. What these free promotions do not do is increase the starting level of your unit, so your first earned promotion does not come later.

 

[Paulk]

This fishing tech is either the best starting tech or completely useless ot all depends on your starting location. And with hunting you start with a scout which has its own advantages.

 

[NKVD]

it seems i'm the only to have always chosen my leader by random...lol

 

[aelf]

The Phalanx is even more useful now that chariots eat axemen. You need to build at least one or two early on to accompany your axemen and they provide much better protection than spearmen.

 

[Acceptable_Loss]

it seems i'm the only to have always chosen my leader by random...lol

here here. Always random for me too... but I due adjust me strategy once I find who my leader is. and Alexander is a fav of mine in Multi: Phi for SE, which is better in multi since CE is more vunerable in mulit. Agr for combat which occurs me often in multi. and the UU is awesome in multi since horses are more prevalent. I haven't played Alexander since Warlords so I don't know about his UB.

 

[Mind_worm]

here here. Always random for me too... but I due adjust me strategy once I find who my leader is. and Alexander is a fav of mine in Multi: Phi for SE, which is better in multi since CE is more vunerable in mulit. Agr for combat which occurs me often in multi. and the UU is awesome in multi since horses are more prevalent. I haven't played Alexander since Warlords so I don't know about his UB.

How do you manage all the micro-management required for SE in multiplayer? Or do you play with time limit off?

I just play with my buddy on medium speed and I dont think I could handle a SE. Much less the blazing speed that everybody seems to prefer.

 

[apopholeus813]

I'm stubborn so I attack with stacks of phalanxes anyhow, conequences be damned. From a gameplay standpoint I can understand the phalanx's ratings. From every other standpoint thought it's completely wrong. Phalanxes (Hoplites) fought against other foot soldiers i.e. melee troops and if they were disciplined and held their ranks were basically the tank of the bronze age. As far as the idea of greeks in the mediterannean heat in all that bronze armor defeating an enemy with bows on horseback seems pretty farfetched. So phalanx should have melee combat bonuses instead and also city defense bonus since they were citizens who formed in time of war to defend their cities.

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

Alexander is one of my favorites. Phil is an awesome trait in my book for a warmonger, I think. The GP really help you stay in the tech race...lightbulbs, academies, trade missions, wonder rushing, culture bombs for captured cities...you name it. Aggresive is a cant-miss military trait that doesnt need time to "build up" like Imperialistic or Charismatic, plus the cheap barracks are nice in the beginning when you dont have the time to build them.

I think the phalanx is awesome. It just destroys chariots and horse archers, but it also dominates against other UUs in the same time period...Keshik, Numidian, War chariot, while standing their ground against Swordmen. I usually have them with three to four promotions when Pikemen come online, but I can put the upgrades off for a bit...theyre strong enough to deal with Knights and War Elephants. Not too many UUs are solid for several eras (praets) but the phalanx is.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the Odeon, a versatile UB. Instead of building a theater, temple, and coliseum...I can build an Odeon and be done with it for quite some time. Kills several birds with one stone in captured cities.

 

[pi-r8]

I really don't understand what's so good about the phalanx. I mean, yeah, it'll take out chariots and horse archers, but I've never had a problem doing that with spearmen. Otherwise, I'd rather just have an axemen.

I do like Alexander's traits though.

 

[futurehermit]

^^bottom line is you NEED some spears in your stack now that chariots eat axes. phalanxs are superior to spears in that they protect your axes, but also have 5 strength, so they can double as axemen when attacking cities. on top of that, once you've captured a city, they maxe nice defenders when coupled with an axeman.

overall, i would say that phalanxes are an underrated uu and alex is my civ of choice right now. he rox.

fishing kinda sux as a starting tech, but hunting rox. i pretty much always go for a 2-scout start, which lands me extra huts, which can make a HUGE difference early on. i mean, there's nothing like a free tech or 50+ gold to keep your tech rate up early on. and using warriors to pop huts sux since you could pop baddies which 1) cost you the benefits of the hut and 2) can cost you your warrior...

 

[snipafist]

^^bottom line is you NEED some spears in your stack now that chariots eat axes. phalanxs are superior to spears in that they protect your axes, but also have 5 strength, so they can double as axemen when attacking cities. on top of that, once you've captured a city, they maxe nice defenders when coupled with an axeman.

overall, i would say that phalanxes are an underrated uu and alex is my civ of choice right now. he rox.

fishing kinda sux as a starting tech, but hunting rox. i pretty much always go for a 2-scout start, which lands me extra huts, which can make a HUGE difference early on. i mean, there's nothing like a free tech or 50+ gold to keep your tech rate up early on. and using warriors to pop huts sux since you could pop baddies which 1) cost you the benefits of the hut and 2) can cost you your warrior...

I'd agree that Phalanxes can serve double-duty as city attackers in the early game, and can take swordsmen if the battle is tilted slightly in their favor, and as such, reccomend themselves more than a typical spearman. I might bring 2-3 phalanxes along with each attacking army rather than 1 spearman. Additionally, with a strength of 5 they easily own mounted troops (rather than perhaps needing a tiny boost like spearmen), so you can spend their XP on city raider promotions to work them double duty. I still think they are an iffy unique unit though. Most good unique units can function as the backbone of an army (berserkers, samurai, immortals, redcoats, praetorians, etc.), and so you get a lot of mileage out of them. Unique units that replace support elements without adding any huge benefits (phalanx, skirmishers, camel archers, etc.) are helpful, but aren't "good" in the same vein that the others are.

Fishing as a starting tech is very feast or famine (almost literally). If you start near the water with some water food resources nearby, it can be amazing. Starting off by making a fishing boat allows you to tap the early food resource for some huge benefits, while also allowing your city to grow at the same time. Compared to making a worker, which keeps your city at size 1 until completion, it's a pretty good option, especially if you're tech-racing in the early game (running for judaism, for instance). If you're situated inland, though, it's effectively a wasted tech. I wouldn't begrudge it too much, though. With Alex's traits, you can deal even if you start off landlocked.

 

[Artillis]

it seems i'm the only to have always chosen my leader by random...lol

Naa I always pick random also, makes the game more exciting when I start a new one lol

 

[aelf]

Many forget that the Phalanx beats an elephant handily and can stand up to knights. It is a UU with possibly the longest shelf life in the game, spanning three eras.

 

[Pantastic]

I really don't understand what's so good about the phalanx. I mean, yeah, it'll take out chariots and horse archers, but I've never had a problem doing that with spearmen.

It also takes out archers in a city just as well as an axeman; as Alexander I'll include some city raider phalanxes in my army, which fight mounted units as well as a combat II spearman and attack archer cities as well as an axeman. It's a subtle difference, but it means you can protect your early stack against horses without blowing production/maintenance on units only good against horses. It does much better against Egypt's strength 5 chariots and Cyrus's strength 4+defense Immortals than a regular spear, and is the only ancient or classical unit that counters elephants. It doesn't really go obsolete until Cavalry comes along since it's equal to a night (5+100% vs 10), so it's also good for those annoying times when you have bronze nearby but not iron.

The defense on hills also comes in really handy on occasion, even medieval units like macemen are at a disadvantage trying to clear them from a hill. You don't always have a vital resource on a hill, a good chokepoint with a hill, or a key city on a hill, but if you do then fortify a few and watch the AI crash and burn.

 

[Keldryn]

Everybody, sing along with me!

------------

Near to the east
In a part of ancient Greece
In an ancient land called Macedonia
Was born a son
To Philip of Macedon
The legend his name was Alexander

At the age of nineteen
He became the Macedon king
And he swore to free all of Asia Minor
By the Aegian Sea
In 334 b.c.
He utterly beat the armies of Persia

Alexander the Great
His name struck fear into hearts of men
Alexander the Great
Became a legend mongst mortal men

King Darius the third
Defeated fled Persia
The Scythians fell by the river of Jaxartes
Then Egypt fell to the Macedon king as well
And he founded the city called Alexandria

By the Tigris River
He met King Darius again
And crushed him again at the Battle of Arbela
Entering Babylon
And Susa treasures he found
Took Persepolis the capital of Persia

Alexander the Great
His name struck fear into hearts of men
Alexander the Great
Became a God mongst mortal men

<Guitar Solos>

A Phrygian king had bound a chariot yoke
And Alexander cut the Gordian Knot
And the legend said that who untied the Knot
He would become the Master of Asia

Helonism he spread far and wide
The Macedonian learned mind
Their culture was a western way of life
He paved the way for Christianity

Marching on... marching on

The battle weary marching side by side
Alexander's army line by line
They wouldnt follow him to India
Tired of the combat, pain and the glory

Alexander the Great
His name struck fear into hearts of men
Alexander the Great
He died of fever in Babylon

----------

Am I the only one who starts singing this song in his head every time Alexander pops up in Civilization?

I haven't actually played as Alexander yet. I'll have to give him a try next time.

 

[VictorNorman]

All,

I must be an idiot -- I can't do well on Alexander. (Actually, I'm not that good on any of the leaders, it seems). But, with Alexander, you get Barracks at 1/2 the cost, right? So, this implies that you should build up military early on, and expand your civ through military -- i.e., through annihilating other civilazations, right?

So, I built 2 or 3 cities, and got a bunch of archers built early on (sped up with forest chopping), and then beat up on Washington/America, my neighbor. I took 2 or 3 of his cities, and now I'm at 5 or 6 cities.

But, I'm getting farther and farther behind now in the rankings. I see Saladin pulling away -- I have ~550 points and he has ~750 points.

Should I continue to expend so many resources building military and just continue raiding other civs? Should I go after the highest ranking civs at this time, or pick on the weaklings? Or should I try to pick up my research pace?

Or have I made irreparable mistakes already and I'm doomed to lose the game?

Thanks.

Vic

 

[Gnarfflinger]

Try to pace your expansion with the ability of your economy to pay the upkeep. When you attack, pillage the ground and if the city doesn't fit your dotmap, have a great wonder or a Holy City, then raze it. Otherwise the upkeep will kill you.