Army or Wonder?

[Aphex_Twin]

What's better to do with a Great Leader?
Army right away or rush some important wonder?

I suppose that once you have military academy, leaders are better suited as wonder rushers, but what about the rest of the time?

 

[Proteus]

My first Leader almost always creates an Army.
After the First Victory of the Army you are able to build the Heroic Epic which increases the Likelyhood of Leaders appearing and later the Military Academy which build further ARmies, so I think it is a good move to create an Army first.

Only Exception would be if there is an important great Wonder to build and another Civilization is nearly finished with it.

All further Leaders are used to hurry wonders.

 

[Chieftess]

That's always up for debate...

Building a wonder:

Pros:
- You get a wonder quick

Cons:
- You lose the leader
- You risk not getting anymore leaders (if the RNG doesn't go your way)

Building an Army:

Pros:
- You can build a free army
- If the army is victorious, you can build the herioc epic
- Heroic epic gives you a better chance for more GLs.

Cons:
- You'll have an outdated army if it's during antiquity
- Most antiquity units can't blitz (I think some middle age units can, but I'm not sure), so you're slowing down your army, even if you do add better units.

So, it's a tradeoff. It also depends on the situation. Did you just conquer another civ? Is there capital a prime location for the FP? Is another civ going to finish a wonder before you do?

 

[Proteus]

Oh you forgot to mention that a victorious Army also gives you the Opportunity to build a Military Academy in Medieval Times with which you can build further Armies, Cheiftess.

aside from this:
Yep, it is as Chieftess said. Depends on the Situation (and of course also on your Playing Style [Builder vs. Warmonger])

 

[RagnarD]

I usually use my first GL to hurry a Forbidden Palace, and my second to build an army (for all the reasons stated below).

I place a lot of importance on using the 1st GL for an FP because it takes forever to build it far enough away from the capital for it to do any good.

If you get another one after that, it's pure gravy. Use those to rush wonders.

 

[billindenver]

You may never get another great leader without it.

After the first one, I use all future leaders for wonders.

 

[SirJethro]

You can read as many responses to this question as you want, but at the end of the day, there is really only one correct answer:

It depends....

 

[calle-76]

If im playing a millitaristic civ i build the forbidden palace else i make one army then build wonders with the rest.

 

[Fierro1816]

Your first great leader should be packed and delivered to my civilization ASAP...

 

[Hades]

I used get my first leader to build an army without any thougts. In the last few games, I have started to use my first to rush wonders. Here are my reasons:

1. Some wonders are just too important to miss out. Yes, you could capture it after AI built it but what if it is built half way across the world?

2. I am at war too much not to have another leader.

3. The main advantage of the first army is the ability to build a heroic epic and military academy. For heroic epic, the benefit is 1/12 instead of 1/16 chance of getting a leader from a elite victory: too small to tell the difference. Military Academy: I don't need more armies unit modern age, in the mean time I have many chances to get another leader.

 

[Evincar]

If your civ (and you!) are militaristic, you may want to use the leader to get the wonder: it's pretty easy to get another one in the Middle Ages when units are Okay to make an army.

BTW, armies have the Blitz ability AND ZoC, regardless of wether the units in it have it or no . On the other hand, they lose any "specific ability" the units may have. In other words, don't make paratroopers/marines armies!!!

 

[island007]

I normaly build an Army with my first leader.

The Heroic Epic increases you chances of a future leader by 33%. It becomes 1/12 instead of 1/16.

 

[Sukenis]

Has it been documented about how the Heroic Epic works with a militeristic civ?

 

[billindenver]

Being a militaristic civilization does NOT increase the chance of getting a Great Leader, Heroic Epic or not.

However, you will get many more Elite troops, and THAT increases your chances of getting a Great Leader.

 

[hbdragon88]

Militaristic civs render the Heroic Epic obselete, because it starts off with a 1/12 odds of getting a GL. I wouldn't know how much lower it would go if you built the Heroic Epic w/ a military civ.

 

[Catt]

double post

 

[Catt]

Originally posted by hbdragon88
Militaristic civs render the Heroic Epic obselete, because it starts off with a 1/12 odds of getting a GL. I wouldn't know how much lower it would go if you built the Heroic Epic w/ a military civ.

Widely believed and repeated, but incorrect. As billindenver said, being Militaristic increases the odds of unit promotions (regular -> veteran -> elite) but does not in any way increase the odds of leader generation following a successful elite-won battle. Whether Militaristic or not, the chances are 1/16 if attacking and 1/32 if defending. With the Heroic Epic, the odds increase to 1/12 attacking and 1/24 defending.

This was confirmed by Firaxis, and the direct post by MIke B. can probably be found in sumthinelse's thread on GLs.

Edit: There are also a bunch of exceptions (no GLs against Barbarians, no GLS from armies, etc.) that don't bear repeating here - check out sumthinelse's thread by doing a search.

 

[hbdragon88]

God, that's why I never get a Great Leader from beating a lot of barbarians. I thought for sure that I'd get a Great Leader with all the dumb barbarians senselessy attacking me. Nothing has happened yet. Once even an elite unit got killed! It frustrated me so much...

 

[thefrenchzulu]

In the tournament game 3.1 had had so many leaders that I was about to cry. I had the Pentagon (rushed) by 10 AD.

Had 3 armies (1 filled and used)
Rushed my FB
Rushed the HE
Rushed the Pentagon

Why?

There were no wonders available! (deity game)

 

[ukrneal]

FYI - The FAQ on general discussion page lists all the odds depending on if you have the epic and are a militiristic civ.