Best Aggressive Leade *Fixed*

[The Almighty dF]

Due to a poll glitch, having to try this again.

Don't forget to vote on the rest in the series if you haven't yet:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=376205 Philosophical
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=375548 Creative
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=376228 Charismatic
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=375839 Spiritual
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=376296 Financial
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=376401 Expansive
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=376519 Imperialist

Aggressive's a fairly average trait, and I don't normally hear too much praise for Agg leaders, so let's hope for some diverse voting this time!
Just remember to take into consideration synergy. How the leader's aggressive trait works with his secondary trait, his UU, his UB, his starting techs, etc.


For me, I've gotta go Alexander. I'm not a big warmonger, but Alexander helps me conquer a quick neighbor, then I can rely on his philosophical trait and the Odeon to churn out great people.
His UU's pretty nice, and fishing is one of the best starting techs because, in my experience, most of my starts tend to be coastal. Even without a coastal start, it means I can pick one as my second city to make my Great Scientist city.

Honorable mention goes to Hammurabi. I love his UU, his UB is very nice, cheap courthouses, and he starts with agriculture so quick farms. However, he loses points because he strikes me as more of a peaceful player and aggressive seems really out of place for him.

 

[vranasm]

I dont generally play many aggressive leaders... but I somewhat enjoyed playing as Shaka... I like impis and his UB is really good...20% reduction + courthouse makes it almost on par with rathaus. you need to build 2 buildings instead of 1 though ;-)

aaah...maybe I should start some game with him in the near future ;-)

 

[UWHabs]

I voted Kublai, although I do like Ragnar on water maps.

Toku was a lot of fun to play as, but obviously he wouldn't do as well in a lot of situations.

 

[itg]

+1 for Shaka. A second-tier rushing UU (plus mounted stack defense), top UB, and reasonable starting techs. I'd love to vote for one of the Khans, but without horses, they kind of suck. Ragnar's a good choice for water maps, and I expect him to get a ton of votes off the strength of FIN. Hammurabi's solid but boring. Montezuma has an awesome UB, but I'm not impressed with any other aspect of the civ.

 

[CHEESE!]

Toku. 'Nuff said.

 

[The Almighty dF]

I voted Kublai, although I do like Ragnar on water maps.

Toku was a lot of fun to play as, but obviously he wouldn't do as well in a lot of situations.

Yea, I expect Kublai and Toku to probably be the bottom leaders.
Cre seems like a bad trait to have for a Mongolian leader, and Toku... eh. His traits only give military impact, his UB is late, his UU is mid game, so he doesn't really have much to help him -use- his military traits.
Agg/Pro, balance wise, should have been given to someone with maybe a mid game UU and an early UB. Tokugawa strikes me as more off an Agg/Cha leader anyway (he -was- very charismatic, and a brilliant strategist.)

 

[madscientist]

Aggressive means one thing in my book and Genghis does that so very well.

Monty would be the next best due to the Spiritual trait for economic/war civic swapping and a crazy UB.

Hammurabi is just plain dangerous with those traits even if the UU is trash.

Kublai is a step down from his Granddad as I feel the need to run some sort of economy with those cheap libraries.

Shaka has that great cheap UB although the UU is situtational.

Boudica is great once established but a slow starter making rushes chalenging (but still doable).

Big Al, Ragnar, and Tokugawa are more map dependant than anything else but can still war with anyone.

The Aggressive trait means war, pure and simple. I ranked these leaders based on who I prefer to do that most with.

 

[UWHabs]

Interesting calls in Kublai vs Genghis. Genghis can get faster settlers and an earlier GG, but Kublai has leeway in city placement, and can get libraries up sooner to right the economy.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I voted Shaka. Unfortunately, Aggressive isn't a top trait, so this doesn't have two clear-cut great Civs. there should be some diversity in this voting, I don't have strong feelings for my selection.

Montezuma has the Sacrificial Altar. I don't care for his UU. Maybe I don't use him to best advantage.
Ragnar is pretty good at everything. His UU is actually pretty good, Amphibious can even be used for some land attacks using a river to defend yourself. UB depends on map but isn't great. Financial is very good.
Alexander - Odeon's main use is cultural victory. With his UU, an axe rush becomes attractive because he doesn't get owned by Chariots. Philosophical is very good if you use it.
Shaka - Expansive is a good trait. Both his UU and his UB benefit from the aggressive trait. He probably has the best synergy. UU is multipurpose, not a good rusher. Everthing else works and aggressive fits in with it. I wouldn't put him in as best Expansive Leader, but . . .

I'll go for Shaka, but allow that one of the other three might be better.

 

[The Almighty dF]

Aggressive means one thing in my book and Genghis does that so very well.

Monty would be the next best due to the Spiritual trait for economic/war civic swapping and a crazy UB.

Hammurabi is just plain dangerous with those traits even if the UU is trash.

Kublai is a step down from his Granddad as I feel the need to run some sort of economy with those cheap libraries.

Shaka has that great cheap UB although the UU is situtational.

Boudica is great once established but a slow starter making rushes chalenging (but still doable).

Big Al, Ragnar, and Tokugawa are more map dependant than anything else but can still war with anyone.

The Aggressive trait means war, pure and simple. I ranked these leaders based on who I prefer to do that most with.

To me, aggressive is also a great defensive trait. Much better than even Protective in the early game.
I can build better barb protection, since barbs love to pillage. I can also get up some quick medic warriors, I get a quick step towards being able to get the heroic epic for later game wars, and I can wipe out any barbarian cities that crop up in land I want.

It's also nifty to have just in case you get a nearby neighbor who you -know- is going to turn against you eventually, so you can go ahead and rid the world of them so you're free to go about a more peaceful path.

 

[vranasm]

At one point i tried 4 consecutive games with Monty and just have to say that I absolutely hate his starting techs... so far away from his UU (on top of that it's on tech you usually try to backtrade) and no food tech for start making it even worse (right now i am not sure if he doesnt have fish+myst, but I think he has hunt+myst)...

at least with Romans you are tech closer to their UU

 

[goodolarchie]

Shaka's UB makes for nice conquest synergy, but the UU is meh. Genghis is the complete package and one of the most fun warring AI's to play!

 

[shyuhe]

Stalin is missing from the poll.

 

[plasmacannon]

Stalin is missing from the poll.

YES!

I agree, add Stalin to the AGG Poll.
He is AGG/IND and has a decient UU.

I voted Genghis Khan.
He is set up for an early warrior rush, as he can build both Barracks and Settlers fast.
Then, focus on warriors, with research on Ag, AH, M, BW, HBR, A
After he has gained a GG or 2, his Keshiks will be created promoted and continue the battle for more GGs.

Genghis Khan the Conquerer !!!

 

[DMOC]

To me, aggressive is not just an average trait, but a below average trait. I typically will not war early and I have really started to like horse units which don't benefit from the trait. I voted Shaka because of the synergy between his unique building and his trait.

 

[lymond]

Shaka seems pretty obvious here. Probably one of the best overall synergies among the leaders and he practically has a 3rd trait with his UB. One of the few leaders I can think of that actually gets a bonus on his UB. The Impi can be pretty devastating if you can get them out of the gate early. I'm already on record about my love of EXP.

Although there has been a lot of argument about here UB/UU, as a pure warmonger Boudi is a pretty nice AGG leader. The CHAR trait just make it that much better. Plus, the GW and DUN have a free promo to go with the CI and early upgrades.

Monty gets props for Spiritual which is nice for warmongering, but has starting techs blow and I've never really been able to use Jags effectively. His UB is great though.

 

[lymond]

Shaka's UB makes for nice conquest synergy, but the UU is meh. !

I think Impi's are pretty sweet actually. You may not be able to rush them in all cases, but they are great for choking and pillaging.

 

[The Almighty dF]

YES!

I agree, add Stalin to the AGG Poll.
He is AGG/IND and has a decient UU.

I voted Genghis Khan.
He is set up for an early warrior rush, as he can build both Barracks and Settlers fast.
Then, focus on warriors, with research on Ag, AH, M, BW, HBR, A
After he has gained a GG or 2, his Keshiks will be created promoted and continue the battle for more GGs.

Genghis Khan the Conquerer !!!

...Crap. This time it wasn't a glitch, I actually did forget Stalin.
I used the Civilizations page to refresh my memory, where he is listed as "Agressive".
If a mod can edit this, or someone could get a mod to edit this.

 

[SuperSmash5]

I gotta go with Shaka. As much as I love Alex, I just plain HATE his starting techs. I always try to do an early rush with him, but it's always so slow because of his crappy techs. Shaka, on the other hand, has an amazing start. Even if his UU isn't that great, he's got fast workers, fast granaries, and fast UB, which is a pretty nice one to have if you're an early warmonger. Also, all of those fast buildings means it's easy to whip/chop hammer overflow which is a pretty nice thing to have when you're rushing.

 

[Higher Game]

I went Monty because the sacrificial altar can be absolutely vicious, but Ragnar and Hammurabi are also very good choices (I think Hammurabi is one of the most underrated leaders).

I don't see the Zulu love. The ikhanda is one sweet building, but that's about it.