Best courthouse replacement?

[mrdoe]

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus

 

[kochman]

wow i's make a poor joke and y'all jump on me like i was an ignert

I think you mispelled ignorant and have some bad grammar above...

 

[SmokedSalmon]

Whipping?

 

[eireksten]

Whipping?

Slavery - Hurry Production by sacrificing population

Sacrificial Altar is definitely best of these three

 

[Rusty Edge]

I'd rather have Ikhandas for 6000 years than a special courthouse.

 

[Dr.Null]

Rathaus is the best, but Zigg is my favorite, due to timing.

 

[IAM]

I'd rather have Ikhandas for 6000 years than a special courthouse.

They deserve honorable mention but shaka can build regular courthouses too.

 

[Higher Game]

The altar is the best. It's good enough to make entire city sites significantly better, places with lots of food but very little production.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Sacrificial Altar for me.

Ratthaus is good but I only played HRE once (for my Time victory slot for HoF Quattromaster).

It's #1 in the table (quick, warlord level, standard map size)!.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The altar is the best. It's good enough to make entire city sites significantly better, places with lots of food but very little production.

Actually it opens up an entirely different placement strategy, since you can repeatedly 1-pop whip without the city going useless. This allows you to pack cities more tightly and keep them relatively low-pop while whipping units as needed. With the kremlin and bio even like 2-3 farms makes for a fairly ridiculous production site.

Standard whipping takes less micro with the sac altar and it can whip those seafood sites to par nonstop without fear of much consequence (making this UB superior to the dike on water maps :/. Willem still has better traits and UU to abuse water at least).

If nothing else, the 30 cost reduction is ALWAYS present.

Obviously since monty is spiritual if you're really aching for some micro phasing into whips and back out can increase your output further. Aztec is a very solid civ in this game although most people love to hate them due to monty's AI.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Rathaus, because I was fortunate enough to be invited to a big "haus" party at the Rathaus in Vienna, Austria some years back. (Wow, it's been 5 years already!)

Oh, and I guess the maintenance benefit works too...

 

[Le Sage]

The Rathaus is the best. It's just awesome. It's so good that it makes my life worth living and gives it meaning. I mean wow! The Rathaus. Who can live without this excellent invention!? I would be dead already, weren't it for the Rathaus, because it's really God's gift to mankind and it's the Crown of Creation and the height of Evolution all in one. I mean WOW! The Rathaus has already saved so many lives all around the world.

Don't get me started on the Rathaus, because I can go on praising this excellent piece of house forever. It's just way cool. And the kids love it too! It's for all the family. The Rathaus.

 

[Rusty Edge]

They deserve honorable mention but shaka can build regular courthouses too.

That's the cool part, the combined bonus.


So it's what, Ikhanda -20% maintenance 60 no tech requirements and 3 Exp?

Courthouse -50% maintenance 120 @ Code of Laws

Total Ikhanda & courthouse -70% maintenance 180 and 3 Exp. Zulu
Barracks &Rathaus -75% maintenance 170 and 3 Exp HRE

I'll agree that the Rathaus is better in the long run, but in Civ, I always enjoy having my advantages early. That and I'd rather play as Shaka against the HRE than as the HRE against Shaka.

 

[ICNP]

That's the cool part, the combined bonus.


So it's what, Ikhanda -20% maintenance 60 no tech requirements and 3 Exp?

Courthouse -50% maintenance 120 @ Code of Laws

Total Ikhanda & courthouse -70% maintenance 180 and 3 Exp. Zulu
Barracks &Rathaus -75% maintenance 170 and 3 Exp HRE

I'll agree that the Rathaus is better in the long run, but in Civ, I always enjoy having my advantages early. That and I'd rather play as Shaka against the HRE than as the HRE against Shaka.

Shaka is aggresive so the Ikhanda is half price. It's why I love the Zulu so much (Impi's are Ok) because they can build up so rapidly. They build core buildings (Granary and Ikhanda) at half price and can build workers to get cities online faster. A very solid civ.

All this talk of the Sacrificial Altar has me thinking, what if you put Darius (or Ragnar) of the Aztec on a water map? Financial allows you to make great use of those water tiles, and the Sacrificial alter makes whipping better! Actually Hannibal may be the best here, as Charismatic makes Monarchy practically unneeded in this strategy since Whipping+Charismatic makes happiness a non-issue.

 

[IAM]

Shaka is aggresive so the Ikhanda is half price. It's why I love the Zulu so much (Impi's are Ok) because they can build up so rapidly. They build core buildings (Granary and Ikhanda) at half price and can build workers to get cities online faster. A very solid civ.

All this talk of the Sacrificial Altar has me thinking, what if you put Darius (or Ragnar) of the Aztec on a water map? Financial allows you to make great use of those water tiles, and the Sacrificial alter makes whipping better! Actually Hannibal may be the best here, as Charismatic makes Monarchy practically unneeded in this strategy since Whipping+Charismatic makes happiness a non-issue.

If I'm playing a charismatic leader I almost always take a shot at Stonhenge. Those free monuments in every city are super!

 

[Rusty Edge]

Ragnar of the Aztec on a water map sounds like a nightmare.

 

[georgjorge]

Shaka is aggresive so the Ikhanda is half price. It's why I love the Zulu so much (Impi's are Ok) because they can build up so rapidly. They build core buildings (Granary and Ikhanda) at half price and can build workers to get cities online faster.

Wow, I never thought of that...strong, must play Shaka these days.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Yeah Shaka is great. Impis a bit marginal but they make excellent medics. Try and keep a few alive and upgrade them to mech infs with mobility

 

[Iranon]

Tell this to Iranon and you'll get a long angry lecture on why you're wrong.

I really should write a comprehensive article about whips and chains in Civ4, to make sure the lifestyle gets the appreciation it deserves... but I don't trust myself to keep it readable.
For the record, I'll only get frustrated if unsustainable claims are repeated over and over, as has been the case for Slavery. I have no problem with a dislike of the Sacrificial Altar for playstyle reasons... e.g. if someone thinks using it well is too fiddly or if one really wants the controllable GP spawns of Caste System in most games.

Unsurprisingly, the Sacrificial Altar is the top Unique Building in the game for me. Rathaus and Ikhanda come close though, and stand out because with corporations their effect can eclipse lategame powerhouses like Mall and Research Institute... after having been useful enough for millenia.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

VoiceofUnreason wrote a guide to slavery I thought (probably in the war academy).