best leaders for high scores?

[smokey t bones]

i'm relatively new to civ 4, having just installed the warlords expansion pack, and i was wondering if anyone could tell me which are there favorite five leaders and why? i like louis xiv and elizabeth, but i'm sure there are other good leaders i have yet to play.

seems to me like organized and spiritual are the worst two leader traits, though. is that true?

smokey t bones

 

[Mat777]

Creative is good if you want to have a advantage at the beginning .

I take Roosevelt because he create wonder faster and have a low upkeep.
I almost never have money problem with organize trait.

And the Seal are perfect for late war. Like in real world, at the end, the US have the best troops.

 

[vale]

A trait is only as good as your ability to take advantage of its ability. If you rarely change civics, then spiritual probably is one of the worst. For an unabashed micromanager like me though, spiritual is worth its weight in gold. Organized is an odd duck. It would be almost worthless on the lowest difficulty levels and gets better and better on the higher difficulty levels. At best I think its is probably a middle of the pack type of trait though although I'm sure many on here would disagree.

1. Hatshepsut Egypt (Spi/Cre) starting techs agri/wheel, UB = obelisk, UU = war chariot. A combination of my two favorite traits, two great starting techs and a quickly accessible and powerful UU. The UB isn't that great for her since her traits tend to lower the religious paths priority.

2. Montezuma Aztec (Spi/Agg) starting techs myst/hunt, UB = sacrificial altar, UU = jaguar. Two of my favorite traits, my favorite UB by far. The starting techs and the lame UU are the drawbacks here.

3. Shaka Zulu (Agg/Exp) starting techs agri/hunting, UB = ikhanda, uu = impi. Cheap granaries, cheap mini-courthouses and somewhat flexible city placement because of the health bonus are the strengths here. Aggressive trait is always nice.

4. Gandhi (Spi/Phi) starting techs myst/mine UB=mausoleum, UU=fast worker.
A micromanagers wet dream(with its synergy to an SE and the potential for frequent civics changes). Differently powerful UU (though becomes less so on slower game speeds). The UB comes late, but is a powerful tool for fighting WW.

5. Caesar Augustus (Cre/Org) starting techs mine/fish UB=forum, UU= praetorian. Traits are very nice for warmongering (whip cheap courthouses/theaters/libraries/colosseums in freshly conquered cities). Oh and btw? the UU is the cheapest thing in the game and stays relevant in the game practically forever. He is probably technically the "best" for getting high scores and for playing up a level.

 

[ac196nataku]

jags arent so bad. they are resourceless, and a woodsman 2 + shock jag (5xp) makes a decent stack protector. it is kind of niche though.

Gandhi is a great builder.

Monty is an amazing warmongerer.

Lizzy is also a great builder. Phi for more GP, Fin for rolling in the bank.

Finally, Mansa Musa is also a favorite of mine. Fin and Spr are probably my favorite traits and Skirmishers are annoying to kill when defending towns.

PS: I've yet to use Churchill but he seems pretty leet. I'm going to try to use offensive X-bows with him to take advantage of both Pro and Charismatic.

Unlike Civ3, I more or less love every trait in this game except for maybe Organized (I have yet to really play above Noble).

 

[KMadCandy]

i see that in your thread title you ask about high scores. civ4 has a strange scoring system, a major factor is based on how many turns are left in the game. part of it is how much land you have, your population compared to the total population possible on the map if all existing tiles had no improvements (yes i'm serious, it gets very detailed!), how many wonders you built, etc. usually, if you can finish the game earlier, you'll get a higher score for doing that.

my feeling is, score doesn't matter. i play for fun and have my own "this game made me proud" points and "i killed monty so i earned bonus evil laughs" list in my head. some of the games that were most challenging to me, so i felt the most pride in winning them, are actually my lowest official scores, since they were one-city-challenge games. OCCs take a long time, and your population is low by definition, so your score isn't going to be high

from your post itself it doesn't seem like you're that worried about score but i just wanted to warn you about how bizarre the formula is. this is what i do, i worry that people will get discouraged, i get it from my mom.

organized is a trait that gets better at the higher difficulty levels IMO. spiritual i had to learn how to use effectively but it's quite nifty if you do leverage it to get the most out of civic/religion changes. they all have good and bad points. best way to learn is to try them all eventually. and then to try them all again as you get better . that's what i had to do anyway. some that did me no good when i was starting out, are very useful now that i know a bit more about what i'm doing.

 

[smokey t bones]

thanks for all the useful info. i have yet to finish a game at prince level, but i'll try it using the organized trait (since you guys say that it works better at higher levels).

i don't like it that gandhi lost his industriousness with the warlords expansion pack, 'cuz he was one of my old favorites to play (i love building world wonders), but the fast worker is still awesome.

are they going to include any new leader traits with the beyond the sword expansion pack? anyone know?

 

[KMadCandy]

they are adding new leaders, and new civilizations. they haven't announced all the new civilizations yet i think. edit OOPS: i missed the word "traits" in there. nope i haven't seen anything about that.

gandhi had his traits switched, ramsses from egypt has his old traits in warlords. but i'm like you, i love fast workers. they're even useful militarily, my army corps of engineers lets me build roads to the warfront even over jungle or hills in a single turn! i'm learning to like gandhi's new traits too

good luck on prince, have fun at any level!

 

[Khan Quest]

My high scores seem related to how mauch land I have and how soon I have it. My two highest scores are with Japan. Samuri then Riflemen then Infantry = bad @$$ troops for a long time.

 

[KMadCandy]

My high scores seem related to how much land I have and how soon I have it. My two highest scores are with Japan. Samuri then Riflemen then Infantry = bad @$$ troops for a long time.

yeah land you capture on the very last turn doesn't count. it has to have been yours for i forget, 10 or 20 turns to be included in your score. i don't think that having owned it longer than that increases the "land area" part of the score, but indirectly it increases your population i guess.

japan is fun! so many people don't like protective, but i quite like it when i'm in a warmongering mood. get a few old crossbowmen-types levelled up to Drill4 (easy for protective), then upgrade them to gunpowder units, those guys are heinous. put one and a medic with a stack, the enemy can siege me out in the open all day and i don't care, i get exp but hardly get a scratch.

 

[Ecofarm]

1. Augustus
2. Hannibal Fin/Cha (great techs, most versatile)
3. Elizabeth Fin/Phi
4. Wang Fin/Pro
5. Inca Fin/Ind
6. Ghandi Phi/Spi
7. Ragnar Fin/Agg (amphibious galleons)

Same list for Multiplayer, except almost never use Romans. In MP - it lacks versatility and longevity. In SP - too easy. Combinations of these make great teams in MP.