Best use for Great General?

[Wlauzon]

I just played a huge long game where I got 5-6 GG's.

In one city that I had pre-planned as my unit making city, near the end I had the red cross, pentagon, ironworks, and everything else that made military faster or better. Tossed in a couple of GG there first, and was turning out some truly awesome modern armor at one per turn.

Problem is, by then there was not much left, since Ragnor and I had made a permanent alliance early on. Victoria was pretty much toast, with only one tiny island left, and Tokugawa was on a 4th continent. By the time we got to him with enough forces, it was 2050.

I think next time I will turn TIME off

 

[Manic_]

If you have promoted a unit to level 4 and can build the Heroic Epic, i wouldn't bother adding the general to a unit, unless your a bit short and someone is attacking you.
I find Great generals allways die easily (usually pret vs spear, 95% odds loss, that kinda thing), you may get 4 -5 wins, but not many more, best to add as a +2 exp in you main military cities (depending what strat you play)
I usually have 'periods of war' so most of my cities are producing units, not just two or three.
Usually have one in each so barracks (3) + GG (+2) gives (5) or 2 promotions without the need for Theo/Vass. After i have 3-4 cities with one in i would stack them in my main one. Also building some acad's when Education comes in (+50% speed is much better than +2 exp. 3 combat 1 Muskets would beat 2 combat 2 muskets in terms of both will have one unit left but the team of 3 unit remaining will have higher health and prob a promotion to combat 2 also. Also you may get lucky with a 30% win or something)

 

[ShaLouZa]

First goes to a unit to attain lvl 6 and be able to build West Point, second builds a MA in the city where I'ill build the two military national wonders, others go as instructors. Sometimes I'll make 2 MA if I need a lot of troops rather than elit troops, or if I have a really large empire.

 

[RobertTheBruce]

I'm suprised that so many people devote an early GG to produce a level 6 unit for West Point. With the easier post patch access to the Heroic Epic (back to level 4), I think I'll use the Generals to get level 3 units out of my Heroic Epic and capital without Theocracy or Vassalage.

I find I usually have a level 6 trebuchet or mace by the time I'm ready to build West Point. I guess I'm just not a big fan of West Point and don't usually prioritize Military Tradition.

 

[ShaLouZa]

+4 xp, it's +4 xp. :grabseverythingonsight:

I even beeline to Assembly line to build the Pentagon for 2 extra xp. Having lvl 3 units defending cities and artillery while your main military production city pumps a lvl 4 assault unit out every two turns rules.

The only thing I almost never build is the Red Cross wonder, I never search Medecine before the very end.

 

[kamigawan]

Personally I like attaching them to experienced gunships (or cavalry that will later become gunships for free) and distributing enough XP to get combat 3 + blitz. Gunships that can attack 4 times per turn really speed up the capture of cities weakened by bombers, especially cities with big stacks of older units or siege units (tanks recommended for the initial tough defenders). With charismatic it isn't unrealistic to get up to 5 attacks per turn due to the warlord +1 movement rate promotion. Donno if its the best use, but it's pretty fun.

 

[Captain Crunch]

So here is what i so with generals. I still attach them to units. They normally are born during a war. Putting them in a city means using them for a future war when you wanto produce more units for war.
Now which unit to attach to lets say you have an option of following units

warrior
swordsman
Rifleman
Infantry
Cavalry

What would you pick????

 

[Artosoft]

Any limit for military instructor on the city? I put all GG on single city.

Regards,
Arto.

 

[Panda]

So here is what i so with generals. I still attach them to units. They normally are born during a war. Putting them in a city means using them for a future war when you wanto produce more units for war.
Now which unit to attach to lets say you have an option of following units

warrior
swordsman
Rifleman
Infantry
Cavalry

What would you pick????

Depends on what you need the unit for. If it's for storming cities, attach the general to the swordman, give it City Raider promotions, then upgrade to Rifleman. If you want a Medic-III unit, pick the Rifleman. If you a strong skirmisher, pick the Cavalry.

 

[Captain Crunch]

I guess you guys picked up what point i was trying to make. You can do different things but the biggest bang for your buck in this case the general would be to attach it to the WARRIOR make it upgrade to CR 3 and then UPGRADE to inafantry for free now you can choose pinch or whatever you like.
Infantry with CR3 is a much better city attacker then gunship or cavalry plus it can still be upgraded at the very end ie to mech infantry.

If i have a tank though i attach it to my tank. They come late so ihavent been able to attach more than 3 so far. Now they are the deadliest. I use with them barrage 3 and CR3 promotions in the end you have bonuses against gunpowder plus you are a city taker and you really soften up the enemy for your remaining units to attack.

When i have attached a general to a cavalry/gunship unit i normally go for the combat upgrade. Thats basically to get the 25%+ combat 6 upgrade. In the end i aim for combat 6 plus blitz plus pinch. If your unit survives till then its basically a flying tank, but as you can see that tree is much longer.

 

[BYC]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm not a huge fan of the new military academy. The boost is clearly good, but the pre-reqs really counters it. By the time they can be built, I already have 1-2 good military cities anyways, so the 50% doesn't matter that much anymore. Stacking instructors was my favorite pre-patch, but now there's not even a real choice, IMO.

 

[Panda]

I guess you guys picked up what point i was trying to make. You can do different things but the biggest bang for your buck in this case the general would be to attach it to the WARRIOR make it upgrade to CR 3 and then UPGRADE to inafantry for free now you can choose pinch or whatever you like.
Infantry with CR3 is a much better city attacker then gunship or cavalry plus it can still be upgraded at the very end ie to mech infantry.

I fail to see why attaching the GG to the warrior instead of the swordsman is better.

 

[Thedrin]

Assuming you have the option to build both a warrior and a swordsman when the great general comes along, the warrior can be built cheaper and then upgraded for free to a swordsman. I wouldn't do it since it would mean the unit would have to gain an extra 10 XP to make it to level 6 (for a non charismatic leader).

 

[Panda]

Not sure here, but I thought the concept was that while you didn't lose XP when upgrading it still cost gold.

 

[Thedrin]

Actually you might get both advantages, in which case attaching it to the warrior is the better choice. I still wouldn't do it since if I do make a warlord I attach it to my most advanced unit.

Edit: yes, you get both benefits from a warlord.

 

[MiKa523]

I attach the first one to a unit, promote leadership (+100% XP) and attack only with high chance of winning to gather more XP for the unit and the next great general.
(Btw, I wonder how fast u can speed up great general emergence by using multiple leadership warlords.)
Usually I prefer instructors.

 

[ABigCivFan]

I attach the first one to a unit, promote leadership (+100% XP) and attack only with high chance of winning to gather more XP for the unit and the next great general.
(Btw, I wonder how fast u can speed up great general emergence by using multiple leadership warlords.)
Usually I prefer instructors.

Actually Leadership promo only gives 100% xp gain to your warlord unit, NOT to the GG spawn points.

i.e. You warlord unit wins a fight, he gets 3 xp without leadership, but 6 xp with leadership. However, the win gives only 3 GG spawn pts in both cases.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

I fail to see why attaching the GG to the warrior instead of the swordsman is better.

The FREE upgrade to swordsmen or whatever the latest unit it is saves a little coin (80 ?). Upgrade cost goes up based on how far you are upgrading the unit. If the experience is the same you spend less money on upgrades by giving it to the earliest tech unit. It doesn't matter where the unit starts, with the free upgrade it's now your most advanced unit of that type.

If I already have my production city covered (that +2 XP is awesome but the incremental benefit goes down the more instructors you place in the city), I will give it to the unit closest to the 6-17 experience range if I want a super upgraded unit (26 xp for 5 upgrades total... 37 is the next level up, IIRC).

 

[Captain Crunch]

Actually the cost benefit is enormous. The cost to upgrade a warrior to an swardsman would be $120+ and to an infantry would be around$600.

Also the general attachment gives a fixed experiance points ie 20 to the unit attached it doesnt do it more if the unit is more experienced and a more experienced unit would take more experience point to upgarde so in effect a less experienced unit would benefit more from a leader attachment.

eg
If you already have a unit thats CR3 plus gunpowder plus combat 1. attaching a leader would promote it by what, 1 more promotion.

However if you attach it to just a unit with combat when it intantaneuosly becomes the same unit as before. It immediately gets 3-4 promotions becoming very deadly.

Now you would have 2 units with same stats and both of them very strong. instead of 1 worthless unit and 1 slightly extra strong unit. In the heat of battle the prior kind of upgrade is better.

 

[MiKa523]

Actually Leadership promo only gives 100% xp gain to your warlord unit, NOT to the GG spawn points.

i.e. You warlord unit wins a fight, he gets 3 xp without leadership, but 6 xp with leadership. However, the win gives only 3 GG spawn pts in both cases.

Thx for clarifying.