Does anyone ever waste great generals on xp?

[apopholeus813]

I think that 20 xp from a great general is pretty low. If you're aggresive from the beginning of a game you easily have a handful of units with more than 20 xp. I think they should be worth more. Also, why can't they lightbulb military techs? Any thoughts?

 

[Skirmisher]

I agree it is a bit low.

However, the Heroic Epic now requires a level five unit, and not as before a level 4. A level five unit is sometimes difficult to get early without the charismatic trait. So the warlord is helpful there.

 

[uberfish]

You can get medic 3 with it, which is very good, or get an entire stack of units promoted to level 2 before theocracy/vassalage are available.

 

[Mind_worm]

I think that 20 xp from a great general is pretty low. If you're aggresive from the beginning of a game you easily have a handful of units with more than 20 xp. I think they should be worth more. Also, why can't they lightbulb military techs? Any thoughts?

if you a handful of units with more than 20xp then you should almost have 3 great generals.

imo, if you have more than a couple of units with more than 20xp and you are not very late in the game, you are protecting your best units too much.

 

[futurehermit]

i use it to make 1 super swordsman quite often. swordsman already has a bonus vs. cities, then you add some city raider promotions and the +50% xp promotion and you have a nasty unit. pretty much always takes out the toughest defender, leaving the rest of your troops able to mop-up. the super nice thing too is that they upgrade for free. so as soon as you have machinery and CS, you click a button and your uber-dude is now a maceman--for free! pretty sweet, imo.

 

[snipafist]

i use it to make 1 super swordsman quite often. swordsman already has a bonus vs. cities, then you add some city raider promotions and the +50% xp promotion and you have a nasty unit. pretty much always takes out the toughest defender, leaving the rest of your troops able to mop-up. the super nice thing too is that they upgrade for free. so as soon as you have machinery and CS, you click a button and your uber-dude is now a maceman--for free! pretty sweet, imo.

Right. The earlier you attach the great general to a unit, the more likely he'll pay off as a warlord for the rest of the game. While attaching him to an infantry unit seems like the best choice in the beginning, I've had some great luck attaching him to other units. A couple good options:

-Artillery. Between base retreat chance and tactics, you've got good odds of getting out safe if the odds go against you. Add in city raider 3, leadership, and a huge string of collateral damage upgrades, and you've got one hella-mean artillery piece. Additionally, the low base strength means he's great at hiding amongst your basic footsloggers, so he's unlikely to be the poor schmuck who will defend against most threats.

-Cavalry/choppers. Make sure you get them maximum retreat upgrades, basic combat and blitz on top of leadership and the like. Blitz and the retreat options are what makes this warlord unit. With morale, you can attack 3 times in a row with a cavalry unit, wracking up tons of XP with leadership. And with high retreat odds, you can feel safe about throwing him into iffy situations. A good way to net lots of XP quickly, and quite likely to become an uber unit so long as you don't use him too foolishly.

-Tanks. Late-game unit, obviously, but still quite good. Starts with blitz and a huge strength, so it's a great choice to abuse the blitz+leadership combination with. Load him up with city raider upgrades or basic combat, depending on your preferred use. Even better, there's never a lack of good upgrades for a tank unit once you've cranked up your basics: extra collateral damage or drilling are great options, especially with basic combat and/or city raider maxed out. A drill 4 tank with maxed city raider can drop troops before they even get to fight, which is obviously quite powerful when combined with tactics and blitz.

 

[douglas_21]

"-Cavalry/choppers. Make sure you get them maximum retreat upgrades, basic combat and blitz on top of leadership and the like. Blitz and the retreat options are what makes this warlord unit. With morale, you can attack 3 times in a row with a cavalry unit, wracking up tons of XP with leadership. And with high retreat odds, you can feel safe about throwing him into iffy situations. A good way to net lots of XP quickly, and quite likely to become an uber unit so long as you don't use him too foolishly."

Sounds fun! I'll have to try that.

 

[slowcar]

i turned my point of view after a certain time.
+2 xp in a city is nice (especially with representation), +25% prod is also nice, but i tend to use my GG on my most experienced troop now.

i had most fun with elephants until now. they are available relatively early (if you have the ressource) and strong enough to win against the occasionally spear if they have combat I + shock.
with an extra movement they are also very decent in fighting against knights.
they upgrade to cavalry which is nice, too.

i think my best general was an immortal unit, with cyrus charismatic+imperialistic you get really something out of generals

 

[cfacosta]

Honestly, I think the most powerful use of the great general is to attach him to an artillery unit. The most important thing for me is to keep the war moving quickly since it costs me valuable gold every turn that I delay an attack. With the great general movement upgrade, I can get an artillery unit that moves at 2 squares a turn....keeping up with my attack units. Making sure your knights and cavalry never have to attack a city with defense bonuses is extremely important. I know it seems like a waste of the general but, if you take into account the number of turns fast artillery might save you in conquest, it can really add up.

 

[cabert]

the free upgrade thing can be very powerful (hint : remember the warrior you start with?)

 

[dh_epic]

Sometimes the payoff of a sudden XP boost is well timed. Rather than having to wait until you've built a bunch of units, you can make use of the XP right away. This can be key to finishing a war quickly, and saving yourself some economic troubles.

 

[Pantastic]

I pretty much always attach my first GG to a medic unit and bounce up to medic III, then march if the unit wasn't at 6xp yet. This gives my army very fast recovery from injuries and makes sure that I have the level 5 and 6 units for HE/WP. Getting a unit to 17xp by the time I want to build HE is iffy, with the GG it's guaranteed. Same with WP, some games I just have bad luck with high XP units and can't seem to get someome all the way up there.

 

[MrCynical]

Except possibly if I get the GG very early I find this to be a poor use of it. At best you're looking at one or two elite units, and I find it far better to merge the GG as an instructor in one of my main military production cities. Given the random factors in combat I prefer having many units with an extra promotion each than a couple of highly promoted units. One bad roll of the dice and they're gone.

 

[Lance of Llanwy]

I think it's a good idea, especially if you're imperialistic. Warlords have a lot of very sexy promotions and become extremely powerful units almost by default. I often end up throwing them at tough defenders(after the siege grunts do their piece), with excellent results. Sure, sometimes you get unlucky, but the odds don't lie, and you'll be less likely to get unlucky the stronger you get. Besides, it's more fun that way!

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

I hardly think its a waste to do at least one for Heroic Epic. Its especially fun to cash in if you're Charismatic.

 

[tim hicks]

Is a GG just available in the Warlords expansion ? I've been playing basic CIV4 for weeks and never seen one appear or even mentioned.

 

[voek]

Correct, tim hicks

 

[DarkFyre99]

That's what I usually use my first Great General on. It's easier to get a unit to level 6 for West Point (or level 5 for Heroic Epic).

My fourth and later Great Generals also go this route. I've found that attaching them to seige engines makes a superior city raider unit, allowing the rest of my seige engines and support troops to take a city without having to sacrifice many of them.

 

[patagonia]

That's what I usually use my first Great General on. It's easier to get a unit to level 6 for West Point (or level 5 for Heroic Epic).

My fourth and later Great Generals also go this route. I've found that attaching them to seige engines makes a superior city raider unit, allowing the rest of my seige engines and support troops to take a city without having to sacrifice many of them.

If I attach a GG to a siege engine, I find it's more effective to use the medic 3 or morale (+1 movement) promotions. An artillery that can move as fast as tanks is quite handy (with accuracy too) and medic 3 is useful for rapid healing if you're not overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.

Normally I use the first GG to get a level 6 unit and add the rest to my HE/WP city as military instructors though. Getting level 4-5 units fresh off the production line (depending on the number you get to settle) shouldn't be underestimated and gives you more freedom with civics in the late game.

 

[Phyr_Negator]

Single general can provide 20 xp wich means Heroic Epic+Heroic Epic as being mentioned so one general can be wasted in that way if you have great mil city, and by the way you'll get powerful unit..