Favorite Leader(s)

[swimrr]

I enjoy playing with Shaka recently. I think the impi's are undervalued and their UB helps a little with some early expansion and impi rushing your nearest neighbor. Brennus is a good time also.

 

[slowcar]

my favorite leaders in no special order:

- alex, because i love philosophical, and agg is very handy and supports my style of play

- lizzy, you can research like mad with cottage heaven AND lightbulbing

- kyrus, early rush and lots of generals, quite different from other leaders, you need to think outside the box

i'll give mehmed a try, i often underestimate the influence of the half-prized buildings. and slinging gunpowder seems a very reasonable idea, a bit risky on MP but worth a try in SP

 

[Reprisal]

- kyrus, early rush and lots of generals, quite different from other leaders, you need to think outside the box

I'm still not sure what to think of Cyrus, I've not played him since Warlords came out...

My favourites so far, in no particular order: Mehmed, Kubilai and recently, Augustus. I just got my highest score with Augustus on Noble, so I think I'll be moving up to Prince. Though, I think I'll do it with Mehmed to start off.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I used Mansa Musa on my first attempts at Prince, and actually won one such attempt. The Spiritual trait let me change civics as needed, Financial kept me in the tech hunt until I got too far bogged into war, but I caught up later when I started getting more territory and upkeep under control.

 

[Kaleb]

I'm still not sure what to think of Cyrus, I've not played him since Warlords came out...

I had a game recently on Monarch with Cyrus and reallyloved the imperialistic/charismatic combination as it meant promotions galore for my army!! I had lots of cities that could provide infantry with amphibious promotion giving me a fantastic amphibious army that wreaked havoc on my enemies quite a while before marines came along...

the Immortals are also a nice versatile early UU

 

[Thyrwyn]

for Warlords v2.08

Catherine (Russia): her traits and techs give her a clear edge in the early land grab. She really suits my "benevolent dictator" style (builder at heart, conqueror by design). I can handle much more difficult settings with her than with any other leader.

• Techs: Hunting gives her a Scout to start which reveals the surrounding territory faster. It is a worker tech which leads to Animal Husbandry (Horses) and Archery. Mining leads to Bronze, so Cathy has early access to Military for defense/expansion. Hunting, Mining and An.Husb. all allow improvements which can produce hammers (mines, ivory, pastured cows) which leverage her Imperialist settler bonus.
  
• Traits: With a few improvements, Imperialist lets her really crank out settlers. You are already concentrating on hammers, so defenders are easy, too. Her Scouts and quick access to Military techs have revealed the best city sites, so her settlers know where to go. Creative gives quick border expansion, which means she has even more leeway when settling (she can settle one space away and grab the needed resource when the border expands). Creative's *new* cheap libraries allow her to settle aggressively in the mid-game when encroaching on rivals' borders. Imperialist also pops extra generals. Darn
  
• UU: Cossack - a gimme. Cavalry is already powerful and Cossacks are even better. Usually the nail in the AI coffin
  
• UB: Research Lab - another gimme. Great for the late game tech rush towards space. I have never built one - my games with her are over by then.

 

[Thedrin]

Traits: With a few improvements, Imperialist lets her really crank out settlers. You are already concentrating on hammers, so defenders are easy, too. Her Scouts and quick access to Military techs have revealed the best city sites, so her settlers know where to go. Creative gives quick border expansion, which means she has even more leeway when settling (she can settle one space away and grab the needed resource when the border expands). Creative's *new* cheap libraries allow her to settle aggressively in the mid-game when encroaching on rivals' borders. Imperialist also pops extra generals. Darn

Unfortunately you don't give her anywhere near enough credit when it comes to her trait combination. Catherine has one of - if not the - strongest trait synergies in the game. Fast settlers plus quick border expansions allow her to easily block off large areas of unsettled land from opponents using only a small number of cities. Back fill can be completed at her leisure.

 

[podraza]

I've become a fan of Augustus for domination victories. A great city-snatching UU, creative to take care of popping the borders on newly acquired cities, and organized to make sure the money holds out.

Plus, cheap courthouses AND theaters, the first two buildings I build in any newly captured city.

Augustus is the new Catherine, since Catherine became the new something else.

 

[Thyrwyn]

. . .Catherine has one of - if not the - strongest trait synergies in the game. . .

Oh, I heartily agree with you. I was trying to give her traits as much credit as I could - there are just so many inherent synergies between her traits and starting techs, that I missed one

Many complained when she lost her Financial trait - I, for one, think that she is stronger than ever!

 

[werdna]

HC is my favorite.
On emperor you can always steal worker and the archers won't attack your quechua. I never build workers myself with HC.
If someone is unlucky enough to start close to me, I build 5 or 6 quechuas and take their capital early on (why does AI build archers on emepror only, when warrior would be better in this case?)
The downside is that all my close neightbors hate me after I steal all their workers

Their UB (Terrace which replaces granary) gives 2 culture, which is like having creative trait.

Financial + Indust. lets you get colosus and great lighthouse, so all your coastal cities get tons of gold.

 

[Captain Crunch]

My favourite leader is

Cyrus
1. Combination of charismatic and imperialistic is synergistic in getting an experienced army. 1+ happiness and the apothecary building also supplements expansion.
2. Immortals is 1 of the best unit early in the game.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

How do you get the two English Queens confused? One had no kids, the other had too many.

As for my favourite leader, I'd have to pick Tokugawa though. Courthouses and war civics are costly, and the aggressive trait means rather than trying to keep up the military tech race, you could depend on your highly upgraded units to fight enemies an era above you. Seeing rifles as your elite maceman close in on their last city, which WW is dragging you down, is more than irritating. Too bad their starting techs and UU are less than impressive.

 

[bassist2119]

Alexander: my undisputed favorite. Simply unequaled in terms of versatility - While all civs can win the game by each victory condition, most are geared towards one or another. Alexander is, IMO, unequalled with repect to his ability to win ALL victory conditions:
-Conquest: he's aggressive and has a very early UU that gets the aggressive combat bonus. PHILO=bulbing=tech edge= troops not only have free upgrade, but are more advanced than opposition's.
-Domination aforementioned military bonus, and PHILO settling helps the economic infrastructure to support the vast empire necessary to meet dom quota. Extra 3 culture from UB helps meet land %, late game +2 happy from UB helps meet pop quota.
-Diplomatic beats others into vassalage for votes. +2 Happy from UB leads to more primary votes. Philo helps tech, making easier to research and build UN.
-Space Philo is second only to Financial for this. Military prowess allows demanding techs for peace along the way. Previously mentioned UB happiness bonus means working more tiles/specialists to get the techs quicker. UU can keep knights/elephants at bay, allowing him to hold off on some non-essential techs (most notably engineering)
-Culture Noone can compare with him for this. +3 culture is most flatrate out of any UB. Further, the UB allows him to run TWICE as many artists (w/o caste), meaning he can continue to whip out monastaries/libraries/theaters/etc. Philosophical is the best trait to have for culture wins; combine this with the ability to run extra artists? Unequalled. Plus, military is especially strong early, so taking a foeign capital can easily be one of the big three. Aggressive further helps keep others at bay - culture wins usually involve a degree of turtling.

Honorable mentions:
- Mehmed II, Gandhi, and Cyrus for reasons others have mentioned. Regarding Janissaries, though, their main strength is that they don't need to be upgraded for quite a while.
- Both Roman civs: Only UB that increases GPP. Praets are good. Both are organized.

 

[drkodos]

How do you get the two English Queens confused? .

Yes. George Michaels and Elton John have totally different musical stylings.


<Insert Rim Shot Here>

 

[WilliamOfOrange]

-Culture Noone can compare with him for this. +3 culture is most flatrate out of any UB. Further, the UB allows him to run TWICE as many artists (w/o caste), meaning he can continue to whip out monastaries/libraries/theaters/etc.

Good point Bassist2119! If you don't mind, I have added that point to and credited you in my UB guide.

 

[bassist2119]

Good point Bassist2119! If you don't mind, I have added that point to and credited you in my UB guide.

Glad to help. Now about those endorsements

 

[bippukt]

AFAIK, Gandhi is spiritual/industrial or was that changed in the Warlord, because some people here have mentioned him as spi/phi. I love Gandhi for his wonder rushing and the flexibility that spiritual provides, though I am still a Noble player. The wonder rushing may not work at higher levels.

 

[Zunk]

Aztecs - My favourite, hello jaguar. early conquering

 

[Monkeyfinger]

As if my avatar doesn't make it obvious, it's Huayna Capac.

His ability to make a close neighbor weep early on and save hammers on workers in the process has already been covered. On longer settings like epic and marathon, you can even do a ballsy strategy of "settler explores the map for a cultural border, plonks down a city, mass quechuas get you your empire."

Financial + starting tech mysticism = he and Wang Kon (protective trait, LOL) are the best you can get for snagging an early religion, or just plain monoplozing religions.

Faster wonder productions? Ability to grab the oracle, get free metal casting early, and make those cheap forges? Yep, that speaks for itself. Only now there's the financial trait to insure that you also have the edge on STARTING the wonders.

He's a horsehockey midgame warmonger, with fast forges being his only real saving grace in that respect, but that's his only real flaw. And not one I give a damn about, either. When I crush things in war I like to either do it really early, or do it when tools like trebuchets, cavalry and riflemen are available. Maybe take it all the way into the modern era by being the first to get tanks and gunships.

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

I can never settle on a favorite because I like so many of them. So many of the leaders are strong when you play to their abilities. I mean really...how many genuinely bad leaders are there? I dont think that many, if any. And I often find that when I play with a leader I dont use often, or whose playstyle is different then mine usually is, I tend to REALLY like them. Mehmed is awesome after the latest patch. Its amazing all the advantages and bonuses he gets from his traits and ub. Surprisingly, my last game I played with Frederick and thought he was awesome. We all know how awesome Philo is, and Organized. But I didnt realize the synergy with Frederick and faster factories. Germany's ub is the Assembly plant. So I can build my ub twice as fast. And if you have coal which is another 50&#37; faster...I found that in my newer cities I could build the assembly plant FASTER then the forge!!! And faster Assembly plants means I can run those engineer specialists faster, which means faster ge's, which means I can polish off a cultural, diplo, or space race at a very fast past. And his uu is good against modern armor! I know, I can hear the chorus of "my games are decided before the modern era". But if you find you play into that era fast, or that you are advanced quickly (I find the more advanced I am, the more advanced the world is, via tech trading) Frederick is a modern era powerhouse.

I cant decide on a favorite leader, so instead I think of leaders I dont like as much...Roosevelt, Bismark, Mao, and Saladin (mostly because of protective, not spiritual...though I think my opinion will change when I try Saladin rushing a bunch of specialists early with the Madrassa).