Favorite REXer?

[gaash2]

Who's your favorite leader for rapid growth and expansion?

I would make a poll but there are too many potential options...

 

[Pedro78]

Depending on the definition...

• On a cramped map where I need to get to six cities ASAP - Catherine or Sury
• On a hemispheres map where I can expand to 15+ cities - Willem

These are the leaders that I consider are the strongest given the situation, but they are a little overpowered for my taste. My favorite leader for fasts starts and expansion is probably Joao, not too weak nor too strong and lots of fun to play with!

 

[gaash2]

I figured Joao would get a lot of votes but I have never been that successful with him. I find pacal an easier rex'er as financial makes it so much easier to support the economy. Naturally, in many/most rex situations CRE beats out EXP.

 

[elitetroops]

Shaka is fun with his half price UB barracks/mini courthouse, in case you plan on continuing with some aggressive expansion once you run out of space.

I also like early peaceful Rexing with Zara, as he can easily set up for a strong economy, while aiming for some rewarding Oromo action later. If you do expand to 10-15 cities in the BCs, then ORG discount already makes a noticeable difference, and half price courthouses are quite valuable.

 

[Tatran]

Julius Caesar. I've a habit to run caste system with IMP leaders and chop the settlers, so no problems with quick border expansions.

 

[gaash2]

Thoughts on washington?

 

[unas876]

Washington isn't Creative But Charismatic is also excellent: the more cities you have the more effective you get from the trait. Combine that with faster/more workers to improve more tiles and you got yourself a pretty nice combination I think.

 

[sampsa]

Thoughts on washington?

His strength is that he can quickly grow his non-capital cities to at least size 6 (usually to work many cottages). This is the opposite of what I consider REXing.

I like Joao, as he often runs into the issue "what do I do with these ?" so there is lots of planning and management. The common answer is obviously failgold.

 

[ArchGhost]

Thoughts on washington?

He's more of an early warfaring leader than a REXer. Similar to Shaka, I think he's geared much more towards abusing his traits to power whip units and wage immediate wars after getting 3-4 cities and a resource. Workers out faster, cheap granaries, and extra happy space for whip/war weariness? Yes please. Shaka's Ikhanda obviously makes things a little more flexible with its maintenance reduction and Washington's extra happiness space (+2 if you count monuments) can be re-purposed for growth, but this wastes a lot of their militant potential.

I like any of the Creative or Organized leaders for REX. Creative is obvious for landgrabbing and keeping your tech going, while Organized takes much of the teeth out of settling expenses and lets you quickly whip Courthouses to stay alive after expanding out to like 15-20 cities. Zara and Roosevelt are my favorites with Rosie being my overall favorite leader because of the spiffy IND/ORG combo: cheap lighthouses, courthouses, and forges combined with more wonder fail-gold = great times and lots of cities.