[GS] Gathering Storm Leader Ability Elimination Thread

[bengalryan9]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28] (27+1) Everybody may get science and culture from pillaging districts, but nobody gets it from pillaging mines, pastures, plantations, or camps, and nobody can pillage those districts from the sea as early as Harald can. This ability was already top tier and now that coastal cities have been buffed it's even better.
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [5]
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [32]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [14] (17-3) Tough to vote anything down at this point, but this one seems the most limited of what remains.
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [16]

Fixed totals as mentioned in previous post.

 

[Troy Bruckner]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North 2 [5-3] Culture from art is not a huge part of the game. It's good, but not game breaking either way. OK tourism which makes it even worse can I move it down another 3
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [32] +42 on trade routes allows Mansa Musa to build 5 times as many builders as China and was eliminated over a week ago.
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [14]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column 17 [16+1] +2 culture from turn 1 on gets the player to a government faster. If exploration fails to result in bonus culture from envoys the more important this becomes.

 

[Connor_CivFan]

I think my vote got cut off on Krajzen's post. Mathias should be on 20 and Trajan on 16

No it wasnt, any post that followed this need to be updated back to the original

evidence?
look at the post between @Leucarum and @Krajzen 's posts

 

[Leucarum]

No it wasnt, any post that followed this need to be updated back to the original

I voted down mathias to 22 to 19 and trajan up 16 to 17.
Lotrmith voted down Trajan to 14 and has Mathias' score correct
I think Krajzen missed both posts maybe as his post has Trajan at 13 and Mathias at 22 but they didn't vote for either.

 

[Kwami]

I concur with @Leucarum. @Krajzen missed two posts. The scores in @Troy Bruckner's post are correct.

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [2]
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [32]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [14]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [17]

 

[Disgustipated]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [3] = 2 + 1 post above mentioned this is for culture, correction this is for tourism which wins you the game. A clear game winner shouldn't go so early.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [32]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [11] = 14 - 3 Surprised this is still here, I downvoted Mathias, but this is worse. Mostly useful against barbarians. Against civs once you eliminate their army (which is still better to do with ranged attacks), you may not see very many units to kill. To be honest, I get less use out of this than Mathias ability. Certainly the worst of the two.
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [17]

 

[BenitoChavez]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [3]
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [21] = 20 + 1. My personal favorite and the one I think should win (but probably won't ). It's primarily a military ability but it can also secure you suzerainty of any city-state you want, which helps no matter what you are doing.
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [32]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [11]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [14] = 17 - 3. Even if this is better than Gorgo's ability, it isn't so much better that it deserves to last any longer. Monuments are easily built/purchased by the classical/medieval era so this stays relevant for a short time period.

 

[Weraptor]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [4] Auto-theming is additional tourism you couldn't otherwise get in most of my cases. And tourism wins you the game with Kristina.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [21]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29] It's hard to downvote something now. A free builder charge has lost some of its relative value since R&F, early Canals are so-so, and rushing Ancient and Classical wonders still doesn't secure them from the AI.
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [11]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [14]

 

[BarbarianHunter]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [5] (4+1) --- I like this for science victories. I usually end up mid or late game warring for no other reason than I am a few eras ahead in tech and want to close out sooner than not by acquiring more commerce hubs and their attendant trade routes to concentrate in a spaceport city. Auto-theming any captured great works in whatever theatre squares I happen to capture helps get to globalization faster for the Int'l Space Station and +5% science per CS suzerained.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [21]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [8] (11-3) --- Meh.
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [14]

 

[enKage]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [2] (5-3) --Please don't make me laugh constantly upvoting this. it is clearly the weakest left and has use only in ne type of victory. It does not make Kristina better cultural civ than most of tourism focused civs. and good luck for culture victory with some culture spammers in game on deity. It is fun, but definitely not as strong to be in top10
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [21]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [8] (11-3)
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [15] - 14 +1 for the most important part of the game it is half of your cultural output if unlucky with city states. Deseves top5.

 

[WillowBrook]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
20. Kristina - Minerva of the North [GONE] (2-3) good but not top ten, surprised it's still here. Even if strong in some games, boring.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [22] 21+1 The envoy strategy with Amani and levying was explained well above. Super strong, and lots of fun to boot.
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [33]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [8]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [15]

 

[bbbt]

5. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [28]
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [23] 22+1 As someone who likes to play 'conquer the nearest neighbor and then build' this is amazing - you can have your early warfare and spend prod building up and settling your own cities. But as noted, even peaceful it's great for vacuuming up all the Suzerains in conjunction with Amani. For a dom game it allows you to get a foothold on another continent easier.
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [30] 33-3 It's hard to find ones to downvote at this point. I'm going to knock this one as it takes a while to kick in (though the free envoy per UD certainly helps), and is in the more passive than active category
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [8]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [15]

 

[Lily_Lancer]

. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [29=28+1]This terrific ability make Norway the best Civ in the current patch.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20=23-3] Levied units are not very useful, for they're usually wrong units in wrong places at wrong times. (Why grandmaster's chapel is powerful because the purchased units are always correct units in correct places at correct time, for military units that is the key.) The ability can be basically viewed as purchasing envoys from already Suzerained city states using gold. That is not very efficient. When you need envoy you're not suzerain of the CS, when the ability gives you envoy you're already Suzerain so that envoy does not make much sense.
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [30]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [8]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [15]

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [30]=29+1 On water-dominated map, this ability has no counterplay. You don't go full-on domination with naval melee, they are only vessels for harassing. The longship is stronger, faster, cheaper (with civ ability), can pillage freely and can heal in neutral water. You can never fight against these things, so either abandon the coast entirely, or don't build districts/improvements on the coast, neither is a possibility when the map is mostly water and land is scarce. Other civs can pillage districts, it's true, but they have to wait until Renaissance for the privateers when Norway can do that since Ancient era with a dirt cheap unit that can be built every 2-3 turns with the right policy.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [30]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [5]=8-3 This is the only domination ability on here that gets progressively worse over time. When Medic becomes available, this bonus becomes neutralized as it is now available for anyone.
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [15]

 

[Icicle]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [30]
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [20]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31] (30+1) It's convenient, and totally broken, that this scales up as you get more suzerains much faster than the cost of civics does.
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [5]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [12] (15-3) Really hard to downvote this, but I think this and a few others are still slightly below the top of the top tier.

 

[KayAU]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [31] (30 + 1) It's quite strange to see so much love for Norway in one of these threads, but Harald's ability does deserve it. In my current Norway game, I have several squads of two naval melee units supported by a naval ranged unit, and they have been consistently useful throughout the game, popping goodie huts and clearing out barbarian encampments. No one has been foolish enough to attack me in this game, but if they did, my shores would be well protected indeed, and theirs would burn. I also love the production boost, which synergizes excellently with the civ overall. Not only will you be able to get a navy quickly, it will also get you the Eureka for Shipbuilding, which again gets your units into ocean tiles. Fun, powerful, and a great fit for Norway.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [17] (20 - 3) This is a cool ability, but...well, for one thing, there are counters to it, and for another, it requires that you are already the suzerain of a city state to make use of it, in which case they would already be fighting for you (albeit far less effectively). Finally, this is a fairly situational ability, requiring you to have a city state with a decent standing army and in the right place. Very cool, but not the most powerful or consistent compared to what's left in the running.
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [5]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [12]

 

[NullNullError]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [32]31+1 not upvoting on strength but on the basis that they had a broken mechanic and a really bad bad civ. Instead of just fixing the mechanic they gave it to a bad civ. Thats just so cute.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [17]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [5]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [9] 12-3 about as good as discovering a culture city state early.

The culture game is currently kind of broken i reached 400-500 culture per turn as england before i built any culture district. City state bonuses for culture are really really strong and any bonus that helps you keep those is worth keeping arround longer than this.

16. Hojo Tokimune - Divine Wind [0] [3-3] FYI, Japan gets +100% production towards 3 districts, not +50%. You can build them in half the time, as the math works out. Still, this is about where it should fall.

Could you please provide a source for the 100% production bonus?

 

[Karmah]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North 32
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [17]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [27] +1 : 28 , the best bonus for one of the strongest civs
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [26] -3 : 23 it is interresting but I prefer the remaing contenders
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [5]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [9]

Could you please provide a source for the 100% production bonus?

the source would be mathematics
half the cost/time means twice the production as 1/2 is the reverse of 2. nbTurns= cost/production , nbTurns discounted= nbTurn(cost/2) = cost/(2*production) : effectively double production

 

[Leucarum]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [33] (32+1) I like how this now makes Norway play totally differently to anyone else.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [17]
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [28]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [23]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [2] (5-3) Since all of the abilities left are very strong we're coming back to personal preference a bit and I'm gonna downvote one of the abilities I enjoy playing the least.
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [9]

 

[Bangau]

15. Harald Hardrada - Thunderbolt of the North [30] (33-3) Domination/science focused ability that helps achieve those somewhat faster, but nothing like some of the other abilities left.
24. Matthias Corvinus - Raven King [18] (17+1) If you're downvoting this you probably have never played a Hungarian Blitzkrieg! ;-) This ability helps Hungary get domination victories in half the time, if you play it right it is just incredibly strong. The nerf it got wasn't for nothing... Many of the remaining abilities are domination oriented, and this one is really the best one of those left! (Watch the GOTM results of a month or two ago if you don't believe me...)
25. Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani [28]
29. Pericles - Surrounded by Glory [31]
33. Qin Shi Huang - The First Emperor [29]
37. Suleiman - Grand Vizier [23]
41. Tomyris - Killer of Cyrus [2]
42. Trajan - Trajan's Column [9]