GG question

[Mantic0re]

what is the conventional wisdom regarding the options for your first (and subsequent) great general?

I'm learning to warmonger more and getting these guys more often. I have trouble deciding between a few strategies.

1. settle them in 1 city for super units. (~quality)
2. War Academy to boost unit production. (~quantity)
3. Promote for National Epic and/or West Point eligibility (~late game both?)

I see to major dilemmas with these options. The first is that I have difficulty determining which city to settle/build. I just can't scan a map and plan out a production city yet. GP farms and cottage cities are a bit easier but often after 50 turns or so the city I originally thought would be more productive isn't because of some limiting factor I didn't identify. Sometimes I simply neglect to account for the post-chopping landscape. I could spend more time micromanaging my cites and trying to get 21 pop worth of food but I'd rather burn through games faster and learn the general rules. If anyone has a nugget of wisdom regarding this I'm all ears.

The second major issue I have is that I'm forcing myself to warmonger when I'm not naturally that kind of player. So I have difficulty deciding when sheer numbers of troops is preferred to quality of troops. Naturally this changes based on resources, techs, landscape and distances. I don't play at a difficulty level where I'm getting pummeled by the AI. I'm very cautious which I'm sure is part of my trouble as well. Before I even begin building up I've got a target in mind and I don't leave the staging area until I've got 3x the number of troops I think I'll need. It is fairly common for me to capture a developed city with only the attacks of 10% of the siege (after bombardment). I've noticed I rarely see enemy units in the open field. Most of my combat involves bombardment and assault of enemy cities with my (75-80% siege) army. The only real deviation from this is I'll destroy military resource access to limit my oppositions' numbers.


Even if I never get over my hang-ups with warmongering I'm hoping to find a few general rules that give the best results in most situations. I love any detailed breakdown and decision making processes fellow Civ-ers care to reveal.

 

[Skallagrimson]

My first one gets the single-unit promotion for Heroic Epic and later West Point. Even if the GG unit dies, as long as it gets the required promotion, you're eligible for WP, and that's huge. The promotions I give the unit destined for that first GG are Combat I, Medic I, and if it takes a while for the general to be born it sometimes makes it to Medic II. The GG promotions are Leadership (so the unit will promote faster), and the Medic III, and the woodsman line towards WIII. If that GG unit dies, in the later game I'll sometimes work on another one due to the synergy of the promotions, but sometimes not (just go with some vanilla medics).

Second GG settles in the city producing units AT THAT TIME the fastest. The city destined to be my Militaryville is often not producing units at all at that time, and that's okay. It'll get future GGs when it does. Sometimes I'll settle the GG in the city destined to be a top military-pump in the "near future", but you want the instant gratification, at least for that one GG.

Subsequent GGs I often save because I don't have Mil Sci yet and I want to use those for war academies. If I get an overflow I'll distribute them out as settled Instructors to some of the other high-production "auxillary military pumps" producing units at that time, or save them for extra instructors at the Militaryville.

 

[carl corey]

Are you talking about Warlords (as indicated by the topic icon) or Beyond the Sword? I don't remember how it works in Warlords exactly, but in BtS you can get a Military Academy only after researching Military Science (needs Chemistry).

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I attach a super medic. If warring a lot in classical I might settle one in my HE city for mass level 3 units. Otherwise, I attach them. IMO massively settling GGs into cities is overrated. I'll west point my way to lvl 4 units or whatever later. I want the short term returns typically. Enough cities = all the advantage needed.

 

[JTMacc99]

90% of the time, my first GG creates a M*A*S*H unit, the next several are settled into military unit producing cities, and then I might use one or two to create an academy should the late game present me with a situation where the Heroic Epic city has an equally powerful unit producing city somewhere else in the empire.

For settling them, I prefer to settle them mostly in a single military city, as the elite troops are terrific, and that city is almost NEVER producing anything but units. However, in some games I really don't want to run Vassalage or Theocracy, and therefore I can see the wisdom of settling a GG in a couple other production cities other than the military city, just so that I can at least pump out a bunch of level 3 units without the costly civics changes.


The M*A*S*H unit is one of the finest things the Human player can do to gain an advantage over the AI. Simply build a chariot or other two-move inexpensive unit, give it the combat 1 and medic 1 promotion and then attach your first GG to it. Give that unit the Medic II and Medic III promotions, and if you have one more promotion, I would go for Morale for the extra MP. After that, just have it hanging around to help your giant stacks heal really quickly after each city assault.

 

[Divaythsarmour]

Are you talking about Warlords (as indicated by the topic icon) or Beyond the Sword? I don't remember how it works in Warlords exactly, but in BtS you can get a Military Academy only after researching Military Science (needs Chemistry).

I think it's education in warlords.

 

[carl corey]

A good reason to settle an early GG (maybe even the first) is to get accuracy catapults without having them fight. Early on you might not be able to adopt Vassalage or Theocracy, in which case you'd need two fights to get your catapults to their second promotion. Otherwise super-medic is indeed a good option.

Later on, it depends. Sometimes getting a second super-medic is good if you've good an über-UU (like Cataphracts for example) and want to use it as much and as fast as possible. Other times you'll be 1XP short of another promotion (CRIII instead of CRII) with war civics already used, so settling another GG in that city should be quite useful. And late in the game if you're still gonna fight and you've got enough initial promotions to make decent units, I just go with Military Academies.

 

[Skallagrimson]

A good reason to settle an early GG (maybe even the first) is to get accuracy catapults without having them fight.

My accuracy catapult = spies