Great Commander

[stallheim]

Couldn't find a thread in Advanced search so here goes:
What are some strategies for building Great Commanders in FFH2?
Civics? Religion? Specialists? Buildings? or just wonders?
Thanks a bunch.

 

[Senethro]

The only GC I ever get is from Military Strategy. He usually ends up building a Command Post in my Heroic Epic city.

 

[Emptiness]

Your religion won't have an impact on how many GCs you get. (Well, unless you're using RoK to enable Arete for the rate boost.) Using specialists will lower your chance of getting great commanders.

If you want to have a lot of GCs then you'll want to use civics that boost your rate, such as Pacifism. Build as many wonders as you can that give a + GC rate, and avoid building any wonders that give + for any other type of great person. Also, you may want to play an Organized leader, since they can build Command Posts (once they have researched Military Strategy), which will give + 1 GC in each city, or as a Philosophical leader, since they get +100% to their rate.

 

[Ribusprissin]

Can't you use specialists and wonders to give you other flavors of GPP as long as the total is overwhelmingly GC-flavored?

 

[avalonnn]

will deliver GC points. I think however that most people go for philosophers, scientists, and engineers.

 

[PekkaR]

Can't you use specialists and wonders to give you other flavors of GPP as long as the total is overwhelmingly GC-flavored?

Yes, on average.

Consider twice before significantly polluting the GPP pool. Mere 5-15% chance will pop up all the time, because "unlikely" doesn't cut it. Probability and statistics aren't your friends except in sample sets that could easily devour all the games you ever play with a specific civ and strategy and not show a difference.

I've been experimenting with Altar victory where I pollute the Great Prophet point pool with Great Sage points until I can run enough Priests. Still not sure if getting a single Great Sage that I didn't really need (after capital and maybe 1-2 other suitable cities have Academy) is ever worth it because it might delay the altars much more than the added GPP speed things up early on. (Original plan/hope is that 1-2 Great Sages is ok just because Altars take quite a bit of research in the long run.)

You really have to ask yourself how badly your strategy will suffer if the next great person isn't of the planned type. A lot of waiting for the next one. Generally in non-altar games I aim for a sage or priest first for a specific reason, then later mix the pool a bit while prepared to try and make the best use of whatever pops up. Wonders, Inspiration spell and other things can make it harder to keep the point pool pure, too.

So most of the time, I suggest adding some Great Commander points to the pool but not expecting too much. It could be a nice surprise some time. Just aiming to be the first to research Military Strategy is more viable. The amount of beelining it takes depends on the difficulty.

 

[Rutee]

Yes, on average.

Consider twice before significantly polluting the GPP pool. Mere 5-15% chance will pop up all the time, because "unlikely" doesn't cut it. Probability and statistics aren't your friends except in sample sets that could easily devour all the games you ever play with a specific civ and strategy and not show a difference.

I've been experimenting with Altar victory where I pollute the Great Prophet point pool with Great Sage points until I can run enough Priests. Still not sure if getting a single Great Sage that I didn't really need (after capital and maybe 1-2 other suitable cities have Academy) is ever worth it because it might delay the altars much more than the added GPP speed things up early on. (Original plan/hope is that 1-2 Great Sages is ok just because Altars take quite a bit of research in the long run.)

You really have to ask yourself how badly your strategy will suffer if the next great person isn't of the planned type. A lot of waiting for the next one. Generally in non-altar games I aim for a sage or priest first for a specific reason, then later mix the pool a bit while prepared to try and make the best use of whatever pops up. Wonders, Inspiration spell and other things can make it harder to keep the point pool pure, too.

So most of the time, I suggest adding some Great Commander points to the pool but not expecting too much. It could be a nice surprise some time. Just aiming to be the first to research Military Strategy is more viable. The amount of beelining it takes depends on the difficulty.

Is it that hard to get 6 Great Prophets? I had a recent game as Kuriotates in a modmod that forces tech generalization, and had my Great Prophets long before I'd reached the point where I could build that far into the altar. I was still waiting on Priesthood/Fanaticism, actually..

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Yea, the current GC system realy sucks bad. In all my games I have newer poped a single one.

 

[Eshnunna]

Only GC I popped was during an altar game...

 

[PekkaR]

Is it that hard to get 6 Great Prophets? I had a recent game as Kuriotates in a modmod that forces tech generalization, and had my Great Prophets long before I'd reached the point where I could build that far into the altar. I was still waiting on Priesthood/Fanaticism, actually..

I'm sure mileage will vary, but for me the tech usually comes faster than the great people if I'm polluting the pool. You'd optimally want a Great Engineer or two for the last version while fighting off the Evil civs, too.

Let's not make it an altar victory thread though, that was supposed to be just an example of mixing the GPPs.

 

[avalonnn]

I would pay very close attention to the wonders that give you GC points, such as form of the titan IIRC (and any buildings?).

 

[ICanHasName?]

I would reccomend you dump both epics in the same city (your capitol, while running god-king), avoid specialists, run pacifism. Pop a commander and make a command post. Then decide how badly you want another one. Other then command posts they kinda fail though.

 

[cIV_khanh93]

I would reccomend you dump both epics in the same city (your capitol, while running god-king), avoid specialists, run pacifism. Pop a commander and make a command post. Then decide how badly you want another one. Other then command posts they kinda fail though.

fail? who deosnt love pet units?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I like using Great Commanders to build the Code of Junil and saving my Prophets for the Altars and other shrines, but I guess that requires a little mot of modding.

 

[xalien]

There's a fairly good chance to pop a GC from an epic lair.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I wish they returned the old civ GC spawning. Just slown down dramaticly.

 

[Korias]

If you want to have a lot of GCs then you'll want to use civics that boost your rate, such as Pacifism.

Hmm, you're a pacifist nation and you get great military generals. Are you sure you're a pacifist?

 

[Ribusprissin]

You can't spell pacifists without fisticuffs.

 

[civ_king]

You can't spell pacifists without fisticuffs.

I am a militant pacifist...