Help Me Decide on the Best Leader 4 Me!

[Defiance]

I can't seem to find a leader I really like, it's starting to bug me, I don't even finish half my games b/c there is just something missing

I like to Warmonger and so far my favorite leader has been Shaka, he's very powerful with great synergy and a great UU/UB, a combination like that is hard to find but theres something I just don't like about him.

I think I'm looking for a Warmonger that has a good Economic trait, maybe even a early religion shot. Religion is an aspect of the game I like even tho I've never really used it and even though I like Shakas expansive for whipping it's not my favorite.

So far my favorite traits are, Aggressive (but I'm moving away from it), Charismatic, Spiritual, Financial.

I'd like to start using Philosophical though, I haven't gotten much into great people yet and I think there is a lot of potential.

So what do you guys think a good leader would be for me, someone that can war bur can keep up financially and maybe even have a shot at a religion?

I'm looking at, Pacal II, Hannibal, Boudica, Brennus, Shaka, Darius, Cyrus, Ragnar.

Cyrus and Ranger are the most appealing to me right now, but I'm not all that fond of the Persian UU/UB.

I'm playing Monarch right now so I know about the leaders I just can't find one I really like.

Helps meh!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Ragnar and Wang Kon are both good financial civs for warmongering. Wang is protective but Hwacha's more than make up for that and the Seowon boosts research too.

 

[Percy]

Louis XIV.

 

[Defiance]

I wont be the french out of principal..

 

[Jormungandr]

I wont be the french out of principal..

Some pretty silly principles you have if you won't play a certain nationality in a fictional game.

 

[Nuwan]

Try Justinian Sp/Imp. His UU is pretty powerful and his UB is great for handling war weariness. Spiritual gives you a good shot at early religion and extra GG are useful for warmongering.

 

[Polycrates]

I'm very sad that you would abandon beloved Shaka

I would suggest maybe Brennus though. If you want to play with the religions, Spiritual is definitely the way to go - switches between the religious civics are where Spiritual really shines early/mid game, and easy switching to/from OR lets you quickly and efficiently spread a religion around. Plus bursts of CS/pacifism will really get you a lot of great people in a nice hurry without a lot of cost. And you can switch religions for the sake of diplomacy etc.
It's also good financially, since you can generate hordes of uber-units in one burst of warring civics (this is where the charismatic combo really shines) and switch painlessly back to economic civics later. Plus more happiness for more people running your economy (or more war weariness).
Charismatic is also economically nice early on, since you can run more people in each city for more economic power.

And yeah, it's a fantastic warring combo too, right through the game. Plus his UU and UB are totally underrated, and just as importantly, allow for a lot of fun tactics. If you're a fan of the Impi, I reckon you'd probably get quite a bit out of them.

At monarch+, you'll struggle with an early religion (unless you're lucky), but you'll have an excellent chance at Confucianism or Taoism, or if you build Stonehenge (not a bad move for Brennus), at bulbing Theology for Christianity.

Other suggestions (all Spiritual - it's such a good trait!):
Monty is a great warmonger who can whip out absolute hordes of units, plus cheap courthouse (but a fairly lacklustre uu)
Hatty has a fantastic early UU, the creative is really nice for peaceful or warlike expansion (and cheap libraries), and the UB pretty much guarantees you Christianity if you want it (plus lets you easily generate prophets for shrines) and early Theocracy for more warrin'.
Saladin is a similar case (same deal with his UB and Theology), but with a bit more later-end power with gunpowder units and camel archers.

 

[Elandal]

For religious warmonger:

1) Brennus (or Boudica, but don't overlook Spiritual when drooling over the Aggressive) is good. I like the UU, although UB sucks
Apart from warmongering side, Charismatic allows for bigger cities. Bigger cities are more productive, and can give you more commerce (or gold or beakers directly) should you them so configure - thus it has indirect economic benefits. I count one extra happiness as financial potential for one more city in early expansion.

2) Monty. Where Brennus is Cha/Spi, Monty is Agg/Spi. I don't see anything economical about Monty, but he's relinut if anything
Also, when you get CoL and altars up, you can whip like never before. Maybe this could be considered economical? Bacon yields effectivelly twice the usual hammers?
I hate Monty and refuse to play him. And I simply love killing him.

3) Gandhi. Agg and Cha are overrated - Phi/Spi works very well for warring. I don't have much experience with Gandhi myself though.


Fiscally minded warmongers:

4) Ragnar. My absolute favourite - Financial is easy trait to handle (just cot it up) and the timing of UU is excellent as well as the +10% city attack bonus (even if you don't like / care about the Amphibious promotion).

5) Hammurabi. Organized is extraodinarily fiscal trait. UU is not enhanching the warring ways, but rather complementing them (cheap resourceless early game unit that can handle barb axes and swords unlike normal archers - sometimes you just don't have that copper around). UB is very nice, allowing for bigger cities.


Other ideas:

- Alexander is Agg/Phi, with early game UU (Phalanx is an axe that doesn't fear chariots)

- Lincoln is Cha/Phi. If you war your ways to early domination or conquest, you'll never see the UU nor UB. Not that you'll need them - they're nice plusses at times, but you should never rely on them.

 

[Ozbenno]

How about Zara?

Organised will help with the cost of running a large empire and creative pushes out the borders of captured cities nicely. The UU is great, a drill II musket. Build them in a city with barracks and a settled GG and you have drill IV muskets out of the gate. Good warmonger fare there!

 

[Combat Ingrid]

Mehmed is lots of fun too. Exp/Org gives you lots of cheap buildings which helps a lot when you go Borg on your neighbors

 

[Dethorn]

ok just about to temp fate here - but after managing a cultural and space ship win on noble(still learning) I decided I wanted a military type victory.

Things are looking great at the moment with ALEX I have built 3 cities taken 3 of Monties and my Athens has become my specialist city with pig 2 clam and fish.

I have also discovered Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, Christianity and Muslim heh not bad heh

 

[futurehermit]

War: Char/Agg

$$: Fin/Org

Rel: Spi/Phi

You don't need to start with myst to play religion, you just need a way of getting one and putting it to use. Lightbulbing works great for Christianity or Taoism and phil helps with that (amongst other things) and spir helps you put it to use.

So, options:

Agg/Fin-Ragnar
Agg/Org-Babylon
Agg/Phi-Alex
Agg/Spi-Monty
Char/Fin-Hannibal
Char/Org-Nappy
Char/Phi-Lincoln
Char/Spir-Brennus
Fin/Org-Darius
Fin/Phi-Elizabeth
Fin/Spi-Mansa
Org/Phi-Freddy
Org/Spi-Asoka
Phi/Spi-Gandhi

There's a LOT of good leaders there.

 

[Indiansmoke]

My choices would be

Agg/Org-Babylon
Char/Agg Boudica
Agg/spi Monty
Ind/spi Ramses (war chariots!)
Cha/Imp Cyrus (Imortals!)

 

[Flamer123]

my all time favorite is HANNIBAL, and i think he'll suit u well as well:
charismatic is the best trait for a warmonger - it's worse than "agressive" on axeman rush, but will be a lot better later on.
Moreover, charismatic gives u +2 which more than compensates the "agressive" advantage early on.
financial is still the best trait whether u're a warmonger or a builder.
his UU is so so in my opinion cause the ai tends to build so many horse-archers, but his UB is quite fair.

However, u said u don't even finish half ur games, so that's probably cause they're too easy for u.

1) If u're a warmonger, use agressive ai and increase the difficulty - it's better to lose a game from time to time.

2) force urself to be philosophical and not financial - U need to learn SE/FE and the power of great people, especially if u're a warmonger. it becomes crucial in immortal/deity levels to have a GP city cause most of the research will be lightbulbed.
try 2 games - first - start near stone and get the pyramids, 2nd when u don't try to build it nor conquer it.

3) don't even try to count on religions. u can't both be a warmonger and spread ur religion. It's a lot better to be a warmonger and conquer the holy city.I think that spiritual is one of the worst trait, especially since in BTS u can switch civics without revolution when on golden age.
in immortal/deity levels, even if u're spiritual it's not 100% sure that u'll get any early religion, and even researching those techs early on instead of the argiculture/AH/writing/Alphabet path is suicide.

hope this helps