How to play Alexander?

[Evil Beejeebers]

Hi, I have been playing civ with a friend recently, and I got pretty badly mauled by Ragnar. I like to play as Lizzy when I play myself. I enjoy getting specialists and getting a tidy tech lead. and I think Zander would allow me to do that and he would also give me a little more steel when it comes to a slugfest. as I always seem to spawn next to monty or shaka when I play with him.

The way I want to play is using lots of specialists, in my citys and getting plenty of great people. I also would like my civ to be able to war whilst maintaining a decent economy. I like playing a builder but I am desperate to develop a hybrid style.

things I would like help with is,

1. good opening tech choices
2. what specialists go in what cites.(I always put scientists in my capital, a lot of people seem to use merchants)
3. what happens when I don't have an iron or bronze?(I am poor at warring with archers)
4. Is there any good specialist economy guides for BTS?

I would really appreciate any pointers which get me moving in the right direction. I have played a couple of games myself, but have not really got to grips with alex yet. I play warlord through to prince difficulty.

 

[The Oz-Man]

Greece will usually need food techs unless they have a coastal start (in which case Mining and BW can be early priorities), so it's helpful to start there if need be before heading over to the Mining package. I like shooting for Writing as early as possible with Philo leaders.

Merchants are good for leveraging Bureaucracy in the capital and to stabilize your economy as needed, but I think most people will tell you to run a lot of scientists since GS's are the best early-game great people. Later in the game, though, merchants become really valuable.

Do you have horses? Rushing with Horse Archers is a powerful move with or without metals.

Can't really tell you with the last one.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

You playing single player, multiplayer, or co-op? I'm assuming single player....

1. good opening tech choices
2. what specialists go in what cites.(I always put scientists in my capital, a lot of people seem to use merchants)
3. what happens when I don't have an iron or bronze?(I am poor at warring with archers)
4. Is there any good specialist economy guides for BTS?

1) Food techs, then production techs, then figure out where the resources are. So your first four techs will normally (land based maps, nothing too weird) be Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Mining, and Bronze Working in some order.

Playing Greece - if you get the right start (seafood, deer), you might be able to skip Agriculture/AH for a time. You'll normally want to have them when you start pumping out settlers

2) Harder question - there are a lot of different plans you can have. The most commonly discussed style runs scientists everywhere, planning to use them for a race to liberalism. The second most common approach is to run artists everywhere, aiming for a cultural victory.

For the most part, the big payoff of specialists is that they spawn great people; so most advanced players figure out which great people they want, and run specialists accordingly -- cities that are going to produce a great person are tuned to produce the right one. Cities that aren't going to produce a great person...? It doesn't matter much, so you do whatever works to keep everything else running smoothly.

My recommendation would be to try scientists everywhere first, then branch out.

3) Horses are fast and awesome. Catapults are slow and awesome. Elephants are slow and awesome (but require Ivory -- not commonly available). If all else fails, play nice until gunpowder. Just make sure you get there first.

It is possible to war with wood alone (archers/longbows + catapults/trebuchets); but mostly you prefer to have at least a few attacking pieces in your stack.

4) My own feeling is that the answer is still no. There are a few essays that got published to the war academy, but I've never come away with the feeling that they show how a specialist economy can be adapted to multiple game styles.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Why play alexander? His starting techs suck. His Unique unit sucks. He only has 1 good trait. Why not play pericles instead? At least his traits synergize well together, especially if you want lots of specialists.

 

[NetGear]

i guess your reasoning for choosing alexander is because you want to run a SE economy and war as well. although yes, you are choosing one trait each for what you want to accomplish, ultimately its not a good idea imo because alex and greek civ itself has some issues as others pointed out.

you'd be better off picking another phi leader thats more solid and just war with him. or pick a great warmonger and run SE. Pericles is a pretty good phi leader although he shares the same issues with alex as being a greek leader because of his trait synergy. cheap libraries and universities... Mmmm pretty fun for people that love to run scientists....

 

[Mylene]

Specialists work best with mounted units (bulbing paths towards them are good, setting up HAs with libraries/2 scientists as well), and Alex cannot bulb Engineering cos he has fishing.
Agressive doesn't do much for you..

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

Thanks for the info, after a couple of games as alex I decided he is nothing special. I thought aggressive seemed like a good trait, as it gets you up the combat tree quicker. I might try a protective leader instead, the bull seems a good choice. I know the dog solider is pretty mixed bag, but the extra archery bonuses on the monument. Upgrading those archers to some sort of gun powder unit would be pretty fun.

I want to avoid pericles as I would just get distracted and build ever building.

I am playing with a friend against ai's and him.

 

[TiglathPileser]

Thanks for the info, after a couple of games as alex I decided he is nothing special. I thought aggressive seemed like a good trait, as it gets you up the combat tree quicker. I might try a protective leader instead, the bull seems a good choice. I know the dog solider is pretty mixed bag, but the extra archery bonuses on the monument. Upgrading those archers to some sort of gun powder unit would be pretty fun.

I want to avoid pericles as I would just get distracted and build ever building.

I am playing with a friend against ai's and him.

With Sitting Bull, try a crossbow rush. If you set up correctly you should be able to bulb machinery early with an engineer, if you can oracle or tech to metal casting quickly enough.

 

[jihe]

Thanks for the info, after a couple of games as alex I decided he is nothing special. I thought aggressive seemed like a good trait, as it gets you up the combat tree quicker. I might try a protective leader instead, the bull seems a good choice. I know the dog solider is pretty mixed bag, but the extra archery bonuses on the monument. Upgrading those archers to some sort of gun powder unit would be pretty fun.

I want to avoid pericles as I would just get distracted and build ever building.

I am playing with a friend against ai's and him.

You should try Pericles, he's a sick sick leader. Why would you build any more building than Alex?

 

[michmbk]

Don't laugh, but if you want lots of specialists while being able to war with a decent economy, how about gandhi? SPI is a great war/economy trait, because you can switch between civics that favor building/economy in peacetime, and civics that favor units in wartime. He also has a great UU that never obsoletes...

Asoka is a better pure warmonger, but I've found gandhi to be a great flexible leader for what it sounds like you're trying to accomplish.

 

[The Oz-Man]

Personally, my favorite Philosophical leader to take to war is Lincoln. He's by all accounts without a UU or UB for much of the game, but Charismatic beats the crap out of Aggressive as a warmonger trait, and extra to be able to run more specialists earlier is just gravy.

 

[ShengWuLien]

I'd agree with the conventional wisdom here...Pericles is the better of the two Greek leaders.

I like him for the elepult rush. Get Writing quick (cheap libraries from CRE), run a couple scientists, bulb Math (quick GS from PHI), tech Construction, go go go. Math gives more hammers from chopping and the Greek UB comes at Construction in case you need to stave off WW during the elepult frenzy.

But Fishing and Hunting stink to the high heavens as starting techs if you get the wrong start.

I kinda like AGG as a trait these days for the simple reason of making the early game a tiny bit easier. Having promoted fogbusting warriors can give some peace of mind vs. barbs when you're settling your first few cities. But if you want an AGG leader, Shaka is better to my mind.

 

[JK_47]

I'm sorry I must be missing something... Creative leaders can build libraries faster? I thought it was theatres and cols?

 

[rah]

Yes, creative leaders can build libraries faster.

 

[Um the Muse]

I'm sorry I must be missing something... Creative leaders can build libraries faster? I thought it was theatres and cols?

Yep, to all three of them (and one of the few leaders that give half off for UB, not that the Odeon is all that great to build). Pericles also gets half price Universities, thanks to Philosophical, so he's probably the fastest leader for Oxford.

The Odeon is a fair bit more powerful than what it replaces, but what it replaces is mediocre. The extra culture comes in handy when conquering cities, as it's one of the few culture buildings that survive city conquest (it survives because Coloseums don't produce culture).

The Phalanx is only a tiny step up from regular axes, imho. If the bonus affected all horse units, that would be completely different. It's probably also different in MP, where the enemy plans what units to build.

 

[Zx Zero Zx]

Attack people.

 

[WelshGandalf]

Pericles is awesome! My favourite leader

BTW creative doesn't give libraries a boost in vanilla. Not sure about warlords.

 

[cseanny]

Don't laugh, but if you want lots of specialists while being able to war with a decent economy, how about gandhi? SPI is a great war/economy trait, because you can switch between civics that favor building/economy in peacetime, and civics that favor units in wartime. He also has a great UU that never obsoletes..

And he has the fastest possible Axe/chariot rush possible cause those damn fast workers let you do everything faster, lol, including chopping. And with stone around he's just scary!

My favorite leaders to use would be people with spiritual, philo, creative, and industrious traits. Imo they give the most flexibility. Egypt, India, Germany, America, Suli and Monty are nice too. Some other leader have nice traits but I'm no thrilled about their starting techs, and unless you have the right start just aren't my favorites.

1. good opening tech choices
2. what specialists go in what cites.(I always put scientists in my capital, a lot of people seem to use merchants)
3. what happens when I don't have an iron or bronze?(I am poor at warring with archers)
4. Is there any good specialist economy guides for BTS?

General advice and tips:

Spoiler :

IMO:

1. W/out map specific knowledge or leader traits.......In general: Food, strategic resources, masonry if stone is present, writing. If beelining for Oracle then after strategic resources go meditation, priesthood, writing, ORACLE and grab CoL. Alpha, currency, asthetics (Parthenon or Pya) and Literature (TGL) should be some sort of priority too (imo).

2. Keep it simple. Libraries and scientist.
3. Horses? Chariots or HAs (easily best unit for ages)
4. Not really =/

I'd suggest trying a very early (1 settler) chariot/ax/UU war towards one AI then make a second HA war versus another. Subsequently if you have no close neighbors expand to 3-4 cities (tech path writing, HBR, archery, then the above) and launch a massive 500 BC HA war into 2 different civilizations (one at a time).

If you went the early war route simply turn your science slider to zero after writing, chop/build units of your choice, then at some point stop unit production (usually 1700-1500 BC), get a library in your capital and 2nd city and run scientist to quickly reach Alpha (and generate a GP) where you can sue for peace, trade in general, and build research to power your way to currency (stabilize economy). Alternatively if you're CRE, after writing you could temporarily put slider to zero, chop a 2-3 turn library, then go to max research and chop/build units.

If you have an exceptional UU your second city could build/chop the Oracle while your capital build/chops units. This type of opening gives you some more early flexibility, especially with Spiritual leaders and CoL.

At this point in the game I generally try to focus on farms, farms, and more farms, run 2 scientist in every city and build research/wealth while growing (or grow first, and quicker, then run scientist) and hopefully working a few hammer tiles too. Spiritual leaders have an edge here because they have more freedom to switch civics between times of growth, research, and whipping infrastructure/units.

As far as GP? In general you can either rapidly bulb towards Liberalism, and bypass a lot of buildings, to include Universities and an early Oxford and aim for a very early Curs/Rifle war. Use the GA from music for a GA and Pacifism, Caste, Religion to quickly produce GS and repeat the process after Liberalism>Nationalism after you've built The Taj. When time is an issue or you feel a single, quick war will grab you more land in the long run then bulb.

OR

You can settle them and during the time your researching paper and education keep your slider at zero and use this time for growth and lots of infrastructure (whip whip whip!), too include Universities (obviously after Edu!) and an Early Oxford (Pre 1000 AD with Philo). An early Oxford usually only puts you a few turns (5-15?) behind in reaching Curs/Rifles and keeps you ahead after that. Basically it gives you lots of sustainability in war because your Capital will produce a lot of when you're at zero slider.

 

[Keilah]

odeon gives an awesome happines : cost ratio as pericles, and fits so well with a heavy-specialist economy. build the cheap theatres and bump up the culture slider a little for cheeeeeeeeeeap happy.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

Thank you cseanny, That was some really good ideas. @ absolute zero my reasoning behind alex probably not a particularly good chain of reasoning, I want to try and develop a fast and quick economy. and Aggressive to get units higher up the combat tree so I don't get bogged down quite as quick. btw is your name after 0 kelvins?

so with a dedicated specialist economy cottages are a no no?

I don't tend to pick leaders with the war traits but I wanted a little change as well.