For me personally I think Imp is strong during the Ancient Age where you're expanding with Settlers and the Renaissance Age where you're peaking at GGs Production (about 4-5).
The other Ages inbetween and After for me is when it's weakest.
The Classical and Middle Ages where you're still accumulating XP for GGs, and the Industrial Age onwards where diminishing returns occurs for GGs.
So a cheap building during the Classical/Middle Age and a cheap building after the Renaissance Age Ends would be a nice balance I believe.
My personal choice would be cheap Stables and Airports.
I know some of you believe cheap stables would should go to Aggressive but Imperialistic is the trait we're trying to improve, and it probably needs it more then Aggressive.
Plus Airports for a nice late game boost when GGs are harder to come by (unless you play advanced start)
Cheap Jails and Custom Houses are also very nice options but they come around the time where Imp is at it's strongest in terms of GG production and it's usefulness will probably die off once you hit the industrial age and onwards.
Some nice suggestions there regarding cheapper buildings.
The more i look at it , the more i think i have found the answer. And the more i like it.Simply , reduce GG emergence for not imperialistic Civs and increase it further (or don't increase it) for imperialistic Civs.
You can , get two or three GG classical to medieval age , By warring a lot but your GG will few be compared to imperialistic Civ GG. That way imperialistic bonus is also more unique.
And of course traits like expansive doesn't have to be nerfed.
It is so simple i wonder why didn't Firaxis do it.
That's my point: It isn't very strong. Getting the first GG doesn't rank that much when compared to the bonuses of the other traits. It needs something more.At the end of a game 30% extra great generals doesn't mean much at all. Reason? By that statge there are so many other ways to get the bonuses offered by great generals. So many ways for non-imperialistic civs to dilute the advantages offered to imperialistic civs. West Point, the Pentagon, heroic epic, dry docks, factory, power plant, ironworks, theocracy, vassalage, police state. It's even more diluted by the fact that successive promotions require more and more XP so that non-imperialistic civs can easily reach a point where they produce units of the same experience level despite having less military instructors. Imperialistic's bonus to great general production gets more and more dilute as the game goes on
Imperialistic's bonus to great general production is at its strongest relative to the great general production of non-imperialistic civs - or, in short, it's at its strongest - with that first early great general. A whole extra promotion more to every unit you build (except mounted) at a time when your rivals have no means of making up for it in other ways other than actual combat. The change lengthens that time difference - gives imperialistic civs more time to make use of the best advantage in great generals they will ever have over non-imperialistic civs who war to an equal extent.
Watiggi:
That's my point: It isn't very strong. Getting the first GG doesn't rank that much when compared to the bonuses of the other traits. It needs something more.
...
I'm still gobsmacked by the fact that you still seem to think that making GG's rarer will actually benefit Imperialistic. If getting an early GG is all you think Imp's about, then it is in dire need of another bonus. Because that extra 2xp for a short while is nothing when compared to what Agg/Cha/Pro has to offer.
I guess one could say that the idea of the first GG is for it to be a Warlord. That would result in 20xp for all units who are fighting (not to mention a Warlord). That's a distinct advantage, but I dunno. It doesn't last long and has no real staying power.
The greatest myth of great generals is that the first one should be used to create a warlord so that West Point is unlocked. It's not at all difficult to include in your plan for a war the minor task of getting a level 6 unit. Even in my peaceful games I'll accept the request from an AI to go to war just so that I can get a level 6 unit.
The early settlers help because you can claim ideal city locations and resources before your rivals. It also helps a lot to get those first cities built earlier so they can begin working on the granary/barracks/archer/monument or whatever you want for it. I do not think anything is wrong with the settler bonus and I hope Firaxis leaves it as it is. Still though, I hope Imperialist provides a cheaper building or two...
The greatest myth of great generals is that the first one should be used to create a warlord so that West Point is unlocked. It's not at all difficult to include in your plan for a war the minor task of getting a level 6 unit. Even in my peaceful games I'll accept the request from an AI to go to war just so that I can get a level 6 unit.
Lets say typically you're most experienced unit from an early extensive war is a sword with 16 xp.
I still believe that the extra 30% gives it some long term viability and IS a plus for the trait. Making the change may 'boost' the begining, but it'll kill that longterm viability by reducing the overall number of GG's that Imp is capable of getting. I don't believe that the change is in Imperialistic's favour - especially with the other xp generating wonders and what not that are available. Letting Imp capable of accessing more GG's than non Imp leaders helps it to get those extra xp plus have a shot at the wonders. Again this change makes it more short term and kills it's longterm capability. Overall, it's a nerf - NOT an improvement.As I have said I'm not arguing that it's a strong trait. I'm arguing that the change will make it stronger to some degree. Now maybe you don't think that it will make the trait strong enough but I don't understand how you can think that the change will not make imperialistic stronger at all (and I don't mean compared to other theoretical changes).
I'll concede that the change doesn't benefit imperialistic if you can explain to me how the two paragraphs you quoted above are inaccurate in showing that imperialistic will be made stronger than it is in its current form.
If you simply think that it's not a strong enough change then there's no point in us having this arguement because I'm not getting into a comparison of the relative merits of each trait in here - that would go beyond what I'm trying to say; that the change will benefit imperialistic to some degree. I've already said that I think that imperialistic is a weak trait. I won't be going any further than that here.
Huh? I said an actual 100% Great General Emergence. I can't get more numeric than that.Thats all very vague. Give us numbers. Instead of +100% GG points would you change it to +200%? more?