It strikes me as odd how many financial leaders have great uniques.

[Monkeyfinger]

Trading. Because the AI techs so fast, they have lots to trade to you, making the entire world's tech pace stupidly fast. You should see the number of techs they tend to get by bulbing philosophy and trading it around.

 

[SnowlyWhite]

0 might not be the norm, but 500 is a good average from what I saw so far. Obviously, it depends on the diplo and all that.

however, when you get the univ. is perfectly irrelevant. The idea is you'll always get it around... ~40% of your game if you play for space(I assume, I don't go for space), I'd say somewhere around 60-75% of your game if you go for domi(maybe even more then 75%, but that's lucky - had one deity game in which maybe I got it later then 75% of the duration of the whole game - the tech speed was overall slow, but I got a very early domination - however, that was the remarkable exception, not the norm).

So... regardless if it's settler or deity, the seowon will give you a sci. bonus for, let's say on average, 50% of the game assuming you ain't as boring as I am and aim also for other things in your games then domi, domi and some more domi. Which makes that building one of the most solid ingame - +5% research bonus on average of the whole game... hey, that's half of fr bonus.

And regarding your initial statement, I'd say that 90% of the leaders get a good unique. If not more. About 80% of the ubs are relevant and many uus can be too if you cater your style abit around the leader(probably much more in mp then in single player - the uus that is).

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Trading. Because the AI techs so fast, they have lots to trade to you, making the entire world's tech pace stupidly fast. You should see the number of techs they tend to get by bulbing philosophy and trading it around.

The AI never goes for education. They always, always, go for the machinery, engineering, guilds, banking line first, with some of them taking a detour to grab music for the artist, and the religious techs.

 

[vicawoo]

As fars as the OP I consider most of those financial leaders to have medium to good UUs at best. I actually think Musa's fit's best with financial as he can build a stronge defense while he tech like crazy.

I think the UB's are more overpowered

HC= Granery with +2 culture turns him into a creative leader
English = Stock Excahnge +15% extra works veyr well with financial
Musa= Mint +10% works with financial
Hannibal= Extra trade route, works with financial
Darius= extra health from a grocer (I think it's health), OK.
Ragnar= UB fits more with his Agressive trait
Willem= Dike is best UB in the game
Mayans= 2 extra happiness per ball court is OK.
Korean= +15% beakers fits with financial

I am missing someone but generally most financial leaders have an overpowering UB which works very well with that trait.

Trade routes don't technically work with financial, it's more like financial helps the science slider and trade routes help the science slider.

I don't consider the 10-15%'s that overpowered. The terrace is nice, although when I REX I can't afford a granary that early, it's more nice for conquests.

Best UB's off the top of my head, sacrificial altar, hippodrome, the HRE courthouse, shaka's barracks, terrace, sometimes pavilion. I would also rate the happy UB bonuses above the +10-15%'s. 2 more cottages from happiness is better than 10 cottages getting boosted 15%. Actually, consider stock exchange is 50% so you're only getting n*1.65/1.5=1.1*n more commerce, university requires library so n*1.65/1.5, mall is worse. 2 more happiness is an (n+2)/n % bonus, 20% at size 10, 13% at size 15. Plus more drafting later.

 

[oyzar]

Sure they don't go for education but you can often get alpha and sometimes col from them while building the great library or somesuch. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=258489&page=4 here it is in 560 and he isn't exactly teching fast... http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=248435 300 Ad is somewhat faster. Here snaaty gets it in 400 AD http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260753

So i might havbe been off by a few years but you can tech way faster at sub-deity most of the time so it should be possible to easily get education before the AD's...

 

[cabert]

I see the english UB as one of the most powerful.
Strange you guys don't.
Why do I think it's so good?
Because it makes it even easier to get one (or a few) super $ city, and let the rest of your cities go for science.

 

[Diamondeye]

Darius
Huayna Capac
Ragnar
Willem
Pacal

That's half of them. (Left out in the cold are Mansa, Wang Kon, Hannibal, and the biritish queens.)

Why leave Mansa, Wang Kon, Hannibal and the Brits out and keep Ragnar, Willem and Pacal? IMHO, the 8 UUs rate like this:
1: England
2: Korea
3: Persia
4: Carthage
EDIT: Netherlands
6: Mali
7: Inca
8: Viking
9: Maya

...allmost completely the opposite! Can we hear some opinion on why, per example, Mayans are good or England is bad?

I think the UB's are more overpowered
HC= Granery with +2 culture turns him into a creative leader
English = Stock Excahnge +15% extra works veyr well with financial
Musa= Mint +10% works with financial
Hannibal= Extra trade route, works with financial
Darius= extra health from a grocer (I think it's health), OK.
Ragnar= UB fits more with his Agressive trait
Willem= Dike is best UB in the game
Mayans= 2 extra happiness per ball court is OK.
Korean= +15% beakers fits with financial

I am missing someone but generally most financial leaders have an overpowering UB which works very well with that trait.

Hc's UB is not ver ynice, IMHO, and does not at all turn him into a creative leader. It just saves 30 for the monument, but it doesnt make your cities expand with no buildings.
English, agree.
Musa, don't really like it, but whatever, seen worse.
Hannibal, Traderoutes are not affected by Fin, but an extra trade route is awesome.
Darius: Okay
Ragnar: Very nice for naval maps (surprise!)
Willem: Might agree on best UB, atleast top 3.
Maya: Agree
Korea: Agree

 

[civ4legs]

I said uniques.

Not unique units.

Uniques.

Where the HELL did you guys get the idea that I wasn't including buildings? Jesus christ. I mean, neither the dutch not the brits have an outstanding UU, but the Dutch do get an awesome building while the brits... don't.

I just figure that BECAUSE I'm putting the dutch over the english, it should speak for itself that I'm including buildings in the comparison, since that's where the dutch really stand out and pretty much everyone knows that. To bring up the buildings feels patronizing, as if you think I'm some moron that can't see how good Dikes are.

Holy crap, dude! Chill out!

I sort of assumed you were just talking about units because you left out Korea's seowon and Mansa's mint, which are two of my favourite uniques in the game.

I suppose if I had thought more I would have wondered why the Dutch and the Vikings were up there, since I'm not a huge fan of their units...

Anyway, the point is, calm down

 

[Diamondeye]

Vikings doesn't have a good UU, and an average UB. I wouldn't call it fantastic. Korea, on the other hand, has a good UU and UB.
And England has awesome UU and UB aswell.
Dutch UB is awesome, but UU is not that great.

 

[The_Reckoning]

Hc's UB is not ver ynice, IMHO, and does not at all turn him into a creative leader. It just saves 30 for the monument, but it doesnt make your cities expand with no buildings.

However, when you conquer an enemy city, one of the most common buildings to be left over is the granary, which then turns into the terrace, allowing him to pop borders on captured cities faster than non-creative leaders.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

I already explained why berzerkers are good and redcoats aren't. (Well the financial ones. Churchill's are a different story, he's more likely to face other gunpodwer units with them.)

Maya is mainly about the UB. 2 extra happiness is always a godly bonus. Holkans pale compared to that, they are at best a good early barb busting unit that you don't need a resource for.

 

[Incan Emperor]

On an Archipielago map both of Ragnars uniques are awesome, theres little to explain about the trading post, you get there faster period, its also exponential cause you are more likely to circumnavigate the world because of it making it +2 movement when its all said and done.

The UU and UB are also synergetic, depending on where the opponents defense ships are, you can take your invasion fleet right outside the enemy borders without Triremes for escort, declare war, amphibious attack the enemy city with out the need for cats and then out run the enemy triremes back to safety.

The serks are awesome they start with combat 1 + a bonus against citys that the normal mace doesnt get + CR1 out of the gate with a barracks making it +35% against cities with amphibious to boot, you can capture a city the very same turn you declare war!

 

[lordqarlyn]

I don't get half of those left out of your list of excellent UU and UBs.

The redcoat is not the beast it was in vanilla, but it is still quite formidable, especially with Grens being pushed back farther in the tech tree. They have one of the longest lifespans of any UU, since it takes infantry to render them obsolete. But by then, wouldn't you have Assembly Line thanks to financial?
The Stock exchange plays in perfectly with a CE, encouraging you to have high tax revenues and get more bang for your buck.

I won't disagree that with the nerf to Siege in BtS that Hwachas are quite less of a UU. I mean, at least the fast worker lasts the whole game, and you get more when you capture any other workers. But Wang has the Seowon, the dream building for anyone aiming for space, which Korea is especially adapted to.

Ragnar's UU and UB are great, but situational. Obviously, no coastal cities, and the power of both is severely reduced. Similarly, HC's Quechas are only awesome at levels above monarch, as that is when the AI starts with Archery. The Terrace is pretty good though.

I was thinking that I was the only Civ player who loves organized. My preference is on Terra maps, and that trait is a lifesaver!