Leader Discussion - Tecumseh

[disjointaccount]

Only 4 leaders left! Today we have Tecumseh.
His leader ability is Nicaakiyakoolaakwe, which is a two-parter:

• +1 Food and Production per Age in Settlements for every City-State you are suzerain of
• +1 Combat Strength for all your Units for every City-State you are suzerain of

His attributes are Militaristic and Diplomatic, giving him access to the Military Aid and Local Festival endeavors, along with events for attribute points upon researching Mysticism and building an Observatory (per this post).
He has no starting bias.
Playing as Tecumseh unlocks Shawnee (otherwise unlocked by impriving 3 Hides or being suzerain of 2 city-states) and Hawai'i (otherwise unlocked by having 2 settlements on landmasses no larger than 15 tiles each) in the Exploration Age, and America (otherwise unlocked by having 3 Distant Lands settlements on grassland or plains terrain) and Mexico (otherwise unlocked by having 3 Distant Lands settlements in desert or tropical terrain) in the Modern Age.
As an AI leader, his agenda is Suzerain of the World - Decrease Relationship by a Large Amount when a player disperses an Independent, and Increase Relationship by a Small Amount if player does not have an active Befriend Independent Action active.
So what are everyone's thoughts? Likes/dislikes? Fun strategies? Good civs to pair him with?

 

[stealth_nsk]

Even with the last patch changes, strategy of befriending as many city states as possible is really strong and Tecumseh is really good at this. Also, unlike most of the leaders who has bonuses per city and suffered from new meta, Tecumseh has bonuses per settlement (if it wasn't changed), so he really shines for both peaceful and aggressive playstyles.

Endeavors are on a weaker side, but it's not a big deal and events are strong.

 

[MrRadar]

I recently completed a Tecumseh game paired with Siam in Modern, and I can say that +10 CS from vassal City States does make things much easier on the frontlines First IPs can be befriended normally, for the last ones one can accumulate enough influence for the Itsaraphab magic trick, pumping out Uparats in the meanwhile, and then starting the steamroller with the cannon elephants.

But this requires mostly defogged map, so there's some homework to do in Exploration with the missionaries, or, for example, with Conquistador Christopher Columbus who can reveal all oceans for you, if you can unlock Spain in Antiquity. With the revealed map you'll see and be able to befriend all those Independent Powers right from the start of Modern.

 

[Leucarum]

Agree with others that he's one of the best leaders. The availability of influence in the latest patch makes it even easier to catch 'em all when it comes to CS and he pairs very well with his own momentos...

 

[pjotroos]

Yep, he's one of my favourites, too. Strong, versatile, synergises well with his historical pairing.

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

The king of scaling.

 

[uppi]

Before the nerfs to city states in 1.2.5, he was by far the strongest leader in the game. City states where the best way to scale your yields and he scaled the best of those as well. Now, I would say he is still very strong and at least the best leader for combat, because he can get the highest possible combat bonuses of all leaders.

I would say his drawback is that he is not very generalist. To unlock his full potential, you have to play Greece. As he does not get any bonus to befriending independent powers, he needs some help to get started. And Greece provides exactly that. Also, he is somewhat dependent on map type. On a massive Pangea he is much better than on a tiny continents map, because there are many more independent powers around and he really wants a lot of those.

If you ever get annoyed at the AI combat bonuses, turn the tables on them: Pick Tecumseh, equip his warclub memento, pick Greece, get a few city states, build a few hoplites and walk up to the enemy capital like you own it (you soon will and there is nothing anybody can do about it)

 

[Andrew Johnson [FXS]]

Tecumseh has my favorite line (all cred goes to Dillon, not to me), which is his "deal-reject" line. Just "Ha ha ha ha - no." It makes you feel so, so tiny.

 

[bengalryan9]

In my one game as Tecumseh early on I had suzerained a whole bunch of city states and managed to grab the "+1 CS from city states" bonus from military city states... at some point in the age I realized I probably could've steamrolled every other civ on the map, but I'm so used to not playing that way I never bothered.

My point is that if a leader can make me - a player who pretty much exclusively plays peacefully - think about going on a rampage, they must have some pretty killer bonuses.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

I played Tecumseh my very first game. Greece into Shawnee into... well, what was supposed to be Siam, but Siam was bugged at the time, so I did Mexico. Cultural victory.

It was really nice having food and production everywhere. I used the Combat strength bonuses to fight off anyone who tried to challenge me.

But he's all about those combat strength bonuses. You can really stack those civ traditions, city state bonuses, and mementos. I think with Greece you can +3 combat strength per city state with him. Use all your influence on city states and ignore other civs. He's really damn good for domination wins because of that.

He's also great for peaceful play because of the +1 food/production, and even better if you use your mementos to double it. And you have a strong army to repel anyone trying to challenge you. So i think he's best at domination, but he's not one of those one trick domination ponies (like Shaka in 6), where you can at least pivot to other victory types.

One of my favorite leaders to this day.

 

[disjointaccount]

Very little to say here that hasn't already been said - he's the best leader for one of the best strategies in city state spam. If you haven't already, play Siam with him in modern. The sheer power of the CS from his ability stacking with the commander boosts from that one great person is absurd.