Leader personalities

[Idiodyssey]

When i read through play-through threads, I see the player give a brief synopsis of the personality of a leader they just met that goes beyond just their two attributes or favorite civic. Like how willing they are to trade techs, for how long they will trade techs, the size of army they build, whether it is an offensive or defensive army, what kind of economy they focus on (war, food, tech), their willingness to backstab, etc. I don't have as much experience with this game to be able to immediately identify the personality of a leader when I meet them, unless it's a one-dimensional leader like Tokugawa. I was wondering if we could compile a list of every leaders' personalities, Warlods and post-patch.

 

[kristopherb]

lets create one

monty is abackstaber
ghandi is a peaceful guy
issy of spain guns for a religion although annoying but if on the friendly side youll be glad
mansamunsa always to be a vassal

 

[Ginger_Ale]

When i read through play-through threads, I see the player give a brief synopsis of the personality of a leader they just met that goes beyond just their two attributes or favorite civic. Like how willing they are to trade techs, for how long they will trade techs, the size of army they build, whether it is an offensive or defensive army, what kind of economy they focus on (war, food, tech), their willingness to backstab, etc. I don't have as much experience with this game to be able to immediately identify the personality of a leader when I meet them, unless it's a one-dimensional leader like Tokugawa. I was wondering if we could compile a list of every leaders' personalities, Warlods and post-patch.

All these little characteristics are stored in the XML files as percentages and numerical values. You can just open the XML file entitled "CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml" in your C:/Program Files/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Assets/XML/Civilizations/ folder (of course, this is the folder for Vanilla Civ4's leaders since I don't have Warlords, but I'm sure Warlords' XML files are set up in a similar fashion).

For example, Catherine has a max gold trade percent (the amount of her available gold lump sum she is willing to trade) of 5%, whereas Louis XVI has one of 20%!

 

[Sisiutil]

I've seen some definite changes in the AI's behaviour as a result of the patch, so I hesitate to comment too much.

For example, in the current ALC, Tokugawa was the tech leader for most of the game. Previously, because of his reluctance to tech trade, you could count on him to lag behind. The AI has obviously learned to run its economy better.

Anyway, I tend to categorize the leaders, so I'll do that--just realize that I haven't met up with some of the leaders since the patch, so this may need adjustment.

• Early Game Psychos: Montezuma and Alexander will jump on you if they sense you're weak. They usually lag behind in techs by mid-game and become also-rans, however; just be careful because they'll still have large (if obsolete) armies. I've heard Shaka can be like this too, but I haven't seen it so far in my games. Monty and Shaka can be very friendly if you share a religion (but not borders).
• Mid-Game Dangers: Louis XIV and Napoleon (both French--coincidence?) will build up to become a threat by mid-game (right around the time they get Gunpowder for Musketeers--again, probably not a coincidence). Napoleon is definitely the more dangerous of the two, but both will build big armies of Cavalry and Riflemen.
• Tech Monsters: Gandhi, Mansa Musa, Wang Kon, Ragnar, Qin Shi Huang, and Huayna Capac all seem to tech like crazy. Any of them could beat you to a space race victory. Therefore you can also consider them "late game dangers", and not just for the space race; Qin once went to war with me to keep me from completing the space ship, and did a very effective job.
• Opportunists: Julius Caesar and Kublai Kahn, in my experience, can be reasonable but will seize an opportunity to punish you if they sense that you're weak.
• Religious Nuts: Isabella tops this list. She'll love you if you share her state religion; she'll hate you with a passion if you don't. Unless you're significantly stronger than her, if you share borders but not religion she'll attack you. She may even go out of her way to do it, shared borders or not. I hear Brennus can be like this, but I haven't come up against him yet. Saladin is also religiously sensitive, but less prone to war. Adding to his existing psychotic problems, Montezuma is also something of a religious nut.
• Best Friends: Hatshepsut, Cyrus, Gandhi, Mansa Musa, Washington, Roosevelt, Victoria, Elizabeth, Frederick, and Bismarck tend to be less religiously intolerant and relatively easy to befriend. Since many of them are also good at teching, this can be a beautiful friendship indeed.
• Also-Rans: Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Mehmed, Mao, Genghis Kahn, and Peter all tend to be middle-of-the pack leaders, even though several of them--especially Caesar--are deadly in the hands of a human. As a result, they tend to be reasonable, if not chummy.

I have not encountered a lot of the other leaders, especially the new ones, to have much to say about them. Some I've also seen change since the patch (like Toku), so I want to play a few more games with them before forming an opinion.

 

[Iamdead7]

Well, Shaka and Tokugawa always hate me. Maybe that's because I gun for them if they are on the map

You can count on Ghandi to found a late religion (Islam or Taoism) and convert to it, but never spread it.


FDR and Washington tend to be personable, and make good friends.


Ghengis is awesome to have as your buddy, convert him to your religion if you can.

 

[FoxTrot12]

I agree with most of the things up there. Montezuma is a crazed freak who attacks people with an army 7 times bigger than his.

 

[flamingzaroc121]

Brennus is somewhat of a religous nut, but no where near izzy

 

[speedy55]

Monty is pretty insane. If you see him next to you, annhiolate him. I remember in my first game, I wasn't prepared for war, not knowing that Monty was a war monger. I lost that game in 1500 b.c.

 

[kristopherb]

Monty is pretty insane. If you see him next to you, annhiolate him. I remember in my first game, I wasn't prepared for war, not knowing that Monty was a war monger. I lost that game in 1500 b.c.

unlucky

what churhill like in the game because im always playing as churchill