Leaders: How to play them and how to play against them!

[madscientist]

The purpose of this article is to give my views of each leader while also relating my experience in dealing with the AI version described as a personality rather than the dry and tedious probability numbers. I do not state a preferred victory style since I am a firm believer you can win anyway with any leader.

This is not meant to be an end all and I will add leaders a few at a time, although I plan to continually work on it. Also, these are from a strict Marathon speed player and are legitimate for up to Emperoro difficulty.

As this is a strategy article, I ask for honest opinions or disagreements. All leaders presented have at least one game represented in my Role Play Challenge games although not always the best way to play them. The leaders I have yet to play as an RPC I will wait on until those games are complete. Finally, there are more extensive articles about these leaders which cover more than I intend. View this as a quicker reference guide.

Washington http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834567&postcount=66

Hyuna Capac http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834581&postcount=68

Tokugawa http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834588&postcount=69

Boudica http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834620&postcount=76

Victoria http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834605&postcount=70

Asoka http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834608&postcount=71

Ghengis Khan http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834609&postcount=72

Catherine the Great http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834613&postcount=73

Mansa Musa http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834617&postcount=74

Agustus Caesar http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834619&postcount=75

Roosevelt http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7834570&postcount=67

Saladin http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8123227&postcount=95

Napoleanhttp://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8198736&postcount=104

Gilgameshhttp://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8202110&postcount=105

Hammurabihttp://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8205477&postcount=115

Wang Konghttp://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8574605&postcount=135

Peter The Great http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=9185124&postcount=154



I have reformatted this Opening Post as I hit a 30,000 character limit as I entered more and more leaders. Hope it's clear and organized. I will contiinue to go through all 52 leaders as time permits (or I hit some other unforseen limit!)

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Toku is very worthwhile to get at pleased. Not only will he sign DPs, he will also take bribes to declare on people, and that will be a long list typically!!!

Edit: HC's buildunitprob is not impressive and due to his low city count it is often very, very easy to roll him, even at tech parity. Only keep him around if he's helping you in some way.

 

[madscientist]

Toku is very worthwhile to get at pleased. Not only will he sign DPs, he will also take bribes to declare on people, and that will be a long list typically!!!

Edit: HC's buildunitprob is not impressive and due to his low city count it is often very, very easy to roll him, even at tech parity. Only keep him around if he's helping you in some way.

I adjusted the characteristics of Toku and HC a bit to cover the suggestions as I mostly agree with them. Thanks!

 

[Stewie0416]

How is Hannibal in your games? For some reason he is my most hated enemy. In the late game he always has massive amounts of troops and keeps a relatively good tech lead ahhh!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

How is Hannibal in your games? For some reason he is my most hated enemy. In the late game he always has massive amounts of troops and keeps a relatively good tech lead ahhh!

He has a low peace weight but does not declare at pleased. Culture is very rare for him. Favorite civic is free market which he'll be in a while.

Basically, get him to pleased and milk him. His buildunitprob is pretty good so he's not as easily toyed with as HC or pacal or something. Pretty decent ally though since he's actually loyal.

 

[DMOC]

Hannibal is often a monster along with Huayna Capac, in my opinion. (The AI's at least.)

 

[madscientist]

Well, since I have yet to play a Hannibal RPC, his review has to wait. I have found he is extremely competant at warring and teching, one of the more dangerous leaders.

 

[DMOC]

Well, since I have yet to play a Hannibal RPC, his review has to wait. I have found he is extremely competant at warring and teching, one of the more dangerous leaders.

That exactly describes him.

 

[Suj85]

can we get some more

 

[madscientist]

can we get some more

I'll try to post some more. Work has been busy before the holidays and the latest RPC took a good part of my spare time.

 

[madscientist]

Added my opinion on Asoka.

 

[kvn_m]

Please post a tip for playing Catherine! I'm always intrigued by creative and imperialistic for an early REX but needs help with economy and timing as to when I should attack my first neighbor rather than settling all the over the place...

 

[Lone Wolf]

However, once befriended he is very loyal and NOT a backstabber,

Tolu is coded to be able to declare at Pleased. He backstabs somewhat less then the code implies, because he is usually too busy hatin' everyone else.

What to expect from AI Victoria (Favorite civic nationhood).

It's Representation.

Never realized why Victoria is relatively weak AI. I mean, she's moderately coded, nothing too extreme...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Asoka does *not* build a decent army as an AI. There is exactly one AI in the entire game that builds fewer units, and that's Gandhi. That's it. Asoka is in a many way tie for 2nd.

 

[madscientist]

Thanks. I corrected Victoria's favorite civic (I guess it's Bismark that changed in BTS). I added a "Qualifier" to Toku's loyalty as it is true he always hates someone more. Regarding Asoka, my experience is he can be a difficult AI to combat at times although I took out the "decent number of troops" part.

 

[DMOC]

Yeah, Asoka doesn't build troops that much.

 

[oyzar]

Asoka used to build decent amount of units back in vanilla.

 

[madscientist]

Asoka used to build decent amount of units back in vanilla.

Perhaps I am remembering a view vanilla games.

 

[Diamondeye]

Very nice writeup, Mad. I was actually thinking of doing something like it (although me being a Monarch player would probably mean it wasn't that decent ), covering traits, UU, UB and starting techs, plus synergies between them.

Also, I have some weird opinions on traits (I seem to be one of the few people here that don't mind randoming a PRO leader) and on civics... If you need some "alternative" thinking on some of the civs, I would be delighted to add some opinions

EDIT: Oh, and on already written leaders; Why not utilize Tokus traits even earlier if the game allows? Swords, followed by xbow/pike/treb works fine on Monarch and below.

My experience on Huayna: Poor diplomat, as he sometimes found Confucianism and picks it as the only follower, getting locked out of religious blocks.

Also, in general, I do not agree with Huayna being the best leader, but that's a subjective matter, so I won't hijack the thread to discuss that here.

 

[madscientist]

Added my views on Catherine the Great!