New First Look: Charlemagne

[FXS_Sar]

Introducing Charlemagne!​

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, began his career as King of the Franks in 768 CE. Having inherited a diverse and restless population, he reforged his kingdom by integrating old traditions with new forms of governance and grew an empire that stretched across Europe. In addition to his political acumen, Charlemagne's natural curiosity encouraged the Carolingian Renaissance, transforming his court into a hub for diplomats and intellectuals alike.

Agenda:
The Golden Shepherd: Increase Relationship by Medium Amount with whichever player has triggered the most Celebrations. If there is a tie, Increase Relationship by Small Amount to tieholders. Decrease Relationship by a Medium Amount with whoever has triggered the fewest Celebrations. If there's a tie, Decrease Relationship by Small Amount to tieholders.

Starting Biases:
Rivers

Attributes:
Militaristic
Scientific

Unique Ability:
Father of Europe: Military and Science Buildings receive a Happiness adjacency for Quarters. Gain a set number of free Cavalry Units, once unlocked, when entering a Celebration. Increased Combat Strength for Cavalry Units during a Celebration.

Game Guide here: https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/game-guide/leaders/charlemagne/

 

[Nikolai II]

That extra happiness sounds nice to have.

 

[queenpea]

Wow, this wasn't on my bingo card at all. So, I am taking this as confirmation that we aren't getting William The Conqueror...

 

[moondog385]

Happy to have Charlemagne in the game. This is the kind of leader that we’d be unlikely to get under the old system. I actually guessed that we’d get him here a couple days ago.

 

[Thenewwwguy]

this makes a lot of sense. fits the household name leader criteria, hasn’t been in civ in a long time, doesn’t fit any civ exclusively but fits many civ’s somewhat well.

 

[Leucarum]

Nice choice for a leader, abilities don't seem that exciting to me, but glad he's on board.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Behold Charlemagne, the mighty Khan of Mongols!

 

[Ryansinbela]

“The Golden Shepherd”
I always knew he had that dog in him

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

A great surprise!!!

I do wish though that Charlemagne were one of the Leaders to have an alternate Persona

When the first look described him as "King of the Franks" and "Holy Roman Emperor", I was sure those would be the titles of two different persoanae

 

[Uberfrog]

Firaxis may have the Carlbarian but this right here is the Carolus Magnus.

Good to see him return as a leader. I’d like eventually to see the Franks (with perhaps a crusades-themed design) in the Exploration age, but he works as a civ-less leader for now.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Wow! unexpected leader drop!

Looks like a cool leader for Rome and Normans, both.

Have we clarified what a Military buildings is?

 

[Thenewwwguy]

Nice choice for a leader, abilities don't seem that exciting to me, but glad he's on board.

there’s always that one leader who’s meant to be military + some and jsut isn’t that interesting in that plus some

thinking of chandragupta in civ 6, for example

A great surprise!!!

I do wish though that Charlemagne were one of the Leaders to have an alternate Persona

When the first look described him as "King of the Franks" and "Holy Roman Emperor", I was sure those would be the titles of two different persoanae

That would’ve been nice, but i don’t know if they’d be meaningfully different gameplay wise without grasping at straws

Firaxis may have the Carlbarian but this right here is the Carolus Magnus.

Good to see him return as a leader. I’d like eventually to see the Franks (with perhaps a crusades-themed design) in the Exploration age, but he works as a civ-less leader for now.

Franks could even be acceptable in the Ancient era by the thematic classifications that @Andrew Johnson [FXS] has talked about before. He’s also contemporaneous with the Khmer and their direct predecessors, who fall into Ancient as well.

 

[Thenewwwguy]

Wow! unexpected leader drop!

Looks like a cool leader for Rome and Normans, both.

Have we clarified what a Military buildings is?

presumably rome -> norman -> france/germany will be his vanilla route. perhaps franks ancient and holy roman exploration will be eventually available.

 

[8housesofelixir]

Interestingly, it seems that the crown Charlemagne is wearing here is a simplified version of the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (which has eight flat plates), rather than the Crown of Charlemagne (which has four curved plates).

Charlemagne himself never wore the Imperial Crown, as it was likely created for Otto I's coronation.

 

[moysturfurmer]

Lots to glean from the Modern screenshot at the end. I see Radio Towers, a Hangar, possibly a Museum, a Department Store(?), two kinds of Factory looking buildings, a some buildings that look like they could be a palace but aren’t (Salon?), an aircraft carrier, etc

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

presumably rome -> norman -> france/germany will be his vanilla route. perhaps franks ancient and holy roman exploration will be eventually available.

With his reveal, and presumably Frederick the Great incoming, Modern Germany seems more likely to appear now.

 

[The Fanatical]

Another safe but brilliant choice. I didn't expect it in the slightest, but I'm pleasantly surprised. This inclusion increases the chances for the Holy Roman Empire to appear in the Exploration Age further down the line.

 

[Hawke9]

YES
This was the Leader at the very top of my wishlist!!! We even named our cat Karel after him. Abilities look really cool too, I found my first playthrough leader!

 

[SeelingCat]

I think the line we hear at the beginning of the video may be the start of this quote by him: "Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right." I'm hearing words similar to the Modern German words, Wissen (knowledge) and besser (better)

 

[Evie]

there’s always that one leader who’s meant to be military + some and jsut isn’t that interesting in that plus some

thinking of chandragupta in civ 6, for example


That would’ve been nice, but i don’t know if they’d be meaningfully different gameplay wise without grasping at straws

Franks could even be acceptable in the Ancient era by the thematic classifications that @Andrew Johnson [FXS] has talked about before. He’s also contemporaneous with the Khmer and their direct predecessors, who fall into Ancient as well.

And if you wanted to, you could also pull the sneaky trick of having Ancient Franks into Exploration Carolingians.