New First Look: Ibn Battuta

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Machiavelli is a close second with me.

You know, I was initially pretty skeptical of this concept of separating leaders from civs, but Machiavelli and Ibn Battuta, among others, have gotten me very excited about the idea.

Tecumseh is my favorite thus, but Machiavelli and this Ibn Battuta fellow are close behind (at least in terms of gameplay mechanics; obviously Franklin is the greatest of the revealed leaders in real history)

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Interesting idea. Wouldn't work as a leader for other games but definitely fits the theme of paring him with a multitude of other civilizations.
He's the reason why we know most information out of Medieval Islamic West Africa, right?

 

[Uberfrog]

This is a surprise! I think he’s an inspired pick and looks great too. Seems like a fun guy to play as and against.

 

[sTAPler27]

I need to get glasses. For a second I thought this read "expansionist and wizard"

Dissapointed how little wizard representation is in the game

 

[pokiehl]

Tecumseh is my favorite thus, but Machiavelli and this Ibn Battuta fellow are close behind (at least in terms of gameplay mechanics; obviously Franklin is the greatest of the revealed leaders in real history)

Tecumseh is definitely up there for me too. I love gameplay oriented around city-states. I think he’s going to be quite strong.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Tecumseh is definitely up there for me too. I love gameplay oriented around city-states. I think he’s going to be quite strong.

He strikes me as having a peak and valley power curve. He's going to start out as neutral power, then start growing as Independent Powers develop into his city-state allies. But it resets back to neutral at the beginning of Age because Independent Powers/city-states are replaced each Age with new ones.

 

[Leucarum]

I do like his abilities a lot, but Tecumseh directs your game plan a lot more than other leader do... I really wish he had a navigable river bias since he's going to presumably unlock a civ that gets a bit of a malus without them though, and it really feels like you want to pair him with Shawnee...

Overall, the more generic leaders do appeal to me the most so far - Ibn Battuta jumped onto the list, but Isabella and Machiavelli are around the same for me. I'm also partial to Trung Trac, though she has a bit more of a focus to her...

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

Good observations all around, Fanatics!

I agree that ibm Battuta seems like a lot of fun. I won’t play him in my very first games but he’ll certainly be in my future!

 

[Black Gate]

This is the kind of wildcard leader I was expecting when they announced that leaders would be decoupled from civs. Between Ibn Battuta, Machiavelli, and Charlemagne, I'm pretty happy with this system even if I've had gripes with some of the other leaders.

 

[Seek]

I'm also partial to Trung Trac, though she has a bit more of a focus to her..

Indeed, I find her to be one of the most flexible leaders: commanders' xp can work to boost units when on defense and can even boost yields when in a city (with one of the upgrade paths), and the science is always going to be useful no matter what legacy path you're following. Just need to settle laterally near the equator!

I'm also partial to her: my plan's for my first game to be with her on Maya to Majapahit if I can somehow swing it.

Ibn Battuta takes the cake for most generalist leader now though, I'd say. Maybe tied with Confucius.

 

[Leucarum]

Indeed, I find her to be one of the most flexible leaders: commanders' xp can work to boost units when on defense and can even boost yields when in a city (with one of the upgrade paths), and the science is always going to be useful no matter what legacy path you're following. Just need to settle laterally near the equator!

I'm also partial to her: my plan's for my first game to be with her on Maya to Majapahit if I can somehow swing it.

Ibn Battuta takes the cake for most generalist leader now though, I'd say. Maybe tied with Confucius.

I'm thinking her and Maya for first game too. Though Ibn Battuta might give her a run for her money

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Love this choice and design. This really is a big plus from separate leaders from civs and moving away from picking head of states.

Not really.
The only person I'd like to add (as a mod) is La Andromeda Promethium. 'The Queen Millennia'.

And .... here. Abbasid Mamelukes and Franks style clinker cog. Ain't Abbasids supposed to use Dhow or Mediterranean latin sail variants or even Mtepi instead?

 

[8housesofelixir]

Not the Moroccan/Berber leader I was expecting.....I guess his connection to politics is that he was born in a family of legal scholars.

I'm not too fond of this non-political people being Civ leaders. For me, I feel like Firaxis is avoiding more obscure, but no less worthy political leaders in favor of famous names like Confucius, Ibn Battuta, Machiavelli and Ben Franklin. Will we get scientists like Albert Einstein as leaders? Artists like Vincent van Gogh? Business people like Nelson Rockefeller? Actors? Inventors? Architects?

I can get behind this reasoning, but I would also like to point out that legal scholars in the Islamic world are not university professors whose day job is commenting on documents no one will ever read, but active bureaucrats and community leaders who could potentially shape the political realm, and sometimes they could even significantly impact the world history.

For Ibn Battuta specifically, his legal scholar status allowed him to serve as a qadi (a Sharia court judge) in many countries he traveled to, a position of high prestige that provided him with adequate status and wealth for further travels. Ibn Battuta was able to travel to Constantinople (a non-Muslim city) because Özbeg Khan of the Golden Horde needed to send his wife (a Byzantine princess) to Constantinople, and he included Ibn Battuta in the delegation. During Ibn Battuta's stay in the Delhi Sultanate, he also served as a qadi for the court and, therefore, was able to lead an embassy to Yuan China.

In short, I won't say Ibn Battuta is non-political; he was more of a person who served in a position of very high political importance but chose to keep doing non-political stuff, as he was just too fond of traveling. (Not to say that Confucius, Machiavelli, and Franklin were all political leaders, too.)

 

[AriochIV]

And .... here. Abbasid Mamelukes and Franks style clinker cog. Ain't Abbasids supposed to use Dhow or Mediterranean latin sail variants or even Mtepi instead?

While I don't know a lot about medieval Muslim vessels, I suspect the Asian version of the Cog would be even less appropriate than the European version.

As far as I have seen, there are only two variants of the standard Exploration Age naval units.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

^ Naval localizations were still a limited matter here in this or any other similiar games.
Note that African Mtepi (possible equivalent to a cog) uses the similiar lugsail.

 

[Prester John 2]

Dissapointed how little wizard representation is in the game

They should include Ozymandias as a leader and give him the ability wizard of Oz!

 

[Vincent_lacruz]

Sarting with 2 attribute points is rather strong. You can put the in science oar culture to gain +25% toward masteries, or +1 influence on the palace and +50% toward independent powers. Even + happiness on palace/city hall and settlement depending on ressource means you have litterature slots earlier than most. So he is really versatile.

Even the +1 sight range might lead to more goodly hut at start, and depending on how artillery works you might gain some advantages. That is however more a little bonus aimed at expliciting the character history than anything...

 

[Thenewwwguy]

very cool leader choice

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

Cool choice indeed, a contender for first playthrough. I like the flexibility.

 

[Lord Lakely]

Dissapointed how little wizard representation is in the game

Paraselsus, Osh-Tisch, Puduhepa. I'll take all three, please.