Obelisk, Stele, or Totem Pole?

[reddishrecue]

Which one will you be more often to choose? Stele, totem pole or obelisk? None I dont use monuments?

 

[twansalem]

Unavailable sixth option: Whatever Stonehenge gives me if I build it. Otherwise none of the above.

 

[Ataxerxes]

If I'm building monuments (often don't) I prefer the totem pole. Actually, Native America is a good Civ to build Stonehenge with. I like the heavily promoted archers. If I can get them up to Drill IV I often pay for the upgrade.

If my CIv doesn't have a Monument UB I usually don't bother with Stonehenge. It hurts expansion in the very early game and conflicts with the Great Wall for resources.

I'm probably biased by not doing too many cultural victories.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I'm more likely to build stonehenge with a charismatic leader than with one of the UB's, to be honest. Beyond that, without a doubt it's the totem pole. SB can create insane archery units.

Now, whether that's a useful thing is a different question, of course.

 

[sydhe]

Totem pole. Build lots of archers and promote them. Stele's got a problem in that Zara Yaqob is already creative; it's better with unrestricted leaders, but I prefer the Pavilion if I'm going for culture. I suspect I'm missing a bet with Obelisk since I never build Angkor Wat.

 

[ChanceDanger]

Totem pole probably is the best, but don't underestimate the obelisk. If you're really concentrating on pumping out the great people, then Prophets are an excellent settled specialist, they can bulb theology (and printing press!) and that gives you a very good trading chip (and basically control over the AP as well). And of course, if you do win Theology you can always shrine that city as well.

And of course, Angkor Wat makes it even better.

 

[Orion071]

I just said Monument. When I play Egypt, I never use the special ability of the Obelisk, and I have never played as the Native Americans for the Totem Pole. I almost never use Archers, so I doubt it would even matter for me. When I play the Ethiopians, I never build Steles because he's Creative and you don't need a Stele.

 

[lymond]

Totem Pole is quite poweful if you take the time to use it. The only Mon UU that can actually do something pretty cool.

Stele seems whacked for Creative Zara, but can be useful to secure borders against pesky AIs and is very nice in culture victories, especially since Astro is usually not teched anyway. Not always used but has some use.

Obelisk is fairly useless except maybe a Rammy OCC game with the usual SSE approach.

 

[capnvonbaron]

Obelisk can help in snagging the AP. (Henge+Obelisk+Oracle = super quick GPs for Theo and other religious tech bulbs, and/or making a SE/RE). Totem is more fun with unrestricted leaders IMO, like Qin or Hammi or CHA leaders.

 

[obsolete]

Stele isn't very good, because if you really were going culture, there is a much better UB for this. And having the extra 25% boost at such an early stage in the game isn't really magnifying hardly any culture at all.

Obelisk is nice if you were playing a game which your life really depended on... But if you want a lot of bloodshed then go with the Pole.

What is interesting with SB is that while his UU has no synergy with his UB (directly), it does synch very well with one of his TRAITS. A simple barracks & Totem gives him CGI + CGII + CGIII + DRI

...or change that combo to any other way you want it...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Obelisk is an auto-win if pursuing the broken AP win.

And yes cg III archers (or longbows) on a hill block city will absolutely wall pretty much and AI stack with minimal investment until the rifle era.

 

[Shrinking_12]

Even when im a Big fan of Cultural Victory I do prefer Totem poles, Better Archers are always good!

 

[G-Max]

Native Americans + Protective leader + Stonehenge + Church of the Tempest (Gods of Old) + barracks = roflpwn n00bz

 

[noto2]

Why do people think the obelisk is weak? It guarantees you a religion and a shrine, or two.on a side note, I've seen the obelisks when I visited Istanbul, they look badass

 

[Iranon]

Don't like any of them, but the Obelisk has some game-changing applications.

 

[obsolete]

Why do people think the obelisk is weak?

It's not that it's weak. It's that it's too powerful.

 

[G-Max]

Why do people think the obelisk is weak? It guarantees you a religion and a shrine, or two.

...and if you're trying to work an early religion into your game strategy, that's great. Otherwise, it's worthless.

 

[Iranon]

It's hard to beat a dedicated push for an early Apostolic Palace, and no other Unique Building meshes as well with this.

Playing to win with a strictly formula approach is terribly boring though.

 

[A_Hamster]

Obelisk for the Egyptian Priest economy with Ramsses. Stele strikes me as useless with Zara as he is CRE. If playing a CHA leader I try to build real Monuments, not the freebie from SH so the benefit will continue after Astronomy. Haven't played enough as SB to rate the Totem, although in theory it seems good.

 

[Ataxerxes]

...and if you're trying to work an early religion into your game strategy, that's great. Otherwise, it's worthless.

If you don't mind cheesing the game the Obelisk is too powerful. I don't go for early religions but Obelisk enables you to bulb Theology for the AP win. Playing an "honest" game it has few uses but it's tremendous if you just want to win.