Pericles (Greeks) as a tech-heavy game player. (Advice Anyone?)

[thelibra]

I've decided to attempt a tech-heavy strategy with Pericles of the Greeks (Creative, Philosophical). Any of you who've played Pericles successfully, I'd be happy to hear some of your strategies with him. I'm currently playing on Prince, with a Fractal Standard map. I know most use him for a cultural win, and that's not out of the picture by any stretch, but my main "keep ahead of the game" strategy is to use science to take advantage of the change to the Creative Trait, and Philosophical's complimentary trait.

My current thoughts:

I don't know if anyone noticed yet or not, but as of BtS, the Creative Trait now gives 2x speed construction of libraries.

Creative (2x speed of Libraries, Theatre, and Colloseum as of BtS, plus +2 culture per city)

Philosophical (GP birth @100%, 2x speed of University)

As of last night, all I got to do was see my starting location and found my city. It couldn't possibly have been in a better location. Fresh water, 2 gold, 1 cow, 1 crab, all within my fat cross, and stone and some other resources just outside the fat cross. I need to get a snapshot of this when I get home. But even better, it's on a land-bridge, so the city itself borders 2 coastlines, and I should (in theory) be able to treat my city like the Panama Canal.

I'm literally on like turn 2, so the world is my kumquat, and I'm chomping at the bit for the workday to end and me to get home so I can get back to the game.

Now, without financial, organized, creative, or religion, I figure money and happiness are going to be my two greatest hurdles. The two gold mountains and plethora of coastal squares should solve money problems in the beginning, but unless I persue a religion, my future for happiness looks pretty bleak until I can get pretty far advanced into the top-branch of techs like Drama, Construction, etc.)

My plan, assuming I'm not hemmed in by other civs, is to settle my cities in complimentary pairs of commerce and industry, each pair relatively close to one another so each industrial city can produce units (and thus help defend) it's sister commerce city. To cut down on the amount of deviation from the science tech tree (like writing, alphabet, etc), I plan on using only defensive units if possible, until I (presumably) become a science juggernaut.

Commerce cities will get the first round of libraries, then once I have alphabet and a decent amount of defensive units, the industrial cities will be given libraries and made to churn production hammers into research.

As far as Wonders go, I'm going to focus strictly on Science wonders or Wonders that produce Great Scientists. Or production wonders, like Ironworks.

So I guess some of the questions I'm looking for answers to are:

1.) Does this sound like a viable strategy for Pericles?

2.) What techs/units will I need (besides the obvious ones, like Writing, Alphabet, Copper/Iron) to make this work?

3.) What wonders (especially with the BtS changes) would be a serious help to this strategy, and which wonders that -seem- to fit the strategy would be a waste?

4.) Any further advice for playing Pericles?

 

[Pikkis]

I don't know if anyone noticed yet or not, but as of BtS, the Creative Trait now gives 2x speed construction of libraries.

This was a change of Warlords 2.08, so it's changed in BTS expansion too. There was wide discussion about the change, when the 2.08 changelog came out.

About your main question, I haven't played more than just a couple not-so-good games as Pericles, so I can't give you any help with your strategy. I eventually voted him in the discussion of the best new leader for existing leaders. Nowadays I think it's De Gaulle.

 

[thomson_2001]

hmmm well i have a science heavy/ religion finder strategy i posted elsewhere on this site. generally speaking id go towards writing for the earliest chance of libraries (means more beakes over the game). maybe picking up some otherteches required for growing/access to resources. id ignore getting the first two religions and then go for bronze working (for chopping). once have this i head for whatever tech it is gives you the oracle (cant remember). i usually half chop rush this wonder and then use the free tech for code of laws which gives u a religion without sacrafising early techs to go down the religion pathways. also ur libraries will help u get these other techs (bronze working, the religion ones) quicker.

this always works for me on monarch and most times on emperor. if you can chop rush the pyramids (even better with your stone resource) id do this as representaiton is MASSIVE in this game. running your capitol towards great library also means you can have lots of science here with extra scientist specialists (plus the 100% GP rate u have) = lighbulbing scientists for more techs. i usually run a SE over CE for the great epople , espec as philosophical. and then its off towards pacifism.

havent really said anything about what to build except libraries and wonders, and nothing on number of cities etc. what u think?

 

[eewallace]

It sounds like a very viable strategy for maintianing a good tech lead and going for a space race victory. One thing that I always try to do when going for space race is get a religion (not necessarily race for an early one) and get the university of sankore, which adds beakers to religious buildings. Since monasteries already act virtually as libraries, and temples are nice for happiness, this is a pretty underrated wonder. (Plus, the AI seldom seems to prioritize it.)

While I haven't played Pericles yet, I did have a nice game with Alexander (on noble) and was pretty happy with the phalanx UU. I had both copper and horses by my first two cities, so I had a nice little army consisting of phalanxes and chariots very early. They build up experience fighting the raging barbarians, and by the time I found my nearest neighbor, Saladin, they were able to take him out without too much trouble.

 

[nullspace]

Pericles has very good traits for a specialist economy, and with stone near, you can build the pyramids to run representation. Representation has good synergy with cheap libraries so you can start running powerful scientists quickly. And the cheap odeons and colloseums work well with the culture slider which you can use for happiness, especially in war. That's the way I'd go with Pericles.

 

[jackdog]

Am playing him prince contients normal size speed right now and though didn't have the wonder start you have did have stone in second city.

I like to tech lead generally and that leaves you the option of superior forces for the domination or space race if that is looking unlikely.

I would defo go the SE route as I have. I am into the great wall very early and time the pyramids to finish just after the first great spy so you can then steal 4 or ven 5 techs off the closest civ, though not one you plan to wipe out early. Pyramids if you have stone is something you should really try and get in your game but depends how much forest you have to chop to help with all that water around. I then, after securing boarders with the wall, did oracle in second city and went metal casting rather than COL is its that much more expensive and as the tech lead a later religion should be easy. the third city is then placed to have plenty of farm fodder and becomes the super science and GP farm as you have scewed the fieild with artists and engineers in the other cities by now, but you build the great people points wonders there. If you are lucky by this time you are 5-6 tech ahead and have maybe stolen 2-3 other cities, preferably a holy city if you can. I easy got liberalism first as cos was so far ahead and had plenty to trade got economics and music first for the additional great peeps.

Am now on one tech from rifling when everyone else I have met is still building longbowmen and pikemen. I plan to get to rifling ASAP build shed loads of them and kill one of the three civs on the continent taking some and destroying other cities as already have 9 now and science slider is at 50% cos of maintainence but the great peeps just keep on rolling so tech is still fine. Will probably be able to half kill one of the other civs, the big one, before the rifles are starting to get challanged by which time I have generally beelined to infantry way ahead of the others and with that the continent is mine.

Then its just a case of deciding to dominate or space race as cultural victories are not my style.

Obvioulsy I am at that SE CE transition where the GP get fewer and buy you less so imminently need to turn all those farms to cottages and will goto nationalism etc before infantry to help this transition.

Well thats the plan anyway.

So yes pericles can be a tech monster if you want. as far as what to build, yes get the libraries early and courthouses as you don't have financial or organised. Troop wise its what ever you have that is most up to date enough not have any unwanted wars or at least any you can't easily defend. uni's are also cheep as you say so get 8 cities up and running by liberalism, get your 6 uni's and the wonder (total brain blank what the other science one is called) and get forbiden palace so keep the finances under control.

 

[DigitalBoy]

Something I always try to do as Philosophical leaders, especially if I'm not building wonders and food is plentiful, is assign two scientists in two different cities and try to farm three or four great scientists. I use the first two for academies and save the others to lightbulb Philosophy and/or (part of) Education. Lightbulbing Education is great for Philosophical leaders because you can get the required great person more easily and you get fast universities (and in your case, fast Oxford University too!)

Those gold mines, however, will be too good to pass up for scientist specialists. Maybe one of your other cities will have enough food for the task.

 

[thelibra]

This was a change of Warlords 2.08, so it's changed in BTS expansion too. There was wide discussion about the change, when the 2.08 changelog came out.

Oh... Heh. I guess I never ended up downloading any 2.08+ patch for Warlords. This might explain why I thought creative was such a weak trait for so long up until BTS (+most recent patch).

generally speaking id go towards writing for the earliest chance of libraries (means more beakes over the game).

Oh, absolutley. But unfortunately, I'm not certain as to what order I should attempt this in. Obviously, I need bronze working, both for my UU (Phalanx aka Axemen), access to copper, and the ability to chop forests. I can't remember my starting techs, but I think they were fishing and hunting. So this means my Turn 1 strategy is going to be heavily determine the course of the game, as neither tech is in my direct tree of needs.

So here's my strategy so far for this setup:

1.) Build Workboat to snag crabs, research mining, then bronze. Build worker. Worker will probably finish before bronze, so switch to settler afterward, and send worker to mine gold. Once bronze is found, chop-rush settler, while researching animal husbandry (for the cows nearby).

2.) Once settler is built, send towards nearest copper source (if I've found one), or if not, nearest industrial area. My capital will be a commerce site, so if I'm to pair my cities commerce/industrial, my next area needs to have good production capacity. Start researching roads, then pottery, then writing. Meanwhile, try to churn out 1 or 2 spearmen.

3.) Guard the settler with my scout, get new city founded, with scout guarding it, start building a warrior or spearman (whichever is faster) if I can build it sooner than my capital can build and transport a spearman to me. If the capital can get me one faster, then the new city will start on building a barracks or a worker instead. Once the new city is protected with some real military unit, I can resume exploration with the scout.

4.) Once I have managed to get writing, start a library in my capital, research Masonry, by now the stone should be well within my borders, and I can farm it and once the library is finished, the stone is connected, I can chop-rush the Pyramids which will multiply with the stone bonus nicely.

5.) Once I have a barracks in my new city plus a worker, start using the new city to pump out settlers. Begin the REX.

6.) Once I have Alphabet, wrap up my REX, stablize the cities, and once they're defended and have science buildings, switch production over to science.

i usually run a SE over CE for the great epople , espec as philosophical. and then its off towards pacifism.

Errr... Sorry, what's SE over CE?

havent really said anything about what to build except libraries and wonders, and nothing on number of cities etc. what u think?

I'm usually lucky to have four solid cities by 1AD, with two new sprouts shortly thereafter. I know I need at least 6 for some of the upper-tier buildings, possibly even eight, but if I don't plan on expanding by warfare till gunpowder, this might not be pheasible. However, thanks to the mechanics of the game economy, I believe that 6 really strong cities can maintain parity with civs with a larger number of weaker cities, at least until the gunpowder age.

And, not having Organized or Financial as a trait will also force me to limit my number of cities considerably. So it'd make the most sense to focus on fewer, stronger cities.

 

[thomson_2001]

SE = specialist economy (farm like mad so you can grow bigger/run as many specialists as possible...great with philosophical as GP rate mad!).

CE= cottage economy (cottage up alot to drve the economy)

CE yields more money which can in turn be put into research via slider. SE generally more micromanagement but most science points etc come from specialists. dependng on how u run your empire could have an SE at 10% science making 900beakers per turn, or a CE on 80% science at the same value. i prefer SE cos i love deciding what to do with the GPs.

I just love the chop-oracle-Code of laws slingshot as it means religion = money and friendly neighbours

 

[thelibra]

Well, after a weekend where I got many hours of play in, I can now confirm that Pericles is one bad mofo. The synergy of Cre/Phi is so strong I was pounding the highest scoring AIs with Cannon and Riflemen while the their best units didn't even have gunpowder yet. After taking over enough cities to put myself in the lead, I switched back to peace, research, and production.

My armies of marines and tanks are only a few turns away from arriving at a continent where the best defended city has -a- machine gun.

What's funny is that if I'd never warred at all, and just continued to spread peacefully and up science, health, and happiness, I'd probably have been able to start my space program in the 1800's.

Anyway... Confirmed. Pericles proves beyond a doubt that Cre/Phi can be extremely powerful traits when played correctly.

 

[KMadCandy]

they took cre/phi out in warlords. it's fred's old combo from vanilla and i really liked it there for some goals. now the combo is back, but i haven't tried peri yet. so many new things i haven't had time to try!

vanilla fred was really good for "get to mass media ASAP and win by diplomatic". lots of lightbulbs, can get libraries out quickly since you don't have to make monuments to get your cross. that one was more important in vanilla than BtS since monuments went obsolete so early it often wasn't worth the effort to build stonehenge.

What's funny is that if I'd never warred at all, and just continued to spread peacefully and up science, health, and happiness, I'd probably have been able to start my space program in the 1800's.

for that type of game, i tend to not war at all. creative has synergy there with ReXg peacefully, and obviously if you plan to beeline along a lightbulb-able path philo is a lovely thing.