Spiritual trait underrated for builder games?

[Underseer]

In discussions I've seen of leader traits, Spiritual is usually pooh-poohed, but when I play as Gandhi, I tend to do quite well. Is Spiritual better than people give it credit for being, or am I just getting great benefit from those wonderful Fast Workers? (I haven't tried any other spiritual leaders besides Ganhi yet).

 

[Nightfang]

In discussions I've seen of leader traits, Spiritual is usually pooh-poohed, but when I play as Gandhi, I tend to do quite well. Is Spiritual better than people give it credit for being, or am I just getting great benefit from those wonderful Fast Workers? (I haven't tried any other spiritual leaders besides Ganhi yet).

Spiritual is awesome, IMHO. Need different civics for a while? No problem, just swap them all around. You will have to wait five turns to swap back, but hey, you can then swap them around, again! Rival civ comes along and asks you to convert to Heriditary Rule (annoying!), fine, I can handle it for a little while and then swap back.

No anarchy is a boon to builders, as your build queues aren't held up by pesky revolutions.

IMHO, I think Spiritual and Aggressive is the best combo for war mongering. Monte kicks much butt here.

 

[Frewfrux]

I find the spiritual trait handy on the higher diff levels. On, say, emperor level lossing a turn to anarchy at the begining of the game can set you back enough that it is difficult to come back from it. Without the spiritual trait on those levels I never chose either a religon or a civic until I am far enough ahead that I feel I can waste a turn (or I have enough civics to chose from that it really is worth it).

 

[Si_Lurker]

I think, while spiritual might not be as powerful, the spiritual civs usually start with mysticism and have great chance of getting early religions. Since shrine income translates into science, you can become a tech leader and get subsequent religions as well, further benefiting your science, which is always good, whether going for space race, builder type game or military conquest. It's also good for warmongers as city upkeep and expensive civics start to strangle your finances, however I don't know how combining early religion with early conquest is possible - you have to skip military techs in favour of religion.

Otherwise try playing some different trait civ (let's say Genghis Khan being Expansive and Agressive) and see how you will do. It might be you being better than the AI regardless of traits. Of course different traits are more suited to different strategy.

 

[OzzyAlyanak]

i have been playing with Genghis Khan since I grabbed the game. (Hmm, guess what, Turks wait till the expansion, so I grab the Mongols, the next best)
And playing with Genghis Khan is extremely tough. If you dont use those Keshiks well, you are doomed.
I play on Prince mode, and still, looking for a good victory. Sick and tired of getting elimiated by Spaceship. (yeah, I leave the mods as they are, victory conditions all turned on)