Switching from a favorite leader

[Echo of Celts]

Hello,

Seeking a little help here. My problem is this, since the day I bought Warlords I have been playing as the Celts (Brennus). As you can prbably see my my Username as well.

Anyways, I just purchased beyond the sword and was looking for a little more diversity. So I tried some Random leader, random civ games. But I kept nit picking. I have been so used to switching religions and civics in one turn when needed, not being able to do so affected me more than I thought. As the French I had neglected to switch to slavery to avoid the anarchy during a wonder build. However, barbarians came knocking at my capitals door. Seeking to shore up my defenses, I went to rush an axeman, normally as he Celts, switch to Slavery, rush the axeman and done... but no can do here. Capital fell... end of game for me.

Anyways, what I am asking is, how many people here continually play as the same Civ, and how many play as random. For the those that play as random, did you ahve to fight through it at the beginning or is it just because I have engrained Brennus's traits in my mind.

 

[Verge]

For 2/3s of my games, I play random.

The trick to adapting to playing as a different leader is to completely reevaluate the way you play the game depending on which leader you draw. For example, my predilection is building, focusing on maintaining a smaller but more sophisticated empire for the purposes of a culture or space win. But if I draw Shaka as a random leader, you bet that I'm going to eschew building for relentless warmongering and expansion in the aim for a conquest or domination win.

 

[KMadCandy]

i don't play random but not the same every time either; i pick who i want to play that day. most of my games i start out thinking "okay, today i want to try xyz" and i play by mood. then i pick random opponents, and often they are not in the same mood as i am. like maybe monty and genghis live next door when i wanted to do a nice little "hide out and culture my way to glory in peace" game, so i adjust and that's fun too, or it doesn't fit my mood so i save it for another day and start a new one for today's mood.

cold turkey might be the best way, or you might have to taper off. maybe play a spiritual leader but not brennus, somebody whose second trait/UU/UB leads you in different direction than you tend to go usually? i dunno, mileages vary.

 

[Iranon]

I hear you, although I'm addicted to something else: I've become too attached to Huayna Capac for my own good. Super-fast rush? He's your man thanks to his unique unit. Cultural crowding out? The terraces duplicate the Creative trait. Wonderwhoring even on higher levels? An edge in research thanks to Financial and faster build times thanks to Industrious are ideal to keep you competitive.
The same applies to religions: Financial and Mysticism almost ensures you get everything at lower and one of the early ones at higher levels if you go for it.

With most other leaders, I feel either disadvantaged compared to HC or shoehorned into a particular playing style that might or might not be feasible depending on the map.
While my scores tell me I'm about equally successful with some of the others, it doesn't feel that way.

 

[Echo of Celts]

I hear you, although I'm addicted to something else: I've become too attached to Huayna Capac for my own good. Super-fast rush? He's your man thanks to his unique unit. Cultural crowding out? The terraces duplicate the Creative trait. Wonderwhoring even on higher levels? An edge in research thanks to Financial and faster build times thanks to Industrious are ideal to keep you competitive.
The same applies to religions: Financial and Mysticism almost ensures you get everything at lower and one of the early ones at higher levels if you go for it.

With most other leaders, I feel either disadvantaged compared to HC or shoehorned into a particular playing style that might or might not be feasible depending on the map.
While my scores tell me I'm about equally successful with some of the others, it doesn't feel that way.

I feel the extact same way.

I have been a religous nut (all 7 religions on Noble), Builder, Tech nut, Warmonger, Expansionist, anything with Brennus.

I usually have a the 1 - 3 highest cultural, build many wonders, build large militaries (Although I need to work at it to have the biggest military early on)

I feel pigeon holed when I play other leaders, like I HAVE to pick my strategy up front and run with it.

I ahve played Brennus for so long I feel as though I can do anything with him.

 

[Verge]

I ahve played Brennus for so long I feel as though I can do anything with him.

Which is funny, because I feel the same way about Elizabeth.

What's important to realize is that leaders can be as flexible or inflexible as you want. So if you want some variety, start a new game with a different leader, and think how the leader's traits, uniques, and starting techs can work in a variety of directions. And if you want help, this forum has plenty of ideas and suggestions. Reading Sisiutil's All Leader Challenge series in particular highlights each leader and explores their respective possibilities.

 

[Supr49er]

Like KMadCandy, I switch around depending on what kind of game I think I want to play that day. Of course, the game immediately changes my plans, either by the map/resources or by who my neighbors are.

 

[LlamaCat]

there are what, 20+ leaders in the game now and I'm already bored with all of them. I keep hunting for that new leader I haven't played or at least haven't played in a while and always feel like I've played them to death already. I could not stand to play the same leader twice in a row! I guess I need to hit the random leaders feature

 

[Yva!n]

I sort of have the opposite problem, there are some leaders that I just can't seem to play. Brennus is one, Monty is another, I never get very far in a Monty game before i lose interest and quit. Don't know why, 90% of the same is exactly the same with any given leader, they just dont seem to 'click' for me.

 

[Verge]

I sort of have the opposite problem, there are some leaders that I just can't seem to play. Brennus is one, Monty is another, I never get very far in a Monty game before i lose interest and quit. Don't know why, 90% of the same is exactly the same with any given leader, they just dont seem to 'click' for me.

slobberinbear has a new and very informative strategy guide about playing Montezuma on the War Academy: Montezuma's Revenge

 

[Ormur]

I hear you, although I'm addicted to something else: I've become too attached to Huayna Capac for my own good. Super-fast rush? He's your man thanks to his unique unit. Cultural crowding out? The terraces duplicate the Creative trait. Wonderwhoring even on higher levels? An edge in research thanks to Financial and faster build times thanks to Industrious are ideal to keep you competitive.
The same applies to religions: Financial and Mysticism almost ensures you get everything at lower and one of the early ones at higher levels if you go for it.

With most other leaders, I feel either disadvantaged compared to HC or shoehorned into a particular playing style that might or might not be feasible depending on the map.
While my scores tell me I'm about equally successful with some of the others, it doesn't feel that way.

Yep, me too. He's very addictive and my whole playing style is designed around him.

 

[CHEESE!]

I sort of have the opposite problem, there are some leaders that I just can't seem to play. Brennus is one, Monty is another, I never get very far in a Monty game before i lose interest and quit. Don't know why, 90% of the same is exactly the same with any given leader, they just dont seem to 'click' for me.

thats suleiman for me.

 

[JJ Boston]

I had a tendency to pick Isabella or Catherine, but lately, I've been forcing myself to check random leaders, or pick other leaders depending on the style I want to try. There aren't any leaders I can think of that I can't play, but I haven't come close to trying them all yet.

 

[Munch]

I have been a religous nut (all 7 religions on Noble), Builder, Tech nut, Warmonger, Expansionist, anything with Brennus.

I usually have a the 1 - 3 highest cultural, build many wonders, build large militaries (Although I need to work at it to have the biggest military early on)

I feel pigeon holed when I play other leaders, like I HAVE to pick my strategy up front and run with it.

I ahve played Brennus for so long I feel as though I can do anything with him.

Wow, you are really dominating your games, it is clearly too easy for you if you are achieving these kind of things. I would say keep the same difficulty and try out new leaders. There are certain leader traits that push you in a particular direction for sure, but often your situation will dictate your best strategy rather than your choice of civ. Good traits for adaptability and a wealth of different playstyles would be Spi/Org/Cre and possibly Fin; I particularly like playing as Asoka for a game that could go anywhere (Spi/Org, fast workers as a UU and a late-ish UB that makes Jails even better) but normally allows me to build/expand peacefully and rapidly and adapt to my situation whilst being opportunistic in war - the Jail replacement really helps as that's when the war drive can really kick in.

 

[The Rook]

I hear you, although I'm addicted to something else: I've become too attached to Huayna Capac for my own good. Super-fast rush? He's your man thanks to his unique unit. Cultural crowding out? The terraces duplicate the Creative trait. Wonderwhoring even on higher levels? An edge in research thanks to Financial and faster build times thanks to Industrious are ideal to keep you competitive.
The same applies to religions: Financial and Mysticism almost ensures you get everything at lower and one of the early ones at higher levels if you go for it.

With most other leaders, I feel either disadvantaged compared to HC or shoehorned into a particular playing style that might or might not be feasible depending on the map.
While my scores tell me I'm about equally successful with some of the others, it doesn't feel that way.

Add me to the Capacititus crowd. It just feels wrong when I can't slaughter a nearby neighbour by 2000BC. Or when I actually need to "plan" my military against those early barbarian archers. HC is great for hording religions, and turtling to cultural victory with ease. He makes "newbie strategies" perfectly viable at higher levels. One of the few leaders who is ideally suited to isolated starts, and crowded continents.

Really I'm a peaceful builder at heart. HC is just the leveler I need to seize the early territory that's rightfully mine anyway.

 

[IronCrown]

Sometimes I play random leaders, but most of the times I pick a leader. But always someone I hadn't played for a while. My Hall of Fame contains 7-10 completed games, I think (since BtS install) and there is no leader twice in there.

Most of the leaders I'd never pick. I just can't make myself because I mislike their traits, UU, UB, or all of it. So sometimes I just start with random leader and force them on me. It's really annoying if I accidentally get one of my favorite leaders then

 

[TriviAl]

I hear you there!

Was addicted to Mansa when I started. Also loved those civic changes and the financial trait.

My advice would be to read up on some different traits on the forums and try out some that appeal. It worked for me.

They've all got something to recommend them, just get stuck in and go for it?

As for the civic changes, the golden age no anarchy changeovers really are a bit (too?) good. Just have to hop less frequently and plan the big changes around golden ages where possible...

 

[Pangur Bán]

In Warlords, Brennus was the leader I used most. He's not the easiest user to use ... which is attractive if you want to learn the game ... but his Cha/Spi trait is great for constantly warring and coping with war weariness; good for cultural wins too. Since BTS, my favourite leader is Peter and I've grown used to utilizing his traits for a specialist economy. But I don't normally have a problem switching leaders. Indeed my highest scores on BTS came with early Hammurabi and Gandhi domination wins, and conquest wins with Ragnar and Genghis.

 

[DigitalBoy]

I've tried playing with random leaders. Never completed a game because I never liked anyone I got.

Don't play with random leaders, pick a couple of leaders other than your favorite who you think you'd enjoy playing and try them.

 

[Echo of Celts]

Well, I started my first major game with BTS,

Huge map, Terra, Noble Difficulty, Random Leader.

I pulled Hannibal of Carthage.

I have never used a financial leader before, but I am loving running my economy at 90% to 100% almost permanently (Although I do have two shrines helping me out)

I am finding that the Numidian is better than the Gallic Sword for early wars, but I had to invade Ethiopia with Axes to get horses.

Anyways, It is going well for my first major game without Brennus.

One thing messing me up though.. Brennus is one of my enemies and everytime the game mentions the Celts or he pops up I get weirded out.