"Terrible" Leaders, a new path in Civ?

[PrinceOfDenver]

Let's be frank, folks: some of the most famous conquerors in history were a bane to civilization. Men like Genghis Kahn, Eric The Red and Attilla The Hun were not terribly interested in enlightening humanity and ushering in new science eras. I'm sure the limit of their science ambition was to find a further-reaching arrow or a more efficient sword.

Do you think Civilization should consider this kind of a leader? You get a good score in Civilization for building culture and ushering in new eras of science. How about a "bloodthirsty king" score path, where players actually gets points for razing cities and a ton of points for destroying Wonders?

Just a thought....

 

[Joshua3896]

well i do....

 

[Gnarlyhotep]

I concurr. Terrible leaders are as much a part of history as the great ones.

Perhaps two types of leaders....the great ones created through culture and aid in building wonders. The terrible ones created through battle, and create armies?

btw, Eric the Red was not 'terrible'. He was a merchant/trader (in the ancient viking way). In fact, most scandinavians were not the bloodthirsty terrors that people think. Bad presss from the romanized countries mostly. They were one of the few civs allowed to trade on their own terms with the Byzantines.

but enough of my own cultural pride.

 

[PrinceOfDenver]

Didn't mean to offend your Norwegian Heritage. Sorry.

In fact, I'm designing a game in the spirit of Sid Meier's Pirates! except you are the chieftan of a viking band (each a character) and lead them into battle and ransacking. Could use a historical perspective on this, if you can give me any history, PM me....

 

[zaph]

And to take the wikingdiscussion one more step further... the wikings can be separated into three ''groups''... not nations... Denmark... Sweden.... Norway... (not georaphicly the moderna countries... Sweden and Denmark fought for almost a hundred years about the south of sweden... Skåne)... to simplify u can say that the swedes went east... russia... balticum.... through rivers down to Byzanz to trade.... and Denmark, Norway to the west... but as stated.. most of the wikings were traders... the traditional picture with wikings in helmets with horns is totally wrong... but Im not sure I would like to see the bloodthirsty civilisation be rewarded for beeing bloodthirsty.... they have never been appreciated for this in real life.... some of these civilisations has ''matured'' in time and have become ''civilised''... just look at the great... just look at the germanian tribes that moved through europe between the 5th cent to about the 10th cent... they later founded nations like Italy... France... Belgium... England... and so on... in the way that they were the nobel ones that ruled... hope u understand what i mean

rob (sweden)

 

[Kev]

Let's keep in mind that a full game of civilization traverses over 6,000 years. As zaph points out, many civilizations have gone through several different eras where they might have been scientific, militaristic, expansionist, industrial, etc.

It's weird in the game because the leader of a given civiliation is... well... immortal for all intents and purposes. Yet, throughout the game there are likely times where peace reigns for centuries or war is a mainstay for a equal amount of time.

I prefer to think of my civ's leader as an amalgamation of all the leaders throughout its history. Unless I'm a military maniac for the whole game and try to end it while still in the B.C.'s, there will always be time for peace and building and time for scientific research as well.

OK, don't know where I'm going with this, but basically I guess I'm TRYING to say that it'd be difficult to term yourself a certain "Type" of leader right from the getgo. For a civilization to be sucessful in the utmost, it will likely take from many different styles of governing.

 

[zaph]

I agree... this i something that u see throughout the game... I see.... for example... a carrier unit as a battlegroup consisting of carrier... destroyers... supportvessels and so on... its the seame with battleships.... tanks.... and so on.