The Creative Trait

[futurehermit]

Creative has always been an average trait to me because it's usefullness wanes as the game progresses.

However two leaders specifically have an insane synergy with the trait

Catherine being IMP and creative is one of the strongest REXers in the game and fast libraries can resurrect an overextended economy pretty fast.

Pericles gets faster libraries, faster universities, and is philosophical getting GSs much faster. The Greek UB provides extra culture and happiness and is also built twice as fast. Add an early UU that has no good countering unit and he is pretty strong.

Kublai also has insane synergy. cre + agg + uu/ub is very strong.

I also like Willem. Sort of like the vanilla Cathy days.

Cre only wanes in the last 3rd of the tech tree imo. So, it's maybe not the best space race trait, but it can sure help you acquire the land necessary.

 

[Calouste]

Creative has always been an average trait to me because it's usefullness wanes as the game progresses.

However two leaders specifically have an insane synergy with the trait

Catherine being IMP and creative is one of the strongest REXers in the game and fast libraries can resurrect an overextended economy pretty fast.

Pericles gets faster libraries, faster universities, and is philosophical getting GSs much faster. The Greek UB provides extra culture and happiness and is also built twice as fast. Add an early UU that has no good countering unit and he is pretty strong.

Sury has a pretty decent synergy as well: expansive gives half-price granaries, cheaper workers and extra health, and his UB gives an extra food so you can grow the cities big. The creative trait combines with cheap theatres and colosseums so 10 or 20% on the culture slider sorts out any happiness issues. And that all that extra culture helps to make sure you control all the tiles in the BFC to have enough for all those citizens to work on (besides the possibility of grabbing an additional health or happiness resource or two via tile flipping).

 

[futurehermit]

Sury and Zara are awesome leaders--two of my personal favs

 

[hoLLo]

I agree with what's been said already about creative, it can be powerful. I haven't seen it mentioned how much it helps with early border blocks which to me is a large advantage on higher levels when the AI settles aggresively. As the game goes on there are many ways to pop borders but early it can be a lifesaver. Also I haven't seen it mentioned that creative also gives double prod. on theatre and colloseum. These aren't anything to sneeze at either, especially if you use slavery as much as I do. That's three buildings that can be whipped extremely easily. IIRC a creative colloseum is the same price as a spiritual temple, the difference being the temple gives culture and the colloseum gives +1/20% culture slider, but doesn't need a religion present. It can be whipped by creative leader after one turn for one pop and the happiness penalty is negated by the +1 from the colloseum (so essentially if you whip it, there is a delay before it really kicks in). If you use hammer overflow creative gives great options.

edit: Just realized Calouste mentioned the theatres and colloseums.... i guess it's worth mentioning twice

 

[TheMeInTeam]

CRE is a top trait:

1. Strong hammer savings when most needed
2. Ability to (quickly) access BFC in new cities allows it to compete with IMP/EXP as an expansion trait.
3. Doesn't easily lose culture border wars when settling aggressively (quite useful).
4. Cheap library for early GPP, which can be quite significant.

The theater/coli are icing, but nice also, especially since those + jails can allow the culture slider to eat a lot of WW for minimal investment...sometimes the jails are not needed.

 

[fed1943]

And Creative allows you to place your city on the best place,instead of just close or on a resource
just because you can't afford the delay to connect it.

 

[madscientist]

Followup to other leaders

Kublai. Yes CRE helps him alot as it would any war-monger, but I tend to just "Take" stonehenge. I think the IMP trait of his grandfather helps the Khan cause more.

Zara. Is tanked, but I find his UB and Creative is a bit overkill combined together. Probably the third best Cre leader.

Sury. I have tried him several times but just never got him really going that well. I think his strength is more in the EXP trait with the UB.

Do not get me wrong all these creative leaders are amazing (add Hatty and Willem) but my point was that Cathy and Pericles Synergy simply explode with CRE. Also I consider CRE a mid-trait only because I rank ORG, FIN, PHIL, AGG higher.

 

[Grey Fox]

Followup to other leaders

Kublai. Yes CRE helps him alot as it would any war-monger, but I tend to just "Take" stonehenge. I think the IMP trait of his grandfather helps the Khan cause more.

The cheap libraries are great to do research at low science slider.

 

[madscientist]

The cheap libraries are great to do research at low science slider.

Kublai's science slider is only low until you capture the next AI city

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

The cheap libraries are great to do research at low science slider.

??? I would think a high slider rate would allow the library to add more since it adds a percentage of your city's base science output.

 

[Silu]

He means that he can run scientists for research even when all taxes are directed towards supplying the war effort

 

[Grey Fox]

Kublai's science slider is only low until you capture the next AI city

But then the Libraries help again.

??? I would think a high slider rate would allow the library to add more since it adds a percentage of your city's base science output.

He means that he can run scientists for research even when all taxes are directed towards supplying the war effort

Yes, that.
Two scientists at 0% research with a Library is 7,5 beakers after all. This adds up.

 

[DigitalBoy]

I can't really add more than what's already been said here. Creative helps with border wars, potentially better and easier city placement due to free and quick border pops, and the saved hammers from skipping monuments and numerous building multipliers. Creative is a great trait and a personal favorite of mine.

 

[Lansky]

Just bored so decided to post my simple thought of Creative is my favorite trait hands down, especially when given room to peacefully expand. Get to writing. Get library very early and get the first GS very early. Oftentimes I will just run at 0% research until I get out several libraries in the cities that make sense and build the academy in my capital. With Pericles this can give you an academy so early it is hillarious.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Kublai is more versatile than Genghis in that he can adapt to forced peaceful starts more readily (isolation or an AI that's too difficult to rush on your level). Map size matters too, CRE is good in general but IMP gets better as map size + settling room goes up and probably overtakes CRE in hammer savings on huge easily.

 

[Iranon]

Hate Creative. No real lasting edge. Sometimes I get some decent use out of the free border pops; as often adjusting my settling pattern so I don't need them would have done just as well. Cheap libraries aren't as useful when you have free culture anyway. The helpfulness of specialists for strained economies is greatly exaggerated.

This is definitely one of my least favourite 3, together with AGG and PRO.

 

[civvver]

We had a rex'ing debate a while back, a thread I made. Personally I love Sury for rex'ing, more than catherine. What's every new city going to get as the first build? A granary. Sury just gets them out fast, and then provides workers fast, so while cathy might beat you to the first couple settlers built, sury can catch up easily with some workers chopping or by growing to 2,3,4 with cheap granaries and working more improved tiles. He's probably not as good as cathy on the highest levels but I know on monarch I'm pretty much unstoppable with him. Both civs uu blow, but at least sury has a decent ub.

I used to hate creative but now I love it. Sury is probably my favorite all around leader, although I do love me some hannibal!

 

[toll_booth]

My only wish is that there were a Creative + Charismatic leader. Only bad could slow down its cities.

 

[Gwynnja]

My only wish is that there were a Creative + Charismatic leader. Only bad could slow down its cities.

my 2 fav traits. Also, creative leaders with a monument ub (zara, hatty) rarely lose cultural border wars. I'll usually try to build 'henge... Talk about quick border pops...

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

The helpfulness of specialists for strained economies is greatly exaggerated.

I dunno, man. At least on Monarch, when I REX and end up dropping my slider to 10-20%, running 6-8 scientists allows me to continue researching towards economic recovery (ie Alphabet, Currency, CoL, Monarchy) and to do so in less than 100 turns on marathon (which is what it usually looks like without specialists/building research)