I don’t find much written on this subject but I find Louis to be one of the very best leaders in human hands. I should say up front that my analysis is founded on experience playing at Monarch/Emperor/Immortal levels; not Deity. I just don’t enjoy Deity level very much.
I believe Louis’ traits and starting techs are very strong and synergistic. Except for the leaders with overpowered early UU’s which completely change the early game – looking at you Egypt, Persia, Inca, and Rome – I find Louis to be just a very very strong leader.
His starting techs are outstanding with The Wheel and Agriculture. For example, he can immediately steal a worker and start hooking up his corn/wheat/rice without researching a single beaker. He is creative so he gets fast border pops and cheap libraries, then later power whip cheap theaters for overflow hammers.
He is industrious so he can nab some WW’s, build forges cheap, and amass some great fail gold. If there is any marble around, it seems a no-brainer to build Oracle for same number of hammers as a single granary. In my experience, Oracling MC for cheap early Forges and cheap WW Colossus is a great way to elevate your production & commerce while setting you up for getting 1-2 Great Engineers eventually.
France’s UU and UB are helpful a bit and come in the mid-game. Musketeer’s main value in my games has been their ability to quickly get to the front lines which is even more valuable on large/huge maps; and then be mobile stack defenders against any pikes attacking your knights/cuirs. Their UB has two benefits which are both admittedly not very significant; but more significant than several of the other UB’s in the game. First tangible benefit is if running Rep; the free Artist gives you three extra beakers. Secondly, the free Artist Specialist is helpful for extra GPP in the National Epic city. I don’t worry about popping a Great Artist occasionally from this scenario because once I hit astronomy which unlocks the Salon, I will typically be using great people for Golden Ages. For Golden Ages, a Great Artist works just as well as a GE, GM or GS.
Am I missing anything in this analysis?? I just don’t see in Louis’ case where not being financial or organized is a big problem because he starts so fast with his starting techs, cheap libraries/forges, and fast border pops. Then after that fast start, he can build WW’s very fast and/or exploit fail gold to boost his game even more and more than keep up with his financial/organized rivals. He can turn 1 hammer into 3 fail gold in several cities with Industrious, having stone/marble, cheap forge, and running OR civic.
All of these things seem to come together ideally in the Earth 18 scenario, which I play a lot, where Louis starts with the best city site on the map (wheat, pigs, clams, iron, horses, wine, stone, marble, coal, and uranium all in Paris’ BFC!) and can fully exploit all of his aforementioned strengths into a ridiculously strong start. People tout Rome, Germany, China, and Egypt as the strongest civs in that scenario, but there are so many coastal powerhouse cities in Europe that Louis getting the GLH, Pyramids, and Colossus cheaply and quickly after he warrior/chariot rushes the other Euro-civs is just unfair.
Look forward to people smarter than me responding and helping me see what I am missing.
I believe Louis’ traits and starting techs are very strong and synergistic. Except for the leaders with overpowered early UU’s which completely change the early game – looking at you Egypt, Persia, Inca, and Rome – I find Louis to be just a very very strong leader.
His starting techs are outstanding with The Wheel and Agriculture. For example, he can immediately steal a worker and start hooking up his corn/wheat/rice without researching a single beaker. He is creative so he gets fast border pops and cheap libraries, then later power whip cheap theaters for overflow hammers.
He is industrious so he can nab some WW’s, build forges cheap, and amass some great fail gold. If there is any marble around, it seems a no-brainer to build Oracle for same number of hammers as a single granary. In my experience, Oracling MC for cheap early Forges and cheap WW Colossus is a great way to elevate your production & commerce while setting you up for getting 1-2 Great Engineers eventually.
France’s UU and UB are helpful a bit and come in the mid-game. Musketeer’s main value in my games has been their ability to quickly get to the front lines which is even more valuable on large/huge maps; and then be mobile stack defenders against any pikes attacking your knights/cuirs. Their UB has two benefits which are both admittedly not very significant; but more significant than several of the other UB’s in the game. First tangible benefit is if running Rep; the free Artist gives you three extra beakers. Secondly, the free Artist Specialist is helpful for extra GPP in the National Epic city. I don’t worry about popping a Great Artist occasionally from this scenario because once I hit astronomy which unlocks the Salon, I will typically be using great people for Golden Ages. For Golden Ages, a Great Artist works just as well as a GE, GM or GS.
Am I missing anything in this analysis?? I just don’t see in Louis’ case where not being financial or organized is a big problem because he starts so fast with his starting techs, cheap libraries/forges, and fast border pops. Then after that fast start, he can build WW’s very fast and/or exploit fail gold to boost his game even more and more than keep up with his financial/organized rivals. He can turn 1 hammer into 3 fail gold in several cities with Industrious, having stone/marble, cheap forge, and running OR civic.
All of these things seem to come together ideally in the Earth 18 scenario, which I play a lot, where Louis starts with the best city site on the map (wheat, pigs, clams, iron, horses, wine, stone, marble, coal, and uranium all in Paris’ BFC!) and can fully exploit all of his aforementioned strengths into a ridiculously strong start. People tout Rome, Germany, China, and Egypt as the strongest civs in that scenario, but there are so many coastal powerhouse cities in Europe that Louis getting the GLH, Pyramids, and Colossus cheaply and quickly after he warrior/chariot rushes the other Euro-civs is just unfair.
Look forward to people smarter than me responding and helping me see what I am missing.
Or Ramses. Great starting techs and traits, even stronger UU, borderline useless UB though. Can't have it all I guess. Unless you're Huayna Capac.
