The Ultimate Leader Thread

[The Almighty dF]

I've seen a lot of.. smaller leader threads such as "Best Leader for <fill in later> difficulty/victory/size"
This is the jack of all trades thread.

My list will be short since I've yet to get -all- of the victories... and I never play on anything short of Marathon.

1. Space Victory: Usually Elizabeth or Catherine. Gotta love that Russian UB
2. Democratic victory: Any leader who isn't Aggressive or Protective. I usually go with Alexander.
3. Cultural: Either of the Egyptian leaders or Saladin.

Conquest... I've yet to do.
Time? ...Neh. I don't see this as a true form of victory. Sure, I do keep playing till 2050, but I win before that.

Now... world domination is tricky. It all depends on how you want to conquer. Hauayauayauelaule Capone is good for tech and wonder leading, so I usually go with him. Sadly, his UU is bad for this form of victory. The best UU for domination, in my opinion, is the Panzer.

These are just some of my basic opinions. How about everyone elses? This thread is for leaders. Their traits, their strategies, and those leaders you just hate playing against. Man do I hate playing against Saladin. He's always a different religion than me.. swear he's never muslim, oddly enough.

 

[ArneHD]

2. Democratic victory: Any leader who isn't Aggressive or Protective. I usually go with Alexander.

Isn't Alexander aggressive?

 

[The Almighty dF]

Yar. He's just sort of an exception.
I guess aggressive wasn't what I was looking to say. Maybe any non-warmonger trait set.
Sure, you can take over the world to get diplomatic but... why not just go ahead and get domination at that point?

 

[Whitefire]

Now... world domination is tricky. It all depends on how you want to conquer. Hauayauayauelaule Capone is good for tech and wonder leading, so I usually go with him. Sadly, his UU is bad for this form of victory. The best UU for domination, in my opinion, is the Panzer.

Any leader can win by conquest. Once you discover how to build Stacks of Doom, you'll find it difficult to win by any other condition.

 

[jeremiahrounds]

I really love hatshepsut =/ Its like the cadillac of leaders. Maybe not the best but it sure is comfy.

I personally wonder if creative doesnt have enough intangible benefits that people underrate it. I mean in every single game I have played with creative it has been responsible for getting me resources I wouldnt have otherwise had that +2 and faster culture really adds up. But beyond that its the smooth starts that I really love about creative. You plop down a city and by the time you have a worker out its pushed its boundaries out. I really think a key to alot of its underrated value is that your cities can always be working their best squares with creative right off the bat without a monolith and win most culture fights for squares. You never have to worry about the AI pushing your borders in and screwing you.

As far as spiritual that actually helps in diplomacy wins I think. Because in a diplomacy win youll have an easier time if you give into all civic and religion demands. The 0 anarchy lets you monkey with that stuff and 5 turns later be back to where you were. I mean there is the direct effect of never loosing any turns where as in a normal epic game you may loose out on as much as 20 turns or more. But it also has intangibles but to be honest I think creative is stronger (the more underrated).

I mean creative is so pronounced on a nonisland start. your cities are like weapons its amazing how much more space you sweep out then the AI with that bonus.

 

[Hunter Noventa]

I have a lot of fun with Mansa Musa. Tons of money, no switching penalties, and those lovely mints. Course, I don't play often enough to give real input, but everyone should give Mali a try I say.

 

[carl corey]

Tokugawa is one of the most powerful leaders out there. His lack of economic traits is more than covered by his huge military bonuses. The Samurai is an awesome unique unit, and basically every gunpowder unit he gets is a unique unit too: Combat I for 10% increase in strength (already almost a point for Musketman!), a first strike chance from Drill I, the ability to protect the captured cities (City Garrison I), a promotion from cheap barracks you'll surely build everywhere and another promotion if you run Theocracy as you won't care about religious differences when you have the largest army in the world. See Sisiutil's Japan ALC or my short report in the Great General Uses thread (bottom of the page).

 

[popejubal]

Tokugawa is one of the most powerful leaders out there.

PLUS... you are guaranteed to not have Tokugawa as one of your neighbors. This is a significant bonus just in itself.

 

[Kietharr]

Shaka is the best for domination, at noble i've dominated with him by 1400 and 1560 before. Ikhandas support early expansion into enemy territory, allowing you to gain massive tech momentum which you can steamroll AI with.

 

[Sisiutil]

PLUS... you are guaranteed to not have Tokugawa as one of your neighbors. This is a significant bonus just in itself.

Heh. This is why when I play as Toku I get Monty, Isabella, and Shaka as neighbours. The game is over-compensating, obviously.