Unrestricted leaders, which leader/civilization matchups are better

[Hamilton321]

The other day I was playing as Julius Caesar and was fighting a lot of wars,and I thought about how great a leader with charismatic and organized would be leading Rome, so I created a game with Napoleon leading Rome with it set to unrestricted leaders, so I realized how great unrestricted leaders is. So now I,m going to play more games on unrestricted leaders and am wondering if there are any really good leader/civ matchups.

 

[Bandobras Took]

Pericles of Arabia gives you half price double culture libraries with an extra two priest slots, so you can do some interesting things with your Philosophical trait. I don't know if it's really good in the sense of powerful, but it's fun.

 

[ArchGhost]

I think any ORG leader in charge of Sumeria would be a cool idea. Fast (at priesthood), super cheap (effectively 45 hammer) courthouses, and half civic upkeep at all times. Such an easily placed early boost (cheaper than granaries...) could help you REX or conquest like a monster with much more reckless abandon. Probably best paired with FIN to take advantage of the extra commerce freed up to go towards science, or AGG/CHA to leverage the Vulture as much as possible for aggressive expansion early so Darius or Hammi/Napoleon.


I just realized it's much easier to think of UU combos, espcially involving tossing in the normally shafted Boudica into a position with a better (early) unit to use:
-Tokugawa of England for some seriously scary Redcoat drafting. Maybe Boudica too, as a change of pace from Churchill.

-Shaka/Boudica of Inca for double promoted Quechas (if it works that way). Shaka gets the Terraces in place faster for more 2nd ring settling and faster whips too.

-Huayna of Carthage or Portugal on a water map would be seriously frightening. Bismarck could also go for a traderoute heavy strategy with GLH with his EXP trait speeding up Cothons. Rosie is still better at getting GLH itself though. hard to beat IND/ORG + Fishing for that.

-Churchill of Mali. Skrimisher rush everybody! Qin or Mao could also be used, but China's UU is already better assuming you can get to Machinery quick.

-Boudica of Rome for super powered Praets. She might also do okay boosting Maya's Holkans since they are resourceless and can combat warriors, chariots, and horses as well as archers. Scarier than Quechas?

-Lincoln of Egypt. Get a couple super early Great Prophets (however useful those are outside of Religious games) and get those War Chariots promoted up faster.

-Hammi of Holy Rome. Actually make HRE not suck with great starting techs, boost up the UU and combine ORG with the sick, sick Rathaus.

-Church of Spain. Not gonna lie, this pretty much just revolves around faster Citadels for super powered Trebs/Cannons.

-Hammi of Zulu, mostly taking advantage of Ikhanda + ORG trait, though AGG helps build them and boosts early melee units for rushes. Hammi seems to be a good candidate for improving other civs at least a little bit, his combo of a war trait and economic trait applies a lot.




There's probably a quite a few more extensive ones.

 

[catalin72]

Always Louis XIV of Netherlands on the big maps,without 'stupid' early wars.With Dike giving hammers in the seas and East Indiaman UU strength 6 instead of 4 exploring like caravel enemy territory Netherlands is maybe the best civ..Creative trait makes your borders to grow quick+speed for useful library,Industrious help for wonders and forge.
But most play Pangaea,Fractal standard size,not large,huge,rarely players wasting 90-150 hours for a map.

 

[Hamilton321]

-Hammi of Holy Rome. Actually make HRE not suck with great starting techs, boost up the UU and combine ORG with the sick, sick Rathaus.

That's interesting having an organized leader play as the HRE. I wonder if Julius Caesar leading the HRE would be good. Build or capture lots of cities then pay for your expansion with the rathaus.

 

[killeryoshis]

That's interesting having an organized leader play as the HRE. I wonder if Julius Caesar leading the HRE would be good. Build or capture lots of cities then pay for your expansion with the rathaus.

I think Darius of Holy Rome would be better. You get financial and organized. You could also build Rathaus. Then you can conquer the world and have an awesome tech rate.

 

[lymond]

Any Org + HRE is good, but Bowmen suck no matter how you look at it.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Huayna Capac of the Incas. It's only available in unrestricted because nobody sane would put such an imbalanced combination with absolutely no drawbacks.

Oh wait....

Anyhow, I think Pericles of Egypt would be pretty funny for religous cheese. Also Suryavarman of India would cover the whole map. Tokugawa of the Native Americans controlled by an AI would be the ultimate annoyance.

 

[lymond]

. Tokugawa of the Native Americans controlled by an AI would be the ultimate annoyance.

Why? Toku does not add anything to NAs ...at all. Dogs combined with his Archers make SB annoying enough - and he is simply a better leader, but nothing some Horse Archers can't remedy. Now Mansa of NA would be annoying....almost close to like facing Longbows early game.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Why? Toku does not add anything to NAs ...at all. Dogs combined with his Archers make SB annoying enough - and he is simply a better leader, but nothing some Horse Archers can't remedy. Now Mansa of NA would be annoying....almost close to like facing Longbows early game.

It would be basically a Sitting Bull that refuses to open border. Stronger Dog soldiers would be an even greater annoyance and also remember that SB is mostly a peaceful guy, Toku isn't. You lose PHI, but SB never made good use out of anyways. Meanwhile, Toku would gain a UU that comes much earlier and a UB that actually does something. Finally, everyone generally hates SB; Toku gets along really well with the warmongers. But I guess you'd not have your water poisoned. And the very fact you mentioned that you need horse archers just to handle something so basic speaks volumes.

Also, I think you mean Sitting Bull of Mali; protective skirmishers would be pretty ridiculous. Mansa of NA would be excellent in the hands of a human player though. As an AI it'd probaly play out the same and you'd want to keep him around for trading. Not that it is easy to get rid of Mansa normally either....

Anyhow. I think it'd be interesting to look at the Zulus and Sumerians too with their maintenance reducing UB and traits that would suit mass expansion. Or an organized civ with the sacrificial altar.

Also now that I think about it we are lucky that both Egyptian leaders are peaceful; psychos with War Chariots....

 

[Lord_Studly]

I find that using Darius FIN/ORG as leader for Byzantium is most overpowered combo. 200 BC Cataphracts running over the whole map on Emperor pangaea & winning at 980 AD with only 2 Knights dying out of 40+ was just insain/unstoppable. I liked someones comment along time ago of Boudica of Rome too. AGG/CHA Praetorians is pretty crazy!

 

[ztrapon]

Huayna Capac of any civ really, he's just pure good. But he can just as well be played as Inca which is an amazing civ as well.

I'm a big fan of versatility.
Hannibal is my favourite leader, he's very well-rounded. Combined with India and going Bronze Working, Stonehenge and war is one of my cookie cutter strategies for any given map.

Sumeria is a strong civilization when decoupled from Gilgamesh, for early-game aggressive play. Previously I had Rome as the favorite civ for this, but Sumerian starting techs are stronger unless coastal, and Vultures unlike Praetorians are cheaper, earlier and don't require committing to Iron Working. It's pretty much an ideal early-game unit IMO.

Boudica and juiced Praetorians is fun, but niched.

 

[elmurcis]

Bismark of Inca was interesting... Getting Terrace same price as Monument is strong on Huge maps with lot of land to take... any way you want

 

[ztrapon]

Bismark of Inca was interesting... Getting Terrace same price as Monument is strong on Huge maps with lot of land to take... any way you want

Bismarck is top tier IMO, good in any starting location and excellent on coastal starts.

 

[Orion Pax]

Just did Pacal of Portugal, mainly to pair the financial bonus with feitoria.. Took a bit to get there, but it was pretty cool to see these water tiles with 4 and 3 in cities that would have been very mediocre otherwise. My island city with moai was a beautiful sight.

Also have enjoyed playing as the Chinese with anybody, getting arguably the 2 best starting techs in Agr. & BW but without being Protective.