What do you do with your great generals?

[Kranden]

Do you attach them to a single unit? Or attach them to a group and split the experience. Or do you just put them on your most productive military city.

Personally I take my first one and attach it to a unit such as a swords with city attack promotions to easily crush an enemy civilization. And use the rest of them as city specialists.

 

[ezwip]

I use them to increase unit strenth in my military city. I'll have one general build his military academy, then after that every general goes there to become a professor. I build other buildings there as well to increase the training. When it's all said and done just a few units from this city can be devestating. Some people overlook this but if you keep putting them in that city the experience points will keep going up. I got tired of watching my generals die defending a stack or city to some lame unit attacking. It seems like anytime I'm really happy with a unit it loses to an inferior in the next few turns.

 

[afa2000]

They always join as a military instructor until I can build a military academy

 

[Hawaiian]

Attaching generals to a unit can lead to a +4 xp building (West Point) if you don't have a unit that is level 6 or above. So in that way, it could be worth more than the +2 xp settled great general since you get: a +4 xp bonus and an uber unit or two out of it.

 

[Refar]

As with everything, it depends on what you do and need. Many get settled for +2 xp. Some get attached. One might make a Mil.Akademy on occasion (like if you take a capital with 5 Settles MI's from a IMP-jerk AI, but your HE is already built...)

 

[Captain Crunch]

I attach it to my weakest unit maybe a warrior then i make it upto CR3 then i start upgrading the unit by assembly line i have

infantry with CR3 + 1star+ Gunpowder

Now thats a devastating unit when its attacking. If i am in the mode i give it an extra movement point point then the unit really becomes uber

 

[theKurgen]

I send my great generals fresh oracles, delivered daily!

 

[mynystry]

the first ones i attach them to some stong offensive unit to get some super units in the later game... plan your promotions, cover or shock will get useless in modern warfare, city raiders on the other hand are always handy

military academies and +2xp given by specialist are also useful if 1 military city is not enough... there is no rule, it depends of the situation of each game

 

[Navarre]

I attach the first one to a single unit to unlock West Point, settle the two following in the WP city to get 11 xp units (3 promotions) right out the box and build a Military Academy with the fourth one.

That may vary according how long I'm planning to stay in Theocracy, if it's late enough to get the Pentagon, etc. Sometimes I'll settle only one instructor and build a second academy in a coastal city if needed.

 

[AStupidNick]

I almost always spend my first one creating a "super-medic":

All the XP to one unit, usually someone strong enough not to get mauled alone, but weak enough to never see combat even when the stack is attacked. (This is important for his survivability)

Preferably one with 2 or more moves. (Chariot, and the following units to that.)

Upgrading as follows: Combat I, Medic I, Medic II, Medic III. After that free choice, but leadership (for more xp faster) and retreat/escape feats are nice as a safety-net.

(Getting a unit to this level of healing through combat is very difficult, and more often than not, he chokes on a 98% chance win (or something similar) before he's there.

That way, you will recover from attacking a city in 1-2 turns instead of 4-5 turns, and can march through an opposing empire that much faster.

If/when you get to units with the march-feat, you can just plow on straight away, heal on the move, and save another couple of turns between cities.

The faster you can move on, the fewer units your victim gets to produce, adding even more speed to your conquest.

The rest goes into the cities as instructors / academy.

 

[Supr49er]

First GG - Attach to unit, usually medic scout
Subsequent GGs - Settle until Military Academy becomes available with Military Science. Build MA in my two military cities.
Further GGs - Settle or attach to a strong attack unit.

 

[brades]

I settle them in my military cities. To start usually 1 in my capital, 1 in my main military city, attach the next one for the MASH unit, then settle settle settle until academies.

 

[Sisiutil]

I use the first one in much the same way as AStupidNick does: for a super-medic, usually a Chariot that has earned at least 6 XPs and has Combat I/Medic I. I give it Medic II and III and Morale for an extra movement point.

Rationale:

• This unit won't be fighting except in extremely unusual circumstances. A Chariot is therefore preferred because it is relatively weak and not a defensive counter to any other unit. If I don't have horses, I'll use a Scout.
• Rapid healing keeps your stack on the move, allowing you to finish wars faster so you can recover economically and end the war weariness sooner.
• Sometimes I'll leave the unit in a captured city to heal some badly-damaged units while the bulk of the stack moves on. Once the left-behind units are healed, the extra move from Morale enables the super-medic to catch up.
• Obviously, this unit enables both the Heroic Epic and West Point.

The next two Great Generals become military instructors in my Heroic Epic city. This gives me the benefits of West Point many, many turns ahead of when it's available. It also means I can build West Point in a different production city, so that my best military city can keep producing units rather than building a super-barracks for several turns.

The following GGs are used in different ways. Since you can gather I have two military cities (one for HE, one for WP), I like to use one GG to build a Military Academy in the WP city.

However, if I'm warring a lot, especially with an Imperialistic leader (gotta love Rome's Praets ), I'll get several GGs long before Military Science makes Military Academies a possibility. So I'll often attach an interim GG to my best city raider, give him Leadership, and watch him rack up promotions through the centuries. Attaching GGs to units in this way may not be the most optimal use of a GG, but it's definitely the most fun.

Once I have Military Science, I often find that captured cities contain Military Instructors, so I'll use GGs for Military Academies in those cities.

 

[PaulusIII]

The first one will become a Medic. Chariot (or if Zulu, Impi) are fit for the job. Later ones will usually be used in my main military cities as Great Military Instructors and build Military Academies there.

 

[Rusty Edge]

I agree with AStupidNick and Sisiutil, the first GG usually attaches to a chariot to make a super medic , or as KMadCandy calls it, "an ambulance."

Attaching a GG to only one unit is fun. I use most of them for instructors, rarely do I build an academy with one.


In the Mod which I play, you can instead use your GG to build an armory. This gives units built in that city a "free upgrade promotion" so that archers can become longbowman who can become riflemen who can become infantry who can become mech infantry- as techs allow, all at no additional cost.

Yes, that's powerful if most of your army or all of your navy is built in one or two cities. It's an antidote to the mysterious AI "Overnight upgrade advantage" that sucks the fun out of the game sometimes.

 

[andersw]

The first one is always to promote a crappy unit (usually a warrior) to medic.
However Sisi's strategy with using a chariot sounds very appealing (the medic often lags behind).
After that I usually put them as instructors until I can build Academy.
In rare cases where I have multiple battlelines I might use even a second one for medic upgrade.

 

[Fireseal]

... or as KMadCandy calls it, "an ambulance."...

What ever happened to "Hello Kitty"?

 

[Bigfoot3814]

I always use them on a group. Slim as the chance may be, that unit might go down, and then you've lost the benefit completley. I prefer to spread the joy around.

 

[TyranusBonehead]

Do you attach them to a single unit? Or attach them to a group and split the experience. Or do you just put them on your most productive military city.

Personally I take my first one and attach it to a unit such as a swords with city attack promotions to easily crush an enemy civilization. And use the rest of them as city specialists.

I typically use GG's to build a military academy or as a city specialist. There are times when I'll attach to a unit, that's usually when I have an well experienced military unit in an aggressive game of domination.

 

[theKurgen]

I typically use GG's to build a military academy or as a city specialist. There are times when I'll attach to a unit, that's usually when I have an well experienced military unit in an aggressive game of domination.

About the only time I will spend a GG on a unit or group of units is at a very crucial stage in a war when it could go either way. ie/ all that extra experience might mean the difference between winning or losing a crucial battle against an enemy SOD, or capturing a key city before my advance runs out of puff. Settling/Academies are better in the long term, attaching is an immediate shot in the arm.