What Leaders Should I Pick?

[Cutlass]

I've mostly played Alexander. I'm still new to BtS, but have been playing Vanilla since it came out. I've played many games as Alexander, and most were either Domination or Space Race wins. I've never tried for a cultural win and never managed to be well liked enough for a Diplo. Mostly I play Prince or Monarch.

I like the Philosophical for the Great People and the Aggressive for military advantage. And the Phalanx, at least in Vanilla, is I think the best early unit. Since in the earliest part of the game is when I'm most concerned about defense. I've looked at many of the other leaders, but can't find a "perfect" combination. My biggest problem with Al is that if there are 2 other leaders in the game with Spiritual I don't get to an early religion.

 

[Diamondeye]

I like Justinian

Spi/Imp is okay, so is UU and UB. I can't remember starting techs.

No, the reason why I said Mansa and Willem is Financial, which is a huge passive helper when new to the game. Also, Spi makes one of the game aspects (civics & religions) so much easier to handle, and Creative does the same for culture popping.

What about Shaka if you want wage war???

Shaka is excellent for warring. His UU and UB is awesome for an early war (or "The Impi Choke"/"The Imba Choke"), so is Aggressive. I, for one, do not like Exp that much, but I guess it's okay after all.

 

[Diamondeye]

I've mostly played Alexander. I'm still new to BtS, but have been playing Vanilla since it came out. I've played many games as Alexander, and most were either Domination or Space Race wins. I've never tried for a cultural win and never managed to be well liked enough for a Diplo. Mostly I play Prince or Monarch.

I like the Philosophical for the Great People and the Aggressive for military advantage. And the Phalanx, at least in Vanilla, is I think the best early unit. Since in the earliest part of the game is when I'm most concerned about defense. I've looked at many of the other leaders, but can't find a "perfect" combination. My biggest problem with Al is that if there are 2 other leaders in the game with Spiritual I don't get to an early religion.

If you want to try Cultural, pick a French leader. Their UB is nice. Just make sure you have 2-3 religions in your land, and focus on artists.

 

[CampRadio]

Spi/Imp is okay, so is UU and UB. I can't remember starting techs.

No, the reason why I said Mansa and Willem is Financial, which is a huge passive helper when new to the game. Also, Spi makes one of the game aspects (civics & religions) so much easier to handle, and Creative does the same for culture popping.



Shaka is excellent for warring. His UU and UB is awesome for an early war (or "The Impi Choke"/"The Imba Choke"), so is Aggressive. I, for one, do not like Exp that much, but I guess it's okay after all.

He is also good because Combat 1 promotion is free

 

[CampRadio]

If you want to try Cultural, pick a French leader. Their UB is nice. Just make sure you have 2-3 religions in your land, and focus on artists.

De Galle is a Culutrul guy?

 

[Diamondeye]

De Galle is a Culutrul guy?

Can't remember De Gaulle's traits, but the Salon (or what their UB's called) makes for excellent cultural conditions, boosted by artists (and therefore great artists). I played my French cultural as Napoleon, to be able to wage war early (which I did to eradicate Celts).

 

[Iranon]

De Gaulle is IND/CHM which I think is very solid for a Cultural victory... cheap wonders and a raised happiness cap both benefit the goal and the free Artists are nice as well.
I'd rate him above Louis and Napoleon for this purpose; the compact empires ideal for a Culture win won't need the ability to box in opponents via CRE (total contribution to culture is almost irrelevant) or the maintenance cuts from ORG.

His main fault lies in being a pathetic little twerp in the hands of the AI, tempting me to exterminate the French asap for the betterment of humanity (this poster refuses to comment on any real-life parallels or absence thereof).

 

[CampRadio]

Spi/Imp is okay, so is UU and UB. I can't remember starting techs.

No, the reason why I said Mansa and Willem is Financial, which is a huge passive helper when new to the game. Also, Spi makes one of the game aspects (civics & religions) so much easier to handle, and Creative does the same for culture popping.



Shaka is excellent for warring. His UU and UB is awesome for an early war (or "The Impi Choke"/"The Imba Choke"), so is Aggressive. I, for one, do not like Exp that much, but I guess it's okay after all.

The starting techs are Mysticusum and something else

 

[CampRadio]

De Gaulle is IND/CHM which I think is very solid for a Cultural victory... cheap wonders and a raised happiness cap both benefit the goal and the free Artists are nice as well.
I'd rate him above Louis and Napoleon for this purpose; the compact empires ideal for a Culture win won't need the ability to box in opponents via CRE (total contribution to culture is almost irrelevant) or the maintenance cuts from ORG.

His main fault lies in being a pathetic little twerp in the hands of the AI, tempting me to exterminate the French asap for the betterment of humanity (this poster refuses to comment on any real-life parallels or absence thereof).

I see, I'll see if I can try him

 

[troytheface]

Napoleon, best by test. solid uu, solid traits and nice color.

 

[InFlux5]

This thread is hilarious.

 

[JKWSN]

Augustus Caesar of Rome. With an arguably overpowered UU you can afford to have a small army in the early stage and still win wars. With the Forum you can churn out great people at a decent clip. With Industrious you can quickly create additional bonuses for your civ through wonders (which will help with GP too) and Imperialistic will further help you steam-roll the AI and quickly expand your empire.

 

[CampRadio]

This thread is hilarious.

Thank You

 

[CampRadio]

Can't remember De Gaulle's traits, but the Salon (or what their UB's called) makes for excellent cultural conditions, boosted by artists (and therefore great artists). I played my French cultural as Napoleon, to be able to wage war early (which I did to eradicate Celts).

Brennus or Boudicca

 

[Diamondeye]

De Gaulle is IND/CHM which I think is very solid for a Cultural victory... cheap wonders and a raised happiness cap both benefit the goal and the free Artists are nice as well.
I'd rate him above Louis and Napoleon for this purpose; the compact empires ideal for a Culture win won't need the ability to box in opponents via CRE (total contribution to culture is almost irrelevant) or the maintenance cuts from ORG.

His main fault lies in being a pathetic little twerp in the hands of the AI, tempting me to exterminate the French asap for the betterment of humanity (this poster refuses to comment on any real-life parallels or absence thereof).

Okay, sounds fine. I don't normally play IND leaders, so that must be why I chose Napoleon for my only French game yet. He is a very powerful war leader.

Augustus Caesar of Rome. With an arguably overpowered UU you can afford to have a small army in the early stage and still win wars. With the Forum you can churn out great people at a decent clip. With Industrious you can quickly create additional bonuses for your civ through wonders (which will help with GP too) and Imperialistic will further help you steam-roll the AI and quickly expand your empire.

Yeah, but conquest aids every purpose of the game that leads towards victory, and Romans are very good at it, that could be reason enough IMO.

Brennus or Boudicca

Brennus, as far as I remember. He was an easy takeout.

 

[Cutlass]

i'm playing Charlemagne right now and it seems like a good combination for multiple game styles.

 

[CHEESE!]

Choose the one you feel looks most like yourself .

Sadly, thats Lincoln.

 

[Gahbriel]

Two words: Huayna Capac.

There are plently of great leaders, but as you're learning the game I think this is your best leader to go with. The stradegy is pretty solid for early learning:

On first turn if you have mulitple tiles that can be improved with farms (you start with agriculture) then make a worker, then grow to ~3 population, then make a settler, then stonehenge as your population goes to ~5.

Research polytheism first to nail founding hindu in your capital. From there, you can try and land judaism by going masonry then monothesim. You can normally get both of these founded in your capital for huge cash gain later in the game (while giving you organized religion for +25% for stonehenge and every building after that). Then start snagging all the techs to open up metal casting (wheel, potery, bronze working) and also priesthood to allow you to create the oracle.

If you don't want to go for judaism, just start picking up techs that you need to improve the area around your capital and then get ready for metal casting / the oracle.

After you finish stonehenge and have all the techs for oracle and metal casting, create the oracle in your capital. Normally you can get priesthood before bronze working or potery and finish the oracle a few turns after you finish getting the techs for metal casting. When the oracle is built you use the free technology you get from it to get metal casting and have a huge advantage early in production.

Now you're basically set to get two great prophets in a row from your capital which you use to build the hinda shrine and jewish shrine for massive money to fund expansion while keeping your research slider high.

Later in the game you can build wallstreet in your capital (and found your corporations there) and have a HUGE cash making machine.

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In addition to having industrious / financial as the Incans, you start with your special unit which has +100% vs archers and combat I. This allows you to skip some military techs early on and muscle your neighbor if they are using archers. It's not a perfect strat and can obviously be tweaked based on your starting location, but it's a great way to get an early lead.

What about an early Quechua rush? its much more effective

 

[CampRadio]

Okay, sounds fine. I don't normally play IND leaders, so that must be why I chose Napoleon for my only French game yet. He is a very powerful war leader.



Yeah, but conquest aids every purpose of the game that leads towards victory, and Romans are very good at it, that could be reason enough IMO.



Brennus, as far as I remember. He was an easy takeout.

Because he does not get that free combat I promotion