[R&F] Whats your favorite Rise and Fall Leader or Civ?

[Pythakoreas]

Playing my first game of Rise and Fall as the Cree and I'm loving it. Their UU and UI come in the Ancient Era which gives you about +3 Era Score each, helps you get a Golden Age by Classical.

Exodus of the Evangelists is a blast. Usually I don't try a RV unless I build a holy site in the Ancient Era because the Prophet will be too far away or be taken, but the Prophet points you get from the dedication (+Revelation card) will guarantee you a religion. Soon Scotland and France declared a joint war on me. Era Scores for converting Scottish and French cities into my religion while at war. I end up capturing Paris and Sterling (+1 Scottish city) by the end of the war and a Golden Medieval Age again! Gandhi didn't have much problem for my warmongering for some reason.

The Cree land grab is awesome. After choosing Monumentality for my Medieval Dedication I founded 3 more cities. I never had a Production problem in any of my cities and I assume it's the Mekewap bonus. The trade route land grab is endless fun to play with when you have 10 cities on a continent and a lot of tiles fall under a radius of 3 from the City Center. My sprawling empire eventually included flipped French cities, with the Medici knocked out due to rebellion. But after all the Wonders and the Great People I hoarded and my first maxed-out Governor I missed the Era Score by one to get a Golden Age by the Renaissance.

So there I am right now, controlling an Empire of 13 cities of gigantic territory from coast to coast with British, French and First Nations presence (similar to... Canada, but the difference being it's the First Nations who successfully defied European imperialistic agenda) and going for a RV pumping out Yerevan apostles from a city with a maxed-out Cardinal. I already have 3 Civs converted and my apostles are insanely strong, Pilgrim+Altitude Training+Proselytizer/Debater+Mosque+Patron Saint+Theocracy+Religious Orders is an invincible combination. I intend to win by late Renaissance/mid-Industrial.

How does Era Score work by the way? It doesn't seem to carry over because I had hoarded some insane Era Score in Classical only to find out I have to start again from zero in the Medieval. And in the latter I missed the Golden Age by one which didn't carry over either because now in the Renaissance, I can definitely use some to avoid a Dark Age after starting from zero again. What's the point of getting extra Era Scores if you already hit Golden?

 

[Pythakoreas]

To add, I also have Mont St-Michel and Reliquaries belief. If my Apostles fall in priest fights it just more Faith and Tourism for me.

 

[Disgustipated]

Time for rankings. I still have 3 left to play, but I couldn't wait. Keep in mind games can be variable due to map conditions and opponent AI's, I may find my tastes change 6 months from now. But for now...

1. Zulu: just awe inspiring offensive power
2. Cree: The great UI is awesome. The UU isn't great, but that promotion really helps explore faster
3. Netherlands: I did have fun on archipelago map building polders and fisheries everywhere. I went crazy with fisheries. But her civ bonuses weren't particularly exciting. UU comes a bit late to do any serious warfare.
4. Korea: It was kind of fun trying to see how high I could get my science per turn. Not much else to do with this civ.
5. Mongolia: I never did capture a single horse units with these, but the AI in my only game was really weak for some reason, may be just a fluke
6. Georgia: I got a fairly early religious victory, but only because I was 100% focused on it (and built too many holy sites). I never did do a protectorate war, never used her UU, and never built the walls (even with Limes Renaissance walls are absurdly expensive). Not a bad civ, but nothing really pulls me in.

Yet to play: Scotland, Mapuche, and Chandra.

 

[Disgustipated]

About halfway through my Scotland game (I know, I'm playing the hell out of this game since R&F came out), and I have to say I'm impressed. A much more interesting mechanic than Korea, you have to put in a little bit of effort to get that science rather than have it handed to you on a silver platter with half priced turbo campuses. I'm far enough through my game to put them in my list. I'll put them as #3, but honestly I would say they are a tie for #2 with the Cree.

1. Zulu: just awe inspiring offensive power
2. Cree: The great UI is awesome. The UU isn't great, but that promotion really helps explore faster
3. Scotland: Only downside to these guys is their UU. Currently I have 3 scouts too far away to bother bringing them back to upgrade. I'm trying to discover the world. I may hard build one or buy one for the era score.
4. Netherlands: I did have fun on archipelago map building polders and fisheries everywhere. I went crazy with fisheries. But her civ bonuses weren't particularly exciting. UU comes a bit late to do any serious warfare.
5. Korea: It was kind of fun trying to see how high I could get my science per turn. Not much else to do with this civ.
6. Mongolia: I never did capture a single horse units with these, but the AI in my only game was really weak for some reason, may be just a fluke
7. Georgia: I got a fairly early religious victory, but only because I was 100% focused on it (and built too many holy sites). I never did do a protectorate war, never used her UU, and never built the walls (even with Limes Renaissance walls are absurdly expensive). Not a bad civ, but nothing really pulls me in.

 

[TonkaTruck]

On a practical, mechanical level it's Robert the Bruce' Scotland, they're super flexible, powerful and just fun to play.
Poundmaker's art, music and model is extremely aesthetic to the point where i play Cree even when i don't like anything about them in terms of unique civ features.

 

[Harun-al Rashid (Arabia)]

On a practical, mechanical level it's Robert the Bruce' Scotland, they're super flexible, powerful and just fun to play.
Poundmaker's art, music and model is extremely aesthetic to the point where i play Cree even when i don't like anything about them in terms of unique civ features.

I see what you mean. The first look was very fun to look at. I was satisfied with everything there.

 

[Harun-al Rashid (Arabia)]

Korea is insane with science. Not just the half cost +4 campus but you also get science & culture boost in every city with a governor to which you can add the educator governor for additional science & culture boost and +100% great person generation and then you add policy cards to that!

Netherlands was also surprisingly good. The river adjacency really adds up. First time I have built IZ in nearly every city other than Germany because you can easily get +4-5 adjacency districts bunching them together around a river, even more for the government plaza city. I was really surprised how big the adjacency bonuses got and then you add the double adjacency policy cards! It can be hard to get a lot of polders but they can also be incredible tiles especially when you can add Auckland and lighthouse plus they improve throughout the game.

That actually is pretty cool. I could play the two, but I go to a militaristic way of doing things. Like Lautaro, when you defeat an enemy unit in the enemy cities borders, the city loses loyalty. I mean, that to me, is really REALLY handy.

 

[Leifmk]

It's early days yet so too soon to tell, but I did a pretty fun TSL Earth opening with Korea just this morning before work; got Mongolia and Japan as neighbours, and Genghis tried attacking me almost right away with a bunch of warriors. Fortunately I'd already started spamming slingers as soon as I could so I quickly had five archers and made rather short work of the Mongols... now let's see just how idiotically overpowered I can make my empire.

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

Of the Civs I have played so far:

Cree: Ninithaw is simply amazing. An early trader and the ability to capture tiles? What's not to love? Coupled with Favorable Terms, you'll be rolling in money in no time. The Okihtcitaw is a nice replacement for the scout but nothing overly special. Mekewaps on the other hand are incredibly useful. The only real downside to the Civ is a clear victory skew. But with so much money, that's not really a huge problem.

Scotland: I'm currently playing as Scotland and laughing at the absurdity of the Civ. Scottish Enlightenment is very powerful and Bannockburn can give you a really useful production boost without negative consequences. I also find the highlanders to be a nice bonus.

Mongolia: Ortoo is great and gives a nice edge in battles, while the Ordu really helps with cavalry and keshig units. While I have captured many units using Mongol Horde, I didn't find it to be an indispensable ability. A very strong domination Civ.

Netherlands: Plays a lot like the Cree but with more focus on coasts and colonization (which makes sense). While I enjoy the Civ, it doesn't really wow me.

Korea: While I appreciate the incredible science output, I agree with others that it's a bit boring.

I haven't played the Mapuche, Georgia, Zulu, or India 2 enough to really rank them.

 

[RohirrimElf]

Finished an epic game speed game with wilhelmina. Navy invasions by Wilhelmina can be very deadly with just 2x de zeven provincien and caraval (just one melee unit for last blow capturing city). I finished off a whole civilisation with mostly couple of naval units.

Polders could be more effective if only i could have used them more Often. During my game i hardly had any rivers nearby but the bonusses are very neat.

 

[JH24]

On a design level, I love the Cree and the Mapuche. In my current game I'm trying to befriend them both. To my surprise Lautaro made the offer to renew our friendship after it expired. I hadn't seen that before. I want to try them out in my next games.

On the level of playstyle I would say Korea. I always loved games with a focus on science.

On a sidenote: Does anyone know how you can trigger Lautaro's positive agenda? Do you need to have high loyalty or high culture as well?

 

[Brutus2]

That actually is pretty cool. I could play the two, but I go to a militaristic way of doing things. Like Lautaro, when you defeat an enemy unit in the enemy cities borders, the city loses loyalty. I mean, that to me, is really REALLY handy.

I haven't tried Lautaro yet but my impression is that his loyalty reducing ability can actually make it harder to conquer cities. If you kill enough units to make an opponent's city become a free city, doesn't that just spawn a bunch of Free City units that you now have to also deal with?

 

[criZp]

Seondoek purely for half cost +4 science campuses. Doubt I'll play the others as they can't compete with half cost +4 science campuses.

Your half cost +4 science campuses won't do you much good when they are on fire.

 

[Morningcalm]

Especially when the aggressor gets science of his own for looting your seowons.

 

[Harun-al Rashid (Arabia)]

I haven't tried Lautaro yet but my impression is that his loyalty reducing ability can actually make it harder to conquer cities. If you kill enough units to make an opponent's city become a free city, doesn't that just spawn a bunch of Free City units that you now have to also deal with?

Yeah, if I actually thing about that now, it makes sense! But tbh its still handy. I mean, tbh, if you lose 40 loyalty when you kill an enemy unit inside a city, that means 2 units defeated by the cities borders means that city loses 80 LOYALTY. Then another hit will make it a free city. I mean, if you have a lot of units, you can easily capture the city if you do it quickly!

Thank you guys so much for making this a sort of popular thread in the forum. This was actually my first thread ever posted. And I already got a lot of replies. Thank you....

EDIT: This is also actually the most replied thread

 

[beorn]

I find Poundmaker so much fun to play that I have trouble getting myself to keep a game going with another leader.

Sondoek and Wilhelma each looked like they would be a lot of fun, too, but in practice not so much.

For me, Sondoek always ends up in some corner of the map packed with hills and mountains and really tedious to move around. Her weak point is always getting population up in key cities, and that tends not to be an interesting problem to solve. Wilhelma, it's just cities on rivers = I win.

But mekewap and trade routes (especially early ones) require all kinds of strategizing.

 

[Duckfromstatefarm]

As for my pick it's Tamar, but my favorite to play against is Robert the Bruce, it never gets old when Robert the Bruce kicks the chair everytime you declare war on him.