Which leader is the one for me?

[markiz]

First of all, I apologize for making that question, but I am again overwhelmed by this game. I will not be trying all the different leaders/civs, I want to find a good match for my "style".

Currently, I play on warlord, but it is evident that it's too easy, so noble might be my level. But I'll practice some more on warlord.

I will be playing against the AI. War is not my thing, and it seems war is the only thing that is possible when playing humans, understandably.

So, I am not very keen on war.

What I do love is:
- fast expansion
- being ahead in tech
- some wonders (stonehenge, colossus, great lighthouse, Dai Miao, The Hanging Gardens, parthenon, pentagon)
- grabbing a religion, not necessarily early, but eventually
- generally, being strong enough militarily so that i can shrug off any attack, and to keep developing
- I also love to get the +1 movement for my naval units
- islands is my favourite map, large, with 9 AIs opponents, marathon
- great persons
- love slavery

So far, I've been playing with Pacal II. And I like him. But my brother regularly has an advantage on me with Huyana Capac. We do play in the same team, but still. I love financial, and i love expansive, but industrious seems to be too powerful.

Is there another leader that would suit me better?

 

[plasmacannon]

Ramesses of Egypt is excellent in single or multiplayer games.

The Incas are one of the best civs in the game.
If you know how to use them, Elizabeth and Darius are usually voted the best leaders.
England's extra gold from it's building is one of the best UBs.
Persia's Unit will conquer most empires early, just be cautious vs Maya and Zulu.

 

[bitplayer]

The leaders that make me feel as if Im cheating while playing them are Darius due to his traits and the two Caesars due to their uu.

That said I like playing as Napolean. IMO he has good traits and an excellent ub for popping out beefy borders in a conquered city. His uu is just meh to me.

 

[Ozbenno]

I'd also say Darius (financial/organised is the best peace-combo). I'd also say Elizabeth (financial/philosophical) and Gandhi (spiritual/philosophical) are great.

If you're playing at Noble, you shouldn't really be needing to be Industrious to grab the early wonders you want (should be Oracle, Great Lighthouse, Pyramids, Great Library and Hanging Gardens)

 

[iggymnrr]

Mehmed is all around solid. Should provide a good baseline for comparison.

 

[GA econ FTW]

First of all, I apologize for making that question, but I am again overwhelmed by this game. I will not be trying all the different leaders/civs, I want to find a good match for my "style".

Currently, I play on warlord, but it is evident that it's too easy, so noble might be my level. But I'll practice some more on warlord.

I will be playing against the AI. War is not my thing, and it seems war is the only thing that is possible when playing humans, understandably.

So, I am not very keen on war.

What I do love is:
- fast expansion
- being ahead in tech
- some wonders (stonehenge, colossus, great lighthouse, Dai Miao, The Hanging Gardens, parthenon, pentagon)
- grabbing a religion, not necessarily early, but eventually
- generally, being strong enough militarily so that i can shrug off any attack, and to keep developing
- I also love to get the +1 movement for my naval units
- islands is my favourite map, large, with 9 AIs opponents, marathon
- great persons
- love slavery

So far, I've been playing with Pacal II. And I like him. But my brother regularly has an advantage on me with Huyana Capac. We do play in the same team, but still. I love financial, and i love expansive, but industrious seems to be too powerful.

Is there another leader that would suit me better?

Each piece of your "wish list" brings around interesting variables on what leader one would choose. For example, you say you like building SPECIFIC wonders...generally, an industrious leader would be good, but since you are specific, you could easily win some of the later wonders regardless, and lose some of the earlier ones regardless based on difficulty.

You like to be the tech leader? well you're going to need cash for that, so a financial leader is in order

You like to expand, well an expansive leader would make sense....

then, you said something interesting...Island maps. Not a lot of people talk as much about oceanic worlds here as they do land worlds. True, humans are MUCH better at using navy than even the improved AI, but typically, humans like to consolidate their own lands first before launching their navies.

But on an islands map, you might be on your own island to start, with more water than land.

I still think financial leaders gain a +1 coin once you get lighthouses on on coastal civs. If the islands are small enough, you won't have a lot of barbarian or AI land-assault trouble.

I'm also guessing you don't want to do unrestricted leaders, so the civilization matches the leader.

So....Elizabeth rules the waves, being financial. Ragnar is also financial and his Unique building helps your boats....but...not as much as Joao of the portugese who might help you expand off your island faster (although you said you dislike war, odds are new islands that an improved caravel-turned-galleon will already be settled by others.)

The one leader that would really help your love of slavery best is Monty (With his Unique Building), but with all the other things on the wishlist, I'm not sure Monty on an island meets the best mix of requirements)

In the end, if your agenda boils down to ....
settling and controlling an island
expanding as fast as possible (joao might help you because its marathon, then again I give it a 50% chance you might be disappointed)
being peaceful (peaceful agendas removes the power of the Unique Unit bonus to the Netherlands civ (willem van oranje)
and becoming a political-tech excellent person with great people and wonders....I'd suggest Elizabeth for the great people (you'll need food surpluses for that) or whomever the financial/industrious leader is.....get to fishing followed by lighthouses as fast as possible.

In the end, I'm thinking that the wishes most discardable on an oceanic world is being able to slave with complete impunity...followed afterwards by peaceful expansion (unless you play Joao and just beeline the naval techs) followed by being able to truly get the wonders exactly according to plan.

Personally, if I was to play an island map, I'd choose the portugese with Joao for all the agendas listed...but that's because I'm partial to certain diplo music.....If Queen Lizzy DID have "rule brittania" instead of "Trumpet Voluntary" as her diplo music, well then it would have been a no-brainer.

 

[King Flevance]

Joao of Portugal

Imperialistic so settlers are cheaper and defensive wars spawn more GGs. Expansive is mostly a late game trait but it can come in handy with a jungle/flood plains start.

The Carrack is a GREAT unit for early settling of other islands.
The Feitoria is decent if you play peacefully with open borders.

 

[Htadus]

I am not sure about this suggestion for MP games but Ragnar and his UB will give you some great fast moving galleys. Since you do not like warring, his UU is just for looks but on an island map if you choses to go warring, they are awsome.

If you like playing defensive then I would say SB would serve you well. His UU combined with an archer should be fairly invincible for along time and you can pop all the GP's you want to stay ahead in techs.

 

[tdy99]

The leaders with financial trait tend to be the technology leaders. Obviously, industrious since you are wanting to build wonders. The only leader to have both of those traits is Huyana Capec, and he's generally regarded as perhaps the strongest leader for a reason. He also gets a pretty useful very early UU.

Most people as beginners seem to favor financial leaders. I know I did. As you get better at the game, you tend to branch out and develop a preference for some other trait. For me that other trait is spiritual, but I've seen other high level players claim philosophical or even expansive as their favorite trait.

 

[markiz]

Thanks to everyone for suggestions.

Huyana Capac is out of the question, I don't really know why, I just don't like him. might be because he seems too powerful. Also, when I play with my brother (co-op) he is always HC.

Joao seems to interesting! I will definitely try him, and some financial/philosophical leader.

But, I've just played 2 games on noble for the first time with Pacal II, and won without any serious problem. The way I play with him makes it so that I have a slower start, but once the economy and certain techs come into play, it's like a hurricane

I'll try a few games in the coming weeks with those other leaders and see how they compare, and report back here. Not that anyone cares, but still

Thanks again for great suggestions!