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The Virtues of Being Aggressive

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  • The Virtues of Being Aggressive

    I haven't played enough to test out all the trait combos, or even all the traits, yet, so this is not meant to extoll aggressiveness at the expense of any other traits. That said, I'm quickly growing fond of the aggressive trait.

    The Trait

    Aggressive brings with it three bonuses: free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, half-price barracks and half-price drydocks. All three are, of course, geared toward helping you assemble the most feared war machine on your planet.

    Half-priced barracks are a staple from those good ol' militaristic CivIII civs, and the benefits are pretty well known. The only difference being that now, instead of four-hp land units, they give four xp to any land unit produced, which is good for one promotion right out of the gates. They're really good in the early game, allowing you to quickly throw up a barracks and get some veteran units into the field. They're not as good conquered cities as they used to be, since the main point to getting them up quickly when you took a city in CivIII was having instant healing in a frontline town. They no longer heal instantly, so the only benefit in a newly-conquered town is being able to create veteran units where they're needed.

    As the game goes later, the build price becomes less and less significant compared to city production, and this benefit becomes less and less significant. It's always handy for throwing With the xp limits on animals and barbarians, though, and the elimination of barracks' instant healing effect, I submit that the cheap early barracks isn't quite as powerful as in CivIII, but it's not a very significant decrease.

    I'm a big fan of half-priced drydocks. Obviously, the utility of this is highly map-dependent, less on Pangea, more on Archipelago. Drydocks are key to a dominant navy. First, they halve build times of naval units, meaning even mediocre producing coastal cities can churn out transports and the occasional combat ship fairly quickly. Second, they act as naval barracks, giving four xp to ships. Combine this with the Pentagon, and each ship gets two promotions, enabling Navigation I (+1 movement) before it ever sees an enemy. Build West Point in a coastal city and each ship from that city can be at Navigation II (+2 total movement) before leaving port. Movement is often key to naval warfare, so my personal preference is to give nearly every ship Navigation I ASAP, the exception being a few collateral damage battleships. There are two downsides to drydocks. First, they give one unhealthiness. This is easily overcome, though, with all the ways Firaxis has given us to combata it. Second, they don't become available until steel, so this benefit only really applies to your "modern" navy.

    The most important, in my eyes, is the free promotion. While mobility is always crucial in warfare, those melee and gunpowder footsloggers form the backbone of any well-rounded army. A non-aggressive melee unit built in a barracks city has the choice of Woodsman I, City Raider I or Combat I. That same unit, belonging to an aggressive civ, has the choice of Woodsman I, City Raider I (Guerilla I for gunpowder), Combat II, Medic I, Pinch, Shock and Cover. This allows much more tailoring of your military to suit your specific game and purposes. With the Pentagon, you can get that unit to Combat III, Medic II, City Raider II, Guerilla II or Woodsman II (NB: City Raider, Guerilla and Woodsman are included for completeness, as they don't rely on Combat I) as soon as it's built, or divert a promotion to any of the specialty areas, like Amphibious or Pinch. Even before the Pentagon is available, that 4/5 Combat II Swordsman is a single victory from being Amphibious, if you so choose.

    In the middle game, when barbarians have been pretty much subdued, it lets you tailor your military for the next war without having to beat up on another civ in the meantime (though why you'd want to avoid that, I have no idea ). In short, it allows you a lot more choices earlier on in the unit's life, which means more effective and appropriate units for your situation, which translates into a much more effective fighting force in the aggregate.

    The Key Wonders/Improvements

    Improvements

    Barracks - Only 30 hammers, provides a second free promotion and, by itself, leaves a unit just 1 xp shy of a third promotion.

    Drydock - Only 60 hammers, cuts naval build times in half, which means you make up those hammers on the first transport you build, provides one free promotion.

    National Wonders

    Heroic Epic/West Point - Placed in the same city, mean that you're churning out units twice as fast (HE) and with twice as much starting experience (+4 from WP) as otherwise. When those are gunpowder/melee (most likely gunpowder due to timing of WP), they're able to hit Combat III right out of the gate, and are only 2 xp shy of a fourth promotion. If you have coal and iron, Ironworks in place of the HE has the same effect, though the double non-unit production of IW could be better spent outside a unit specializing city.

    Red Cross - Not really key, as it only applies to one city, but provides free Medic I promotion, and makes for some interesting potential combinations with the NWs listed above.

    Mt. Rushmore - Never hurts to cut war weariness by 25% when you've got such an impressive army that letting it go to waste would be a crime.

    World Wonders

    The Pentagon - The +2 xp for any unit effectively means an extra promotion from all those barracks and drydocks.

    The Kremlin - Cuts rushing costs in half. If you're pressed for time, buy your way to that big army you need ASAP.

    The Civics

    Vassalage - Provides +2 xp for all new units. In case you haven't deduced yet, the crux of this trait is piling up promotions as quickly as possible in order to field the most effective war machine you can. The lower unit support in the early to mid-game is also a big boon.

    Police State - Adds 25% to unit production across the board and decreases WW by 50%.

    Theocracy - Provides +2 xp for all units produced in cities with your state religion. See Vassalage.

    The Empires
    Note: Unique Units listed with only their differences from base unit.

    Aztec

    Montezuma - Spiritual
    Jaguar (Swordsman): 5 str, 10 ham, +25% jungle defense
    Mysiticism, Hunting

    French

    Napolean - Industrious
    Musketeer (Musketman): 2 mov
    The Wheel, Agriculture

    Greek

    Alexander - Philosophical
    Phalanx (Spearman): 5 str, +25% hills defense
    Fishing, Hunting

    Incan

    Huayna Capac - Financial
    Quechua (Warrior): +100% vs. archery units
    Agriculture, Mysticism

    Japanese

    Tokugawa - Organized
    Samurai (Maceman): 2 first strikes, can not build with copper (iron only)
    Fishing, The Wheel

    Mongolian

    Genghis Khan - Expansive
    Kublai Khan - Creative
    Keshik (Horse Archer): 1 first strike, ignore terrain movement cost
    Hunting, The Wheel

    My sincere thanks and sympathy to anybody who got this far.
    Last edited by Solomwi; December 30, 2005, 21:53.
    Solomwi is very wise. - Imran Siddiqui

  • #2
    thats cool, i have been more into building and economic traits, but the great XP combos are VERY apealing

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    • #3
      One way of looking at Aggressive is that its Melee and Gun troops are 10% more effective than those of non-Agressive civs. That's already pretty good.

      Added to this is the fact that Aggressive civs get to customize their units as counters right out of the gates (with a Barracks, of course). So while a non-Aggressive Axemen comes out with Combat I, nullifying the Aggressive civ's free Combat I promotion, the Aggressive Axemen comes out with Shock I, for a net 25% bonus. Against the AI the power of this instant-customization is very apparent.

      (Solomwi, I know you said much the same thing in your excellent post - I just wanted to say it differently!)
      Last edited by Dominae; December 31, 2005, 00:57.
      And her eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming...

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      • #4
        Note that the Mongols are the only Aggressive leaders with a UU that does not benefit from the free Combat I Promotion.
        And her eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming...

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        • #5
          Good idea. I have some additions.

          Nitpics: Note that Jaguars are now 5 hammers cheaper than Swordmen, the Quechua bonus is +100% vs archery units.

          Also State Property was made for Conquest, immediately eliminating that distance upkeeps makes it much easier to conquer new territory and keep the momentum going. It's also nice when repairing pillage-damage to just go with Useful NOW watermills and workshops rather than those cottages that take ages to grow. I rarely run Police State but I always run State Property.


          My second favorite trait is Aggressive (after Organized), I've played all the Aggressive leaders, and they are some of my favorite.

          Tokugawa: The Organized trait goes very, very well with Aggressive. It's one thing to conquer a large empire, it's quite another to make it profitable. Organized really helps with that. Also halving the cost of Vassalage is a huge benefit, Vassalage+Organized Religion is a pretty good combo for Tokugawa, you get the good military and a bonus for building that essential infrastructure, and you can run it throughout the entire game pretty much. Definitely the most 'balanced' of the aggressive leaders. An Iron dependency may mandate construction-era conquest, but the sooner you conquer the sooner Organized really starts working for you, so no biggy .

          Kublai Khan: Pairing Aggressive with Creative results in ultimate low-cost conquest and territory assimilation. Aggressive helps with the conquering, Creative makes it nice and secure. The problem with Kublai is it's so very easy to overextend yourself and go bankrupt, especially when you want to get the most out of the Keskik, not helped by the ease of going for long-distance conquest.
          The other Khan, Genghis, is a bit stronger in the vertical growth department, the relieved health limits and cheaper granaries pratically demand pop-rushage. The strength of Kublai is in a large secure territory, while Genghis has to focus on city-infrastructure a bit more.

          Alexander: It's an interesting bi-polar combination of traits, and favors neither a large nor small empire. One of the nice things about Philosophical is it provides a way to keep research and the economy going, you can have a core of super-cities sustaining an aggressive military. Scientists and Merchants are very much your friends if you want to make the most of both traits.

          Napoleon: Bad trait Combination. When you go a conquering your research tends to suffer, this means you may not even get the chance to start wonders. The main problem is both traits require you to build expensive things, wonders and combat units. A more ideal combination gives you a passive bonus (like Organized) and lets you focus on the other. It's only really possible to ever properly utilize one of the traits at a time. Aggressive leaders should ideally steal wonders, not build them. Good Napoleon strategies will probably be pyramid-centric (which is okay, but only if the opposition hasn't a clue of the power of pyramids (ie it's not multiplayer)). Of course it's possible to play Napoleon as an Industrial leader, with the aggressive passive bonus. But still I think there are better Industrial leaders (and definitely better aggressive leaders).

          Huayna Capac: Inca is most interesting for reasons other than aggressive, for example being the only financial civ to start with Mysticism (gogo early religion grab). I find the civ lacks direction myself, or you could say it has many possible directions. It's UU can be so strong as to prop the entire civ up (ie ultra-early conquest)... or it could be outdated by the time the game really starts (since Barb axemen can pop up so early). Inca is interesting, but not the precision weapon of conquest that Japan is.

          Montezuma: You can dress it up any way you like, but the Aztecs are largely a one-trick pony, even if it is a rather good trick, this trick being to get Iron Working early and chop and whip a horde of screaming Jaguars out. They are a supremely low-infrastructure conquest civ. The problem with low infrastructure conquest is it's very expensive in the long run when city upkeep comes back to bite you in the butt. The Aztecs could really use Organized, Financial or even Expansionist to help support the burden of rapid conquest, however they are stuck with Spiritual, meaning they can't go into Anarchy every 5 turns to mitigate some of the hideous expenses they can rack up (okay the anarchy strategy might be a bit silly but it can save you if you need another turn to take a city and recieve the sack-cash bonus). In the later game Monty can make good use of Police State and such, stealing the Pyramids as Monty would be a Good Thing (tm).

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          • #6
            Blake: not having played them all, that's the kind of additional input I'm looking for in this thread.

            I will note that I wholeheartedly agree on Napolean. The UU is pretty nice, but pales in comparison to essentially throwing away one trait in the early game. The Industrious trait kicked in once I made up some tech ground and started competing for wonders (in particular the Space Elevator, as I edged out Mali in a pretty tight Space Race ), but a passive trait would have definitely served me better.

            I thought about adding State Property, but decided to focus on the civics that tied in more directly with the trait attributes. Good way to go, though, and I may have to play with it some more.

            Also, thanks for the update on Jags. I just brain-cramped and botched the Quechua when I was entering it. Fixed now, and thanks.

            Dom: you said it much more succinctly, too . That's the key to the trait, though: the ability to customize that one extra step ahead of your non-aggressive neighbor. It doesn't really suit my playstyle, but I suppose you could also use it to simply customize to the same degree as your neighbor, but without spending the resources getting to that point that he did and turning them instead to something else.

            wardhali: It's definitely fun each time a new unit is built.
            Solomwi is very wise. - Imran Siddiqui

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