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Choosing the right leader is one of the most important things in the game. Here's what I have to say about leaders. I'll expoun upon this later, but this is plenty for now:
With indust. civs, build numerous wonders. This is pretty straightforward; just make sure you have enough hammers to complete them before others do and make sure you let it save you a few thousand hammers over the game's course, or its a waste. It is highly compatible with any peaceful style and even some of the less aggressive war styles.
Although the spiritual ability, seems more difficult to use in any specific manner, it still allows you to change civics based on currents condition; for example: Mercntalism and Pacifism in peacetime to churn GPP, then State Property and Theocracy durring war time. Doing this with a non spiritual would require a long term shift in methods to be worthwile, but with Spiritual, it can be used for a micro-war. Even ridiculously small changes can be made (open bordes terminated, switch to mercantilism). Finally, there is the obvious benefit of just switching to a better ciic/religion for the first time.
As for philisophical, this takes a consious effort to fully utilize, but you must not waste it. Build the Parthenon at (nearly) all costs. Focus multiple cities, not just one on great people. Ensure that food and therefore specialists are readily availible in most cities. Build the Great Library, Hanging Gardens, and Statue of Liberty if possible. Use mercantalism, cast system, and pacifism. Build the National Epic in best GPP city. Representation (+3 beakers per specialst, +3 happiness in largest cities) is a nice side-bonus. Make Wonders a priority.
Another, trait expansive, is not at all hard to use; it just means your cities can grow larger; as long as you're building cities in decent places, this automatically comes in handy. I don't think it really goes along with anything; it just makes a nice second to any first ability you want in a leader.
For financial, the goal is to get (almost) every square not being farmed up to two commerce. Sea tiles produce 3 commerce. Towns produce 5. Watermills produce 3, or is it 4, I can't remember. So what about wonders. Any scinece wonder you can get, get. The collosus makes costal cities amazing. Lighthouse+ collosas means 4c and 2f. I don't know about you, but to me, that is great; a solid, once every 20 turn growth (lightning fast with granary and food rescource). You can start out picking the ideal inland shares to farm and mine (you have to mine if you're not going to get any hammers from most of your squares). Then, you can move out to the sea about the time you build a lighthouse and the Colossus, and fill all the sea squares with laborers. Inland, villiages and towns still offer great bonusses, but I think the immediate benefit from working sea tiles is worth a small late game commerce lag. And who can say you can't come back on shore and build cottages later? Inland cities, of course, you will have to focus on cottages for income. Great Lighthouse, Lighthouse, and Harbor are good for costal. Colossus is a necessity for the costal strategy outlined. Scince or money improvements/ wonders are good for all cities.
Creative is pretty much a duh ability; not a whole lot of creativity needed there; use it if you want extra culture/territory. Whether you want to churn culture through wonders/buildings or not is irrelevant (usually, as with everything else in Civ 4) But let me outline what exactly it does. Most impportantly, it eleminates the need to build building just for culture. Also it means you will be able to access a resource just outside of the origanly borders of a city just as fast as a worker can get there.
For aggressive, just play to your strengths; use melee and gunpowder units extensively. Avoid building mounted units if practical. And, of course, KILL PEOPLE.
I have found upkeep costs are not a burden if you have founded at least one religion on lower levels, but if you play on a higher lever, Organized is a trait to consider. You don't really use it; it just helps you.
Am I done yet? No. I have not explained millitary units. Unlike in Civ 3, the special charactarstics, not the unit is more important (if you want to get into a big discussion about civ 3, the semurai was so good in that he atacked lightning fast with power, then defended as good as any medieval unit, all without horses, thus the Japanese were THE civilization). However, the importance of the special millitary units has only been decreased in Civ 4 compared to the characteristics (in Civ 3, characterstics meant comparitively little), not in value in relation to war on the whole. Thus, millitary units are still important. As their are no categories for millitary units, I will go through each seperately (this is going to take a while).
The American Navy SeAL provides an interesting and versitile unit. It changes the marine from an overseas fighter to a multi-tasking utility unit. Go ahead; defend against a tank; they can win; attack a fortified infantry; they can win. Keep marching even after the city is taken in a fierce battle. Who needs a tank with these guys aroung? These are BETTER than tanks; that is huge.
The Arabian Camel Archer basically provides a knight for you even if you lack iron or horses. They can provide a bonus, but you'll kill yourself when you secure both iron and horses as the Arabians. On the other hand, if no one else has both of them, you'll be congradulating yourself on an excellent pick.
The Aztec Jaguar is simillar in function to the camel archer. However, they render iron unnecessary at a time when you will assuredly not already have it (immediately after researching iron working. Though they actually loose strength, warmongers will love the early conquest they allow. If early conquest is not part of your plan, forget these guys.
The Chinese Cho-Ko-Nu, with collateral damage and first strikes, is also ideal for warmongers. If you blitz to machinery/archery, the Cho-Ko-Nu will be a stack fighter and a warrior in its own right, a combonation no other unit posseses. However, its power is so low that it is easy too forget about. Mainly to myself I say: forget about it at your own risk. Blitz machinery and this guy won't let you down.
The Egyptian War Chariot provides a massive advantage if you get horses early, in which case I suggest taking at least a couple cities with them. If you don't, cry. Its too big a risk for me, however.
As for the English Redcoat, the best way to describe it is THE UNIT. If you're willing to research rifling early, this unit's raw power and skill against the only kind of units that pose a serious threat to it. They might as well write this guy down as a 20 power unit +25% vs gunpoweder AND mounted. The Redcoats will have the largest domination of any time period. But are you willing research this technology early enough to make the domination long enough?
The French might as well not have a special unit if its gunna be that bad. OK, so its not THAT bad, but still, who REALLy needs an extra movement point?
The Panzer is a tank no tank would dare to battle. It can attack (duh) and defend (because of its bonus versus other tanks it has a significant advantage. Great unit; you will be able to use it.
The Greek Phalanx can hold its own, even against cavalry. If you think you need to neutralize mounted units, these guys are great; if you don't, you don't need these dudes.
The Incan Quechua is not such a bad unit. If you use warriors a lot (does anybody?), then, and only then, are these guys good.
And now I present to you the unit warmongers despise, the unit I love, the ultimate special unit, the peacefull special unit, the Indian Fast Worker. This is the only unit that provides an advantage throughout the game (nobody uses warrior in A.D. 2000 and nobody us Tanks in 3000 B.C.). This means it works without you having to think how to play to its strengths. But really, a unit that can help you throughout the game you can hardly pass up.
The Japanese Samurai is a significantly superior substitute for a frequently used unit. Two extra free strikes is essentially like a power increase to around 11. My verdict on this unit is that it helps you in an age when the world is ripe for the conquering and thus is one of the top units in Civ 4.
The Malinese Skirmisher is a unit that can actual be used to attack as well as defent. If you like archers, this unit can help, but if you like to research archer only to get longbowman/crossbowman/horse archers, this unit is not for you; its a neat unit, but I don't advocate heavy use of archers.
The Mongolian Keshik is the unit for anyone who goes directlly to horsebackriding and archery. I still disagree with the value of such an early special unit though. Getting horses is highly questionable, and the axeman is a superior unit to the horse archer. The bottom line is that ancient special units, especially this one can not be used for long enough for them to be worthwhile.
The Persian Immortal gives you a substanial advantage over all units it would have to face. This unit is so good that I am tempted to reccommend it, but the questionability of having horses and the short life span keep raising questions in my mind that are louder than the "I kill archers" in the back of my mind.
The Roman Praetorian really provides a longlasting advantage that appears every time. And the advantage is huge. 8 strenth simply takes your breath away at this point in the game. Because of raw power this unit is amazing.
The Cossak is a dreadfully powerful unit. It can defend against cavalry and destroy musketmen and even riflemen. This guy is in the same class as the redcoat and can be used in essentially the same way. Although you might think that he is not quite as powerful as the redcoat remember that he comes earlier.
The Spanish is as good against pikemen as he is against longbowman. A very good unit becaus it has no weaknesses.
If you are really bored, like my article, or hate my article so much that you need to find everything wrong with it to write a longer article back to me, then you are still reading. If your a noob, you're probably itching for a recommendation. If you're a veteran, you want to confirm that I agree with you (or disagree if you hate my article), or possibly even see some new insight. So here are my reccomendations for most styles of play.
Exclusively peaceful, religeous:
1. Gandhi
2. Mansa Musa
3. Salidin
4. Asoka (high difficulty only)
5. Hatshepsut
Medium Aggression, religious:
1. Gandhi
2. Montezuma
3. Huayana Capac
4. Asoka (high difficulty)
5. Isabella
Warmonger, religious:
1. Montazuma
2. Huayana Capac
3. Isabella
4. Hatshepsut
5. Mansa Musa
Exclusively Peaceful, Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Gandhi
3. Bismark
4. Louis
5. Roosevelt
Medium Aggression Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Bismark
3. Roosevelt
4. Ganhi
5. Napoleon
Warmonger, Warmonger, Wamonger:
1. Tokagawa
2. Victoria
3. Catherine
4. Elizabeth
5. Julius Caesar
Wonders, Wonders, Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Ghandi
3. Roosevelt
4. Bismark
5. Louis XIV
Religion, Religion, Religion:
1. Gandhi
2. Salidin
3. Asoka (higher on higher difficulties)
4. Louis XIV
5. Bismark
GPP churn:
1. Peter
2. Elizibeth
3. Fredrick
4. Saladin
5. Gandhi
Run 'em over with more tech warmonger:
1. Elizabeth
2. Catherine
3. Washington
4. Qin Shi Huang
5. Tokugawa
I need tech:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Elizabeth
3. Wahington
4. Mansa Musa
5. Catherine
Wonders, then add tech, then add war:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Elizabeth
3. Roosevelt
4. Bismark
5. Washington
Overall:
1. Elizabeth
2. Qin Shi Huang
3. Ganhi
4. Catherine
5. Tokugawa
With indust. civs, build numerous wonders. This is pretty straightforward; just make sure you have enough hammers to complete them before others do and make sure you let it save you a few thousand hammers over the game's course, or its a waste. It is highly compatible with any peaceful style and even some of the less aggressive war styles.
Although the spiritual ability, seems more difficult to use in any specific manner, it still allows you to change civics based on currents condition; for example: Mercntalism and Pacifism in peacetime to churn GPP, then State Property and Theocracy durring war time. Doing this with a non spiritual would require a long term shift in methods to be worthwile, but with Spiritual, it can be used for a micro-war. Even ridiculously small changes can be made (open bordes terminated, switch to mercantilism). Finally, there is the obvious benefit of just switching to a better ciic/religion for the first time.
As for philisophical, this takes a consious effort to fully utilize, but you must not waste it. Build the Parthenon at (nearly) all costs. Focus multiple cities, not just one on great people. Ensure that food and therefore specialists are readily availible in most cities. Build the Great Library, Hanging Gardens, and Statue of Liberty if possible. Use mercantalism, cast system, and pacifism. Build the National Epic in best GPP city. Representation (+3 beakers per specialst, +3 happiness in largest cities) is a nice side-bonus. Make Wonders a priority.
Another, trait expansive, is not at all hard to use; it just means your cities can grow larger; as long as you're building cities in decent places, this automatically comes in handy. I don't think it really goes along with anything; it just makes a nice second to any first ability you want in a leader.
For financial, the goal is to get (almost) every square not being farmed up to two commerce. Sea tiles produce 3 commerce. Towns produce 5. Watermills produce 3, or is it 4, I can't remember. So what about wonders. Any scinece wonder you can get, get. The collosus makes costal cities amazing. Lighthouse+ collosas means 4c and 2f. I don't know about you, but to me, that is great; a solid, once every 20 turn growth (lightning fast with granary and food rescource). You can start out picking the ideal inland shares to farm and mine (you have to mine if you're not going to get any hammers from most of your squares). Then, you can move out to the sea about the time you build a lighthouse and the Colossus, and fill all the sea squares with laborers. Inland, villiages and towns still offer great bonusses, but I think the immediate benefit from working sea tiles is worth a small late game commerce lag. And who can say you can't come back on shore and build cottages later? Inland cities, of course, you will have to focus on cottages for income. Great Lighthouse, Lighthouse, and Harbor are good for costal. Colossus is a necessity for the costal strategy outlined. Scince or money improvements/ wonders are good for all cities.
Creative is pretty much a duh ability; not a whole lot of creativity needed there; use it if you want extra culture/territory. Whether you want to churn culture through wonders/buildings or not is irrelevant (usually, as with everything else in Civ 4) But let me outline what exactly it does. Most impportantly, it eleminates the need to build building just for culture. Also it means you will be able to access a resource just outside of the origanly borders of a city just as fast as a worker can get there.
For aggressive, just play to your strengths; use melee and gunpowder units extensively. Avoid building mounted units if practical. And, of course, KILL PEOPLE.
I have found upkeep costs are not a burden if you have founded at least one religion on lower levels, but if you play on a higher lever, Organized is a trait to consider. You don't really use it; it just helps you.
Am I done yet? No. I have not explained millitary units. Unlike in Civ 3, the special charactarstics, not the unit is more important (if you want to get into a big discussion about civ 3, the semurai was so good in that he atacked lightning fast with power, then defended as good as any medieval unit, all without horses, thus the Japanese were THE civilization). However, the importance of the special millitary units has only been decreased in Civ 4 compared to the characteristics (in Civ 3, characterstics meant comparitively little), not in value in relation to war on the whole. Thus, millitary units are still important. As their are no categories for millitary units, I will go through each seperately (this is going to take a while).
The American Navy SeAL provides an interesting and versitile unit. It changes the marine from an overseas fighter to a multi-tasking utility unit. Go ahead; defend against a tank; they can win; attack a fortified infantry; they can win. Keep marching even after the city is taken in a fierce battle. Who needs a tank with these guys aroung? These are BETTER than tanks; that is huge.
The Arabian Camel Archer basically provides a knight for you even if you lack iron or horses. They can provide a bonus, but you'll kill yourself when you secure both iron and horses as the Arabians. On the other hand, if no one else has both of them, you'll be congradulating yourself on an excellent pick.
The Aztec Jaguar is simillar in function to the camel archer. However, they render iron unnecessary at a time when you will assuredly not already have it (immediately after researching iron working. Though they actually loose strength, warmongers will love the early conquest they allow. If early conquest is not part of your plan, forget these guys.
The Chinese Cho-Ko-Nu, with collateral damage and first strikes, is also ideal for warmongers. If you blitz to machinery/archery, the Cho-Ko-Nu will be a stack fighter and a warrior in its own right, a combonation no other unit posseses. However, its power is so low that it is easy too forget about. Mainly to myself I say: forget about it at your own risk. Blitz machinery and this guy won't let you down.
The Egyptian War Chariot provides a massive advantage if you get horses early, in which case I suggest taking at least a couple cities with them. If you don't, cry. Its too big a risk for me, however.
As for the English Redcoat, the best way to describe it is THE UNIT. If you're willing to research rifling early, this unit's raw power and skill against the only kind of units that pose a serious threat to it. They might as well write this guy down as a 20 power unit +25% vs gunpoweder AND mounted. The Redcoats will have the largest domination of any time period. But are you willing research this technology early enough to make the domination long enough?
The French might as well not have a special unit if its gunna be that bad. OK, so its not THAT bad, but still, who REALLy needs an extra movement point?
The Panzer is a tank no tank would dare to battle. It can attack (duh) and defend (because of its bonus versus other tanks it has a significant advantage. Great unit; you will be able to use it.
The Greek Phalanx can hold its own, even against cavalry. If you think you need to neutralize mounted units, these guys are great; if you don't, you don't need these dudes.
The Incan Quechua is not such a bad unit. If you use warriors a lot (does anybody?), then, and only then, are these guys good.
And now I present to you the unit warmongers despise, the unit I love, the ultimate special unit, the peacefull special unit, the Indian Fast Worker. This is the only unit that provides an advantage throughout the game (nobody uses warrior in A.D. 2000 and nobody us Tanks in 3000 B.C.). This means it works without you having to think how to play to its strengths. But really, a unit that can help you throughout the game you can hardly pass up.
The Japanese Samurai is a significantly superior substitute for a frequently used unit. Two extra free strikes is essentially like a power increase to around 11. My verdict on this unit is that it helps you in an age when the world is ripe for the conquering and thus is one of the top units in Civ 4.
The Malinese Skirmisher is a unit that can actual be used to attack as well as defent. If you like archers, this unit can help, but if you like to research archer only to get longbowman/crossbowman/horse archers, this unit is not for you; its a neat unit, but I don't advocate heavy use of archers.
The Mongolian Keshik is the unit for anyone who goes directlly to horsebackriding and archery. I still disagree with the value of such an early special unit though. Getting horses is highly questionable, and the axeman is a superior unit to the horse archer. The bottom line is that ancient special units, especially this one can not be used for long enough for them to be worthwhile.
The Persian Immortal gives you a substanial advantage over all units it would have to face. This unit is so good that I am tempted to reccommend it, but the questionability of having horses and the short life span keep raising questions in my mind that are louder than the "I kill archers" in the back of my mind.
The Roman Praetorian really provides a longlasting advantage that appears every time. And the advantage is huge. 8 strenth simply takes your breath away at this point in the game. Because of raw power this unit is amazing.
The Cossak is a dreadfully powerful unit. It can defend against cavalry and destroy musketmen and even riflemen. This guy is in the same class as the redcoat and can be used in essentially the same way. Although you might think that he is not quite as powerful as the redcoat remember that he comes earlier.
The Spanish is as good against pikemen as he is against longbowman. A very good unit becaus it has no weaknesses.
If you are really bored, like my article, or hate my article so much that you need to find everything wrong with it to write a longer article back to me, then you are still reading. If your a noob, you're probably itching for a recommendation. If you're a veteran, you want to confirm that I agree with you (or disagree if you hate my article), or possibly even see some new insight. So here are my reccomendations for most styles of play.
Exclusively peaceful, religeous:
1. Gandhi
2. Mansa Musa
3. Salidin
4. Asoka (high difficulty only)
5. Hatshepsut
Medium Aggression, religious:
1. Gandhi
2. Montezuma
3. Huayana Capac
4. Asoka (high difficulty)
5. Isabella
Warmonger, religious:
1. Montazuma
2. Huayana Capac
3. Isabella
4. Hatshepsut
5. Mansa Musa
Exclusively Peaceful, Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Gandhi
3. Bismark
4. Louis
5. Roosevelt
Medium Aggression Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Bismark
3. Roosevelt
4. Ganhi
5. Napoleon
Warmonger, Warmonger, Wamonger:
1. Tokagawa
2. Victoria
3. Catherine
4. Elizabeth
5. Julius Caesar
Wonders, Wonders, Wonders:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Ghandi
3. Roosevelt
4. Bismark
5. Louis XIV
Religion, Religion, Religion:
1. Gandhi
2. Salidin
3. Asoka (higher on higher difficulties)
4. Louis XIV
5. Bismark
GPP churn:
1. Peter
2. Elizibeth
3. Fredrick
4. Saladin
5. Gandhi
Run 'em over with more tech warmonger:
1. Elizabeth
2. Catherine
3. Washington
4. Qin Shi Huang
5. Tokugawa
I need tech:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Elizabeth
3. Wahington
4. Mansa Musa
5. Catherine
Wonders, then add tech, then add war:
1. Qin Shi Huang
2. Elizabeth
3. Roosevelt
4. Bismark
5. Washington
Overall:
1. Elizabeth
2. Qin Shi Huang
3. Ganhi
4. Catherine
5. Tokugawa