Pyramids and philo

[PaganPaulwhisky]

I never realized how powerful the pyramids / GL combo is until now. In fact I much prefer this to the CS sling if stone is available. With Alexander this strategy is a powerhouse and his traits actually complement each other very well (although I still think he is lousy if you don't get the pyramids). You cut down the science slider and use lots of specialists to drive research while you go on conquering sprees.

I have currently downgraded to monarch to hone my skills, but this level has never seemed so easy. I have been first to every crucial tech and have been able to give them away to start wars. I was actually able to build the Oracle, pyramids, GL, and Ankhor Wat all without being industrious. (Amazingly, no one had built the Oracle before 600 B.C. so I was able to sling to COL and then found Taoism later). With all the specialists, CS did not take long at to research and I had it well before 1 AD. Unfortunately, everyone on my continent is Buddhist so I cannot capatilize on the religion yet.

I should be easily first to Liberalism, and I might even be able to time it so I can snag steel for free which would seal the deal for an ultra early domination. With a philosophical leader and stone (or industrious), I would go for this strategy every time over a CS sling. Maybe there is some hope for me yet on emperor.

[MasterDave]

I wonder if we will get an industrious/philosophical leader in the expansion. Now THAT would be something. I would bet that your combining representation/ heavy specialist/ GPP producing strat would work very well with Elizabeth as well. As far as UU's go, the Redcoat pwns the Phalanx, although aggressive sure is nice with the cheap barracks and the free combat 1's.

Financial can really drive science early on if you can get cottages on a river or fishy resources in your starting city. Probably having two or three fishy things in your radius early on (plus Elizabeth starts with fishing of course) would mean that you would have more than enough food to assign lots of specialists, with three commerce per fish to boot. I may have to try that...

[PaganPaulwhisky]

Yes, I agree that this would also work great with Elizabeth and probably even better with Mao. If caste system is combined with this then merchants could be assigned in the large fishing/coastal villages to generate tons of cash.

This combined with organized or financial would be deadly as you could pretty much conquer non-stop without having to worry about your economy. You could probably even skip courthouses for a long while and concentrate on massing units.

Once you get appropriate techs for macemen/pults or grenadier/cannon, a switch to fuedalsim, theocracy, and police state would make for an easy domination finish.

[Ijuin]

Oh yes, running Representation/Great Library/Bureaucracy all together got me about 200 science from my capital by the time I reached Education.

[Silver14]

Originally posted by MasterDave
I wonder if we will get an industrious/philosophical leader in the expansion. Now THAT would be something.

I highly doubt it will. Ind/Phi was left out on purpose in Civ IV as it was too powerfull. They are adding ten leaders and more two traits to the expansion. So there will be plenty of new combos to go around for the new leaders. The only other trait combo left out of Civ IV is Cre/Org.

http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=13

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MasterDave
I wonder if we will get an industrious/philosophical leader in the expansion.

You can test that out by modding an existing leader.

[fed1943]

That I think I would like to be a Cre/Org against an Ind/Phi.
Best regards,

[JackRudd]

The Pyramids are very nice with a Philosophical leader, yes. I particularly like them with Saladin, so you can immediately flip into Representation when you build them.

They're especially nice if you get them using the Alternate Pyramid Grab. That's a fun little trick to pull off.

[PaganPaulwhisky]

originally posted by silver14
I highly doubt it will. Ind/Phi was left out on purpose in Civ IV as it was too powerfull.

I'm a little dissapointed that they left this combination out of the game as it would improve my opinion of industrious. Philo is the logical choice to match industrious with, so basically industrious is robbed of its most complimentary trait. Sure the combo would be powerful, but surely no more so than financial and organized!

[fed1943]

Well, Aeson played it (the Ind/Phi) as tester and the combination has been put away. So,
Best regards,

[samspock]

Isn't it possible to have an AI with those combos if you select random ai traits?

I tried a ind/phi. Talk about powerful. I even got stone and marble. Any wonder I wanted and tons of gp's! It was sick.

[Badtz Maru]

Originally posted by samspock
Isn't it possible to have an AI with those combos if you select random ai traits?

I tried a ind/phi. Talk about powerful. I even got stone and marble. Any wonder I wanted and tons of gp's! It was sick.

No, that only effects their personality. If you look in the XML, you'll see the different leaders have different probabilities to declare war at different relations levels - some will not declare war unless relations are Annoyed or lower, while some will declare if they are at Pleased (and I think there might be one or two who will declare at Friendly but I'm not sure). Also, different leaders have different levels of relation penalty for differing civics, religions, etc. If you set it at Random Personality, this is all randomized. This usually makes the game a lot easier as all the civs that have aggressive personalities are civilizations that are good at waging war, with Random Personalities, Montezuma is almost always going to be less warlike than without, and you might end up with civs best suited to building strategies being very aggressive and screwing themselves over.

[Silver14]

I advise using random personalities. I started using it lately and its good to remember the uncertainty of what your opponents are going to do every game. Monte may be a peaceful pushover and Gandhi may be a crazed warlike isolationist bastard.

Before if Monte was nearby I would be prepping for war early to take him out or so forth knowing war with him is coming so I better make the first strike, things like that. Figuring out what their personalities are like with each game is better.