We know the worst, who's the best?

[Krill]

I disgree on that points; on a pangea map, for instance, the majority of cities can't be coastal, you will just have to suck it up and say that with those 2 monster traits you'll have to give up the UB in those inland cities.

If I had no idea of what map I was playing or the opponents, or if aggressive AI was on, I think I'd take either the Dutch, or Kublai Khan.

[LzPrst]

interesting that you should mention Kublai, I played around with him a bit and he's got a stiff start if you look at his techs. he starts with hunting and the wheel. which doesnt give anything foodwise unless you have deer. so you have to either go for AH first or Fishing if you happen to be coastal. agriculture is also possible. but usually you wont have a lot of one kind (like cows and pigs) you'll have a mix of farmland and pastureland. so you have to get all the different techs to give your workers some work, and in addition you need to get mining for BW. and then archery. and pottery is still far away. you'll be way behind before you get to writing. (note this is on Emperor)

my favorite leader is Frederick. early on he gets those cheap lighthouses which are nice. mid-game cheap courthouses which are nice. and late game cheap Assembly Plants which are great. Especially with Philosophical. I had 5 cities (against Isabellas 15-16) and I outproduced her and outteched her vastly. all those philisophical gained extra GP's settled in your main cities is just über

the panzer isnt all that, but it doesnt need to be, your production values are so ridiculous that you can crush anything late game and Phil and Org allows massive teching. defintively my favorite.

I also like Louis and Napoleon. Louis is the main man for a culture win imo. and Nappy is organized which I like and charismatic which is lovely.

and I also like pericles. havent tried to go the great artist route to cultural win, but I'm sure it would be viable.

[Krill]

But if you only have 5 cities Org isn't exactly pulling it's weight for you. And the later eras are about controlling the land which is what Cre does so well, and Agg just helps give you a bonus choking the other AI.

[Yosho]

My favorate is the Mayans, I think; I think they have a big economic advanatge. Financial is great, of course, and with and expansive to give you health and their UB the Ball Court to give you happiness, it's much eaiser to have larger cities sooner on the higher difficulty levels, which means more people working those coastal tiles or those towns and lets you take full advantage of the financial ability. And they start out with both mysticism and mining, which is pretty ideal as well. For any economic-based stratagy, they're very strong.

[Spec]

Pericles always manages to rule in my games.

Spec.

[Jvstin]

Originally posted by Krill
I disgree on that points; on a pangea map, for instance, the majority of cities can't be coastal, you will just have to suck it up and say that with those 2 monster traits you'll have to give up the UB in those inland cities.

If I had no idea of what map I was playing or the opponents, or if aggressive AI was on, I think I'd take either the Dutch, or Kublai Khan.

You're also giving up the UU for the most part as well. It undercuts Willem's strengths there too.

[Supr49er]

For a random unknown map and random opponents I like Mansa Musa. You can really get your research cranking. Decent UB and UU.

[Krill]

Originally posted by Jvstin


You're also giving up the UU for the most part as well. It undercuts Willem's strengths there too.

With Cre/Fin you don't really need other strengths though.

[DirtyMartini]

Is there a cre/cha leader? I can't think of one off hand. It's a trait combo I'd like to try. I know ind/phi combo is considered overpowered and doesn't exist. Maybe cre/cha is as well?

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by DirtyMartini
Is there a cre/cha leader? I can't think of one off hand. It's a trait combo I'd like to try. I know ind/phi combo is considered overpowered and doesn't exist. Maybe cre/cha is as well?

I don't think CRE/CHM combo exists.

[DaShi]

I've been doing really well with Sulieman I lately. Phi/Imp is nice for churning out tons of great people and great generals. His unique building is nice. It's something I usually build anyway and the added happiness helps a lot. I also like his unique unit. My wars tend to decline when the opponents start getting longbowmen. But these things bring back new life to them and are great for defense in the midgame before riflemen hit the stage.

[Seedle]

In BtS, I like Willem van Oranje. While his building and and unit are very map dependent, he has my two favorite traits, so I either select a map type that suits him, or use him on unrestricted leaders. And if the map does support his UU and UB, they are really strong. I love the east Indiaman on terra maps for settling the new world, the extra cargo space is huge.

However, my favorite leader of all time is Warlords Augustus. Creative means you don't have to place a city in a suboptimal location to get iron, or waste shields on a monument, then you build praetorians and kill everything, your new cities don't waste hammers on border popping, organized keeps maintenance down, you continue killing everything, your economy finally bottoms out, you build cheap libraries to run scientist specialists for research, continue killing everything, get code of laws and cheap courthouses, rescue your economy, and then proceed to continue killing everything. Augustus ruled, and so does my ability to run on a sentence.

Zara Yakob, the new owner of Augustus's Warlord's traits, is also good, but his civ doesn't synergize with the traits like it does with Rome....new unrestricted leader game, coming up! I only thought of Boudica before....

[Lancer]

Romans, either leader. Don't know why but it might be because my grandmother on my father's side was an Italian opera singer.

[Fleme]

I just recently randomed Augustus and it is good fun. Praets really do live up to their rep and with Ind + Forum + Parthenon it's as close to IND/PHI as one can get to.

5 Settled Great Generals + West Point + Pentagon also make for good "green" units.

Good leader, that Augustus.

[One_more_turn]

The best leader ever was the Warlord version of Augustus Caesar: Creative + Organized + Praetorians.