Creating Great Leaders

[TheArsenal]

I managed to win a domination victory on a large map, meaning lots and lots of war, without getting a single GL that game.

Random indeed.

[Grim Legacy]

Originally posted by Arrian


I've gotten three or more in one turn as well - by doing precisely what you mentioned: using up the leaders immediately. This tends to be late in the game, so I'll end up using them on things like Airports or Cathedrals or some other relatively expensive improvement for 1-shield cities overseas.

I did, however, once get 2 leaders in the same turn in the medieval age in back-to-back combats which netted me two wonders instantly (I think it was Sun Tzu & Leo's). I had fun with Riders in that game.

-Arrian

All in all these GLs bring an interesting twist to the game. I'm playing a game right now and by going to war I was allowed to build the Heroic Epic (because my 1st army scored a victory) and even managed to get a couple more leaders in the same war. This was extremely lucky in a contest where there weren't so many units involved at all. As icing on the cake, the opponent Civ then also agreed to peace (+map and a few coins haha) after I had razed only one of his cities.
So in this case, the war was a real boost to my civilization; getting the FP instantly, a wonder and being able to build the Heroic Epic, a wonder which nets a sweet 4 culture points too. Thank you GL's.

[OPD]

Originally posted by Arrian

OPD - I once had a very similar experience with the Celts. I turned an early leader into an army (dumbass, never doing that again - Pyramids always better!) and then went on to clear out my continent (destroying 3 civs) and despite milking those wars for all they were worth, I managed to finally get 1 leader as I destroyed the last civ. By that point, the other continent had been busily building, and I lost the "big three" early medieval wonders. That pissed me off.

-Arrian

yeah, especially when the first GL comes surprisingly early and gets your hopes up for a flood of GL's

When ever I get an early GL it goes on a FP as the Epic simply can't be counted on to bring in the GL's and typically one free rush early in the game is more powerful than 2 free rushes later on.

[Hagbart]

The world is a random place. Randomness is realistic and good IMO.

[GhengisFarb™]

I think I got 8-9 in one turn once. That is the only time I was actually getting sick of GLs. It was such a pain to to pause my attack to run the suckers back to a city and pop an Army.

Course that game I had like 26 empty armies collecting dust in my capital.

[Theseus]

Typing in lower case seems to help...

[eric2075]

Yes, typing in lower case is one of the most commonly used methods for generating leaders.

[nuther]

Leaders

I am in a real dry spot now. I am Russia and have been fighting almost all game using horsemen and Cossacks. I am researching electricity, have 25 Cossacks, about 8 elites and no leaders yet.

[Rasputin]

Originally posted by Theseus
Typing in lower case seems to help...

hmmmmmmm

[justjake73]

In my last full game, I was the French and got some Elite units while fighting the Aztecs. I saved and retried 3x to get a GL by attacking with them, no dice. Now I am trying to start a game as a Militaristic civ; I have NEVER been able to build the Epic, Academy or Pentagon!

[Theseus]

A tip for generating GLs:

I notice that a lot of people who DON'T get many GLs are using Medieval Era fastmovers. That's fine, and would seem to make sense (retreat capability, upgrades, mobility, etc.) both for general military strategy and for generating GLs.

But actually, that may be the tough way to go about it.

In my view, the tricks to generating GLs are:
1) Fighting a lot of battles. I mean a LOT... 30-40 is not very many. Think in the hundreds. This also means having a LOT of offensive units.
2) Using offensive units with (this is important) the LONGEST period of RELATIVE strength.

My answer? Slowmovers. Among other things, this let's the AI civs build more troops, which is a good thing.

But, importantly, some of them have outstanding duration of relative strength. Specifically:
Immortals
Legions (they get to fight defensive battles as well)
Berserks (6 attack is just scary... and I still suspect that defensive modifiers act differently in amphib assaults)

All three of these get loooong periods of where they kick *ss. And, not needing to be upgraded (come on, really, WTF is an elite Horse good for after Pikes?), it's pretty easy to build up a large force of elites.

Envision sending TWENTY elites in to battle Spears or Pikes.

Rinse, repeat... you get GLs.

[Arrian]

Theseus,

I've been playing Rome at LOT lately, and I must say that the vast majority of the leaders I get are from Archers, Horsemen and Knights - not Legionaries. During the period of the legionaries' relative strength (ancient age), the AI avoids them. It doesn't like attacking legionaries until it has 4-attack units like med inf, longbows or knights. So the only way to get them promoted is to use them on the attack. But I don't often do that, since on the attack they are just swordsmen. I also often hold my legionaries in reserve for a long while to prevent an early GA - and that cuts down on their time to shine. By the time I end up really using them, I often have med infs too - and those guys get to be the "finishers." The legions end up being stack defenders/city garrisons.

Horsemen also have the advantage of keeping up better. When your elite unit fights & is damaged, you then need few turns to rest him up. If this unit(s) is a slowmover, you either need to halt your offensive, or you leave it behind. Granted, I'll often hold up. Horsemen, however, can catch up the main attack stack and get back into the action faster.

In my current game, I've generated 8 GLs. The units:

1) archer. Leader used to move Palace.
2) horseman. Leader used on army.
3) horseman. Leader used on Sistine.
4) horseman. Leader used on Bach.
5) knight. Leader used on Smith.
6) legionary. Leader used on Magellan's Voyage.
7) cavalry. Leader used on Newton's.
8) cavalry. Leader used on Universal Suffrage.

My legionaries have fought approximately 5 offensive battles in that game.

-Arrian

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Grim Legacy
Just what I wanted to write-

" Then I got three in one turn. "

you've got to realize that's impossible unless you manage to create an army/rush building immediately upon getting one.

Actually, they were all killed. It was the AI's turn, and I had foolishly left a bunch of elites alone in the open (as in, they were not stacked together). I lost six or seven elite units, with three of them generating GL's before their demise. It was a sad sight.

[Brundlefly]

Re: Creating Great Leaders

Originally posted by MINNJPN
I AM PLAYING CIV 3-STANDARD WORLD-ROAMING BARBS-ON MONARCH FOR THE FIRST TIME--MY QUESTION IS IF ANYONE HAS GONE AS LONG AS 30 ELITE VICTORIES FROM THE START OF THE GAME WITHOUT CREATING ANY GL'S--I AM AT 32 RIGHT NOW--COULD I GET 2 OR 3 IN A ROW?--PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF OTHERS HAVE ENCOUNTERED THIS-THANKS

STOP YELLING!

I can't seem to get GL's either. Try playing a Military civ and use the same Elites in battle over and over again to increase your chances. Try to be at war with one of your neighbors at all times to produce GLs. Dont take on more than you can handle though.

[MINNJPN]

Thanks for all the info--sometimes randomness just goes against you since I am in the 1600's with more than 50 elite victories, and no GL's--still I with have a domination victory within the next century, it's just a lot easier with a few wonders since I only build them with leaders--