Best Use Of A Leader?

[kring]

How much of the city building CO is mined, roaded/railroaded/irrigated?

How close is the other civ to finishing it?

[bigvic]

Originally posted by Keeper of Hell
Germans aren't necessarily a great choice for constant militaristic expansion unless you happen to have a fortuitous situation like this developing. Basically, with Germany, you have two primary directives: early archer rush(es) to keep locals in check in Ancient Times, then settle down and keep yourself unobtrusive until Motorized Transportation. Once you make it, start the blitzkrieg, using the GA you get to fuel a meteoric ascent to power and dominance. The Panzer blitzes don't stop until Computers (and, by association, MI). As the Germans, you don't need to be constantly fighting to get to the top eventually... just keep yourself in the running and bide your time, then make your foes pay when you develop the mighty Panzer.

yeah, that used to be my philosophy for playing the germans, as well as other later uu civs, but i just don't think so now......

i almost ignore early wonders - depending on game conditions. research goes into military apps - wheel, horseback riding and iron working, then beelining to literature for the cheap libraries that will help keep me ahead techwise of the more early uu gifted powers. judicious use of elite units gain early leaders, esp. if u build the heroic epic. i then build armies til i have 3 - then its the pentagon for 4 unit armies and as soon as mil tradition i plop down the mil academy in one of my highest production cities and churn out army after army - really evens the playing field vs. those early/mid game uu powerhouses. only after the 3rd leader do i rush buy stuff. only early improvements i concentrate on are libraries and barracks - culture and science from the 1st and high morale from the 2nd - and both so cheap. after i've conquered my continent or a highly defensible chunk of it, usually by mid renaissance, i hedgehog, go to peadce and build infrastructure and good name til................PANZERS!

though a good army based military kicks ai ass even before those things are availeable. again, well thought out war gains u tech, money, and all sorts of goodies - thats what militaristic is all about.

[vondrack]

Originally posted by Theseus
Vondrack, there should be a "I am bowing to you in respect for the effort" emoticon.

Just a cheap +1-er, Theseus...

I, unworthy, have very little chance to elighten others on the fine virtues of strategy... so I do my best to contribute to the Poly community by answering the "easier" questions, leaving you and other master strategists free to focus on the more delicate subjects...

Originally posted by Flight
personally i thought he made it unnecessarily complicated

You naughty! I tried to be illustrative and understandable and precise and... and... grrrr... Have YOU tried to explain this damn combat stuff?

Just kidding

EDIT: typos

[Proteus_MST]

Most of the times I let my first leader generate an army cos it gives me, just as bigvic mentioned, the opportunity to build the heroic epic and the military academy (i.e. after the army wins it first battle).
All other leaders are used to hurry wonders.

Is the Copernicus Observatory worth sacrificing your first leader. IMHO not. I would use him if it would be a race for Wonders such as Leonardos Workshop, Adam Smiths Trading Company, the Hoover Dam, or something like that, i.e. for wonders which affect the whole Nation, but not for a wonder which affects only one city.

[Arrian]

IronBrigrade,

It sounds to me like you aren't really a militaristic player, but more of a builder. Therefore, I say hold the leader for a better wonder, and switch copernicus to either a different wonder or a palace to save up shields. Good choices for the leader:

Bach
Adam Smith

I assume the early medieval wonders have been completed? (Sun Tzu, Sistine, Leo)

By the way, the advantages conveyed by the militaristic trait are:

1) 1/2 price barracks, walls, harbors, airports
2) Increased chance of unit promotion (thus, more elite units and therefore more chances for leaders)

This is a warmonger's trait. If you do not do a lot of fighting, then I strongly suggest you pick different trait combo (if you like scientific, then I suggest trying Babylon and Persia).

-Arrian

[IRON_BRIGADE]

ok, I have placed the leader in reserve till my next war.

Someone mentioned my lack of civ understanding. That may only be gleaned from my long paragraph above because it would have been longer to really explain my resoning for choosing germans. As it stands we all will find our self at war and I need an advantage that fact alone is my defense on the civ I have choosen. understand. I stand a better chance of survival with a militaristic civ than non until i can better learn the game.

Here is another strange thing I had aobut 5 to 7 elites during the war with russai These elites won about a total of 15 or so battles, and i only got one leader from all that. how does this work? Does one elite have to win so many battles and then you trigger a random generation of a leader OR do all elites win a certain # of battles collectively to gernerate?

[Adm.Naismith]

Originally posted by Kingof the Apes
Save it for a better wonder, or build an army to kill your enimies the russians.

Leaders come too rarely to use on a wonder that is almost finished.

Just to add for iron_brigade a sidenote to the concept of "save the Leader for later use": please remember that you can't have more than one (1) leader available at a time.

If you are fighting a war, keeping a leader without using it is very bad, because the rules negates you any other Leader appearance after a succesful elite battle!

[vondrack]

Originally posted by IRON_BRIGADE
Here is another strange thing I had aobut 5 to 7 elites during the war with russai These elites won about a total of 15 or so battles, and i only got one leader from all that. how does this work? Does one elite have to win so many battles and then you trigger a random generation of a leader OR do all elites win a certain # of battles collectively to gernerate?

Every time your elite wins a battle, there is a chance of 1:16 that a great leader will emerge (1:12 if you have built the Heroic Epic small wonder before). It is just pure luck, even if the probability count should apply in the long run... sometimes you will win 50 battles with your elites and get no leader at all, sometimes you will get several of them on the same turn... Bear in mind though, that you can have only one leader at a given time. Until you use it up (creating an army or finishing a wonder), you can't get any more leaders.

[IRON_BRIGADE]

Good
thanks for all the input
I'll put it into play and see what churns out.

[Arrian]

Someone mentioned my lack of civ understanding. That may only be gleaned from my long paragraph above because it would have been longer to really explain my resoning for choosing germans. As it stands we all will find our self at war and I need an advantage that fact alone is my defense on the civ I have choosen. understand. I stand a better chance of survival with a militaristic civ than non until i can better learn the game.

Actually, though it seems counterintuative, I would argue that you do NOT stand a better chance of survival as a militaristic civ. If your goal is to hold your own and learn the game, I think you should pick at least 1 of the top two traits: Religious and Industrious. Your civ will be stronger overall, and thus better able to withstand attack - or forestall attack in the first place.

If survival in ancient times is a major concern, perhaps try a civ with a powerful ancient UU (Persia, for instance).

Yeah, only one leader at a time. Thus, if you get one while fighting a major war, it is generally a good idea to use that leader ASAP, and avoid risking any elites in combat until the leader has been used up.

-Arrian

[bigvic]

yeah, good advice all around. still, remember mil civs fight war well. i still suggest not blowing a leader to build a wonder til you get 3 field armies - that 4th unit in armies really helps. also with mil civs i rarely build sun tzu's art of war. barracks are so cheap and youre a fool not to build lots of 'em from the beginning, so why bother? i start it always, but only to switch over to leo's workshop - now that really helps, being able to upgrade mass numbers of units, esp. for the germans who need to stay ahead in tech due to early uu deficiencies. but don't worry about missing out on early wonders. build those armies, strengthen those armies with the pentagon (ie need 3 armies - rush buy wonders after #3) and take said wonders from the other schmucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IRON_BRIGADE]

As new to the game that I am, I must say this, I dont quite believe the religious trait is at the top of the characteristic list the strats of this very web site even say it is not the strongest trait. I beleive MILL and Commercial and Scientific are really the strongest traits
Industrious would be except it is give so many constraints such as map you pick or what other trait you pare it with and it really only lends itself to early game.
It seams that war is a major player in the game for a whole lotta people so MILL is probly picked alot as a choice of civ am I wrong about this?
What do you think all?

[vondrack]

It is generally considered that the INDUSTRIOUS is the best trait (it seems to me that you are confusing it with the Expansionist trait).

[IRON_BRIGADE]

yes yes
you are correct
expansionist is what im thinking of.

but at the same time since industrious has been corrected does it not fall in the middle of the list of importance or ranked higher?

[vondrack]

Industrious has been the same since the game came out, I believe - the fact that industrious workers work twice as fast as non-industrious is what makes this trait SO powerful. Commercial was adjusted in 1.29f (now it is not the weakest trait, which it used to be...).

I believe that there is no doubt about the best trait... Religious may be the second best trait, due to the lack of anarchy between governments and cheap religious (=cultural) improvements... however, I know I would stir things a lot pretending there is an obvious runner-up...