Civilization IV

[stoutfellow]

Just a few quick notes gleaned from my latest round of Civ IV playing:

• The new Great People system is excellent. I haven't really found much use for Great Merchants as yet, but Great Prophets, Great Scientists, and Great Artists are all extremely useful, and Great Engineers are absolutely wonderful - in more senses than one.
• When you're playing one of the Mongol leaders - either Genghis or Kublai - and you can't find horses anywhere, it kind of cramps your style.
• I love the Philosophical, Spiritual, and Industrious traits; I can make use of Organized, Creative, or Aggressive leaders; but the proper use of the Expansive and Financial traits still eludes me.

Comments

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

A Great Engineer is just the thing for getting the Forbidden Palace or Versailles built. They're ideally located far from the capitol, which generally means a fairly new and hence not (yet) very productive city. Thus: when you get a Great Engineer, hie him over to a suitable city near the frontier; when he gets there, pop one of the aforementioned secondary capitols onto the top of the build queue and have the Great Engineer do his thing and BAM! It's one of the best ways I know for building a Wonder in a frontier town (and those two, in particular, really WANT to be in cities that'd take FOREVER to build 'em in the usual way).

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I've found them useful in the stretch drive for a Cultural victory, when picking off Broadway, Rock'n'Roll, Hollywood, and the Eiffel Tower can give you such a big boost. But that's if you get them late in the game; Versailles and the Forbidden Palace are mid-game ploys. (I haven't had opportunity to use them in the way you suggest; a lot depends on getting the Pyramids, and that one eludes me much of the time.)