Civilization IV/Leaders

This section covers all eight traits, bonuses, and associated leaders. You’ll also find strategic commentary for each.

Aggressive

 * Free promotion (Combat I) for all melee and gunpowder units.
 * Barracks and Drydocks constructed at 1/2 production cost.

A player with battle plans should consider a leader with the aggressive trait. An aggressive leader receives free "Combat I" promotion for all melee and gunpowder units. The Combat I promotion increases a unit’s strength by 10%. Capitalize on the trait by focusing your warmongering force on melee and Gunpowder units.

Take advantage of the half-cost Barracks to further increase your units’ promotion. Combine further with the Vassalage civic (additional unit experience points) or the Theocracy civic (additional unit experience points in cities with a state religion) to create very strong, experienced units. Continue military specialization with wonders like West Point, Pentagon, and Heroic Epic. Maintain an aggressive stance and get your experienced units into combat situations to further increase their promotions and abilities above and beyond any competing civilization’s military force.

The following civilization leaders feature the Aggressive trait:


 * Montezuma, Aztec Empire
 * Napoleon, French Empire
 * Alexander, Greek Empire
 * Hammurabi, Babylonian Empire
 * Tokugawa, Japanese Empire
 * Genghis Khan, Mongolian Empire
 * Kublai Khan, Mongolian Empire

Creative

 * +2 culture per turn per city.
 * Coliseum and Theatre constructed at 1/2 production cost.

A city’s culture defines its borders--essentially its influence. A city’s entertainment and arts create a culture that can be adopted by rival cities. What this means in terms of gameplay is that your culture can increase your borders and envelope a rival city--the rival city becomes influenced by your culture and becomes part of your civilization. A creative civilization provides more culture per turn, which helps increase influence faster; though note that there are wonders (such as Stonehenge) that provide nearly the same benefit.

Being creative helps in the early game land grab; secure valuable resources Before rival civilizations get them! The culture bonus means more land space with less cities early on. If you’re choosing to focus on culture (though wonders, Great Artists and their works, etc.), the creative bonus certainly helps but you may find other leader trait benefits more useful to a balanced gameplay strategy. A creative leader can construct the Coliseum and Theatre at half the production cost. The Coliseum and Theatre increase happiness based on culture rate; the Theatre also increases benefits received from the Dye resource and is necessary for artist specialists.

The following civilization leaders offer the Creative trait:


 * Hatshepsut, Egyptian Empire
 * Louis XIV, French Empire
 * Frederick, German Empire
 * Kublai Khan, Mongolian Empire
 * Cyrus, Persian Empire
 * Catherine, Russian Empire
 * Willem van Oranje, Dutch Empire

Expansive

 * +2 health per city.
 * Granary and Harbor constructed at 1/2 production cost.

A city’s health basically determines its population growth. When unhealthiness eclipses healthiness, you lose food. If you lose more food than there are mouths to feed, you begin to lose population. Excess health means food supplies remain high and population can continue to grow. The extra health is a valuable bonus and means bigger cities--providing the potential for better production, more specialists, etc. Like creative, there are wonders and buildings that provide similar expansive benefits (even city placement can increase health) but these same items further enhance the expansive trait. Use in combination with Victoria and Financial (for Cottages to ramp up commerce), Isabella and Spiritual (for happiness), and Peter and Philosophical (larger cities can use more specialists to create more Great People). The Granary further increases health from any Corn, Wheat, or Rice resources and also stores 50% of food after each growth. This essentially means your city can grow faster because it doesn’t have to recollect all food to reach the next population level. The Harbor enhances trade route yield and also further increases health from Clam, Crab, and Fish resources.

The following civilization leaders feature the Expansive trait:


 * Victoria, English Empire
 * Bismarck, German Empire
 * Genghis Khan, Mongolian Empire
 * Cyrus, Persian Empire
 * Julius Caesar, Roman Empire
 * Peter, Russian Empire
 * Isabella, Spanish Empire

Financial

 * +1 commerce on spaces generating 2 or more commerce.
 * Bank constructed at 1/2 production cost.

Filling your coffers with commerce is never a bad thing. Higher income means more commerce devoted to research or, if you research Drama, devoted to culture. Excess funds help offset maintenance costs and can be used as a bargaining tool with other civilizations for technologies, trade, or alliances. The benefits can pay off immediately for coastal cities. Once available from research, use Workers to construct Cottages to increase tile commerce. This benefit can pay off exponentially if you’re dedicated to work each tile and enhance for maximum commerce--it’s certainly a benefit that gets better the longer the game goes.

Your late game can feature large armies, expansive cities, high upkeep civics, and still maintain high research or culture output from your income. Financial leaders can construct Banks at half their production cost. Add a Bank to each city to further increase commerce (+50% gold).

The following civilization leaders offer the Financial trait:


 * Washington, American Empire
 * Willem van Oranje, Dutch Empire
 * Elizabeth, English Empire
 * Victoria, English Empire
 * Huayna Capac, Incan Empire
 * Mansa Musa, Malinese Empire

Imperialistic

 * +100% Great General emergence.
 * +50% faster production of Settler.

The following civilization leaders feature the Imperialistic trait:


 * Catherine, Russian Empire

Industrious

 * +50% wonder production.
 * Forge constructed at 1/2 production cost.

An industrious leader is adept at building wonders. This provides the civilization a lot of flexibility because wonders offer unique benefits, which could include some portions of the benefits from other leader traits.

Most players would agree that the wonders in Civilization IV aren’t quite the power of previous games but that doesn’t mean they aren’t potent, especially when integrated into a focused strategy. Settle near stone or marble to expand the benefit even further. When selecting an industrious leader, consider your goals as you begin to construct wonders at the improved production time. Do you plan to focus on specialists and Great People? Do you plan to focus on a military? Do you plan to focus on expansion or culture? Utilize the leader’s secondary trait when considering your wonder options. The industrious leader also constructs the Forge for half-cost production. The Forge increases production 25%, adds happiness from Gems, Gold, and Silver resources, adds engineer specialists, but decreases a city’s health.

The following civilization leaders offer the Industrious trait:


 * Roosevelt, American Empire
 * Qin Shi Huang, Chinese Empire
 * Ramesses II, Egyptian Empire
 * Louis XIV, French Empire
 * Napoleon, French Empire
 * Bismarck, German Empire
 * Huayna Capac, Incan Empire

Organized

 * -50% civic upkeep cost.
 * Courthouse and Lighthouse constructed at 1/2 production cost.

An organized civilization is an efficient civilization. Organized leaders have "trimmed the fat" so to speak and bear less civic upkeep costs. Essentially it’s the trait for the player who wants a huge expansive empire but without all the expensive costs. The Organized trait also allows construction of the Lighthouse and Courthouse at half the production cost.

Lighthouses increase food from water tiles and Courthouses decrease maintenance costs for cities far from the civilization’s capital.

The following civilization leaders feature the Organized trait:


 * Roosevelt, American Empire
 * Washington, American Empire
 * Mao Zedong, Chinese Empire
 * Asoka, Indian Empire
 * Tokugawa, Japanese Empire
 * Julius Caesar, Roman Empire

Philosophical

 * +100% Great People birth rate.
 * University constructed at 1/2 production cost.

Focusing your strategy on Great People births can be extremely powerful. Great Artists can be used as "culture bombs" by instantly increasing a city’s culture by 4,000 (could be enough to envelop a rival border town) or a Great Engineer could complete a valuable wonder in just a single turn. Of course there are also free technologies and super specialists as well. When choosing a leader with the Philosophical trait, add to the civilization’s benefit with the National Epic wonder to increase Great People birth rate further. Switch to the Caste System civic for unlimited specialists--the more specialists, the higher the Great People birth rate or use Pacifism to further increase birth rate. A philosophical leader can construct the University at half the production cost; the University increases research by 25%.

The following civilization leaders offer the Philosophical trait:


 * Saladin, Arabian Empire
 * Mao Zedong, Chinese Empire
 * Elizabeth, English Empire
 * Frederick, German Empire
 * Alexander, Greek Empire
 * Peter, Russian Empire
 * Gandhi, Indian Empire

Spiritual

 * No anarchy.
 * Temple constructed at 1/2 production cost.

A spiritual civilization suffers no anarchy penalty from switching civics or state religions. This provides a lot of flexibility throughout your civilization’s development. The freedom to switch civics depending on your current need (do you need to train a military or continue to construct wonders?) without penalty can be extremely powerful. You could speed production (Organized Religion) or train experienced units (Vassalage)-- all in the span of several turns.

Half cost Temples add to the civilization’s happiness and open up the priest specialist. Most of the Spiritual civilizations begin with the Mysticism technology already researched. This means Spiritual civilizations can found religions faster than other civilizations. Founding a religion first can often mean spreading it to other civilizations which helps maintain a good relationship thanks to shared beliefs.

The following civilization leaders offer the Spiritual trait:


 * Saladin, Arabian Empire
 * Montezuma, Aztec Empire
 * Hatshepsut, Egyptian Empire
 * Asoka, Indian Empire
 * Gandhi, Indian Empire
 * Mansa Musa, Malinese Empire
 * Isabella, Spanish Empire

Empires and Leaders
Note: some leaders' traits are changed in the Beyond the Sword expansion pack. Units and buildings in parentheses refer to the unit or building that was replaced by the special unit or building for that empire.