(P)REVIEWS - Civilization IV: Warlords Review by Solver
Attention! Destroy All Enemies! -– Yes, Sir! (Page 2)
A Warlord unit will receive 50% more XP from battles. This means that
most battles will give 3 XP instead of 2 XP. Warlords also get access to a
number of special promotions. Some of them are immediately accessible (Tactics,
giving a 30% retreat chance, for example), while others require prerequisite
promotions (like Medic III, which, unsurprisingly, requires Medic II). Finally,
Warlords also get free upgrades, which is quite a bonus.
Generally, Warlords are well balanced. They are powerful units,
particularly if you use all 20 XP on them. However, they’re not end-all units.
A Warlord that gets considerably damaged will not have great chances against
the best enemy units, so it’s not like you’re going to steamroll the entire
defence contingent in a city with one Warlord. Warlords can be the tiebreaker
in an even battle, but they will not win you wars by themselves. They are,
however, very fun to play with, thanks to the extra promotions and it’s just
nice to have a unit that reaches 50 or more XP.
One gripe I have with Warlord units is that the AI is generally pretty
poor at using those. The AI, when it attacks a city, tends to attack with its
most powerful unit first. Yet it doesn’t attempt to preserve highly experienced
units or give them more survival priority. Hence, it will often attempt risky
attacks with its Warlords, and fail. You do get an on-screen message when a
Warlord dies, and I recall seeing them not too long after AIs go to war. The AI
will certainly try to do the best it can with Warlords, and do quite well
against inferior enemies, but against equal and superior enemies, Warlords
rarely last long enough.
Great Generals are not an addition that revolutionizes the game, not
even an addition that adds a new dimension to it. There is enough strategic
choice involved in what to do with you Generals as you get them, but it’s not
of the depth level that adds a new dimension of strategic thinking. On the
upside, Warlord units are simply fun to play with, and it also gives builders a
nice feeling when they get a General from fighting a defensive war. And
thankfully, the implementation of Great Generals seems quite balanced, even if
humans do use their Warlords better than the AI can. [ ... Previous Page | Next Page ... ]
