Great General (Civ5)

Great general
Introduced in Civilization V
Faith cost	1000
Moves	2
Improvement	Citadel
How to obtain
Generated through combat.
Abilities
Provides a 15% combat bonus to all player-owned land units within 2 tiles. Start a golden age. (Vanila Civ5 only)

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Game info

A Great person, specialized in Land warfare.

• Abilities:
  • May construct a Citadel Great tile improvement
  • +15% Combat bonus to all Land units within 2 tiles

The Great General is somewhat different from other Great People. Instead of being generated in cities by specialists, Great Generals are generated by combat. Whenever one of your military units gets XPs, your civilization generates Great General points (except when fighting against barbarians). When you've got enough points, you earn a Great General. At that point the amount you need for the next Great General rises.

Strategy

The Great General can construct the special Citadel improvement which gives a big defensive bonus to any unit occupying it, damages enemy units moving adjacent, and puts all adjacent tiles into your territory (Land stealing ability only in Gods and Kings). The Great General is consumed when it builds the Citadel. The Great General provides a 15% combat bonus to all player-owned land units within 2 tiles. The Great General is NOT consumed when he provides this bonus.

In Gods & Kings, his ability "construct citadel" now acts in the similar way as "cultural bomb ability" (adds all adjacent tiles into your territory). Doing this can cause diplomatic incidents with the affected nations!.

The use of Great Generals, as well as Admirals, is much different than that of other Great People. They usually lay dormant until a War requires their abilities, at which point they should go immediately to the battlefield/sea. If you're fighting a lot, you may find yourself with more Generals/Admirals than you need - that's the time to construct Citadels in strategic locations (either to strengthen a weak point of the battlefield, or to conquer a tile with important resource). Strictly speaking, unless you're pursuing a Total war strategy on several battlefronts, you rarely need more than 1 General and Admiral.

Historical info

"Great Generals" are the supreme warriors of civilization. They create the weapons and train the soldiers. They plan the strategies to protect a civilization from its enemies, creating bold offensives, strong fortifications and cunning traps. They are the first out of the trench or onto the enemy's ship. They lead the charge into battle, carrying the fate of the people on their broad shoulders.

List of Great Generals

List of great generals