Post by SolidLight on Jul 29, 2020 14:35:32 GMT
So from what I can see there haven't been done a complete analysis of all the gens in this game. Now I'm no expert on EW5, but I think I know enough to evaluate people properly. Do tell me whether or not I underrated or overrated people. I'll be grading them like Friedrich “Fried Rice” Paulus does since I like his style. Oh and since I've never been to industrial I had to use this spreadsheet. Thanks Iron Duke !
The order will be sorted by IAPs - Age - Free generals - Tier 3 tavern generals - Tier 2 tavern generals - Tier 1 generals - Treasure generals.
Pink: The best generals.
Turquoise: Really good people.
Green: Handy people, but not super central to any strategy.
Yellow: Mediocre people.
Orange: Lousy people.
Red: Terrible people, almost unusable.
IAPs:
Genghis Khan: A fantastic cavalry general with Braveness and monstrous stats. He deals the best anti-inf damage in the game in industrial due to Stomp. He's also as of right now one of the ideal people to hold active skill artifacts like Gungnir because his main active isn't useful. He's also very cheap for an IAP. Just 1.99$.
Washington: The only gold archer, and commonly said to be the best general in the game. I don't quite agree with that since Nobunaga is more versatile, but his damage is indeed out of control due to Strafe AND Archery. And he's got Logistics which is the best possible survivability skill for an archer. Since he's so damage dependent, I only really think he rises to the top in an ArchCom team.
Napoleon: Probably the most versatile IAP. He's like Bismarck except way better since he gets to go to industrial without sacrificing anything important. And he also gets plunder in industrial. 9.99$ is a lot of money though.
Classical Age:
Leonidas: Pretty much unusable, at least he's available early and can pad out your general count for free and help you with daily missions, but that's the extent of his use.
Hannibal: quite handy actually. He's available early and has pretty decent stats at that point. Braveness is a top tier skill on a cavalry unit and he gets to use war elephants in Empire Age with that fantastic stomp trait. I don't think he's that good of an investment since you can save to Attila instead who blows him out of the water, but he's not that bad if you decide to splurge some medals on him.
Robin Hood: Also not a bad starter general. He has the best attack IIRC among your starter people and is the only one early that can attack at range at that point, which is a huge advantage over the others. Plus he's one of the two people who can get 1-3 range, and the only person who can get that early. Apparently some people have used him all the way to the end. His skills suck though and I hate that the game forces you to upgrade his sniper expert once.
Alexander: The strongest free general, and the only one who is gold, which is actually kind of a negative since that means that upgrading him is insanely expensive. And he's not really worth dumping medals into since he doesn't have anything central to any strategy like Commander or Cure Master or anything, but he's still a great general because he's available very early and has amazing stats at that point. He'll go from being the strongest general on the team in classical to a fog of war scout/archer bait in discovery. There's also a point to be made for upgrading him to medieval since he gets the hoplite unit, which means that he can act as a siege unit instead of investing in an artillery guy.
Huo Qubing: Not that useful imo. In the early game he's basically a second, slightly stronger but slightly frailer Hannibal, but he gets Logistics while Hannibal gets Braveness, and he joins a fair bit later too. Braveness I value higher than Logistics except in conquest, which doesn't matter that much imo since it's campaign and empire that's actually challenging and fun. He also gets bugle in Empire which I also don't think very highly of since his durability won't be good enough to debuff any serious enemy. Still, being available early and being free isn't nothing.
Caesar: Now I'm not that qualified to say much about Caesar since I've only used him in one run that wasn't an InfCom team, but from what I can tell he's pretty darned good. He's got great stats and is available early and some pretty solid skills. Braveness is typically an amazing skill but I actually don't value it as much on an infantry unit since they only get to attack once per turn, but his real selling point imo is his Cure Master ability, which is great. The only problems I have is that he's an infantry general and that he's so expensive. Those skills would be killer on a cavalryman, and only being able to attack once isn't great when he wants to be activating that active as much as possible, but he's still one of the best infantry generals in the game, just not as central as someone like Barbarossa or Peter I think.
Attila: The best cavalry general in the game, no contest. He has almost the best skillset imaginable for a cavalry general, has great stats due to being purple, and is available immediately. The commander skill is the single most central skill for any strategy in this game since it can stack and does so multiplicatively. Braveness is the best passive for a cavalry general since it works 100% at max level and allows you to avoid counterattacks, which translates into thousands of HP saved. Attack Master is a late game investment that's not a particularly good deal even then, but still, every point of attack is important for a cavalry general due to Commander and the mobility trait. He's also one of the best infantry killers beside Genghis Khan because Hussars have an assault trait that does +80% instead of +50% damage. The final icing on the cake is that he's not even that expensive.
Asoka: A really solid cavalry general. Available early, is cheap and has amazing skills. Commander is amazing, inspiration is also amazing. This is the one and only ET game where I think that a positive morale skill is hugely valuable. There's two reasons for this. One is that positive morale is basically not obtainable under any normal circumstances without it. The second is that morale actually does a lot. It changes the attack and defense of the unit by 15%, and 15% is actually a ton because the numbers are huge. Losing 200 attack from a morale down on your 1300 or so attack double commandered Attila is crippling. So yeah, Asoka is great, the only problems is his poor HP and lack of Braveness imo.
Khalid: A pretty solid artillerist if you invest in him, but not really necessary. Artillery Commander is probably the worst commander skill in the game since artillery doesn't have great base attack and there are only two Artillerists with commander. The other one being available extremely late in industrial, and you don't really need an artillerist early since walls aren't super tough early on and other unit types can also break down walls no problem provided they just have a commander. He is however a good pair up if you're fielding two artillerists since his skills are very synergistic like that, but wait until the late game before you start investing in him.
Pachacuti: Amazing skills, horrible stats. Even though he has inspiration and joins in as a medieval unit in classical he's still really frail, but he's not completely worthless because he can still attack at range and isn't that expensive. Use him with great care if you're suicidal and want to maximize ArchCom damage.
Hua Mulan: The weakest archer in the game. She's slightly better than her fellow gray infantry benchwarmers because she's an archer and is female, so she can help cut down the time that daily missions take.
Xerxes: I really would like to see him being used since he has some pretty great skills and has plunder as a medieval unit, but I don't know how feasible that is because his stats are just terrible. Plus plunder is only good if you're capable of actually killing things, which looks hard with those stats. A daily mission general if you don't intend to use him.
Spartacus: Like Xerxes but without plunder as a medieval unit. Which is the one thing that we want to use to make Xerxes work.
Beowulf: Probably the weakest general in the game. Very slightly worse than Leonidas for not being 100% free.
Cleopatra: Like Khalid, she's a pretty solid artillery general when you don't really need artillery generals. She has better stats than Khalid courtesy of Inspiration and gets to start at a medieval unit. She also apparently gets mobility in industrial but this doesn't matter much since enemy walls and units are probably way too tough at that point to get much, if any value out of it. She's available a little later than him, but that also doesn't matter since you don't need artillery until way later in the game. She's better than him in the early game, but that's where artillery doesn't matter.
Medieval Age:
Richard: His skillset kinda sends me conflicting messages. I want to kill things for Logistics, I want to not kill things for rumor, but whatever. Very cheap for being a purple general and gets Mass Fire later on, which is amazing. Handy in an InfCom team.
Charlemagne: Pretty terrible. He's got nothing useful to bring to the table, only stats. I guess he can tank archers in empire in case Attila is busy? You shouldn't need to do that since enemy archers are the #1 priority when you're running CavCom. He's basically a benchwarmer, but unlike with most benchwarmers, you have to spend 2500 medals on him, which is a terrible deal.
Li Shimin: Probably the best solo artilleryman in the game besides Napoleon. One of the only two generals with AoE damage, and the only one who's actually good. Logistics is great when he's smashing down walls and he's really tanky. The only problems with him are his huge cost and that he has to run a long time without his AoE from Empire to Gunpowder. Very handy for any team since you will need artillery later on to deal with the huge HP on enemy walls.
Edward: You absolutely need Edward if you're running CavCom. Leadership I actually don't think very highly of since he has to attack at 1-range and also wants to use Mobility, and he doesn't have Braveness so he has to take a nasty hit from anything that's worth debuffing. But seriously get Edward if you're running CavCom.
Jebe: Terrible passive skills. Great active and fantastic unit in Empire and Industrial. 850 medals is a little high imo but I can see him being very handy for ArchCom, which is super important because ArchCom generals have some serious availability issues imo.
Shingen: Like an improved Hannibal without access to war elephants in Empire for 800 medals. Not a very good deal imo, but there's always something to be said for a cavalry general with Braveness.
Belisarius: Not really useful either, but he has good enough stats to take one of the 7th or 8th deployment slots when you only have like 3 or 4 good people. A little costly on the money imo.
Moctezuma: Now this is one heck of a coin general. The only other person with Cure Master. He also has the best consistent debuff and pretty good stats for a coin general. He's also an archer, which is really good since, as I've mentioned, ArchCom generals have serious availability issues. 40000 is actually not trivial to have at that point though, so maybe you should be saving if you're running ArchCom.
Henry: Worthless. He gets plunder in industrial but you're not going to be dragging his feet all the way until then, and his stats suck and doesn't have anything important skillwise. Plus there's a free general with logistics (which is admittedly worse) in Empire who can tank archers in industrial and has way better stats. At least he's not expensive and does the usual benchwarmer jobs. Padding out your general count and daily missions.
Wallace: A medieval infantry benchwarmer. He actually has some really solid traits in industrial (Mass fire and Armor) but dragging his feet all the way until then is not happening. Plus his stats suck and he doesn't have anything important skillwise.
Suriyothai: I wish I could use her since her skills are amazing, but her stats aren't getting her anywhere. A female cavalry benchwarmer, possibly fieldable if you're suicidal.
El Cid: A cavalry benchwarmer. He gets a 50% damage boost vs archers in empire and industrial. Yes, this guy, who has no durability or any survivability skills, wants to be attacking archers. Not happening, unless you like dying.
Joan of Arc. Not really useful at all, but her defense is a bit better than Belisarius, so she can also work as a 7th or 8th deployment slot filler when you don't have many good people.
Barbarossa: The only purple infantry commander. That's absolutely amazing for InfCom and leadership is also very handy to have. At industrial he gets Samurai and +50% counterattack damage. I'm not quite sure +50% counterattack damage is that good since you're only counterattacking cavalry and infantry. Archers are the high priority imo, but Samurai is solid in a long slugfest. Even if you're not running InfCom he basically takes over Alexanders job at that point.
Empire Age:
Nobunaga: Probably the 2nd best archer in the game. And he has an indispensable niche that means that he fits into any team. Great stats and Ashigaru in discovery is just amazing, and he is THE one person to cripple any dangerous enemy general since he can do that without being counterattacked, unless they're also archers. And, unlike with Li Shimin, he doesn't even have to run a long time without his amazing trait. He's also not that expensive, 2300 medals and purple upgrade costs. The ONLY problem I have with him is that I only get him in Empire, so I have to run a fair bit of the game without him if I'm going for ArchCom.
Yi Sun-sin: Also a really solid archer. Bugle is actually as sweet debuff since morale is huge in this game, and he also has a fantastic active and is 100 medals cheaper than Nobunaga. The two problems with him is that he joins in Empire and that he doesn't have very good rage regeneration due to being an archer.
Suleiman: 3100 medals + gold upgrades is waaaay too expensive for what you're getting considering Blucher is available at the point where you should have saved up like that and is much more versatile and durable. Still, he's got great stats and durability enough to rumor things at 1 range and gets a fantastic trait in industrial in the form of Cover. So he's not useless. He just isn't a very good buy.
Colombus: Not useful. Navigation helps a bit in naval missions, but those are too uncommon for Navigation to be worth investing into. He's not even good as a benchwarmer since he costs 650 medals.
Batu Khan: I've already explained why I don't think much of leadership on a cavalry unit without Braveness. This guy is even frailer than Edward and has nothing else to bring to the table.
Yoshitsune: Actually not as bad as one would think believe it or not. See you're still at a stage where you don't have many good people. He's actually better than someone like Joan as a 8th slot filler or something due to superior HP, plus the Samurai trait keeps him punching a bit harder than other people in his short lifespan. After that very short bask in the sunlight he goes back to being a benchwarmer.
Saladin: A great cavalry general who only requires treasures. Very solid stats and Logistics and shield in Industrial, which allows him to tank archers no problem. He's also the ideal person to hold Gungnir or other artifacts on a CavCom run since his active is not particularly useful.
Discovery Age:
Koxinga: Pretty bad Artillery general. Navigation as I've mentioned is not that useful. His one and only selling point is that he gets Fire Dragon in Industrial, but if you're only going to use him in industrial, then splurge some more for Li Shimin, it's worth it.
Peter: Now I haven't used him, so stoic has to help me out here (does he contribute more or less than Barbarossa?), but I'll try anyway. Infantry Commander and rumor, that's pretty solid. But getting Destroy in industrial is just fantastic. The only worry I have about him is that he loses the archer damage resistance, so I'm a bit iffy on his durability.
Catherine: Cath is pretty solid at that point, yeah her skills suck, but she's a ranged discovery age general. She'll do the job of filling out your 7th and 8th deployment slots in this era. I still think you need people to do that job still since I'd estimate that one should have about 5 or 6 "main team" generals at that point. She also does spectacular anti-archer damage in industrial, but I don't think she brings enough to the table to consider her in the long term. 125000 coins is also not easy to get, but that's still cheaper than paying medals.
Jhansi: I don't know whether turquoise is too high or not, but anyway. She has spectacular skills and plunder at industrial, but sucky stats. Her stats make her pretty useless for both discovery and gunpowder, but plunder makes her usable in industrial. She'll still have the durability of a wet tissue, but she can contribute a lot with her commander skill and is super cheap to upgrade.
Lincoln: Like Catherine, he's an easy to get filler general until you get better people. Much better HP and defense than Catherine, so he's probably the most cost effective scout at that point. Don't invest in him though, he can't contribute much else of value to the team later on.
Gunpowder Age:
Blucher: Armor master and Rumor, the one reason you don't need Suleiman. You will need him because -50% damage on everybody is absolutely amazing, CavCom in particular absolutely needs him because that strategy already has serious durability issues. And to top it off he gets plunder in industrial. The most annoying thing about him is his mind-blowing initial cost of 3250 medals, but he's absolutely worth that price.
Nelson: FINALLY you get the purple archer commander! Well, he doesn't have much else skillwise, but he's pretty indispensable for an ArchCom team, and he also gets 1-3 range in industrial. IIRC 1-3 range on some missions late game is absolutely indispensable, but the EW5 veterans have to comment on that.
James Wolfe: Pretty useless at this point since you shouldn't need any fillers. Plus he's probably strictly worse than Catherine at that job if you still need one. At least he's not an expensive benchwarmer.
Industrial Age:
Heihachiro: The purple artillery commander. Probably not worth it. He's the only person other than Khalid who has Artillery Commander, but you're not building your team around that skill since he joins so late. Plus he doesn't have a particularly useful passive and has a staggering initial cost of 3500 medals.
Petain: Now HERE'S a fantastic industrial general. Infantry Commander is always an amazing skill in an InfCom team. He's got a great passive in Logistics and just terrific traits when upgraded to an industrial unit. Cover is a strict -40% damage taken and Bravery prevents him from being stunned or morale downed. He's also not very expensive. 950 medals, blue upgrades and only one promotion to go. The only problem with him is that he joins in Industrial, which is so late.
Li Hongzhang: Completely indispensable for ArchCom considering there's not a lot of other better archer generals with Archer Commander. Leadership is also fantastic on an archer general, and he gets strike for +100% damage vs cavalry. I'm... not quite sure +100% damage vs cavalry is that good at that point since an archer team is always super damaging vs cavalry, but it's strictly better than accuracy so that's nice. He's also not very expensive, but he joins way too late.
Kemal: The most expensive coin general. There's no point in a filler general anymore since you should have enough good generals to fill in all 8 deployment slots at this point, and he's not as good of a benchwarmer as many others since he joins so late. Combatwise he's pretty much strictly worse than Petain, and Petain is not expensive, so totally useless imo.
Conrad: The final benchwarmer, you don't really want to join late when your only job is to be a benchwarmer, so probably the second worst benchwarmer, just ahead of Kemal due to his cheaper cost.
Bismarck: A very solid artillery general that's basically for free that starts out as a gunpowder unit. He's basically a worse Napoleon. Don't upgrade him to industrial though. Destroy is a lot more valuable than the extra stats and +75% damage vs Cavalry. I also remember him taking an awful long time to get after you've built Hamburg, which is kind of annoying, but so will anyone else that's actually good at that point.
I also want input from stoic and Iron Duke since they know this game way better that I do.
The order will be sorted by IAPs - Age - Free generals - Tier 3 tavern generals - Tier 2 tavern generals - Tier 1 generals - Treasure generals.
Pink: The best generals.
Turquoise: Really good people.
Green: Handy people, but not super central to any strategy.
Yellow: Mediocre people.
Orange: Lousy people.
Red: Terrible people, almost unusable.
IAPs:
Genghis Khan: A fantastic cavalry general with Braveness and monstrous stats. He deals the best anti-inf damage in the game in industrial due to Stomp. He's also as of right now one of the ideal people to hold active skill artifacts like Gungnir because his main active isn't useful. He's also very cheap for an IAP. Just 1.99$.
Washington: The only gold archer, and commonly said to be the best general in the game. I don't quite agree with that since Nobunaga is more versatile, but his damage is indeed out of control due to Strafe AND Archery. And he's got Logistics which is the best possible survivability skill for an archer. Since he's so damage dependent, I only really think he rises to the top in an ArchCom team.
Napoleon: Probably the most versatile IAP. He's like Bismarck except way better since he gets to go to industrial without sacrificing anything important. And he also gets plunder in industrial. 9.99$ is a lot of money though.
Classical Age:
Leonidas: Pretty much unusable, at least he's available early and can pad out your general count for free and help you with daily missions, but that's the extent of his use.
Hannibal: quite handy actually. He's available early and has pretty decent stats at that point. Braveness is a top tier skill on a cavalry unit and he gets to use war elephants in Empire Age with that fantastic stomp trait. I don't think he's that good of an investment since you can save to Attila instead who blows him out of the water, but he's not that bad if you decide to splurge some medals on him.
Robin Hood: Also not a bad starter general. He has the best attack IIRC among your starter people and is the only one early that can attack at range at that point, which is a huge advantage over the others. Plus he's one of the two people who can get 1-3 range, and the only person who can get that early. Apparently some people have used him all the way to the end. His skills suck though and I hate that the game forces you to upgrade his sniper expert once.
Alexander: The strongest free general, and the only one who is gold, which is actually kind of a negative since that means that upgrading him is insanely expensive. And he's not really worth dumping medals into since he doesn't have anything central to any strategy like Commander or Cure Master or anything, but he's still a great general because he's available very early and has amazing stats at that point. He'll go from being the strongest general on the team in classical to a fog of war scout/archer bait in discovery. There's also a point to be made for upgrading him to medieval since he gets the hoplite unit, which means that he can act as a siege unit instead of investing in an artillery guy.
Huo Qubing: Not that useful imo. In the early game he's basically a second, slightly stronger but slightly frailer Hannibal, but he gets Logistics while Hannibal gets Braveness, and he joins a fair bit later too. Braveness I value higher than Logistics except in conquest, which doesn't matter that much imo since it's campaign and empire that's actually challenging and fun. He also gets bugle in Empire which I also don't think very highly of since his durability won't be good enough to debuff any serious enemy. Still, being available early and being free isn't nothing.
Caesar: Now I'm not that qualified to say much about Caesar since I've only used him in one run that wasn't an InfCom team, but from what I can tell he's pretty darned good. He's got great stats and is available early and some pretty solid skills. Braveness is typically an amazing skill but I actually don't value it as much on an infantry unit since they only get to attack once per turn, but his real selling point imo is his Cure Master ability, which is great. The only problems I have is that he's an infantry general and that he's so expensive. Those skills would be killer on a cavalryman, and only being able to attack once isn't great when he wants to be activating that active as much as possible, but he's still one of the best infantry generals in the game, just not as central as someone like Barbarossa or Peter I think.
Attila: The best cavalry general in the game, no contest. He has almost the best skillset imaginable for a cavalry general, has great stats due to being purple, and is available immediately. The commander skill is the single most central skill for any strategy in this game since it can stack and does so multiplicatively. Braveness is the best passive for a cavalry general since it works 100% at max level and allows you to avoid counterattacks, which translates into thousands of HP saved. Attack Master is a late game investment that's not a particularly good deal even then, but still, every point of attack is important for a cavalry general due to Commander and the mobility trait. He's also one of the best infantry killers beside Genghis Khan because Hussars have an assault trait that does +80% instead of +50% damage. The final icing on the cake is that he's not even that expensive.
Asoka: A really solid cavalry general. Available early, is cheap and has amazing skills. Commander is amazing, inspiration is also amazing. This is the one and only ET game where I think that a positive morale skill is hugely valuable. There's two reasons for this. One is that positive morale is basically not obtainable under any normal circumstances without it. The second is that morale actually does a lot. It changes the attack and defense of the unit by 15%, and 15% is actually a ton because the numbers are huge. Losing 200 attack from a morale down on your 1300 or so attack double commandered Attila is crippling. So yeah, Asoka is great, the only problems is his poor HP and lack of Braveness imo.
Khalid: A pretty solid artillerist if you invest in him, but not really necessary. Artillery Commander is probably the worst commander skill in the game since artillery doesn't have great base attack and there are only two Artillerists with commander. The other one being available extremely late in industrial, and you don't really need an artillerist early since walls aren't super tough early on and other unit types can also break down walls no problem provided they just have a commander. He is however a good pair up if you're fielding two artillerists since his skills are very synergistic like that, but wait until the late game before you start investing in him.
Pachacuti: Amazing skills, horrible stats. Even though he has inspiration and joins in as a medieval unit in classical he's still really frail, but he's not completely worthless because he can still attack at range and isn't that expensive. Use him with great care if you're suicidal and want to maximize ArchCom damage.
Hua Mulan: The weakest archer in the game. She's slightly better than her fellow gray infantry benchwarmers because she's an archer and is female, so she can help cut down the time that daily missions take.
Xerxes: I really would like to see him being used since he has some pretty great skills and has plunder as a medieval unit, but I don't know how feasible that is because his stats are just terrible. Plus plunder is only good if you're capable of actually killing things, which looks hard with those stats. A daily mission general if you don't intend to use him.
Spartacus: Like Xerxes but without plunder as a medieval unit. Which is the one thing that we want to use to make Xerxes work.
Beowulf: Probably the weakest general in the game. Very slightly worse than Leonidas for not being 100% free.
Cleopatra: Like Khalid, she's a pretty solid artillery general when you don't really need artillery generals. She has better stats than Khalid courtesy of Inspiration and gets to start at a medieval unit. She also apparently gets mobility in industrial but this doesn't matter much since enemy walls and units are probably way too tough at that point to get much, if any value out of it. She's available a little later than him, but that also doesn't matter since you don't need artillery until way later in the game. She's better than him in the early game, but that's where artillery doesn't matter.
Medieval Age:
Richard: His skillset kinda sends me conflicting messages. I want to kill things for Logistics, I want to not kill things for rumor, but whatever. Very cheap for being a purple general and gets Mass Fire later on, which is amazing. Handy in an InfCom team.
Charlemagne: Pretty terrible. He's got nothing useful to bring to the table, only stats. I guess he can tank archers in empire in case Attila is busy? You shouldn't need to do that since enemy archers are the #1 priority when you're running CavCom. He's basically a benchwarmer, but unlike with most benchwarmers, you have to spend 2500 medals on him, which is a terrible deal.
Li Shimin: Probably the best solo artilleryman in the game besides Napoleon. One of the only two generals with AoE damage, and the only one who's actually good. Logistics is great when he's smashing down walls and he's really tanky. The only problems with him are his huge cost and that he has to run a long time without his AoE from Empire to Gunpowder. Very handy for any team since you will need artillery later on to deal with the huge HP on enemy walls.
Edward: You absolutely need Edward if you're running CavCom. Leadership I actually don't think very highly of since he has to attack at 1-range and also wants to use Mobility, and he doesn't have Braveness so he has to take a nasty hit from anything that's worth debuffing. But seriously get Edward if you're running CavCom.
Jebe: Terrible passive skills. Great active and fantastic unit in Empire and Industrial. 850 medals is a little high imo but I can see him being very handy for ArchCom, which is super important because ArchCom generals have some serious availability issues imo.
Shingen: Like an improved Hannibal without access to war elephants in Empire for 800 medals. Not a very good deal imo, but there's always something to be said for a cavalry general with Braveness.
Belisarius: Not really useful either, but he has good enough stats to take one of the 7th or 8th deployment slots when you only have like 3 or 4 good people. A little costly on the money imo.
Moctezuma: Now this is one heck of a coin general. The only other person with Cure Master. He also has the best consistent debuff and pretty good stats for a coin general. He's also an archer, which is really good since, as I've mentioned, ArchCom generals have serious availability issues. 40000 is actually not trivial to have at that point though, so maybe you should be saving if you're running ArchCom.
Henry: Worthless. He gets plunder in industrial but you're not going to be dragging his feet all the way until then, and his stats suck and doesn't have anything important skillwise. Plus there's a free general with logistics (which is admittedly worse) in Empire who can tank archers in industrial and has way better stats. At least he's not expensive and does the usual benchwarmer jobs. Padding out your general count and daily missions.
Wallace: A medieval infantry benchwarmer. He actually has some really solid traits in industrial (Mass fire and Armor) but dragging his feet all the way until then is not happening. Plus his stats suck and he doesn't have anything important skillwise.
Suriyothai: I wish I could use her since her skills are amazing, but her stats aren't getting her anywhere. A female cavalry benchwarmer, possibly fieldable if you're suicidal.
El Cid: A cavalry benchwarmer. He gets a 50% damage boost vs archers in empire and industrial. Yes, this guy, who has no durability or any survivability skills, wants to be attacking archers. Not happening, unless you like dying.
Joan of Arc. Not really useful at all, but her defense is a bit better than Belisarius, so she can also work as a 7th or 8th deployment slot filler when you don't have many good people.
Barbarossa: The only purple infantry commander. That's absolutely amazing for InfCom and leadership is also very handy to have. At industrial he gets Samurai and +50% counterattack damage. I'm not quite sure +50% counterattack damage is that good since you're only counterattacking cavalry and infantry. Archers are the high priority imo, but Samurai is solid in a long slugfest. Even if you're not running InfCom he basically takes over Alexanders job at that point.
Empire Age:
Nobunaga: Probably the 2nd best archer in the game. And he has an indispensable niche that means that he fits into any team. Great stats and Ashigaru in discovery is just amazing, and he is THE one person to cripple any dangerous enemy general since he can do that without being counterattacked, unless they're also archers. And, unlike with Li Shimin, he doesn't even have to run a long time without his amazing trait. He's also not that expensive, 2300 medals and purple upgrade costs. The ONLY problem I have with him is that I only get him in Empire, so I have to run a fair bit of the game without him if I'm going for ArchCom.
Yi Sun-sin: Also a really solid archer. Bugle is actually as sweet debuff since morale is huge in this game, and he also has a fantastic active and is 100 medals cheaper than Nobunaga. The two problems with him is that he joins in Empire and that he doesn't have very good rage regeneration due to being an archer.
Suleiman: 3100 medals + gold upgrades is waaaay too expensive for what you're getting considering Blucher is available at the point where you should have saved up like that and is much more versatile and durable. Still, he's got great stats and durability enough to rumor things at 1 range and gets a fantastic trait in industrial in the form of Cover. So he's not useless. He just isn't a very good buy.
Colombus: Not useful. Navigation helps a bit in naval missions, but those are too uncommon for Navigation to be worth investing into. He's not even good as a benchwarmer since he costs 650 medals.
Batu Khan: I've already explained why I don't think much of leadership on a cavalry unit without Braveness. This guy is even frailer than Edward and has nothing else to bring to the table.
Yoshitsune: Actually not as bad as one would think believe it or not. See you're still at a stage where you don't have many good people. He's actually better than someone like Joan as a 8th slot filler or something due to superior HP, plus the Samurai trait keeps him punching a bit harder than other people in his short lifespan. After that very short bask in the sunlight he goes back to being a benchwarmer.
Saladin: A great cavalry general who only requires treasures. Very solid stats and Logistics and shield in Industrial, which allows him to tank archers no problem. He's also the ideal person to hold Gungnir or other artifacts on a CavCom run since his active is not particularly useful.
Discovery Age:
Koxinga: Pretty bad Artillery general. Navigation as I've mentioned is not that useful. His one and only selling point is that he gets Fire Dragon in Industrial, but if you're only going to use him in industrial, then splurge some more for Li Shimin, it's worth it.
Peter: Now I haven't used him, so stoic has to help me out here (does he contribute more or less than Barbarossa?), but I'll try anyway. Infantry Commander and rumor, that's pretty solid. But getting Destroy in industrial is just fantastic. The only worry I have about him is that he loses the archer damage resistance, so I'm a bit iffy on his durability.
Catherine: Cath is pretty solid at that point, yeah her skills suck, but she's a ranged discovery age general. She'll do the job of filling out your 7th and 8th deployment slots in this era. I still think you need people to do that job still since I'd estimate that one should have about 5 or 6 "main team" generals at that point. She also does spectacular anti-archer damage in industrial, but I don't think she brings enough to the table to consider her in the long term. 125000 coins is also not easy to get, but that's still cheaper than paying medals.
Jhansi: I don't know whether turquoise is too high or not, but anyway. She has spectacular skills and plunder at industrial, but sucky stats. Her stats make her pretty useless for both discovery and gunpowder, but plunder makes her usable in industrial. She'll still have the durability of a wet tissue, but she can contribute a lot with her commander skill and is super cheap to upgrade.
Lincoln: Like Catherine, he's an easy to get filler general until you get better people. Much better HP and defense than Catherine, so he's probably the most cost effective scout at that point. Don't invest in him though, he can't contribute much else of value to the team later on.
Gunpowder Age:
Blucher: Armor master and Rumor, the one reason you don't need Suleiman. You will need him because -50% damage on everybody is absolutely amazing, CavCom in particular absolutely needs him because that strategy already has serious durability issues. And to top it off he gets plunder in industrial. The most annoying thing about him is his mind-blowing initial cost of 3250 medals, but he's absolutely worth that price.
Nelson: FINALLY you get the purple archer commander! Well, he doesn't have much else skillwise, but he's pretty indispensable for an ArchCom team, and he also gets 1-3 range in industrial. IIRC 1-3 range on some missions late game is absolutely indispensable, but the EW5 veterans have to comment on that.
James Wolfe: Pretty useless at this point since you shouldn't need any fillers. Plus he's probably strictly worse than Catherine at that job if you still need one. At least he's not an expensive benchwarmer.
Industrial Age:
Heihachiro: The purple artillery commander. Probably not worth it. He's the only person other than Khalid who has Artillery Commander, but you're not building your team around that skill since he joins so late. Plus he doesn't have a particularly useful passive and has a staggering initial cost of 3500 medals.
Petain: Now HERE'S a fantastic industrial general. Infantry Commander is always an amazing skill in an InfCom team. He's got a great passive in Logistics and just terrific traits when upgraded to an industrial unit. Cover is a strict -40% damage taken and Bravery prevents him from being stunned or morale downed. He's also not very expensive. 950 medals, blue upgrades and only one promotion to go. The only problem with him is that he joins in Industrial, which is so late.
Li Hongzhang: Completely indispensable for ArchCom considering there's not a lot of other better archer generals with Archer Commander. Leadership is also fantastic on an archer general, and he gets strike for +100% damage vs cavalry. I'm... not quite sure +100% damage vs cavalry is that good at that point since an archer team is always super damaging vs cavalry, but it's strictly better than accuracy so that's nice. He's also not very expensive, but he joins way too late.
Kemal: The most expensive coin general. There's no point in a filler general anymore since you should have enough good generals to fill in all 8 deployment slots at this point, and he's not as good of a benchwarmer as many others since he joins so late. Combatwise he's pretty much strictly worse than Petain, and Petain is not expensive, so totally useless imo.
Conrad: The final benchwarmer, you don't really want to join late when your only job is to be a benchwarmer, so probably the second worst benchwarmer, just ahead of Kemal due to his cheaper cost.
Bismarck: A very solid artillery general that's basically for free that starts out as a gunpowder unit. He's basically a worse Napoleon. Don't upgrade him to industrial though. Destroy is a lot more valuable than the extra stats and +75% damage vs Cavalry. I also remember him taking an awful long time to get after you've built Hamburg, which is kind of annoying, but so will anyone else that's actually good at that point.
I also want input from stoic and Iron Duke since they know this game way better that I do.
