Kavitha Thakur
Kavitha Thakur’s one extra city when beginning a new game isn’t exactly great to be honest. One city can easily be made right at the start of the game, probably upon the first planet you find and for less food than you actually start the game with. This means that she’s not so much a focused leader as she is one for anyone to use. She is the Jack of All Trades leader for Sid Meier’s Starships.
This extra city can however give players a boost whether they believe it or not. The additional production afforded by a city is never something to be sniffed at. It’ll grant you more resources no matter what line you and your fleet desire to pursue. It lends itself most to building a strong fleet early in the game, as your energy income is likely to be higher than opponents. Ratcheting this up with some additional Biofuel plants on your first planet is never a bad idea.
Chasing after any of the four victories is possible with Kavitha as she doesn’t really lend herself to any one in particular. Her population percentage is often slightly higher than most with an extra additional city, but that doesn’t mean its favorable to aim for this one rather than a Wonder victory or a Domination victory. As a quick tip should you be headed towards a win via Wonders, go with the Supremacy Affinity to really give yourself a boost in crossing the finish line as Kavitha.
Elodie
When your crew is looking a little low, Elodie is the one you turn to. Her +10% boost to Crew Morale allows fleets under Elodie’s command to engage in effective operations for longer than those of other Leaders. Keeping the morale high allows a fleet to engage in battles more effectively and do more per turn, giving Elodie an air of determination to her cause. She might not give any definitive benefit to players, but over the course of any game Elodie can show herself to be a worthwhile figure to have on your side.
With that being said though, her greatest asset can be almost completely replaced by a simple Wonder. As great as boosted morale for your crew is, the Naval Tradition Wonder almost completely nullifies the need for her boost. In order to properly use Elodie’s advantage over your foes, you have to make sure that your fleet is the key to any victory you are going to aim for. This increased morale is utterly fantastic for early-game influence gains as it means her fleets can spread across the galaxy easier than anyone else’s.
Elodie is suited especially well to a victory by Domination or Population. By using your fleet to quickly expand and take out any opposition before they can properly react, you can achieve some of the quickest wins of Sid Meier’s Starships without breaking a sweat. Should you get bogged down in a long game though, Elodie’s benefits are slowly chipped away by the sheer gravity of your enemies.
Vadim Petrovich Kozlov
Vadim Petrovich Kozlov is a master of metal, giving players a+25% jump to Metals Production. This means that when a planet is producing 400 of the tasty resources for most Leaders, Vadim is racking in a cool 500. Now okay we’ll grant you that, it doesn’t sound like much. When you look at it in the mid to late game where turn by turn you can expect to be raking in somewhere in the region of 5000 metals normally, his boost will net you well over 1000 extra to put to use.
And put it to use you should. Vadim’s bonus doesn’t just help you in producing metals though. Since Improvements are built almost totally through the use of this resource, Vadim is actually capable of boosting his materials overall to much higher levels than anyone else. This means you can produce more food, more science, or even more energy than any other Leader. Energy is used to upgrade your ships, so it’s incredibly worthwhile when going for a military-based victory. What about if you were to use that Metal for its best possible return. Well then you’d be making Wonders.
Wonders cost Metal, lots and lots of Metal. By creating a vast swathe of Autoplant Improvements, Vadim can easily produce enough metal to buy one or even two wonders per turn at later levels. He is a fast track to creating Wonders, making him the best possible option for this Victory goal. Use him with Supremacy to really hammer home the early Wonder win.
