Starting leader

[icepac]

Why would you choose anything other than Official ?
At game beginning you don't have researchers so boosting R&D does what ??
Unless you want to play a real bloodthirsty empire and start invading by turn 20 or so, why boost military readiness ?

Also no matter what you're into, you need to expand your econ first

So what would be the reason not to choose an Official as starting leader ?

[cbdeakin]

Traits like 'Spark of Genius' gives an overall research bonus of say 3% or 6%, depending on level. So, it's not related to the amount you get from researcher jobs.

That stacks depending on how many leaders have this trait.

[Garatgh Deloi]

What economical benefits does a official give over a researcher in that position early game? The mining rush trait that researchers can also get? The +2 stability one?

None of the official council traits strikes me as better then the spark of genius research buff researchers can give (research being a key component to making your economy better).

That said, fertility preacher is kinda nice (adds pop growth, pops being another key component to the economy).

[Bishi]

I don't really use scientist rulers as I hardly ever start with discovery or aptitude anymore. So when I do start with a scientist ruler nowadays I feel forced to take Transcendent Learning mostly for the Scientist cap. Why? Only having 2 scientists to explore (w/o penalty) early game really sucks.

Under One Rule Commander is pretty good if you are militarist though, I sometimes will go with them as rulers. Officials are pretty safe to have as a ruler anyway as there isn't much early game use for them compared to the others, and the stability is always good if you are a despot.

[Carog the Fat]

gestalt will want a research leader for the extra science as they dont take up a leader slot.

[adobo]

Research boost is a global boost. It applies to your total research for technology, not situations like gene modding your pops. Honestly, I have to fight the urge to stop always going for scientist leader. Having two science councilors right off the bat would mean almost 50% boost to science once they both hit veteran, assuming they're both spark of genius.

[icepac]

So the argument of having one more science vessel is a strong one IMO... But 3% global bonus at start game ?
You don't have that many researcher and so you are not producing a lot of R&D points anyway...
So that 3% doesn't amount to much. Once you reach midgame, if you are pumping lotsa research then that 3% becomes meaning ful.
Am I wrong there ?

[Bishi]

There are a lot of factors to consider like what traditions you take first and what form of government you are. If you are democratic/oligarch/MC and don't have the spare unity to keep your preferred leader in power, the waters start to get murky when talking about min-maxing your first ruler.

Scientist rulers are indeed good, but you will have to sacrifice something to increase your leader pool. A lot of players still run Discovery first so that sacrifice isn't really that apparent.

[Chthonic Guardian]

Because you don't choose the game assigns them? Just a wild guess.

[Segovax]

Originally posted by Chthonic Guardian:

Because you don't choose the game assigns them? Just a wild guess.

When creating an empire you can select the leader class and initial starting trait.