Heya, new civ 4 player here. I am able to inconsistantly do well on monarch right now =)

One thing which is not entirely clear to me is how to maximize a city to produce great people.

Would someone be able to run me through this, going through
- desired terrain and terrain improvements,
- building selection,
- wonder selection,
- specialist allocation.

Thanks!

Welcome to CFC! [party]

Terrain: You'll want to have as many specialists as possible. For this, your working people must produce a lot of food. Floodplains with a food bonus or two are good for this, and so is a coastal city with some seafood. Build farms on tiles without bonuses to maximize food output.

Buildings: You'll probably have Caste System, which allowes you the most specialists. If you don't use it, build buiding that enable specialists (Libraries, Theatres, Forges ...). Forges and Temples are also good if you want you GP to be engineers or priests. If you have a lot of scientists, a Library is good to make better use of them.

Wonders: I rarely build wonders, so a I don't have much advice to offer here. The Parthenon is good, and so is National Epic. Look for wonders that give a lot of GPP (dunno which ones are the best), especially the ones that contribute to the type of GP you want.

Specialists: That is quite simple. If you want a Great Artist, make artists, and so on. Usually it's the best to choose all specialists of the same type, so you can be pretty sure which GP you'll get. But without Caste System, you're sometimes limited to (for example) 2 scientists, and you have enough food for 3. In such cases, make a specialist that will give you the most benefit.

Just wondering if you guys produce wonders in cities for great people. The penalty taken by maxing out farms seems to be too great for you to create any wonders in that same city.

Also, how is the type of great person decided? Is it decided by the last contribution of the great person points( ie. as long as the last point is from an artist, I get a great artist) or is it by the composition of the points in the bank such that my first 99 points come from engineers and the last point comes from an artist so I have a 99% chance to get a great engineer and a 1% chance to get a great artist?

I believe it has more to do with the number of sources contributing various types of points. The percentages show you what is most likely to be produced, but getting less likely GP are also common.
I believe there is an in-depth article about the GP production factors in the strategy article section.

I am also new to Civ and to the CFC. I too have the same problems creating Great People.

My problems seem to be that assigning specialists stunts or even starves my city: meaning I lack the food. Should I, then, only make farms and windmills on these cities forgoing hammer producing stuff like mines?

Thanks! This is a great community, BTW. :goodjob:

My problems seem to be that assigning specialists stunts or even starves my city: meaning I lack the food. Should I, then, only make farms and windmills on these cities forgoing hammer producing stuff like mines?
Pretty much, yes. You need as much food as possible to run as many specialists as possible. It's still useful to have some hammers so you can build useful improvements without relying on rushing them, but food should take priority.

The AI seems to micro manage getting GPs, often it will run cast system and take a city which is about to grow and pack it with several specialists of one sort and run it in starvation for a while, preventing the growth but earning lots of GP points for several turns.

i'me new to Civ IV, but have played Civ 2 forever. i love the GP addition to the game. i have played the ancient and middle ages with various leaders already. my one big suggestion is that your leader determines GP production more than you'd think!

the first game that i won (diplomatic) was with Saladin. he has a Philisophical attribute that is highly conducive to generating GP(+100% GP birthrate). he is also Creative which adds to your Culture points which helps "grow" GP.

all in all, Saladin is perfect for a new player looking to experiment with GP and expansion. not to mention, Camel Archers are pretty darn good for early wars.

The AI seems to micro manage getting GPs, often it will run cast system and take a city which is about to grow and pack it with several specialists of one sort and run it in starvation for a while, preventing the growth but earning lots of GP points for several turns.Well, I only do that if the city can't run stagnant. Otherwise it's both better and easier to have a city without growth and still a lot of GPP.

Regarding wonders, I said I rarely build them at all. I usually have 1 or maybe two GP cities, one production city, and the rest are for commerce. The production city builds mainly units, and the others don't have enough production for wonders.