I have been playing for along time and I never understood why caste system is even in the game. Am I missing something? Does anyone use this and if you do why?

People use it with Specialist Economies

You can usually enable specialists with buildings and wonders though.

Hell yes I use it. If you have some high food cities there's nothing quite as nice as running a heap of scientists in the early game.

I will have to try that. Thank you. :goodjob:

Sure, it is the civic of choice for Specialist Economies. In fact, now with the extra bonus it gives to workshops, it is extra useful, since it powers both my food/science cities and my workshop/production cities.

I've gotten to love Caste system the more I play - the real killer for me is being able to run merchant specialists early, without having to build a market - which will take forever in a trash city.

Find getting +3g-+6g out of a fishing village means a higher science slider and more benefit from my core cities with their libraries, monastries and other scientific improvements.

It shines with State property - powerhouse workshops?

When you have great pyramid and cities with lot of food, use it. A city with 5 scientists gives you a baseline 30 beakers even at 0% research without any research boosting building, plus 15 GPP per turn in early game. What more you can ask?

When you expand too quickly and the economy in a mess (frequently after an early rush), Caste system allows you to run merchants without markets, which are actually quite costly to build, so you can keep your economy afloat.

When you want early cultural victory, running Caste system post-biology will get it done.

Certainly you may not see the above situations in every game, but to answer your question, Caste system can be useful under the right conditions (and in BtS its synergy with State economy further sweetens the deal....wait.... Caste system and communism??? What an irony!! :crazyeye: )

To me caste system is most useful in two cases, if you need fast culture in a city you just took you can make an artist specialist, and when you need merchants to keep your economy afloat. When caste system first comes along my cities are almost never big enough to run more than 2 specialists a piece, and my economy is usually pretty bad. I can run those two science specialists from libraries if that was all I wanted, and by the time they grow my observatories are probably ready. Of course later in the game , if youre not forced into emancipation in one way or another, you can run unlimitied science guys and to some people that's valuable. I am a spy guy, so i get my techs usually by stealing them, and the rest of my time goes into merchants and making things for war.

Those caste system artist specialists are also good in cultural victories too.

caste + representation + pacifism + philosophical leader

plus the following wonders (pyramids, parthenon, great library, statue liberty + national wonder)

= very powerful specialist economy. this combo popped me 38 specialists over one game!

Caste System + Chemistry + Workshops = insane production.

You can get 4 production and 1 food out of every grasslands you have. 5 Production from Plains. That's better than what you get out of a hill.

Try this tech combo:

Take Nationalism, Code of Laws, and Chemistry. Build Barracks everywhere. Once you're ready for war, sprinkle Workshops throughout your empire under Caste System/Nationhood/Theocray to boost production. Draft cities to get their pops down. Assemble multiple 30 unit stacks. Build the Taj Mahal. Go to Town.

caste + representation + pacifism + philosophical leader

plus the following wonders (pyramids, parthenon, great library, statue liberty + national wonder)

= very powerful specialist economy. this combo popped me 38 specialists over one game!


Mercantilism adds to the specialist mania too, although depending on what is going on free market can be better.

Or of course State Property

0 food 4 hammer Workshop is even beter than a rushbuying US-FS town (3.3 hammer equivalent)