I'll use great people to build academies in major cities, great prophet if I found a religion, corporations or golden age for a key production age (ie Redcoat spamming or space building). I just don't think Im using them to nearly their full capacity. I almost always get great scientists as I don't know what to do with the others. What are peoples strategy for what ones to build and what to do with them?

All great people allow lightbulbing for an immediate tech advance, settling for long time advance, and some kind of 'great work' for a specific immediate advantage: academy for scientist, culture bomb for artists, hurry production for engineers, mission of merchant, and infiltrate for spies (who don't lightbulb but instead get a building and a 'great work')

For scientists, all three uses are really good. They generally bulb good techs, get +1h+6 beakers settled (+9 in representation!), and the academy is really good too

Merchants give food when settled, which can be really nice, and their missions nets you over 2k cash, so can be very useful for mass upgrades. Some people farm a merchant specifically before planning a war on an important upgrade point (eg rifles or infantry)

prophets are quite good for settling as they give 2 hammers and 5 cash. In the beginning, they can bulb theology or code of laws, which can be useful, but later on they can't really bulb many useful techs. Settling > shrine if the religion is small

spies can be great when settled early (eg great wall), as that is usually enough espionage points to last for a long time without thinking about it. Later on, they are mainly useful if you are really doing something with espionage, but even the passive benefits (see research, los) is quite useful

artists are difficult unless going for cultural. Culture bombs can be great for new cities or conquered cities (although they no longer get out of revolt immediately).


Many SE players lightbulb heavily to beeline and backtrade. I like settling, see obsolete's games for an extreme example of this. I generally bulb if I really want that tech and want it now! and otherwise settle or build shrine/academy. call me a builder :-)

As of BTS 3.13, Great Artists do immediately end revolt and push out the cultural boundary.

A really neat effect.

Jack

Many SE players lightbulb heavily to beeline and backtrade. I like settling, see obsolete's games for an extreme example of this. I generally bulb if I really want that tech and want it now! and otherwise settle or build shrine/academy. call me a builder :-)
Actually it's a matter of pure math: settling is only good if it nets you more over the expected duration of the game than lightbulbing would. Probably after 1600 AD or so, bulbing will always be better than settling, unless you have a huge commerce city without an Academy (possibly captured from a rival).

The same is true for Spies and Artists (the latter are probably in heavy use only if you're going for a Cultural win anyway).

Spies are rather special, because Espionage points are sometimes needed on short notice, so while settling them might give you more over the course of a game compared to infiltrating an opponent, infiltration might still be the superior choice (it gives you enough points to send an entire empire into revolt, making conquer easy).

Of course this is rather hard to precisely determine on the fly, and it also heavily depends on the multipliers that you have, and if you're running Representation etc.

If you're unsure what to do with a specialist, just look at what it has to offer to you right then: if it can discover a technology you are going to research anyway (and don't plan to trade from a rival), then just click the lightbulb. You won't lose anything for sure (beakers don't decay). If none of the options look attractive, just park him for a Golden Age.

Priests can always be settled in your best production city (often the military city), that's never a mistake in my eyes.

Personally, Engineers give me the biggest problems, because I never can decide for which wonder I should keep them :-). I think the only tech I've ever researched with an Engi was Machinery, in oder to get to Optics faster. Apart from that, I always build Wonders with them -- really nice because you can build Wonders such as Oxford University in cities that are often weak in production (commerce cities).

I'll use great people to build academies in major cities,

Once you have an Academy in your best science city, ie the one you intend to put Oxford University in. You need to check whether settling additional Great Scientists there will be better for you that an Academy in some other major city.