I've noticed something kind of interesting. Leader traits have a definite impact on build priorities. Playing Darius, on a huge, marathon game, I have managed to amass a truly terrifying piece of land by destroying two rivals early and focusing on spreading my civ. Playing other leaders (I almost always play financial leaders, but like Elizabeth, Willem and Ragnar as well) I would be madly building courthouses in my far flung empire. Not so with Darius, as the organized trait has turned what would have been a bank-breaking expansion into a manageable situation. So, I am able to build forges first, getting a further jump on producing everything that comes after.

Any thoughts?

Wrong forum but anyway (general discussions probably in this case).

I agree that traits influence build priorities though I would ask you to consider in your example that Organized gets you cheaper courthouses so the forge benefit is lessened and you give up being able to run a spy specialist and the espionage points and, if you conquered that much land, further delaying a Forbidden Palace.

yeah, sorry about the forum. I meant to put this in the general strategy, not the articles section. And yeah, the cheapness of the courthouses makes them a good build, and the specialists can be good in the early game. I don't see how the forge benefit is lessened so much as the cost differential is higher for ORG than for other traits. This is true among other traits too - the border pop from a library isn't needed for CRE leaders for instance.

If I think I might get to build Versailles, (big tech lead + a great engineer with nothing to do) I delay building the Forbidden Palace at all on my home continent...the benifits of putting it on another can be too good to pass up.