Thx
Major Tom and
STW 
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@
enkage: I'm a foe of settling GPs, because it's so much less efficient than bulbing or using the special ability of the GP (Trade Mission, Shrine, Academy etc. ) . Priests are by far the most efficient GP to settle, still, bulbing generates so many
that settling can not compete, especially not with the possibility to trade around a tech for even more
. Imo. , the concept of settling as many GPs as possible to create 1 mega-city is completely obsolete (not the player) because Fireaxis simply didn't balance settling against the other options. I calculated this several times and even with REP and all possible multipliers it's an exception. Settling the 1st or 2nd GP may be worth it (probably with PHI) , but settling several GPs on purpose is simply neglecting the fact, that a game only lasts for a certain number of turns and that the GP not only needs to produce more
'til that time than bulbing would have created, but also that a new tech means extra
via trading or unlocked buildings. It's odd to write this, but getting a Priest that cannot build a Shrine or trigger a GA is simply a fail, same for Great Artists, and settling Merchants or GSs is either an exception or it's again fail, because bulbing and special abilities are better.
Regarding "Religioius Economy" as a special case: Under "Religious Economy" I understand a SPI-trait Temple-focussed economy with the Spiral Minaret and the University of Sankore. I've tried it already, I never was broke as fast as in that game ^^ . It's nice to get those extra :science. and
when conquering those wonders, but again, relying on it is not possible, and the SM and the UoS are unfortunately such bad wonders even with SPI-Temples, that I have still to find a single case, where building them instead of failing them would have been worth it. Just to help with imagination: In my current game (tiny Terra map) I control 30 cities and 60% of the map, so the maximum. I have Temples with the AP-Religion in about 15 of them, because the AP got built very early and I luckily had that Religion, so they will pay back. The SM and the UoS are 1650
each (Marathon values) so about 800
with the resource. Those 15 Temples would generate 30
(or
) so they'd pay back after roughly 25T. That's not much but at the same time I can get
* 2 via Failgold, so I need to add the cost of the city that can fail on them aswell. Lets assume that my city makes 25
and can build it for 30T (all Marathon values again, so 30T is not much) , then that's 25*30
on top of the 800
= 750 + 800 = roughly 1500. Now the Temples pay back in 50-55T. I need to add the costs for the Missionary and the Temple aswell though. Let's say a Temple is only 120
(half price on Marathon) because it also produces the AP-
, then it's 200
for the Missionary and the Temple = 3000
extra that I'd need to invest, then the UoS or the SM would pay back after over 150T. That's simply too long, the game will be over 'til then but also the instant options multiply aswell via trade etc. .
This is just a rough calculation / description why "Relgious Economy" is inefficient even under very favourable circumstances. I'll btw. add a few sentences on the use of GPs towards the guide btw. , because it has its own rules, i. e. a GM gives its
relative to the TRs of the other city (that's why the ToA-city is usually the best to use a GM on, big cities with Harbours and maybe even Custom Houses may be better though) . As this is very important, players should know about this.
Thx for all the feedback again
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