I suspect you both are using different criteria for "better".
Usually when someone says tradition plays "better" they mean it has early growth gains and thus gets a bit ahead on tech and wins a SV faster. It is also pretty reliable, generally working as a strategy every game.
When he says "liberty" eventually always becomes "better" he's right too. It may not win the absolute fastest science race (if that's your criteria is launching the ship) but a liberty game played well has a better science RATE by the end. You can easily be launching the ship in the 1800s, sometimes quite early. Tradition generally is plateuing in the end due to growth getting slower and slower in those 3-4 cities and relies on scientists to bulb through and win quickly. But my wide games science gets faster and faster. I can be researching future techs in just 3-4 turns by the end. It can be 50%, maybe even 100% faster at science rate by the end which makes you wonder which is actually better. Does the time matter or the strength of the empire? Certainly, liberty/wide has higher scores so the game says you did better. And it is also better on at least two of the victory conditions. The fastest cultural wins are liberty games (sacred sites victory), and the best conquest games are liberty. I'm not talking about sniping all the captals at once at the end of the game when you get ahead on tech. I'm talking about actually conquering the whole world and keeping happy and productive. Liberty allows you to war all game which is why it is the ONLY choice for conquest on larger maps. Diplo either can win, it really depends on how fast you get the liberty empire running whether it looks impressive to the CS, but generally your faith/culture output is higher. It really has more to do with money though which is why I think the VC is boring.
So again, what is your criteria for "better"? I and others tend to think "better" means you built a stronger, more powerful empire. But some people only consider victory time in that equation. These people generally don't play multiplayer games or they'd know some of the reasons why liberty is a popular choice in that setting. Humans are smarter and won't let you tech ahead peacefully. They'll take advantage of your tiny army and predictability to kill you. Then again, even with a big army they'd kill you. It's basically mind games on multiplayer. But that doesn't mean it's worse. I suspect politics was pretty important in real history too.
What is a GOTM? I wouldn't mind showing some of my games at some point if I get the hardware to record. I'm not amazing but I can definitely beat immortal pretty much any game or random start with liberty. It's not that tough. Deity I play less but it's definitely winnable, esp. if you war to weaken the AI. This is I why I can reliably say what I say. I, however, am not claiming I can win a faster science game, just that I can win solidly. I can claim that I can win a faster conquest and cultural VC though, so don't tell me tradition is always better because it isn't. Science is only one way of playing the game. In my experience my empire is stronger at the end of a liberty game in science and culture rate than on a tradition game as well. If there was another age I'd actually probably beat out tradition on win time.
My games are usually more for laid-back fun though, and usually I'm not playing liberty because I think it's stronger but becuase I find it more fun and eventful. I'm usually just experimenting and just rolling as things come. I don't even bother to bribe the AI to war anymore. I like them attacking me. My playstyle has really changed over the years from thinking "optimally" to just playing for fun. Steam says I've logged 400 hours or more so that may be it.
What is a GOTM? I wouldn't mind showing some of my games at some point if I get the hardware to record. I'm not amazing but I can definitely beat immortal pretty much any game or random start with liberty. It's not that tough. Deity I play less but it's definitely winnable, esp. if you war to weaken the AI. This is I why I can reliably say what I say. I, however, am not claiming I can win a faster science game, just that I can win solidly. I can claim that I can win a faster conquest and cultural VC though, so don't tell me tradition is always better because it isn't. Science is only one way of playing the game. In my experience my empire is stronger at the end of a liberty game in science and culture rate than on a tradition game as well. If there was another age I'd actually probably beat out tradition on win time.
My games are usually more for laid-back fun though, and usually I'm not playing liberty because I think it's stronger but becuase I find it more fun and eventful. I'm usually just experimenting and just rolling as things come. I don't even bother to bribe the AI to war anymore. I like them attacking me. My playstyle has really changed over the years from thinking "optimally" to just playing for fun. Steam says I've logged 400 hours or more so that may be it.
GOTM = Game of the Month.
Its a competition that exists for more than a decade on this website.
The sites moderators or admins create a map for everyone to download. They tell you what victory type you need to win for the competition. Everyone then has 1 month to play this same map and compete for who can win the fastest.
They do it twice a month now, every first of the month they create a map on emperor-deity and every 15th they create a map on one of the lower difficulties.
With a little luck, the top competetors post what they have done and why they have done it to get their top results.
There are some awesomely good players there. In civ5 i have not yet won one of these GOTMs, but it is my mission to do so
In civ3 we also had SGOTMs (succesion game of the months) In those games we competed with teams of 6 players who each play sets of 10 turns. It turned into a very fierce competition where every tiny move and detail was discussed into oblivion in the team threads before anyone was allowed to make a move. (usually 5-10 pages of discussion before a player would start doing their 10 turn session with everyone contributing with excel sheets etc to analyse all the options) In my view, that was the highest level of (single player) play you can ever imagine in civ and it was very educational both for all the team members as the people who would read those threads.
I find it extremely unfortunate we dont have this in civ5.
(If you click on my name and find posts, you only have to go till page 4-5 to find these GOTMs and see what i talk about) If enough people feel like that should happen again, we should create a lobby to make it happen.
