I used to make a beeline to State Property and use it exclusively. It was so good, I couldn't imagine a better strategy. But one game I played, I began with a capital in the middle of dense forest and a couple of pig. The food was so good, I didn't need to chop the forest. Forest production was decent. Happiness in my capital was a concern; so there was no need to grow too fast. My workers were busy elsewhere anyway. My enemies had large stacks near my borders; I had minimal defense. I was sure the enemies would attack, which they did eventually, but not before I learned something I hadn't thought of before. Anyway I saved the forest for chopping if and when my enemies declared war, I could roll out mass weapons of the best sort my tech would allow.
Normally I wouldn't bother to gain Optics during my beeline to Communism because Astronomy is not as useful as Chemistry until Observatories and sea exploration have had time to at least break even on the tech cost. In this game I got Optics in a tech swap and was glad to get it because of whale and some borderline unhappy cities including my capital.
Two enemies declared war, and I started chopping. But the next turn I finally finished my research of Liberalism and came to a realization when it came time to choose my free tech. It is actually difficult for me to choose anything other than the most expensive tech when it is time to pick a free tech. Choosing a less expensive tech requires justifying how the less expensive will pay for itself to actually be more cost-effective, at least in terms of tech costs if nothing else.
In this game, I could choose Biology for my free tech instead of Communism. With a quick resolution to the wars, the National Park would be easy to build in my capital because production was high from the forests, especially under Bureaucracy. By preserving the forests, I could have lots of specialists, (like 16) in my capital quickly; health and happiness in the capital would be of no concern. Biology would give my farms a boost in food production instead of getting more food from workshops and watermills. In my beeline, I hadn't had time to build much of those two yet, mostly working farms and fishing boats for food and forest and mines for production. So actually, food production was better with Biology than with running State Property.
So I reasoned that Biology was a better choice. I reasoned that Communism wasn't too difficult to research with 16 scientists in my capital with full tech modifiers including research academy, Representation (thanks to Pyramids), and Caste System. By the way, I was playing an Indian game with fast workers and no anarchy. So I could change civics and terrain improvements somewhat on a whim, though I built minimal amounts of workers so I could get the wonders and bigger cities (making my beeline).
After choosing Biology, came the choice of the next research. I became conflicted over may aim to continue toward Communism or going an entirely different direction just before reaching the finish line of my research beeline. Well, I just couldn't justify taking Communism instead of Medicine. Big cities were already having some small problem with health; trade deals needed for health had just been broken with the new wars. Now with the increased food, to stop cities growing there were fewer tiles worked and more specialists. Workers were busy with preserving forest, so could not turn farms to workshops. I needed health; more food would only make more specialists or worse health problems. Already there was some nice terrain going un-worked. Environmentalism and hospitals would put an end to health problems for a long time. And the icing on the cake, to make Medicine irresistible, preserved forests generate +2 commerce under Environmentalism for +32 commerce +50% in capital with full tech modifiers of +225% for 156 additional beakers per turn.
Okay so long story short, after Medicine my spies informed me that an enemy had begun research on Economics. Being a State Property addict, I hadn't a great need for a Great Merchant, but it is better that I should get it rather than my enemy. So what to do with the Great Merchant? I needed food again. Ahh... the power of Sushi.
The culture bonus from corporations should not be ignored. It is a big deal. My country has expanded without war, gaining nice cities and resources. Presently, I am eyeing Uranium of which I have none and is needed for attack submarines to gain some good naval power in short order on the opposite side of the polar ice caps. The uranium is right next to a city that has just revolted and joined my nation. The Uranium will be mine without warring with my good friend and neighbor thanks to corporate culture.
I spammed SS, CC, CJ in all 34 of my cities, these corporations founded with Wall Street. Also on Wall Street is AC which, for now, I have spread to research cities that have nothing to produce but more AC executives. I thought I would send corporate executives to other countries; but with the culture and nation size I have, I cannot justify.
I run the UN. My neighbors' cities join my nation without firing a shot. I couldn't stick with Environmentalism for very long after becoming corporate since the 156 beakers from my capital pales in comparison with corporation payments. So I have Free Market. After modifiers, my Wall Street city gives +1300 gold from corporate buildings and CJ's little bonus. My corporate payments are -1700 gold after 78% inflation. I hadn't realized that inflation was the reason I wasn't seeing an enormous profit from what I was doing until I read this article.
Perhaps spamming isn't the absolute best way to go for SS and CC but spamming CJ has likely paid for over half the difference between corporate payments and Wall Street profits. And this game has precious metals and gems in very low supply. I get only +5 in each city from CJ before modifiers. Overall I pay out 6 gold per city in return for (before modifiers) 8 food, 9 production, and 103 culture in all of 34 cities. In addition there is 9 unmodified beakers, 1 more production, and 9 more culture in seven of those cities.
All of this can be greatly improved. Well, I cannot get much more key resources without war. However, I can build 10 or so more courthouses in newly acquired cities still working on factories to be powered by Three Gorges Dam. After that, I would be breaking even on gold for gold profits versus payments. The corporations actually do not really cost me much at present. The 200 or less gold I spend for all the goodies is less than 7% of my research per turn. My treasury breaks even at 80% research for almost 3000 beakers per turn.
Oh yes, I founded CM too. I put it out on a barren rock island where there is crab and fish. After getting Broadway, Rock and Roll, and Hollywood, CM is not doing too bad since I began getting back some of my grains and picked up some grain in trade. CM was at +2 food for a long time; now it is +6 food. It seems my opponents do not have much grain. So maybe I will send CM to my neighbors. CM doesn't have Wall Street; but with bank and such it could do something for me if only to slow other nations. It doesn't give culture, so that is good. But what happens when I acquire a city with CM? Well, then I have to pay for SS expansion I suppose. I got Cristo Redentor in my Great Engineer farm (may as well found MI as well). Cristo will help me in cutting costs. My spiritual leader already gives no anarchy. Cristo reduces the wait for changing civics.