Zombie69
Emperor
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2005
- Messages
- 1,902
Cabert, that's not really a problem. For one thing, you don't have to run at 0% science for more than 1 turn at a time. You don't have to do 2 turns at 0 and then 8 turns at 100, instead you can do 1 at 0, 4 at 100, 1 at 0, 4 at 100, etc. No matter what your average science rate is, you always have to do turns at 0 to maximize, so if the rate changes, that doesn't affect you at all. You've done your turn at 0 and you simply have more or fewer turns at 100 depending on what you can afford. The rule of thumb for beginners (of course once you get the feeling for it you can do more advanced stunts) is that if you can't afford 100% science for this turn, do 0%, then go back up to 100% for as long as you can afford, rinse and repeat.
Another point is that most lump sums of money can be forseen some time in advance. You know there's a good chance of hitting hut money when you go scouting. When you send a Great Merchant on a mission the travel time is long enough to give you advanced warning. When you want to trade a monopoly tech for tech and money to all the AIs, you know you'll do so before you even finish researching the tech.
Finally, it's often a good thing to have too much money and too little science done. It means you will be able to run at 100% science for some time. It also means that the AIs may have gotten to certain techs before you did. That's perfect, because it means you'll be getting a bonus on your research for those techs, effectively getting them cheaper. Then you can keep on going at 100% thanks to your reserves to jump right past the AIs. It's usually better to be behind, then ahead, then behind again, rather than to always be even.
Another point is that most lump sums of money can be forseen some time in advance. You know there's a good chance of hitting hut money when you go scouting. When you send a Great Merchant on a mission the travel time is long enough to give you advanced warning. When you want to trade a monopoly tech for tech and money to all the AIs, you know you'll do so before you even finish researching the tech.
Finally, it's often a good thing to have too much money and too little science done. It means you will be able to run at 100% science for some time. It also means that the AIs may have gotten to certain techs before you did. That's perfect, because it means you'll be getting a bonus on your research for those techs, effectively getting them cheaper. Then you can keep on going at 100% thanks to your reserves to jump right past the AIs. It's usually better to be behind, then ahead, then behind again, rather than to always be even.