Hello everyone. Due to debates on the other thread I've spent a little time refining my freedom late game plan when going for a science victory so I thought I'll share how I do it here.
That thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=532958
This thread isn't really to debate whether Order or Freedom is better. If you want to debate that please do it in the previously mentioned thread. I'll just say Freedom has underrated strengths and leave it at that.
This guide is aimed to advanced players looking to shave off extra turns in their science victory.
Warnings:
This is based on Standard Size, Standard Speed. It can work in other settings but I never play those so I can't say. I know winning the world fair can be difficult on huge maps due to some AI making 15 cities.
The following strategy relies a lot on your ability to grab gold out of the AI. This can be difficult on low difficulties because the AI is poor. Also you'll lose one of the main strength of Freedom if you cannot get friends to get the gold from.
Also
this guide mostly focuses on the post ideology part of the game. I'll give a brief summary of what should be achieved before then but for the basics surrounding early game science you will have to rely on another source.
Finally, some tips are based on a fast game. You will have to review some stuff with a critical eye if your game takes 300turns. For example regarding academies, I base my opinion on a 220turn game.
Games take me around 50-60 turns after ideology so I base my calculations on that when calculations are necessary in game
Why should you give it a try.
There are 3 main reasons to give Freedom a try when going science:
-It doesn't require coal to do good. This is important on low difficulties or when being way faster than the AI which is something that can happen even on Deity.
-It is not production dependent. Food and gold is all you need so don't worry if you don't have 3 cities able to pump out parts. As long as you can make Appollo and Hubble in reasonable times you're good to go.
-It's reasonably a different game than Order, so it's cool to break habits and try the new cool.
Pre-ideology goals in brief:
1. You obviously want to have planted all your cities by turn 100. I usually like 5 cities but if you can 6 is also a good option or if you don't think happiness will be manageable restrict to 4. For National College I personally have a preference with going 3 cities NC and then adding additional cities after it. Grow your cities as much as possible, work the scientifics slots, etc. etc. Classic science game.