Need General Civ5 GnK help

RAs do not yield 15 turns of research. In BNW, the base yield of an RA (before Scientific Revolution and Porcelain Tower) is 1/6 of the lesser of your beaker production over the 30 turns of the RA and your RA partner's beaker production over the 30 turns of the RA.

Since both parties' beaker production usually will rise over the course of the 30 turns, this will amount to less than 5 turns of the laggard's current beaker production. And if your RA partner is the laggard, this will represent much less than 5 turns of your current beaker production.

Okay, maybe not 15 turns GnK, but it certainly seems to be much more than 5 turns on average!

In G&K, the formula is 1/6 of the average of your and your RA partner's beakers, but limited to 1/6 of your beakers. Should yield the same number of beakers as BNW if you are the tech laggard n your RA partnership, but it will yield more than it does in BNW if you produce more beakers than your RA partner.

So, let me get this straight here, as this is the first time to get any specifics on the differences between vanilla and GNK.

1) You get 1/6 the production of 30 turns, so that amounts to, on average 5 turns worth, assuming the AI is equal and ignoring the fact that at the end, you will likely be making more than at the beginning of the RA. If you had 4 RA's out, that might still save you 20 turns.

2) In easier difficulties, this may wind up much less effective, as the AI is a lot slower than you are.

3) The median tech cost no longer matters anymore. Is that correct? The thread I read was quite enlightening in how to abuse the system, but seemed to limit you on what you could research as you leveled. Now, I assume you do not have to worry so much about the median tech cost, and just focus on getting the techs you want. Is that right?

beetle said:

I am also on GnK. All the AIs are traitorous, which is kind of annoying. Rather than starting a new game, I like to go back to several many turns before the backstab and see if I can salvage the game. YMMV but usually I can turn a lose into a win.

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To fix the problems with England would require me to go too far back. Maybe I could have shown a bigger force near their borders, and she would have held off, I do not know, but I decided to just start a new game. It did show that I'm not too far off being able to handle Immortal difficulty.

All in all, I have either improved, or BNW is a bit easier than G&K, it would seem, though the AI does not tolerate as much. Taking a single CS in G&K was not nearly as big a deal as it is with BNW.

Uzael36 said:

So, let me get this straight here, as this is the first time to get any specifics on the differences between vanilla and GNK.

1) You get 1/6 the production of 30 turns, so that amounts to, on average 5 turns worth, assuming the AI is equal and ignoring the fact that at the end, you will likely be making more than at the beginning of the RA. If you had 4 RA's out, that might still save you 20 turns.

2) In easier difficulties, this may wind up much less effective, as the AI is a lot slower than you are.

3) The median tech cost no longer matters anymore. Is that correct? The thread I read was quite enlightening in how to abuse the system, but seemed to limit you on what you could research as you leveled. Now, I assume you do not have to worry so much about the median tech cost, and just focus on getting the techs you want. Is that right?

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Correct on all counts.

Wow, I have over estimated the RA effect by a factor of 3! Makes me wonder what else I am getting wrong...

Still, seems much more cost effective than getting one university up half dozen turns earlier.

This is quite helpful, but I still have a couple more questions.

I am having a hard time deciding when planting a great scientist or holding onto it to bulb. Planting a great scientist seems to give far less science than bulbing it later in the game, when you get massive science points from it, but getting to science tech earlier allows you to make more tech sooner as well. I'm having a hard time figuring out when and how to utilize my scientists.

I'm also having difficulties on how big to go with my civ. As a general rule, what is the optimal size for good science growth? I find I can usually go with 4 good cities early, but if I add a 5th, I find myself having to hold back growth due to happiness. I'd guess I'd have to wait until I can get Order to fix those issues as they took happiness out of rationalization and takes all of economy to help it now. Should I use CS to fix my problems, stay small until later, or perhaps pick up some of Liberty after Tradition? I guess am I just wanting ideas on how you guys go about your civ size and happiness issues.