Experiments on Great People

This is from a thread I posted on Xbox.com (5/1/09) and thought now that I have moved to Civ 4 and this forum I would post it here...

I started experimenting with Civ Rev to see what I could find out if anything about unlocking specific Great People. At first I was teching to Masonry then stopping science production to see if I got all Great Builders (loosely based o the theory by Mynion). Nope, random as could be! I was having a hard time accepting that they are just random. So, I got some graph paper and charted what happened. Way too many variables, too much info, and no distinguishable correlation between anything on paper to what GP I received.

The next logical step?... Eliminate the variables! After a bit of futzing around I came up with this:

Start with the French on Warlord. Move settlers to a land-locked location. No water, No desert! It took a few restarts to find such a location. I saved at the beginning of the game and moved my settler to the scouted location. I built one warrior for protection, and then switched production to food. I received:



Lao Tzu
Cheops
Plato
And so on…

Ok, I started over using the same save game…

Lao Tzu (No Way!)
Cheops (K, this is promising)
W.R. Hearst (S—t!)

What happened? Did something change? Well, start over…

Lao Tzu
Cheops
W.R. Hearst

Ah-ha! This time I noticed that when I received my first trader, Paris was set to science and must have produced one beaker? One way to find out! Start over! In the beginning I remembered to switch from Sci. to Gold.



Lao Tzu
Cheops
Plato (BAM!!!)

Hmm… Not really definitive proof of anything just yet, but I’m on the right path. At this point I took a break. I was a little sick of setting warriors to defense, even though I was making breakthroughs.

Awhile later I started up again, this time with a new game. Again, after a few tries I found a suitable location (Though not as good as the first. Plains/one Mountain) and kept the same format…


Gilgamesh
Cheops (at least he’s consistent)

Start over…

Lao Tzu
Cheops

Dang! I was getting tired and saw nothing that was different. Did I leave my workers Balanced for an extra turn before switching to Food? One more time…

Gilgamesh
Cheops

Frustration and the desire to sleep forced me to leave further experimenting for another day.



Things to take closer notation on/ Try:

1: The specific tiles/resources being used (Plains, Grassland, Forest, ect…)

2: What Paris is producing (cities report) before receiving each GP.
3: Customize workers to only use 1 tile?

I ran a few more experiments this weekend with similar results. One thing I did notice though is that if I never researched anything (except pottery that the French receive as a bonus). The same people pop-up but sometimes in a different order...

Cheops - Masonry
Imhotep - Ceremonial Burial
Gilgamesh - Horseback Riding
Lao Tzu - Irrigation
Plato - Pottery
Sargon - Bronze Working

They're all low-tech Great Persons. Lao Tzu is a bit of an exception but, he is the lowest tech of the humanitarians. Also, all the techs they represent are available to the French without producing any science (-Lao). This all makes sense until I accidentally produced 1-2 beakers and got...

WR Hearst - Mass Media

checking out the Civ 4 demo till finals are over...

Now…More Experiments!!!!!!!

To switch it up a bit I started this test with the Japanese. I settled on a peninsula (8 water, 1 Forest, No fish, No Whales) I never researched any science, and focused entirely on Gold. I got my first settler and built an island city close by. I built everything I could…

Temples, Stonehenge, Markets, Hanging Gardens and Trade Fair. Here’s who I Got:


David
C. Columbus (after receiving Currency)
Marco Polo (@ $500)
J.S. Bach
Plato
Imhotep
Sargon
Homer (@ 10,000)

What was Interesting about this test, is that once again the techs that these GP represent were all available (or “unlocked”) to be researched…



David -----------------------Monarchy -----------------Great Leader

Christopher Columbus ------Banking --------------------Great Explorer

Marco Polo ---------------- Currency -------------------Great Explorer

JS Bach -------------------- Religion -------------------Great Artists / Thinkers

Plato ------------------------Pottery -------------------Great Artists / Thinkers

Imhotep -------------------- Ceremonial Burial-----------Great Builder

Sargon ----------------------Bronze Working -----------Great Explorer

Homer ----------------------Alphabet -------------------Great Artists / Thinkers



With an exception of David and Imhotep all of them are GE or GA/T! Just after I received JS Bach I noted this from the cities report:



City-------Pop.—Food---Prod---Gold---Cult.

Kyoto-----11-------7-------4-----108----49

Nagasaki—6-------4--------0------36-----9




Conclusion: Without researching any science the game will only give you GP who are associated w/ techs that are “unlocked” and the type of GP you get is based on what your cities are producing.



Other tidbits: I actually won a economic victory in this game on Warlord. It’s amazing how long you can hold-on (on Warlord) with a ton of Warrior Armies and Galley Fleets.

6 turns before I completed the World Bank, Nagasaki finally fell to the Americans. They offered me peace and I accepted. 4 turns away from victory I generously paid everyone for 4 turns of peace (Even the weak ones).



Did you know? 3 Caravans can become a Caravan Train? I didn’t…

This is a strategy mainly for VodkaNelly (forgive spelling) but, the concept could be used for anyone. One of the GP Vodka is missing is Agamemnon (Iron Working). If you remember from previous experiments, as long as no beakers/science is produced, the GP you receive are ones who have associated techs (in this case Iron Working) are available to be researched. So, in this case all we need is Bronze Working to make Agamemnon eligible to be received as a GP. Also, I read in Civ 4 the buildings you build affect who you get.



Start with the French, on Warlord. Find a place to settle that has a single (two would be ok) water tile and make your first and Only city. Be sure to change from sci. to gold production immediately! (Y button on city screen) Leave your city workers on balanced so you start receiving gold after a few turns. Build two warriors, set one on defense and send the other out to find another Civ. Avoid Barbarians and Villager Huts, because you don’t want to receive any Techs. You might need to build a galley to find another Civ more quickly or they may appear very soon. As soon as you meet another Civ try to get 30 gold ASAP and buy Bronze Working from them. Build/rush a Barracks and make 1-5 archer armies and 1 galley fleet. After that build whatever Wonders you want, but build nothing off the “Buildings” que. Avoid getting Currency at 250 gold if you can, if not it’s no big deal. When you’ve built all the Wonders build archers and galleys. Agamemnon should be the 6th-8th GP you receive!



More Aggressive/Quicker Strategy: Same setup/ basic concept as before but, you need to settler rush another Civ and pick-up a Villager hut for the gold to buy Bronze Working. Settle close by. Buy Bronze from them ASAP. If they say you can’t afford it and you have 30+ gold, they don’t have it yet. Build a Barracks ASAP then the same rules as above. Paris will soon overwhelm their capitol with culture and you should receive David then Agamemnon by the 5th GP if not much sooner!


A few things I forgot to mention:

1. Do what you want with GP you receive other than Great Explorers or David. “Cash-in” GE and have David wait. (X button)

2. To avoid getting GP at 500/10,000 gold pay Civs to attack eachother.

3. If you settler rush, and your borders touch/ overlap you don’t need a warrior to meet them, or allow you to access them on the diplomacy panel.