on specialist economies...how and when?

so I have read a lot about the SE and frankly, I find it more appealing than the CE, in terms of gameplay. it seems you have to do and think more (?).

anyhow,
so I build my cities with already a rough idea which is gonna be which (production, science, etc.) and let them grow a bit.

now for my problem:
in my science city, as soon as I have the pyramids and the caste system, I wanna assign my scientists. this is all good, but I soon run into the problem that when I want to build something (i.e. oxford university or a national wonder), I don't have enough raw power in production to finish it in a reasonable amount of time (assume all is chopped away already). this would mean I have to switch my scientists back to citizens to work those hammers, right? I also have the problem that I soon get a "STARVATION" message, because I am not working enough food to keep my population fed. So I switch back to working food and I don't have scientists anymore.

It seems a bit like a vicious cycle to me: I wanna run smart guys, but I also need & ? Did I misunderstand something about the SE or am I simply trying to run too many scientists at the same time? I assume there's a healthy balance?

any tips are appreciated

cheers
-wannabewarlord

You just can't get enough production from specialists so yes, you will need mines/workshops to build things, and since you'll be using fewer tiles around a city you should have extra space to place them.
A specialist economy can't be done without tiles that produce more than two food. You'll need lots of grassland or food resources, preferably both. It
When I first tied a specialist economy I selected the rainforest map script to make sure I got what I needed.

Minor Annoyance said:

You just can't get enough production from specialists

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Minor Annoyance,

That's what the Ankor Wat is for.

Priest Specialists end up giving you 2 hammers with gold and research (under Representation.) The tough part is getting enough buildings to support your Priests because Caste System doesn't affect Priests.

There's also nothing wrong with depleting your food reserves to get more production out of your citizens for a while. Just don't lose any population doing this.

Yes but you'll have to spend a lot of hammers to build Ankor Wat and hammers to build missionaries and hammers to build temples and you'd have to have several religions in your empire. It's a fine long term strategy but you'll probably need mines and workshops before you can run production just off of specialists.

Purest form of SE whips for hammers, alternating between Caste/Slavery via Spiritual.

In reality most SE games mix in hammer economy to various extent. SE is not static, slavery/caste and farms/workshops/etc are interchangeble, cities regrow fast, happy cap is flexible.

Get over any aversion to whipping, starving cities, or incurring unhappy faces if you want to play SE to the maximum.

CE in beginning to mid-game; more specialist late. CE/FE/SE/WE all strategies adopted to basically push the gaming environment. "Pure" economies very rare; pretty much all the posted games use hybrids.

bestbrian said:

CE in beginning to mid-game; more specialist late. CE/FE/SE/WE all strategies adopted to basically push the gaming environment. "Pure" economies very rare; pretty much all the posted games use hybrids.

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Sorry for being off topic. What does WE stand for, and where can I learn more about FE (food economic)?

WE is short for a Wonder Economy. It is fueled by settled specialists produced by Wonder Spamming (Allowing one wonder filled city to generate a large GPP/turn). And a Food Economy, iirc, its based on using trade routes to generate commerce in high population cities while whipping to drive production.

I use wonders to augment my GPP production in my GP farm. I have an aversion to pure SE, I don't like the idea of many tiny cities being whipped down to 1 pop to get things built. In the early game building wealth and science provide higher short term returns, so I use a hammer/specialist/wonder economy unless I'm financial. Certain wonders also boost your power rating making the AI less likely to attack you, and better trading.

But anyways, the SE is all about micro managing your cities. Run scientists when you're not fighting, work mines and workshops when you are.