Great Library

Hello all,

Is the Great Library worth going for in multiplayer games? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks!

if you know how te read tech tree and see you got writing first and have resonable production then you can go after

Unless you have marble it seems like the Great Library is not worth it. Even if you complete it, it's double-ish the cost of a Library and at best you can get a 300 beaker tech. Those early hammers are crazy important to use properly and an earlier settler can usually earn you way more beakers in the long run.

Are you playing as Babylon? If so then yes it's worth going for. If not then no, it's not worth it. The reason it is worth it as Babylon is the UA and every GS point matters when you get 125% GS points after going into Rationalism later. Try it and be amazed at having 4-5 GSs before hitting turn 120.

Only if you have a bunch of trees to chop on it and good production. Sub Turn 25 completion or the risk is too high.

Personally I don't go for GL at all because cities, workers and other infrastructure is a better use of those extremely important early game hammers IMO.

Banking on snagging an early wonder is a gamble at best and a rage quit at worst. Id rather do something that I know for sure is going to benefit me and go for wonders only when I am all set up so the opportunity cost is not that great.

You guys are aware he is playing Multiplayer and not Immortal/Diety right? In over a hundred games of MP I have never seen GL before turn 35 and many times it's left until turn 75+ because nobody wants to "risk" going for it and losing it 3 turns before completion. So like I said, if playing Babylon then rush it, otherwise ignore it. In MP if someone gets GL between 35-40 chances are they are Babylon or Korea and went for it for the mid-late game GS spawns. Which means they are going SV or tech-lead Domination.

EDIT: Also it's never a bad thing to "steal" a wonder out from under someone since all that production is basically lost and they are set seriously behind.

It could sometimes be worth it because you get that extra tech.. if you have a mine start and get that extra hammer from the city tile then you could get a boost in building the wonder and increase your chances in getting it first.

You need specific civ and starting location to make it worth. I go for the GL in approx. 5% of my games.

Experimented players learned that the GL can actually make you fall behind if you don't detect these situations.