Great Persons Advantages/Disadvantages

This might be a good topic for the Strategy Articles section, but as I am asking the question, I will put it here:

Has anyone done an analysis of the relative merits of using each of the great people for each of their purposes? I ask because sometimes it is not clear which use for which person would be better:

For example: If I generate a great artist, would it be better to

a) lightbulb a technology (though most art technologies are cheap)
b) make a superartist in a city (+14 with modifiers spread over many turns could amount to a LOT of culture)
c) Culture bomb the same city (about what date is the break even point for the culture bomb/superspecialist benefit to culture)

I am asking the question as a general idea for a strategy guide, not as a specific question about artists. The same questions could be applied to the relative benefits of the other GPs (quick cash from merchant or sustained cash from supermerchant; academy or superscientist or lightbulb, etc. etc.) What game benefits come from which usages. Are there "no-brainer" uses for some or are there some strategies that call for certain uses over others?

I'd like to see a similar guide. I usually use scientists to build academies #1 as a rule. I almost always send merchants on trade missions for $$.

But I don't know how to maximize GP by any means. A guide would be great.

It depends a lot on what type of victory you are going for. I've been honing my space-race abilities lately (going for fastest finishes in the HOF), so here is what I do:

I focus my great person farm on scientists and engineers after caste system. Before caste system, I just have a smorgasboard and take whatever comes. This almost always allows me to save one prophet and one artist for a golden age when I am building the spacecraft parts.

I use all great merchants for trade missions. Helps me run science at 100% a lot more of the time. If I were to get a great merchant early in the game, I'd consider adding him to one of my science cities because this would likely have a better long term payoff than the trade mission, but this hardly ever happens. (edit: and I'm too lazy to do the math to see if I'm right)

Great scientists go to build academies until there's not a good place for an academy, usually very late in the game. Since it is late in the game, adding him to a city would be stupid, so he adds beakers to a tech I need for the space win.

I save 2 great engineers to build the space elevator. Subsequent engineers help build other wonders. This is necessary because there are always wonders I need built in my gp farm, which has very little in the way of production. Same for science cities.

If I generate more than one great prophet, he builds a holy city if I have founded a religion. Otherwise he gets added to a city as a specialist because I hardly care about researching religious techs.

If I generate more than one great artist, what I do with him is varied. One time I had a border city near the end game that was dangerously close to losing my only source of aluminum. Culture bomb fixed that. I'll often use him for a culture bomb in a border city for the same reason. I never research a tech with him, except maybe drama since I like to build the globe theater in my great person farm. I'd think twice about that though, because by the time I can/need to research drama it is really cheap, due to my huge research rate.

Now, if I were going for any other kind of win, I'd use them a lot differently! For a cultural win, I'd focus on producing great artists and great engineers, and pump all the artists into my top 3 culture cities, and use the engineers to build wonders. Scientists might be added to cities as super-specialists (!) because the techs they make available often aren't necessary for cultural wins.

So, I don't think anyone can answer your question in the general case, but maybe I'm wrong.

RemoWilliams said:

So, I don't think anyone can answer your question in the general case, but maybe I'm wrong.

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I think you just answered it for the space victory. Who wants to try cultural? Conquest? Domination? Diplomatic?

When i'm going for a cultural victory i will add my Great Artist to the city when there are more than 100 turns to the victory year otherwise i will use them for a culture bomb.
That's because a great artist in 100 turn can give 1200 culture points that should be multiplied by 300% (+100% with 2 cathedral, +100 liberalism) for a total of 3600 CP that is better than 4000 CP for a culture bomb (at normal speed) because you must add the benefit of 3 gold per turn.
What is a bit hard to estimate it is the winning turn but you must try to make a good guess.

Fetch said:

I'd like to see a similar guide. I usually use scientists to build academies #1 as a rule. I almost always send merchants on trade missions for $$.

But I don't know how to maximize GP by any means. A guide would be great.

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I'm working in a "strategic use of specialists". When I finish it, I will post it.

Well, as with most things in Civ 4, the best use of a great person is highly dependant on circumstances. I'll have a shot at giving a few rough guidelines though.

Great Engineer

This is probably the only great person with a reasonably "no brainer" use most of the time. Completing a project (invariably a wonder) is generally the best use unless for some reason there are no useful wonders available, and will not be for some considerable time. This generally only occurs in the very late game. Merging it as a superspecialist is a possibility in the early stages, but I regard it as rather dubious given that at this stage a great engineer is worth a wonder of your choice, which in turn will boost Great People production in addition to its other benefits. I would advise against using great engineers to hurry techs for the same reason, especially as in the earlier stages they tend to offer the less useful techs as options to hurry. Even in the late stages they can be handy to rush things like the Space Elevator, and so while they cannot hurry spaceship components they are still of use towards a space race victory.

Great Artist

While the most common use is the "culture bomb", due to its very obvious, and immediate effect, this is not always the best use. If you are planning for a cultural victory then great artists are better off being merged as superspecialists into your high culture cities than using them as culture bombs, since they will contribute more culture (and a fair amount of gold) over the course of the game than you'd get from the lump sum boost. Owing to the very large number of modifiers for culture it is hard to say where the exact cutoff is. It might well be as late as the industrial age.

The culture bomb is generally best against foreign cities that are newly founded, as they may well flip very rapidly under the instant heavy culture. On older cultural borders, where you're facing very strong cultural opposition a superspecialist is generally better, since the culture bomb will not cause a flip, and you are again better building up a higher total culture over time.

A third situation where the culture bomb is useful is in newly captured enemy cities, where its use will immediately terminate the revolt as an added bonus. In a major war this is invariably the best use of great artists, and so this is generally best for games heading for conquest or domination victories.

Since the culture bomb or superspecialist is generally very useful I'll rarely use artists for a tech boost. There are occasionally circumstances though where it is a reasonable choice, for example if you are alone on an island and not planning for a cultural victory or an immediate war. Under these circumstances a cultural boost either per turn, or lump sum, is of minimal use.

Great Merchant

The great merchant can be used for instant gold when transported to a foreign city, but generally this is only the best choice in the later stages of the game. In the early stages they are better used as a superspecialist in the city that contains (or will contain) Wall Street, since they will generate more gold in the long run, and will also give a handy bonus food. Since the lump sum bonus is larger in the later stages of the game, due to the presence of larger cities, and cities further away, it becomes more favourable then. Occasionally if you have some urgent need of hard cash (eg for a quick upgrade in a war) a lump sum is preferable despite losing the extra gold in the long term.

This is one of the great people types I tend to use more often to hurry techs. Particularly in the early stages you can get a greater number of beakers from using a merchant to hurry a tech than by sending them somewhere else for lump sum gold, and then converting it into research by deficit research. Again, this is more favorable in the early stages.

Great Scientist

The great scientist's main ability is to build an Academy giving a 50% boost to science in that city, and 4 handy culture per turn as well. In the early stages of a game this will almost invariably be the best option, since a well placed academy can result in boosts of tens of thousands of beakers over the course of a game, compared to the relatively paltry amount from hurrying a tech. Priority for academies should obviously be given to the city with Oxford University and high commerce cities.

Owing to the size of the academy boost in the early stages I would strongly advise against the use of great scientists as superspecialists at all. Unless your cities are incredibly weak on commerce production an academy somewhere will give more beakers than the 6 produced by a superspecialist. Even in the absolute best case you cannot get more than 32 beakers per turn from a superspecialist, and that's if you merge it into a city with a pre existing academy, Oxford and have the right civics. If you have any other city giving a decent science output an academy will be the better choice.

The only exceptions to this I would say are if you are running an economy based on specialists, are for some reason stuck running a very low science rate, or have almost all your research focused in a single city. Then the superspecialist may be preferable.

In the late stages of the game (late industrial to modern age) great scientists may be better used for hurrying techs, due to the limited time an academy would have to contribute research.

Great Prophet

If you have a holy city of a religion that is even reasonably widespread using a great prophet to build a shrine is a no-brainer. If you have no religion then they also make very good superspecialists, especially when stacked in cities with Wall Street. I tend to use them as superspecialists until rather later than the other types of great people since they tend to offer a very poor selection of techs to hurry, especially in the later stages (though this has become less of an issue with the later patches).

It may sometimes be a good idea to use a great prophet to hurry a tech very early on, unlike the other great people types, if you are lacking a religion. Since they hurry religious techs they will often allow you to found one of the later religions (especially Confucianism and Christianity) at a very early date.

General trends

As is fairly obvious superspecialists are generally better in the early stages, and inadvisable in the late game. The position of the cutoff though is variable. For great artists and prophets it lies quite late, well into the renaissance or later. For Merchants it's rather earlier. I'm generally against the use of engineers or scientists as superspecialists at all except in very specific circumstances.

Golden Ages

I've left these till now as they are not particularly specific to great person type. Despite the fact the AI burns most of its great people on golden ages I would strongly advise against doing this. The golden age is very brief, even though the boost in production and commerce per turn during it is substantial, and there are much better returns to be had from any other use of great people in the early stages. I regard them as a sensible choice only in the modern age, where they have maximum effect, and great people have fewer sensible alternatives (especially prophets and, after the elevator is built, engineers. The free engineer from fusion is one I often spend on a golden age due to the absence of any hurriable wonders at this stage). Each golden age costs more great people than the last and I strongly doubt you will ever have a game where more than two great people induced golden ages are advisable.

Note for Conquest and Domination games

I've generally discussed this in terms of the in game eras, but the game may well not reach the later eras if you are pursuing either of these victory types. In that case you should shift the cutoffs for the use of superspecialists and golden ages earlier so they are in the same place relative to the length of the game you are expecting.

jayron32 said:

This might be a good topic for the Strategy Articles section, but as I am asking the question, I will put it here:

Has anyone done an analysis of the relative merits of using each of the great people for each of their purposes?

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I haven't seen one.

I think the question, as posed is too difficult. Now versus later tradeoffs are a real pain to evaluate, and even later vs later evaluations can be a problem. [Example: is it better for me to take this nifty Great Scientist and add him to my science city, or to build a new academy in that commerce monster over there? The academy is a strong play if I'm dedicating commerce to research, but becomes weak when I have to stockpile cash or generate culture.]

More practical might be to review what sorts of things people consider when deciding how to apply a great person, and if there are particular tactical choices that can be made to leverage specialists more easily.

My list goes something like this:
1) if I'm not in Universal Suffrage with mature cottages, or if I'm losing a battle with war weariness, I take golden age off the table. The post Biology population boom is also a bad time, I believe (the thought just hit me, and I haven't worked it through)

2) For race techs, there's a big difference between using a GP to finish research, and using a GP to start it (the latter choice is really weird). In most cases, I think winning the race is going to be top priority (for denial value, if nothing else).

3) When not racing, I tend to think in terms of "turns of research". How many turns of research do I save? What do I get if I buy this tech early? So whether I'm in position to apply this tech immediately is an important factor. The equation changes quite a bit here post Alphabet, when you may be able to trade your new tech around.

4) Is there a better tech around the corner? The classic case here is using a Great Prophet to research Civil Service for you (would you rather get 4 turns of research for Meditation or 35 turns of research for CS?)

6) Do I know where I want to put the specialist? Each of the specialists has one strong synergy with a national wonder, and most have an additional minor synergy. So adding a priest to an Ironworks/WallStreet combo is going to be a lot more favorable than adding them to either city alone. If your long term plans include Representation, then dropping them into your science city also has a bit of extra vigorish.

7) How much time is left? Once you are actually racing to build ship parts, there is very little other than a golden age which can affect the outcome.


In my games, the most common uses
Scientists: Academies in the capital (to leverage the commerce of the palace and bureaucracy), wherever the Great Library goes, and wherever Oxford ends up. If I'm space racing, the other commerce monsters usually get academies. For other games I try to enroll them at Oxford.

Engineers: Wonders, both world and national ( if doing so gives me a high return -- for example, rushing the national epic in a hammer starved GP farm). The don't help much with the space projects though (3 hammers per turn is going to be something less than 5% of a city's production), so golden ages become more appealing

Artists: For war games, these are attacking units; cultural games they get stockpiled for the endgame. I've attached them to cities in the past to deal with cultural pressure, though really Axemen are a more appropriate tool for that problem.

Merchants: The value of a merchant depends a lot on being able to get him to a big, friendly, remote capital. It's been a while since I've had any friendly civs on the board , so I've been attaching them to Wall Street.

Prophets: I'm still learning about these guys. In all of my early games (the pre-clue era), they were a complete waste of my time [read Golden Age]. The last couple games have been a real eye opener, though: doubled shrines + Angkor Wat + Wall Street gets to be pretty tasty. I think three or four shrines is the practical limit, though - unless the religion is already wide spread, trying to shoehorn in all the religions really starts to waste hammers. The jury is still out on this one - but the idea of the Ironworks/Wall Street combo is really tempting.

There's really no bad way to use a GP. I usually generate a couple priests and scientists, then I'm all about the merchants.

Priests always come early if I build stonehenge or oracle. I usually add them to my capital so I get some extra coin + production, which is pretty useful at the beginning of the game.

Scientists are the first GPs I actively try to generate. They usually go toward an academy, but sometimes it's a tech.

Merchants come after I have an academy or two. Once I have caste system I set up a merchant farm, then I just add all my great merchants to the city I plan to build Wall Street in.

Artists I don't like, so I save them for a GA.

Engineers I hardly ever get. I usually just set them aside and wait for a wonder to use them on.

The reason I like to do the merchant thing so often, is because it's so simple and I don't have to make any decisions about what to do with my GP.

MrCynical said:

Great Merchant

The great merchant can be used for instant gold when transported to a foreign city....Since the lump sum bonus is larger in the later stages of the game, due to the presence of larger cities, and cities further away, it becomes more favourable then.

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I'm not convinced that this is true - I think the bonus is smaller (either comparing the lump sum to your commerce rate, or to your expenses) in the later game (relatively speaking). The increased flexibility of gold in the late game definitely influences the decision (in addition to the "time remaining" element when comparing to attaching the merchant to a city) - my gut is that this is a bigger influence than the scale of the economy.

I'm not convinced that this is true - I think the bonus is smaller (either comparing the lump sum to your commerce rate, or to your expenses) in the later game (relatively speaking). The increased flexibility of gold in the late game definitely influences the decision (in addition to the "time remaining" element when comparing to attaching the merchant to a city) - my gut is that this is a bigger influence than the scale of the economy.

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Yes, relative to your commerce per turn the gold lump sum may be smaller in the late game, but in terms of raw ammount of gold relative to the amount of beakers generated from hurrying a tech, or from gold per turn as a superspecialist it is better in the late game. As with all the lump sum type bonuses I regard them as better later on.

MrCynical said:

Great Scientist

The great scientist's main ability is to build an Academy giving a 50% boost to science in that city, and 4 handy culture per turn as well. In the early stages of a game this will almost invariably be the best option, since a well placed academy can result in boosts of tens of thousands of beakers over the course of a game, compared to the relatively paltry amount from hurrying a tech. Priority for academies should obviously be given to the city with Oxford University and high commerce cities.

Owing to the size of the academy boost in the early stages I would strongly advise against the use of great scientists as superspecialists at all. Unless your cities are incredibly weak on commerce production an academy somewhere will give more beakers than the 6 produced by a superspecialist. Even in the absolute best case you cannot get more than 32 beakers per turn from a superspecialist, and that's if you merge it into a city with a pre existing academy, Oxford and have the right civics. If you have any other city giving a decent science output an academy will be the better choice.

The only exceptions to this I would say are if you are running an economy based on specialists, are for some reason stuck running a very low science rate, or have almost all your research focused in a single city. Then the superspecialist may be preferable.

In the late stages of the game (late industrial to modern age) great scientists may be better used for hurrying techs, due to the limited time an academy would have to contribute research.

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I respectfully but completely disagree.

Most players devote one city with strong commerce production to becoming specialized as a "Science City". Any and all Wonders and buildings that multiply research points get built here, including the first Academy. As a result, around mid-game, you will have built the following science multipliers:

Library: +25%
University: +25%
Oxford University: +100%
Academy: +50%
Observatory: +25%
------------------------------
Total science multiplier: 225%

(In addition, you will try to spread as many religions to this city as possible and build each religion's monastery for the +10% science boost they provide. Since these become obsolete around mid-game with Scientific Method, let's leave them out of the equation for now--even though they are relevant, since they can compensate for the early absence/later arrival of universities and observatories. I'm also not counting the Laboratory, since it arrives very late in the game, even though it will provide the same benefit.)

Merging a Great Scientist into this city as a Science Super-Specialist will provide 6 research points or "beakers", 9 if you're running the Representation civic, which most people do at mid-game. But let's consider both scenarios.

On any government civic but Representation, a science super-specialist in the science city contributes 6 + (6 x 2.25) = 19.5. With Representation, 9 + (9 x 2.25) = 29.25. (I believe the game rounds those down, but I could be wrong, so I've left the decimals in.)

An Academy multiplies science in a city by 50% and adds no research points in and of itself, unlike a Super Specialist. Say you instead build an Academy with your second Great Scientist in a city that is producing 17 "beakers" per turn (that's not counting other multipliers like libraries; the multipliers don't multiply one another). The Academy would give you a boost of 8.5 research points. That's not even half of what the science super-specialist will give you in your science city on a non-Representation civic.

In fact, based on the math above, it would only be worthwhile to build an Academy in a non-science specialised city if it's producing at least 40 beakers (non-Rep) or 60 beakers (Rep). It's pretty darn unusual to come across a non-science specialized city that's doing this until late game.

I should also point out that the Academy's benefits get reduced if you switch production in the city where it's built; if you change from commerce-heavy tiles to production-heavy tiles to produce a Wonder, for example, you diminish its effects. Science Super-Specialists, on the other hand, contribute those beakers and have them multiplied every turn, all game long, regardless of what their home city is producing. In fact, science specialists and super-specialists can ensure that even if you have to reduce the science slider to 0% for a few turns for some reason--say to raise money--some research points will continue to accumulate, and tech research will not stop cold.

So I have to conclude that the best long-term use of Great Scientists, once the Academy is built in the Science City, is as Super Specialists. Though I confess I may burn one or two for a tech I would really, really benefit from getting at a key point in the game.

An Academy multiplies science in a city by 50% and adds no research points in and of itself, unlike a Super Specialist. Say you instead build an Academy with your second Great Scientist in a city that is producing 17 "beakers" per turn (that's not counting other multipliers like libraries; the multipliers don't multiply one another). The Academy would give you a boost of 8.5 research points. That's not even half of what the science super-specialist will give you in your science city on a non-Representation civic.

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In the mid game I'd be surprised if my worst city was producing only 17 science per turn, regardless of whether I'm getting them from commerce or specialists. Even a city setup up totally for production, or running all non-science producing specialists should be making at least this much. This really isn't a fair comparison.

On any government civic but Representation, a science super-specialist in the science city contributes 6 + (6 x 2.25) = 19.5. With Representation, 9 + (9 x 2.25) = 29.25. (I believe the game rounds those down, but I could be wrong, so I've left the decimals in.)

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It does round down, but I'll use 30 for round numbers. Count it up to a monastery or something.

In fact, based on the math above, it would only be worthwhile to build an Academy in a non-science specialised city if it's producing at least 40 beakers (non-Rep) or 60 beakers (Rep). It's pretty darn unusual to come across a non-science specialized city that's doing this until late game.

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You're correct that a city will only do better with an academy if it is getting 60 base beakers per turn (or 40 if not under representation), but I don't think you're correct in saying that this is only going to happen in the late game. 60 base beakers = 10 scientists under representation, or 8(ish depending on whether its a financial civ) towns with Free Speech, available at comparable time to representation. I've had 25+ commerce just from trade routes in some cities at this stage of the game. I don't think it that unreasonable to expect your second best commerce producing city has 7 or 8 towns by the invention of Constitution, and this doesn't even factor in rivers, resources, coast, and so on.

So I have to conclude that the best long-term use of Great Scientists, once the Academy is built in the Science City, is as Super Specialists. Though I confess I may burn one or two for a tech I would really, really benefit from getting at a key point in the game.

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Then let me give a more precise guide. If you have any city generating more than 60 commerce per turn it should get an Academy if you get a great scientist. If you are not running, or planning to run representation, then any city with 40 commerce per turn or more should get an academy if you get a great scientist. I have never had a game where I did not have at least three cities other than my science city that met this criteria before the invention of Education, Constitution, etc, and I frequently have more. If you don't have any strong commerce cities, then yes you're better with a superspecialist, but I really think that not having any cities beyond your science city generating 60+ base beakers per turn by the Renaissance is a sign you're in severe trouble to start with.

Sisiutil said:

So I have to conclude that the best long-term use of Great Scientists, once the Academy is built in the Science City, is as Super Specialists.

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Actually, I'd call it the best short-term use for the early part of the game. Late game, you'll definitely get more beakers out of a second academy over just one more measly scientist. So unless you are going to continue to specifically generate scientists throughout the game, you may never see another great scientist, and your best long-term use is going to be another academy. But you have to get to the late game first, and having a super science city for the better half will help get you there.

I usually generate 2-3 scientists and make academies, then switch to merchants for a gold city.

Sisiutil said:

On any government civic but Representation, a science super-specialist in the science city contributes 6 + (6 x 2.25) = 19.5. With Representation, 9 + (9 x 2.25) = 29.25. (I believe the game rounds those down, but I could be wrong, so I've left the decimals in.)

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The floor function is invoked after the multiplier is applied to the sum of the research in the city. It's probably clearer what's going to happen if you present the value as 6 * (1 + 2.25) [or 9 * (1+2.25)]

And of course this math is only applicable after Oxford is built. Prior to that your multiplier is (1+1.00), so you have a whole different set of worries.

For a datapoint - my most recent game (a shadow of Sisiutil's Monty game), I finished Oxford during a golden age. When I came out of the golden age, I was running science at 80% (-3 gpt, with over 800 in the bank), and had two not-oxford cities pulling more than 60 research per turn, before multipliers.

[Though it occurs to me in writing this that things get really jumbled - the big commerce cities kick in with towns, when Universal Suffrage and Emancipation kick in. So the gold standard there is 40 per turn, not 60. Assuming that your strategy calls for a high science rate anyway.]

MrCynical said:

Then let me give a more precise guide. If you have any city generating more than 60 commerce per turn it should get an Academy if you get a great scientist. If you are not running, or planning to run representation, then any city with 40 commerce per turn or more should get an academy if you get a great scientist. I have never had a game where I did not have at least three cities other than my science city that met this criteria before the invention of Education, Constitution, etc, and I frequently have more. If you don't have any strong commerce cities, then yes you're better with a superspecialist, but I really think that not having any cities beyond your science city generating 60+ base beakers per turn by the Renaissance is a sign you're in severe trouble to start with.

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Well-put. Definitely the best thing to come out of this very worthwhile debate. I look forward to employing this in my next game.

On my latest game with the incans i found with science at 50% i was hitting 600 or so gold surplus and the need for great engineers was low as i could buy most wonders quite easily while maintaining a tech lead. Science academies are useful.My top 4 science cities after academies were producing over 100 science beakers each with the best city over 200. I ended up moving my capital to the city wall street and oxford university to use the 8 extra trade from palace more wisely. I think there is a saturation point where its not essential to boost your science any more on certain difficulty levels.

The AI esp Americans are getting very annoying at dropping culture bombs on newly found/ captured cities with Great Artists. Be wary of Americans capturing barbarian cities behind your lines is all i can say.

I still think the great merchant GP farm looks most fun to do. Great Engineers only add value if you saved a lot of turns. I like the buying option with Universal suf. its a lot easier than a great Engineer come later game. (looks for quickest exit and runs)

To date, this is my general strategy with Great People:

Early game

Cities are small, and you are primarily reliant on resources to produce any decent hammers, food, or commerce. So in general, the best investment for your great person is to settle them. I rarely use them to discover techs. Settled GPs tend to go in my capital, except for Great Artists, which go on my frontier cities. Golden Ages are a poor investment at this stage of the game.

There are a few exceptions:

Great Prophet: if I have a holy city, I use it to build the shrine. If I don't have a holy city, I use the GP to research a religious tech and get a holy city. My first holy city is always my wealth city.

Great Scientist: always build an academy in my intended science city first, then settle any others there.

Great Engineer: save for early wonders.

Great Artist: if I'm alone on my own continent, then I save them for later invasions.

Mid-game

Cities are mid-sized, and ready to specialize. In general, it's still a good investment to settle them, but again there are exceptions. Researching techs is still a rarity for me, and golden ages aren't worthwhile.

Great Prophet: my Wealth city has already been established, but if I have more than one holy city, it's usually worthwhile to build a second (or even third) Shrine with it to provide secondary wealth cities. Otherwise, the Great Prophet settles in my primary wealth city, to provide hammers and boost his gold output.

Great Scientist: Builds Academies in my best commerce cities, to turn them into secondary science cities.

Great Artist: If I'm planning on invading someone, then I save them. Otherwise, I settle them, as before, on my borders.

Great Engineer: still rushing wonders.

Great Merchant: If there's a very big and very far away city, it might be worthwhile to send him on a trade mission. Generally, I settle him in my primary wealth city. Two of these guys are able to support a merchant specialist... generating even more gold.

Late Game

At this stage, it's no longer worthwhile to settle a great person. Unless you're going for a space-race victory, the game will be over before the settled GP returns your investment. In addition, cities are now very large and prosperous, so triggering a single Golden Age is a good investment.

Great Prophets are saved to trigger a Golden Age.

Great Scientists are usually used to rush research or trigger a Golden Age.

Great Artists are saved for an invasion or to trigger a Golden Age.

Great Engineer are still saved to rush the few late-game wonders.

Great Merchants go on trade missions.

Gumbolt said:

On my latest game with the incans i found with science at 50% i was hitting 600 or so gold surplus and the need for great engineers was low as i could buy most wonders quite easily while maintaining a tech lead. Science academies are useful.My top 4 science cities after academies were producing over 100 science beakers each with the best city over 200.

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Before or after modifiers? This is the main thrust of Sisiutil's point, I believe; that the correct calculation requires knowing how much research the target city is generating before the bonus multipliers kick in (ie, he's not including the beakers of research you get from having a library, monasteries, and so on).

Great responses everyone. That was what I was looking for...

Another side question: Many people seem to use their Merchants as long-term cash production, but I have always used them as quick-cash sources. While over the course of several hundred turns, the merchant DOES generate more cash, I find that often, I need cash NOW. WHen I get a great Merchant, I often use it to get $2500-$3000 and then use the cash for a quick army-wide upgrade. Turning a bunch of archers into infantry can cause a serious increase in your defensive ability. I find that waiting for that much cash to build up means I have to upgrade turn-for-turn, often leaving cities more poorly defended. Any ideas? Is that a sound use for merchants or is it ALWAYS better to install them and wait for the cash to come in?