futurehermit
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2006
- Messages
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As you know from my other two threads, I'm currently working on combining a specialist econ with being quite aggressive on emperor level.
I've been struggling getting my econ right. Either I go too strong on econ and fall behind on military or vice versa. So I crunched some numbers, and here is what I came up with. I'll break it down by classical era and medieval era and compare running representation and not running it.
Please, if anyone notices errors in my math or logic, let me know. I don't claim this is perfect, I'm putting it out there for discussion. I hope it is accurate, but I'm of course subject to human error.
Classical Era with Representation
Average tech cost (in beakers): 315 (rounded to nearest beaker; includes hbriding)
# of specialists required to maintain a rate of 1 tech/10 turns: 5(rounded to nearest specialist) (math: [315/6]/10)
Great library provides 2 free specialists.
# of specialists required to maintain tech rate in addition to those provided by great library: 3 (math: 5-2)
From the pyramids, you will receive a great engineer, who provides 6 beakers when settled (3 base + 3 from representation). This works out to 1 specialist since a regular scientist with representation amounts to 6 beakers.
# of specialists required to maintain tech rate in addition to those provided by GL and GE: 2 (math: 5-2-1)
Conclusion: With Great Library and a settled great engineer you can achieve a classical tech rate of 1 tech per 10 turns running only one city with two specialists! Obviously, the rate is much faster if you run additional cities.
Classical Era Without Representation
I'll spare you the rhetoric and just give you the numbers.
# specialists for tech rate (base): 10.5
# specialists less great library: 8.5
The great engineer provides 3 beakers which is comparable to 1 scientist without representation.
# specialists less great library and GE: 7.5
Conclusion: To achieve a comparable tech rate, you need to run approximately 4 cities or four times the amount! Thus, although representation doubles the beakers produced, the cummulative impact is in fact 4x at this point.
Medieval Era with Representation
Average medieval age tech cost: 733 beakers
# specialists for 1 tech/10 turn rate: 12 (rounded to nearest specialist) (math: (733/6)/10)
# specialists less GL: 10 (math: 12-2)
# specialists less GL and GE: 9 (math: 12-2-1 [note: remember that when running representation the GE is worth one specialist because a regular specialist is worth 6 and the GE also 6])
By medieval age, you'll likely have received a Great Scientist, which provides 9 beakers/turn with representation (6 base +3) when settled. This is equivalent to 1.5 scientists.
# specialists less GL, GE, and GS: 7.5 (math: 12-2-1-1.5)
Conclusion: To run a 1 tech/10 turns econ during the medieval age you'll need 4 cities running 2 specialists per city. Therefore, you will want to have conquered 2-3 additional commerce cities during the classical age. For the peaceful player, if there is sufficient and good quality land around you could even build these cities yourself!
Medieval Era without Representation
Again, sparing the rhetoric, giving the numbers.
Number of specialists for tech rate: 24! (math: (733/3)/10)
Number less GL: 22 (math: 24-2)
Number less GL and GE: 21 (math: 24-2-1 [note: remember that without representation the 3 beakers from the GE is equivalent to one specialist])
Number less GL, GE, and GS: 19 (math: 24-2-1-2 [note: the 6 beakers from the GS is equivalent to 2 specialists])
Conclusion: Without representation, you would need to either run 10 cities with 2 scientists/city, adopt caste system and then running say 4 scientists per city you could trim this down to around 5 cities, or use great merchants from markets and the science slider a bit to also come closer to 5 cities. Notice that this is 2.5x more than the 4 cities with 2 specialists per city required when running representation. It's interesting to note that the effect has decreased from 4x to 2.5x. If this rate continues to go down (I will consider adding the next era soon) then it demonstrates that the benefit of running representation is strongest early on and that would indeed strongly endorse the benefits of getting the pyramids early on.
Final Thoughts: Running a specialist econ with representation gives you twice the beakers, but it gives you four times the economic impact early on! Clearly when running a specialist econ, representation is a huge asset as it substantially limits the number of commerce cities required to maintain a respectable economy. Thus, you can either keep your empire smaller [conquest] or else have more production centers [domination]. Not to mention that if you need to 1] reduce war weariness or 2] pump out some units fast, OR if you already have the tech lead and want to put a hurting on a rival civ, you can switch over to police state!!
I look forward to your thoughts and some discussion.
EDIT: Thanks to Nares for pointing out the correct numbers on the GE. After going back to my spreadsheet, I saw that for running rep vs. not running rep the GE was worthwhile to settle during the classical era (i.e., it made a small impact on the number of specialists required for the tech rate). *However*, once I moved on to the Medeival era, I noted that it made negligible impact (i.e., it made no noticeable impact on the number of specialists required for the tech rate). Therefore, I would argue that the best use of the GE is to unlock metal casting early. It's an expensive tech. The AI rarely goes for it early, so it's great trade-bait. Plus, it gives you forges, cheap ones if you're industrial (good idea since you need the pricy pyramids to get the GE). You can use the forges in your production centers to support your war effort.
EDIT2: Thanks to DarkFyre99 for pointing out the correct numbers on the GP. He's not worth settling either, so please disregard the GE lines of the analysis. DarkFyre99 also suggested building an academy instead of settling the GS, so feel free to focus solely on the lines discussing the numbers of the GL.
I've been struggling getting my econ right. Either I go too strong on econ and fall behind on military or vice versa. So I crunched some numbers, and here is what I came up with. I'll break it down by classical era and medieval era and compare running representation and not running it.
Please, if anyone notices errors in my math or logic, let me know. I don't claim this is perfect, I'm putting it out there for discussion. I hope it is accurate, but I'm of course subject to human error.
Classical Era with Representation
Average tech cost (in beakers): 315 (rounded to nearest beaker; includes hbriding)
# of specialists required to maintain a rate of 1 tech/10 turns: 5(rounded to nearest specialist) (math: [315/6]/10)
Great library provides 2 free specialists.
# of specialists required to maintain tech rate in addition to those provided by great library: 3 (math: 5-2)
From the pyramids, you will receive a great engineer, who provides 6 beakers when settled (3 base + 3 from representation). This works out to 1 specialist since a regular scientist with representation amounts to 6 beakers.
# of specialists required to maintain tech rate in addition to those provided by GL and GE: 2 (math: 5-2-1)
Conclusion: With Great Library and a settled great engineer you can achieve a classical tech rate of 1 tech per 10 turns running only one city with two specialists! Obviously, the rate is much faster if you run additional cities.
Classical Era Without Representation
I'll spare you the rhetoric and just give you the numbers.
# specialists for tech rate (base): 10.5
# specialists less great library: 8.5
The great engineer provides 3 beakers which is comparable to 1 scientist without representation.
# specialists less great library and GE: 7.5
Conclusion: To achieve a comparable tech rate, you need to run approximately 4 cities or four times the amount! Thus, although representation doubles the beakers produced, the cummulative impact is in fact 4x at this point.
Medieval Era with Representation
Average medieval age tech cost: 733 beakers
# specialists for 1 tech/10 turn rate: 12 (rounded to nearest specialist) (math: (733/6)/10)
# specialists less GL: 10 (math: 12-2)
# specialists less GL and GE: 9 (math: 12-2-1 [note: remember that when running representation the GE is worth one specialist because a regular specialist is worth 6 and the GE also 6])
By medieval age, you'll likely have received a Great Scientist, which provides 9 beakers/turn with representation (6 base +3) when settled. This is equivalent to 1.5 scientists.
# specialists less GL, GE, and GS: 7.5 (math: 12-2-1-1.5)
Conclusion: To run a 1 tech/10 turns econ during the medieval age you'll need 4 cities running 2 specialists per city. Therefore, you will want to have conquered 2-3 additional commerce cities during the classical age. For the peaceful player, if there is sufficient and good quality land around you could even build these cities yourself!
Medieval Era without Representation
Again, sparing the rhetoric, giving the numbers.
Number of specialists for tech rate: 24! (math: (733/3)/10)
Number less GL: 22 (math: 24-2)
Number less GL and GE: 21 (math: 24-2-1 [note: remember that without representation the 3 beakers from the GE is equivalent to one specialist])
Number less GL, GE, and GS: 19 (math: 24-2-1-2 [note: the 6 beakers from the GS is equivalent to 2 specialists])
Conclusion: Without representation, you would need to either run 10 cities with 2 scientists/city, adopt caste system and then running say 4 scientists per city you could trim this down to around 5 cities, or use great merchants from markets and the science slider a bit to also come closer to 5 cities. Notice that this is 2.5x more than the 4 cities with 2 specialists per city required when running representation. It's interesting to note that the effect has decreased from 4x to 2.5x. If this rate continues to go down (I will consider adding the next era soon) then it demonstrates that the benefit of running representation is strongest early on and that would indeed strongly endorse the benefits of getting the pyramids early on.
Final Thoughts: Running a specialist econ with representation gives you twice the beakers, but it gives you four times the economic impact early on! Clearly when running a specialist econ, representation is a huge asset as it substantially limits the number of commerce cities required to maintain a respectable economy. Thus, you can either keep your empire smaller [conquest] or else have more production centers [domination]. Not to mention that if you need to 1] reduce war weariness or 2] pump out some units fast, OR if you already have the tech lead and want to put a hurting on a rival civ, you can switch over to police state!!
I look forward to your thoughts and some discussion.
EDIT: Thanks to Nares for pointing out the correct numbers on the GE. After going back to my spreadsheet, I saw that for running rep vs. not running rep the GE was worthwhile to settle during the classical era (i.e., it made a small impact on the number of specialists required for the tech rate). *However*, once I moved on to the Medeival era, I noted that it made negligible impact (i.e., it made no noticeable impact on the number of specialists required for the tech rate). Therefore, I would argue that the best use of the GE is to unlock metal casting early. It's an expensive tech. The AI rarely goes for it early, so it's great trade-bait. Plus, it gives you forges, cheap ones if you're industrial (good idea since you need the pricy pyramids to get the GE). You can use the forges in your production centers to support your war effort.
EDIT2: Thanks to DarkFyre99 for pointing out the correct numbers on the GP. He's not worth settling either, so please disregard the GE lines of the analysis. DarkFyre99 also suggested building an academy instead of settling the GS, so feel free to focus solely on the lines discussing the numbers of the GL.