Fast Science Victories and Great Scientists

[vra379971]

Hello all,

So...there's something that I'm missing here. I don't lose Civ 5 games on any level. I just don't win really quickly. Not that I'm generally unhappy with that. I enjoy my meandering.

What's driving me crazy, is that there's something about this fast science great scientist blast I'm not getting.

Other people it seems can have 5-7 great scientists and be producing 1k a turn and, well, finish the tech tree from Satellites to the top and bottom space parts in blisteringly short order. I bulb these folks and I get 5 or 6 techs out of them. This is sans RA's no less.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[zxcvbob]

They patched the game to fix the Science Overflow Bug, and now you can lose a lot of beakers if there are too many left over at the end of your turn. My observations, which might not be totally correct: Don't bulb a scientist if the currently-researching tech has less than 3 turns to finish. Don't bulb one on the same turn that a RA is finishing. (I think you also lose most of the beakers from a RA if it finishes on the last turn of a tech) And I don't bulb two scientists in the same turn even if I switch techs between them, but that might just be me being paranoid.

Sometimes I race through the last 8 or 10 techs, and sometimes it seems to take forever even with a bunch of GS's; think it has something to do with base science vs. bonus science from CS's and whatever other sources there might be.

 

[donkeyfish]

5-7 Scientists with 1k beakers give 40-56k science. After Satellites (at least the way I play), there is two 9.25k techs and four 8k techs. This is 50k beakers. Normally, there is also three 7k techs (ecology tier) and two or three cheaper ones. So perhaps in the range 70-90k beakers. This implies: no one gets through the end with 5-7 GS and 1k beakers.

When I´m able to blast through the final part I have either more beakers or more GS (usually both). It should be possible to have at least 1200bpt (w/4 cities no mountains) towards the end. Make it 8GS, and you have 77k science from bulbs. It takes 8 turns to bulb 8 GS as well, so the entire process gives around 86k beakers. Thats enough to get to the end, around 10 turns after reaching satellites. Add 4-5 turns if need to research something like Combustion or Refrigeration by hand first.

So what are you doing wrong: 1k base science is quite low, usually need 1200+bpt. I try to have 12 GS available after Plastics, and sometimes save all of them early if i´m worried about GS generation (like no faith, no garden etc). 4GS on Satellites and 8 on the rest should be sufficient (+1 free tech from rationalism somewhere). Of course the precise numbers change from game to game, but the overall point is still there.

I´m definitely not the fastest/best player around here, but I think these are fairly agreeable/standard points.

Edit: Just to support my point, look at the screenshot Babinski just posted in this thread: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=563022.
Almost 1400 bpt at t197 (3 mountains and 5 cities, but still shows how 1200 is definitely doable)

 

[Babinski]

What donkeyfish said.

Also, watch RezoAcken and tommynt on youtube, they are top tier players and you should get plenty of tips from watching their science games.