Has anyone found any better way to do so than directed 4-5 Food Trade Routes to Venice and just making it +60 pop? When you use all the Specialists and then take Rationalism, I've found you can generate some pretty good Science...And if you ally with a load of City States, Scholasticism from Patronage is pretty helpful. The only downside to those is you have to ignore Commerce for a while, and Commerce is pretty important to Venice.
Anyone else have any methods? I usually start to lag behind with Venice in the Industrial Era, as I've found that knocking out an early NC and going Tradition to grow can keep you up with the others in the early game but once Universities start coming into it, i find myself getting left behind.
I play Venice on Emperor, but most of that SV strategy also worked on King, though it was a bit slower. For sure this start isn't optimal, I'm fairly casual a player and I don't care that much to finish as early as possible (below turn 400, though. I play Marathon, but I'd say I usually win a Venice SV around the equiv. of turn 360).
I rarely have a 60 pop Venice for a SV. I focus hard on growth until I can work all the tiles and most specialists (but those I avoid on purpose), then I focus less on that. It's usually between 36 and 40 by the end game, with the puppets at 22 to 25 pop.
Tradition, usually pure. If the map/location gives me exclusivity to barb camps, I might make a detour to open honor at some point, and make up for it by killing a lot of barbs for culture, by not razing a camp, for instance. Otherwise I go all Tradition without delay.
- I start with Pottery > Writing and get a library up. I scout as fast as possible (1 or 2 scouts, depending on the map), looking for huts and CS. usually have a granary up fast, a monument (I sometimes prefer to get a free Amphi) and a shrine (I take the best growth pantheon available). The worker does food tiles first. I take care of non-calendar luxuries. I build one caravan if there's an AI in reach, otherwise I usually wait for a cargo ship. On Emperor this might significantly increase my beakers, though for much shorter than on higher levels. I also get an archer or two up, then if my neighbor allows, I neglect my army for a while, or sometimes get Longbowmen. I usually do Calendar and Philosophy before I go for Optics, and I leave the bottom of the tree alone as much as possible, as it increases the science return from TR. After Optics, I puppet a coastal CS in reach of Venice, and then I devote 1 cargo ship to feeding Venice, one cargo ship to feed the puppet, and the rest is usually still sent to the AI for science and gold at that point. I avoid all early Wonders, especially the GLH that gives GM points. I don't want to produce a second before I get my first GS.
I do *a lot* of tech stealing, getting bottom tree techs as I research at the top.
I try to go as fast as possible from Philosophy to Education. I usually buy my two universities right away. If I don't yet have a religion and it's safe to do this, I have picked Hagia Sophia as my first Wonder, and pick Swords into Plowshares. I save Oxford for later (usually to rush through Industrial and get Radio very early, then I do Archeology to get a museum to be able to buy a broadcast tower as soon as I can).
I usually have enough culture that I can't avoid picking at least one or two SP after Tradition and before I reach the Renaissance and go into Rationalism. It might be Commerce opener + Aesthetics opener (I use Aesthetics almost only to speed up SP acquistion in the late game). As soon as I can I stay in Rationalism at least until I get the first three SP (later I finish it to buy GS and for the free tech I try to make count, but never before Industrial).
I work my science specialist(s) as soon as I can, and plant my GS for Academies. I want three (more rarely four) before I get to Scientific Theory. Another Wonder I usually aim for is Porcelain Tower. I never build the Forbidden Palace, it's useless for Venice that can buy CS so easily for extra delegates. I never work GM slots if I play for a SV. MoV will come anyway, the first puppet will produce one no matter what and it's GS I want, and late game I'll have more than I wished. I don't get the Commerce booster either. I usually puppet 2 more CS by the mid-game, then it varies from game to game. A loose rule of thumb is that each of those puppet will send a food route to Venice, and if possible one will be sent to them. I move a GW or two to puppets for a little while, to make them grow their borders as they really suck at that. If I find my science still too low, I might grab really 2-3 big CS late game, usually around the time I get Research Labs. Those mostly boost the strength of the GS... I rarely own more than 6 cities, and Venice is on average around 35 pop, with 3 academies adding a whole lot pop, as far as science is concerned. In other games I prefer to wage war and get big cities in the peace deals.
Even in a science game I try to keep a strong culture, with Wonders if available, to speed up SP acquisitions and to make pressure a non-issue. I feel it's important, because I often don't have the dominant Ideology. Speaking of that, I beeline to Radio that I get with Oxford, then Eiffel Tower for the 12+ tourism, since Venice often doesn't have much time to waste on producing archeologists. On Emperor I'm usually 8-10 techs ahead of the best AI by Modern, or if less the AI has bottom tree techs. I rush to propose Freedom as WI and buy the delegates to make sure it will pass, before most AI are even close to getting their Ideology. That put pressure issues behind me.
When my mid-game I seriously expand my alliances with CS, I finally go intro Patronage to get Scholasticism (with Venice and a lot of CS allies, usually all of them or close, which are by then quite big, the gain can be quite significant, but not as much in games I have 5-6 tall cities).
The rest is pretty straight forward: I always buy the science buildings in Venice and the Puppets, and very fast. I collect as many GS as I can after ST, buy some with faith, bulb them after my science production has pretty much peaked.
In non-Venice games I much prefer to go Order for SV, but with Venice buying parts is a must, so it's always Freedom for SV. I compensate with a focus on GS, helped with faith and avoiding too many MoV and GE. My tech lead lets me easily get all the bonus GS of the late game, like Hubble's, and the ISS.
I noticed my Venice puppets often work their science specialists and build research at some point, but I never puzzled out what possibly makes them switch to that instead of their usual gold focus.
I do buy RAs with the AI that aren't too much behind me. They're not worth much, but gold's cheap with Venice and I have plenty for CS and buildings, so...
Other tips: I keep an eye out for CS next to a mountain for Observatories, especially if I didn't have one next to Venice itself. It's not unusual I have observatories in Venice + three puppets. In those cases, I put even more focus on growing everyone.
didn't notice the bang before you said something strange.
