Specialist citizens

[vorlon_mi]

So if there is civil disorder in a city, a non-entertainer specialist will also quell the resistance?

Disorder comes when there are more unhappy citizens than happy ones, IIRC. That rule applies at all stages of the game.
All specialists are considered content, at all stages of the game.

Very early game, still running despotism: One can use of several tactics to restore order:

• Each unit present as a military police turns one unhappy citizen to content
• Producing a worker or settler reduces the population of the city, so that your number of unhappy citizens goes down
• Taking an unhappy citizen off a tile to become a specialist makes her/him content
• Increasing the lux slider affects unhappy citizens across the empire

Of these, the first two support the overall early game strategy of expansion. Produce a unit, then a settler, pop goes down while the unit escorts the settler to the new city location. Repeat. I've used the 3rd tactic when a food-rich city grows while I'm making a building and I don't have a military police unit handy -- often because they're escorting or exploring.

Ancient Age, after converting to Republic: The tactics (and the preferred order change a bit). Military police are no longer an option.

• Trade for a luxury from an AI civ. Also helps the entire empire
• Producing a worker or settler, as above
• Increasing the lux slider, as above. When in Republic, I tend to keep my lux slider at 10% as a baseline
• Taking unhappy citizen(s) off the tile to become specialist(s). This is often desirable for river-side cities that could grow to size 7 or more (without an Aqueduct)

As your empire expands in size and road connections, you can work to prevent disorder by hooking up luxuries. Building marketplaces serve as a happiness multiplier for those luxuries. Send your troops to conquer AI cities with luxuries near them. That's the strategic approach.

But to the original question: When I have to fight disorder in one city by using a specialist, I tend to set the citizen to be a scientist rather than a clown, so that I get some useful beakers from her/him. Content citizens are good enough, short term, while I hook up and trade for luxuries. Using specialists in the early game is a tactical approach, a stopgap, until the strategic approach comes online.

In the Middle Ages and later, you can prevent most disorder in your core and other self-founded cities with luxuries, marketplaces, and a baseline lux slider. Newly conquered cities often lack markets and/or roads, so specialists may be needed there. Consider the advice in this thread about using the city governor to "manage moods", literally turning citizens into specialists for you, in newly conquered cities. https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...disorder-automation-fix.658077/#post-15785007

 

[justanick]

All specialists are considered content, at all stages of the game.

For most practical purposes that would be true and therefore this statement cannot be distinguished from the truth.

But i wonder if calling them content is sensible. Sure, they have the neutral setting like content citizen and they also are valued like content citizen in regard to the score. But in regard to the WLTKD there might be a difference.

For the WLTKD there must be no unhappy citizen and the amount of content citizens must not exceed those of the happy ones. Specialists donnot matter there. Also other conditions like having reached at least size 6 must be met.

Increasing the lux slider, as above. When in Republic, I tend to keep my lux slider at 10% as a baseline

As a republic most tiles will yield a net commerce even when deductung the needed increase in the luxury slider. Therefore my conclusion would be to (temporarily) allow relatively high luxury sliders in favour of letting settlements grow in size as fast as reasonably possible. This also means to avoid using specialists as they curb growth compared to using citizens on tiles producing food.

Taking unhappy citizen(s) off the tile to become specialist(s). This is often desirable for river-side cities that could grow to size 7 or more (without an Aqueduct)

Growing from size 6 to size 7 yields great benefits. High free unit support will give you +4 gtp in most cases, the yields of the city tile itself will increase and of course you could use the additional population point as a citizen working a tile. If for the moment you lack properly improved tiles due to the expected worker shortage, then a specialist is an option as this enables you to reduce the global setting for the luxury slider.

If however you have properly improved tiles, and simply being roaded may suffice here for a while, then the higher commerce yield may enable you to not need a specialist here. If your base commerce is 18 at size 6 and increased by 2 from the seventh citizen and by 1 or 3 from the city tile, then you will have a base commerce of 21 as a noncommercial tribe and 23 as a commercial one.

If no corruption applies, this might well suffice. 30% of 18 are 5.4=5, 30% of 21 are 6.3=6 and 30% of 23 are 6.9=7. Rounding matters, obviously.

At lower luxury sliders this is less practical, but arguably low luxury slider settings are already a bit unreasonable as an early republic. This changes once trading for luxury goods is viable.

 

[Tasonne]

I use mostly scientists, a few tax men here and there, with entertainers as needed

I like how guy calls the entertainers clowns, that's a good one. lol