Tips for faster Science victory?

[immortalwarrior]

Well I just finished another game - turn 309 science victory! So I'm getting better!

The caravan thing to the capital was huge - my population there was 40 at the end of the game. I didn't build the great library...I now agree it's better to get the 4 cities up faster. Had a 2nd city like size 32 or something as well with other caravans feeding it.

I messed up one of my cities though. I was just thinking mountain mountain MOUNTAIN...and ended up in a crappy location with it. Only size 14 at the end of the game...think I might have been better off picing a river spot

Education at T118
Scientific Theory T190.

From what I've read, this means I screwed up some point between Education and Scientific Theory. I planted 1 GS, saved the rest until 8 turns after labs.

Got another question regarding the GS:

Providing I've staffed all my science slots, and it's 8 turns after labs were constructed in all cities, can I just bulb the scientists all at once? Or is there some disadvantage to doing that? I ended up just doing 1 per turn but admin wise it would have been easier to do it all at once.

 

[Dushku]

can I just bulb the scientists all at once? Or is there some disadvantage to doing that?

Like I said, the longer you can wait, the stronger they are. You can pop them all at the same turn, but you need to take overflow into account. When you bulb a GS for more science than it takes to finish your current tech, you get overflow that you can put to the next tech of your choosing. However, this is capped at 5 days of science. That's why I mentioned not using them to complete techs that say they'll take less than 4 turns to complete.

Congrats on 309. Early 300s is good

 

[Acken]

Well I just finished another game - turn 309 science victory! So I'm getting better!

The caravan thing to the capital was huge - my population there was 40 at the end of the game. I didn't build the great library...I now agree it's better to get the 4 cities up faster. Had a 2nd city like size 32 or something as well with other caravans feeding it.

I messed up one of my cities though. I was just thinking mountain mountain MOUNTAIN...and ended up in a crappy location with it. Only size 14 at the end of the game...think I might have been better off picing a river spot

Education at T118
Scientific Theory T190.

From what I've read, this means I screwed up some point between Education and Scientific Theory. I planted 1 GS, saved the rest until 8 turns after labs.

Got another question regarding the GS:

Providing I've staffed all my science slots, and it's 8 turns after labs were constructed in all cities, can I just bulb the scientists all at once? Or is there some disadvantage to doing that? I ended up just doing 1 per turn but admin wise it would have been easier to do it all at once.

High growth is more important than mountains. Do not settle in a foodless area just to get a mountain.
You can settle scientists up to scientific theory. Once you get below 250 you can reevaluate that idea.
You cannot bulb all at once because of the overflow cap. You can with a lot of carefulness bulb multiple a turn. If you have no idea what you are doing, just bulb one a turn on techs taking 3+ turns.
Also unless you play order, you are better off waiting even longer with Freedom since technically you are not as much in a hurry if you simply buy all parts.

 

[Mesix]

Well I just finished another game - turn 309 science victory! So I'm getting better!

The caravan thing to the capital was huge - my population there was 40 at the end of the game. I didn't build the great library...I now agree it's better to get the 4 cities up faster. Had a 2nd city like size 32 or something as well with other caravans feeding it.

I messed up one of my cities though. I was just thinking mountain mountain MOUNTAIN...and ended up in a crappy location with it. Only size 14 at the end of the game...think I might have been better off picing a river spot

Education at T118
Scientific Theory T190.

From what I've read, this means I screwed up some point between Education and Scientific Theory. I planted 1 GS, saved the rest until 8 turns after labs.

Got another question regarding the GS:

Providing I've staffed all my science slots, and it's 8 turns after labs were constructed in all cities, can I just bulb the scientists all at once? Or is there some disadvantage to doing that? I ended up just doing 1 per turn but admin wise it would have been easier to do it all at once.

Try having your 2nd city be your science city instead of your capital. Sure you can reroll the map for an ideal capital, but you can send out 2x scouts and a warrior to find an even better spots for your expansion cities.

I typically find a high food location for my 2nd city along with a mountain and a river (also on a hill if possible). In this city, I build the GL while the capital builds settlers, caravans (or trade fleets if coastal), military units, and basic buildings. Use the GL to discover Philosophy and build the NC in this same city once the GL is finished. This way you can have your cake and eat it too. You should be able to beat the AI to GL using this approach up to King level (and sometimes on Emperor), but on Immortal and Deity just skip the GL and build the NC in the best of your four cities once you have finished expanding.

My 3rd city (if the capital or science city are not already in favorable terrain for this) is a strong Petra location with a lot of desert hill tiles, a river, mountain, and preferably on a hill as well.

If you are going for a fast science victory, you want to have full Tradition and full Rationalism as soon as you can get the policies. You will typically be able to get 1-2 additional policies after finishing Tradition but before you reach the Renaissance (and open Rationalism). I like to use these policies to open Mercantilism and work towards the two policies on the right side. Once you have these policies and build Big Ben, your purchase cost with gold is much lower. Go for Freedom Ideology to buff your specialists, great people generation, academies (and other great tile improvements), and ultimately opening up the tenant to purchase SS components with gold (which is cheaper with Mercantilism benefits).

 

[Mesix]

Here is a recent Gauntlet challenge in the Civ5 HOF which has a lot of discussion on getting a faster science victory. Read through and try out some of the strategies from this thread. Some of the players use Tradition and others Liberty both with good results.