Well, some brainstorming has finally paid off for me. I'd like to share this idea for a new leader trait, that is hopefully distinct from the other suggestions for the Scientific trait. If this has been posted by somebody else, then I'll apologize, but as far as I can tell, it's a relatively new/unconsidered approach to the Scientific trait.
The problem with previous approaches, in my opinion, has been one of overlap. The Financial trait gives extra commerce which can be translated to science, and Philosophical boosts great people, such as great scientists. Creative gives double production libraries, and Philosophical gives double production universities. So, I've avoided infringing on those benefits. That means no straight +% bonuses to science, because it's too similar to the extra commerce from Financial, just for science. No boosts to great scientists, or extra great scientists, etc. because of Philosophical.
Thus, the proposed trait is...
Academic
+3/4 per population point
+100% production on observatories, research labs
The strategy for this is to make it independent of whether you run a cottage economy or a specialist economy, although it is slightly stronger for a specialist-style economy because of the extra population. It's different from Financial because it is not tied to how much commerce you are bringing in, but rather your overall population. In a weird way, it has synergy with Expansive, because the extra health allows more population and thus more free science, and Imperialistic, because early expansion will net you more free science just for settling cities. It is very strong in the early game, where having a population 4 city will essentially net you a scientist specialist's worth of extra science. In the late game, though, where you have many towns with the Free Speech and Printing Press extra commerce, or several science specialists, it would appear a little less powerful. That's where the observatory and research lab production bonus comes in, to give the trait some utility later in the game.
These production bonuses can be sacrificed if the trait is shown in playtesting to be too strong, or the amount of beakers you receive per population point can be adjusted (anything more than 1 per population point is ridiculous in my opinion, although between 2/3 and 4/5 might be better balanced than my figure).
Well, I made it a poll on purpose. Go ahead and vote, or post about it. This is definitely on my wishlist for Civ5, and for Civ4 if they make another expansion, although for some reason I don't believe the Firaxians will do so. Except for its minor bugs, BtS seems too "finished" to me for another full expansion.
The problem with previous approaches, in my opinion, has been one of overlap. The Financial trait gives extra commerce which can be translated to science, and Philosophical boosts great people, such as great scientists. Creative gives double production libraries, and Philosophical gives double production universities. So, I've avoided infringing on those benefits. That means no straight +% bonuses to science, because it's too similar to the extra commerce from Financial, just for science. No boosts to great scientists, or extra great scientists, etc. because of Philosophical.
Thus, the proposed trait is...
Academic
+3/4 per population point
+100% production on observatories, research labs
The strategy for this is to make it independent of whether you run a cottage economy or a specialist economy, although it is slightly stronger for a specialist-style economy because of the extra population. It's different from Financial because it is not tied to how much commerce you are bringing in, but rather your overall population. In a weird way, it has synergy with Expansive, because the extra health allows more population and thus more free science, and Imperialistic, because early expansion will net you more free science just for settling cities. It is very strong in the early game, where having a population 4 city will essentially net you a scientist specialist's worth of extra science. In the late game, though, where you have many towns with the Free Speech and Printing Press extra commerce, or several science specialists, it would appear a little less powerful. That's where the observatory and research lab production bonus comes in, to give the trait some utility later in the game.
These production bonuses can be sacrificed if the trait is shown in playtesting to be too strong, or the amount of beakers you receive per population point can be adjusted (anything more than 1 per population point is ridiculous in my opinion, although between 2/3 and 4/5 might be better balanced than my figure).
Well, I made it a poll on purpose. Go ahead and vote, or post about it. This is definitely on my wishlist for Civ5, and for Civ4 if they make another expansion, although for some reason I don't believe the Firaxians will do so. Except for its minor bugs, BtS seems too "finished" to me for another full expansion.