JujuLautre
Deity
I had a strange idea yesterday for a different kind of game, and wanted to share it with you. Perhaps it has already been discussed, I don't know.
Before starting, I would like to make clear my situation: I suck at SE, and usually use a CE (vanilla prince actually). I tried an SE once, following this guide, but ended up doing things without really knowing what I was doing and lost the fun of it. But what I understand now of a SE is:
- using scientists to generate science (library + observatory (+universities))
- using great scientists generated to bulb techs (usually all the way to liberalism)
- having a super science city pumping science and great scientits more often than the others (oxford, academy?, great library)
- having a super gold city spammed with cottages to generate income to support all the other cities (generally capital + bureaucracy +shrine? +wall street?)
- running a low science slider once the economy is running (0%?)
I don't know if all of this is true for everyone, but this is not the point. Just to say that this was my starting point for this new idea.
Now, what if we reversed the roles of the cities? I mean:
- using merchants to generate income (market + grocer)
- having a super one city spammed with cottages to generate science to support all the research (generally capital + bureaucracy + academy + oxford)
- running a high science slider
This is the basis. Basically, it's a merchant specialist enocomy against a scientist specialist econoy, it's a 100%SE against a 0%SE if you compare the science sliders
I tried yesterday a game on noble (because it's still a "specialist" economy, I suck at it and this was a new challenge) using it, and it's actually a lot of fun
But I'm not very experimented in the game, so I could not say if this strategy is viable at higher level, and it was only one game. I just wanted to share my thoughts, to discuss them. To give ideas to everyone and to let me improve, even if this strategy is not viable at high level. Some are still theory, others I experimented in the game:
About great people:
- generates more great merchants than great scientists. Less good for lightbuilbing, but the cash runs really high. Actually, sometime you have enough merchants, so you can still use scientists and generate great scientists
- require good partners to maximize the effect of the great merchants.
About civics:
- you have less benefit from representation. Still helps for science, but it's better to run scientists with library/universities/representation than to run merchants with the sae buildings and representation.
- you have a good benefit from universal suffrage, considering the cash.
- using nationhood sacrifices some part of science (because you lose bureaucracy)
- caste system really helps by allowing merchants before markets and grocers are online.
About drafting/the whip:
- using them does not sacrifice science, but income
About the slider:
- pumping culture because you need it sacrifice science instead of income
About warfare:
- I always read that SE has a great synergy with warfare. This economy also has, because the huge amount of cash you can generate really helps, by paying for the army and mostly for the upgrades
About expanding:
- scales well. With a grocer, a market and 4 merchants you generate 18
, so basically each city can easily pay for itself and even more.
About the buildings:
- require more buildings than a classic SE. Because you need markets/grocer to run it, but you still need universities/libraries for oxford. On the other hand, markets/grocer both help cities to grow because of
and
About the capital:
- capital + cottages + bureaucracy + academy + oxford + science buildings sees to me more powerful and early feasible than capital + cottages + bureaucracy + wall street + gold buildings
About the techs:
- as for the buildings, require more techs than a classic SE. Because you need the usuall education for oxford, but also guilds for grocers.
About flexibility:
I read a lot people saying that an SE is flexible. Having that in mind, plus the fact (perhaps wrong) that in as SE, you usually run the science slider up for some time before dropping it, I was wondering if I could run such an economy after a classic SE. The plan would be:
- begin the game like an SE, building/whiping libraries and the usual buildings, getting great scientists, the universities
- build oxford and the academy in the capital instead of in a super science city; if the science slider is still high (60%?), it's still profitable.
- once you hit guilds (or perhaps before with just currency, perhaps at the time you build oxford), switch from scientists SE to merchant SE: whip/build markets and grocers and use merchants to generate income and raise the science slider up to 100%
- if you get a religion and a shrine, it can obviously become a super-gold city exactly as the super science city for the SE
I think that's all for this time. Surely forgot some things, but I think it's a good basis
Before starting, I would like to make clear my situation: I suck at SE, and usually use a CE (vanilla prince actually). I tried an SE once, following this guide, but ended up doing things without really knowing what I was doing and lost the fun of it. But what I understand now of a SE is:
- using scientists to generate science (library + observatory (+universities))
- using great scientists generated to bulb techs (usually all the way to liberalism)
- having a super science city pumping science and great scientits more often than the others (oxford, academy?, great library)
- having a super gold city spammed with cottages to generate income to support all the other cities (generally capital + bureaucracy +shrine? +wall street?)
- running a low science slider once the economy is running (0%?)
I don't know if all of this is true for everyone, but this is not the point. Just to say that this was my starting point for this new idea.
Now, what if we reversed the roles of the cities? I mean:
- using merchants to generate income (market + grocer)
- having a super one city spammed with cottages to generate science to support all the research (generally capital + bureaucracy + academy + oxford)
- running a high science slider
This is the basis. Basically, it's a merchant specialist enocomy against a scientist specialist econoy, it's a 100%SE against a 0%SE if you compare the science sliders

I tried yesterday a game on noble (because it's still a "specialist" economy, I suck at it and this was a new challenge) using it, and it's actually a lot of fun

But I'm not very experimented in the game, so I could not say if this strategy is viable at higher level, and it was only one game. I just wanted to share my thoughts, to discuss them. To give ideas to everyone and to let me improve, even if this strategy is not viable at high level. Some are still theory, others I experimented in the game:
About great people:
- generates more great merchants than great scientists. Less good for lightbuilbing, but the cash runs really high. Actually, sometime you have enough merchants, so you can still use scientists and generate great scientists
- require good partners to maximize the effect of the great merchants.
About civics:
- you have less benefit from representation. Still helps for science, but it's better to run scientists with library/universities/representation than to run merchants with the sae buildings and representation.
- you have a good benefit from universal suffrage, considering the cash.
- using nationhood sacrifices some part of science (because you lose bureaucracy)
- caste system really helps by allowing merchants before markets and grocers are online.
About drafting/the whip:
- using them does not sacrifice science, but income
About the slider:
- pumping culture because you need it sacrifice science instead of income
About warfare:
- I always read that SE has a great synergy with warfare. This economy also has, because the huge amount of cash you can generate really helps, by paying for the army and mostly for the upgrades
About expanding:
- scales well. With a grocer, a market and 4 merchants you generate 18

About the buildings:
- require more buildings than a classic SE. Because you need markets/grocer to run it, but you still need universities/libraries for oxford. On the other hand, markets/grocer both help cities to grow because of


About the capital:
- capital + cottages + bureaucracy + academy + oxford + science buildings sees to me more powerful and early feasible than capital + cottages + bureaucracy + wall street + gold buildings
About the techs:
- as for the buildings, require more techs than a classic SE. Because you need the usuall education for oxford, but also guilds for grocers.
About flexibility:
I read a lot people saying that an SE is flexible. Having that in mind, plus the fact (perhaps wrong) that in as SE, you usually run the science slider up for some time before dropping it, I was wondering if I could run such an economy after a classic SE. The plan would be:
- begin the game like an SE, building/whiping libraries and the usual buildings, getting great scientists, the universities
- build oxford and the academy in the capital instead of in a super science city; if the science slider is still high (60%?), it's still profitable.
- once you hit guilds (or perhaps before with just currency, perhaps at the time you build oxford), switch from scientists SE to merchant SE: whip/build markets and grocers and use merchants to generate income and raise the science slider up to 100%
- if you get a religion and a shrine, it can obviously become a super-gold city exactly as the super science city for the SE
I think that's all for this time. Surely forgot some things, but I think it's a good basis
