Best courthouse replacement?

[NihilZero]

I often get Code of Laws before priesthood though.

The priesthood path, while not the most expensive tech path, does slow down other early techs.

Priesthood can often be picked up as a freebie, though, if you can get somebody to pleased. It's so cheap that all but the tight-fisted AIs (of which there are a few) will just let you have it if you ask them nicely.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well you still need mysticism and one of meditation or polytheism, and since Giggles is Creative those aren't early priorities for me.

 

[NihilZero]

True, but they are often available to pad out the inevitable Aesthetics trades. Poly is pretty cool sometimes if you're heading for Literature.

 

[azzaman333]

I often get Code of Laws before priesthood though.

The priesthood path, while not the most expensive tech path, does slow down other early techs.

Well, obviously when playing as Sumeria, Priesthood is a higher priority.

And surely you can at least trade for Myst and Meditation/Poly before you've finished Currency? If I remember right, it's about the same cost to research Priesthood then CoL as it is to straight research CoL.

 

[ace94d]

Most definately the Altar, IMHO.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well, obviously when playing as Sumeria, Priesthood is a higher priority.

And surely you can at least trade for Myst and Meditation/Poly before you've finished Currency? If I remember right, it's about the same cost to research Priesthood then CoL as it is to straight research CoL.

I dunno about that. Going the currency route gives you another excellent economy tech.

Going straight to priesthood means you don't really need the maintenance saving at the moment. I suppose it would be good for espionage heavy strategy or if you are doing an Oracle slingshot.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I dunno about that. Going the currency route gives you another excellent economy tech.

Going straight to priesthood means you don't really need the maintenance saving at the moment. I suppose it would be good for espionage heavy strategy or if you are doing an Oracle slingshot.

There are some high level games, particularly in HoF, that abuse sumeria's uniques.

Early priesthood is definitely worth a look, after worker techs + rush setup. It does not take too much hammer investment to run a 2-pop whip on the zig. If your vulture rushes actually succeed the access to early maintenance reduction + forbidden palace is definitely an advantage. And yes, the EP is there too and can help catch up possibly. Post-rush or heavy expansion zigs are probably the 2nd best build after the granary. Considering the beaker investment to reach priesthood vs currency, changing the tech path a bit makes sense here. If you manage to pick up resources via conquest or trade, OR you extort monarchy or alphabet, currency won't be far off.

 

[CHEESE!]

Rathaus and then Ziggurat/Sac tied, but they are all top tier.