Common misconception. 50% more GPP does
not translate to 50% more Great Scientists. The reason is that the points to get the next GS scale, but the bonus does not.
Example: Suppose a three city Korean empire. It produces 20 GPP to GS in the capital and ten points in the other cities. You have 120 turns once Universities go up to produce GS before the game ends with a Spaceship, UN or whatever.
Now suppose the same Babylon empire that gets 30 and 15 GPP/turn respectively. Here's what happens to both:
- Korean capital produces a GS (5 turns); others are at 50 points
- Korean capital produces a GS (10 turns); others are at 150 points
- Korean capital produces a GS (15 turns); others are at 300 points
- Second city produces a GS (10 turns); third is at 400, capital is at 200
- Third city produces a GS (10 turns); capital is at 400, second is at 100
- Capital produces a GS (5 turns); second is at 150, third is at 50
- Capital produces a GS (35 turns); second is at 500, third is at 400
- Second city produces a GS (30 turns); third is at 700, capital is at 600
-- end game, 8 GS
- Babylonian capital produces a GS (4 turns); others are at 60 points
- Babylonian capital produces a GS (7 turns); others are at 165 points
- Second city produces a GS (9 turns); third is at 300 points, capital is at 270
- Capital produces a GS (5 turns); third is at 375 points, second is at 75
- Third city produces a GS (9 turns); capital is at 270 points, second is at 210
- Capital produces a GS (11 turns); second is at 375 points, third is at 165
- Second produces a GS (22 turns); capital is at 640 points, third is at 495
- Capital produces a GS (6 turns); third is at 585 points, second is at 90
- Third produces a GS (15 turns); capital is at 450 points, second is at 315
- Capital produces a GS (19 turns); second is at 600 points; third is at 285
No city produces a GS in the remaining 13 turns.
-- end game, 10 GS
Note that the more horizontal you are, the closer you come to approximating 50% extra GS earned with Babylon. This is why it is always best to settle two or three more cities with Babylon than you would otherwise, and I believe that it is the only way that Babylon can realistically compete with Korea.
The question on the table for the above scenario is whether or not Korea's UA can make up for Babylon's two extra GS. Assume that Korea's building bonus and Babylon's Academy are a wash for the first hundred turns; I don't think that's totally unreasonable. Still, looks pretty bad for the Koreans, right?
It's important to realize that the competition really takes place at the
middle of the tree rather than the end, though. Babylon's two extra GS functionally mean that it can research two fewer Renaissance techs before cooking off two RA waves and bulbing out; the question is whether Korea's UA can be leveraged to net enough extra
to have the same effect.
That basically means that Korea needs to generate 1700
above and beyond that from the Babylon Academy via the UA to compete. One major way to do this is to use Oxford late to pick up an extra late half-tech, which (if it becomes a full late tech due to otherwise lost fractions) effectively nets an extra 850
from avoiding researching an early Renaissance tech.
Figure on about sixty turns between the Universities and RAs starting to resolve, and given that I don't think it's unreasonable at all to suggest that Korea will surpass that. The Scientists alone are worth 5.32
per city per turn after the University modifier, and 7.32 in the city with the NC. Call that 17 per turn over 60 turns in a three city empire, or 1020
. Settle one more city and run other specialists, and I'd say you're looking at the possibility of outteching Babylon.
