yung.carl.jung
Hey Bird! I'm Morose & Lugubrious
Haven't experimented much with Autocracy but I think it can be viable. CR was always my standard choice but might actually not be the preferred choice if you're warring a lot. I've often had trouble when I was upgrading units before T2 govt as I could not use both upgrade cards that come with mercenaries. For 100% peaceful play I still think CR is superior.
It's basically never going to happen unless you get lucky with early strategics, city-state envoys, choral music, or you're just playing a culture Civ. I don't really think early wonders are worth it, they're kind of a trap. I've only built Oracle once or twice and in both cases retrospectively I considered it a bad decision. I only get the Inspiration for building a wonder if I am building Pyramids early, tbh.
I think there are about three options. Let's limit us to always having Magnus with Provision, because you'll absolutely want that when settling more than 10 cities. I would never pick Magnus first unless you really need to chop early, I would do as you say: Get Liang first, then get Magnus double promoted. However, you can also pick Amani first and do a CS tour (get surezain then switch the same turn) for era score, or for an early suze-bonus, or you could even go Pingala first. In one of my recent games I went Pingala, promoted Pingala, and only then got Magnus. It made me build like 1 settler in the cap without provision, honestly no problem at all, and I get massive early culture from it. +6 culture from Pingala in the early game will be around a 50% boost, which is intense. Gets you Political Philosophy/Feudalism faster.
The more games I play the more important culture seems for SV. I had 2 recent games with Japan and Korea where I got a "late" Political Philosophy (around mid t50) and an even later second and third government, and it cost me like 20 or 30 turns problably. Every little bit matters when it comes to culture, while I find it easier to produce massive amounts of science. Also, culture is only worth it earlier in the game. As soon as you reach T4 govt culture is essentially worthless, so you better get there asap and then sell all GW.
@yung.carl.jung I'm not sure I've played a game where Feudalism was researched at T55.
It's basically never going to happen unless you get lucky with early strategics, city-state envoys, choral music, or you're just playing a culture Civ. I don't really think early wonders are worth it, they're kind of a trap. I've only built Oracle once or twice and in both cases retrospectively I considered it a bad decision. I only get the Inspiration for building a wonder if I am building Pyramids early, tbh.
@yung.carl.jung
What about governors? I'm thinking between Early Empire, State Workforce, and the Gov Plaza, one could go Liang for the extra builder charges (huge in the early game), Magnus, then Magnus Provisions. The extra charges from Liang can help chop the settlers, chop an early wonder, get luxuries/strategics online, or at the very least build some farms for the Feudalism boost. Then Pingala can be prioritized. What do you think?
I think there are about three options. Let's limit us to always having Magnus with Provision, because you'll absolutely want that when settling more than 10 cities. I would never pick Magnus first unless you really need to chop early, I would do as you say: Get Liang first, then get Magnus double promoted. However, you can also pick Amani first and do a CS tour (get surezain then switch the same turn) for era score, or for an early suze-bonus, or you could even go Pingala first. In one of my recent games I went Pingala, promoted Pingala, and only then got Magnus. It made me build like 1 settler in the cap without provision, honestly no problem at all, and I get massive early culture from it. +6 culture from Pingala in the early game will be around a 50% boost, which is intense. Gets you Political Philosophy/Feudalism faster.
The more games I play the more important culture seems for SV. I had 2 recent games with Japan and Korea where I got a "late" Political Philosophy (around mid t50) and an even later second and third government, and it cost me like 20 or 30 turns problably. Every little bit matters when it comes to culture, while I find it easier to produce massive amounts of science. Also, culture is only worth it earlier in the game. As soon as you reach T4 govt culture is essentially worthless, so you better get there asap and then sell all GW.