Culture bomb pretty much useless

[gunter]

IMO such a feature is pretty much useless, except in very very rare circumstances when a unique resource is close to a player tile and you can't sustain a war.

Apart these very rare circumstances I see no other benefit acquiring usually 3-4 tiles when you can instead starting a golden age.

Told that, I like really a lot the car of the artist, nice touch

 

[Charybdis]

Snipe expansion onto tiles you want without causing war, or want to steal off a city state close to your cities (buying them off when they get angsty) sniping out to nearby islands past the 3 square buy without waiting for them to slowly get towards that you cbf'd building a city on, rapid filling in space to prevent others settling there.


There are some uses.

 

[blizzrd]

How about this example of the use of a Great Artist then.

I had three cities on a long continent. Once I discovered the appropriate tech, the only Aluminium resource on my home continent was revealed as being 5 tiles north of my northern-most city. This city had expanded 3 tiles to the north to grab the Gems at this location.

Solution: Walk my Great Artist to the tile north of the Gems. Culture bomb this tile, and grab both it and the tile to the north (plus a few other surrounding tundra tiles). Send worker to build a mine on the Aluminium.

That seemed like a good use of a Great Artist to me anyway.

 

[gunter]

How about this example of the use of a Great Artist then.

I had three cities on a long continent. Once I discovered the appropriate tech, the only Aluminium resource on my home continent was revealed as being 5 tiles north of my northern-most city. This city had expanded 3 tiles to the north to grab the Gems at this location.

Solution: Walk my Great Artist to the tile north of the Gems. Culture bomb this tile, and grab both it and the tile to the north (plus a few other surrounding tundra tiles). Send worker to build a mine on the Aluminium.

That seemed like a good use of a Great Artist to me anyway.

That's the exception I mentioned, beside these vary rare circumstances I think they are not important.

I would have preferred it worked on a single tile only but on enemy territory too, for example deployed on the lonely uranium tile in the globe.....or in the lonely aluminium tile of a civilization I am at war with

 

[dannythefool]

I think it's very useful for the fact alone that snow will often have late game resources. Making one or two great artists specifically to grab these seems to be worth it to me. I like that I can control which tiles I get and I'm guaranteed to get them too, compare to Civ IV where you add culture to a city but may not get any tiles at all.

But normally I start golden ages with them or build landmarks if I really need culture.

 

[blizzrd]

That's the exception I mentioned, beside these vary rare circumstances I think they are not important.

I would have preferred it worked on a single tile only but on enemy territory too, for example deployed on the lonely uranium tile in the globe.....or in the lonely aluminium tile of a civilization I am at war with

You said 'useless' in your OP, you didn't say 'not important'. I showed you a good use that I had experienced.

If you had posted that Great Artists are not important, I would have agreed with you. They occasionally have a special function that can be very useful though. In all other cases, start your next Golden Age.

 

[gunter]

You said 'useless' in your OP, you didn't say 'not important'. I showed you a good use that I had experienced.

If you had posted that Great Artists are not important, I would have agreed with you. They occasionally have a special function that can be very useful though. In all other cases, start your next Golden Age.

Yep, sorry, I meant not important.

 

[Apoll]

It is very useful now, given that the few cities we strategically place, cannot have access to every resource.

I had to bomb twice yesterday. Once to get to horses, (the only one I could get to without declaring war on AI or taking over the city state that had it) and more iron.

After that, if I produce Artists is because heading for cultural victory so, I use them to create the monuments.

 

[Cyberian]

I have repeatedly used them for whales in games where no CS had them and the only whales were in very bad locations like two tiles into the water on a desert/tundra peninsula. You don't want a city there just for the whales.

Needed the whales because my 12 cities were crying for them and had a We love the King after in addition to the happy.

 

[Boojumhunter]

When I have 10 cities demanding Ivory? And the only bit of ivory is held by a neighbour? Then it's very useful. Does it happen often? Nope... But then neither does a Royal Flush - hardly useless - not even unimportant. All tools have their place. How often do you get to use 'en passant' or 'castling' in chess?

 

[Lightzy]

lie, they're way useful.

use them for golden ages.

if great-artist golden ages were longer than other GP golden age then I'd actually consider getting them on purpose too

 

[snoochems]

It's useful. Not often, but I've used them a couple of times now. I just wish you didn't have to have the Great Artist inside your border when you popped it. Maybe it would be OP then?

 

[paragonae]

I was going for a cultural victory with India with only 3 cities (steam achievement). It was an archipelago map and there was no oil nearby, but I used 3 or 4 great artists to grab some oil that was on a different island.

 

[Captain_Crunch]

Great artists are very useful for pursuing the cultural victory because of their monuments. If you have a city with the wonders and buildings that boost culture output, their monument tiles can be worth 16 culture each. I won my first cultural victory this way by putting about 8 monuments near my capital city. It was putting out like 250 culture a turn by the end. (Total of 850 culture/turn empirewide including CS contribution)

 

[paragonae]

It's useful. Not often, but I've used them a couple of times now. I just wish you didn't have to have the Great Artist inside your border when you popped it. Maybe it would be OP then?

You can pop them just outside your borders you know.

 

[zatarra09]

The great artist is still useless.

In that rare case you mention where your neighbor has ivory and you need it, but cannot sustain a war with him- once you pop that culture bomb, guess who is gonna go to war with you in 10 turns...

Its useless, just spawn a golden age.

 

[Clammo]

Actually I love culture bombs, on three occasions now I've swiped strategic resources (coal, aluminium and uranium) which greatly enhanced my production and military capabilities, at the expense of my rivals.

And as you say, if there's no viable resources nearby a Golden Age is pretty handy anytime.

 

[Jaroth]

It certainly is NOT useless.

A great general's citadel isn't needed as often and it's usually better to have him guide your troops in the field or start a golden age. But I wouldn't call a citadel useless either.

The culture bomb can be very beneficial and useful. It can snag those resources from your opponents. It can also provide more "breathing room" around a city your defending with tight borders along an enemy civ and vise versa.

It can even just grab more unclaimed land for you around your city that you need. Create a little "nub" sticking out form your borders and then blast away with your culture bomb. That's a lot of gold saved from not having to buy them.

The landmark is also really useful for cultural victories or if you just want more culture. Its output is similar to a building that would require many turns to build or a lot of gold to purchase within the city. The lost gold/hammers of the tile (if you had another improvement there) are usually made up for by the improvement not requiring a maintenance cost like a cultural building inside a city would.

 

[Schuesseled]

culture bomb allows you to grab rival territory without bothering witha full scale war, i like it.

 

[lonemessiah]

I have always wondered on the validity of combining a great artist with a great general and a settler for an instant citadel deep into enemy territory. With a little escorting it could be great fun, although probably far too much effort considering the reward.