Delaying Scientific Method?

[BornInCantaloup]

Well, you can get Factories and Democracy before Scientific Method. So, delaying it is a real thing. I might do that in some current BOTM.
I think Biology is huge, Communism is very good but there are situations. It's Civ.

I totally get what you say, though, Fippy. Habits need be challenged. Some things are just too efficient, too streamlined, too obvious, too... what's the word ? Repetitive, maybe. There's this sweet spot where you bulb twice using great peoples... You know how it goes better than I do...

 

[Fippy]

Mil. Tradition - obsoletes horsies

 

[Trout]

My thought: Like everything in CIV4, answer is situationally dependent. But it seems like a strategy that would fit almost all scenarios is to be set up to crank the science slider up to 100% right after getting SM. So as to bee-line towards Physics / Biology plus Communism if going SP or Medicine if going Corps. Also, I find the Electricity bonus to watermills/windmills to be pretty sweet as well. And then pick your favorite way to do that by either setting most cities to wealth, spending a GM, and/or slowing yourself down as you approach SM by pushing the slider towards dialing the slider down in favor of piling up the cash for your bee-line to the juicy techs right after getting SM.

 

[Orion Pax]

@Imp. Knoedel

Totally. Marxism definitely was the source for modern sociology that came after. Just we’re talkin bout what it’s source was (prereqs). I can see Scientific Method loosely related, but it was explicitly about industrial work conditions and the concentration of capital that occurred in the late 18th century. No proletariat? —> No proletariat revolution.

And again other than that I think they actually did a pretty solid job with Scientific Method and other techs more generally. I really like how they blended different cultures’ versions of things: Civil Service occurred very early in China compared to the West, Divine Right founds Isam in the game but also allows construction of Versailles, a French building. But that makes sense because of what they both represent, etc.

 

[ArchGhost]

huh, i never really cared enough about Monastaries for that to be a factor. Too much effort spreading and all that.

I do find it kind of annoying to lose the Great Lib + NE combo, especially if I'm leaning on GLib hard by not staying in Caste a lot. In games without Marble not so much, as I'll probably use mass libraries or Caste GAs to generate enough GS for a run to Lib or fast Communism. So I sometimes do the opposite (especially when I know I can get big) and bulb through Chem + SciMeth to get there ASAP.

Not much experience with it, but found going for Biology to be underwhelming before Assembly Line. It helps offset the unhealth of hammer economy sure, but it's not worth the delay to me. Had not thought of Corps play either (Medicine for Sushi, yeah good stuff), usually don't care to use them either as I don't have the patience to play the long game with that much meticulousness.

 

[Bibor]

I have no problem with Scientific Method temporarily reducing your science output. The rift within the intellecual elite is going to cause wasteful infighting, with religious instituations of learning being as threatened as traditional not-quite-scientific scholarship.

I agree with Iranon. Scientific Method should, at first, drop scientific output, and then enable rapid growth of it. Scientific Method is cancelling the effects of monasteries and the Great library but there's a reason for this: these effects would be cancelled by techs stemming from it (Physics, Communism especially), but since no two techs can do the same thing, it made sense to put these effects one step back into SciMeth. This way the game forces you to capitalize on getting to it, by proceeding to ulock techs it offers.