Early Great Heroes?

[mcwill123]

I was playing the other night. I normally choose barbarian world, raging barbarians, blessing of a and living world and play at emperor level. Because of the barbarians and animals, I rarely find many goody huts with my early units. I decided that I would just turn off science early until I got over 100 gold, so I would have money for an early great prophet. I also made sure that I had several food sources and let my first city get up to max before I really started expanding. I dropped the first 3 or so great people into the city and it made a HUGE difference in my production and economy. I had I think 5 cities at turn 150 with 100% science. Any comments? Does anyone use this strategy?

 

[Skyre Noktis]

Where are you getting these great people from? I don't think I quite understand from your post. I assume you're playing a philosophical leader? Or the Sidar?

Also, 100% science at turn 150 suggests more that you're not expanding enough rather than your economy being in particularly good shape. Total number of beakers is what matters.

 

[Emptiness]

No, he's playing with Living World (which doubles the frequency of random events) and buying Great People when events trigger that offer the option. He's able to run 100% science not because of underexpansion, but because he is earning lots of gold from multiple Great Prophets settled in his capital (and is probably running God King as well).

 

[mcwill123]

Emptiness is correct. I was playing a philosophical leader and running God King until 5-6 cities. I think it might normally be a good idea to get the gold up over 100 asap. I would only push for great people by maxing out the population in the first city like that if there are a lot of food sources in its cross. (There often are though.) In that case it seems to be a real nice boost in many areas.

 

[DaveGold]

I certainly try to keep 80+ coins in reserve for an event, but I wouldn't often stop research for it. Maybe I should. I expect most experienced players let the capital grow to at least size 5 before expanding, just because of the time it takes to build all the warriors you need to survive!

 

[Moon Pine]

No, he's playing with Living World (which doubles the frequency of random events) and buying Great People when events trigger that offer the option. He's able to run 100% science not because of underexpansion, but because he is earning lots of gold from multiple Great Prophets settled in his capital (and is probably running God King as well).

Multiple Great Peoples - I plays Living World, too, but very rare to see Great People except the mad aritist (living with her zombie son), which will cause me "lose" a city in early game.

 

[mcwill123]

At the time that I made the OP, I was playing 0.40 and not aware of it. Since I upgraded to 0.41 the chance to buy a great prophet seems to have went way down. The benefit of a very early great person in one of your cities can still be massive though.

 

[Angel-Julia]

I've never seen the random event turn up regulary enough to be seen as a worthwhile sacrifice to turn off research at such a critical stage.
I'd first prioratise getting agriculture, animal husbandr(if resources), calander(if resources), mining(if resources), mystisism(if going for god king), education(everyone needs cottages), etc a million times more useful than a early great person that MAY turn up from a random event(i've rarely seen it even with living worlds). it's best to get your civilization running smoothly, working all tiles and expanding rapidly, that's the number 1 priority.

of course if you are Kahzad there is some benefits to having money in the vault, though even with them i found i am producing setlers early and am not at the happy cap(imortal dificulty), and so run empty vaults to get resources, education, CoL etc a bit earlier for a stronger economy, and only look at stacking up the vaults in the mid-game.