And in the same post you told GAGA that he probably has never even tried KP, ...
I did. It was a joke. My sense of humor is twisted, and often it's not obvious when it's in action. Sincerely, i feel i can and should apology for this. So i do. Please, forgive me, gentlemen!
... implying that if he had he would probably share your opinion (or, to be more exact, not think that AU has "healthy" border growth), which is just wrong for the reasons I mentioned. ...
It didn't imply that, being a joke... See, he said single free OER is "healthy" border growth, which is - i think you'd agree, - quite less than healthy for mid-game and late-game (i.e. majority of the game time) on its own (without any other sources of border growth, i.e. without any other +culture sources in cities whatsoever). I went to other extremum with my joke, you see. Call me silly if you want; i am, after all, sometimes (on purpose). %)
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... your way of thinking about this is ineffective ...
Disputable. You didn't say a word about more serious part where i talked about "getting best tiles faster than otherwise possible". I doubt it's possible to "calculate" exact benefits of this, and its overall scale of usefullness in compare to other sponsors' bonus. I _feel_, however, that it's big. And feelings, of course, could be wrong. But we all - i am not an exception, - are used to trust our feelings, in general. Ergo, there was "YMMV" part, you see.
... while at the same time giving you an early game boost that KP can't keep up with, thus making it the objectively best sponsor for fast victories.
Yeah? Really? Can you _prove_ that faster _outpost_ growth of KP in fact gives less "boost" than those free OERs? I can't. More, i doubt it. There is significant correction which is made to one's progress by mid-game significant unhealth, but other than that, every single turn shaved off from an outpost's growth time - results in most things about that city being done 1 turn sooner. You know? You'll make laboratory in that city few times sooner with KP's outpost growth - here we go, extra ~dozen (at least; likely more) beakers for you. And other science builgings - few more dozens "bonus" beakers. All that - per each non-capital city. So we're already talking hundreds of extra beakers, from basic science buildings only, already. Extra culture, extra energy, earlier units (including earlier trade units - ergo earlier +health and +production to other cities, and this snowballs, you know), - you get my drift, i hope. And negative health-mid-game has dual effect in terms of KP outpost growth bonus: one negative, which is - it slows cities' development by those % penalties, which grow higher as cities' populations grow higher, - so if you had your outposts turning into cities much faster than usual (KP), then they eventually produce a bit higher unhealth than usual, thus giving a bit higher penalties than usual; but the other effect is positive, because normally you are expanding your colony exactly when your health is negative, and negative health _itself_ slows down outpost growth (one of effects of it), - making KP outpost growth bonus more important.
I'd say, we'll fail to find _reliably_ which sponsor in this case gives more "boost"; i feel it's KP, you declare (only declare - i haven't seen any numbers yet) that it's AU; and it's too complex a thing to calculate, i think.
I am ready to agree to disagree, and out of two of us, your opinion certainly holds more weight, and i know it. I still stick to mine, though - for now, at least. I hope it's ok.
