Food Corp vs Standard Ethanol.

[mangamancer]

I have hardly ever seen or heard of people using Standard Ethanol.
It's almost always Sid's Sushi(or sometimes Cereal Mills) people used or talk about.

The main reason of this, is it Because SE comes later than SS?
Or, are there other profound reasons?

I haven't done the math but beakers gains from SE are comparable to using extra food
from SS to run Rep scientists right? SE doesn't even lock you into Rep and doesn't need extras happy cap or health cap or specialist slots.
GS is also easier to secure than GM.

Why is SE so unpopular?

 

[lymond]

Sushi indeed comes earlier, which pays off in the long run. (Ethanol conflicts with both food corps so would be ruled out regardless) Food pays off in other ways. Rep specialists are obviously one huge bonus, and for Space you are gonna want to be in Rep at some point, earlier the better. You can also grow onto more workshops, mines, production tiles and turn hammers into beakers as well.

Usually ways to deal with health and happiness, and some health issues are not a big deal.

GS is also easier to secure than GM.

Not really a valid statement. Assuming Space victory here, which general calls for going wide, you should have plenty of cities with enough food to focus cities on merchant specialists. GMs are more valuable in the late game anyway, post Lib. Plus, you can always get the free GM from Economics on the way to Corps and Medicine.

I've never done an evaluation of the Ethanol corp, but considering the timing of Plastics to the Space game, it would not seem logical to compare in my view. Around the time of Plastics in optimal Space games your are looking to have a global beaker rate that puts you into the range of teching in 1 to 2 turns. Apollo would be built or soon to complete. Starting a corp at that point in the game with the need to spread it seems like a distraction rather than a value add.

Maybe it has situational value in smaller empire though where things like Sushi are irrelevant

 

[vorlon_mi]

Part of this is the result of a good strategy article by MrCynical, found here http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=237717 that gave a pretty detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each corporation.

Sid's Sushi is strong when spread to your own cities, which can be useful if the AI are running State Property. Creative Construction is strong for spreading to foreign cities.

There are lots more good thoughts in the article; I'm not really doing it justice.

 

[6K Man]

You can’t whip or draft extra beakers.

Food is so much more flexible than beakers – with extra food you can run different specialists, whip, draft, turn all your farms into Workshops, etc.

 

[lindsay40k]

SE has two uses:

- When you are utterly desperate for Oil and there's absolutely no way to get it with Artillery, Marines and Nukes.

- Spreading to rivals' cities without giving them any real bonuses. Maybe alongside Aluminium Corporation, both in WS city. This can be viable, though rarely optimal, on a really big map where food corps are really powerful and late game resources are easily acquired.