GP for Golden Age ?

[Guggy]

Hello,

I did read a lot of threads about GP 's and there is not much discussion about using them to trigger GA... first cost 2 of them, then 3, then 4...

Is it a poor use of GP ?

What are your advices on GP/GA ?

Many thanks.

Regards,

 

[josephstalin]

I never do that. Benefits are ussually minimal. I would rather put them in the city or use their specific function.

 

[grafikm_fr]

I never do that too... 8 turns is just nothing next to other benefits!

 

[Grogs]

I disagree. I think a well-timed golden age is extremely useful. I like to time one right around education. While the GA is going on, I probably get at least as much extra research as 1 GP would give me, plus it's in a tech I want, rather than just what the GP will give me. By the time it's finished, I've usually built a University in most of my high-commerce cites and my super-science city is well on its way to finishing Oxford University. If I'm near the top of the pile tech-wise, these 8 turns usually put me ahead of everyone else, with a rapidly widening gap. A GA is also great for building/upgrading a huge invasion force if you're a warmonger.

 

[Dogzilla]

I use the golden age as a prelude to a large-scale attack. Only once though, 3 great people is too much to give up.

 

[MrCynical]

I generally go for just one golden age, fairly late in the game when the great people are less valuable. A great prophet is very little other use once you've reached the industrial age, so they're prime candidates. I wouldn't waste a great artist or engineer on a golden age though.

 

[DaveMcW]

Golden Age + Universal Suffrage + Towns is a nice combo.

 

[Orca]

I think almost all players in the current space race gauntlet use GP Golden Age to build Apollo programm faster and even second Golden Age after that to build spaceship parts faster.
There really exist situations where Golden Ages are extremly useful. Personally i tend to take Great Artist and Prophet (given that i already build religious bonus building with another Prophet) for that because they tend to offer techs which you dont really want anyway. I find Engineers and Scientists much more useful and dont use them to get a golden age normally.

 

[Doctor Love]

1 Golden Age from GP and 1 from Hagia Sofia is ideal imho

 

[Tall German Joe]

I think almost all players in the current space race gauntlet use GP Golden Age to build Apollo programm faster and even second Golden Age after that to build spaceship parts faster.
There really exist situations where Golden Ages are extremly useful. Personally i tend to take Great Artist and Prophet (given that i already build religious bonus building with another Prophet) for that because they tend to offer techs which you dont really want anyway. I find Engineers and Scientists much more useful and dont use them to get a golden age normally.

Actually, most people in the guantlet that I've heard about have been using at least 3 GA. I used to think they were kind of useless, but they're really amazing when you have a large empire, especially near the end of the game.

 

[Tholomeo]

Not bad for spaceship building in an OCC game

 

[Smirk]

Boosts in hammer production like given by the golden age are unattainable in any other method. So will always have that value.

As a general statement there are many strategies that suppose a good use for something or other which seems valid at face value, but turn out to be less useful because its leaning on other things that aren't good strategy. For instance the above poster mentioned its use right after education, in a tech race game education comes so soon and fast that I rarely even have one great person, much less two, so instead of using a great age to speed up that critical section, you might be better off speeding up your other more general strategy so that before you get two great people you're already well past education and have universities and Oxford.