Great People - Convince me to not just start a Golden Age

[Bleser]

Hello fellow players.

I recurring theme in my game that I'm bummed about is my usage of great people. Here is what I do, always, no matter what the situation is:

• Great General - the first one I get stays with my army. The rest turn into golden ages.
• Great Artist - Golden Ages only. Culture bomb seems worthless and I can't see the monument being worth it, either.
• Great Scientist - Golden Ages. Free tech seems like a band-aid if you can't keep up with the AI.
• Great Merchant - Always a trade mission to a close city-state.
• Great Engineer - Always used on a wonder.

So as you can see, the above rules I honor in all of my games. Do you do the same? Is it all about what victory your're going for? I wish they were more exciting but they're so repetitive for me they've lost their excitement in "interesting decisions".

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Free tech is not for 'keeping up with the AI', it is for getting a key tech several turns early to exploit it... military unit, Wonder, Era boost.

However, For excess Generals, non-culture victory Artists... definitely Golden Age

 

[Silverfuturist]

Hello fellow players.

I recurring theme in my game that I'm bummed about is my usage of great people. Here is what I do, always, no matter what the situation is:

• Great General - the first one I get stays with my army. The rest turn into golden ages.
• Great Artist - Golden Ages only. Culture bomb seems worthless and I can't see the monument being worth it, either.
• Great Scientist - Golden Ages. Free tech seems like a band-aid if you can't keep up with the AI.
• Great Merchant - Always a trade mission to a close city-state.
• Great Engineer - Always used on a wonder.

So as you can see, the above rules I honor in all of my games. Do you do the same? Is it all about what victory your're going for? I wish they were more exciting but they're so repetitive for me they've lost their excitement in "interesting decisions".

What settings are you playing on? (namely difficulty level)

The AI also uses Great Scientists, so you are not using a band-aid to match what the AI is doing.

If you find yourself in a large war, or a war on multiple fronts... more than 1 Great General is needed.

Great Artist - I can see how a culture bomb against the AI seems worthless. Against a human, a culture bomb can be a game changing event.

 

[basta]

Overall you're right, the GP mechanic is pretty one-dimensional.

But that you're burning your GSs on golden ages -- -- indicates that maybe you should move up a level in difficulty.

Keeping up your tech pace should demand some strategy: prioritizing the prerequisite techs and build order of libraries and universities, running specialists to generate GSs, investing in RAs, and what wonders you go for and what SPs you choose.

You'll find that at least in the case of GSs, GP become much more important.

 

[grandad1982]

NEVER burn a GSci on a golden age! Well never say never but the power of an instant free tech is massive!

 

[insaneweasel]

Hello fellow players.

[*]Great Artist - Golden Ages only. Culture bomb seems worthless and I can't see the monument being worth it, either.

Before 1500, landmark is pretty decent. Especially if you go freedom and build hermitage.

[*]Great Scientist - Golden Ages. Free tech seems like a band-aid if you can't keep up with the AI.

Um...what level do you play at? In emperor or above, it's practically impossible to keep up with the AI early game, and late game it allows you to get better units sooner than later.

Still, early great scientists are probably better spent as landmarks.

 

[vexing]

where are all these great people coming from?
i always use manual specialist control so i pretty much only produce engineers and scientists. engineers i either rush a wonder with or use for a manufactory, with the exception of babylon scientists always bulb key techs; this generally amounts to either age jumping such as bulbing astronomy to get into renaissance to start on rationalism branch, bulbing a key military tech if i'm going for a domination victory (rare), or saving till the end of the tech tree for massive bulbing for diplo or science (or even cultural).

in a culture game i only produce engineers and artists and maybe one scientist. artists all go to landmarks.

 

[Tabarnak]

In cases where i have built Chichen Itza and/or i'm Persia, 1 or 2 GS can be useful for extra GA turns for some critical times. Otherwise i use them for bulbing only. I agree for other GPs, excepted for a cultural victory, where great artists are more abundant.

 

[fmlizard2]

Most of the time in the first 100 turns, any GP should be settled. The aggregate value of their tile improvement outweighs the immediate benefit. The one exception is Great Engineers, which can be burned on critical Medieval wonders like Porcelain Tower, Chichen Itza, etc. (spending one on Hagia Sophia just would seem weird).

After turn 100 or so, GSes are almost always best used for a tech...and save them for a bit if you need so that you get a very expensive tech relative to that point in the game. Astronomy, Biology, Electronics are all examples of expensive, era-advancing techs GSes are great for. Especially Biology if you are a Patronage guy like me.

GE is pretty much always a wonder. I suppose you could jam out a key building with one...I've built a research lab in my capital with a GE a couple times before.

GA - Pretty much always a golden age unless you are going cultural victory. On rare occasions it makes sense to culture bomb a resource.

GM - You can settle for a customs house early but generally it makes sense to take a Golden Age. Even a lame-o 3-4 turn golden age often brings back more return than the 600 a trade mission brings.

GG - always keep your first 2. Enough to be able to fight wars on 2 fronts if you need. Rest are perfect for Golden Ages.

 

[trueblue]

Convince you? Convince yourself. Up your level and then play the game properly. All great people have their place.

 

[Martin Alvito]

GM - You can settle for a customs house early but generally it makes sense to take a Golden Age. Even a lame-o 3-4 turn golden age often brings back more return than the 600 a trade mission brings.

The CS influence is generally worth another 250 or so.

Great Scientists are for bulbing things. The only time that I would ever consider burning one on a GA is once I already cleared the tech tree in a Space game (to speed up Apollo/parts). That generally only happens with Babylon, though. With anyone else, it's rarely possible to churn out a surplus GS between Rocketry and parts time.

 

[Bleser]

Thanks for the comments, everyone! To answer some questions:

• I am currently playing Emperor-level games only, Marathon speed, standard size Fractal maps.
• I just never seem to have a problem with science at these settings. I guess it is because I usually go for the SP branch that benefits city-states and by the time I get the 25% (or whatever it is) bonuses from your CS allies, I keep up or get ahead in tech. This always seems to be a better strategy (use the GS for extra gold to buy more allies), since you not only get the science boost but the culture, food, military units, etc from being their allies.
• I could (and have) gone up to Immortal difficulty, but I find it gets a bit silly when you see Alexander late game with EVERY tile they own having a military unit on it. It's just nuts. Emperor balances things out better I think. Maybe with the latest patch this has changed?

Again, thanks for the comments. I wish the great artist was different... like the culture bomb could be used outside of your territory (but the radius went back to your territory), or the special use was a free social policy.

 

[vexing]

just a random fact, the great merchant trade missions result in 350 gold + 50 per era

 

[Roxlimn]

The Great Artists are useful for stealing key tiles away from AI, from City States (not always advisable), to claim resources in land where you don't want to build a city, or to incite war with an already hostile AI, without taking the general diplo hit.

Landmarks are excellent for expanding borders on latter-game cities, especially ones settled in formerly questionable locations, or ones settled after you raze a badly placed enemy city. You could spend a thousand or so gold just buying up the tiles, I suppose, but the GAs allow acquisition quickly without gold cost, and they give you lots of Culture for acquiring more Social Policies.

As a rule of thumb, it becomes more advisable to settle the GPs in high multiplier city locations once you acquire the Freedom Finisher, and if you don't have any imminent usages for them.