Great People

[Wlauzon]

Is the number of beakers a GS provides modified by the library, university, and Oxford? If so, how much? Knowing this would make it easier to decide whether to lightbulb for a tech that isn't really useful now, or to add him as a specialist.

Well for an example, in a game I just finished I added a great scientist. I had all the usually good beaker enhancers, library, oxford, university etc.

Adding one GS added about 30 beakers. That is more than I would have gotten if I had added an academy to my next best city.

A while back I had one super city that at the end at 2049 was making over 650 beakers per turn - had a lot of specialists.

 

[cabert]

Well for an example, in a game I just finished I added a great scientist. I had all the usually good beaker enhancers, library, oxford, university etc.

Adding one GS added about 30 beakers. That is more than I would have gotten if I had added an academy to my next best city.

A while back I had one super city that at the end at 2049 was making over 650 beakers per turn - had a lot of specialists.

what good are 650 beakers in 2049?

However, if you settle your Great person in a city, he benefits from everything a usual specialist can have :
- bonus from representation
- bonus from sistin chapel
- bonus to base beakers/base gold/base culture/base hammers from all modifiers (including free religion, library, academy,...).

This way, with representation, a library, an academy, a university, oxford university, observatory under free religion(not including any monasteries : obsolete fasdt when you have an observatory), you can have 9 beakers * (1+0,25+0,5+0,25+1,00+0,25+0,1) = 30,15 beakers/turn.

On the other hand, beakers you get from lightbulbing a tech don't benefit from those buildings, only from the total population of you empire.

 

[Calavente]

and just to say it:

for lightbulbing :
a GS gives up to 1500beakers +3 per pop point. (AFAIK : total number of city "pop")
other GPs give up to 1000beakers +2 per pop point.

So if you have a GP that has a very expensive tech to lighbulb (more than estimated beakers : 1500-1700 for GP, 1800-2000 for GS) it is better to wait for finishing the Hanging Gardens if you can afford the wait. (and if you are already building it) +1 pop per city + 1health + any more pop obtained by growing : some usefull beakers to get the tech.

 

[gdgrimm]

Add me to the list that states that GP's aren't used for Golden Ages except late in the game, when their other uses are failure useless.

That being said, Great Scientists and Great Engineers can help pop some late game techs that are useful for the Space Race. Great Merchants can generate large amounts of Expedition gold that can allow for military upgrades or faster research at a budget deficit. It's really just the Great Artists and the Great Prophets whose value diminishes greatly at the end of the game.

Unless, of course, you're going for a Culture Victory, in which case all GP's that are NOT Great Artists are crud. ;-)

 

[Wodan]

Another thought... past a certain point in the game, 1850AD or so, it's pretty much always better to lightbulb your great scientist than settle him.

Wodan

 

[Wlauzon]

what good are 650 beakers in 2049?

Future Tech: when you are at 5000, and Ghandi is at 5001, you NEED that one last tech.

 

[Wlauzon]

and just to say it:

for lightbulbing :
a GS gives up to 1500beakers +3 per pop point. (AFAIK : total number of city "pop")
other GPs give up to 1000beakers +2 per pop point.

On a similar side, if you plan to use Great Engineers for something like 3 Gorges Dam, you will need TWO of them.

I don't often use Great Folks to light bulb, but when I do it is nearly always for a head start on some important wonder. They are not as useful for the higher techs, as they simply don't supply enough beakers.

I played with World Builder a bit to see, and it takes about 6 or 7 to get one future tech.