Great People

[derdgod]

Hello. I couldn't find anything on how to use great people.
Is there a way you should always use great people or does it depend on the situation? Is settling a great person on useful if you Fill the freedom policy tree? How short does a Golden age have to become in order for it to not be worth burning a great person for?

 

[Pouakai]

It depends on which great person. Great Engineers should pretty much always be used to rush a wonder, Great Scientists are typically used to bulb a tech, and Great Generals are used for their combat boost with your army during war.

Welcome to the forums too!

 

[Camikaze]

Great people can be used either to build a specific improvement (depending on the great person), or to create a golden age, or to perform some other task. It's often that other task that is the best option. With a Great Engineer, rushing a wonder gives you the nice bonus of whatever that wonder offers without the production cost. Using a Great Scientist to give you a technology can give you quite an advantage obviously. Great Artists and Great Merchants aren't as useful in this capacity, but still can be depending on the situation.

 

[wcbarney]

Just my opinion and style of game play, mind you, but here is what I do:

Great Engineers: Always rush-build a wonder -- especially the GE from finishing Liberty which I typically save to rush-build the Porcelain Tower. Now, mind you, I don't rush-build just any old wonder; I do save the GEs to rush-build only those game-breaking wonders such as Cristo Redentor and the Sydney Opera House.

Great Scientists: If I'm Babylon, then I settle the first GS that I get for discovering Writing. The GS I get from the Porcelain Tower (otherwise the first GS I get) is used to bulb Astronomy so that I can open the Rationalism policy tree. All others are saved for the tech-bulbing party which gets you from the Industrial Era to the Future Era in one turn & lets you build the Apollo Project and launch your spaceship nearly a hundred years before anyone else. (Yeah, you do have to pay maintainance every turn on these GS, but it's worth it.)

Great Generals: One or two are extremely useful for augmenting combat abilities; the rest get burned for Golden Ages.

Great Artists: Always get settled near my capitol, where their 6 gets multiplied and multiplied again by The Hermitage and the Sydney Opera House, and doubled when you complete the Freedom policy tree.

Great Merchants: Always used for diplomatic missions. 600 and 30 CS influence from a GM diplo mission is typical.

 

[Mesix]

It depends on which great person. Great Engineers should pretty much always be used to rush a wonder, Great Scientists are typically used to bulb a tech, and Great Generals are used for their combat boost with your army during war.

Welcome to the forums too!

I find that early Great Scientists are often better used to build the Academy tile improvement. +6 doesn't sound like much, but it is modified by all the buildings etc. In the early game, bulbing a tech to save time may seem like a good idea, but in the long run it may be a waste. I have had games as Babylon where I settled all of the GS up to the Renaissance Era and had 10 Academies outside my science city. When using this technique, make sure to have a mountain next to the city (to build an Observatory) and plan to put the National College in the city as well. By the late game, the Academies will be pumping out 8 each modified by the University (+33% or +50% with Rationalism/Free Thought policy), Observatory (+50%), Factory (+25% with Order/Planned Economy policy) and National College (+50%) buildings. This can be further modified by adoption Rationalism/Sovereignty (+15% total ) to produce about 25 every turn! Over a long game, that adds up quickly and can often outpace the cost of shaving a few turns of an early tech considerably.

There are times when bulbing for earlier tech may be better even if the generated is lower. I often bulb to enter a new era (to open up new policies), to make a building available earlier (to get benefits from using the new building faster), or to get a tech for a wonder that I want to build.

Using a combination of scientist specialists, high population (with Library and Public School), and several academies, I have had a city produce over 500 per turn.

 

[The Pilgrim]

In the early game, bulbing a tech to save time may seem like a good idea, but in the long run it may be a waste.

That's why you sit on your GS's until the late game and then bulb.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=426850

 

[Strategist83]

As to whether to pop the Great Person for a Golden Age or not, that depends on a multitude of factors such as

a) the size of your empire - the bigger, the better a Golden Age is
b) whether you own Chichen Itza or not
c) what style of empire you run - golden ages are much better for communist players working the land than freedom players whose specialists are unaffected by the golden age

...and more.

in short, derdgod, you'll have to consider each situation separately as there is no simple answer.

 

[Becomedeath]

That's why you sit on your GS's until the late game and then bulb.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=426850

Not necessarily. Take the path to Chivalry for example, if you have a GS or two you can power through currency, civil service etc and have a massive tactical advantage over your opponents.

Sitting on a GS until the late game IMO rarely pays off as well as a well timed tech boost in the early to early-mid game when you can make a significant impact on the board for relitavely little cost.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Not necessarily. Take the path to Chivalry for example, if you have a GS or two you can power through currency, civil service etc and have a massive tactical advantage over your opponents.

Sitting on a GS until the late game IMO rarely pays off as well as a well timed tech boost in the early to early-mid game when you can make a significant impact on the board for relitavely little cost.

Sure. Bulbing military techs doesn't have competition, as far as I'm concerned. Not just Chivalry, but Machinery and Steel as well. But that's not what Mesix meant. And for non-domination game sitting on GS's till the very end is the best strategy, except for bulbing Astronomy.

 

[Becomedeath]

Ah, but war is not just for domination! The Civ with no cities cannot build a spaceship...eliminate your compeititon and then sit back and enjoy your gentle paced game to space victory!

 

[The Pilgrim]

Ah, but war is not just for domination! The Civ with no cities cannot build a spaceship...eliminate your compeititon and then sit back and enjoy your gentle paced game to space victory!

Well, specific map or just personal preference for that matter can dictate a non-optimal approach. But usually it means compromising your finishing time.

 

[CYZ]

Saving up GP costs money on maintenance, don't forget this. Plus an advantage right now might bring you a return-on-investment that will be very usefull for later. Imagine being able to build certain buildings or units earlier, might make a bigger long-term difference than holding on to GP.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Saving up GP costs money on maintenance, don't forget this. Plus an advantage right now might bring you a return-on-investment that will be very usefull for later. Imagine being able to build certain buildings or units earlier, might make a bigger long-term difference than holding on to GP.

Many thousands of beakers for the latest and most expensive techs make up for that.
You may compare two very similar spacerace/diplo games with different use of GS's. You'll finish faster by saving them 100% of the time. Especially when you play with tall empire and beakers per turn aren't very high. Industrial to Modern 1 turn jump is just too powerful.

 

[CYZ]

Many thousands of beakers for the latest and most expensive techs make up for that.
You may compare two very similar spacerace/diplo games with different use of GS's. You'll finish faster by saving them 100% of the time. Especially when you play with tall empire and beakers per turn aren't very high. Industrial to Modern 1 turn jump is just too powerful.

Sure, I'm not saying it isn't a valid strategy. Just that maintenance costs are often overlooked. Not to mention you're missing oppertunities right now that will snowball into the later game.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Sure, I'm not saying it isn't a valid strategy. Just that maintenance costs are often overlooked. Not to mention you're missing oppertunities right now that will snowball into the later game.

In some sort of shaky situation with runaway civ, that puts your win in jeopardy or whatever non-standard-boring scenario maybe. Otherwise nothing is better than crazy bulbing party. I'm not saying it's how everybody should always play. Doing the same thing over and over again isn't fun. I know. It's just the way to gain maximum profit from GS's and the fastest finish.

 

[Becomedeath]

Saving GS until the modern era is always fun if you play as Babylon and have gone for hardcore science buildings. 20 techs in a single turn makes me

 

[The Pilgrim]

Saving GS until the modern era is always fun if you play as Babylon and have gone for hardcore science buildings. 20 techs in a single turn makes me

20? With Freedom? Can you jump from mid Renaissance to Modern then? The game is over before it even started.

 

[wcbarney]

In some sort of shaky situation with runaway civ, that puts your win in jeopardy or whatever non-standard-boring scenario maybe. Otherwise nothing is better than crazy bulbing party. I'm not saying it's how everybody should always play. Doing the same thing over and over again isn't fun. I know. It's just the way to gain maximum profit from GS's and the fastest finish.

Hey Pilgrim -- you convinced me a long time ago! Now I can say that "I always play this way," but I didn't 'til you came along and tought me how to do it right.

 

[The Pilgrim]

Hey Pilgrim -- you convinced me a long time ago! Now I can say that "I always play this way," but I didn't 'til you came along and tought me how to do it right.

Don't worry, you'll get bored eventually.

And I cannot get the credit. Really. I'm learning from others much greater deal I'm capable to teach anyone (parroting mob, as we called these days ).
It's funny, though. I always did this since the game came out. Not cuz I'm such freakin' genius, but more cuz I'm too lazy to think how could I use GP's more effectively. Then I took a long break from Civ and when came back to the game and these forums I discovered smart people with scary numbers proved that it is the most profitable way. Cool revelation, you know.

 

[RD-BH]

RE: Great Generals

I collect them during warfare.
As soon as peace is negotiated I burn all save one for golden age.
The one I leave with the troops on the next front line.