Growth vs Specialists

[Sandman2012]

I'm an average level player right now and I'm attempting to learn more about micromanaging things, specifically specialists. I'm trying to figure out the benefits of as opposed to allowing growth. Early in the game I find that specialists can help slow the growth of a city that may get too large before one can build a granary and an aqueduct, but further on how does one figure the benefits of specialists vs city growth. For example, I have a small city right now surrounded by mostly hills, no river or coast near it. It's beginning to get near its happiness/health limit, and I'm trying to decide if making an engineer there would be a better choice than making no specialists and putting a granary or aquduct there.

For the record, I love this game and all the decisions it requires. It can be as complex or simple as you make it.

edit: I play on Noble level and win about half the time or less.

 

[nullspace]

Ooh, interesting question with no easy answer. Specialists are a good way of getting production/research/gold if there is no good tile to work, and they also produce great people points. I think you're generally better off putting the citizen to work if you have a tile that produces what you want. In your example, it's better to work a mined hill than use the engineer. An engineer produces 2 hammers, but a mined plains hill produces 4. That hill produces no food, so it will stop growth just fine.

On the other hand, specialists have their uses. If a city only has a few good tiles to work (like a tundra city with a food bonus), using a specialist is probably better than working a tundra tile. Or build the national epic and make a lot of specialists in a city to produce a lot of great people. And if you use the Representation civic (which adds 3 beakers to every specialist), you can have an economy based entirely on specialists.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

well an engineer also produces 3 GPP, so it depends on whether production or GPP is more productive.

Basically unless you have towns, a specialist is the best way of getting commerce compared to a tile, but for production, the tile is better.

 

[Tatran]

Growth is more important until you got unhappy citizens.
If you don't have the Drama tech yet,to use the cultural slider,
it is better to create some specialists.

 

[Willburn]

anyone considered that with a lot of specialists you can allso have closer cities because specialist dont work on the map ? This ofcourse require a massive spam of farms to supply the food for them all

 

[Sandman2012]

Well I'm trying a new strategy in my latest game, which is to use the specialists to slow growth when I get close to the either the health or happiness limit until I acquire the next tech that will allow me to address the problem.

I'm thinking that happiness is more an issue than health, since an unhappy person consumes food, but doesn't produce anything, whereas an unhealthy city only slows growth but not production.

 

[DaveMcW]

1 unhappy citizen = 2 unhealthy faces.