How do you use your Great People?

[kristopherb]

G. Engineer - stockpile for wonders.
G. Scientist - Super Specialist after the academy
G. Merchant - Trade Mission
G. Prophet - Holy City Shrine Build or Super Specialist
G. Artist - usually a cultural bomb or in my top 3 cities specailist

 

[KMadCandy]

i've been trying on a harder difficulty level lately and lightbulbing more, never used to lightbulb anything except religions or CS before. i don't remember ever using any for a golden age.

my current coop team game with hubby, i got a lovely start position. 6 coastal squares (2 had clams), wheat, stone *literally* on the plains square where my settler started (i moved up on a forest before settling), corn, on a freshwater lake and just one square from a river that hit 3 of the fat cross squares. 6 forests, 2 hills, one had gold, and i'm hannibal, financial, start with fishing and mining and hubby started with mysticism. it is a lovely city, i named it Gold on a Lake and it was getting over 200 beakers way before i got an academy.

getting the academy tho was KILLING me. hubby kept popping the great people at first, and none of them scientist (grrrr) altho now i'm getting them more often. twice tho i got an engineer, and then a merchant, before finally the scientist i'd been coveting for an academy. the merchant was handy, got us lots of gold on a trade mission, the 2nd engineer Henry Ford actually got renamed to "Henry Ford the [insert bad word here]' since there were no wonders that were gonna take more than 8 turns for a long time to come. i ended up *finally* getting my scientist not too long before Henry, after been sitting around for years, got used to rush statue of liberty.

 

[Ball Lightning]

Super Specialist
Special Skill
Technology
Only when i have 2 at the same time to i use them for a golden age.

 

[uncarved block]

So much hate for the Artists! I find they're more useful later in the game, where they help with techs like Military Tradition or Fascism. If I get one early, he'll get settled in a border town, to help nullify the economic burden. (On Oasis and Hub maps the extra culture can also help snag some lovely resources from culture starved AI towns.)

Late game Prophets can be good or bad, depending on how many I've gotten already. Sometimes they're very nice after a string of Scientists, especially if you've founded one of the later religions. Getting a Prophet in the middle of a space race, though, is incredibly annoying . . .

 

[Uncle E]

hehe i use the artists the same way ... passive border town war ... i just love pushing back them borders and swallowing up cities ... i like to merge them vs. bombing them ... somehow it seems that the +12 culture per turn works better than the 4000 boost ... the +3 gold is nice too

 

[JohnYoga]

Scientists: Mostly Academies.

Prophets: Shrines, techs that give a religion, otherwise I settle them in high cash cities (often a shrine city). Late game I'll save them for a GA in order to finish the space ship quickly.

Merchants: Settle them in low food cities. Hardly ever use them for a trade mission. Late game I'll save them for a GA.

Engineers: Wonders, except post building of the space ladder.

Artists: Yuck. Great work mostly, but I avoid them like the plague. I usually don't even build the national epic because I can't stand artists, which is silly of course.

Generals: Moslty military instructors.

Hi.

I missed something here: a) How do you make a Merchant or Prophet a Great Artist? And, (b) why do you save the GA until the end, do you use them for cultural bombing or something?

Thanks for your help. John

 

[uncarved block]

The perils of lingo, JohnYoga-- GA in this case is Golden Age.

 

[mrlaze]

GP- Shrines
GM- Mission, or SS
GE- Wonder, or SS
GS- Acadamy
GG- depends
GA- Early SS, late GW

i never use the bulb. :shrug:

 

[Cheeseisgood]

Great Priest - Super Specialist
Great General - War academy
Great Artist - Great work of art
Great Engineer - Start a wonder and rush it
Great Mercant - Trade Mission
Great Scientist - Golden age or Academy

 

[paperchase417]

Great Prophet
I use it for the religious building of my state religion asap.
Then the other religions founded in my state, but only if the culture is necessary near enemy boarders. Then I use them for Tech, or specialists, in small cities in need of production and culture (if I have the sistine chapel)

Great Artist
I ALWAYS use them for the culture bomb

Great Merchant
I ALWAYS use them for the trade mission

Great Scientist
I usually make the Acedemy. Not for the science bonus, but for the cultural value. If I have no cultural competition I make them specialists.

Great Engineer
I ALWAYS use them to rush production of a World Wonder, even if I have to save him until one comes along.

Great General
I usually use it for the academy or the specialist, depending on whos producing what and how fast.

I would like to see the GREAT PHILOSOPHER, maybe a mix of Great Artist, Great Prophet and Great Scientist, on a smaller scale.

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

Great Scientists: I used to do all acadamies, but Ive come to see that after a couple acadamies its really not worth it. So now I lightbulb all of them through education, then I'll build my acadamy. One thing to take into account is what you can lightbulb with them...my last game I got philosophy first (religion), paper (and build sankore) and used one to chop education down by roughly 75% (I was the first to liberalism because of this, plus earlier start on oxford which in your best science city usually blows away SEVERAL acadmies).

So with lightbulbing great scientists I founded a religion, built a cheap wonder that helps with research, got the free tech from liberalism, got a head start on Oxford (philo leaders would take advantage of this even more)...and thats not taking into consideration how I traded paper and education to grab the techs I skipped. All from lightbulbing. I think this is a much better return then your third or fourth acadamy (or even your second).

Great merchants: If I get one early enough I'll use them as a super specialist...you can make more money in the long run. Ive used them before to lightbulb currency, also. But majority of the time I'll do a trade mission and use the money for mass upgrading of troops.

Great prophet: If it hasnt been discovered yet (or if Im Napoleon or Mehmed and am beelining for gunpowder) I'll lightbulb Theology. This is a great way to grab a religion without burning lots of turns on it. Plus its fairly expensive, making it solid for trading. After that, the usual...shrines, then specialists

Great artist: Almost always culture bomb. If im going for cultural win I'll attach as a specialist ONLY if its very early on. I think one time I lightbulbed Music because its almost 1000 beakers.

Great engineer: Wonders all the way. If I get one real late I'll probably attach as a specialist...often I dont need broadway, hollywood, etc. Sometimes I'll use one to build a national wonder if I have no great wonders to build (and none in the relative future).

Great general: Lately I've been saving them for education. I tend to get my first one around the time I research civil service or education. The +2 experience is nice but easily duplicated via civics. If I dont have a unit near level 5 (or im done building acadamy+one specialist) then I'll attach as a warlord. Ive found making a Warlord on a mounted unit as a super healer works wonders on long campaigns.