How to win Space Race before 1900 ...

[Andrei_V]

Another suggestion is to run Representation since the time it becomes available, and forever.

You'd want to run Scientist Specialists even in your pure production centers (instead of mines), whenever they are not busy with wonders or units.

Building 'research' is a way unefficient. Run Scientists instead, better under Representation, since every Specialist brings 3 more beakers. Engineers, Merchants, even Citizens.

 

[ohioastronomy]

It's ok to build all those improvements, but not as the first priority. If you run close to 100% science, they do no good as far as wealth is concerned, unless you have some sources of income other than tile commerce, like Merchant Specialists or a religious shrine.

On the other hand, Markets increase happiness, Grocers - health, certain number of Banks is needed for Wall Street.

So, you'd still build them when necessary, but the scientific buildings (Libraries, Observatories, etc) have higher priority.

If you have large periods of time when your cities have nothing to build, consider changing your tech path. They must be busy with helpful things all the time. Actually, one of the principal rules in any race - time your research with your building. By the time you finish some building, you have to discover another tech to build something else.


If you want a record launch in the HOV, Great Plains is a real good candidate for you. If you want just to break 1900 (or even 1800) barrier, you can use any other map. Try Lakes, for instance, you'll have less juicy resources in the beginning, but also less problems with strategic resources like Coal or Aluminium in the end.


If you want to conquer the world, conquer the world on whatever map you are. Forget about Space Race completely, entirely, and forever.

Completely right. The "dead space" in the middle of the game for a space race can be cured if you beeline techs. This means picking a goal that is moderately (but not excessively) far away, usually 2-3 techs. If you get Astronomy early, you can be building Observatories. Get Assembly Line relatively early and be building Factories and Coal Plants, etc. It's also a good time to churn out a bunch of workers - you can build massive cities with Biology and Farms, or you can convert a city to production by bulldozing previous improvements and adding Watermills, etc.

 

[scotchex]

I've been using a 1:1 worker to city ratio. Sounds like you run a lot more. 2:1? 3:1?

 

[Andrei_V]

You need just enough workers to have improved tiles by the time the city grows. Working unimproved tiles is a way unefficient.

Better use slavery to whip something useful, and improve more tiles asap. But if you have enough improved tiles around your cities, your workers may get some sleep.

The ratio 1:1 may wary according to the terrain. For a city in the middle of large jungle area, I'd bring 4 or 6 workers, and join them into stacks of 2-3 workers in each. For a coastal city with seafood and plenty of water tiles, I'd bring one to build the mines and cottages, and then send it someplace else.

 

[DaveMcW]

2:1 is the most you should ever have. I usually start with 1.5:1 and build up to 2:1 when I am bulldozing towns for extra production.

I'm not sure what to do to get faster. Near the end I stopped producing anything with my weaker cities, and just had them add Research. I had 10 cities on my continent (small map). I did overproduce military when conquering my continent. So there was lost time producing that. Probably I just need to wrap up my initial continent conquest faster. It was only around 980 AD when I shifted my sttention to the space race.

I stop expanding around 1AD. You don't need to wipe out your entire continent, especially if the remaining AIs are peaceful. Settle as fast as you can, it's good to be spending your entire income on city upkeep. Faster expansion in the short term means faster cottage growth in the long term.

 

[ohioastronomy]

I've been using a 1:1 worker to city ratio. Sounds like you run a lot more. 2:1? 3:1?

I should have been clearer on the timing. Early on, one worker per city can improve things as fast as cities can grow. It can be handy to have some extras for road-building; how many depends on the map and size (bigger maps, or few rivers, means more roadbuilders).

In the midgame, you can unlock new improvements with some techs, and that is when having a sea of workers becomes very handy. Watermills, windmills, and lumbermills can all be large boosts to the right cities. When biology kicks in, it becomes worthwhile to plant farms on plains (especially if you follow up with Medicine and choose Environmentalism). You can get a massive population surge with biology and use the extra food for a large number of science specialists (this is also true for grasslands and floodplains - just make sure you have the health to use the farms you build). Finally, at the endgame you can use workers to shift from science to production for the spaceship parts - yes, even bulldozing towns for watermills.

 

[Sisiutil]

Thanks to VoiceofUnreason pointing out its advantages in an ALC game, my Ironworks city is now always a city with a lot of river tiles and grassland: watermills and workshops. And yes, I will bulldoze towns to set it up.

 

[uberfish]

The really early dates are posted using Marathon which doesn't scale well to the other speeds, so don't be intimidated by 1600 launches.