Ideal Golden Age?

[Scout]

In your opinion, when is the ideal time to have your civilization's golden age?

I've been thinking it over, and, on one hand, you're going to pick up a whole lot more extra trade and production later on when you have more cities working far more terrain.

However, I'm not sure that that will be the decisive difference. An early golden age has distinct advantages:
*A head start on developing culture which may still be paying dividends late in the game. (Your stuff will likely be the oldest.)
*A better shot at some early conquest, which can offer quite a boost.

Any opinions on this?

 

[LKendter]

I think this is one of the big mysteries that playing the game will answer. My gut feeling says later, but we shall see.

Somehow a golden ages with just 3 or 4 cities seems a waste. A golden age with 50 would be unreal, but to late?

 

[DonJoel]

My guts says later too....

 

[DaEezT]

I think it's more usefull in the earlier game, when you have like 5 towns and enough tech advances to build some wonders. During the 20 rounds boost you can build some of the early wonders at once and get a advantage. Like building Hanging Gardens, Pyramids and Oracle at once during the golden age removes the need for granary and helps keeping all your cities happy. That way you can concentrate more on expansion in the earlier game without having to swap workers for entertainers to keep your ppl in the right mood for example.

 

[BlueMonday]

Personally, I think it would be best to get the Golden Age just as you reach the end of the Industrial era. I figure that's the most decisive time becuase it's just as you're getting strong offensive units and it's right before I start getting really aggressive with my military. It also right in that time where your cities are a few turns away from exploding in all the categories; industry, commerce, population, and now culture. Pulling ahead right at this point could make a huge difference in the end result of the game. Getting it towards the end seems OK, but usually towards the end game my cities are full fledged anyway and I wouldn't see the golden age making a massive improvenment to my heart land at the time -they're all at full capacity anyway.

I figure cranking my golden age just as I'm about to get aggressive and my cities are just below full capacity and I've got a lot of great techs that need researching is the best course to put me on top.

 

[Conditional Zenith]

I think it would be best at the start of the Middle Ages.

 

[greenie]

I think it will really depend.

Take for example, the WW2 scenario from Civ 2. A Golden Age as described by the developers of Civ3 would be a god-send in that scenario and could happen with Migs, panzers, F-16's, etc.

But there are many pov's. An early Golden Age could help you out if stuck on a continent with lots of comeptition, or help you boost luxury resource values.

BTW I always find the ancient or Middle Ages the best time to fight IMO, anything from Dragoons and muskteers onwards relies heavily on your own strategy and not simply being able to produce superior units to everyone else. Esp when civs trade techs with each other like they do in Civ2

 

[bechtka]

I agree with Blue. Right about the time you are getting Railroad and Industrialization seems to be the most critical. I would really want that boost to help build Darwin's, Suffrage, Hoover Dam, etc.

This is when I usually distance the AI.

 

[aneeshm]

I think the best time to have a golden age is the beginning of any significant era in the game . For example , a golden age at the beginning of the renaissance (early republic) will really give you a tech lead . If you get it at the beginning of the the industrial period , then it can help your cities build the factories & other improvements , and also ease the tech slowdown that comes with the beginning of the industrial era . If you get it at the beginning of the post-automobile era , then the wonders you can get will be easier to build & the shield bonus will be tremendous (when almost all squares are worked , & factories are in place ) . Warmongers will love the very early of really late age , when cities don't have impenetrable defences . In OCC , a golden age somewhere in the middle of the indistrial period , or at the really late period , when SS construction is vital , will help a lot . So it all depends on the conditions and yopu're playing under . As said , a normal game should be better off with a "beginning of era " golden age .

 

[sekong]

Since I like the culture-win, I think early Golden Age should be good to rush for a wonder... Most important, make sure you can make good use of those "bonus", which means,
1) you have low ratio of settler/worker
2) low corruption and waste
3) Unfinished neccessary building/unit to build
If all the above is met, the sooner the better. It's my answer

 

[Peteus]

Around the start of industrialisation would be very nice if you were planning a war, but might result in a horrible pollution problem if that works the same way as in Civ2!

I agree with an earlier poster, who suggested a timing where you are just about ready to contemplate building your favourite early wonders - Hanging Gardens, Great Wall, Pyramids, Colossus, Oracle, whatever - which to build - why not all?

With 6 or so growing cities, you could quickly snag several early wonders, which would provide tremendous culture benefits all through the game. Gravy!

 

[Cunobelin Of Hippo]

I think it will be largely impacted by your civ-specific abilities. You'll want to play to these.

But as a general statement I'd like mine around the 1 AD mark when you've established your territory with a number of cities, and you're ready to stop expanding aggressively and focus on internal growth. Skip ahead in the tech racea and grab some medieval/renaissance wonders, and rush build your libraries/temples etc. early enough to benefit culture bt not so early as to have only a few of them.

 

[Serg]

I think the Golden Age is needed after first wave of expantion for strengthen own cities and accelerate your development. Remind that Wonder brings more cultural if it was founded earlier.

 

[LKendter]

I am beginning to think the best time will be when you get factories. This is the big delay time for me, as most of my cities are stuck in factory building mode for awhile. Rush building the factories will be a big plus.

The question is it worth waiting that long?

No matter what I want at least 8 to 10 cities so I get some bang for my buck.

 

[duke o' york]

Originally posted by Peteus
Around the start of industrialisation would be very nice if you were planning a war, but might result in a horrible pollution problem if that works the same way as in Civ2!

I agree with an earlier poster, who suggested a timing where you are just about ready to contemplate building your favourite early wonders - Hanging Gardens, Great Wall, Pyramids, Colossus, Oracle, whatever - which to build - why not all?

With 6 or so growing cities, you could quickly snag several early wonders, which would provide tremendous culture benefits all through the game. Gravy!

I doubt that you will be able to get more than two early wonders solely as a result of your Golden Age. Even if it doubles production, you will still have to have a city with pretty high production levels for this to be a huge advantage in building a wonder. They do require loads of shields. Say your capital has 5 shields after support or whatever. The golden age gives you 10. The golden age lasts for 25 turns I think - that's only 250 shields, or enough for a single wonder. You can't rushbuild a wonder with caravans any more - you need great leader units. I say that an early golden age is a wasted opportunity.

Originally posted by bechtka:
I would really want that boost to help build Darwin's

Who in their right mind makes Darwin's Voyage a priority? Why not reinvest the shields wasted here and get some libraries and universities. You'll get the techs very quickly anyway, but the benefits will last. You can also hold onto wonders that would become obsolete with the advances you take a little bit longer.

 

[stravaig]

Given the impediments to early expansion and growth (no more covering the map with small cities), I think getting a boost early is all that much more important. Since growth is relatively geometric, the earlier you can get an effective boost, the better, IMO.
I'm thinking the best time for a Golden Age would be when you've got 3-6 cities and can use it to rapidly create more settlers and build a couple of important early wonders.
This will allow you to outstrip the opposition early on and it won't matter that they're GA'ing with 15 cities, because (due to geometric growth) you'll have 30 cities or more.

- Stravaig

 

[ecofx]

(no more covering the map with small cities),

Wrong!(partly) In civII it was more efficient to build settlers off small cities, so at full expansion all cities were small and un-irrigated etc (waste of settler time). In civIII a well-irrigated size 5 or 6 city (with granary) will be able to produce settler after settler much faster than a small one in civII would. Also, irrigated new sites in civIII will cause faster city-growth than unirrigated civII ones, so an important question is how much workers will 'cost'. With granaries and irrigation, cities will exolode to maximum size in each period (aqueducts required etc) anyway, so my capital will be churning out settlers and workers once it's got started, and the same for other cities once they're up to size 5 or so.
In short, i'll be covering the map with medium-sized cities in civIII:crazyeyes

Don't forget, golden age increases production in all worked squares, not just ones already making shields. If I stop growth at even 20 cities for a bit, get size 8 and maximize worked squares for production, I'll be able to spare any number of cities for wonder-building, up to 400 shield wonders I reckon (units cost no shields, don't forget - only corruption reduces shields). If it's a peaceful golden-age i'll have to build the right wonders first, of course, but then... I'll be building all of the available ones!!
That will be decided by my tech developments by then, but we're still talking fairly early on in the game in real terms, as being the best time for an expansionist strategy golden age.