The factory bonuses don't stack anymore except with Magnus. Also, your palace has like 5 places for relics. And some of the cities you conquer can store relics too.
Lets look at opportunity cost. Hansa might be half cost, but unless I'm wrong the factory and the workshops are still built at normal cost. I understand a lot of games are over at that point, but if early bonuses are the priority then everyone should just play Gilgamesh or Rome or Scythia or Monty.
Looking at the Wiki:
Archeologist (400 prod)
Theatre Square, Amphitheatre, and Mueseum (150+265+54= 469). So 869 production to get an archeologist and a Mueseum.
Workshop + Factory + Hansa+ Power Plant = 390 + 75 + 27+ 580 = 1072.
But power plants can cover 4-5 cities. Most cities will just have a Hansa and a Workshop.
So: 4 German cities covered by 1 Powerplant 1 Factory and 3 Workshops:
1072 + 492 * 3 + 390 = 2900-ish hammers.
4 Kongo cities with Archeological Museums: 4 * 1072 = 4288 hammers.
Also, the Germans get the bonuses earlier so the Germans definitely have the edge in opportunity cost.
BUT that's not what this thread is about. This thread is about the LATE GAME (I was careful in my title). Each fully themed archeological museum provides 12 food 12 production 24 gold (!) and a crap ton of culture. So let's discount the culture and the gold at a 2:1 ratio so that comes out about 48 resources/turn per museum. For 4 Museums that's 192 resources/turn
In contrast, the Powerplant and the Hansas and the Workshops and the Factory provide +16 (Powerplant bonus for 4 cities) + 24 (adjacency bonuses for 4 Hansas), + 8 (Workshops Bonus for 4 cities). + 12 (Factory Bonus for 4 cities) or 60 resources/turn.
192 is a lot larger than 60. But the Germans get their bonuses earlier and easier (most of it's the Hansa itself) and all of their bonuses are in hammers. So the Germans definitely have the edge in the mid-game.
But the Kongo beat the Germans in the late game. Once you finally set them up those Archeological Muesuems are MONSTERS that provide production, food, culture, tourism, AND gold. With Kongo archeological museuems you don't need any other district other than a couple of campuses and a Commercial District or 2 (for roads) because they provide everything that you'll need.
Also, every time you build a theatre square, you get an apostle, which can be martyred for relics. The Germans have a more effective Magnus so those two effects even out.
The Kongo can easily go for a culture and a domination victory, simultaneously.
Also, when it comes to Swordsman rushes, the Kongo starts with a lot more forests and rainforests to chop. Their swordsmen might be more expensive, but you can chop them out reasonably well with Magnus. They start with 2 or 3 more forests/rainforests/city than almost anyone else.
The math is this: each fully theme archeological museum provides 12 food, 12 production, 24 gold, and an obscene amount of culture.
The Kongo Archeological Museum is NOT a Museum. This is the wrong way of thinking about it. What it actually is is a super-powered power plant, commercial district, culture generator and farm all rolled into one obscene tile space.
The Kongo archaeological museum is a builder's wet dream. And with your early game forests, you can get enough production to military or settler rush into 6-7 cities and then build to your heart's delight.
