Libraries make money

[Theoden]

Some of you may already know this strategy but i just wanted to say it. I have tried this strategy myself and it worked fine.

Lets say you dont got currency but you have literature and youre in economic problems. Then building a library and lowering the science level to the same science income as before the library was built you actually earn money.

For those of you that did not understand this. Lets say we got a city with 10 commerce. The science rate is 80% so we have 8 science and 2 taxes. Then we build a library and science raises to 12 at a cost of 1 gpt in upkeep. Then if we lower the science rate to 60% we will still be gathering 9 science (About the same as before the library was built) and tax income will be 4 minus 1 for upkeep. So after the library we actually earn more money per turn. The same goes for universities and research labs (Though by the time you get them you usually dont got any money problems)

You might ask "Why should we use this strategy. We build marketplace if we want money"

The answer is: If you dont got currency that is a way of getting money, or if you already have built a marketplace and still need more money.

I have tried this with the ottomans and since they are scientific it worked great

So my conclusion is that libraries can earn you money

 

[Moonsinger]

So my conclusion is that libraries can earn you money

Nope! The library doesn't earn you any money, but effective management does. For example, a company currently employ 100 secretaries to keep track of their paper works. If they buy 50 computers + trainning cost for 50 secretaries, they now can let the other 50 secretaries go. Overall, the cost of the 50 computers and their training cost is far less than the salary of the 50 secretaries.

 

[Theoden]

Exactly.

You buy extra computers(Libraries) and halve the number of secretaries(lower science rate. But you can only do this because of the library. Without the library you would not be able to lower the science rate and make money. So it is because of effective management and libraries.
It can also be used the other way, gaining science production because of a marketplace.

 

[superslug]

I usually go the other way around using the Marketplaces, like you just mentioned. There are two reasons I prefer to do this. For one, marketplaces also provide smiling happy faces. Secondly, if I'm lucky enough to get my hand of Smith's, I don't have to pay for them.

 

[Yndy]

Specialisation helps you make more money.

Having 4 Marketplaces and 5 Libraries by the end of the Ancient Age in a total of 7 towns would not give you a research advantage or a financial one.

Building 7 Marketplaces in 7 key towns would ensure that you can buy and trade for most of the Medieval Age.

Building 7 libraries in 7 key towns would help you dig deep in one of the tech branches of the Medieval Age and reap the benefits (e.g. go focused on Military Tradition and get most of the upper branch by trading techs).

Look at the total commerce inflows change as you move the tech slider. Due to specialization, you could get from 100 raw commerce to 140 maybe (not all towns can build libraries or marketplaces), while without specialization you would get in the best case a 120 across the board.

 

[Balázs]

Hi!

Don't know if this is the right place to ask, but...

Does anybody know how the Science Calcultations work?

I mean:

Usually you can say, that, for instance, to invent Bronzeworking you have accumulate a certain amount of Science points.

BUT: ONLY USUALLY!!!!

I noticed that is nearly impossible to get inventions in 4 turns and I couldn't lower them below 3 Turns.

Another interesting fact, that sometimes Empires with MORE research points invent techs slower.
IE:
HotSeat:
Player A.
26 researchpoints +1 scientist=29 research points:
Horseback riding:6 turns, Ironworking 8 Turns
Player B.
32 research points total
Horseback riding: 9 turns, Ironworking 12 turns.

And there were some odd things like that.
At first we suggested, that, it is because those nations were Scientist.
But later on we discovered, that somehow those Scientist nations didn't discoverd techs any faster at all.
Nevertheless, they never discovered slower, I mean if X researchpoints were acquired a turn, they never lagged behind others, as in the comparsion of Player A and B.

Could anyone give me a helping hand in this?

Thak you, in advance.

That's all.

 

[Catt]

Originally posted by Balázs
Hi!

Don't know if this is the right place to ask, but...

Does anybody know how the Science Calcultations work?

I mean:

Usually you can say, that, for instance, to invent Bronzeworking you have accumulate a certain amount of Science points.

BUT: ONLY USUALLY!!!!

There are two distinct "technology costs" -- research cost and trade cost. Each technology has a certain base cost - usually represented here in the forums as beakers. Accumulate enough beakers and you discover the tech. Alternatively, pay enough gold to another civ that knows the tech, and discover the tech.

The tricky part is that the base cost of a technology is subject to influences by a whole host of factors (map size, difficulty level, "degree of discovery" of the tech etc.). A few simple examples: (1) larger maps require more beakers for each tech; (2) at difficulty levels above regent, the human pays more beakers for a tech than an AI; at lower levels the opposite is true; and (3) the trade and research cost for each tech is influenced by the number of known civs that already have knoweldge of the technology -- a very simple example: if you know 3 civs that already know bronze working, it will be cheaper to both research and buy bronze working; if no civ that you know has knowledge of BW, it will not be cheaper to research or buy; if only one civ knows BW, the research cost is unchanged, but the trade cost actually goes up a bit.

A poster named Grey Fox maintains a utility program that calculates actual in-game tech costs based on the data points you input -- search for a post by Grey Fox and I'm sure his calculator is linked in his signature. Playing with the calculator will give you a feel for how the various factors impact research costs.

I noticed that is nearly impossible to get inventions in 4 turns and I couldn't lower them below 3 Turns.

There is a minimum and maximum research time coded into the game (and moddable in the editor) -- in Civ and PTW, the min-max turns are 4-40; in C3C it is 4-50. In C3C no matter how many beakers you produce, and no matter the modified base cost of the tech, you'll never research it faster than 4 turns; similarly, no matter how few beakers you contribute (so long as you contribute at least one beaker per turn), you'll never spend more than 50 turns researching any tech.

Another interesting fact, that sometimes Empires with MORE research points invent techs slower.
IE:
HotSeat:
Player A.
26 researchpoints +1 scientist=29 research points:
Horseback riding:6 turns, Ironworking 8 Turns
Player B.
32 research points total
Horseback riding: 9 turns, Ironworking 12 turns.

Are these both human civs? If human civs they are playing at the same difficulty level, and there really shouldn't be any difference in research times or cost unless one human civ knows other civs that have already discovered the technology. For instance, in your example, if Player A knew several civs that had already discovered HR or IW but Player B knew no civs with that knowledge, Player A's research costs would be lower than Player B's.

 

[sysyphus]

Since my approach (and most others) is to keep the science slider as high as possible whilst still making money, this strategy is kind of automatic.

As Yndy says, marketplaces are more effective than Libraries for both money and science. I always research currency before literature. Libraries really provide little more than a small bonus in science, I find them more useful for culture.

 

[Ribannah]

That's not what Yndy says.

If you are a big researcher, build libraries first. The bonus is 50%!
The only times that, as a researcher, you want Marketplaces first are:
- you are getting techs in 4 turns already with science lower than taxes, and you don't need the culture;
- you have plenty of luxuries and need the extra happiness, and you don't need the culture.