Mercantilism: most useless civic?
- Thread starter Kudos
- Start date
MRM
Prince
Kudos said:
I have so far not seen any benifit from this civic too. However, I guess it is maybe an advantage if you are at war with most other civs - but i'am not sure about that ...
Daarkseid
Warlord
Mercantilism might be useful for a slight boost in science when used with Representation, which causes all specialists to produce +3 science(in addition to its bonus' to the top 5 cities in your empire).
warpstorm
Yumbo? Yumbo!
Remember, more specialists = more Great People. Depending on the other Civics and the wonders you have there may be even more bonuses - more culture, more research, etc.
The closing of the borders is a penalty to keep this from being too good.
The closing of the borders is a penalty to keep this from being too good.
Remember trading with other cultures not only gives you an advantage, it also gives them an advantage (The trade goes both ways)
Its often better not to trade with competitors. The mercantilism civic is very usefull if you havent found many other civs yet (can sometimes happen on open maps) or if you dont want to trade with lots of other civs. Also trade is sometimes not that much money income wise. So specialists can often be more important.
Its often better not to trade with competitors. The mercantilism civic is very usefull if you havent found many other civs yet (can sometimes happen on open maps) or if you dont want to trade with lots of other civs. Also trade is sometimes not that much money income wise. So specialists can often be more important.
Juhahu said:Depends on how many players are in game and are you war with them. In continents, it's quite easy to be in war with everyone you know even in larger game
it can also be useful for the part of the game where you haven't found a lot of other people yet, on continents and archipelago maps.
Breunor
Dominico said:
I'm not sure about that actually. It seems to me that if you adopt mercantilism your cities will not have trade routes with the other civs but i don't think the reverse is true : their cities will still be able to trade with yours.
Since inter-civ trade seems to be so much more profitable if you adopt mercantilism you might hurt your income while not affecting your neighbours.
Anyway i'm not 100% sure about that, it only seemed so in the games i played. I think i remember my cities still trading with a civ that had adopted mercantilism. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
MrCynical
Deity
Unless you get this civic very early on it does seem to do more harm than good. One specialist per city doesn't usually seem to counterbalance the loss of commerce from the restriction of trade routes.
Merchantilism + representation + liberty statues = holy 2 free specialist in each city with at least 6 science point in each city from representation bonus
Merchantilism + representation + caste system + black library + liberty statue = ultimate specialis fanatic
i actually like the first combo than free trade
sure u could earn abit more with free trade, but that combo garrantees 6 science points from each city, regardless of what kind of specialist.
so u can balance out your city, for example, your city lacks production, u can get 2 free engineer with 6 science point(ofcos u need to buildings requred)
by adopting merchantilism, other civ will not have trade route to your cities. city trading is bothways, if u look at your cities, you will notice that in city A, it says trading with city B, and in city B, you see its trading with city A.
Merchantilism + representation + caste system + black library + liberty statue = ultimate specialis fanatic
i actually like the first combo than free trade
sure u could earn abit more with free trade, but that combo garrantees 6 science points from each city, regardless of what kind of specialist.
so u can balance out your city, for example, your city lacks production, u can get 2 free engineer with 6 science point(ofcos u need to buildings requred)
by adopting merchantilism, other civ will not have trade route to your cities. city trading is bothways, if u look at your cities, you will notice that in city A, it says trading with city B, and in city B, you see its trading with city A.
Dairuka
Prince
Mercantilism + Caste System = Free Scientist in every city, during the early game.
I prefer to wait until foreign trade routes are worth more than 6 gold before I change to Free Market.
Sometimes I don't even bother to change to Free Market, opting instead to pick up State Property.
I prefer to wait until foreign trade routes are worth more than 6 gold before I change to Free Market.
Sometimes I don't even bother to change to Free Market, opting instead to pick up State Property.
AWeeMoose
The Todd
I haven't used this civic yet, but my assumption (before everyone's analysis here) was that it was ideal for the Always War variant.
Dairuka
Prince
On Monarch Difficulty, I've never once seen a trade route go higher than 10 gold. That includes Foreign Trade Routes.
During the Renessaince Era when I normally receive Mercantilism, trade routes are barely producing 5 gold. If I'm lucky.
The specialist for a short period of time is a huge boost during a time when taking the lead in research is very crucial.
Simply enough. I'd rather have the beakers.
During the Renessaince Era when I normally receive Mercantilism, trade routes are barely producing 5 gold. If I'm lucky.
The specialist for a short period of time is a huge boost during a time when taking the lead in research is very crucial.
Simply enough. I'd rather have the beakers.
Skirmisher
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2005
- Messages
- 249
With the sixtine chapel you get plus 2 culture per specialist (including the otherwise not so useful citizen), so mercantalism is a good way to expand the borders of conquered cities.
dh_epic
Cold War Veteran
Man, mercantilism is one of my favorites. As a philosophical civilization, mercantilism + pacifism is great. Add representation, and wow!
Add the national epic and the parthenon...
... add the great library?!
That's the makings of a lot of great people!
Add the national epic and the parthenon...
... add the great library?!
That's the makings of a lot of great people!
Ray Patterson
the dude is not in
And don't forget the Sistine chapel... basically with mercantilism and sistine chapel you get the creative trait and more!
Actually I got into a specialist trap at some point... the problem with this representation-mercantilism-sistine chapel combo is that you don't work your cottages and thus you don't benefit from printing press, free speech, universal suffrage... I think in the long run working cottages is better but you have to do it from the start. But I might be wrong, there could be a specialist-based strategy altogether in which you would never switch. In that strategy mercantilism is indispensable.
Actually I got into a specialist trap at some point... the problem with this representation-mercantilism-sistine chapel combo is that you don't work your cottages and thus you don't benefit from printing press, free speech, universal suffrage... I think in the long run working cottages is better but you have to do it from the start. But I might be wrong, there could be a specialist-based strategy altogether in which you would never switch. In that strategy mercantilism is indispensable.
