Multiplier Buildings: A Practical Primer

[Aabraxan]

The percentages remain the same, but any additional raw commerce that gets past corruption still goes through the multipliers.

 

[Nergal]

Smiths Trading is one wonder I do like building. Especially with monarchy it gives a good lump of bonus commerce.

 

[Bllasae]

is incorrect. Adding a research lab would add 6 - adding copernicus, newtons or seti will add 12 beakers - those double research.

So if you added the copermicus(=2X6=12) and then Newton's(12X2=24) and then SETI(24X2=48) Wouldn't the total equal 48 if they all double research?

 

[Aabraxan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your numbers look like you're compounding the gains. IOW, you're taking the base research (which you've got listed as 6), doubling it for Copernicus, and doubling the result with Newton's, then doubling the entire result of that with SETI. Is that right?

Perhaps a more accurate statement of the effect of those wonders is that they each add 100% of the base research. But it's a simple calculation, not compound. The base research for the city is actually 12. So Copernicus, Newton's, and SETI would each add 12 beakers.

 

[MAS]

So if you added the copermicus(=2X6=12) and then Newton's(12X2=24) and then SETI(24X2=48) Wouldn't the total equal 48 if they all double research?

If a city base uncorrupted commerce is 12,
and the SCI slider is 100% Then Base science is 12

library adds 50% of base (12) = 6        (18 science so  far)
university adds 50% of base (12) = 6     (24 science so far)
research lab adds 50% of base (12) = 6   (30 science so far)
copernicus adds 100% of base (12) = 12   (42 science so far)
newtons adds 100% of base (12) = 12      (54 science so far)
seti adds 100% of base (12) =  12

Total = base (12) +6+6+6+12+12+12= 66 science beakers

 

[scoutsout]

Posting to give this one a bump; I don't know if TF plans to update the War Academy again, but I think this one would be worth including because it could help new players. I daresay it's the economic equivalent of my "Warmongering 101" piece.

 

[Whoman69]

So are science specialists ever worth it? Aside from having increased happiness by having less workers assigned in your city they really give limited benfit then. You'd get more benfit from having a tax collection specialist, having more in the treasury and being able to then assign a higher science slider because you'll be better able to afford it.

 

[Aabraxan]

So are science specialists ever worth it? Aside from having increased happiness by having less workers assigned in your city they really give limited benfit then.

They are absolutely worth it. In Conquests, the scientist produces 3 beakers, and the taxman produces 2 gold. Get enough specialist farms going with scientists and you can drop the science slider and still do fast research. I recommend reading Bede's "The Role of The Specialist Citizen."

You'd get more benfit from having a tax collection specialist, having more in the treasury and being able to then assign a higher science slider because you'll be better able to afford it.

Not necessarily. Having more scientists allows you to drop the science slider, too. That raises the amount of gold leftover as tax revenue in your core, which is then run through the money multipliers (banks, markets, etc.). The output of specialists never gets run through the multipliers, so a tax collector out in the 90% corrupt boonies makes 2 gold, as does one in your capitol. But the one in the capitol could also be producing food and shields, whereas corruption will eat up any shields produced by the one in the boonies.

 

[MAS]

So are science specialists ever worth it? Aside from having increased happiness by having less workers assigned in your city they really give limited benfit then. You'd get more benfit from having a tax collection specialist, having more in the treasury and being able to then assign a higher science slider because you'll be better able to afford it.

Actually, in conquest, the scientist is usually more powerful than commerce turned into science.

For example, a working citizen on a road provides 1 commerce. with both a library and a university, that becomes 2 beakers (assuming 100% SCI)

And you can't run 100% SCI because those improvements costs upkeep.
On top of that, the they cost production shields, and turns to build.

In republic, that same citizen produces 2 commerce, and that will be turned into 4 beakers.
As you can see, using commerce and multiplier improvements. Is actually only really worth it in republic, compared to the 3 beaker scientist.
And then I'm only talking about the low corrupted core cities.

Of course, You'd rather have your core citizens work the land anyway because you also want them to produce food and production shields, but still. ..

In Vanilla and PTW you are correct, in those versions, I'd advice using tax collectors in your specialist farms to pay for the upkeep of core cities, allowing you to increase the SCI slider.

 

[ecuwins]

I recently moved to C3C from 1.29f(vanilla) and I would always use tax men in vanilla. Now in C3C I use as many scientists as I can without causing an overrun. It just takes some playing around with the slider having all specialists as scientists then you start changing scientists to tax men until the number of turns to tech goes up by one. Now change the last one back to scientist. Recheck and tweak during the last few turns and you should never have an over run of more than 2 beakers.

 

[Headbanger]

While I don't build Smith's very often, I think you've hit the nail on the head, Hasrubal Barca, at least as far as the math goes. I don't think Smith's would be worth it in a 5-city empire, but that's a different debate.

I sometimes beeline straight for economy.

 

[CivAgamemnon]

Aabraxan, excellent article. I've always wondered if it was off the base or multiplied the current numbers. Thanks for the intriguing article!

 

[del62]

Thanks for the article, a banks and stock exchanges only seem worth it in core city metros, probably 5 of each to allow for wall street.

 

[Aabraxan]

Thanks, CivAgamemnon & del62.

Putting this article together proved to be very educational for me. As for banks and stock exchanges, del62, part of that decision depends on your game. If you're playing a zero-research variant, obviously, you'll want to build more banks, because you'll need to buy your techs, though you might still want some libraries for the culture. OTOH, if you want to be the world tech leader, but don't care much about keeping money in the treasury, libraries are the way to go.

As for me, I almost never build stock exchanges and it's even more rare that I build Wall Street. I have to admit that I usually don't build many banks, either. But that's more due to my playing style than anything else, though. I have to admit, though, that my capital, and maybe 1 or 2 other high-commerce, low-corruption cities will often have both a bank and a library. Even though this seems to go against the grain of the either/or thinking on banks & libraries, here's how I view it: Once I get my continent conquered and my specialist farms set up, I can usually do 4-5 turn research. For 4 of the 5 turns, the bank is costing me money, but on that last turn, when I turn down the slider, that 50% increase should more than make up for the gold lost on other turns.