Oxford & Wall Street

[CivMcNut]

I seldom have a large religion shrined city in my empire. I sometimes get the small religions cities.

Therefore, my cottaged capital city tends to win out and get the most beakers and coins. If it gets those little icons, I tend to put Oxford and Wall Street there. I value gold and science, and want to get those the biggest boost I can give them. It seems like most of my games those icons are on my capital, so Oxford and Wall Street both wind up going there.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Why all the talk of a binary research slider?

Whether you use a binary slider or not is irrelevant to considerations of where to build Wall Street.

If you are running a binary slider, you just need to calculate (or estimate if necessary) your average slider position. i.e. (number of turns at 100% science)/(total number of turns). Note this assumes you aren't using the culture or esp slider.

If your average science rate is very low (e.g. lower than 50%) then it may well be worth building Wall Street in the highest commerce city.

 

[Oggums]

If a commerce city truly seems like the best place for Wall Street, maybe you shouldn't even bother. Wait until corporations and put it in a hammer city. Mow down a holy city. Make a merchant farm and settle them all somewhere. There's got to be a better option.

 

[Zexx]

But what is the implied opportunity cost of waiting for a better option?

Even if building WS or OU in a suboptimal spot is your only option, it still increases your gold and beakers, respectively.

 

[Sincro]

I almost never co-locate the two. Oxford probably ends up in my capital 99% of the time, and Wall Street goes in my best shrine city. If I lack a shrine city of my own, I acquire one with my military. Once I do have a shrine city, that religion gets spread to every city I possess, and to as many different civs as I can manage. I'm still a Prince player, so it's still awfully rare for me not to found Confucianism via an Oracle slingshot. I do understand that isn't going to be nearly as reliable once I make the jump to Monarch.

Unless I absolutely have to use them for something else, or in the rare case where I'm looking at a win prior to corporations, my first G Merchant and G Engineer are moved to my shrine city and sit there until they found sushi and mining. Probably somewhat of a waste of great people, but it sure beats the snot out of trying to generate one late.

The national wonders I still need to work on maximising are Nat/Heroic epic and Globe Theatre.

-Sinc

 

[Oggums]

But what is the implied opportunity cost of waiting for a better option?

Even if building WS or OU in a suboptimal spot is your only option, it still increases your gold and beakers, respectively.

What's the opportunity cost of the heavy hammer investment? Commerce cities by nature will have lower hammer output. You could stop working the cottages in favor of hammers...in your best commerce city?

I think I'd rather build wealth for 30+ turns and raise my slider.

 

[PartAnon]

If a commerce city truly seems like the best place for Wall Street, maybe you shouldn't even bother.

Interesting. In my games I've always assumed that Wall Street was a "must build," but this isn't necessarily the case. It's not a good idea to spend 20+ turns in a low production city putting 600 into a wonder, only have it turn out to be marginally beneficial (as is usually the case when it's combined with Oxford University). If you get a bad return on the investment, you might be better off not investing in it at all. Okay Oggums, I'm sold.