This is basically inspired by both a thread assuming it's always to get Worlds Fair in combo with my most recent game with a very hammer poor start (flood plains, very few tiles with hammers) in which the dumb AI proposed Worlds Fair in the first congress making it impossible to even get 500 hammers towards it, let alone the typical number needed.
I find Worlds Fair is worth a lot of policies, but can always get the most use out of it if it's proposed second. That additional 30 turns (can slip to 31 or 32 depending on world congress advancement) means that my base culture per turn will be somewhat higher for a bigger affect while still being early enough to get full use of.
Meanwhile there are some really horrid hammer starts that the map generator will give you when it's either raw food or gold heavy because at the end of the day it's placing you on a combined "fertility score". (Flood plains with a Calendar type primary luxury in particular will give you just as a high a score as a possibly more desirable high hammer low gold start.)
As that thread mentioned as a Freedom-Science victory could very well not be able to finish right side of commerce, complete Rationalism, and reach the level 3 tenet without hosting Worlds Fair. (By contrast child's play to do this with Worlds Fair)
The interesting though is that Order-Science can run into the same basic issue if they've invested too much into culture prior to Rean era and are forced to pick filler policies while waiting for it.
This also applies to the other ideologies and victory conditions. Worlds Fair allows timely completion of Rationalism and tenets that you just don't have without it.
Edit: Nothing above should be interpreted to say you can't win without World Fair, you still can, it's just that victory takes significantly longer.
I find Worlds Fair is worth a lot of policies, but can always get the most use out of it if it's proposed second. That additional 30 turns (can slip to 31 or 32 depending on world congress advancement) means that my base culture per turn will be somewhat higher for a bigger affect while still being early enough to get full use of.
Meanwhile there are some really horrid hammer starts that the map generator will give you when it's either raw food or gold heavy because at the end of the day it's placing you on a combined "fertility score". (Flood plains with a Calendar type primary luxury in particular will give you just as a high a score as a possibly more desirable high hammer low gold start.)
As that thread mentioned as a Freedom-Science victory could very well not be able to finish right side of commerce, complete Rationalism, and reach the level 3 tenet without hosting Worlds Fair. (By contrast child's play to do this with Worlds Fair)
The interesting though is that Order-Science can run into the same basic issue if they've invested too much into culture prior to Rean era and are forced to pick filler policies while waiting for it.
This also applies to the other ideologies and victory conditions. Worlds Fair allows timely completion of Rationalism and tenets that you just don't have without it.
Edit: Nothing above should be interpreted to say you can't win without World Fair, you still can, it's just that victory takes significantly longer.