Rationalism vs ideology

[Bleidraner]

I've noticed that too. I avoid this sub-forum because it seems to be dominated by deity victory turn time e-peen waving. Much of the advice assumes you are either going to be very lucky or you reload.

Well go play the GOTM or the gauntlets. This is strategy and tips, no competitive play here right? What am I missing?

 

[Acken]

Well go play the GOTM or the gauntlets. This is strategy and tips, no competitive play here right? What am I missing?

Nothing, he's just bsing. The forum is mostly composed of challenges and questions these days.

 

[tombakerwho]

Emperor player here, looking to improve my science game. I consistently have a hard time finishing SV faster than late 200's or so, even with OP civs like Korea or Babylon.

Maybe I'm bad at timing my culture, but I always seem to hit ideology (typically through Radio beeline) before I've had a chance to flesh out the Rationalism policies. I understand that Secularism and Free Thought are important for getting my bpt up, but are they important enough that I should be prioritizing them over ideology policies? What's the optimal policy order, and on a related note, is the optimal order different between Freedom and Order?

Any tips are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Based upon your description, it sounds like you need to prioritize culture higher, if you are going for SV and do not have 2-3 rationalism policies before ideology. It gets harder and harder to do this, the further you shrink victory turn times.

Try to at least build the writer's guild before Education, and then run specialists. Moving specialists in and out of the writer slots allows you to easily time your next social policy to go directly into Rationalism upon entering renaissance. Depending on the situation, you may want to move them out while building a University, but you should be able to start running specialists around 9-10 population. So, try to build the writer's guild before that time. You still need to grow to support the science specialists, so send food caravans if necessary. If you finish Tradition or Liberty, you will probably generate a great writer before Renaissance, be sure to save it when going for a SV. Upon entering Renaissance, bulb it. The basic goal is build universities, hit 10 pop, and then run science specialists continuously with Secularism.

In general though, you will also need to build/run all guild specialists to improve times. What good does the Musicians guild do? You get more culture by running the slot, more science from running the specialist, and even more culture from creating the great work. I prioritize the culture specialists like this: Writers (for culture bulb), then Artists (for Golden Ages), then Musicians. If you do not have enough pop, then build a guild in each city. For a SV, you bulb, for a CV you create great works.

If you are already doing all this, then another thing to prioritize is a cultural CS ally. The easiest way to get one is by watching quests. This isn't always possible, for various reasons. And, like others said, sometimes you have a really agressive neighbor, and really just need to concentrate on staying alive. Around turn 80-100 can be a total nightmare on Immortal/Deity, especially if you have the wrong neighbor(s).

You might also find that simply bumping up your difficulty improves your win times, if that is what you are aiming for. There are more and more opportunities to manipulate the AI and turn their advantages into your advantages. I had already switched to Immortal before ever getting a sub-300 victory, but it just depends on what type of "fun" you are aiming for. If you can already get a sub-300 victory, then Immortal should not be a problem.

Hope that helps

 

[qemist]

Nothing, he's just bsing. The forum is mostly composed of challenges and questions

I'm sorry, I was in a bad mood.