Why is the library no concern in horse/whale? And this brings me to another point: Buildings. Which ones do you build everywhere, which ones only selectively? For instance, I have noticed that granaries have to be built pretty much everywhere. But, e.g. how many sea squares does a city need to have for your to build a LH? What's the reasoning for Lib? I would have thought that Horse/Whale would certainly need a libl, because of all those 2C sea tiles it's going to be working... oh, and directly into another question:
Not saying you will never build a library in horse/whale. What I mean is that the library is of no urgency there. It's a city with very little food. Yes, it will eventually grow on more coastal tiles but that will take time. A gran/LH is of import there, of course.
I think we've made clear the importance of the granary most everywhere, and as krikav just mentioned there maybe cities where you would not need one simply due to lack of food. But it is the most important building in the game, in general, and there are finer details of why the granary is so important that we have not yet broached. But you have learned obviously that most cities are settled with food in mind, and the granary is key in turn that food into production.
Honestly, I don't think in terms of "sea squares or tiles" much at all. The primary purpose of the LH is to make seafood better. Simple as that.
Libraries, in general, are desired in places that have good food or good commerce potential - cottages/calendar/gold. For food, it allows you to run those scientists. Your cap always gets one, of course.
Coastal tiles on their own are not high value. Yes, they can help sometimes with some early commerce for sure, but they are not something the I focus on in terms of decisions I make about a city.
Why would the Maoi be better in Horse/Whale than in Memphis?
First, I want to make clear that I consider a NW like Maoi to be a luxury item. What I mean is that, in general, I do not focus on building that NW. If I have stone or I"m IND, and have a good spot for it, I may consider it but only in relation to my overall goals and needs. Maoi can be particular nice on island cities that have some seafood but basically not production tiles to work...it would make that island city quite productive.
Sure, you could build it in another coastal city like Memphis or Helio and that would be find. Personally, I prefer Horse/Whale because the city does not have much value otherwise. Low food, but a good bit of those sea tiles that with Maoi it can grow onto and become productive with 2F1H1C on those tiles. And note that when whale is netted after Optics, that adds 1H to the tile. With Maoi the whale would be 3F2H1C, so that is nice.
But, you know, sometimes if you are actually going to build Maoi, well just build it somewhere good for it fast. I like to use it for as much fail gold though as I can with these bonuses.
Cool. Krikav has hinted at a few of those ways, that is good to know. Begging is "demanding" gold from people, who like you, right?
Yes, not sure where begging came up, but you can beg small bits of gold from players who are at least Pleased with you. You will get a feel for the amount you can beg at some point. I usually look to beg around 50 or 60g but it depends on how long I've known the AI.
And an important note is that begging (successfully) gives you a 10 turn peace treaty with that leader. This can be good with leaders who may be plotting war on you, and there are leaders that will do so at Pleased.
This is another instance where I'd like to know which wonders are generally considered useful and which are just stupid. For example, how popular is the forbidden palace? and since you need CH for that, is the courthouse a no-brainer building?
I'd say for experienced players I would not call it popular per se. Even krikav, who mentioned that he does like the NW, doesn't build it but about 15% of his games. That is quite low. I'd say my % is even less. In theory, it is a nice NW, but really only of true value once you get a really large empire, and especially overseas holdings (overseas has much higher maintenance). Forbidden Palace basically turns the city it's built in into a capital type city, meaning that distance maintenance cost is now calculated from that city to the surrounding cities near it. So it is certainly not something you build anywhere close to your starting capital. For example, I see absolutely no value in FP on this landmass you start on. (Note: Versailles wonder has a similar effect and is a nice wonder to capture far off in an enemy city)
Courthouse is not a no-brainer building really at all. I start to see some value in it when I really start expanding and conquering a large empire. But in general, it is a relatively expensive building early game that has little value in close proximity to your starting location. One way to look at is that a CH may have value in cities farther away when its maintenance reaches a certain level...i'd say 8 to 10g may be a good indicator.
As you start conquering and capturing cities, you may luck out on those cities having courthouses already too, which is always nice.
So anyway, if this question is specifically about National Wonders, I'd say that the usefulness of a particular NW is very situational. Two NW come to mind that I often find useful and often build...National Epic and Heroic Epic. Both NW have tangible benefits that can really help your game, but even then may be situational. Oxford in a Bureau cap is obviously very powerful, but one has to ask themselves if they need Ox if pursuing anything other than Space Victory...I might build it with Diplo Victory in mind if I have stone and I'm Philosophical (cheap unis). Maoi, as mentioned is very situational as is Forbidden Palace. There are some later game NW that I don't even think about.
Oh..National Park is kinda cool, but only if you have a good place to build it, and again, probably only worth it in a Space race.
