Should one always save Great Scientists?

[Valoc]

I have been wondering how to optimize the usage of GS. I play on King/Emperor.

Especially when playing OCC or small cultural empire, I often have many GS.
Should I always save every Scientist for bulbing the most expensive modern/future era techs, even if I'm not aiming towards Science Victory? Or should I always settle the first GS I get? Should I always settle them on Strategic Resources or is it acceptable to settle them elsewhere (if so, where?)

And if you bulb GS early, which are good techs to bulb? Should I chain bulb many techs?
Does it matter if you play with wide or tall empire?

Also, how does game speed affect on making strategic GS decisions?


Thanks

 

[vexing]

babylon's scientist at writing should generally be settled, other than that you're pretty much always better off bulbing.

if you're aiming for a domination victory, whenever you can bulb into a deep military tech that'll give you a huge advantage is a good time... chemistry or artillery are good candidates.

 

[Hpuk]

I think it's a fairly common tactic to bulb a tech into renaissance, usually astronomy, to get the social policies properly timed.
Knight replacement civs do well bulbing chivalry obviously.

Otherwise I just save them until I feel I need a bulb.

 

[joncnunn]

You can save to chain bulb if you want. Be aware that great people cost unit maintenance like everything else though.

I'm generally bulbing as soon as I see a tech worth bulbing for.
I often build the PT (via Liberty induced GE) , and when I do that GS is indeed used for Astronomy.

If I spawn a GS when I'm close to reaching Industrial era techs, I often bulb an Industrial era tech.

 

[WilliamKendall]

Should I always settle them on Strategic Resources or is it acceptable to settle them elsewhere

I'm still relatively new to CIV5. As such, I take all of my great leaders and settle them. However, I typically just settle them on a piece of land without an improvement on it. Is there a benefit to using the great leaders on strategic resources or other resources? Thanks!

 

[FeiLing]

No, you actually lose the bonus resources the improvement would give. That bonus is low but essential early game and it's rather large late game (after Chemistry/Fertilizer.)
Best is imho plain/grassland next to a river. That the gp tile improvement connects strategic resources is merely a feature as strategic resources become visible later in the game - and then you'd have to destroy the academy/etc if iron/coal/oil/uran spawned underneath it, which would be really painful. So it's only fair it works like it does. I wouldn't place it on those though if I can avoid it.

 

[joncnunn]

Mostly agreed; I'd also avoid any hill tile when placing a Great Person if I could help it. (I'd go with flat plains/grassland first). I would however before placing it along a river pre Fertilizer ensure the city isn't likely to need another farm before using up a river tile for a great person.

 

[Thresian]

I think there are two early techs which are worth bulbing: education, to get PT and universities up asap, and astronomy, so that rationalism can be taken as the 7th policy (if, as is often the case, there isn't time to hard tech it before the policy becomes due). Sometimes it might be worth bulbing a tech to unlock your UU. Otherwise, all GSs should be saved to bulb the final techs.

 

[ifinnem]

You can also use your GS to maximize your RA gains - e.g. a few bulbs to get to Electricity and open up the 3x 4100 techs can improve your median by 2500 and make it worthwhile if you have several RAs soon thereafter