Specialists

[Nocturno14]

In short... what do they do ? Do you have them on auto or manual ?

 

[DaveMcW]

They generate beakers and produce great scientists.

If a specialist isn't producing one of those you turn on manual control and fire them.

 

[Slowpoke]

Unless you're going culture victory then you... actually you still don't want artists. Sad

 

[Nunya]

Great Engineers are also nice to have from time to time.

I usually have them on auto because I don't like micromanagement. Apart from being clueless about the actual value of each specialist type the AI does a reasonably good job of handling specialists. I was recently pleasantly surprised when the AI sent all the specialists in my capital back into the fields during a golden age.

 

[cman2010]

the scientist specialist are great to have if you have a large number of citys with librarys, and univesitys packed with them you can pop great scientist left and right.

 

[Slowpoke]

Heh, the problem is GETTING engineers

 

[DaveGold]

I'd tend to leave the governor to assign specialists and check the cities periodically to make sure they're not a mess. If your city is avoiding growth, perhaps because your people are unhappy, then the governor will assign more specialists since they never produce food.

 

[dubrown]

With the governor on default it tends to focus on artist specialist in my experience which can be somewhat annoying. But if you focus the governor on production, gold or whatever it tends to use specialists a bit more wisely. Unfortunately though, science specialist is more often than not neglected which is why I usually manually specify my specialist in the more important cities.

 

[Polish]

Engineers are not THAT much harder to manage than Scientists. Workshop, Windmill, Factory all can house specialists and generate GE points. Build a Garden and they come even faster. There are also some Wonders that give GE points. You do have to watch the Scientist competition. You really have to watch where you are using specialists and control the pop to get the one you want. I have had cities generating 11 or so GE points a turn so it was fairly easy to get the GE and it was fun to get the calc right so they came at around the time AI had a Wonder I wanted bad.

 

[Izmir Stinger]

Apart from being clueless about the actual value of each specialist type the AI does a reasonably good job of handling specialists.

What game are you playing? If a small city runs out of tiles to work, several of the focus governors will prefer unemployed citizens over specialists.

 

[Monthar]

Whatever you tell the gov to focus on is the type of specialist it will favor. You can even tell it to focus on GP and it'll try to fill all the specialist slots. Favor GP is very useful if you have the policies that reduce unhappiness, halve the food and add 2 beakers for every specialist, more so if you also built or at least own the Statue of Liberty for the +1 hammer per specialist.

 

[cman2010]

What game are you playing? If a small city runs out of tiles to work, several of the focus governors will prefer unemployed citizens over specialists.

I have noticed this as well.

 

[Slowpoke]

What game are you playing? If a small city runs out of tiles to work, several of the focus governors will prefer unemployed citizens over specialists.

I'd honestly say an unemployed has more worth than a merchant at the moment

 

[LordTC]

I'd honestly say an unemployed has more worth than a merchant at the moment

Is that they increase the cost for the next great scientist and they don't discover a technology.

 

[Slowpoke]

That and 1 hammer is worth more than 2 gold.

 

[pi-r8]

I'd honestly say an unemployed has more worth than a merchant at the moment

lol true. In most situations it's like:
scientists > mines/lumber mills > engineers > other hills/forest > unemployed > other tiles > merchants > artists

 

[Izmir Stinger]

lol true. In most situations it's like:
scientists > mines/lumber mills > engineers > other hills/forest > unemployed > other tiles > merchants > artists

No need to get so technical. Hammers are scarce and in high demand and are therefore the most valuable yield.

Get Hammers -- > Win