Thinking of trying someting...

[JoeMacUnGee]

And I need the help of the big brains here.

Bear in mind, I've been playing BtS since it came out, and I've always been a "cottage guy." Only recently, I've been trying to implement a mixed EE/SE with some modicum of success. One problem I'm running into is not getting an even split of GSpies and GScientists. Seems like every game I play, I get more of one or the other from the city I'd least expect. Is there any way to balance out what I get in the way of GP?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Cusanus]

Well, obviously you could just have two different cities generating GPs, one that hires exclusively spies and build spy-wonders, and another one that does the same thing with scientists.

 

[JoeMacUnGee]

Well, obviously you could just have two different cities generating GPs, one that hires exclusively spies and build spy-wonders, and another one that does the same thing with scientists.

In the current game I'm playing, I did that. The only two wonders I built were the Great Wall and the Great Library. I didn't place a spy in the GL city, and yet, when it popped a GP, it was a GSpy. So, does that mean that all GPP from all over the empire are pooled into one pool, and whichever city is first to pop a GP out, the nature of the GP is determined by the pool? Or am I way off base with that one?

Thx for the reply.

 

[Deckhand]

In the current game I'm playing, I did that. The only two wonders I built were the Great Wall and the Great Library. I didn't place a spy in the GL city, and yet, when it popped a GP, it was a GSpy. So, does that mean that all GPP from all over the empire are pooled into one pool, and whichever city is first to pop a GP out, the nature of the GP is determined by the pool? Or am I way off base with that one?

Thx for the reply.

Yup, you are way off base with this one.
The GPP are city specific.
What you describe cannot happen. What likely occurred is the game assigned a spy specialist for a few turns and you got a GSpy with like 2% spy / 98% scientist odds.
Whenever a city grows, the game reassigns specialists (unless you have the governor enabled). If you have a courthouse, then spy specialists are possible.

 

[Yared]

Yeah. Sounds like the automatic spy-specialist thing.

 

[JoeMacUnGee]

Yup, you are way off base with this one.
The GPP are city specific.
What you describe cannot happen. What likely occurred is the game assigned a spy specialist for a few turns and you got a GSpy with like 2% spy / 98% scientist odds.
Whenever a city grows, the game reassigns specialists (unless you have the governor enabled). If you have a courthouse, then spy specialists are possible.

Ugh. You're right. What a bummer. Now I see why more people don't play a SE.

 

[Yared]

I think it's more that most people don't get that far in the game, so they never learn the intricacies of SE.

SE can be quite powerful once properly used.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I have lately been playing mixed CE and SE games. I start with some cottages but go heavy on the farms so I get lots of specialists, later in the mid game. The key to getting the GP that you want is to check each city every time that it grows and make sure the new pop is assigned to the specialist that you want. Plus, make sure the governor assignment of specialists is off or the so-and-so will keep changing the way you set the specialists.

 

[Darth Caesar]

Welcome to CFC Joe.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

SE can be quite powerful once properly used.

Agreed. And I'll add to that by saying don't forget to settle a few GPs for the research boost when running SE. If you stack a few of them in your Oxford city, it actually becomes a little frightening.

 

[Yared]

Yes

Especially early-game with Pyramid's representation.

 

[JoeMacUnGee]

Welcome to CFC Joe.

Thanks! I actually took some of this advice to heart and played a game as Elizabeth on a pangaea map on Prince. The mixed CE/SE with a specialized spy and GL city propelled me to an easy domination win, by the end I was cruising with cannons and muskets against longbows and maces. I love this forum!

 

[capnvonbaron]

Many times I use the SE to recover from REX economy crashes, especially if my REXing was via conquest. A great example:

Last monarch game I played as JCaesar I lucked out with bronze and seafood in Rome's BFC, so I built a bunch of axes and rushed both Pacal and Asoka (who had founded buddhism) while IW came in. I also had a settler being built and settled right next to iron as soon as the tech came in. Pottery->writing came next while I built Praets and killed Wang, taking three of his cities while having built two more of my own and taking an awesome barb city (for once one had popped up somewhere useful!!).

Now I have 10 cities by 0AD and NO way to support them with the science slider anywhere above 0%. Two things saved me: most important was that I had built and stole enough workers to keep improvements/chops coming, and second was a heavily micro-managed SE. I whipped some libraries in the high-food cities and ran scientists while working as many high- tiles as I could. It took a TON of micro-managing to do this, but I had no option: do it or start disbanding units. The sci-guys kept research alive and the commerce tiles supported by overly-large army and huge maintenance bills.

For a time I was even running at negative income at 0% everything while living off of war spoils. I lucked out and bullied about 10 turns of alphabet from Pericles, bulbed currency with my first GS, and from there things turned right around. I had tons of GS points and popped several GScientists, settled a few in Rome with an academy. I was (amazingly) the first to metal casting and turned Delhi into a GMerchant headquarters with a forum and Colossus (never did get a GProphet for the shrine tho ). Currency trade-routes with so many cities was a godsend. With forges humming across the empire I whipped out a ginormous catapult-heavy army and smashed Pericles. Soon got maces (many CR2 or better, upgraded from veteren axes and praets)/trebs/knights rolling and squished Sitting Bull while vassalling Pericles ftw around 1150AD.

Of course, having three additional capital-grade cities in addition to Rome didn't hurt either Maybe it was more of a hybrid WE/SE...