Below are some tips for early bulbing – basically for the first or second great person that you can get, no more.
They assume that you know something about the bulbing order (check the manual) and what technologies to research or to avoid before bulbing what you want (some experience might be needed; it's easy to screw up).
They assume that you are only getting great persons from your cities and not from events, etc.
They also assume that you understand that some tips are situational; many depend on the map, the difficulty level, your plan, your overall situation, your leader, etc.
Finally, they also assume that you know how to time your GP pops, if it is better to bulb or do something else, when to use pacifism or not if you can, etc.
Obviously, philosophical leaders with a peaceful start will have the easier time trying to put such tips into practice.
The tips do not exhaust the vast bulbing possibilities of the early game. These are just some that sometimes can be useful. For example, the great merchant can actually bulb Cartography - but why do that when it is such a cheap technology and you can use them for better things? In consequence I do not mention such bulb. The great merchant can actually also bulb hunting and sanitation - but that is too complicated and to bulb such technologies it's better that one uses other great persons (and if you are able to bulb sanitation with the great merchant you are having some funky tech paths there). I do not mention what I think is not worth it with a particular great person early on. Although opinions do diverge.
Enough of that. To the meat of things:
Great bard (having festivals and the carnival (or temple of leaves)):
Great engineer (they start coming using the slots available from forges, the mines or guilds – or the Tablets of Bambur)
You will not usually get them early enough without the Tablets of Bambur.
I'll still say, though, that the Bone Palace (and the Tablets of Bambur also) can give you two GE points for free.
Realize also that, after bronze working, great engineers only give partial bulbs.
Anyway,
With mathematics and construction, engineering will be the first option.
Otherwise:
Great merchant (market, temple of Kilmorph)
Great prophet (having mysticism and temples)
Great sage (from elder council or library)
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There are many more options during the middle game. But they depend on a specific plan and the necessary buildings to use more specialists. Many times it's straightforward and sometimes it's not. You can have fun trying to figure it out.
In the late game, using scholarship or guilds, it's quite straightforward and each bulb can give you about 2000 or 3000 beakers.
A philosophical leader with a healthy specialist economy can easily continue to tech normally through a tech line while bulbing through another if you care and work for it. Dozens of thousands of beakers can be bulbed and such option will typically be more efficient than GP consuming golden ages assuming that you want to continue to research (with a specialist economy you're mostly using fat farms anyway...).
If you think that the knowledge is useful leave a comment or add suggestions.
Have fun and
Cheers
They assume that you know something about the bulbing order (check the manual) and what technologies to research or to avoid before bulbing what you want (some experience might be needed; it's easy to screw up).
They assume that you are only getting great persons from your cities and not from events, etc.
They also assume that you understand that some tips are situational; many depend on the map, the difficulty level, your plan, your overall situation, your leader, etc.
Finally, they also assume that you know how to time your GP pops, if it is better to bulb or do something else, when to use pacifism or not if you can, etc.
Obviously, philosophical leaders with a peaceful start will have the easier time trying to put such tips into practice.
The tips do not exhaust the vast bulbing possibilities of the early game. These are just some that sometimes can be useful. For example, the great merchant can actually bulb Cartography - but why do that when it is such a cheap technology and you can use them for better things? In consequence I do not mention such bulb. The great merchant can actually also bulb hunting and sanitation - but that is too complicated and to bulb such technologies it's better that one uses other great persons (and if you are able to bulb sanitation with the great merchant you are having some funky tech paths there). I do not mention what I think is not worth it with a particular great person early on. Although opinions do diverge.
Enough of that. To the meat of things:
Great bard (having festivals and the carnival (or temple of leaves)):
- Best first option to bulb → Exploration!
(just kidding) - Fishing and animal husbandry start without ancient chants → hunting (while getting city states and the other worker techs and such, for example...)
- You have education → Drama (rushing the cultural wonders and the free bard)
- With Drama before bronze working → writing
- With drama and bronze working or construction→ Sanitation
Great engineer (they start coming using the slots available from forges, the mines or guilds – or the Tablets of Bambur)
You will not usually get them early enough without the Tablets of Bambur.
I'll still say, though, that the Bone Palace (and the Tablets of Bambur also) can give you two GE points for free.
Realize also that, after bronze working, great engineers only give partial bulbs.
Anyway,
With mathematics and construction, engineering will be the first option.
Otherwise:
- with bronze working → smelting
- with smelting and archery → Beastly Firebows - ups, I mean Bowyers, of course
- smelting without archery → iron working
Great merchant (market, temple of Kilmorph)
- With calendar and animal husbandry and without writing → horseback riding (horses in time while continuing to tech what increases commerce and production)
- With writing and without code of laws→ partial bulb of math (early bazaar or gambling houses if you care for such; can help a guild of hammers rush)
- With calendar, horseback riding and education and without exploration or writing→ code of laws
- With calendar, horseback riding, education and cartography and without writing → code of laws
- With code of laws → partial bulb of currency (the first priority in the bulbing order and a no-brainer many times if you ask me)
Great prophet (having mysticism and temples)
- With mining → RoK
- with hunting and without mining → WoF
- with fishing and without mining or hunting → MoD
- with KoE and way of the wicked → partial bulb of corruption of the spirit
- using WoF without philosophy (or if with philosophy at least without education (?) otherwise priesthood is the priority (- or have priesthood already to bloom first!)) → hidden paths
- using AV and without education (or having priesthood) → partial bulb of Infernal pact
- With anything using the Ilians → The White Hand
- Without triggering a religion → philosophy (for a quick enough route to military strategy, the great commander and the heroic epic having started with God King)
- With philosophy, education and without both KoE and way of the wicked (avoiding Corruption of the spirit - unless you already have it)→ partial bulb of priesthood (priests, monks; and this is also the technology that you want to and can bulb to rush fanaticism)
Great sage (from elder council or library)
- With animal husbandry, bronze working or construction and without mysticism → Sanitation (helping sometimes a greedy economic start with Code of laws and writing; might actually be better to make the cities work as many aristocratic farms as possible than get one academy, depending)
- With calendar, animal husbandry and fishing and without mysticism, bronze working or construction → hunting
- With calendar, animal husbandry, fishing and hunting and without mysticism, bronze working or construction → partial bulb of animal handling (sinister ranger push?)
- With mysticism → KoE (fast adepts to help a military rush – Mahala hasted troops, anyone?)
- With mysticism and KoE → alteration (always useful, easily tradable and getting us closer to sorcery)
----------
There are many more options during the middle game. But they depend on a specific plan and the necessary buildings to use more specialists. Many times it's straightforward and sometimes it's not. You can have fun trying to figure it out.
In the late game, using scholarship or guilds, it's quite straightforward and each bulb can give you about 2000 or 3000 beakers.
A philosophical leader with a healthy specialist economy can easily continue to tech normally through a tech line while bulbing through another if you care and work for it. Dozens of thousands of beakers can be bulbed and such option will typically be more efficient than GP consuming golden ages assuming that you want to continue to research (with a specialist economy you're mostly using fat farms anyway...).
If you think that the knowledge is useful leave a comment or add suggestions.
Have fun and
Cheers
from one Great Person, and it denies anyone else that free Great Bard.
