Traits question for a custom game (BtS,LoR)

Raiborn

Chieftain
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Feb 20, 2025
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Hello, I think my friend group is playing on warlord difficulty (certainly prince or below) with unrestricted leaders, and we're using the Legends of Revolution mod, which comes with an Enlightened leader trait giving 10% science that I'm considering.

One big factor that feeds to my main question here is that the group leader also has tech trading turned off. It seems like a lot of guides around specialist economy speak to bulbing techs with great scientists and then tech trading to backfill several more. Is the Philosophical trait gimped/lackluster if there's no tech trading to take advantage of that strategy?

And for those familiar with LoR, regarding the Enlightened trait, is it considered strong - where that 10% science boost would outperform Philosophical's extra bulbing potential?

Thanks!
 
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Dunno about LoR, but in BTS i would say PHI isn't gimped with no tech trading.
Maybe the opposite cos good economy traits get even stronger, you will want that academy in a good capital..and bulbs can still put you ahead on important techs..and Great Merchants are super without gold income from selling techs.
 
Not familiar with LoR, but as far as regular BTS is concerned NTT puts a much heavier emphasis on your own economy to research everything yourself, and in that respect being able to bulb techs is potentially more powerful. Yes, you get much less total :science: out of one bulb when you remove tech trading, but NTT is a two-way street. If you bulb I.E. Engineering relatively early than many civs might be a sitting duck for a while, because they can't trade for techs that'll let them stop trebs any more than you can bulb Compass and trade that around for a random tech grab bag.

PHI also gives you +100%:hammers: building Universities, which require one of the most easily bulbed techs in the game, so once you reach that point it's a relatively simple task to bulb Education and get a leg up on your own economy's :science: output that way. Whether that's better than a flat +10% from the start of the game is hard to say, but it's not nothing at least.
 
10% science seems like a mediocre bonus, even considering the other advantages this trait gives according to LoR Civilopedia: double production on monasteries and observatories, and culture from non-state religions in cities. FIN would overtake it as soon as you have cottages. The +1 science from the start in your capital is nice, but there are traits more impactful in the early game too.
 
Is the 10% just additive with other science multipliers? If so, it's pretty weak. If it's multiplicitive and is actually 10%, it's probably pretty strong.
 
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