What Economy?

[Mesix]

I think that a SE is the way to go in FfH. In Vanila, both have there benefits. I agree with Onedreamer that Blight is not a reason to change your economic strategy. I find that there are too many uses for GP in FfH to pass them up. While Blight might knock out a few farms and make your cities shrink for a few turns until workers can be deployed to rebuild them, the GP settled in your cities, and the wonders that have been built are not affected by Blight. I tend to cottage early until I get enough buildings to run specialists, but after I have enough happy and healthy faces in my civ, its farms for me.

 

[onedreamer]

I know someone posted somewhere that farms can no longer spread irrigation after the blight.

Nah, they can.

 

[Turinturambar]

It´s not even close, SE all the way.

In BTS the CE works mostly due to the 50% commerce boost for the capital, which stacks with an academy and a guaranteed oxford university, which leads to a super science city.

In FFH2 farms are simply superior to cottages, due to agriculture and early sanitation.

Compare the best case town (financial leader + taxation) to the output of a pretty much worst case sanitation grassland farm ( no SE civics, low on health, no wonders).

The town nets you 6 commerce, the scientist specialist from the +2 food nets you 3 beakers and 3 GP.

Now in that case the town would have a slight advantage, but if you factor in the greater flexibility of the farm, the long time to mature for the town and the ton of wonders/buildings/civics that help a SE and the greater impact of great people compared to vanilla civ it becomes obvious that a Specialist economy is the way to go.

The only time cottages have a purpose is right after education where you are absolutely starved for science and have a low happy cap due to the lack of religions.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

So what you are saying, Turinturambar, is that unlike regular BTS, cottages are for the early game and farms are for the late game. Which I tend to agree actually: you need a nice floodplains city with cottages to get yourself started.

Another question I have though: what if you are Lanun? Or Bannor?

And if you ARE going for the specialist economy, here's another hint: ICS (infinite city spam) is back. You don't have infinite health and hapiness, so you'd probably only be able to support as many specialists as 5 agriculture, sanitation farms in STW mode.

 

[Cuteunit]

Marathon was too painful for me.. I can't do more than Epic. Way, way too much "Hint ENTER to end turn" spamming.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I may go ahead and add a custom speed to my modmod, where units/building production are at about quick levels but techs and inflation progress at about a Marathon rate. I had added this before I lost everything on my hard drive, but not since then. I remember that it required changing more files than it seemed like it should (otherwise making cities go to Legendary in 1 turn, with 1 culture), file that I haven't touched for anything else.