What is your favorite Great Person?

[blitzkrieg1980]

Not versatile. Specific to science. It isn't a versatile Great Person.

It's a strong science Great Person, and my second fav to pop and settle in the great science city as you describe. But, again, my original point was that the Great Prophet was the most versatile and that's why I like it best.

Monasteries are gone after SciMeth which is a tech I'm not willing to put off for too long as I will want oil for the late game. Not to mention you have to be in Free Religion to get that 10%. Also not usually willing to drop OrgRel or Theo unless going for a diplomatic vic. Representation is an all around great civic that can be utilized strongly all game long (with 'Mids) but strongly as well after Constitution (who couldn't use +3 in top 5 cities and +3 for each specialist?

I guess you could say the Great Prophet really rounds itself up when operating a SE. The GS is always a welcome face to see no matter what kind of economy.

 

[gfm]

How about a 9 + 210% boost? Library 25% + Univ. 25% + Academy 50% + Oxford 100% + Free Religion 10%. Then you get Observatory (25%) and maybe some Monasteries (10% per building).

That's the problem with this kind of discussion : the game is too complex for statements like "The Great Prophet is the best hands down" or "Nah, the Great Scientist is". It all depends on the situation, difficulty level, diplomatic situation...

You're gunning for a Cultural Victory ? You're certainly happy to pop a Great Artist. If you're aiming for a Space Race though, you're surely disappointed of popping him (well you can still use him for a Golden Age, but still). This doesn't mean that the Great Artist is useless .

"What is the best GP ?" is a question that has no absolute answer. However, "What is your favorite GP ?" we can still discuss while having a chance to learn something actually useful

I, myself, hate popping Great Artists. Especially at 1-3% odds.

 

[gfm]

Not versatile. Specific to science. It isn't a versatile Great Person.

It's a strong science Great Person, and my second fav to pop and settle in the great science city as you describe. But, again, my original point was that the Great Prophet was the most versatile and that's why I like it best.

Yeah the Great Scientist is kinda one-dimensional : it's and just . However, read my post on the Great Merchant's versatilty. I'd really like to hear what you think.

 

[Harv]

Ah, but we didn't agree that it does them well. Or well enough to surpass GSs. That's the problem, not the simple fact that a settled GP makes both money and production.

Settled GP makes both money and production, but....

Settled Great Merchant makes both money and FOOD - Food is more versatile than production.

I am curious: Has anybody settled Great Merchants in a city with Wall Street and Globe Theater? I have not yet tried that and then settling Great Merchants and using the food to have more merchants - I think it might be fun.

Disclaimer: I am still new to the forums, but I am interested in reading and learning from these arguments.

Note: Great Merchant is not to be confused with GM. Great Merchant makes money. I am glad that I never had to build a Corporation and then have to send 1000's of to bail them out.

 

[shyuhe]

Pre liberalism, I want GS. After liberalism, I want GE and GM. GP I don't really want/need unless I have a good holy city or wonder spamming.

 

[gfm]

Settled GP makes both money and production, but....

Settled Great Merchant makes both money and FOOD - Food is more versatile than production.

My point exactly. And don't forget they can found the corporations.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

"What is the best GP ?" is a question that has no absolute answer. However, "What is your favorite GP ?" we can still discuss while having a chance to learn something actually useful

Uh... that's exactly what the thread says. And the poll... in fact, I've never asked what the Best Great Person is. Only what your favorite is.

 

[lilnev]

The first GE for Mining Inc. I actually see Mining Inc as too powerful, unbalanced. (At least, if playing for domination on large maps, which I do). The offset is that GEs are very hard to generate reliably -- but that doesn't make Mining balanced, just randomly swingy.

After that, GSs are best for most of the game, though GMs surpass them in the late game.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

You can always hold onto the first GE you get for Mining Inc. (if you can afford to pass up a wonder).

 

[Hereditary Rule]

A Great Merchant can :

1. Found one of the Corporation (Sid's Sushi or Cereal Mills)
2. Be settled to feed half a pop and bring you a lot of over time (yield is +1 +6)
3. Complete a trade mission that amounts to a huge amount of

1. and 2. allows more versatility than any other Great People, since what you do with your population is up to you (you can convert it to more , , , , etc.). The obtained from 3. can allow you to :

1. Research at a deficit
2. Bribe another AI
3. Trade tech more efficiently
4. Upgrade an army

Thus, it seems to me that the Great Merchant is the most versatile (hell, they can also bulb techs ). The Great Prophet is not that versatile, not until Representation comes around. And no, you can't always build or capture the Pyramids. Even then, the +3 doesn't break the tie since it is applied to all settled specialists and super-specialists.

My thoughts on why I think merchant is the most useful is basically this: Nice post.

Prophets are certainly good with the mids and Wat to boost them. I'm still waiting to try that game with Egypt abusing Priests.

 

[royal62184]

My favorite is the great spy. Is it the best in my opinion, NO. However it is my favorite and that is what I voted for. No matter what economy I always like to do a EE economy as well. You settle just one of these guys and you can steal several techs over the course of the game. One game where I emphasized these I settled 4 GSpy and Scotland yard and it was awesome. You can research other techs while stealing other techs so you don't get early WFYABTA on higher difficulties. Most of my games are never that lucky tho, but it is fun.

 

[eastsidebagel]

On the contrary to royal62184 I despise the Great Spy. He is commonly useless in most of my games. Great artists on the other hand are really cool because they'll get you that crucial tile your neighbor posesses, like a valuable resource or an extra cottage you can build.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

My thoughts on why I think merchant is the most useful is basically this: Nice post.

Prophets are certainly good with the mids and Wat to boost them. I'm still waiting to try that game with Egypt abusing Priests.

Angkor Wat (as I have been informed) does not add to Gr Prophets only priests.

More population may bring you to work more tiles (more coastal or grassland non-riverside tiles) or if you max your tile population (20) then, you can utilize more specialists. Which is more versatile.

So I guess you're right! But 9 out of 10 times, I'd rather have the gold boost along with a guaranteed production boost. After all, if you're already working all the tiles in your city cross, then that extra food won't net you any production. When stacking those Prophets (which is when they are truly more powerful), you get such ridiculous production along with the gold and Representation science that, I guess I get a little flustered

 

[UncleJJ]

I don't really have a favourite, it varies as the game progresses. They are all good for one use or another except of course the GA which can only be used for a golden age. So I do have a least favourite, but no favourite.

Early in the game GS and GProphets are useful and GSpies and GE are hard to make anyway although very useful. Late in the game a GE and a GM gives access to the best types of corporations (production and food). GS are the best to lightbulb (+50% more beakers than the others) with but are less useful after Liberalism and Chemistry have been researched. I prefer GM, GE and GSpy in the late game.

 

[gfm]

Uh... that's exactly what the thread says. And the poll... in fact, I've never asked what the Best Great Person is. Only what your favorite is.

Sorry if I sounded aggressive : I just didn't want people to argue pointlessly on what is the best (Great People, World Wonder, etc.) since such arguments often end up in meaningless comparisons.

Other posts in this thread are very interesting and give valuable information (I didn't know about the 50% bonus beakers on average for Great Scientists, for instance), so I guess I jumped the gun. My bad.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Sorry if I sounded aggressive : I just didn't want people to argue pointlessly on what is the best (Great People, World Wonder, etc.) since such arguments often end up in meaningless comparisons.

Other posts in this thread are very interesting and give valuable information (I didn't know about the 50% bonus beakers on average for Great Scientists, for instance), so I guess I jumped the gun. My bad.

No doubt, man. I didn't know about the +1 for Great Merchants! It's a learning thing

 

[Ultimocrat]

My favorite use of a great person: culture bomb with that otherwise useless GA to put you over the land threshold for a domination win.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

My favorite use of a great person: culture bomb with that otherwise useless GA to put you over the land threshold for a domination win.

Hell yeah. The one time I love seeing a GA pop is when I have 68% out of 69% and am waiting for a captured city's border to pop. An awesome way to win for sure.

 

[gfm]

No doubt, man. I didn't know about the +1 for Great Merchants! It's a learning thing

I tried once a "Settled Great Merchant Economy" after having read a War Academy thread. Basically, build a GP Farm, use a lot of merchant specialists, pop a GMs, settle them to feed a lot of merchants specialists and keep your slider high. Tried it back when I played Noble, and damn it was fun !

 

[gfm]

Hell yeah. The one time I love seeing a GA pop is when I have 68% out of 69% and am waiting for a captured city's border to pop. An awesome way to win for sure.

Ludwig van Beethoven pwns u n ur base