What to do with Great Scientists

[GermanUruk-Hai]

I agree with that wholeheartedly. It is also true that I produce far more Scientists than I do artists, merchants, spies and Engineers. This means that any idea that scientists aren't good for GAs severely limits opportunities to maximize on the bonuses and free civic swaps.

I know I've played games where I missed significant military opportunities because I was unwilling to go through anarchy twice to do a round of drafting. In many of those games, I had multiple academies and settled GS's. I've noticed as I have moved up to emperor, that when one lets a military opportunity pass, it rarely presents itself again later due to improved AI research ability...you need to strike while the iron is hot, and the opportunities* you can cost yourself if you aren't willing to consider a GA with a GS can be the difference between victory and defeat.

*The land taken with a successful invasion will provide superior to nearly any academy

I just realized the potential for spirtual now in my game as Gandhi thanks to this advice, in non spirtual games though i guess i shouldn't completely dismiss the possibility of using great scientists for golden ages, which can actually use give a great amount of extra production and commerce in addition to no anachy.

 

[kivanc]

I just realized the potential for spirtual now in my game as Gandhi thanks to this advice, in non spirtual games though i guess i shouldn't completely dismiss the possibility of using great scientists for golden ages, which can actually use give a great amount of extra production and commerce in addition to no anachy.

you should try shrines with Gandhi as well.

 

[mariogreymist]

I just realized the potential for spirtual now in my game as Gandhi thanks to this advice, in non spirtual games though i guess i shouldn't completely dismiss the possibility of using great scientists for golden ages, which can actually use give a great amount of extra production and commerce in addition to no anachy.

SPI leaders probably don't want to use GS's (or GE's assuming there are wonders worth building that you might lose out on...OR GM's if you have upgrades to make or GA's if you are going for a culture win) for Golden Ages, unless the kingdom is remarkably large. The elimination of anarchy in a double civics switch is easily the bigger pay-off for mid-late game GA's as compared to the boost in and . In marathon you get maybe a 15-30% boost in both for 16 turns, which does not compare to a 100% reduction for ten. For this reason, GAs are markedly reduced in their relative benefit when playing a SPI leader.

 

[GermanUruk-Hai]

Yeah I don't use golden ages at all when im playing spiritual

 

[GermanUruk-Hai]

Education before 1000BC, on deity, without bulbing? Are you playing one city challenge?

I might have been thinking of a multiplayer monarch game I had just finished, when i said before 1000 BC. will see where i got education in the game im playing now, not sure exactly, pretty sure about 500 BC. i don't play one city challenge, i generally get the essential techs to get my tiles improved, then go bronze then writing, whip/chop out cities, libraries with goal being roughly 5-6 all running 2 scientists. all this while then beelinging techs that lead to liberalism.

 

[MrBanana]

If you can grab a monopoly tech and there would be some good trades for it, bulbing can be great before bulbings stops getting the technology instantly.

 

[noto2]

What to do with GS's... dude, like in all things Civ, it depends. You can focus on bulbing to shoot ahead in the tech tree and get to liberalism before anyone else. This is great if you're focusing on a cottage economy as it becomes most powerful with FS/US, and if you get to them sooner you'll be much better off. It's also good if you want to shoot up to a military advantage like nationalism and rifling, and draft rifles FTW. Or, if you're researching just fine and don't need as much help bulbing, you can create more academies for a better economy in the later game. Or, if you aren't focusing on cottages so much and have a smaller empire and want to stay in bureaucracy, you can settle them all in your oxford bureau cottage capitol. Or you can save your GP for a MoM, Taj, super golden age spam in the renaissance. Usually I use a combination of the above. In the very early game settling is poweful as it can boost your research by 10-20%, plus you get the hammer, and bulbing is inefficient as the techs are so cheap. Bulbing becomes very powerful in the mid game when you can instantly get techs that would take 10-15 turns to research. Golden ages are very powerful in the late game, or are also powerful for certain eras when you'll be making quite a few civics changes. Academies can be useful throughout most of the game, but only in certain cities.

 

[Mudcrab]

I opt for academy 1st, because you usually pop him by running scientists in you science city. This makes the scientists more effective. I consider and acedemy in a second city, say GP farm or high commerce city. After that, settle, settle settle in the science city.