What's the point with scientists??

[Fier Canadien]

I am currently in great questionment. Last game I played, I tried to see what's the exact efficiency of scientist, heres the result:
In a 12 pop city under Monarchy with a library and a university, that city produced 12 science. It had two taxmens witch I turned to scientists. And the result: 12 science. IDEM!!!

So here's the question again:
What's the point with scientists??

 

[gfeier]

Originally posted by Fier Canadien

So here's the question again:
What's the point with scientists??

I've never found one. I've never used scientists or tax collectors in any version of Civ. In Civ III, where happiness equals points, entertainers are a lot more useful than scientists or tax collectors.

 

[dojoboy]

The only time I notice a scientist or taxmen in my cities is in the mid- to late- game. And, since I allow my governor to manage mood in all my cities, I can only believe they use to be unruly citizens. I guess the the governor makes these decisions when cities become too crowded.

I believe taxmen only up your finances by 1 gpt. Scientist, I assume, affect the game similarly.

 

[Dio_Time2Go]

The effects of scientists and taxmen aren't visible on the city info screen.

You can see the effects on the Domestic advisor screen.

On the top left corner there is a breakdown of your income, it's broken down by income from cities, from other civs, from interest, and from taxmen. Adding a taxman to any city increases your income by 1GPT.

to the right of this is a breakdown of your expenses. Expenses are: to unit costs, to other civs, to corruption, to upkeep, and lastly the exact gpt that you are spending on science. Adding a scientist to any city increases this number by 1GPT, without actually taking it out of your budget. Each scientist produces 1 "free" GPT towards science.

Scientists rarely help you get techs faster, and taxmen are only usefull if you have alot of unit upkeep.

Entertainers, however, ****ing rock. Entertainers not only give you big points, but also help trigger WLTKD, which reduces waste and prevents culture flipping.

Hope this helps

 

[Txurce]

All I can add to this last, very informative post is that making a citizen into a scientist in a totally corrupt city has no downside, and should be an automatic move.