When do you start making specialists?

[javal]

OK - I admit I'm pretty bad at this addicting game. I can win about every 5th game, but never score higher than Dan Quayle. I think part of the problem is my use of specialists. I'm curious about when some of you start assigning specialists within your cities. At what population do you start? How detrimental is it to start too early, or too late. All opinions welcome.

 

[Chopperhead]

lol well I never puposely create any and I win almost every time on Noble so I dont think thats your problem. I do however turn some great people into the super specialists.

 

[warpstorm]

I assign them as soon as I can afford to so as to get more GPs sooner.

 

[Subtestube]

I'm still pretty conservative with them (I can win reasonably consistently on Noble, though not every game) until I hit the industrial era - with one exception. When I want a particular type of GP I look for the city that's nearest to one and dramatically ramp up the number of specialists in that class, and drop all the others - it's never failed me yet!

 

[RoddyVR]

i only start doing it at city size over 20.
before then, most of my cities are set on either "emphesize food" or "emphesize production".

i get very few Great People. usualy a prophet early (i almost always build stonenhenge, and i always try to build the oracle) to get a holy city and few thereafter.
edit: realized i've lied. i turn on some specialists if i'm having health or happiness problems and want to slow down a food heavy city's growth down.

 

[Chopperhead]

I also never emphesize anything just keep all my citys on normal. I dunno I just dont mess with all that never have so I dont think Im going to start now as It appears trivial if I can still win most of the time.

 

[warpstorm]

i get very few Great People.

Well, if you aren't using specialists, that figures. I get a dozen or so in a typical game.

 

[Dogzilla]

I start looking to add specialists when a city hits a population of 6-8. In cities with good food production this is workable.
I use artists on border cities, priests or engineers in cities that need to boost production, otherwise merchants or scientists.
I adopt "caste system" from when it becomes available until late in the game, when I can add sufficient specialists without it.

 

[petey]

In your science city, it's good to start early. Build a library and you can assign two people as scientists right away. That gives you 6 GPPs towards a Great Scientist, meaning you'll get one in 17 turns (35 if you've built a Prophet for a Shrine). Then you can build an Academy and reassign those two scientists to start working cottage tiles. This is a good way to keep up with the AI research advantage at higher levels.

 

[al_thor]

I specialize my cities. I try to "grow" every type of specialist. Some cites will be Great Merchant growers, others Scientists, etc. I build the Wonders that apply to that specialist in the city that already has the specialist or has plans to become it). For example, a city that has a Forge and is growing Engineers, may also have the Pyramids or other such "enginering" wonders.

Having a variety of specialists is the key to versatility - sparking GA's, learning techs, rushing buildings, culture bombs, etc.

 

[Dane]

If your cities grows fast in the beginning, I figured specialists is a good way to slow that.

Big cities in the begining of the game tend to have problems with health and happiness. Therefore they become inefficient.

 

[Efexeye]

If your cities grows fast in the beginning, I figured specialists is a good way to slow that.

Big cities in the begining of the game tend to have problems with health and happiness. Therefore they become inefficient.

Slavery helps too!

 

[marioh]

If your cities grows fast in the beginning, I figured specialists is a good way to slow that.

Big cities in the begining of the game tend to have problems with health and happiness. Therefore they become inefficient.

That's basically my gameplan when it comes to assigning specialists. When I start having health and happiness issues, and also when I switch to Mercantilism and/or Pacifism.

 

[homeyg]

At what population do you start?

You can start at any population where you have enough extra food to still have your city grow. Usually I make sure I still have at least 2 food per turn when I assign a specialist because 2 is basically the default number, IMO, when dealing with food in Civilization because the food storage box is always divisible by 2 (at least in CivII & III, I'm not sure about CivIV).