Which Civ for fastest route to Great Library?

[Creosote]

Am I right in thinking that playing Korea would give the fastest route to building the GL?
They start with Commercial, so Alphabet, so one tech to Writing and start of GL build. They are Scientific so do they build the GL cheaper as its a "Scientific Wonder", or is there no difference to build cost?

Just finding at the harder levels the GL is almost a must and rather than trying (in vain) to capture it I may as well try and build the thing.

 

[Renata]

The Great Library is always 600 shields. No difference. So any commercial or seafaring (C3C) civ that starts with alphabet is a good choice. I don't build it, though, even on Deity.

Renata

 

[plarq]

No difference in cost.And Scientific is wasted a little since GL is anti-resaerch,MA free tech is wasted , and a despotic GA.
Best GL builder is France,just prebuild a Palace.

 

[juz1138]

when it comes to the GL do yourself a favor, dont build it.

 

[Tomoyo]

France or Carthage has the fastest route, because you can use Masonry to get a Palace pre-build for the Great Library, which is only two techs away. France is what Bamspeedy used for his Beyond Sid game for that reason.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Actually, the best Civ is Carthage, not France. Faster Curraghs and more commerce means you can trade for those two techs you need (Pottery and CB - Pottery for expansion, CB to keep the GL city happy).
The really crucial thing is to start the prebuild early enough, and dedicate everything to that city (Workers, to improve and join later).
I fully agree you shouldn't bother with building the GLib up to DG. For Deity, it's fine for your first trials; it'll allow you to stay in the game until middle ages, but there's still enough to screw up...but GLib is by no means needed to win Deity.
For Sid, you really should try to build it...it's not always possible to capture it later.

 

[Rohili]

I keep hearing people discouraging others to build the GL, Is it really that game-crippling if you do build it? I agree it is slightly overpowered, but very helpful if you are behind in tech.

 

[plarq]

You can always do pointy stick research(a.k.a military invasion).And if you're hopelessly behind,capture GL is not impossible.

 

[tR1cKy]

Carthage is conquest thing. In PTW/Vanilla France is the best choice.

 

[k-a-bob]

Carthage is conquest thing. In PTW/Vanilla France is the best choice.

@tR!cKy - I thought Rome was always the best choice!

 

[Darkness]

Carthage is conquest thing. In PTW/Vanilla France is the best choice.

Carthage was added in PTW....

There it had the same traits as France (COM/IND). In C3C Carthage's traits were changed to SEA/.... (can't recall the second trait right now)...

 

[bonscott]

Learn to live without the Great Library as you move up and it will make you a better player. I can't even remember the last time I built it.

 

[tR1cKy]

@tR!cKy - I thought Rome was always the best choice!

France is the best to build the GL, so Rome can come in with legions and "obtain" it

 

[Rohili]

Learn to live without the Great Library as you move up and it will make you a better player. I can't even remember the last time I built it.

I disagree. My stand on the game is that you should manipulate all the options you have at your disposal to get yourself into the lead. This of course does not include game bugs or acknowledged exploitations.

 

[k-a-bob]

I disagree. My stand on the game is that you should manipulate all the options you have at your disposal to get yourself into the lead. This of course does not include game bugs or acknowledged exploitations.

But what do you do if you cannot build the GL? What skill set do you have to fall back on? If you don't know how to stay equal without the GL - then you are in trouble.
If you do know what to do, then sure, no problem.

 

[Rohili]

But what do you do if you cannot build the GL? What skill set do you have to fall back on? If you don't know how to stay equal without the GL - then you are in trouble.
If you do know what to do, then sure, no problem.

Well, being still in the "learning the ropes" stage, I may not be very correct in my views, but for warlord I always built the GL. For my first regent game now I didn't, and still managed to be sufficiently advanced to have certain techs that other civs don't have (mainly through trading, suing for peace, etc). Therefore I think the "crutch" of building the GL is a bit overhyped, especially if it becomes something like "Don't ever build the GL, it will cause you to lose all your games once you advance in difficulty!!!!"

 

[Grogs]

Well, being still in the "learning the ropes" stage, I may not be very correct in my views, but for warlord I always built the GL. For my first regent game now I didn't, and still managed to be sufficiently advanced to have certain techs that other civs don't have (mainly through trading, suing for peace, etc). Therefore I think the "crutch" of building the GL is a bit overhyped, especially if it becomes something like "Don't ever build the GL, it will cause you to lose all your games once you advance in difficulty!!!!"

I think we just tend to go too far the other way sometimes. If you're used to getting every wonder on Warlord, trying to do the same thing on Emperor is a good way to lose. That said, wonders are still powerful tools and it's quite common to see some of the great players building a few of the best ones and using them to their full potential. For me, building the GL says '20k cultural victory,' for which wonders aren't a crutch, they're crucial.

 

[Zelda's Man]

Well, being still in the "learning the ropes" stage, I may not be very correct in my views, but for warlord I always built the GL. For my first regent game now I didn't, and still managed to be sufficiently advanced to have certain techs that other civs don't have (mainly through trading, suing for peace, etc). Therefore I think the "crutch" of building the GL is a bit overhyped, especially if it becomes something like "Don't ever build the GL, it will cause you to lose all your games once you advance in difficulty!!!!"

I think the point is that you should learn to win each level without having to build the GL. B/c if an AI happens to build it before you, that doesn't mean you should quit. Having the GL means that you don't have to do a lot of trading in the AA/MA to keep up. This is an invaluable tool for the higher levels.

I generally try to build one or two AA wonders. Sometimes one of them is the GL, sometimes not. The only wonders I am reliant on through emporer is Theory of Evolution, Hoover's Dam, and UN. I have yet to beat deity so I don't know if I will be able to build those or not.

 

[bonscott]

The point is that on higher levels you will almost always get beat to building the GL and thus you need to know how to cope without it if you want to win. Thus once you get up to Monarch or so you usually want to play games with emporer and diety strats in mind, which include no GL, 0% research at times, lots of trading, etc. What you do on Warlord just ain't going to work on higher levels typically.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

I keep hearing people discouraging others to build the GL, Is it really that game-crippling if you do build it? I agree it is slightly overpowered, but very helpful if you are behind in tech.

It is not at all overpowered. It is absolutely useless below deity if you know how to trade. And while you rely on the GL, you don't learn how to trade.