Why I think industrious is for high level player

[Lance of Llanwy]

I meant whatever wonders you do want come cheaper, so you build them faster, and you spend less overall hammers pursuing....say, the Oracle for a slingshot. It's unfair to say you need Masonry for it, if you have a good production city(say, your bronze city) you could conceivably build it without Marble without much trouble. If you do have Marble, then it's a matter of 10 turns or less. Another good example for this the Great Library. It makes wonders more accessible, so certain strats are less at the mercy of your start....

 

[InFlux5]

It's all about the forges. My favorite strat with an Industrious civ is to get the Great Wall (or Pyramids) and use the GE to lightbulb Metal Casting. Once I do that my empire grows exponentially. You just can't match that kind of hammer output that early in the game.

Once the forges are up, if you want you can generate another GE for Machinery. I've had great success with GE "factories" on isolated starts, as their research path gets you to Optics quickly. (This goes for anyone, not just Industrious leaders. Last time I did it was with Peter. Industrious begs for early forges though.)

 

[vicawoo]

Forges as cheap as granaries means I spam them. It pays for itself in 240 hammers, or 8 whip cycles. In a commerce city, courthouse + library + university + market + grocer + bank + theatre is 120+90+200+150+150+200 +50= 960 hammers. Great for GP farms, especially the engineering point.

 

[Roxlimn]

Jujulautre:

You can get Forges faster with the Industrious trait from the Oracle slingshot to Metal Casting. Orcale is all but assured at Noble if you start it (in your second city) as soon as you found your second city. This is a riskier gamble if you're not Industrious.

If you have Marble hooked up, the Orcale comes up ridiculously fast. Beelining Metal Casting with that nets you the Engineers very quickly. The Great Engineer that comes out of that can be used to lightbulb Machinery for the early Chokonu or used to finish a Pyramids for a quick Representation powered SE.

Industrious + Oracle or really, any of the cheap early wonders used to full effect is just awesome.

futurehermit's comments can tell you just how insane Industrious can be with the right resources, and even if not, it's easy to leverage as long as you know what to do with the wonders (and the Great People).