[NFP] Why Multiple Spaceports Are Important To Win A Science Victory

[CivLifeRyoutube]

While it my be tempting to just build one spaceport and build everything from there as spaceports are very expensive and you could build a LOT of things instead of the spaceport. Spaceports in other cities give you 2 things

1. Insurance
2. faster victory

If you lose you spaceport city, you could lose the game.

In this video I lost my capital to a comet storm which doesn't normally happen, but some other things, like a surprise declaration/nuke could cripple you. Even a few spy sabotage missions could make it impossible for you to overcome another civ especially on deity (which is what I was playing on) where the margin for error is slim, especially if your new to deity. What multiple spaceports can give you, even if expensive, is insurance that even if you lose your spaceport city, you can still win the game fairly quickly.

Secondly, towards the end of the game, a surprise diplomatic or religious victory is always in the cards. End of the game, even culture can sneak up on you and give you the bitter taste of defeat. Multiple spaceports allow you to speed up science victory by giving you the opportunity to build multiple exoplanet expedition boosters at once. Instead of 35 turns, you could win in 10 and shave 25 turns off of a potential defeat and turn it into a victory.

 

[lotrmith]

It also ensures you complete each component on time to start the next component. Sometimes you have ample time (and chops) in between component techs. Other times either your science is going so fast, or you don't have enough chops in the one city (or both) that you're perhaps waiting for something like earth satellite to finish before you can start the moon landing.

 

[Bibor]

Secondly, towards the end of the game, a surprise diplomatic or religious victory is always in the cards.

To build 3 spaceports or 2 spaceports and Operation Ivy?

 

[enKage]

I build/buy 4-6 spaceports.

1) In case of sabotage, I can run project immediately in other city
2) Speeding up exoplanetary expedition: - bulder into project are innefective in case of 2 speeding-up prejects, so better to construct it in multiple cities.
I can immediately chop/harvest them in every spaceport, so my exoplanetary expedition can fly 5 years per turn as soon as it is completed, after 2-3 more turns it grows to 10 years pr turn. My spaceship flies max 6 turns

 

[yung.carl.jung]

no offense, but you (and @CivLifeRyoutube ) are likely slowing yourself down massively. all that is needed for the fastest SVs are 2 SP, but you can buy a third if you really want insurance. I'd personally just build more defensive Spies though. If you want to be super safe you can put Liang in your 3rd SP city. I know your intentions are good, but this is not helpful advice for faster SVs.

Multiple spaceports allow you to speed up science victory by giving you the opportunity to build multiple exoplanet expedition boosters at once. Instead of 35 turns, you could win in 10 and shave 25 turns off of a potential defeat and turn it into a victory.

people nowadays almost universally agree that chopping the laser stations is the fastest way to reach an SV, and the evidence is pretty telling. even if you use the builder method you hardly need more than 2 spaceports, I doubt anyone has enough builders to feed one builder into every one of your 6 spaceports every turn. that would be 30 builders in 5 turns..

I can immediately chop/harvest them in every spaceport, so my exoplanetary expedition can fly 5 years per turn as soon as it is completed, after 2-3 more turns it grows to 10 years pr turn. My spaceship flies max 6 turns

This however is a good argument. If you don't have one city with lots of chops, having 2 space-chop cities can definitely help (but you need the gold/faith to buy SP, if you hardbuild it you slow yourself down).

 

[Bibor]

I don't really get this "chopping in the space port", much less "chopping in parts". I personally never have so many forests around to chop in even the spaceport, let alone something more. That city would need to have like 12+ forests which I don't get on small maps. Ever.

And my second question is, I guess, okay, chopped in the space port - now what? Where's the population to work the tiles? I guess I could just use workers exclusively. But that would mean having even more culture so I can complete Royal Society roughly when finishing Rocketry.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I don't really get this "chopping in the space port", much less "chopping in parts". I personally never have so many forests around to chop in even the spaceport, let alone something more. That city would need to have like 12+ forests which I don't get on small maps. Ever.

you don't need 12 forests, actually, because of modifiers. for me usually 10 chops are enough. less with Hong Kong. that can be, for example: 2 deer, 4 wood, 2 stone, 4 jungle. or any combination of those. the way I do it is settle a city exclusively for space chops and put pins over every choppable tile to remind me not to chop.

since you play small maps though of course those locations will be a bit more rare, but really any amount of chops helps. i sometimes even keep chops in my capital for laser projects, especially deer and flatland stone, since those tiles are great when you work them.

And my second question is, I guess, okay, chopped in the space port - now what? Where's the population to work the tiles? I guess I could just use workers exclusively. But that would mean having even more culture so I can complete Royal Society roughly when finishing Rocketry.

you chop the laster stations, not the SP. you always buy the SP with faith/gold. I hardbuild most of the other parts, too, since I can usually build them in the exact time I get the next tech for the next project. if your science per turn is super high then you can royal society "chop" all the projects, but that rarely happens. laser stations are one of the major bottlenecks of SV. I always use both Royal Society and chops for them.

This is a recent rome game, usually this is how the setup is done. have a worker on every tile ready for the second you get laser station tech. in this game it likely shaved 5-10 turns off my victory and made it sub200. it's a standard map and I managed to preserve something like 15 chops.

 

[Bibor]

hm, medium map might be the key. no way in hell im getting 2K science - not enough cities for that on small maps.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

hm, medium map might be the key. no way in hell im getting 2K science - not enough cities for that on small maps.

True, peak science essentially only comes down to 4 factors:

# of cities (major)
city states (major)
civic progress (medium)
campus adjacency (minor)

A lot of this is not down to skill, but entirely random, too. Though I would say even with only 10 cities one can get enough peak science for a fast win (about 1500 peak science is needed imho to win sub200). The key with a smaller empire is getting to Rationalism, Democracy and Globalization extremely fast. Sometimes I manage to get Globalization before Moon Landing even, especially with Rome or Greece, which in turn only makes the Moon landing stronger. Two other things that do not prefer wide empires compared to small ones are Kilwa and Amundsen because they are % based not flat.

 

[ATEX]

I buy one spaceport for the first two projects to be chopped . If you got amazing culture and royal you could use workers for them instead. Then buy 1 or 2 more space ports and use builders for the remaining projects while saving all other chops to chop lasers. Latest game I had so much gold I bought a forth, but it did not really matter. I think 2 is minimum unless you have insane culture. And chopping lasers has to be the best use of chops I think.