Stonehenge...Do you use it?

[Drachasor]

Originally posted by PJNagrom
If you build Stonehenge as a Philos. ruler you immediately start generating Great Prophets. After pumping out a few and making them super specialists you get a very nice production/commerce bonus. (+2hammers/+5com) each.

Playing a game as Peter it allowed me turn Moscow into a great money AND hammer producer. I have 5 super priests in there. And if you build Angkor Wat you get an additional +1 hammer for your priests.

The power of this should not be underestimated. On Monarch I find building Stonehenge and using my first prophet as a specialist plays a key role in keeping my science percentage up. It is very hard to get an early religion on this difficulty and later ones, and usually not worth the opportunity cost in other techs. As such you will only get a Great Prophet from Stonehenge--a great merchant is possible with the Great Lighthouse, but Stonehenge can be made earlier and anywhere, which is a big advantage.

I find it basically impossible to maintain tech parity with the AI without the GP from Stonehenge on Monarch. With it I often have a slight lead (even if I don't manage to build the Oracle).

Also, the second GP will come along not too long later, and you can use that to get Theology for free if you have all the early techs. This gives you a starting religion almost all the time.

Of course, you have to be philosophical for this to work well. It is one of the essential ways to leverage that trait early in the game (since one of your main strengths doesn't come until you get Universities).

-Drachasor