Strategy for Philosophical Civs

[johnmcd]

Priesthood is so cheap I can't imagine burning a prophet to get it, that feels incredibly expensive.

[Dactyl]

johnmcd,

I didn't plan it that way ahead of time. I had the two priests and I wasn't trying to slingshot to CS, so I just did it to see what would happen and I liked the results. I wouldn't do it that way in the future. Unfortunately, due to other responsibilities, I may not get the opportunity to spend much time with Civ4 for several days yet, so I won't have a chance to verify and refine my results.

[Cort Haus]

Yeah, burning a Prophet on Priesthood is barmy.

[Hermann the Lombard]

OTOH, burning prophets is a fine old tradition!

[KerThud]

That Philo slingshot actually works. I tried it on a small, quick emperor game. I used a bunch of forests because I wanted to be sure. And the Egyptians and my warriors kept the barbs from forming. Switching to caste system and pacifism at the same time *really* makes specialists appealing and possible.

Not sure if my military is where it needs to be, though. So this might be an optimal strategy for the philosophical civ that finds itself alone on an island.