Using Great People : A short look at the Golden Age

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by drsparnum
Great thread.


Question: Why is it so hard to calculate the value of a GA in terms of commerce beakers? Example: Let's say you're running at 70% science and your next tech will take 8* turns and you're making 12g/turn (a reasonable scenario). If you drop down the science slider to 10% you see it will take 42 turns to get your tech and you're making 150g/turn (I'm making up numbers here, so bear with me....). Now induce GA and compare.

It's very easy but you don't look at commerce since this is pre-multipliers. What your interested in is the output in terms of beakers and gold.

To do this you can compare the finance screens which gives a simple number for science and gold and you can move the slider there if you want to look at different rates.

[padillah]

Originally posted by drsparnum
As a rule myself, I usually love all my GP except the GAs...
You can also have too many Gr Pr...

I'm with you on the GPr's but not using a GA is akin to quiting the game to me.

I go for almost no war and pure culture. I'll settle three GA's in my capitol, with Saladin, the Hermatige, and Beurocracy it's just a culture powerhouse!

I have long debated whether to bomb a city or settle in it and this thread is helping me a lot. First, let me say I've never seen the use of a G Age. There's too much other stuff to do with a GP.

If I have my numbers right (I'm at work, shh don't tell anyone) a bomb gives 4000 culture and a GA SS gives +14 cpt.
So it would take 286 turns for a settled GA to surpass a bomb. So if you have 286 turns to spare, don't bomb - settle.

Tom P.

[uberfish]

well it's +12 cpt, +2 if you got Sistine Chapel, then multiplied by whatever culture bonuses you're running. A culture victory will typically have at least +200% from free speech and two cathedrals in the culture cities. So the breakpoint is a lot less than 286 turns. The disadvantage with super artist specialists is you have to judge very precisely what the total culture of each city will be in the endgame to use them to full effect, since it's pointless if one city is at 70k culture with the other two lagging behind at 30k.

[Wild Pig UK]

In certain situations, golden ages are pretty useful for the immediate turn advantage. I often find when playing with Cathy if I can time a golden age to line up with getting cossacks, I can speed up making a useful invading army by 8 turns. Eight turns can often be the difference between fighting longbowmen and musketmen or grenadiers (taking cities immediately cripples your opponents ability to upgrade/research). This can be the difference between snagging or failing to snag additional useful cities/resources for the rest of the game at higher levels.

There are other places in the game where an immediate turn advantage can pay long term dividends. Using an early golden age to pump out catapults/swordsman can also be the difference between facing archers instead of longbowmen, or even the difference between grabbing the oracle or the pyramids in situations where you don't have an engineer gp.

These situations do happen, but they are fairly rare. For the most part making the academy or adding the gp to the city seems the correct play in the early to mid game.

[PaganPaulwhisky]

I often find when playing with Cathy if I can time a golden age to line up with getting cossacks, I can speed up making a useful invading army by 8 turns.

I am in fact using this technique in my current game to great effect. I was able to rush the Taj mahal with a GE to time my first golden age right when I discovered mil. tradition. I was able to follow this up with another golden age once I hit communism since I had an artist saved up. This sped production of Kremlin and allowed me to field a massive army of cossacks (about 35 as of now). I was able to wipe out the french in 10 turns without losing a single troop as they had only longbows for defense. China is next.

[PaganPaulwhisky]

I often find when playing with Cathy if I can time a golden age to line up with getting cossacks, I can speed up making a useful invading army by 8 turns.

I am in fact using this technique in my current game to great effect. I was able to rush the Taj mahal with a GE to time my first golden age right when I discovered mil. tradition. I was able to follow this up with another golden age once I hit communism since I had an artist saved up. This sped production of Kremlin and allowed me to field a massive army of cossacks (about 35 as of now). I was able to wipe out the french in 10 turns without losing a single troop as they had only longbows for defense. China is next.