BTS: Super Specialists

[ahenobarb]

Quick questio. If you add a great person as a super specialist in a city, the benefits of that great person lasts for the duration of the game in that particular city, correct?

[Solver]

Yep

[Kataphraktoi]

If you ask me, its the worst possible use for a GP until golden ages cost 4 great people.

[Solver]

Why? An extra food from Merchants is often good. Settling extra Prophets is a good idea, usually better than waiting for another GP to start a GA.

[Kataphraktoi]

Those are puny bonuses compared to a golden age. 1+ food? what good is that? Ussualy if your getting GPs at all you have a GP farm or atleast a city that has good GPP. Unless you cant plan on having the next gp soon you may as well settle-I did settle two great prophets in my current game as i had no gp farm

[Jaybe]

The magic in the game is that there are GOOD arguments for whichever use you put them to. You can then regret later that you don't have them still, to be put for something else.

[ahenobarb]

I asked because I had a Great Prophet, but had already built shrines to both my religions, wasn't time for a Golden Age, and that left either research or add as a super specialist. I choose research, but my capital city (where the GP appeared) didn't have a lot of hammers. This plus the additional gold to help raise the science rate seemed worth if only if it lasted the whole game.

I may consider it in the future, in general, I'd agree with Kataphraktoi. However, maybe there's some use to it.

[Rockoon]

That is exacty what I do with prophets... settle them in the city with the worst .. such as coastal tundra cities

[Jaybe]

Just because you HAVE a GP doesn't mean that you have to put them to immediate use. There MAY be a better use for them in the future (or, of course, there may not).

[Robert]

I use GS to found an academy in my best research cities.

GP's are, after getting religions (Theocracy) or shrines, always good to settle in either production powerhouses, or your (future) wall street city (+15 gpt)

Great Artists are always settled in cities that are in culture wars.

The first Great Spy is settled in my capital, the 2nd spy obviously founds the +100% EP building.

Great Engineers are being kept back for grabbing that special wonder. If it fails to grab it, they're kept back to found a corporation late in the game.

Great Merchants obviously belong in the (future) Wall Street city, or in your GP farm (for the extra food)
Some Merchants may be kept back for future corporations.

The only GP's I use for Golden Ages are either great artists, when there are no real culture wars or great prophets, after they're really out of use. I never start more then 2 (thus consuming 3 GP's) golden ages. Unless I'm really in the hurry for something.

Most of the time settling a GP is a calculation.
Ie. lightbulbing a tech may give you 800 beakers, maybe 1600 if you can trade that tech for another tech as well. But with the right city improvements and civic you can get over 5000 lightbulbs from that scientist if you settle it.

Same with Great Artist or Great Merchant.

[Unimatrix11]

Well, what is the rate of discount (per turn) that You would put in that equation ? For it is more profitable to have something now rather than later - so 2000 beakers cashed in now might be worth more than 2500 earned during the next 200 turns or so...

[MrWhereItsAt]

Depends on your empire size. A settled GP early on could be worth way more than a Golden Age at the time, but in empires the size of one I recently had (large continent, large world, two other civs conquered) any two or three, or maybe more settled Great People are chump change against an empire-wide improvement in production and commerce. Especially with the Mausoleum increase the Golden Ages to 12 turns...

[Kataphraktoi]

Yup, i generaly play huge maps so the benefit tends to be huge. RE mausolum of masaulos, in my current game i had it and built the taj mahal for a GA halfway through my current GA triggerd from GPs and by the time those GAs were done i had the GPs for another GA about 5 turns later. Thats 36 turns of 1+ hammer\commerce... Lots of infrastructure(read:turn advantage) there.

[LzPrst]

i like to put them in the city. all of them in one city. that adds up after a while.... (i also go for golden ages)

[Fidel]

just a question, it seems to me that when a tech grants you a GP, this now means that it pops out in your capital and its counter is reset to zero, no?