how to build corporation ?

[sorinache]

Ok, so this is my first BtS game and I would have liked to see how corporations work. So I read the "doc" and imagined I could build "Civilized Jewelery" - I have city with 2 gems (and 2 other gems in other cities) and a great artist available. I researched Mass Media and I have Corporation. Now the option to build "Civ. Jewel." appears when I select the great artist, but it's greyed out ... how come ? What do I lack ? That city has no other wonder in it btw.

[snoopy369]

You have to:
1. Have researched Corporation
2. Have researched the appropriate tech (MM)
3. Have at least one of the resources required
4. Have the right great person.
5. Nobody else have built the corporation.

If all of those are fulfilled, then I don't know what might be limiting you.

[bobbo008]

Do you have another corporation already in that city? You are only allowed one per city.

[ColdPhoenix]

Do you have another corporation already in that city? You are only allowed one per city.

You can have more than one per city but corporations that use the same resources can't share a city.

[sorinache]

ah ! "state property" civic is the culprit

I had the "state property" civic, this is what prevented me from founding the corporation ! Once I changed civics the button worked (and I discovered that "Civ. Jewelery" is mostly a waste of time at least in my context ... but the point was to experiment)

[CerberusIV]

Civ Jewellers makes money. It will probably only cost 3-4 gold max in each city you place it in (6-8 with market, grocer and bank) but makes 12 gold in your corporation city (with market, grocer, bank and Wall Street).

It is also the corporation which gives your rivals the least advantage (unless they look like making a cultural victory) so can happily be exported to as many other civs cities as possible and make even more money for you.

[sorinache]

thx for the info

as it happens, I'm okay money-wise (of course more is always better, but when it comes to making choices ...). I'm kinda' low on hammers on the other hand. If I simply create the corporation (after changing civics), the effect is neutral on my money : what I make is about offset by the increased maintenance costs. If I want to really start making money, I need to create corporate executives and start spreading the corporation. And here's to problem : they are relatively expensive (100 hammers I read, but even 50 hammers would be quite high) for my HQ city. Besides, I can barely keep pace building up my military, so diverting this city to churning out corporate executives feels like a bad strategic choice. But the idea was to see how it works anyhow

[snoopy369]

Key to corporations:
1. Found it in your Wall Street city
2. Be in Free Market
3. Have courthouses in every city that has it

That's pretty much the way to guarantee it makes you money... churning corp execs isn't really necessary, it can make you money in a few cities (though it should make more in more cities, of course). If 50 hammers is a lot to you, then you probably don't have enough hammer-focused cities; usually I'll have a city that can do 50 hammers in a turn by the point you have corporations, if not two or three cities like that.

[sorinache]

Key to corporations:
1. Found it in your Wall Street city
2. Be in Free Market
3. Have courthouses in every city that has it

That's pretty much the way to guarantee it makes you money... churning corp execs isn't really necessary, it can make you money in a few cities (though it should make more in more cities, of course). If 50 hammers is a lot to you, then you probably don't have enough hammer-focused cities; usually I'll have a city that can do 50 hammers in a turn by the point you have corporations, if not two or three cities like that.

I expanded too slowly (compared to the AI on BtS emperor at least) - also being on an archipelago map, there are a lot of coastal / ocean tile : great for bulbing but one Moai Statues is no match for the Civ II "off-shore platform". Besides, I started in jungle and didn't realize how useful workshops could be, so my "farmed grasslands + coastal tiles" cities are indeed not great at producing hammers and would cost me the game anyway. I only have about 3 decent cities hammer-wise and the 2 gems are not near one of them.

Consequently I've only built 4 stock exchanges (I'm on 100% science anyway, so apart from the cities with religion money they are useless), hence no wall street.

I was in free market but just realized how much nicer "pacifism" is ! That 100% GP bonus is a real boon !

Lack of hammers means I also had less courthouses than I should and wished I had.

[Willem]

Once I changed civics the button worked (and I discovered that "Civ. Jewelery" is mostly a waste of time at least in my context ... but the point was to experiment)

Civ Jewellers is probabaly the most useful of all the corporations. It's the only one you can spam to all your cities and never have to worry about going bankrupt over. All the rest of the Corporations you need to be selective about since their maintenance costs can quickly bankrupt you if you're not careful, especially if you have a ton of the resources they consume. With Civ Jewellers that's not an issue, you can put it everywhere and still make a profit.

[Willem]

as it happens, I'm okay money-wise (of course more is always better, but when it comes to making choices ...). I'm kinda' low on hammers on the other hand. If I simply create the corporation (after changing civics), the effect is neutral on my money : what I make is about offset by the increased maintenance costs. If I want to really start making money, I need to create corporate executives and start spreading the corporation. And here's to problem : they are relatively expensive (100 hammers I read, but even 50 hammers would be quite high) for my HQ city. Besides, I can barely keep pace building up my military, so diverting this city to churning out corporate executives feels like a bad strategic choice. But the idea was to see how it works anyhow

You break even, or even make a small profit, up to a point. But as you acquire more of the resources the corporation requires your maintenance cost increase. So you can easily end up losing money as you start trading for the resources it needs. As for the executives, any city that as an office of the corp can produce one, you're not just limited to your HQ city.

[snoopy369]

I expanded too slowly (compared to the AI on BtS emperor at least) - also being on an archipelago map, there are a lot of coastal / ocean tile : great for bulbing but one Moai Statues is no match for the Civ II "off-shore platform". Besides, I started in jungle and didn't realize how useful workshops could be, so my "farmed grasslands + coastal tiles" cities are indeed not great at producing hammers and would cost me the game anyway. I only have about 3 decent cities hammer-wise and the 2 gems are not near one of them.

Consequently I've only built 4 stock exchanges (I'm on 100% science anyway, so apart from the cities with religion money they are useless), hence no wall street.

I was in free market but just realized how much nicer "pacifism" is ! That 100% GP bonus is a real boon !

Lack of hammers means I also had less courthouses than I should and wished I had.

The location of the gems is NOT important - they simply have to be connected to your cities generally.

[Chemical Ollie]

In my most successful games, I have 4 corporations in every city. All of them have the headquarters in the combined Wall Street/Newton's University city, and most of them will have courthouse sooner than later.

The corporations of my choice are: Creative Constructions, Sid's Sushi, Ciw Jewellery, United Aluminium. (Or whatever their names are, I can't remember by heart.) These 4 can co-exist in the same city, the other 3 are just AI infringements, or something you build and spread if the AI beats you to some of the above. And if you find out the that the AI spreads its crappy corporation to your cities, cancel the open borders deal.

Also, if you have Creative Constructions, Sid's Sushi and Civ Jewellery in your major cities, you are bound to get a cultural victory very soon. So either cancel it in the game start, or accept that it will sneak up on you earlier than you wanted it to happen.

[Theben]

Besides, I started in jungle and didn't realize how useful workshops could be, so my "farmed grasslands + coastal tiles" cities are indeed not great at producing hammers and would cost me the game anyway. I only have about 3 decent cities hammer-wise and the 2 gems are not near one of them.

Switch your farms to cottages and when they reach town size go universal sufferage... then you get +1 in each town tile. You may wish to do that anyway, along with nationhood and slavery, to boost production in your cities.

I was in free market but just realized how much nicer "pacifism" is ! That 100% GP bonus is a real boon !

?? Free market and pacifism are not mutually exclusive? And yes pacifism is nice, but if you're having problems with construction you should be in Org Religion.

[sorinache]

Switch your farms to cottages and when they reach town size go universal sufferage... then you get +1 in each town tile. You may wish to do that anyway, along with nationhood and slavery, to boost production in your cities.

You kidding, right ? I'm playing normal speed, not epic or marathon. My farms support specialists. If I switch to cottages, by the time they grew to towns I'll be dead meat already, the AI would never allow me the leisure to watch my cottages grow to hamlets, villages and so on. It's too late for this game, I'll try the CBE in another game.

I was in free market but just realized how much nicer "pacifism" is ! That 100% GP bonus is a real boon !

?? Free market and pacifism are not mutually exclusive? And yes pacifism is nice, but if you're having problems with construction you should be in Org Religion.[/QUOTE]

You are right, sorry, I should have said "free religion". I'm a science bulb addict. I should say "was", because of Civ I and II. I'm just beginning to realize how much more interesting and rich the gameplay of Civ IV / BtS is, thanks, among many other things, to the addition of GP points.