Questions

[wodan11]

Strategist, I'm short on time today, but here's a quick example. Let's assume you don't even use Representation (Pyramids). Let's figure a size 6 city which can support either 2 specialists or 3 cottages.

Two scientists = 6/ turn. One great scientist = +1+6/turn if you settle, or ~1600 if you lightbulb.

You would have to work 3 villages (4) for about 270 turns to match the lightbulb.

So, perhaps your question should be: How are cottages not a broken / underpowered game element?

Read these:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/specialist_economy.php

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/se_emperor.php

[Boracks]

My point about having two cities was flexibilty with what type of GP you get. If I have a city get the Pyramids, it won't be my science city per se, but will be high on the list to get a forge and engineer specialist so it has a chance to get a Great Engineer. Another city will be a science city and likely produce GS's. And of course, each subsequent golden age after the first takes more than one type of Great Person to trigger so having some flexibilty in producing them helps.

[Calvin Vu]

Good point... I keep forgetting about corps since I rarely ever take advantage of them.

First, I'm a big fan of State Property since by then, I probably have a sprawling empire. And second, at that point in the game, I'm usually on a mission from god to conquer the world, and I would much rather be building the units than corp executives. By the time the corps really pay off, I'm hoping the game will be over

Same here. I usually finish games around the time of Riflemen so I don't even know what to do with Corporations for games started in Renaissance/Industrial eras .

[Baldyr]

That's a great way to take advantage of the dividends, I'll start doing the same.

One other thing I've done occasionally:

Since my main focus for science would be my specialized science cities, I tend to overlook my production cities and frontier/border cities as for potential research. It seems to me as somewhat wasteful to not have any science modifiers at all in all these cities when I'm at the same time converting a percentage of my total commerce into science. Sure, these cities might generate only 20 commerce or whatever on average, and say 20% of that (4 beakers) isn't much in the first place.

But if I make a point of investing in libraries for all of my cities at once (hurry production), the +25% science bonus in these cities combined actually could make a difference. Now these cities would instead produce 5 beakers each, on average. So with 20 libraries that adds up to 20 more beakers a turn. Sure, it's not a huge increase over all, but if I would (ever so temporarily) turn up science to 80%, it's starting to pay of! (20 beakers produced per city, instead of 16.)

Also, all these libraries will generate culture in my border regions, expanding my borders. This can substitute for building theaters in all of them, alternatively allow me to zero my culture percentage (if I had elevated it previously in order to expand my borders) saving valuable commerce for other competing needs (like science).

As you can see, my sliders tend to go up and down with my investment in buildings. Not always having a science percentage as high as fiscally possible also helps to accumulate gold. These reserves can then in turn be used to hurry buildings - in all cities at once. So the strategy kinda comes full circle.

[rah]

You'd be amazed how many GPs you generate if you're in caste system, free market (the free specialist one) with Parthenon, National epic, if you're Philosophical and a few Scientists. The GP are produced quickly and can be used to lightbulb techs increasing bulbed values over a 1000 beakers a crack. Now add on REP and you cruise through the tech tree with all the extra beakers. Your cap should be generating many hundreds of beakers and can almost fuel an entire civ.

At 50 GP points a turn you can have 6 GPs in less than 50 turns. And more than 50 gp points is quite easily attained. I've gotten it well over 100 so even with ever increasing numbers needed, they still come pretty quick. And if you're bulbing techs that lead you to more GP, it's difficult for the AI to keep up at any but the highest levels.

[wodan11]

The way to truly specialize cities is to run the science slider at 0%. Run caste system. Some cities have all the science buildings and run all scientists. Some cities have all the money buildings and run all merchants. Some cities have production and build units or wonders.

[Calvin Vu]

The one with the free specialist is Mercantilism. If you use BTS advanced start in Renaissance or later, you can start the game with Mercantilism, Caste system, and Pacificism. Adding Philosophical trait to it and the fact that you have not had any GPs before, the first few GPs will pop out real quick, like every few turns. It's pretty fun. I only do advanced starts these days.

[rah]

I'm not going to way which way is best. I'm just saying that there are always different ways to skin the cat and since we play random civs in our MP games, it always helps to know different ways to take advantage of different starts. Heck If I'm financial andhave lots of flood plains, it's cottage time.

And Merch is more useful if you're at war and not as worried about the lack of foreign trade routes. Again, it always depends on the situation.

[Ming]

In most MP games, I find I'm usually somewhere in the middle of the road... using a combination of specialists and cottages. If Financial, I tend to lean heavier on the cottages, and If I get the Pyramids, more on the specialists. My percent leaning either way is dictated by the situation, civ, available land... which is what makes the game so much fun.

[Strategist83]

Thanks for replies, links, advice. I'll definitely have a go at a Specialist economy in my next game(s).

[rah]

Only if the game calls for it

[brandonjm8]

heres my two cents and yes ive done both several times, i'll list them with adv and disadv:
the specialist strategy:
once you get biology you'll be amazed on how many more specialists you get
your production will always be higher using this strategy, you can mine the hills or windmill for extra commerce, with two or more religions and their buildings you can support 8 priests and with angkor wat the priests are awesome compared to the engineers priests get +1 gold too with +2 hammers
basically towards the middle then after (once you get biology) the specialists way is the best way for production and keeping the science lower so you can upgrade easier cuz for me you can put gold slider to 0% but still have science with the specialists (rep. is a must for this strategy)
the cottage strategy:
in the early game you'll have more commerce but less production
also you GP rate will be much lower
biology wont give you a big boost cuz you have little farmland
if you want to have high production throughout do the specialists way, if you want huge tech leads then go the cottage way but be warned you better not be by any aggressive civs otherwise they'll take you over easily cuz your production is not good with cottages, never build cottages on hills, either mines (you can discover new resources with mines too) or windmills or a combination of both.
we can say whatever we want but the best way for you to figure out which strategy works best for you is to try both several times, you can also do a combination of both, set some cities for the cottage way and the others the specialists way or just build 4-6 cottages in some cities with the rest farmland and mines/windmills ect.
my personal fav is the production, i can do that very well.
i will say the most science ive ever gotten was with cottages it was around 5000 beakers/turn but some of my specialists have gotten over 4000/turn but with more gold/turn and a much higher production. with my current game i did a combo but focused more on farmland but i do have some cottages too but 20 out of my 50 cities crank out around or more than 100 hammers/turn, i can build armies fast using the specialists way.
just do both and discover what "you" specialize in, it could be a combo of both or just one, play and figure it out, goodluck.