How do Scientists work ?

[Theocharis]

Hi Folks,


I´m confused about the fact that I see no change in the science rate when I turn a citizen into scientist...
Is there anything I...well...am doing wrong there?


thx

[Raion]

You lose science by taking a citizen and changing it to a scientist, so with guessing I guess that the minus rate = the plus rate, right now. Depends on city and other factors - some cities have more science to begin with than others - other factors may be the era you are in and buildings you have constructed, so far in a city or cities.

[Laertes]

I have noticed the same thing Theocharis. I checked the manual which says that a scientist adds one beaker to the raw production. This should then be multiplied by libraries etc, but it is not noticeable.

However, very early in the game, with only 4-8 cities, I sometimes emply a scientist at size 5 if I do not have any luxuries. I have noticed the science rate come down, when the extra beaker makes a difference.

[heidlejohn]

Scientists work differently in Civ3 than in Civ2. They contribute just one beaker to the research effort and do NOT use the building multipliers like they did in Civ2. I usually use tax collectors instead of scientists for this reason (they give one gold).

The other problem is that the city display does not tell you the effect of specialists in that city. They are only totaled for the overall science or tax effort.

You are generally better off just keeping the people working hexes rather than making them specialists. For example, you might have excess food cumulating until you build an aquaduct and can expand. Keeping a citizen working a hex will give you a combination of two or more trade or shields, but a scientist or tax collector will only give you one.

The only exception to this would be in very distant cities where corruption is all but impossible to change. After food needs are met and population growth is max, you could use excess citizens as tax collectors to get a few more coins.

[Willem]

Originally posted by heidlejohn

You are generally better off just keeping the people working hexes rather than making them specialists. For example, you might have excess food cumulating until you build an aquaduct and can expand. Keeping a citizen working a hex will give you a combination of two or more trade or shields, but a scientist or tax collector will only give you one.

Or you can go into the editor and change the values so that it makes more sense to have Specialists. They're rather useless by default, unless you have a city with no more land to work. Other than that, there's no point in having them, like you mentioned. They do help in very corrupt cities though, since they're not affected.

I got some interesting results by setting a few negative values as well. My Taxmen have a negative number for Luxuries, so my citizens aren't quite as pleased having them around as they used to be. Plus my Scientists and Entertainers now cost me gold to have around.