help me (balancing my science and tax rate)

[ProvostB]

i have this problem in civ2 while playing MP. i go republic and i don't get enough money or not enough research. sometimes too much of one or the other. so i'd like someone to help me with my problem: balancing my science and tax rate so i get a good amount of money and research. any help would be apppreciated.

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[Smash]

hehe..you qualify..now back to OT with ya

Adjust tax rate accordingly

[Graag]

In republic I generally only use 2 settings:

Max Sci (but with lux to ensure everybody happy)

WLTCD Lux (but with Sci as much as it can be)

I've never had problems with money, it just sort of accumulates. And getting a tech every 4 turns over every 3 just for 10/20 more gold per turn seems silly.
The only situation I try to build up gold is if I have cities vulnerable to bribing.

Graag

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You should never smoke in pyjamas, you could start a fire and burn your face

[ProvostB]

yes, but my money goes negative, so i lose money each turn

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OFFICAL APOLYTON UBB CODE BUG
PROT VICE ADMINSTRATOR
ICQ: 57697251
provost_bug@hotmail.com
"I have the leadership abilities of a small cantaloupe."
-Stefu
it is against the laws of nature for an administrator to spam.
-MarkG

[Graag]

Ahh I see. I usually dont even worry about negative money, you should be getting extra money from either caravans or barb leaders. The loss of a couple hundred gold from your reserves is no biggie if it lets you get to democracy, phil, monotheism or whatever other important research goal you want. IMHO, science proggression is much more important than a negative balance.

Graag

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You should never smoke in pyjamas, you could start a fire and burn your face

[Ming]

First, make sure you have been setting up an economy. Get those caravans going faster. Trade routes are the key to surviving in Democracy or Republic... and you should be building marketplaces and other economic improvements...

Also, if you are running low on money, make sure your city workers are more focused on trade squares vs production...

Once in Republic or Democracy, I tend to focus more on science and then happiness.
The only time I may jack up my taxes is if I know I need some extra money for a specific task in the near future, like buying a wonder or bribing

[War4ever]

YOu may be trying to build too many improvements as welll..... like ming said.... focus on trade squares to make it worthwhile for that library and marketplace.... no point deleting your treasurey of 2g+ each turn if they have a small benefit or none at all..... i like 6 beakers before i build a library and 4 coins before i build a market...... and remember its all about establishing a bunch of cities with your core.....being upgraded by improvements and the outer rim defending your empire...... or something like that

[DaveV]

The answer, as always, is ICS (Infinite City Sleaze). Build lots of cities with *no* improvements. You can crank science to the max and still have a decent cash flow, because you have no expenses. This aspect of ICS is rarely discussed, but is one of its greatest strengths.

[Campo]

quote: Originally posted by War4ever on 02-19-2000 11:10 AM YOu may be trying to build too many improvements as well...

This can make a big difference. I used to start building improvements too early, sometimes when my cities were size one or two. I'd build temples to prevent unhappiness, courthouses to prevent corruption, etc. -- well before they were necessary. The preventive effect was nice, but it's not worth the impact on the treasury. In my early game I'd have an income of, for example, 15 and expenses of 12. I was always nearly broke. Now I hold off until the cities grow and I've built caravans. Typically with an income of 15 my expenses are maybe 2. That accumulates enough money for bribery and/or rush-buying. So keep an eye on city size and don't build too soon.

[tobyr]

In addition to being careful about building improvements too early, take a hard look at what you need to build at all:

- temples are a must, so you can grow a little and put all your cits to work.

- as soon as a city makes two beakers, I think you want a library.

- as soon as a city makes two tax, you can afford a marketplace (but it will only make a profit when you get to four tax).

- make a city wall (no charge).

All other improvements may be unnecessary for a long time.

--toby

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toby robison
criticalpaths@mindspring.com

[N35t0r]

I usually only build improvements if the city can pay for them with it's own taxes (monarchy 30%-20%) unless it really needs that improvement; e.g. harbor if there is little alternative or factory(which i try to postpone due to pollution) with very low production.

i usually get the specialists to do taxes as under democracy i get about 2 or 3 turns advances without the scientists.

you also have to expand like hell early (1 defense, sett., defense, sett, others...) so that two or three gold surplus in each city really gets me something.

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[SandMonkey]

I actually find it to be a waste of money and shields to build factories in cities with low production. The factory just doesn
t make enough of a difference with a city that startes with production below 8-10. Going from 4 to 6 shirlds for a cost of 4 gold a turn just doesn
t cut it for me.

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SandMonkey

"Shut up brain or I'll stab you with a qtip"
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"It's just a flesh wound!"
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[Sparrowhawk]

This is somewhat off-topic and I apologize for that but some of you have alluded to this above.

What do you do when you don't want to build anything that you can yet? i.e. You don't have enough science to warrant building a library yet or enough coins for a bank etc. and your city would have to support additional units if they were built so you don't want to build units.

[Caesar the Great]

First of all, if you're having problems with happiness, build happiness wonders, IE Hanging Gardens, Michs (very important) and Bachs. Also instead of lots of barracks build Sun Tzus... just like that... also build Adam Smiths, and build everything that costs one! Hoover Dam is also great, and one can't forget about Leos... I will usually ignore Republic (mainly becaus I like to combine ICS with my warmonger tendecies ) Republic can really screw you up a lot, make sure you don't have too many units and enough happiness... and remember have fun, and don't worry about being whipped early on... and BTW civ 2 takes much longer to get good than AOK... but they take the same amount of time to master... so good luck.

[MasterBob]

Well, Always put science Max, money's not a biggie. Adams smith's trading Co. is a must! But you'll get the hang of it, I'm just trying to break the warlord record on apolyton, I think I can manage it.

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MasterBob,
Master of all Bobs,
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