later golden age --- WOW!!!

[lateralis]

so my most recent game i'm playing as the eqyptians on regent (this looks to be my first regent win but I'm not there yet. ) So usually, I play as persia and trigger my golden age pretty early. however this game, I didn't bother building any war chariots maily because I was surrounded by a lot of jungle and mountains making a wheeled unit kinda worthless. anyhow, I was playing mostly as warmonger and managed to destroy germany, rome and france and was coming up on early industrial ages when I started building JS bach's. at this point I must be like two or three techs behind I'm guessing when boom, right after steam and halfway through industrialization, I get a reigious golden age and OH MY JUMPIN JESUS!!!!

I used it to put factories in every one of my bigger cities, AND put libraries AND universities almost everywhere (which i had neve bothered to biuld scince I was too busy building cheap temples/cathedrals with my religious bonus), plus research medicine, sanitation (thus building hospitols everywhere they were needed) scientific method (thereby beating everyone to ToE) hence getting two extra techs which helped build me towards tanks while researching at 4 turns/tech to electronics and beating everyone to hoover dam, which (once I hit motorized transport post golden age) allowed me to build a HUGE amount of tanks to teach those annoying greeks a lesson. once I'm done with them, it's over to the other continent (where india stands alone after destroying japan) to wreek havoc on the leader in score who is now firmly 4 or 5 techs behind me.

the later game golden age is the single coolest thing in the history of the world. hands down. sorry if everyone already knows this, it was my first GA after ancient times and I got a little carried away. ok that's all

lateralis

[Knightblade pDM]

Lateralis,

The late Golden Ages definitely do come in handy, especially if you're drowning in war or want to get a lead in tech and mass units, in your case, tanks. It can be a huge help in the development in your civ.

Good job!!!

[Thrawn05]

I always get my Golden ages in the anchient era not because of a UU victory but because of building wonders.

I should change this.

[Demerzel]

as I'm playing emperor, for me an ancient age GA is far more important, i can use it to bring my forces up to a sufficient standard to conquer/deal serious damage to a few rivals thus gaining important territory & sometimes techs in any peace settlements.

this sets me up to be a very solid position by the middle ages and by the start/(or very latest)middle of the industrial age I expect to be leading the tech race anyway. at which we can say cavalry & tank charges are very much the order of the day in my aim to subjugate the remaining few civs who resist my enlightened leadership.

[Wormwood]

I like my GA's right after republic, since when I switch to it I often do not have enough infrastructure to suport it well, and I use the GA as a time to build tons of city improvements, so that when it's over I have a viable economy, and I can focus now on any war I need to get in to.

[vmxa1]

I have not measured it, but you can make a case for either. Late is going to give you more, but earlier can spell the difference in winning or losing.

[Theseus]

I'm with vxma1, I can make a case for either.

In general though, I'll take a GA either after the first change to Monarchy or Republic, or upon researching Motor Trans.

Big enough to get a real boost, and timed for maximum effect.

[Arrian]

I like the late ancient/early medieval period for my golden age. As long as it's not despotic, it's all good.

A funny thing happened last night, though. I was play as the Aztecs and warmongering as usual, without using my jags. I used archers to hit the English and then horse/swords on Russia. I built the Colossus (religious) and captured the Great Wall (militaristic) from Russia. Captured wonders should not trigger a GA. And the GW didn't... at least not right away. 10 turns after capturing the GW, I finished the Great Library (scientific) in Tenochticlan. BOOM, Golden Age! I think CivIII runs a check of Wonders in your possession upon completion of a wonder... and if you have a civ trait match, GA for you. Not that I'm really complaining. The GA was pretty well-timed, I was a Monarchy, and I soon picked a fight with a Mounted Warrior capable Iroquois (if they had built VETERANS they may have done more damage, but waddya gonna do, eh?). All is now proceeding according to plan (knight horde unleashed).

-Arrian

[Hagbart]

The golden age has greater effect when it occurs late in the game because you have more cities.

[Hagbart]

Arrian: I didn't know you could get a GA by capturing a wonder, cool...

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Hagbart
Arrian: I didn't know you could get a GA by capturing a wonder, cool...

No, he didn't trigger the Golden Age by capturing any GW; he got it by finishing the Great Library.

[vulture]

Originally posted by Moonsinger


No, he didn't trigger the Golden Age by capturing any GW; he got it by finishing the Great Library.

But he wouldn't have had a Golden Age triggered then if he hadn't captured the Great Wall. Finshing any wonder seems to cause the program to check through all the wonders you currently own to see if there is a combination that triggers your GA. So capturing the Wall had no effect (as per design) until the Library caused the check to be made, whereupon the Wall counts towards as GA as though he had built it himself. I.e. it is a minor bug, AFAICS.

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by vulture
But he wouldn't have had a Golden Age triggered then if he hadn't captured the Great Wall. Finshing any wonder seems to cause the program to check through all the wonders you currently own to see if there is a combination that triggers your GA. So capturing the Wall had no effect (as per design) until the Library caused the check to be made, whereupon the Wall counts towards as GA as though he had built it himself. I.e. it is a minor bug, AFAICS.

I see. I understand the situation perfectly now. Sorry, it was too early and I wasn't quite awake yet. I agree it must be minor bug then.

[Wormwood]

Originally posted by Hagbart
The golden age has greater effect when it occurs late in the game because you have more cities.

True, it's going to have a greater monetary/production effect, because of all your cities and worked tiles, but earlier in the game, I think it has a more decisive game effect. I need that late ancient/early medieval GA to determine whether or not I will be number one, or playing catch up the rest of the game. Of course, too early is worse, which is why I don't play aggressively with Aztecs in the early part of the game (stupid golden age with only two cities!!!)

[lateralis]

along these discussion lines, one of the main reasons I was so surprised by how useful it was was this: I was NOT in first place at this point. I was a few techs behind india and japan and greece. i was behind india in score by at least 200 and only leading the rest by maybe 20 or 30 points. this late GA built my momentum so much that I am now (after playing another few hours) about 7 techs ahead of india who is now the only one left after destroying greece who was no small empire. I managed to catch up and surpass india in score and I've been building an army with mech inf, and waiting to upgrade to MA before taking them out. I have a surplus of 6500 gold and am getting techs in 5 turns. I'm actually thinking of going different ways from my most recent save, doing space race and then going back and conquering just becasue I can. As i mentinioned in my first post, I've never won on regent before and i'm savoring every second of it!!

all hail the late golden age!!

lateralis