later golden age --- WOW!!!

[Arrian]

Way to go, lateralis!

As for triggering a GA via captured wonders, here is how I think it works:

Let's take the Aztec example (mil/rel). If I build the colossus (rel) and capture the great wall (mil), nothing happens. If I capture the gw and THEN build the colossus, I get a Golden Age.

Further, if I have mil/rel wonders in my possession and build any other wonder, I get a GA.

Seems like a bug alright, and I'm not so sure it's "minor" because I am pretty picky about my golden ages. As lateralis has discovered, one's golden age can make (or break) a game.

-Arrian

[Moonsinger]

May I ask one quick question? How many Golden Age are we allowed to have per game? My guess is no more than 1 but I need confirmation. Thanks!

[Demerzel]

yus there can only be one

[Skeeve]

Speaking of Golden Ages ... Is there a way to increase the number of turns it will last?

I think I recall seeing something of that nature in the editor.

I once triggered a Golden Age in the late industrial to early modern age. Very amazing. Techs coming in every 4 turns, everyone happy... and I mean everyone! not a single unhappy citizen! And still raking in the dough!

Very cool... but I was already winning, so it didn't matter in terms of strategy for me.

- Skeeve

[vmxa1]

I seem to recall that the unpatched game, there were reports of a second GA. After the first patch no reports.

[Wormwood]

Originally posted by Skeeve
Speaking of Golden Ages ... Is there a way to increase the number of turns it will last?

I think I recall seeing something of that nature in the editor.

I once triggered a Golden Age in the late industrial to early modern age. Very amazing. Techs coming in every 4 turns, everyone happy... and I mean everyone! not a single unhappy citizen! And still raking in the dough!

Very cool... but I was already winning, so it didn't matter in terms of strategy for me.

- Skeeve

Yes you can increase it in the general settings section, but remember, the AI gets golden ages just as you do.

[Jethro83]

I find golden ages to be useful after switching to monarchy or republic, during the middle ages, or after Motorized transportation. Any earlier, and there aren't enough cities to gain full benefit (as well as being in a corrupt, primitive government). Any later, and the game is pretty much decided anyway.

My best GAs were as Rome (Used my legions in battle after switching to Monarchy. Beat the AI to Leo's Workshop and Sistine Chapel on the same turn), Chinese (Used riders. Used the GA to crank out more and more riders until I was last man standing) and the Germans (the panzers turned me from a civ in the mediocrity to the most powerful civ in the game).

I once got an F-15 Golden age, but it wasn't any use to me, since I was already the superpower and at least 2 techs ahead of the opposition (Who were all communist and at war with each other. I was democracy, at peace with all but one civ).

But even then, knowing how to use the golden age to full effect is the most important thing.

[Bamspeedy]

Golden Ages in the ancient era isn't too bad (IF you are not in despotism). If you are in despot, you lose alot of the golden age's potential, because the tile penalty erases it. You won't see any benefit of shields on your mined bonus grassland, and commerce for roads by a river. Because they produce 2, golden age brings this to 3, but the tile penalty drops it back to 2.

So I always try to avoid my golden age until after I am at least in Monarchy or Republic.

[JohnM2433]

I'm going to guess that an early Golden Age is generally better than a late one. Why?

Well, the bonus you get in the early game allows you to build things that increase your production, which allows you to build more things that increase it even more, etc. By the time you reach the modern era, you'll probably already be past the point that a late Golden Age would have taken you to. The late GA only seems so impressive because the increase comes suddenly, all at once.

To illustrate the importance of the early game, consider how the game would procede if you started out with two settlers and two workers instead of only one of each. In theory, you would expand out at twice the normal rate, and produce twice as much commerce, units, cities, etc. In practice, corruption/waste and space limits would probably cause your total productivity to less than double in the long run, but I think you can see how effective a small early bonus can be. Generally, if something increases your productivity by a fixed percentage, the earlier it is, the better, because what you have is multiplied as the game progresses. This is what we call "the miracle of compound interest".

Very early GAs are bad for two reasons:
1. Despotism often severely limits the bonuses to the point where they are near nonexistent.
2. If you are focusing on building settlers, the GA will likely not be very helpful in this, as the limiting factor is usually population growth, not production. Perhaps one could offset this to a degree by using the extra production to build granaries.

The importance of the early game is why the Expansionist trait is better than some people might realize. It does basically get "used up" as the world becomes populated, and will probably become useless by the middle Middle Ages. But the edge it gives you in the beginning will pay dividends for the rest of the game. (The usefullness of Expansionist also depends on map size, land mass, and number of civs.)

[Barchan]

I'd say that the early GA is more subtle than the later one, but each can be equally useful if you've A) planned for it and B) know how to exploit it.

If you can hold off a GA until after industrialization (particularly as the Germans...) and and you've got big cities with factories all over the place, oh boy, is it something to behold. Your production is almost incomprehensible; even your little toad cities are running like champs, and your big hitters are churning out tanks each and every turn. If you've been planning for such a GA, you can overrun the world practically overnight.

Of course, if you'd had an earlier GA, you might have already overrun the world 1000 years earlier. But, IMHO, the earlier GA is tougher to time and exploit because your margin for error is a lot smaller. It's easy to not bungle a late GA because you can pretty much build anything you want several times over, but you've got to focus that little boost of an early GA to get the maximum potential from it. Usually, that means cranking out the troops and rolling over your neighbors as quickly as possible, but it might also mean building as many cultural buildings (or granaries, or courthouses, or whatever) as fast as you can. But the chances of being able to do both in an early GA are a lot smaller than for a later GA, so careful planning and execution are much more key.

Personally, I prefer the later GA because it's more spectacular to behold and it makes it really fun to whomp the other civs. I've also had great success on other occasions with early GAs, but the later ones are much more fun.

[Lucarse]

I tend to trigger GA's by accident how are threy brought about, its a UU winning a battle or building certain wonders.

I nromally play the greeks so my hopilites usually trigger the GA and its at a time when its alomost useless.

[Chemical Ollie]

In one of my recent games I had a late GA with railroads, factories, Hoover AND mobilization on Marla Singers Earth map. Too bad I missed to make a screenshot of the capital production, but I guess you can imagine the looks of it.

[fittstim]

I once had a GA fairly early on. I was playing Germany on a huge map and got stuck alone on a large island. I completed a GW to trigger it (oops).

The problem was that I hadn't met any other civs and I didn't have any city improvements left to build. Didn't have map making and had already explored the entire island. Talk about a wasted GA.

[Traelin]

Hrm I'm playing as the Americans this game and haven't had a GA yet. I'm curious to see how my GA will affect me once I actually use the F-15 to trigger it. It shouldn't be too long, since I'm setting my sights toward the Indians to the N.

[vmxa1]

True a late is a powerhouse, but you can win or lose with an early one. You do not need a late one, it is just icing on the cake. If I am making tanks the game is over, the GA just makes it fun. At the higher levels the early GA can turn the tide.