Universities a Waste of Time?

[C Chulainn]

It seems to me that perhaps building universities until very late in the game when you have huge cities is a wrong decision - although they increase knowledge, a few universities in your larger cities will cost so much they will force you to adjust down your Science in favour of Taxation, thus negating the benefit they bring in the first place...

[Didymus]

The cost:benefit tradeoff for universities seems pretty good for city size > 10.
They add 4 culture/turn (highest for any improvement ). Presumably your big cities are near you capital/forb. pal., so corruption shouldn't be too bad. And you hopefully will have income from other civs to pay your basic maintenance. If not, you're likely behind in tech, or else you have squat luxuries. You do have roads everywhere? Try playing the Persians: industrous/scientific is a great combo.

Even when I'm not ahead in tech, I gain the benefits of a tech lead by researching different techs. In the middle ages, I beeline for Economics. This gives me techs that the other civs rarely have, so I can trade with several civs to jockey my way into the lead, and/or gain enough income that I can push my slider to 70-80% tech and still gain money every turn. (On Monarch)

Once you hit the modern era, techs are worth a LOT more than money -- unless you have disabled the spaceship victory. So the tech lead is crucial to the late game.

[Skeletal Dragon]

Universities are also critical in maintaining a tech lead in the game as well. (Tech lead usually equals game win ) I usually rush for Education in middle ages so I can get the University quickly, and the difference between research w/o universities and research w/ universities is quite a big difference (11 turns to 5-6 turns is quite a bit!). The same applies with research labs in the Modern era; Computers -should- be the first thing you research. Otherwise, each tech is going to take about 7+ turns.

And the Culture isn't bad either... everyone loves culture, right?

[HalfLotus]

I'd build em for the culture alone.

[Arrian]

They boost science and culture. I build them asap. Now, if I have a city that is size 3 and will be for some time, it builds some other stuff, and gets its university later, when it can grow a bit. Unless you are running a gov't other than republic or democracy, I can't imagine even considering not building them.

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

I put them in cities that are not corrupted too badly. If they have +7 or so I usually build. If they are +1 I only put in temple (barrack if no Sun).