improvements strategy

[omnibus]

I was thinking which is the optimum strategy for acquisition of city improvements. For example to maximize science in the civilization (with minimum cost) is it better to:

a) Acquire the cheapest one or two improvements (academy) in every single city, or

b) To specialize some cities for science, acquire all available science improvements in them and do not car about science in other cities.

Considering the improvements are said to have cummulative effect, I would say b) is correct. But who knows; some later improvements are really expensive (computer center etc.) and have the same effect as the cheap ones (+50% science).

[PatRussell]

I'm no expert but I usually follow plan B...specialized cities. This requires some adjustments as the game goes on and I have found that early on it may cause problems with gold production.

Probably the best way I have found is to play around with your cities gold & science settings to see which combination gives the greatest overall benefit.

[Dictatress]

I suggest you don't listen to my economic plans too much, because I specialize in the military aspect of the game. I usually build academies and universities in all my cities as time permits. Then I pick the city that will produce the most maximized science, and build Galileo's Telescope there. That city will provide more than 400 science when maximized. I find it enough most of the time.