[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Whosit]

With no tech trading, you will have to do your own research eventually. I would probably go with the better long-term play of the Academy.

Definitely something I thought of, myself. I'm just worried that falling behind in the short-term will ruin me long-term, anyway. I'm also hoping that the Parthenon (and somehow getting the Great Library) will make up for this "waste" of the GS, but I have a day to sleep on it.

Whatever it does, it'll do it in Imperial Center, so I've sent it to the city.

Also: Convert to Confucianism! Yay one turn of Anarchy!

[Selrahc]

What difference will 2 beakers per turn make? How short term will it be until the economy picks up?

If you're throwing away long term gain in order to gain maybe 50 beakers in the short term that looks like a bad deal to me.

[Whosit]

What difference will 2 beakers per turn make? How short term will it be until the economy picks up?

If you're throwing away long term gain in order to gain maybe 50 beakers in the short term that looks like a bad deal to me.

I'm going to try and figure out the answer to that question. Though it will become more than a 2 beaker difference when I have to cut science funding entirely. I should have taken a screen shot of my financial page before I started the revolution. Currency could really improve things, and it's not too far away, so I'll try to figure out how much that will be worth.

As far as the immediate benefit, in terms of cities, that would be +16 gpt from the bonus trade route (I expect to have 8 cities by the time I get Currency).

Forums will help. I thought I wrote down a list of the most important cities to get them in, but I seem to have misplaced it. Well, won't be hard to recreate it.

As a very rough estimate, +20 gpt at 0% science with Forums. I don't think I'll get above 30% science any time soon, but it's hard to say. I'll look at my finances next turn and try to extrapolate.

Long-term, yes, Academy is stronger. I just need to figure out how long it will take for "long-term" to come.

[novice]

I think you would gain a lot from getting currency and code of laws sooner rather than later. So settling the GS may be worth it.

[Whosit]

I think you would gain a lot from getting currency and code of laws sooner rather than later. So settling the GS may be worth it.

I agree with the first part, though I'm not sure I understand the logic of the second. Currency and CoL would allow me to increase the science slider (by how much, I am not sure), so the Academy would be worth more in that situation. Ah, or do you mean: Settle now, so you can get these techs faster? In that case, yes, also thinking about that!

I'm still leaning towards settling for just that reason. Next GS can build an Academy, and it will multiply the settled one, so not an absolute waste, probably (well, except that I could have had 2 Academies, but I still am thinking that making sure I can get these critical techs in the short-term is important for long-term survival).

Anyway, Math > Currency. Then, depending how I'm doing, Priesthood > CoL. Why Priesthood? It's fairly cheap, let's me build temples for more happy (since I don't think I'll be getting Monarchy quite yet), and it provides a discount to CoL. Hmm, maybe Poly > Priesthood > CoL, since I want Polytheism for Literature, anyway.

[Jabah]

Will you be able also to have 2 scientists (from your regular library) in the Academy city (most of the time). In that case Academy will be better than settling at 20%

Also I don't know what the GS will bulb after math (& alpha) but it probably is not worth waiting.

If some one has currency, you could also try to 'sell' it

[Whosit]

Will you be able also to have 2 scientists (from your regular library) in the Academy city (most of the time). In that case Academy will be better than settling at 20%

I, um, hmm . . . *checks scribbled notes and calculations he spent an hour on* I, uh, may have forgotten that.

Imperial Center will continue to run 2 Scientists for the foreseeable future. Its income is currently 24 (26 w/ Currency), maybe more if I start some cottages. Those would be better long-term than continuing to work the lakes.

So 10% = 2.4.
20% = 4.8 + 2 Scientists (6) = 10.8

Settled G. Scientist + Library = 7.5 beakers.

Academy * 10.8 = 5.4 beakers.

Hm, no, that's still not as much. Imperial Center would need to generate 15 natural beakers before the Academy equaled a Settled G. Scientist (15 * .5 = 7.5). Subtract 6 from running scientists and that means 9 natural beakers. At the moment, that means running science at 40% percent. 50% to exceed Settling. So a little better than my original calculation, but not that far off.

Anyway, I think I am going to settle 'im. I think my calculations are still valid enough. Note: Settling is worth the beakers + how much they get multiplied; the Academy is worth only how much it multiplies. That is, the Academy does not contribute base beakers of its own.

My costs are going to go up in the near future when I settled a new city. Cost will go down, too, once I gift my Praetorians to Jowy (I am going to capture a small Barbarian town for him, so I'll probably get a little bit of cash, as well). Not sure how that's going to balance out yet, so I may have to recalculate.

In any case, to save you the theoretical number-crunching, the Academy probably won't start paying off until I have Currency and Code of Laws and have Forums and Courthouses in (nearly) every city.

I expect to save about 14 gpt by getting the Praets off my hands ( for my power rating). I expect to take on about 9-10 gpt in costs by settling Bestine. So a slight gain on my part, but not enough to bump my slider up. I'll be taking on more costs when I settle Alzoc III (which might be delayed because I'm in talks with Nakor about giving him 2 Praets for a Settler--basically, I have to wait for his Settler to get to me, but I can build 2 more Praets instead of my own settler, so I get to help him out), which may require me to drop the slider. I will continue to build troops, as well, so those costs will start going up again.

So even with this more optimistic approach, I think that it will still take a significant amount of time before the Academy really starts to benefit me. Yeah, it was brought up that it's basically a difference of a few beakers right now, but I'm counting every coin. Because I anticipate having to live off of specialists for the near future . . . well.

I'll try to get some solid numbers soon (my calculations were based off what I could recall), but I think the best short-term solution is settling. And I'm going for the short-term solution because, otherwise, I may not tech fast enough for the long-term solution to matter!

However, if I live to see that rosey day with Forums and Courthouses everywhere, things start looking much nicer! I will probably be breaking 100 beakers per turn, easily. I can also afford to expand further. Nakor is going to settle on Centralia before me, which is irksome, but perhaps I'll squeeze out another Settler of my own to travel to the Silver site. I'd have to prepare, though. I'd need: Setter + 2 Workers + 2 Praetorians for defense. All those units will have to be built from scratch, so that's a bit of a problem (all current Workers needed for mainland duties).

Anyway, G.S. #2 will do an Academy for certain. I just don't think that my economy is strong enough now to go without immediate beaker infusion. (Though the arguments for the Academy are certainly compelling.)

[T-hawk]

Academy * 10.8 = 5.4 beakers.

5.4 beakers is exactly what you said the first time, so no, you did not forget the scientists.

Anyway, G.S. #2 will do an Academy for certain.

With that, then settling is correct now. For the first two GSes, the right moves are to settle and academy, in either order. And settling will produce more in the interim, including the hammer.

[Whosit]

Here's what went down.

I captured this Barbarian backwater. Got a small amount of cash, but it might be enough to work with for a few turns. Haven't had a chance to fiddle with the slider yet. I automatically gifted it to Jowy.



I forgot to see if he keeps my free Monument.

Then came time to say goodbye to my loyal troops. Honestly, it was hard. Here's some stats before I gave my Praetorians to Jowy:





And afterwards:





The good news is, it all balanced out when I settled Bestine:



So I can keep the slider at 20%, for now. Byss and Imperial Center grow next turn, so that will be nice.

Exploring Incan territory. I want to try and keep track of what units I find. They had a few Axemen and Chariots further south, but this city isn't well defended:



I seem to recall that their capital was light on defense, as well.

The esteemed Galleo takes up residence in a special wing of the Imperial Library:



Imperial Center will generate another Great Scientist in a mere 20 turns. It was just a few points behind Carida, so it wasn't reset.

I finally establish solid trade routes with Jowy. And spy more Korean expansion.



I may be able to fiddle with some things and cut another turn off of Math, so I'll see about that. I think that I'm starting to head in the right direction, but we'll see.

If I went after the Inca, what would the best way be? Ideally, I'd like two divisions: 8 Praetorians to sail up the coast and harass their northern cities. Meanwhile, another group goes after their southern cities. I am starting to believe that they only have enough troops to defend some of their cities. A two front war would be disastrous for them.

[Cyneheard]

A very nice turn. Lots of good things afoot.

It looks like you've got plenty of gold to run 30% science and finish Math sooner, at least.