The free great person from the liberty tree

[BiggleJuice]

Is there any reason not to choose great scientist every time?

[Damsteri]

That would usually be a good choice, but.. Some people take Great Engineer for a wonder they want that might be worth it (and have some requirements. like Petra or Machu Picchu). Or maybe use it for a Great Prophet.

I have also used it for a very strange purpose, getting early culture victory on continents map when using Sacred Sites. I have got a Great Admiral and used it to meet the civs on the other continent long before any civ would have got Astronomy (as Great Admiral can cross ocean).

[zxcvbob]

Great Scientist is always a good choice. But sometimes I take an engineer or prophet instead. If you've been founding new cities like crazy in the early game, sometimes using an engineer to rush National College is good (or so I've read, I've never done that.) I've also done the admiral thing.

Damsteri covered it pretty well. I'm replying mainly to mention GE -> national college strategy. (I've never settled enough new cities yet to go that way. On a huge map, I might)

[Damsteri]

Originally posted by zxcvbob:

Damsteri covered it pretty well. I'm replying mainly to mention GE -> national college strategy. (I've never settled enough new cities yet to go that way. On a huge map, I might)

I forgot that one, nice addition. I have read about that too, but never done it myself.

I like wide strategies, but that strategy requires you building libraries on cities and on wide strategies I'm always spawning new cities and I never have all cities with libraries at the same time (as there are always new cities popping up). Waiting for a GE boosted NC would mean I had to wait newest cities to build libraries, but it takes too much time and I don't build libraries before I get at least pop 4. I rather go without NC in those games.

[Matthew]

If you have a really good start, you can rush Notre Dame and still hit Education at a reasonable time. The Liberty finisher will hit almost exactly when you unlock the tech. Works (with a good start) reliably up to Immortal. Can work on Deity but like most things on Deity there is a slight random factor to it.

Notre Dame allows you to comfortably have 5-6 cities and not hit unhappiness.

Otherwise, ye, I usually go Oracle ~> National College. Get both academy and NC by ~T85 which is a nice science boost.

[vondraco]

I usually go with Great Engineer, and rush the Leaning Tower of Pisa so I can get another free great person (for Me, usually but not always a Great Engineer). IF I get a great engineer, I will head to Banking and rush the Forbidden Palace so as toa have an advantage in the World Congress.

Great Scientists, I usually get one of those early game and build an academy outside My capital. Bubbling great scientists I almost never do before the Industrial Era; I focus on
generating Great Engineers for the wonder-rushes.

That's My base strategy, though I admit it may not be ideal, it works for Me. I do always enjoy reading about what others do.

[kkeday]

Scientist 90% of the time. If my capitol in completely in the jungle & my production is poor, I may take the Engineer for a manufactury. It will clear the jungle and boost long term production, especially if it is on a hill.

[BiggleJuice]

All of these responses are quite interesting. Another question would be are any of the culture great people even considered?

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by JOHNMEE993:

All of these responses are quite interesting. Another question would be are any of the culture great people even considered?

That early in the game cultural people aren't as useful. I've had games where I had artists sitting waiting for me to finish building a wonder or a museum to put their great work in.

[Melkolf]

Playing on marathon I usually pull a GE for wonder building - never the Nat Col, that's a real waste and shows you're not planning properly.

If I'm chasing a Science win I have pulled a GS to improve bee-lining.

The Admiral gets pulled sometimes on the appropriate map if I'm chasing a Dip Vic.

Pulling a culture or religious GP is simply a waste no matter the intended victory.

[Damsteri]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by JOHNMEE993:

All of these responses are quite interesting. Another question would be are any of the culture great people even considered?

That early in the game cultural people aren't as useful. I've had games where I had artists sitting waiting for me to finish building a wonder or a museum to put their great work in.

I have used that for a cultural great person in some few cases when multiple city states have asked one that haven't been available yet. But definitely not useful in most cases.

[kkeday]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by JOHNMEE993:

All of these responses are quite interesting. Another question would be are any of the culture great people even considered?

That early in the game cultural people aren't as useful. I've had games where I had artists sitting waiting for me to finish building a wonder or a museum to put their great work in.

If I do not have a slot for a Great Artist I take the Golden Age. I am usually at the unit limit and do not want the production & gold penalty of keeping it around. Archaeologists will eventually be able to fill the slots that are created.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Melkolf:

Pulling a culture or religious GP is simply a waste no matter the intended victory.

Taking a Great Prophet works if you are playing as Byzantium for that extra religious perk. I have on occasion taken the Engineer and used it to build the Hagia Sophia when playing as Byzantium. Kind of a two for one great person deal in that case. I wouldn't do that with any other civ though. The AI seems to do it frequently with any civ.

Originally posted by kkeday:

If I do not have a slot for a Great Artist I take the Golden Age. I am usually at the unit limit and do not want the production & gold penalty of keeping it around. Archaeologists will eventually be able to fill the slots that are created.

Museums are late game buildings. I don't leave an artist laying around but If I get one while I'm finishing a museum I'll hold him until its done. I have had the occasional game where I had an artist appear at the same time I finished a dig for an artifact and I had only one slot available. The first time that happened to me I used the artist without realizing it and lost the artifact because you can't delay it once the dig finishes.

[kkeday]

Museums are late game buildings. I don't leave an artist laying around but If I get one while I'm finishing a museum I'll hold him until its done. I have had the occasional game where I had an artist appear at the same time I finished a dig for an artifact and I had only one slot available. The first time that happened to me I used the artist without realizing it and lost the artifact because you can't delay it once the dig finishes. [/quote]

Good Point. Then you have to hope you have enough cash to buy another museum or other artifact structure. I have had to un-puppet a city in order to build a museum, & spend a whole lot of cash if I have to build all the culture structures to get there. If you finished the exploration tree you can sometimes get a culture bomb out of the artifact, but that is very late in the game.

[Bfloo]

It depends on what I need at the time. I tend to lean towards the engineer to snag a wonder or the prophet to rush a religion for the extra bonuses.