Incremental Caravan buying VS Science rate?

[Drago Sinio]

I wanted to hear some opinions on the merits of building marketplaces, banks, stock exchanges instead of library, university. And setting the tax rate high to generate high income. The caravans would be sent to other civs for the trade, science, cash bonus .

If you did that and then inc. rush built caravans with the cash, would that generate more , or fewer, science beakers than setting a high science rate and concentrating on libraries and universities?

Opinions or experience, anyone?

[geofelt]

I usually only build library, etc in my science city. I spend the effort on expanding and building more cities. Early caravans don't yield much continuing trade, so I only send them from the science city. Later, under democracy, I fill out the trade routes. Early on, experiment with a higher luxury rate if you have hanging gardens. A We-love-the-leader city will produce republic level trade.

[Matthew]

I almost always prioritize market places and banks over libraries and universities. Simple reasoning:

1. a market place can help keep people happy with a lower luxury rate, allowing you to increase science anyway.

2. With a market playce you can generate the same income with a lower tax rate, again giving you the option to raise science by lowering taxes.

3. A market place will allow you to celebrate to larger sizes, meaning more trade that can go into science, and more shields to build caravans (which can definitely out produce libraries and universities in science, not to mention cash), and other things, like the library I might now think about.

In short, unless I need a quick infusion of science, or have a city or two that could really take advantage of a library, I generally give science improvements a pretty low priority. An SSC is a big exception, of course.

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[Blaupanzer]

Pretty sure neither strategy will beat Xin Yu's size 5 strategy diverting citizens to scientists en masse. Personally, I favor market places and harbors over libraries, at least until I can buils Adam Smith's. If I get that, then I build any remaining 1 gold maintenance improvements.