Accerated Production was a bad option for single player, used mainly for punishing newbies who didn't build enough cities or infrastructure. But it is almost required for multiplayer, as it cuts the number of turns before the game ends in half.
Unfortunately, many players don't know how to play AP efficiently, resulting in poor competition. Or in the worst case, games WITHOUT AP.
Although AP games have a slightly different balance than slow games, they can be just as strategic and fun when you know what you are doing. I'll throw out my initial strategy thoughts, please add more.
AP Balance Issues:
1. Workers are just as slow as normal. You need 2 (industrious) or 3 (non-industrious) workers per city. Worker factories are recommended for all but the fastest rushes.
2. Pop rushing is just as fast as normal. This brings back memories of the unpatched civ3 release with 40-shield pop rushes. This gives a powerful short-term ability to rush any ancient age unit in 2 turns (even gallic swordmen in a 5-shield city). But the 20-turn penalty is twice as painful too.
3. As mentioned in #2, all fixed-turn effects are twice as powerful. Anarchy for non-religious civs, golden age, unhappiness for rushing and drafting.
4. Unit movement is just as slow as normal. This is the least noticeable change, but it gives the defender a slight advantage.
The first three issues can be corrected by modding the rules. It would be nice if Firaxis could change them in a later patch. (Does anyone know how to get their attention?) The fourth is not very big, and any change in movement rates would unbalance cultural borders in combat. And a defender advantage is a good thing, IMO.
AP Micromanagement:
The smaller storage boxes create more lost food and shields when a project is completed.
lost food/shields ratio = ( i - c%i ) / ( c + c%i)
i = shields per turn
c = production cost
% = remainder of division
This is a chart of the loss, by income and cost. The '5' and '10' columns are especially important because they are the food box with and without a granary.
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Code:
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5 10 15 20 30
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
1 | - - - - -
2 | 17% - 6% - -
3 | 17% 17% - 5% -
4 | 38% 17% 6% - 6%
5 | - - - - -
6 | 17% 17% 17% 17% -
7 | 29% 29% 29% 5% 14%
8 | 38% 38% 6% 17% 6%
9 | 44% 44% 17% 26% 17%
10 | 50% - 25% - - |
So incomes of 4, 7, 8, 9 should be avoided for low-cost projects.
Here is an AP settler factory.
