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Arrian
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Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001
time: 00:21
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I prefer an early to mid-medieval GA. Japan and China both have useful medieval UU's. Egypt is a good one if you don't mind deliberately avoiding the Pyramids. Egypt's UU can either be used for a war of conquest driven by a GA, or held until later to pick off a wounded unit. Religious/Industrious wonder combos: colossus/hanging gardens, colossus/great wall (though I can't imagine wasting the shields on the GW), HG/Sistine, HG/Bach... or, for a late-game explosion, how about triggering a GA by completing Hoover? Heh.
Some people like the GA early, some like it late. Early can set you up for the rest of the game. Late can put you over the top. Depending on the civ, map conditions, and difficulty level, I think the best GA timing is between the late ancient and late medieval age.
-Arrian
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DeepO
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supporting Candle'Bre
Jan 2002
time: 06:21
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Well, all depends on the situation of a particular game, of course. But before we mix things up: on Emperor and above it is close to impossible to build the Pyramids, which means that the Colossus will not trigger the American GA. Further, it is the only wonder that you have a decent shot at, therefore becomes much more important as in the lower levels.
The great library also gives a lot of culture, and is of course better what the effect is concerned, but this too is impossible to build (without a GL). Which makes the Colossus the only wonder that can provide you with extra science, making it very strong. And you can use the extra cash as well 
Good cities to build the Colossus: well, any city close to you capital with a river is perfect. Cities with a few bonus food resources and loads of sea are also nice, you need much commerce, nothing else. If you start in the middle of a continent without rivers, forget about it.
DeepO
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Cort Haus
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London
Apr 2002
time: 05:21
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It's possible to win without even having a GA, and all eras have their possibilities, but I'd vote for the Middle Ages as optimum time for one -under monarchy or republic with all those desirable wonders around, but some civ/single wonder combinations trigger it early. Eg Pyramids for the Egyptians, Lighthouse for the English.
So this means a despotism GA for the English when playing an archipelago Lighthouse strategy but the decisive power of the Lighthouse if exploited (land, resources, contact and *trade* across sea) outweighs the shortcomings of the despot GA. (btw - Commercial's boost is noticable on my latest game and Liz's starting techs make the English OK for this strat  )
I've had late GA's with Egypt and the Hoover Dam which were fun, but I think by then it's the gold & science which give the most benefit, rather than the shields.
The one I'd like to try with Egypt is building Pyramids while beelining for monarchy. Get monarchy before the Pyramids are built and  you're in business.
Another thing about Egypt - not only can you save some WC to trigger a GA far beyond the unit's usual shelf-life, but I swear that in one game I could still build WC even after cavalry, as long as I'd not yet had the GA.
Finally - about the Great Wall. 
I've always assumed it to have no real practical value other than GA-triggering, but after long ago seeing the Lighthouse get laughed out of town, I decided to try and base a strat around it and it worked. I'm tempted to take up the same challenge with the GW  .
Maybe rampaging barbs on a large pangea with about four civs could be a starting point ...
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DeepO
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supporting Candle'Bre
Jan 2002
time: 06:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Cort Haus
Another thing about Egypt - not only can you save some WC to trigger a GA far beyond the unit's usual shelf-life, but I swear that in one game I could still build WC even after cavalry, as long as I'd not yet had the GA. |
This is always true, starting from 1.21f I believe. If you didn't had a GA yet, your UU will stay available. When you trigger it, the UU will vanish if there is a upgrade available (e.g. longbowman instead of bowman).
and Neostar, I definately do not want to scare people away from Emperor, but there you have to make choices... one of which is that if you go for a relatively peaceful game, you can't have all the wonders, especially not the early ones. I did build all middle age and later wonders except Sun Tzu (missed by a few turns) once, and one of the strats to get that was a perfectly timed GA, and Colossus... it lets you out research the AIs in the early medieval era, instead of the late one.
DeepO
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Jethro83
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Newcastle, Australia
Mar 2002
time: 15:21
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I have no single universal favourite time for a golden age. It depends on the civ I'm using.
For example, if I'm using the Aztecs, Persians, Iroquois or anyone else who has an early UU, I would be using the golden age to crank out more of those Immortals, Jag. Warriors, Mounted Warriors, etc. and do a clean sweep of the whole continent. True that you don't have that many cities, and too strong an infrastructure at that point, but that hardly matters when you're the last one standing on your continent, and you've got enough forces so that you're not stretched too thin when your settlers fill the gaps.
If I'm using the Chinese, Japanese or anyone else with a middle ages UU, I can either choose to crank out more and more of this unit, or divert to wonder and infrastructure building, or both.
An Industrial/modern UU golden age, given by units such as the German Panzer and American F-15 are also well-timed. While production is already high enough at this point to be cranking out a tank every 2-5 turns in your high production cities, being able to crank out one every 1 turn is even better. A late industrial to moder golden age to me similar in many ways to mobilization, without the strict penalties imposed on your construction options.
It is as said above, that you simply need to be able to use what you get, when you get it to full effectiveness though. I at first found it shocking when Leo's Workshop triggered my golden age for my German people when I was preparing myself for a late golden age. However, I managed to obtain the Sistine Chapel and Smith's Trading Co. and catch up with my military after being hopelessly stretched thin in my wars against Russia and America.
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Arrian
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Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001
time: 00:21
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Solver,
I had a game where I was in my golden age and I mobilized... only to find that my output dropped out of GA levels. I admit that I don't recall exactly, but I think the GA had a few turns to go. It seems, based on this one experience, that you can't get the GA and Mobilization benefits at once. Can anyone confirm or deny?
I too think the Colossus is a nice wonder to have. I play on standard maps, and that's definitely part of it. The bigger the map, the less important 1-city wonders are.
I think that it's best to have your GA pre-railroads. Why? Because of the relative boost. A grassland square w/mine has 1 production, or 2 if it's a bonus square. In your GA, this increases to 2 and 3 (a 100%/50% increase, respectively). If those squares were railroaded already, they would produce 2 and 3, and go up to 3 and 4 (a 50% and 33% increase respectively) in a GA. There are more things to build in the Middle Ages, and that extra shield per tile means more. In the Industrial Age, with RR's, an extra 12 shields (or maybe more if you have hospitals already) doesn't necessarily mean much, unless you can get several cities over 100 shields per turn.
-Arrian
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26-07-2002 11:14
That only depends on difficulty level, on the higher levels it is one of the only wonders you can actually build without spending a GL on it. And it can be a very nice wonder: loads of culture, and a money and science city up until the start of the modern age. If built at the right city, the colossus can be huge.
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