Tax rate

[Ben Kenobi]

We have an abysmal science rate of a tech every 32 turns.

In order to improve our science productivity, we need to lower our science rate and spend cash up front for proper city improvements.

I suggest three options,

The status quo, to maximise current science production.

To maximise tax production

To maximise luxuries.

So vote for your favourite, and explain why we should favour one policy over the other.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Set science to 0, buy libraries in 2 or 3 low-shield high-food cities, grow them to size 5, hire scientists.

[Bob_Smurf42]

Maximum money makes more multi-book-buildings.
Any avenues are awesome additions

BB

[SCG]

"For it is wealth that moves the world and profit that rules it"

With the extra gold, we can get the other 2 - libraries to increase the science rate and marketplaces to spur celebrations. getting republican trade would be a great boost to our cities.

[cavebear]

If we maximize our tax rate to 70%, we only gain 15G per turn and our research rate goes to 118 turns!

Granted, adjusting Workers could improve that somewhat, but the problem is that we have too small a population base to gain much from extreme taxation. I think our best strategy is to increase our population of Workers until basic trade numbers can be leveraged by taxes more effectively.

Maximizing Luxuries doesn't help any, either.

In the meantime, there is gold in the huts we pop, and it is free.

[cavebear]

Originally posted by SCG
"For it is wealth that moves the world and profit that rules it"

Adam Smith, I presume?

With the extra gold, we can get the other 2 - libraries to increase the science rate and marketplaces to spur celebrations. getting republican trade would be a great boost to our cities.

We can't go Republic because of all the units we have. The support costs would cause some to be disbanded and leave most of our ciities at 0 shields.

Libraries, however are good. Our buildlist is currently Temples/Barracks/Libraries and we are getting close to completing the Temples and Barracks. Imperialis, for example, will start a Library in 3 turns from now. We should also keep Marketplaces in mind for a few high-trade cities.

[cavebear]

Savvy science city starts serious scholarship, sending stimulated sophomore students scurrying serendipitously seeking secret scroll citations!

Now try saying that 5 times, fast.

[SCG]

Originally posted by cavebear
Quote:
For it is wealth that moves the world and profit that rules it

Adam Smith, I presume?

it might be attributed to him, but i simply quoted Spencer Humm (Civ II Trade advisor actor) from his request to discover currency


of course I always think of marketplaces as a happiness structure (50% more luxuries), so i always have them high on my build list

[Ben Kenobi]

of course I always think of marketplaces as a happiness structure (50% more luxuries), so i always have them high on my build list

My normal build order is to have temples, then marketplaces. We might need 70 percent tax and 30 percent luxuries in order to garner a profit, with our small cities.

[Sparrowhawk]

It seems to me that regardless of whether we max out any of the 3, or if we split it amongst the three, it will not have much of an effect upon our Empire until either:
1) Our number of cities grows, increasing the amount of trade
2) The population of our existing cities grow, increasing the amount of trade

Either way, it seems the Tax rate is less important then increasing Trade, at which point the Tax rate will become more important.

Regardless of this, of course we still must decide upon the rate of each area (btw...what other democracy allows the people to set the tax rate... ).

Therefore, my suggestion is to increase Taxes enough to ensure that we at a minimum cover expenses (as we continue to build temples/barracks/libraries) and also to surplus, to at least start increasing our cash flow. I am not sure our science rate is going to matter much, until we increase the amound of trade in our cities (32 turns or 118 turns, either sounds like too long to wait for Monetheism). If this means 70% Tax and 30% Science, then so be it.

Increasing our science rate will come through increasing our tax base, and using those taxes to build libraries, by which time our cities (number and size) should be sufficient enough to have us gaining new technologies at an acceptable rate at which time we can again increase our science rate.

Respectively submitted,
Sparrowhawk
Citizen

[Bob_Smurf42]

Originally posted by cavebear

We can't go Republic because of all the units we have. The support costs would cause some to be disbanded and leave most of our ciities at 0 shields.

I think he ment republican trade that we would get from WLTKD, not actually switching to republic.

Originally posted by cavebear Savvy science city starts serious scholarship, sending stimulated sophomore students scurrying serendipitously seeking secret scroll citations!

I think you one-upped me there!

BB

[Zedd]

Didn't get to vote in the poll but I sugest a 0 science rate while we build some more city's to support our troops. once we have the city's up we can switch to Preublic for 3-4 turns and double each city size with WLTCD