Some thoughts on spec points

[Beamup]

I've been pondering optimal use of spec points for a while, and thought I'd share what I came up with to see if it provokes some nice discussion.

Fundamentally, assigning a spec point to a resource is equivalent to getting 2% more workers on that resource for free. But in theory, one could simply put 2% more workers there and get the same effect. So we can consider the role of spec points to be getting around the limitations that stop us from adding those 2% more workers. (I'll ignore the details of fractional workers here; effective fractional workers can be attained via dynamic labor allocation hence it's not relevant to this.)

There are two such limitations - the number of total workers, and the number a given level building can support. In practice, the latter is not terribly relevant compared to the former. (Building upgrades being cheap, easy, and nearly free compared to palace upgrades.) Which buildings are maxed out on workers will also tend to vary over time - that doesn't combine very well with the decidedly static nature of spec points.

So using spec points to effectively increase the capacity of a building isn't a terribly good use for them. That leaves effectively increasing your total number of workers, which goal is best served by specializing in whatever thing you have the most workers on. For people feeding their workers locally, that'll almost certainly be wheat. If you're feeding your people by selling goods on the market, then it may vary but is likely to be your luxury material.

Since overall, more people will have to be running a bread surplus than a deficit, that means wheat will most often be the right choice (and when it's not, will generally be the luxury material). I don't much like that conclusion, though, since it's awfully boring and not terribly strategic. Hopefully someone will point out a flaw in my reasoning that opens it up much more (aka, please prove me wrong...).

[Agamemnus]

Personally, I like reeds/clay.

[neferseti]

Being an idiot, and not reading the start up materials, I stupidly wasted my first spec points on "bricks" (well, at least it wasn't baskets!). My second specs points I put towards my luxury material, so by dumb luck, I think I made a good decision.

I suppose I should start looking to the market for bread, from here on out!

Thanks for the analysis--being not very analytical, I always love reading how others figure things out.

[roboczar]

I'm focusing on wheat specialization because it makes selling my core goods less profitable than just pumping out tons of bread.

[Rama-Seph]

I've come to the same conclusion, the spec bonus helps all workers assigned to the resource you specialize in...so go where you have the most workers assigned, most of the time. For me, that's usually wheat.

[Caesar Clifford]

Not knowing anything about it at the start I just put my first two points to my good, cedar. At +4% I need 25 workers cutting down trees before I get any extra gain.

on my second city I put it straight into wheat and shall continue to do so for every one point I get from now on in any city anywhere unless something changes in the system

Wheat is easily the best place to put those spec points.