Medicine and Genetics

Common Sensei · December 20, 2006, 11:42

It seems strange to me that Medicine is not a prerequisite for Genetics and in the vast majority of my games to go to the industrial and modern ages, it's left unobtained until there's nothing else to get.

Why bother getting Medicine to build Hospitals when you're not far off from Genetics which gives you +3 Health to each city outright? Even though Environmentalism was moved down to Medicine, that still doesn't make it attractive enough.

I would propose something like making Medicine give +1 Health and Genetics +2, and/or making Medicine a prerequisite for Genetics.

Solver · December 20, 2006, 12:00

Medicine's mostly useful for the Red Cross, anyway.

Shr3dZ · December 20, 2006, 13:26

The game Im playing now, I skipped Medicine, the race against the AI is too close to get non-essential techs. Plus I noticed in my previous game the AI were skipping Medicine too, maybe theyre on to something...

I agree with the OP.

Arrian · December 20, 2006, 14:50

I almost always skip medicine.

-Arrian

Common Sensei · December 20, 2006, 15:25

Medicine just seems oddly neglected in the scheme of things for something that was relatively important in maintaining health of people in huge settlements.

Dis · December 20, 2006, 15:45

Originally posted by Arrian
I almost always skip medicine.

-Arrian

Qwertqwert · December 21, 2006, 22:06

Hospital isn't really that great, which is why Hospital is negliceted. By that time Health and Happiness are mostly under controll for all except the largest cities. Hospital really need another use. They could add faster healing for military units, and a happiness too (you'd probabally be upset if all your family was dieing).

Krill · December 21, 2006, 22:42

Medicine = environmentalism = +6 health. Not always useful, but can allow some cities to grow a hell of a lot larger. And Also, Genetics is a late tech, whereas you can get medicine really easily on a beeline from sci method.

Qwertqwert · December 22, 2006, 00:50

How often do people use Environmentalism? I've never used it, through maybe 50 games that have made it that far.

Nacht · December 22, 2006, 02:13

Originally posted by Qwertqwert
They could add faster healing for military units...

They already do

Nubclear · December 22, 2006, 02:17

I don't think I have ever used environmentalism, except that one time that the UN voted for it.

zeace · December 22, 2006, 16:42

I definitely agree that Medicine should be a pre-req for genetics. My guess is that Firaxis intended it to be, but it slipped by. I don't like dead-end techs unless they're really useful, and medicine really isn't. I often get it from the Internet, which I only built to prevent anyone else from getting.

vilemerchant · December 23, 2006, 08:28

[SIZE=1] Plus I noticed in my previous game the AI were skipping Medicine too, maybe theyre on to something...

I agree with the OP.

The fact that the AI skip it is what makes it good. If you research it you can then trade it to every civ and cash in.

Dis · December 23, 2006, 14:29

I find the ai usually does research it though. Often they won't trade it to me.

Even my vassals won't trade it to me. :madrant:

Addled Platypus · December 23, 2006, 15:14

I skip UN

just a waste

DrSpike · December 26, 2006, 16:36

I nearly always leave this and trade for it later.

Brizey · December 27, 2006, 14:06

I occassionally use Enviro in an OCC game.

popejubal · December 27, 2006, 21:51

Originally posted by Krill
Medicine = environmentalism = +6 health. Not always useful, but can allow some cities to grow a hell of a lot larger.

If your city is already working all of its tiles, then you can get exactly 2 (two) extra people out of Environmentalism. Each person eats 2 food and generates 1 polution. That's a total of 3 food per person if you are maxed out on health (and if you aren't maxed out on health, then Environmentalism isn't doing you any good anyway).

Only if you somehow are not yet working some food producing tiles will Environmentalism allow you to get more than 2 extra people in a city.

Add in the fact that you aren't getting an extra trade route and you aren't getting the 4-10 gold cost reduction (and food boost) in each city from State Property and I think that it is an easy conclusion that Environmentalism just plain stinks.

joncnunn · December 28, 2006, 10:11

Funny this should come up now, my current game is one in which I needed to get Medicine early. Very few Health resources [and mostly the ones the benifit from supermarket at that], many happiness resources.

I was actually considering switching to Enviormenantalism on the turn of discovery except that an AI's surplus Wheat opened up a turn before which allowed time for Hospitals (and keeping FM instead.)

Map is such that my most productive cities are non-coastal, but that's probably normal.

Health Resources I have within my empire:
Clam, Fish
Cow, Sheep, Deer (from overseas trade)
And that Wheat that just opened up.

So yeah, my health resources absolutely sucked. Luxaries were in abdunance.

Looking at the tech tree, Medicine didn't speed along Refridgation though (that was the first modern era tech I researched in this one), so perhaps the prereq of Refideration of Biology should be changed to Medicine. Refrideration is already a prereq of Genetics.

Virdrago · December 28, 2006, 20:29

Very rarely (actually, never) have I absolutely needed Medicine. Even the AI doesn't bother with it, unless it wants it via trading for it. It doesn't seem high on any priority list. Maybe that should change by making it a prereq.