"Guidelines for Tech Tree Design" by Maniac

[DanQ]

The two-hundred-and-twenty-eighth edition of "The Column" is now online. Written by Apolyton Civilization Site forum user 'Maniac', he tells Civilization IV modders that when designing a tech tree to have it revolve around key themes in their work.

Comments on this piece are welcome in this thread and/or via email in communicating directly to the author.

[LDiCesare]

I totally agree on Divine Right. Techs which are dead ends are worthless if you're not certain they can give you something all the time. If it provided a national wonder instead of a world wonder, it could be worth researching more often.
There's one thing that's been overlooked, which is the ability to research other techs. Although it's not particularly flashy, a tech whose sole effect is to be a prerequisite for 4 other, more interesting, techs. Such a tech is often very precious and is worth trading, even though it doesn't do anything 'per se'.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
There's one thing that's been overlooked, which is the ability to research other techs. Although it's not particularly flashy, a tech whose sole effect is to be a prerequisite for 4 other, more interesting, techs. Such a tech is often very precious and is worth trading, even though it doesn't do anything 'per se'.

That's indeed a good point, and that (most techs being absolute requirement for further techs) is a big reason why the Civ4 tech tree doesn't suck, despite many techs not providing a universal benefit.

However one could raise the question:
"If the only use of a tech is that it leads to another tech, what's the point of making it two seperate techs?"

I can give the answer myself:
"Because sometimes you're in a strategy where you want one or more of those specific or first researcher benefits, but you don't want to spend the extra time researching what it leads to in order to get them."

Still, while a tech tree where many techs' only universal benefit is that it is required for other techs, isn't a bad tech tree, the tech tree would IMO be more interesting and the tech in question more fun to research if it also always directly provided a universal benefit. Eg while I rationally know Paper leads to other important techs, I never feel particularly excited when I get it. Rather disappointed or bored in fact. And for a good civ game I guess you want a player to feel happy with every new achievement made, to encourage "one more turn!".

But yeah, a tech leading to other techs should most likely be added to the list of universal benefits.

[wodan11]

Gift them to another player, declare war on that player, and then you can conquer and raze the city.

[bluetemplar]

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The requested URL /misc/column/228_design.shtml was not found on this server.

[DanQ]

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An archived copy can be found at the address below:

http://web.archive.org/web/200812200...8_design.shtml