Best free advance you have gotten ?

[simspacey]

Best free advance you have gotten ? Using an expansionist civ, and sending out a lot of scouts can be a good tactic if you want to get ahead in the tech tree (all depends on map position ofcourse!). WWhat is the most advanced tech you have gotten ?

I have got litterature for free, and maybe map making, monarchy or republic once i think (playing on the huge map with 15 other civs- playing with less civs would give me access to more stuff i guess).

[BlackCat]

I don't think that you can get anything outside Ancient Times - I've at some point gotten everyone there but never from MA and upwards.

[Quintillus]

It's impossible to get a free tech from the barbarians from outside of the Ancient Age. However, it is possible to get free techs from the Great Library from whenever. The most advanced one I've ever received is Communism.

[simspacey]

how is that possible ? The Great Library is made obsolete from Education, isnt it ?

[vmxa1]

You can get any tech that is known by two or more nations, that you have contact with. While it is true that Ed makes the GLB obsolete, it still gives the techs.

It works like this:
I am playing a high level game and I am backwards. I do not know Ed, I avoided it.

I finally reach the GLB city and take it. Several nations know techs to whatever point you want. I know it has been done well into the IA and probably farther.

We will say they all have techs to Combustion. I take the city. Next turn I get all of the techs, because I do not know Ed. I get Ed from the GLB, but I still get all the techs known by others.

It is after this rush of techs that the knowledge of ED makes the GLB stop working for me. If someone else could come and take it later that did not know ED, they would get the windfall.

I once gifted ED to a backward nation so it could trade it to a nation I was at war with. That nation was building the GLB in the late IA.

I could not as I already knew ED and had not bothered to build the GLB. I did this so they could not gain my techs.

[vmxa1]

Re: Best free advance you have gotten ?

Originally posted by simspacey

I have got litterature for free, and maybe map making, monarchy or republic once i think (playing on the huge map with 15 other civs- playing with less civs would give me access to more stuff i guess).

As was mentioned, you cannot get any techs beyond the AA from huts. You can get any AA tech. If you play a HoF space race game, a good tactic is to use expansion civ.

Pop huts to get all the techs, except for a few cheap ones. You try to build at least 2 by hand to fish for an SGL.

[simspacey]

Originally posted by vmxa1
You can get any tech that is known by two or more nations, that you have contact with. While it is true that Ed makes the GLB obsolete, it still gives the techs.

It works like this:
I am playing a high level game and I am backwards. I do not know Ed, I avoided it.

I finally reach the GLB city and take it. Several nations know techs to whatever point you want. I know it has been done well into the IA and probably farther.

We will say they all have techs to Combustion. I take the city. Next turn I get all of the techs, because I do not know Ed. I get Ed from the GLB, but I still get all the techs known by others.

It is after this rush of techs that the knowledge of ED makes the GLB stop working for me. If someone else could come and take it later that did not know ED, they would get the windfall.

I once gifted ED to a backward nation so it could trade it to a nation I was at war with. That nation was building the GLB in the late IA.

I could not as I already knew ED and had not bothered to build the GLB. I did this so they could not gain my techs.

You dont have to take the Great Library though ? Building it works too ?

It is a good plan! You could storm the enemy with cavalries and cannons and put all your research money aside to use the money to build improvements (or units). And besides riflemen, most Industrial units would be the same as your own, given that they havent researched the replaceable parts or tanks yet. Sounds tricky for someone who is new to the game though...

With the Wonder Leos Workshop, you could even use all the saved tech money to upgrade your old armies fast and cheap.

It is totally different in Call to Power (the other Civ game i have played (too) much) though. In that game, other civilizations can make my stuff obsolete.

And another thing about that game: Cities built underwater cannot build anything from the ancient age, because then they´ d get too much bonuses (underwater cities have better tiles, which doesnt make any logical sense really, but it gives players a reason to colonize the oceans)

[vmxa1]

First if you build it yourself you are limited to Physics as the farthest tech in the three. You will be forced to learn ED to go farther in the tree.

Second in order to get techs like Combustion or even later ones, you would need to be in either a Sid game or some special variant on a massive map.

At least those are the times I have done it. In those games you will be facing units much stronger than yours and they will have at least infantry.

Often they have tanks and bombers in these games, how else could you learn techs to or beyond combustion?

You will only have Leo, if you captured it as well as you are not building it. I get the msg it was built while I am still in the AA in most of my Sid games.

I don't remember under water cities in CTP or CTP2, but it has been a lot of years. Are you talking about a mod for CTP?

If I do build GLB, I stop research and use the money to steal techs, once the GLB is obsolete.

[Aabraxan]

Originally posted by vmxa1 . . . .
If I do build GLB, I stop research and use the money to steal techs, once the GLB is obsolete.

Really? I don't build the GLib often, but I usually just amass gold until the GLib goes obsolete, then do deficit research. Do you shut off research & steal at levels like DG? Or is that just for Sid?

[simspacey]

Never thought of it. (turning off the science) I usually build GLB to make sure that my tech lead isnt threatened. And its a nice cultural bonus too.

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Aabraxan

Really? I don't build the GLib often, but I usually just amass gold until the GLib goes obsolete, then do deficit research. Do you shut off research & steal at levels like DG? Or is that just for Sid?

I use it on Sid mostly, but will do it on AWDG. I would not build the GLB on straight DG or Deity in most cases.

It is very hard to stay in contact on research at Sid for me, until I have a massive empire.

For me, I find that GLB will not pay for itself in std games, except on Sid. At emperor or lower they research too slow. At DG or Deity they research too fast.

I end up doing my own research as I get so few techs from the LIB. Sid is about the only place it pays off for me.

Variants can change that, so you could get a return on some types of games, even at AWM it can be useful. The one time I recall was a 250x250 31 civs AWM. Not sure about a std map size at that level.

So it comes down to how much it cost to build and how many techs you expect to get from it.

Paying for deficit research is usually what I would do as well on those AW games and the times I built in non Sid games and discovered I probably should not have.

Some times you will build it just to stop the AI from having, even though it won't be a big help.

[simspacey]

Originally posted by vmxa1
First if you build it yourself you are limited to Physics as the farthest tech in the three. You will be forced to learn ED to go farther in the tree.

Second in order to get techs like Combustion or even later ones, you would need to be in either a Sid game or some special variant on a massive map.

At least those are the times I have done it. In those games you will be facing units much stronger than yours and they will have at least infantry.

Often they have tanks and bombers in these games, how else could you learn techs to or beyond combustion?

You will only have Leo, if you captured it as well as you are not building it. I get the msg it was built while I am still in the AA in most of my Sid games.

I don't remember under water cities in CTP or CTP2, but it has been a lot of years. Are you talking about a mod for CTP?

If I do build GLB, I stop research and use the money to steal techs, once the GLB is obsolete.

Yeah, building the GLB yourself means you ll have to research a lot of stuff for yourself. GLB is something i usually build to keep others from getting my advances, or if i have a small empire and am lagging behind in the tech tree.


No, the retail version of Call to Power has underwater cities, you need to research something called Ultra Pressure Machinery though (thats an advance from the Genetic Age in that game i think). Also, you need a special settler unit for settling cities underwater.

You can also colonize space. Call to Power goes way into the future, all the way to the year 3000. The game also has three levels of mines, fishing nets and farms.

As for Call to Power 2, havent played it that much but underwater cities are a big part of the intromovie in the game. So i assume it has underwater cities too!

[vmxa1]

Man my memory is that bad. I just don't recall under water cities and I played CTP three or four times to a win and CTP2 once or twice.

All I remember is the public works and those red lines for trade (may have been in CTP2).

[vmxa1]

BTW you can see a game here where 60 techs were gotten from the glb:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3577134&postcount=777