Selling the Alphabet

[couerdelion]

Yes they can

It's the same rule as it is for you. If you acquire a tech from one civilisation. You can trade the new tech to another on the same turn

[Calvin Vu]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Does anyone know whether a tech that you trade to one AI during the AIs turn can be traded away to other AIs by them on the same turn? I am a little bit hesitant to trade to AI when they ask me for something on their turn because I think that they can trade it away before I get the chance to offer it to others. Can they?

Whatever you (or the AI) obtain during a trade is not available to you (or the AI) for trading purposes until the next turn. For example, if you just obtain Mysticism during a trade then you cannot trade Mysticism away to another civ, nor can you trade with another civ for Meditation and Polytheism which requires Mysticism. You can still start on researching Meditation or Polytheism though (or start farming with an Agiculture trade).

Aginor: I agree with your observation that it's still possible to get Alphabet first at Emperor level but, with a bad starting position, it's probably the only thing you have left for trading !!
With a decent start (a fish and a cow resource and a financial leader: Lizzy), I got Alphabet in 1800 BC last night, way before Mansa, Peter (Russia), and Caesar (Rome) who have had contacts with me. I could even trade Agriculture . I didn't even research Copper-mining and only traded Writing for it after getting Alphabet.

[Verrucosus]

I've continued the game described in the opening post selling the Alphabet to all my opponents for about 2000 gold pieces. I used the money to raise my science rate to 100 % again and should make rapid advances in military technology (well, rapid in marathon terms). Good thing too, because at around 300 AD Asoka built the Great Library. I intend to make a sneak-attack on Dehli (which is only three tiles away from the border and, apart from having the Great Library, is also the holy city of Buddhism).

More generally speaking, when deciding whether to give up the Alphabet, the most important consideration appears to be the assessment of how large the tech trading advantage really is in a given situation and for how long it is going to last. This is a complex evaluation, with key factors being the number of civs already having Alphabet/Writing, the overall diplomatic situation and the AI's tech trading habits. It seems almost impossible to come up with any rules of thumb here.

The last posts have also addressed the merits of beelining for Alphabet. I believe it is generally accepted that the advantage of having the Alphabet first grows with the number of civilizations you have contact with. What I didn't realize until now is that this should make an Alphabet beeline very useful when using a map type where all opponents start on the same continents (Pangea and all flat maps like "Inland Sea") and a slow speed setting where tech progress is (relatively speaking) slower than exploration. Under such conditions, the opportunity to milk the tech trading monopoly should be much better than under standard settings.

[joncnunn]

I'd also inculde the Ice Age World Builder in the starts where Alphabet is very good. (Ice Age version of the real world, start in 18000 BC) This is Prince level; I chose random civ and ended up with China, the Phio + Org leader. I think I started in Mongolia.

I discovered that in addition to having an alphabet monopoly that many of my neighbors were missing Horseback Riding, and three-fered it in my turn to two AIs for Iron Working, Math, and Fishing.
I hope to acquire Sailing on my next turn and the Calendar on the next one.