Astronomy

[Brael]

I keep seeing mentions of this tech being incredibly powerful but I just haven't seen it. Could someone explain to me what I'm missing about it? Generally I play Pangea or Continent maps so maybe thats why I've never found it important, but if it's as important as some people say I would think the value of it would even be obvious in a more land oriented game.

[Son of David]

Observatories.

25% research boost - so if the AIs get this before you, you will start falling behind technologically.

[johnmcd]

If you are a religion hog on anything but Pangea there is also a good chance there will be landmasses without a faith, you can passively spread your religions for shrine income ahead of the others and potentially get some allies or trading partners. If you’re without iron or some such, it’s a chance to get one of those little mineral rich islands that dot the oceans before the competition.

Mostly about the observatories though I’d agree.

[Gyromancer]

You only need optics to spread religion across the waters. (Assuming you don't mind spending time buildiing missionaries.) I don't like the slow/uncertain spread through trade routes.

I like astronomy best for loading up ships with Muskets, Cav, or Grenadiers and playing some "Conquest of the New World"

[couerdelion]

A couple of things spring to mind.

1) You cannot settle other islands without Astronomy
2) You can trade resources across the ocean. Being the first is an advantage.

[alva]

Don't harbor give a better yield too?
That's how understand it anyway.

[johnmcd]

Originally posted by Gyromancer
You only need optics to spread religion across the waters. (Assuming you don't mind spending time buildiing missionaries.) I don't like the slow/uncertain spread through trade routes.

That's true, but you do tie up production in cities and if you are wanting to spread only one faith then it can be incredibly slow if you are more than a couple of turns from your destination.

[couerdelion]

Another thing

Originally posted by alva
Don't harbor give a better yield too?
That's how understand it anyway.

With Astronomy you have more cities to trade with so your trade income will be a lot higher.

This will often be a big increase.

[Fallenhero]

Astronomy is huge on any map type that has oceans seperating land masses.

Lets say you share a big Island with two other civs but one won't trade and the other doesn't have much you don't have. (because you took it)

What do you do with your 3 extra dyes, cows, spices, etc? By trading overseas you can get the happiness or health you need to continue growing.

How important would it be to increase the population ceiling of your cities by 3 or more without spending a dime or a turn on any improvements.

Plus if you get Astro first you get to pick and choose from the AIs, for the most part, so you max out your resources while limiting your competitors for quite awhile. You can also trade for gold per turn so you can keep you tech at 80% and still be in the green.

Astonomy is one of my key techs. And if I'm alone on my own Island it is critical

[Son of David]

Brael mentioned Pangaea maps - I'd agree that it's not as important on those kind of maps. You ought to be well on the way to domination before you can even consider researching astronomy.

[rjmatsleepers]

You guys have put up some interesting arguments in favour of astronomy, but ...

I like to build Stonehenge. It lets the cultural boundary of my new cities expand quickly and gets me the GPP points early. To keep Stonehenge going, I avoid learning calendar and thus astronomy gets delayed. This also means that plantations are delayed.

So the question is, where should calendar and astronomy fit. My usual tech plan is something like:

mysticism (to build Stonehenge)
meditation, poly, priesthood and writing (to get CoL with my first GP)
Philosophy (from the Oracle)
Alphabet, Literature (for the Great Library)
Paper, Education (for Universities and Oxford)
Liberalism (for the free tech)

I fit the other techs (such as mining, agriculture, animal husbandry, bronze and iron working, etc) into this plan at a convenient point depending on what I start with, what I need, what I get from huts and what I can trade.

So what priority should I give to calendar and astonomy?

RJM at Sleeper's

[johnmcd]

That's actually pretty much what I do, but before I get liberalism I trade for calendar and then use liberalism to slingshot astronomy.

Unless of course I'm not leading on tech.

[unamablebuiler]

if yourre on your own plenty it can take you empire from an econimic backwater to the top of the pack in 1 turn