Tweet
Fishing
Level 1 Tech
59 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
It is the author’s humble opinion that while Fishing is an outstanding tech, it is an absolutely wretched tech to start with. I find Civs that start with the Fishing tech are often saddled with starting situations that make one of their two free techs completely useless (i.e., you have the fishing tech and are not coastal, which happens, in my experience, some 70% of the time). I would much rather start with any other tech and research Fishing when I needed it, rather than lose half the benefits of my starting techs due to terrain.
Make no mistake about it, Fishing’s usefulness to you is, in the vast majority of cases, tied to whether or not you are coastal (the only time this doesn’t hold true is if you’re going with a Settler First play and plan to make your second city coastal…if you’re not coastal, about all it does for you is provide a (slightly) cheaper route to Pottery, but in practice, if you’re land-locked, Agriculture will serve you better than the twenty beakers you save by researching Fishing on the way to Pottery).
Having said all that, if you are coastal, there’s no denying that Fishing is a fine tech, and it has a great many strengths. Chiefly, this tech does two important things for you. It allows you to assign workers to water tiles, and it allows you to improve water special resource tiles (crabs and fish) via the Work Boat (a unit that can also serve in an exploratory role).
Strengths of the tech:
• Opens up a whole new set of workable tiles (water tiles)
• New unit (Work Boat) that can be used to either improve “seafood specials” or as a two-move exploratory unit
• Opens the door to Trade Routes over water and an important city improvement (both actually available at Sailing)
• Dirt cheap (one of the two cheapest level one techs in the game), so it’s fast to research
Weaknesses of the tech:
• If you’re not coastal, you probably do not need this tech!
Of all the strategic research choices to make, Fishing is usually the no-brainer of the group. If you don’t have the tech, and you have a seafood special in your Capital’s starting radius, this is an excellent first choice. Otherwise, there’s probably a stronger choice you could make. Researching this tech first works especially well in tandem with a Warrior or Scout first build, because either of these will be completed in a timely fashion (and usually not long after you get this tech), which then enables you to jump right into a Work Boat and continue growing.
The Wheel
Level 1 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
Tied for first place as the most expensive of the Level 1 techs, Civs that start with The Wheel have a leg up, at least in terms of beakers you don’t have to spend on research (this holds double for Civs that start with both The Wheel and Agriculture, which is the other 89b Tech on the first level of the tree). It’s a good tech, but its primary strengths aren’t something you can easily measure in the same way you can measure say, hammer counts or total food outputs. Mostly, this tech is important because it is a stepping stone to Pottery, and because it allows a vital worker action….roads, with this latter being the real strength behind the tech.
Roads provide a number of benefits to their creator, not the least of which include efficiency of transit from one part of your holdings to another. This can translate directly into turn advantage for you if, say, it enables a newly made settler to get to his settlement tile 1-2 turns faster than he otherwise would have. It can also save you a great deal of pain, by enabling your military units to dance beautifully from one end of your realm to another, responding to all manner of threats without missing a beat…vital for reinforcing embattled areas and/or preserving your early game tile improvements, but there’s more to roads than just this even. Roads tie strategic resources in to your fledgling Empire as a whole, providing health and happiness bonuses to all cities connected to your growing road network, to say nothing of the fact that the tech itself, when combined with Animal Husbandry, can give you a potent military unit in the form of the Chariot. For all these reasons, the value of the tech really can’t be overstated, even if it is somewhat difficult to put a specific number behind that value.
Strengths of the Tech:
• Allows a new worker action (Roads)
• Creates turn advantage by speeding settlers and workers to their destinations
• Facilitates ease of defense
• “Hooks up” strategic resources, providing bonuses to your Empire as a whole
• One of the two techs needed for Chariots (Wheel + Husbandry = Chariot)
• One of two techs needed for Pottery (Wheel + Fishing OR Agriculture = Pottery)
There’s no way around it…sooner or later, you’re going to need this tech. How quickly you wind up researching it primarily has to do with how important “hooking up” resources is to you, and/or how soon you want to start making Cottages. If Pottery is high on your priority list, this tech will be too. If you’ve unlocked one (or both) of the ancient era military resources (Horses & Copper) and need to start making use of them, or if you find yourself fast-approaching your health and happiness limits, then acquiring this tech takes on an urgency that is notably absent from most other techs in the game (this last bit carries with it the implication that The Wheel increases in its overall importance as your level of play increases).
As important as this tech is, however, it is generally not a tech you want to research first. Your first tech should, whenever possible, be something that improves your tile outputs, and sadly, The Wheel fails in this regard. It’s a brilliant supporting tech (quite possible the best in the whole game), but as a “gotta have it first”….not usually.
Strategically, this tech becomes an attractive first choice if any of the following are true:
• You want pottery ASAP, and you already start with Fishing or Agriculture.
• You have one or more viable worker actions already and want to add to that suite, setting yourself up to take eventual advantage of faster expansion, copper, or horses (or all of the above).
• You have one or more strategic resources you’d like to get “hooked up” sooner, rather than later. (note: This could be for any number of reasons, but remember, we’re talking about researching this tech first, so in this case, we’re specifically NOT talking about Horses or Copper, since you don’t know where those are yet…if this condition holds true for you, then it will be primarily because you have a tenuous health situation (due to difficulty level, or the presence of numerous jungle/flood plain tiles in your city’s workable radius), and/or you have precious metals/gems to hook up, and/or stone/marble to hook up). Also keep in mind that in general if you have any of these, it is better to get the “enabling tech” first (Agriculture, in the case of Wheat, Hunting in the case of Elephants, etc) to make full use of said resource—this way, you get the resource bonus immediately, and can build a road to it while you’re enjoying the spike in tile outputs), but there may be situation-specific cases where you find it advantageous to get this tech first.
• You’re playing an Imperialistic Civ, and going with a Worker First start. A case could be made here that you could get the worker out, get a head start on laying down roads, and reap the benefits of turn advantage in two ways (one in the form of your faster-than-normal settlers, and again as you speed them to their destinations). It should be noted, however, that this would be an extremely game-specific situation, and would not be the norm.
Agriculture
Level 1 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
One of the Seminal Techs, and given the importance of early game food, an excellent tech to lead with. Of course, its usefulness is tied, to a large extent to how much importance you place on getting your first Worker out (if you’re going worker first, and you have some tiles that could be improved by a Farm, this tech is hard to beat). On the other hand, if you’re pursuing a time sensitive goal (Religion), or have some other, pressing goal in your mind that will see you delay getting a Worker afield, then this tech weakens quickly (simply put, its only real function is to give the Worker something to do by increasing food counts, so if your initial plans don’t include a Worker, then you don’t want to start with this tech).
Hunting
Level 1 Tech
59 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
There are only two instances when you want to lead with Hunting. 1) If you have a simply inordinate number of specials in your Capital’s workable tile radius that could benefit from it, and/or 2) If you didn’t start the game with Hunting but want to make use of an early Scout to speed your exploration efforts (most often the case with people who are looking to play an aggressive game and want to find a target early, but can also apply to peaceful expanders who want to get more Goody Huts and get a better feel for the land).
If neither of the above conditions are true, then you can probably find a better tech to lead with, saving this one for if you find yourself without Copper and Horses and are feeling defensively naked.
Mysticism
Level 1 Tech
74 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
This is one of those on again/off again techs. If you need it, you really need it (like yesterday, or maybe sooner). For instance, if you’re doing a religious gambit or a slingshot. To a lesser extent, if you’re running a Charismatic Civ, didn’t start with Mysticism, and want the happiness kick that comes with a Monument.
On the other hand, if you’re taking a more pragmatic approach (focusing on the land, or raw economic development, or military matters) this tech (and in fact, the entire religious branch of the tree) is going to be last on your list. Unlike, say, Agriculture, which everybody is going to need sooner, rather than later, you can be well into the Classical Era before you even bother with this tech.
Mining
Level 1 Tech
74 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
Another in the list of Seminal Techs, mining is important for two reasons. 1) It enhances hammer counts, and there are times in the early game when hammer counts are important, and 2) It’s a stepping stone on the way to Bronze Working, which is the most powerful tech in the Ancient Era. For this reason alone, Mining takes on a good deal of importance, because no matter what your plan, eventually it’s going to call for some ability that Bronze Working gives you (either Axemen for an attack, Axemen or Spearmen for defense, Slavery for speed-building infrastructure, or Chop for that same purpose). How important Mining is in your planning is directly dependant on your immediate need for hammers and how badly you need Bronze.
Sailing
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Fishing
In the same vein as Mysticism, you’re either going to really need this tech, or you’re not going to even consider researching it first. If you start coastal, and know what sort of map type you’re playing (islands), or if your starting visible tile set provides you a compelling reason for venturing down this path, you may stumble into a situation where Sailing is a pivotal first tech. Personally, I’ve had it happen once in some three hundred games, so by and large, I can tell you that while it is a good, extremely valuable tech, it’s just not a tech you’re going to want or need to lead with terribly often. It does unlock some nice abilities, but typically these are not so pressing that you must begin researching Sailing from turn one. A great supporting tech, in the same vein as The Wheel, but seldom a pivotal tech to lead with.
Pottery
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Reqs = The Wheel + Fishing OR Agriculture
The importance of Pottery to your planning is directly tied to how soon you want to begin developing your economy. Everybody is going to stop here immediately, but it is very much a question of priority. Folks who are chasing an early religion simply won’t have time to give this an early look, and warmongers are going to want to know where the copper and horses are before they commit to something like this, so Pottery as a tech to lead with appeals to a fairly small subset of players (and is only possible with a fairly small subset of Civs…only the Egyptians, French, Japanese and Ottomans can even contemplate taking this tech first). If a focus on economic development is your game, then this may well be the Tech of choice for you. Otherwise, while it will no doubt be important, it is unlikely to be first.
Animal Husbandry
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Reqs = Agriculture OR Hunting
One of the two techs that warmongers are likely to gravitate toward, this tech can also draw a significant number of supporters from the peaceful development crowd, especially if those peaceful expanders find themselves with animals inside their workable city radius that can benefit from a Pasture. This makes Husbandry a very influential leading tech, even if somewhat at the mercy of the luck of the land lotto draw (you’re more likely to research it if you have tiles that can benefit immediately). It’s useful in a wide variety of situations and for a wide range of strategies, making it quite a popular leading tech (assuming of course, you’re playing a Civ that has one or both of its pre-reqs). About the only folks who wouldn’t at least consider opening in this fashion would be those pursuing an early religion or a slingshot/wonder gambit.
Archery
Level 2 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Hunting
Seldom seen as a leading tech. During “The Window” phase of the game, you have scant need of the added protection that Archers can provide, and given the relative safety of the extreme early game, there’s seldom a practical use for heading off in this direction (a dead-end branch of the tech tree). It’s a good enough supporting tech, and it can be a godsend if you discover that you have neither horses nor copper, but I can think of few situations where I’d naturally gravitate toward Archery as my first pick.
Meditation
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mysticism
An inferior first choice (in my opinion) if you’re shooting for an early religion, but a fine first choice if you’re planning for a slingshot and are looking for a cost-effective way to get to Writing. The AI (especially Spain) loves to make this tech a priority (cos we all know that the Spanish are historically known for their Buddhist leanings), so don’t be at all surprised if you get beaten to the free religion for the tech’s first discoverer, but odds are, having read this work, if you want an early religion, you’ll try for Polytheism anyway….
Polytheism
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mysticism
An infinitely superior (if slightly more expensive) first choice if you’re gunning for an early religion. With the AI’s attention generally so focused on Meditation, if you maximize your commerce, you can (about 9 times in 10, on Monarch level) walk away with a shiny new religion if you so choose. If you’re not looking for an early religion, you’re likely to ignore this tech completely until the middle ages, and then, you’ll probably trade for it, rather than research it. Very definitely an on again/off again tech.
Masonry
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mining
If you have your sights set on a wonder and want/need to make early use of stone or marble, or if your early religious strategy is centered around Judaism, Masonry may hold a good bit of appeal for you, however, it should be noted that the various slingshots are wildly popular, and some of the slingshot variants make use of early Prophets to gain key techs. In these cases, Masonry works explicitly against the overall plan, and as such, acts as a draw away from the tech in general. Not terribly popular as an opening tech. On the other hand, nobody tries for Judaism right away, so even on the harder difficulty levels you stand a reasonably good shot at picking this religion up….
Bronze Working
Level 2 Tech
179 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mining
The most expensive, most powerful tech in the Ancient Age, Bronze holds the keys to Axemen, Copper, Spearmen (with Hunting), Slavery, and Chop. It is a masterpiece of a tech, and available as a first pick for anybody who starts with Mining (which is a fair number of Civs). The only reason it might not make a good starting tech is that there may be a better, more practical tech choice out there (something that increases food counts, for example), but no worries…sooner or later—and probably sooner--everybody’s going to venture down this part of the tech tree.
Personally, I like leading with Bronze, because it lets me know straight away where the copper is, which I find to be invaluable when planning my second city, but depending on your aims and goals, this may or may not be so important as to tie up your research for ~20 turns (which is a significant portion of “The Window”).
coming in the next installment….Exploration….and your Second City….
Level 1 Tech
59 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
It is the author’s humble opinion that while Fishing is an outstanding tech, it is an absolutely wretched tech to start with. I find Civs that start with the Fishing tech are often saddled with starting situations that make one of their two free techs completely useless (i.e., you have the fishing tech and are not coastal, which happens, in my experience, some 70% of the time). I would much rather start with any other tech and research Fishing when I needed it, rather than lose half the benefits of my starting techs due to terrain.
Make no mistake about it, Fishing’s usefulness to you is, in the vast majority of cases, tied to whether or not you are coastal (the only time this doesn’t hold true is if you’re going with a Settler First play and plan to make your second city coastal…if you’re not coastal, about all it does for you is provide a (slightly) cheaper route to Pottery, but in practice, if you’re land-locked, Agriculture will serve you better than the twenty beakers you save by researching Fishing on the way to Pottery).
Having said all that, if you are coastal, there’s no denying that Fishing is a fine tech, and it has a great many strengths. Chiefly, this tech does two important things for you. It allows you to assign workers to water tiles, and it allows you to improve water special resource tiles (crabs and fish) via the Work Boat (a unit that can also serve in an exploratory role).
Strengths of the tech:
• Opens up a whole new set of workable tiles (water tiles)
• New unit (Work Boat) that can be used to either improve “seafood specials” or as a two-move exploratory unit
• Opens the door to Trade Routes over water and an important city improvement (both actually available at Sailing)
• Dirt cheap (one of the two cheapest level one techs in the game), so it’s fast to research
Weaknesses of the tech:
• If you’re not coastal, you probably do not need this tech!
Of all the strategic research choices to make, Fishing is usually the no-brainer of the group. If you don’t have the tech, and you have a seafood special in your Capital’s starting radius, this is an excellent first choice. Otherwise, there’s probably a stronger choice you could make. Researching this tech first works especially well in tandem with a Warrior or Scout first build, because either of these will be completed in a timely fashion (and usually not long after you get this tech), which then enables you to jump right into a Work Boat and continue growing.
The Wheel
Level 1 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
Tied for first place as the most expensive of the Level 1 techs, Civs that start with The Wheel have a leg up, at least in terms of beakers you don’t have to spend on research (this holds double for Civs that start with both The Wheel and Agriculture, which is the other 89b Tech on the first level of the tree). It’s a good tech, but its primary strengths aren’t something you can easily measure in the same way you can measure say, hammer counts or total food outputs. Mostly, this tech is important because it is a stepping stone to Pottery, and because it allows a vital worker action….roads, with this latter being the real strength behind the tech.
Roads provide a number of benefits to their creator, not the least of which include efficiency of transit from one part of your holdings to another. This can translate directly into turn advantage for you if, say, it enables a newly made settler to get to his settlement tile 1-2 turns faster than he otherwise would have. It can also save you a great deal of pain, by enabling your military units to dance beautifully from one end of your realm to another, responding to all manner of threats without missing a beat…vital for reinforcing embattled areas and/or preserving your early game tile improvements, but there’s more to roads than just this even. Roads tie strategic resources in to your fledgling Empire as a whole, providing health and happiness bonuses to all cities connected to your growing road network, to say nothing of the fact that the tech itself, when combined with Animal Husbandry, can give you a potent military unit in the form of the Chariot. For all these reasons, the value of the tech really can’t be overstated, even if it is somewhat difficult to put a specific number behind that value.
Strengths of the Tech:
• Allows a new worker action (Roads)
• Creates turn advantage by speeding settlers and workers to their destinations
• Facilitates ease of defense
• “Hooks up” strategic resources, providing bonuses to your Empire as a whole
• One of the two techs needed for Chariots (Wheel + Husbandry = Chariot)
• One of two techs needed for Pottery (Wheel + Fishing OR Agriculture = Pottery)
There’s no way around it…sooner or later, you’re going to need this tech. How quickly you wind up researching it primarily has to do with how important “hooking up” resources is to you, and/or how soon you want to start making Cottages. If Pottery is high on your priority list, this tech will be too. If you’ve unlocked one (or both) of the ancient era military resources (Horses & Copper) and need to start making use of them, or if you find yourself fast-approaching your health and happiness limits, then acquiring this tech takes on an urgency that is notably absent from most other techs in the game (this last bit carries with it the implication that The Wheel increases in its overall importance as your level of play increases).
As important as this tech is, however, it is generally not a tech you want to research first. Your first tech should, whenever possible, be something that improves your tile outputs, and sadly, The Wheel fails in this regard. It’s a brilliant supporting tech (quite possible the best in the whole game), but as a “gotta have it first”….not usually.
Strategically, this tech becomes an attractive first choice if any of the following are true:
• You want pottery ASAP, and you already start with Fishing or Agriculture.
• You have one or more viable worker actions already and want to add to that suite, setting yourself up to take eventual advantage of faster expansion, copper, or horses (or all of the above).
• You have one or more strategic resources you’d like to get “hooked up” sooner, rather than later. (note: This could be for any number of reasons, but remember, we’re talking about researching this tech first, so in this case, we’re specifically NOT talking about Horses or Copper, since you don’t know where those are yet…if this condition holds true for you, then it will be primarily because you have a tenuous health situation (due to difficulty level, or the presence of numerous jungle/flood plain tiles in your city’s workable radius), and/or you have precious metals/gems to hook up, and/or stone/marble to hook up). Also keep in mind that in general if you have any of these, it is better to get the “enabling tech” first (Agriculture, in the case of Wheat, Hunting in the case of Elephants, etc) to make full use of said resource—this way, you get the resource bonus immediately, and can build a road to it while you’re enjoying the spike in tile outputs), but there may be situation-specific cases where you find it advantageous to get this tech first.
• You’re playing an Imperialistic Civ, and going with a Worker First start. A case could be made here that you could get the worker out, get a head start on laying down roads, and reap the benefits of turn advantage in two ways (one in the form of your faster-than-normal settlers, and again as you speed them to their destinations). It should be noted, however, that this would be an extremely game-specific situation, and would not be the norm.
Agriculture
Level 1 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
One of the Seminal Techs, and given the importance of early game food, an excellent tech to lead with. Of course, its usefulness is tied, to a large extent to how much importance you place on getting your first Worker out (if you’re going worker first, and you have some tiles that could be improved by a Farm, this tech is hard to beat). On the other hand, if you’re pursuing a time sensitive goal (Religion), or have some other, pressing goal in your mind that will see you delay getting a Worker afield, then this tech weakens quickly (simply put, its only real function is to give the Worker something to do by increasing food counts, so if your initial plans don’t include a Worker, then you don’t want to start with this tech).
Hunting
Level 1 Tech
59 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
There are only two instances when you want to lead with Hunting. 1) If you have a simply inordinate number of specials in your Capital’s workable tile radius that could benefit from it, and/or 2) If you didn’t start the game with Hunting but want to make use of an early Scout to speed your exploration efforts (most often the case with people who are looking to play an aggressive game and want to find a target early, but can also apply to peaceful expanders who want to get more Goody Huts and get a better feel for the land).
If neither of the above conditions are true, then you can probably find a better tech to lead with, saving this one for if you find yourself without Copper and Horses and are feeling defensively naked.
Mysticism
Level 1 Tech
74 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
This is one of those on again/off again techs. If you need it, you really need it (like yesterday, or maybe sooner). For instance, if you’re doing a religious gambit or a slingshot. To a lesser extent, if you’re running a Charismatic Civ, didn’t start with Mysticism, and want the happiness kick that comes with a Monument.
On the other hand, if you’re taking a more pragmatic approach (focusing on the land, or raw economic development, or military matters) this tech (and in fact, the entire religious branch of the tree) is going to be last on your list. Unlike, say, Agriculture, which everybody is going to need sooner, rather than later, you can be well into the Classical Era before you even bother with this tech.
Mining
Level 1 Tech
74 Beakers to Research
No pre-requisites
Another in the list of Seminal Techs, mining is important for two reasons. 1) It enhances hammer counts, and there are times in the early game when hammer counts are important, and 2) It’s a stepping stone on the way to Bronze Working, which is the most powerful tech in the Ancient Era. For this reason alone, Mining takes on a good deal of importance, because no matter what your plan, eventually it’s going to call for some ability that Bronze Working gives you (either Axemen for an attack, Axemen or Spearmen for defense, Slavery for speed-building infrastructure, or Chop for that same purpose). How important Mining is in your planning is directly dependant on your immediate need for hammers and how badly you need Bronze.
Sailing
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Fishing
In the same vein as Mysticism, you’re either going to really need this tech, or you’re not going to even consider researching it first. If you start coastal, and know what sort of map type you’re playing (islands), or if your starting visible tile set provides you a compelling reason for venturing down this path, you may stumble into a situation where Sailing is a pivotal first tech. Personally, I’ve had it happen once in some three hundred games, so by and large, I can tell you that while it is a good, extremely valuable tech, it’s just not a tech you’re going to want or need to lead with terribly often. It does unlock some nice abilities, but typically these are not so pressing that you must begin researching Sailing from turn one. A great supporting tech, in the same vein as The Wheel, but seldom a pivotal tech to lead with.
Pottery
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Reqs = The Wheel + Fishing OR Agriculture
The importance of Pottery to your planning is directly tied to how soon you want to begin developing your economy. Everybody is going to stop here immediately, but it is very much a question of priority. Folks who are chasing an early religion simply won’t have time to give this an early look, and warmongers are going to want to know where the copper and horses are before they commit to something like this, so Pottery as a tech to lead with appeals to a fairly small subset of players (and is only possible with a fairly small subset of Civs…only the Egyptians, French, Japanese and Ottomans can even contemplate taking this tech first). If a focus on economic development is your game, then this may well be the Tech of choice for you. Otherwise, while it will no doubt be important, it is unlikely to be first.
Animal Husbandry
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Reqs = Agriculture OR Hunting
One of the two techs that warmongers are likely to gravitate toward, this tech can also draw a significant number of supporters from the peaceful development crowd, especially if those peaceful expanders find themselves with animals inside their workable city radius that can benefit from a Pasture. This makes Husbandry a very influential leading tech, even if somewhat at the mercy of the luck of the land lotto draw (you’re more likely to research it if you have tiles that can benefit immediately). It’s useful in a wide variety of situations and for a wide range of strategies, making it quite a popular leading tech (assuming of course, you’re playing a Civ that has one or both of its pre-reqs). About the only folks who wouldn’t at least consider opening in this fashion would be those pursuing an early religion or a slingshot/wonder gambit.
Archery
Level 2 Tech
89 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Hunting
Seldom seen as a leading tech. During “The Window” phase of the game, you have scant need of the added protection that Archers can provide, and given the relative safety of the extreme early game, there’s seldom a practical use for heading off in this direction (a dead-end branch of the tech tree). It’s a good enough supporting tech, and it can be a godsend if you discover that you have neither horses nor copper, but I can think of few situations where I’d naturally gravitate toward Archery as my first pick.
Meditation
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mysticism
An inferior first choice (in my opinion) if you’re shooting for an early religion, but a fine first choice if you’re planning for a slingshot and are looking for a cost-effective way to get to Writing. The AI (especially Spain) loves to make this tech a priority (cos we all know that the Spanish are historically known for their Buddhist leanings), so don’t be at all surprised if you get beaten to the free religion for the tech’s first discoverer, but odds are, having read this work, if you want an early religion, you’ll try for Polytheism anyway….
Polytheism
Level 2 Tech
149 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mysticism
An infinitely superior (if slightly more expensive) first choice if you’re gunning for an early religion. With the AI’s attention generally so focused on Meditation, if you maximize your commerce, you can (about 9 times in 10, on Monarch level) walk away with a shiny new religion if you so choose. If you’re not looking for an early religion, you’re likely to ignore this tech completely until the middle ages, and then, you’ll probably trade for it, rather than research it. Very definitely an on again/off again tech.
Masonry
Level 2 Tech
119 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mining
If you have your sights set on a wonder and want/need to make early use of stone or marble, or if your early religious strategy is centered around Judaism, Masonry may hold a good bit of appeal for you, however, it should be noted that the various slingshots are wildly popular, and some of the slingshot variants make use of early Prophets to gain key techs. In these cases, Masonry works explicitly against the overall plan, and as such, acts as a draw away from the tech in general. Not terribly popular as an opening tech. On the other hand, nobody tries for Judaism right away, so even on the harder difficulty levels you stand a reasonably good shot at picking this religion up….
Bronze Working
Level 2 Tech
179 Beakers to Research
Pre-Req = Mining
The most expensive, most powerful tech in the Ancient Age, Bronze holds the keys to Axemen, Copper, Spearmen (with Hunting), Slavery, and Chop. It is a masterpiece of a tech, and available as a first pick for anybody who starts with Mining (which is a fair number of Civs). The only reason it might not make a good starting tech is that there may be a better, more practical tech choice out there (something that increases food counts, for example), but no worries…sooner or later—and probably sooner--everybody’s going to venture down this part of the tech tree.
Personally, I like leading with Bronze, because it lets me know straight away where the copper is, which I find to be invaluable when planning my second city, but depending on your aims and goals, this may or may not be so important as to tie up your research for ~20 turns (which is a significant portion of “The Window”).
coming in the next installment….Exploration….and your Second City….
Comment