What will be a good technology development route?

[eddieeddie]

I always try to found to religions first and build the Oracle and the Pyramid. Is that an acceptable way? then what's the next? I usually don't know...

[Sabre2th]

It depends on a number of factors. Your intended strategy should be the driving force, which is affected by your starting location and neighbors. You'll also want to take into account your unique unit and difficulty level.

I typically play on Noble (I find it more fun than trying to claw my way out of a hole every game). If I start with Mysticism, I'll generally make a grab for Hinduism, then I get relevant worker techs and make a beeline for Iron Working (I never seem to get copper nearby?) and/or Alphabet for the tech trading advantage.

If I have stone or marble easily accessible, I might try to grab one or more early wonders, but I generally don't bother with them unless I already have a significant advantage or if a high production city is sitting idle.

Where I go from there really depends on my neighbors and my mood. If I feel like cracking a few skulls, I'll aim for cavalry and rifleman and milk that advantage as long as possible. More often, I'll get more development-related techs and beeline for Liberalism.

If it looks like I can avoid wars for a while, I'll grab my worker techs like I said before and then aim for a later Religion, but I've found that can sometimes leave me with my pants down if I misjudge my neighbors.

[eddieeddie]

Once when I started, there was a civ that was very closed to me, and I sent my warrior into there territory and declared on war, then grab their worker. One more worker would be quite different at the beginning of the game. But sometimes AI doesn't make worker first.

[Dauphin]

If you're going to build the Oracle, make it worthwhile by using it to grab Civil Service or Feudalism. You have to bee-line for Code of Laws or Monarchy to pull it off and build Oracle in time though.

[eluciv]

I always make sure I have mining and bronze right away and hopefully get bronze in my second (or first if lucky) city. That city will build the Oracle and allow me to build the axes I'll need to keep the barbs a nonfactor. Then pottery on the way to writing, then the religious branch up to priesthood and finally code of laws. Allows me the slingshot at least 3/4 of the time. If not, 3/4 of that time I'll start a new game.

After that, if it's a land map and neigbors are close, I emphesize shields and head to machinery for the macemen. Then wreak havoc until longbows start defending CPU cities. Object here is to take or raze 2 or 3 towns at a time and then make peace, always trying to attack the strongest CPU opponent (sometimes not feasible). I also go for the Great Prophet in the Oracle city, make the holy city and spread religion. Helps keep the economy afloat.

If water and mostly isolated, I try to get optics first, circumnavigate and then head to liberalism and pick astronomy for the good trade. This usually makes for a space victory almost all the time.

I usually place on Prince. Monarch still raises my blood pressure too much...

[eddieeddie]

I am confused when I go to the city screen. You can add people like scientists or artists, I am not sure how it works. I usually get great persons quick at the beginning but no more later. I see other civs cities get great persons all the time. How can I make it faster and more??

[Badtz Maru]

If you click on a square that's being worked by a population point from the city screen, that population point will appear on the right side of the screen as a specialist. Usually, they will appear as a generic laborer (a guy with white clothes) which adds one production. You hardly ever use these guys, as they don't contribute great person points and they don't do much, but if you have a city that has NO production capability and a lot of food, you can get some production out of these guys if there's nothing better you can do.

Once you got guys off the map and on the right side of your city screen, you can move them into different roles by clicking the pluses and minuses next to them. If there's no plus next to a slot, that means you can't make a specialist of that type. Unless you are using Caste System, you usually need buildings of some type to have specialists in your cities - temples for priest specialists, libraries for scientist specialists, theaters for artists, etc.

[eddieeddie]

Thank you guys~~~now I am much more clear.

[Magnus60]

I think there really is no answer as to the best tech tree progression. It depends on what is happening to you in the game. If you are constantly at war with your neighbors you will want the military techs. If you are at peace and want to stay that way you will want to develop more arts and government techs. By the middle of the game you will absolutely be responding to the situation so whatever you planned probably doesn't matter.

Having said that, I have made one observation. I see that several people here like to be the founder of a new religion. I used to do that but now usually (not always) avoid that. The reason is that if you found Judaism first while your neighbors do Hinduism and Buddhism, you will find they are automatically hostile and you have problems all the way to the industrial age. However, if you ignore religion and concentrate on other techs, their religions will come right across the border and you can convert to the same religion and conversely have new friends and allies! It's nice in the larger games when three or four of you have the same religion. So, I make the argument that unless you plan to get one of the first three religions and then spread it agressively to your neighbors, you do not need to make it a top priority. I still go after them at some point because I like the wonders, but you do not need to make it a priority...at least with my strategy.

One more caveat is if you find yourself isolated on an island and want to get a religion to do organized religion or theocracy it might be wothwhile. By the time you realize that your probably up for Confucianism.

[Prussia]

Magnus, your strategy is only opportune if you are in a REALLY good position with a REALLY good military and a REALLY good economy that does not need production or commerce bonuses from religion.

[Magnus60]

That's not really true. I'm not saying that I completely avoid religions. There are too many good things tied to them to ignore them completely. I'm just saying that I do not make it a priority to get a new religion first. If I have a spiritual leader where I start with a leg up on the tech tree, then I might go ahead and snag one early on. However, once I do that I also make it a priority to try and spread it to one of my neighbors, like the ones with open borders where I can send in missionaries. I would also want Organized Religion as soon as possible to freely build missionaries which I consider a high priority unit in this case.

My point is that religion does not HAVE to be a priority in my strategic thinking. It will always come to you unless you are on a remote island. It also almost a guarantee that when it comes to you you will have at least one friendly neighbor with the same faith, often more than one. What does everyone else think?

[Prussia]

I guess it doesn't have to be a priority, but it also depends on the circumstances, such as getting stranded on an island would REQUIRE you to found one.