early tech path strategies

[Dis]

in the other thread I mention the techs I go for. Perhaps I'm making a mistake. I never build wonders such as the oracle and great library. Is this hurting me?

I start off by going for an early religion. I play at a level I can do this. Usually Poly (hinduism). Then go for hunting and archery so I can defend my cities. Then I research worker techs such as masonry, pottery, wheel, agriculture, animal husbandry. And techs such as bronze working. I get scared if I can't find bronze and iron early. As the barbs scare me. Though I often build the great wall. Sometimes I make the mistake of building the great wall, only to realize by the time it's built, the ai has expanded over to me and barbs aren't a threat anyways.

What are some alternative early research paths?

[ZEE]

i usually go straight for bronze. i get expensive techs because thats leads to a bigger score which leads to me being above the A.I. on the stupid chart. and that makes me feel good... i dont build wonders either. except when i need money and i know i wont get the wonder and when someone else gets it before me i will get str8 up cash for it so i get the expensive techs like writing, bronze. i also get my "worker" techs first like agriculture and mining. what good is bronze if you cant mine it. well thats what i do anywayz. pottery is good too...

[Dominae]

Re: early tech path strategies

Originally posted by Dis
I start off by going for an early religion. I play at a level I can do this. Usually Poly (hinduism).

That's fine, just make sure that your first Worker has something to do by the time it's ready to go.

Then go for hunting and archery so I can defend my cities. Then I research worker techs such as masonry, pottery, wheel, agriculture, animal husbandry.

I think this is a mistake. Even with Raging Barbs on there's time to research the tile improvement techs before moving to Archery to defend yourself. They don't threaten you before then, so you can make do with just Warriors. I usually wait until after Bronze Working or Animal Husbandry to go for Archery, and then only if I don't have either Copper or Horses. By prioritizing the tile improvements techs first you're in a much better position to defend yourself whatever units you decide to build.

Masonry is pretty useless if you don't have Marble/Stone, and even then a simple Mine provides almost the same number of Hammers. I usually just skip it in favor of Food techs or Bronze Working unless I need the Quarry to build a Wonder.

The Wheel you can actually delay, too, unless you've got some Flood Plains you want to put Cottages on right away. Usually it's just better for the Worker to move around without Roads than spend time building them. Other than the Pottery case I just mentioned, I'll only research it once I'm about to build military units (assuming the resource is not already on my trade network via rivers).

One final thing to remember is the research boost you get when researching a tech that you know all the OR-prerequisites for. If you need both techs eventually then often it's worth researching them in the right order before moving on the the more expensive one (unless you think you can do without one of them before Alphabet).

And techs such as bronze working. I get scared if I can't find bronze and iron early. As the barbs scare me. Though I often build the great wall. Sometimes I make the mistake of building the great wall, only to realize by the time it's built, the ai has expanded over to me and barbs aren't a threat anyways.

The Great Wall is really only good on large maps with few civs, or with Raging Barbs on. Barbs only spawn under grey/black tiles, so a good network of Warriors on high ground is sufficient to defend your first few cities. After that a Chariot or two is all you need to repel the invaders.

[Dis]

that's another thing. I think I delay building a worker too long. I often build 2 settlers first and then a defender, then a worker. sometimes a worker before a defender. or sometimes I only build 1 settler.

this is a holdover from civ3 days of REX. But I still think getting that 2nd city up first is a winner for me. But I think a lot of it depends on how good a site that 2nd city is in. That 2nd city often ends up being a better city in many regards than my capitol.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Dis
that's another thing. I think I delay building a worker too long. I often build 2 settlers first and then a defender, then a worker. sometimes a worker before a defender. or sometimes I only build 1 settler.

Try Worker-first for a while, and adjust your tech choices accordingly. It's not always the best opener, but it's much stronger than Settler-first, IMO.

[couerdelion]

Perhaps you can tell me what civ you are playing with. The tech path is heavily influenced by this (and terrain)

[Tattila the Hun]

Originally posted by AAHZ
what good is bronze if you cant mine it.

I spot a logical fallacy here...

[ZEE]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun


I spot a logical fallacy here...

hey i was drunk when i wrote that

[Dis]

hehe, didn't notice that.

That's one thing I should play around with. Trying different strategies. I tend to play too many of my games the "same". I try to be flexible with early tech paths, but generally they end up similar.

[couerdelion]

Are you going to tell us which civ you are (and perhaps also the typical game set-up (difficulty level/map/settings)

[AshenPlanet]

.

I'll usually go worker first, if I'm playing a civ that has a starting tech that a worker could use on one of the capitol's squares.
If there aren't any workable squares, then I'll go settler first.
In almost every situation the first build will be either a boat, a worker, or a settler.

For research, I like to push for an early religion, and if I can't get hinduism, I'll keep going to judaism.
Even for spirituals, hindu is hard to get on emperor, but you can always get judaism.
Whichever one I get is followed by taking husbandry, and look for horses; if none, then bronze and look for copper.
If I have neither, then I'll research iron, and pray.
Ideally, if I found horses, then I often just go straight to alphabet from there.

For things that I have in my starting cities, like deer, pig, wheat, corn, etc. I will research that appropriate tech before running to alphabet.
I will always get wheel asap regardless of what I have, but otherwise, I don't waste time for agri, hunting, pots, archery, etc.
I'll get all those when I get alphabet anyway.

.

[Dis]

my civ varies. I like to play Elizabeth alot. But not always. I do best with her, but i like vary things a little bit and offer more challenge. Noble level. Standard map. usually epic or marathon speed. And usually fractal, sometimes continents. Lately I have been playing with tech trading off, but I may put it back on soon. The problem is I do worse with tech trading on, because the ai doesn't seem to want to trade techs with me often.

[kiky]

If I have fishing and seafood, I would start with boat. Other than that almost always start with worker while researching to Bronze.
After Bronze, use the worker to chop settler/worker/axe.

The rest after that depends on terrain and leader.

Below Monarch, I always try to get Oracle and GLibrary. On monarch, I go Military first.

[kiky]

Tech trading gets better if you play with more civ.
Recently, I play on small map (4 AIs) and only have 1-2 trading partner.

[Dis]

I'll post a screenshot. This game did not end up well. The aztecs expanded like crazy. And they got feudalism very fast. tech trading is off. noble difficulty. small map. epic speed. continents.

This longbowmen wasn't in the city the turn before. Obviously he pop rushed him. I really didn't bring enough troops anyways. I wanted to see if I could sneak in and get his capitol. But that's not going to happen. Even without the longbowmen, I wouldn't have gotten it. Those jaguars were defending pretty good as well.

Why is it when I play a peaceful civ I always start next to Monty or Toku? Every single game it's like this. I'm tired of the random civs in this game. I never start next to anyone peaceful. Never.