Seven Pillars of Wisdom

[vmxa1]

Most likely.

[Barinthus]

This is a terrific thread. It's now bookmarked

[Theseus]

Originally posted by ducki
Hey, it's been 3 months, man. Still stand by(on) your Pillars?

Yep, I certainly do.

More than just in the context of C3C, though. In the time between when I originally wrote this and now, we've had more AU games, especially 501, the PTWDG and the ISDG, extensive analysis and discussion with Firaxis / Breakaway of various aspects of the game in re C3C and thepatches, etc.

If anything, it makes me further stress the importance of the Infrastructure Requirements as the foundation for everything else (see the edit I've added to #6), but that still, building is not winning ( let's just think about that one, shall we?).

[Aqualung71]

Thanks for bumping this thread ducki - I'd never read it before.

Theseus, a great read. Good stuff. Wonderful macro view of the game. While all still appropriate and relevant, I wonder whether some of the details can now be expanded with some C3C lessons learned from AU501.

[ducki]

If you haven't already done it, everything Theseus has linked from the "Must Read THreads" at the top really is.
Must read, that is.

This one is one of my favorites.

[Aqualung71]

DP - Aarrrrgghhh!!!!

[Aqualung71]

Yes, I've read some of them - heaps of great stuff there. Some info is out of date of course, but the general strategy ones are great. Also a great reminder of how much you've learned since you first started playing Civ3! Scary to think how much of my life was taken up in that learning process!

[BigFree]

Nice thoughts on the game Theseus.

[kiurkugord]

what does beeline philo to get tech mean?

[1889]

Originally posted by kiurkugord
what does beeline philo to get tech mean?

Researching to Philosophy as fast as you can so you get it first. In Conquests the first person to research Philosophy gets his next Tech free.

[kiurkugord]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by joncnunn
The 0% (+1 scientist) is an Emperor / Diety tactic only.

It makes no sense on the lower levels, where it's easy to get a branch lead even in the anicnt era.

Things are different on the Emperor level, where the AI has a 20% science edge. You can't possibly consitantly outresearch the AI until your Forbiden Palace is complete at this level. The techs that you can ourreserach the AI to are off the main branches of reserach and can be done in the 40 turns.

Which are these techs?
iron working ?!


In the Ancient Era, set the scince breaker as low as you can such that you still have one beaker, and pick the most expensive tech.

let's say ,set the beaker to 10%?
some expensive tech like what?

Peroidaclly check in with other AIs to buy every tech as it comes adviable.

the trouble is that at emperor at the beginning when i try with the first contacts to buy some tech ,they won't sell me anything or at a huge gpt !!!!


Tech whore both techs that you buy from an AI and the ones you get for 40 beakers. (If there's few enough AIs: Polythesism & Monarchy are the best candidates for this.)

easier said then done!

[Terra Nullius]

Originally posted by kiurkugord
Which are these techs?

it really depends. different civs have different research priorities. generally if they can get a wonder or uu, they will prioritise those techs.

a civ that starts with masonry and has access to ivory will go after mathematics. a civ that starts with alphabet will probably go for the great library.

in the ancient age, the branches are
- construction
- currency
- republic
- monarchy
the "main branches of research" can change from game to game. jon goes on to propose the monarchy branch. i normally find that branch is very popular and i can't out-research the ai there. however, i can often beat them to currency, so i may choose that instead.

try to avoid a set formula like, every time i start the game i bee-line to philo. look around and see what is happening. ok, so you'll make some mistakes. wouldn't be any fun if you always knew exactly the right thing to do before you even started a game.

the trouble is that at emperor at the beginning when i try with the first contacts to buy some tech ,they won't sell me anything or at a huge gpt !!!!

ok firstly, at emperor level, it is normal to start out behind the ai. most people will not be able to overtake the ai until the industrial age. as the great bw points out it's about breaking the cycle. at the start, you will be stuck playing catch-up. you then have to do stuff to leverage yourself into a position where you have the opportunity to break that cycle.

i know how you feel about the "huge gpt" deals. it seems like they are asking for a fortune just for the sake of being nasty. however, if you play around with your research slider, you can see that researching a tech will cost just as much as buying it.

if it makes you feel any better, see if you can bargain them down a bit. overall however, every tech has a price. if they pay 400 gold to research something, they're not going to sell it to you for 10 gpt. it comes back to pillar #6 - making the best use of the tiles under your control. if you do that properly, you can afford to buy techs, if not, you need to spend more time looking at how you use your tiles.

easier said then done!

yeah, jon is a very experienced player and makes it all seem so effortless.
tech trading is a tricky skill to master. i think it is also a difficult one to write about. something that is a good trade in one situation may turn out to be disastrous in a different setting.
i really think you need to give yourself time to experiment. go ahead and make some mistakes or you'll never really learn.

generally, at emperor level, the ancient age is way too early to be looking at getting a tech lead.
i recommend paying attention to pillar #6, get the most out of your tiles. building up a strong tech position follows from that.

[kiurkugord]

once(but only one time ;never succeded in doing that again!) i managed to get (through writing,alphabet and literature) the great library first and in that occasion i managed even to stay ahead of the others for a while.......
maybe to achieve the great library first is the only way to stay ahead in the ancient age or what do you think?
as i usually play with the germans i tried even for a ultra early archers rush but with little or no success at all!
not to mention the barbarians that are much stronger then they are at inferior levels and more than once have ruined my tactics!!!!

ps
i'm talking about civ3 not conquest where the one who gets philo gets a tech for free!

[kiurkugord]

in one of the rules of the seven pillars it's written that is not advisable to set research to 0%, also if to buy tech from the others civ may be less expensive or similar;but i ask myself how can one apply that to emperor, when if i try to keep the research to the maximum i can't obviously put money on luxury for maintaining the happiness of people(which is a very sensitive thing at emperor)withou losing money,and the riots won't be late unless i haven't built temple and similar(which would take me away time from producing granary for example or some more settler or worker for REX!!!!
I'm waiting for reply.............

[Modo44]

Originally posted by kiurkugord
in one of the rules of the seven pillars it's written that is not advisable to set research to 0%, also if to buy tech from the others civ may be less expensive or similar;but i ask myself how can one apply that to emperor

It applies up to Demigod for all I know. I did not try Deity. The idea is to get that one tech before the AI, and use it to strip them of all (or most) of their cash. Then the next tech you sell them will make them lower research for sure, and you win (just keep selling and use the money well). Now, if you happen to buy a tech (any tech) at a high price, you inevitably fuel the top AI's research, and let them stay ahead of you that much longer. You might be able to get away with it once or twice, but the more cash you give them, the less chance of ever getting back in the race. In general, it is better to research your way to the point where you can start selling techs.

By the way, the idea is to keep research as high as possible, but that does not always meen 100%. If you need the lux slider then use it (while trying to get more luxuries, of course).

Or, you can just go on a killing frenzy all the way, doing no research but extorting things. But you would not be asking about tech trades in that case, I presume.