How to climb the tech tree in alliances?

[Carolus Rex]

How do you coordinate research in alliances?

Do you go for the same branch and the one who gets a tech first offers it as a gift to the other player? Then both players choose the same tech again (if possible) and now the player with accumulated beakers gets it first and offers it as a gift to the first one and so on.

Or do you research completely different paths according to your roles in the alliance? The warhorse go for certain techs, the science guru for others and then techs are traded when useful or needed?

Which way is the most efficient?

Carolus

[Smash]

I like leapfrogging at first.Monarchy and Trade are my usual goals.After that it can be wide open.

One can go for military tech while other goes for religious or academic goals.

It really depends.Is the Great Library going to come into play?What wonders should the alliance try for?Is there a counter alliance?Do they have a specific goals?

[War4ever]

I like the research the same tech trick. This generally allows for the other ally to put his beakers to a new tech once its been gifted.

The only problem with this is that occassionally you will both research the same tech and get it at the same time making gifting a timing thing.

Of course the Great Library counters this greatly especially if your rivals are close behind.

[cavebear]

I've tried it both ways and the are advantages and disadvantages to each.

With simultaneous research, you can "leapfrog" each other. But, eventually, you don't get the same choices of new techs. And you can find you are both locked into one tech when you need a different one suddenly.

With parallel research, one partner is usually slower than the other and that can cause problems too. Sometimes it is useful to slow your tech rate down for some immediate benefit, and your partner might really need that tech you were researching.

[Tizzy]

I prefer to have one partner researching military techs, and the other (more practised in high science rates) to discover the others.
It's very important to build the Great Library for this type of strategy though, unless you want to be giving away your techs every time you trade.