This was kinda wierd

[Smash]

Last night I was horsing around with a SP game(in between trying to figure out the mess that is my taxes) and the Carth's did something I hadn't seen before.I allied with them and for the longest time they had nothing to trade.I decided to see what the deal was and set up an embassy.They were researching NONE.It stayed like that until 18 something when they finally started up again and went for seafaring.Something like 1200 years they were researching none.getting the odd tech from other ais and myself.And they did not build a huge treasury either.

It felt like playing Makeo after he gets Mono cept they didn't rushbuild a million crusaders.

ever see the ai "shutdown" science like this?

[War4ever]

yes i have noticed this weird feat as well although i didn't monitor it like you did.... i thought maybe they traded for the tech the were researching and it didn't reset to the new one.... but sure enough next turn it was still none.... never spent the resources on figuring out why... i leave that to the intelligent players like Xin

[Sivro]

I've noticed this with small civs (1 or 2 cities). Maybe they aren't producing any beakers?

[Smash]

ya i first thought they were producing no beakers because of location but, no, they had 15+ cities,one of which I overlapped and could see a worker on water.

[Sivro]

Maybe they were in despotism with no capital? My theory is that if their science is very slow (500 turns for example), then your embassy shows that they are researching "nothing". I don't know the number of research turns that would cause this phenomenon. Also, I don't have proof that this is what's happening. It's just the only thing I can think of that fits.

[Smash]

no thats not it but would explain some examples though.When I set up the embassy they were reseaching some backward tech.When they got it they shut down.Map trades revealed Carthage in Carthaginian hands.Embassy confirmed existance of capitol.I had gifted Monarchy and they made the switch.

I now think it was the deity ai leaving the closest civ to me weak and easy to conquer.That is exactly what happened as I approached space flight.Spain roled them in less than 10 turns.It was a large,very watery world and the Carth landmass was the only thing close that I didnt control.