Ways too keep up with the comp in research if you remain peacefull

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Theseus
Ooooh yeah.... do the Dog Pile.

That's not just for the tech leader, but for the ANYTHING leader. Too much land, too good land, top GNP, top pop, any of the above... get those red lines going.

(Very much in line with my rep, thank you very much )

hey!

DP is not = as PP

[Panag]

Re: Ways too keep up with the comp in research if you remain peacefull

Originally posted by Uber Warrior
Ok I tried a building game and basiclly found I got raped on tech even when I had the sci bar on 90% the ENTIRE game. Oh well post away

hi ,

extort tech's , or go to war and ask for techs in the peace deal , .....

have a nice day

[Killazer]

easy, dont spend anything on sience or keep it at 10% then use the cash to buy/trade techs with the AI civs. If you can build some boats and make first contacts you can get TONS of techs by trading communications. This is actually absolutely essential if you find yourself isolated on an island.. need to beeline to map making or you will fall way behind the AI civs because they are trading techs.

Alsol, in order to keep the AI from bugging you, since you will have equal tech with them, you need to maintain a large military.

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Killazer
easy, dont spend anything on sience or keep it at 10% then use the cash to buy/trade techs with the AI civs.
Alsol, in order to keep the AI from bugging you, since you will have equal tech with them, you need to maintain a large military.

You have to be careful with this approach. I you buy too many techs, specially from 1 or 2 civs only, they can increase their tech research (i.e. less turns to research). Then you will spend your gold more quickly to buy new techs, which will allow the other civ to research even faster....
After a while, you'll fall behind in techs since you don't have gold enough to pay for the latest techs.
Don't forget the civ will also sell the tech you just bought to other civs, and get still more gold.
And you created a KAI.

Of course, a big military means you have less gold to pay for techs...

[vmxa1]

Well hopefully you buy the tech on your turn and you sell it to recover your cost and maybe make a bit.

[Quasar1011]

Skip some techs

Some techs can be skipped. Don't have access to saltpeter and horses, and neither is near enough to take in a war? Then skip military tradition. Good strong defensive units like infantrymen can slow down and stop cavalry if you get into a war. Same with chivalry if you can't acquire iron + horses. If you don't need marines, skip amphibious war. Somebody beat you to building Shakespeare's Theatre? Then skip free artistry.
Also skip researching government types you do not plan to use. If you do not build a big navy, consider skipping navigation, and go for magnetism instead. Since advanced flight gives you only paratroopers and helicopters, you might be able to skip that tech too. You may even be able to skip ecology and genetics in the modern era.

Another way to acquire techs is to acquire luxury resources. Sometimes if you ask a civ what will they offer for wine, they may throw in a tech that you don't have.

Once you have acquired a good world map, sell yours often, even every time diplomacy is conducted. Some civ may toss in a tech you skipped, just to get the complete world map. That happens not infrequently.

Also, a civ might offer a tech to entice you into signing a MPP with them, though this is an unreliable way to gain techs.

Finally, learn the cheat codes

[cumi]

Hi

Hi,

I would like to suggest you something, what I've experienced or learned (here). I also play at Regend level and I also suck sometimes. I think, your playing stile is like mines, so the tipps could be useful...

1.) Play with a commercial civ. Simply, because you don't loos so much money. I am mostly playing with France or Carthago. They are industrios, too.

2.) In the beginning explore the territory, maybe you get some techs from the barbarian tribes.

3.) I play very peaceful, I attack my neighbour only, when I need more space to expand.

4.) Build the Great Library, to get the techs, that you don't want to research. My tech queue looks like the following: Writing, Literature, Mathematics, Currency... I never go for Wheel or Bronze working etc. I get all those techs, when my GL is finished. In the meantime try to contact civs as much as possible and trade techs with them, because the AI is trading them anyway, so you will be behind, if you are not present at the "world tech trade market".

5.) Later sell techs! Sell a tech to a civ first, who is the strongest. This tipp is very usefull, because, when you sell a tech, the first buyer civ is offering the most for it (so it's BAD for them)! Sometimes an AI civ is only 1 tech behind me, but for that single tech it offers EVERYTHING (few luxuries, some techs, about 200gpt etc). After such a deals, my tech slider is on 100%, because I get so much money from other civs. Of cource, you will not get so much in the beginning, but you have to trade at the beginning of the game, too. You have to build on the good relationship, so later the AI civ will have a TRUST is you.

6.) Sell luxuries! Later you will also get a lot of techs and/or gpt-s for luxuries. In the early game, maybe you will get a useless World Map for a lux., but the buyer civ will be very dependent (like hard drogs) on your lux. and will offer everithing for it, just to avoid disorders.

Sometimes I also have few "luck" in my Regent games. If I am on a continent with only 2 AI (technologically not very advanced - looser) civs, I can not do any good deals. Then I explore the second continent, where I meet 6 other civs and realize that they are all far more advanced then we are. In these cases it's very difficult to catch-up.

I think I am not very experienced civ player. I play mostly for fun and I want to win, so I play on lower diff levels, like Regent or even Warlord. I got these tipps here in the Apolyton forum and they really helped me to emprove my score...

[cumi]

...almost forgot about the Newton's University and Copernicus Observatory wonders. They double the science output of the city where it was built...

The Smith's an the Wall Street wonders has almost the highest priority for me. You need them for money. For each of them, you can move your tech slider one step higher....

And finally...Of course the Libraries, Universities and Banks (later the Stock Exchanges) are also a MUST in every city... But, I think this is not an issue for you....

[cumi]

You wrote that your slider is on 90% almost all the time. This doesn't means, that you will research faster. It means only, that you spend the 90% of your INCOME on the science! If you have a huge income (and lot of scientific improvements) you can even let it on 60%.

This was really my last Reply..

[inca911]

A couple missing catch-up strategies

Remember to research techs that the computer does not typically research! You can then trade that "fresh" tech to others and catch up on the ones you've missed. If you continually research techs that your AI opponents already have, you lose the great advantage of trading. To me, this is the most important path to tech parity. I only play on Emperor with an occasional Deity game thrown in from time to time so I know what it's like to be behind in tech. I typically win 4/5 Emperor games, and have only won a couple of times on Deity (aided by great starts).

Also, don't be afraid to dump a fair amount of gpt to get a tech that you are missing. Later game, 30gpt is nothing. You don't even have to move the science slider to make up for it.

[Quasar1011]

Re: A couple missing catch-up strategies

Originally posted by inca911
Also, don't be afraid to dump a fair amount of gpt to get a tech that you are missing. Later game, 30gpt is nothing.

I agree. Let's say it's early game and you can get to a tech in 7 turns, gaining 6GPT. Or, you can get the tech in 6 turns, losing 6GPT. Now think of it this way: 6 GPT x 6 turns = 36 gold. If you can make 36 gold before you gain the tech, you have broken even. But you stand a good chance of adjusting your slider on the last turn before you discover the tech, possibly gaining most or all of that 36 gold. Think outside the box!

[Gravity Happens]

Libraries and universities man. Thats it. Period.

[Panag]

Originally posted by Gravity Happens
Libraries and universities man. Thats it. Period.

hi ,

dont forget the great lib and newton's univ

have a nice day

[Gen.Dragolen]

Well I must have some upity AI Civ opponents then: in every game at the higher difficulty levels, the AI Civ's refuse to trade at all.

Good thing you can almost keep up by going after the Theory of Evolution wonder. However, I've found that it is impossible to compete against 5 or 6 other civs of greater size/power who are all researching and sharing advances. Expecially when you are stuck not being able to conquer them earlier in the game.

And at this point epsionage would be useful, if it worked. I have yet to succeed in reliably placing a spy or stealing a tech. Espionage is a great way to start wars, but that's about it.

The curious thing is that the AI usually doesn't build things like libraries and universities until late in the game. Even civs like the Babylonians who are supposed to be scientific will go for wonders or cathedrals long before a university. I usually try to build them in the largest cities as soon as I can, even spending a lot of gold to finish the work a few turns early. Using civs like the Egyptians, it makes late game culture flipping a definite possibility, and has grabbed some cities for me that I couldn't get to with troops.

D.