With 1 turn left, switching tax/science.

[Sava]

I've been using this strategy for a while. With 1 turn left in tech research, I play with the tax/science slider bar. I'll see how much I can give back to tax while still having 1 turn left for the research. If I am researching at a high rate, I've found that I can go down almost to 20% or 30% while still maintaining the 1 turn. This is a good way to get a little bit more money out of your taxes. After discovering the tech, I reset the tech slider. Basically, this is a clever way to get more money without disrupting your tech progress. Anyone else do this? Comment.

[nbarclay]

No offense, but it's an old and well-known trick. Still, it's nice to have such things brought up occasionally for those who haven't been around long enough to see all the old and well-known tricks.

[Wazell]

That's a good strategy. I do it with every tech, and in certain situations this change can amount to as much as 50 gold per advance. If in real milking mood, I better check that slider in every turn, like starting at 70%, next turn checking and seeing that I can get that tech within same time but only 60% in science, so I can increase taxes, and come back later to see the slider again. This fiddling only amounts to a couple of gold pieces, though, and could get a bit too tedious. But overall this is probably the easiest way to raise some cash for free, so it's warmly recommended to everyone.

[Konquest02]

I think it's better to check two or three turns before tech completion. The reason: Sometimes, I have to research at 10% and will still get the tech in 1 turn. That means that even with the lowest research possible (apart from scientists), there is still waste. you can prevent this by looking a couple of turns before you discover the tech.

You can do the same thing with production, but do not try this on a huge map, as it will soon become micromanagement hell! Everytime a city grows, zoom on it and rearrange the loborers to get maximum (insert what you want here, production, food, commerce, etc...) I have begun to do this and it can make or break the early game in the higher levels...

--Kon--

[Dominae]

If you're really keeping track of your Commerce, you can start pulling your Science slider back 2 and 3 turns in advance and save even more Gold than you would if you only do it on the last turn before a tech research is done. Thankfully this is only useful in the early-game, where the calculations are easy and the additional Gold may actually make a difference.


Dominae

[Sava]

Originally posted by nbarclay
No offense, but it's an old and well-known trick. Still, it's nice to have such things brought up occasionally for those who haven't been around long enough to see all the old and well-known tricks.

Checking my own register date...

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Dominae
If you're really keeping track of your Commerce, you can start pulling your Science slider back 2 and 3 turns in advance and save even more Gold than you would if you only do it on the last turn before a tech research is done. Thankfully this is only useful in the early-game, where the calculations are easy and the additional Gold may actually make a difference.

Does pulling back research earlier rather than later really make any difference unless you complete one or more libraries, universities, and/or research labs in the meantime? If you complete science structures, there's a chance doing more of your research later rather than earlier can reduce the total amount of gold needed to research a tech. But otherwise, I don't see how it would matter on average; you'd have to do some serious analysis to figure out whether cutting research by a small amount earlier or a larger amount later will do better in a particular case.

Nathan

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by Dominae
If you're really keeping track of your Commerce, you can start pulling your Science slider back 2 and 3 turns in advance and save even more Gold than you would if you only do it on the last turn before a tech research is done. Thankfully this is only useful in the early-game, where the calculations are easy and the additional Gold may actually make a difference.

Dominae

Yep. Keeping track of how much you've put in is a good way to make a few extra GPs. You can usually fiddle with the slider and your commerce levels a bit and pinpoint exactly how many beakers you need to get the tech.

I'll usually wait until later to pull back on research for the reasons that Nathan brought up.

[nbarclay]

By the way, in a government where I can rush with gold, if I can do four-turn research with a surplus, I'll often pull back my research as early as possible to get gold for rushing buildings sooner.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by nbarclay
But otherwise, I don't see how it would matter on average; you'd have to do some serious analysis to figure out whether cutting research by a small amount earlier or a larger amount later will do better in a particular case.

It does not matter on average. But if you're willing to do it (which I sometimes am), you can save yourself small amonts of Gold. No big deal, but it's worth pointing out.

And, by the way, for this to work you do no need to have Libraries and such built in the meantime, or even cities to grow. The way the game rounds Science/Tax/Luxury it is sometimes impossible to complete a tech dead-on Beaker-wise unless you fiddle with the sliders a few turns in advance.


Dominae

[Don Giovanni]

The fact that other civs are researching the same tech, would also have to enter the calculation somehow, I believe !? I could be wrong, though

[cumi]

You can do the same thing with production, but do not try this on a huge map, as it will soon become micromanagement hell! Everytime a city grows, zoom on it and rearrange the loborers to get maximum (insert what you want here, production, food, commerce, etc...) I have begun to do this and it can make or break the early game in the higher levels...

I am actually doing this.

I am checking almost every turn, what is the situation in my cities, how many unhappy people will I have, when I let the city grow. Improving the terrain around the city is also a function of that.

Later, I just simply memorize, the max city size number - for the current luxury, temples etc situation - when there is no civil disorder.

I am also trying to save money, with the slider, especially at the beginning of the game. Later can be also very usefull, when there is a need for buying an improvement or upgrading the military. I am not using the upgrade of the units, but sometimes when suddenly someone attacks me, I need an up-to-date and modern army ASAP.

I use micromanagement, because I'm afraid my macromanagement skills are stil not good enough.

cumi

[rush]

Somewhat related to this topic is, how to built units (eg Airport) on the same turn that the Technology (Flight) is researched.

1. On the turn when the Technology is researched, I would choose "See the Big Picture" to view the Tech tree
2. Then I would flip over to the City Screen
3. Click the cities that I want to change production to Airport. I can also rush production in some cities.
4. Success. On the same turn Flight is researched, I have several Airports built that I can make use of.

[Eli]

Somewhat related to this topic is, how to built units (eg Airport) on the same turn that the Technology (Flight) is researched.
1. On the turn when the Technology is researched, I would choose "See the Big Picture" to view the Tech tree
2. Then I would flip over to the City Screen
3. Click the cities that I want to change production to Airport. I can also rush production in some cities.
4. Success. On the same turn Flight is researched, I have several Airports built that I can make use of.

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Dominae
Thankfully this is only useful in the early-game, where the calculations are easy and the additional Gold may actually make a difference.

Dominae

Sorry to disagree, but if you play the tech slider well, you can get up to 600-800 gold on the last turn during the industrial ages (at least with the French). Then you can run -200 deficits for 4 turns, accept another -200 the 5th, put the lider back again for the last turn and you have researched a new tech in 6 turns for a total cost of 200/400 gold.