Tweet
Disclaimer: I'm playing on a Tiny map with 80% Pangaea, 16 Civs, on Regent level as the Greeks (commercial, scientific). Things are very crowded, very militant, and not for the faint of heart!
Trading advances is crucial! The other civs will trade with each other, and if you do not participate you will be left behind. Trying to discover them on your own will be fatal. However, I will not trade Bronze Working to my neighbors since I will be attacking them soon enough (heh heh). I go for Warrior Code first and overwhelm my immediate neighbors with a 4-pack of Archers.
When you get a new advance, trade it away unless it has a significant military or governmental impact (Metallurgy, Republic, Invention, etc). Since you will hopefully be near the lead in the tech race by the time the Middle Ages start, trade them for lump sums and gold per turn if you have to. Also trade for or buy communications with other Civs. This is crucial! If you can trade advances to every single AI, your gains will be even greater. This strategy keeps the AI civs bankrupt and gives you more money to raise your level of science and rush-building. Why should you do this? Because if you don't, the AIs will trade with each other and the tech race will be you against all of them. This way, they get the advances on your terms, not theirs.
My best anecdote was trading away Music Theory just one turn before I completed J.S. Bach's cathedral. I scored about 150 gold and at least 20 gold/turn (for 20 turns) by giving away a useless, optional tech. Sweet!
Another time, I had stockpiled about 2000 gold (didn't do Science for 4-5 turns just to build up a warchest), and then the English invaded. I was able to rush-build Knights on a moment's notice and fend them off. Those dogs will soon pay for their brazen insolence when I return the favor with my first army!
I just now entered the Industrial Age in first place with a score of 479. Japan, Germany and England were all well behind between 240-260. They all had the good fortune of not having a starting location near Athens, heh heh.
Trading advances is crucial! The other civs will trade with each other, and if you do not participate you will be left behind. Trying to discover them on your own will be fatal. However, I will not trade Bronze Working to my neighbors since I will be attacking them soon enough (heh heh). I go for Warrior Code first and overwhelm my immediate neighbors with a 4-pack of Archers.
When you get a new advance, trade it away unless it has a significant military or governmental impact (Metallurgy, Republic, Invention, etc). Since you will hopefully be near the lead in the tech race by the time the Middle Ages start, trade them for lump sums and gold per turn if you have to. Also trade for or buy communications with other Civs. This is crucial! If you can trade advances to every single AI, your gains will be even greater. This strategy keeps the AI civs bankrupt and gives you more money to raise your level of science and rush-building. Why should you do this? Because if you don't, the AIs will trade with each other and the tech race will be you against all of them. This way, they get the advances on your terms, not theirs.
My best anecdote was trading away Music Theory just one turn before I completed J.S. Bach's cathedral. I scored about 150 gold and at least 20 gold/turn (for 20 turns) by giving away a useless, optional tech. Sweet!
Another time, I had stockpiled about 2000 gold (didn't do Science for 4-5 turns just to build up a warchest), and then the English invaded. I was able to rush-build Knights on a moment's notice and fend them off. Those dogs will soon pay for their brazen insolence when I return the favor with my first army!
I just now entered the Industrial Age in first place with a score of 479. Japan, Germany and England were all well behind between 240-260. They all had the good fortune of not having a starting location near Athens, heh heh.
Once you get going with that, you won't even need to trade techs, they'll have to trade just to keep up with you.
Comment