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Okay, so I spent some time this evening trying to figure out how exactly the techs per turn works, and to put to rest the 4 turn per tech myth.
I think I have the formula figured out - here goes:
First, you need to calculate the base number of "beakers" needed to research a tech.
base# beakers = 16 * tech cost
where tech cost is the cost listed in the editor. I will post a follow up message in this thread listing off the various costs for those of you too lazy to look them up
Then there is an adjustment based on the number of civs that already have that tech. Multiply the base number by
(# of civs that do not have the tech) / (total # of civs in the game)
That's the number of beakers you have to get to get the tech.
Now let's talk caps. As most everyone has already figured out by now, there is a max cap of 32 turns / tech.
But, let's talk about the minimum cap of 4 turns / tech. Some are saying there is a cap, while others (myself included) have said that we have researched techs in 3 turns. But yet, I think both sides are right!
There is a 4 turn / tech cap only when dealing with the adjustment due to the number of civs that have a tech. This is a bit confusing, so let's do an example.
Mysticism has a tech cost of 4, so it costs 64 beakers. I was playing on a tiny map with 4 civs total, and the other 3 civs already had Mysticism. So, we multiply by 1/4 (# of civs that don't have the advance / total # of civs). That gives 16 beakers. I was producing 7 beakers, so it should have only taken 3 turns, yet it was capped at 4 turns. Had I been producing 22 beakers, that would give me 64/22 = 3 turns / tech.
I didn't test that, but I KNOW that I have gotten 3 turns / tech, so I'm fairly confident that that is what is going on. So, there is a cap when your number of beakers needed is adjusted due to other civs having the tech, but not when you can get it in under 4 even without this adjustment.
A couple of other things - the beakers you produce only go to the advance that you're currently researching. For instance, if you're researching Writing and you've produced 40 beakers towards it, but then you switch to Pottery, those 40 beakers are wasted. They don't transfer. You can switch while you're on the Science Advisor page (F6), but once you leave that page those beakers are gone.
One last thing - let me use an example. I was researching Polytheism, tech cost of 12. So the number of beakers needed is 16 * 12 = 192. With 7 beakers it would take 28 turns, 1-6 beakers we hit the cap of 32. I researched 6 turns at 7 beakers. That leaves 150 beakers to be researched. At this point, 7 beakers it takes 22 turns, 6 beakers it takes 25 turns, and with 1-5 turns it takes 26 turns. That is because we've already spent 6 turns researching this advance, which are taken out of the 32 turn max.
Anyway, this is what I have so far.
I think I have the formula figured out - here goes:
First, you need to calculate the base number of "beakers" needed to research a tech.
base# beakers = 16 * tech cost
where tech cost is the cost listed in the editor. I will post a follow up message in this thread listing off the various costs for those of you too lazy to look them up
Then there is an adjustment based on the number of civs that already have that tech. Multiply the base number by
(# of civs that do not have the tech) / (total # of civs in the game)
That's the number of beakers you have to get to get the tech.
Now let's talk caps. As most everyone has already figured out by now, there is a max cap of 32 turns / tech.
But, let's talk about the minimum cap of 4 turns / tech. Some are saying there is a cap, while others (myself included) have said that we have researched techs in 3 turns. But yet, I think both sides are right!
There is a 4 turn / tech cap only when dealing with the adjustment due to the number of civs that have a tech. This is a bit confusing, so let's do an example.
Mysticism has a tech cost of 4, so it costs 64 beakers. I was playing on a tiny map with 4 civs total, and the other 3 civs already had Mysticism. So, we multiply by 1/4 (# of civs that don't have the advance / total # of civs). That gives 16 beakers. I was producing 7 beakers, so it should have only taken 3 turns, yet it was capped at 4 turns. Had I been producing 22 beakers, that would give me 64/22 = 3 turns / tech.
I didn't test that, but I KNOW that I have gotten 3 turns / tech, so I'm fairly confident that that is what is going on. So, there is a cap when your number of beakers needed is adjusted due to other civs having the tech, but not when you can get it in under 4 even without this adjustment.
A couple of other things - the beakers you produce only go to the advance that you're currently researching. For instance, if you're researching Writing and you've produced 40 beakers towards it, but then you switch to Pottery, those 40 beakers are wasted. They don't transfer. You can switch while you're on the Science Advisor page (F6), but once you leave that page those beakers are gone.
One last thing - let me use an example. I was researching Polytheism, tech cost of 12. So the number of beakers needed is 16 * 12 = 192. With 7 beakers it would take 28 turns, 1-6 beakers we hit the cap of 32. I researched 6 turns at 7 beakers. That leaves 150 beakers to be researched. At this point, 7 beakers it takes 22 turns, 6 beakers it takes 25 turns, and with 1-5 turns it takes 26 turns. That is because we've already spent 6 turns researching this advance, which are taken out of the 32 turn max.
Anyway, this is what I have so far.
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