What do we research now?

[zeace]

We've finally made it to Optics! We can now build some real exploring boats and find out if there's any truth to the rumours of other civilizations with wonders of their own. But this also brings us to "What do we research next?"

Monarchy: 4 turns
Since we have the pyramids, Hereditary Rule isn't useful, and winerys aren't that great either. This does lead to feudalism and divine right. If we do want a religion we need Monarchy, Theology and DR. We can also likely trade for this when the Caravels are ready.

Theology: 3 turns
Christianity is gone, so unless we're going to build the sistine chapel there's not much here. See above though if we want to found a religion.

Music: 8 turns
We can build cathedrals and culture. Since it doesn't seem we're going for a cultural victory, and we don't share borders with anyone, I don't think this is much of a priority. Leads to Militray Tradition, maybe that's useful?

Civil Service: 12 turns
Gives us Macemen, and Bureaucracy, and spreads irrigation. Pretty useful, and moderately expensive...

Philosophy: 10 turns
Pacifism might be useful if we're going to avoid wars for a while. The Angkor Wat isn't very useful without priests, and without a religion we don't have many priests (Except the banana worshippers). Leads to Liberalism, but we need CS, paper, and Education too.

Astronomy: 34 turns
It will obsolete our Colossus, but it will let us trade across the ocean. We'd probably make more money on trade than we'd lose. Galleons and Observatories would be nice. Oh yeah, but it takes 34 tunrs!!!!

Engineering: 14 turns
Better roads and Pikemen are cool, and the Hagia Sopia isn't terrible. Castles are, but we don't have to build them



So the way I see it, CS, Astro and Eng are the top 3 contenders. Astro will take a very long time, but probably no one else has it so it will be valuble for trading. CS would be nice, but we might be able to trade for it. Eng is ok if we're looking for a wonder to build.

So what do people think?

Ze Ace
Minister of Finance

[Zoid]

If we want a religion we can get to Divine Right via Theology> Monarchy in 27 turns.

I think a religion would benefit us greatly. But OTOH Astronomy is also very useful...

Choices, choices...

[MMC]

Actually, If we don't have a religion by now, I would suggest a bee-line towards Liberalism, and thus benefit from not having a set religion (Other than the Order of the Sacred Banana, of course).

[FeMme]

I like the sound of Astronomy. I suppose a lot depends on what other civs have and want to trade with us but we won't know this for a few turns yet.

I think we should avoid researching all the quick cheap techs because these will be easier to trade.

I would suggest that we are practically out of the running for the last remaining religion as we are still 2 techs away from beginning Divine Right. I don't want to go through the same let down as we had with Taoism.

And we have to remember that our current science rate is only set at 30% so the number a turns to research the above techs will change with a science rate increase.

[RobWorham]

A couple of points that might be worth considering :

Music : You can't build Cathedrals without having 3 Temples at least, and for temples you need a religion, so this is a no go for the time being.

Philosophy : Pacifism is a religious civic and you only derive the benefits from it if you have a state religion, so again, no joy here either.

I'm leaning towards Engineering for a better, more rapid defence of the nation or Astronomy to take control of the seas, an area we must now start to devote our energies toward. I'd like to get the cheaper techs off our future trading partners if possible.

I will think on this very important decision for a while longer and remain open minded to any posts that may be made in this thread.

Thanks Zeace!!

[MMC]

I've voted for Philosaphy with the aim for bee-lining to Liberalism, but I would equally vote for Civil Service as spreading irrigation can be the one thing that saves a city from self-destruction sometimes (I've seen it happen).

[Zoid]

I think a mad dash for islam what we need now. So I voted Monarchy. We might be able to trade for it, but that´ll take way more time than researching it ourselves.

[fed1943]

Voted Monarchy to try for religion; even without religion very usefull

gives +4 commerce/turn and +1 happy (by winery) leads to Feudalism

and important techs and takes just 4 turns.

Civil service is also a very good tech, but we can get a discount to it;

Engenineering, faster roads always usefull but not urgent now, same

to Hagia Sophia and pikemen no better than elephants.

Astronomy; IMHO, is the weakest choice, very expensive, just in the

hope that the better trade routes that may be agreed by AI civs are

worth the sure loss of Colussus and Mercantilism (6 free beakers by

city or better if we prefer other specialist).

[joncnunn]

Monarchy & Theology in either order to open up Divine Right on the Great People lightbulb techs.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Astronomy here Im almost certain we will find were able to trade for many techs once we meet new civilizations, and im also most certain our early wars to free our continent will have given us the edge over other nations....

This could all be wrong but im basking in the glorious glow of success after our armed forces finally liberated our lands !

One thing I must point out to all we have two visible neighbours already, but weve not quite been able to make contact, no caravels are needed for this task !

It would be safe to assume our close neighbours do not !!! have caravels, we would have been introduced already wouldnt we if they had ! I would suggest that due to the AI's icompetence at researching alphabet that we may find ourselves in a position yet to control technology trading, and further we may due to garnering several techs from our foes and our early scouting successes find ourselves well ahead of our rivals in the technology arena.

Lets push the boat out and go for astronomy

The galleon to be precise !!!

[couerdelion]

You really only have to look at our costs to see that we are in serious need of some income. Admittedly we are haemorrhaging gold at the moment but there are several routes we can take to help us here.

1) Religious shrine (via Monarchy/Theology/Divine Right/build temple/wait for Prophet)
2) Grocers and banks (via Monarchy/Feudalism/Guilds/Banking)
3) Bureaucracy (just one tech)
4) Astronomy and Open Borders for overseas trade.(just one tech)

The first option is actually a very poor way of making money in the short term since we have to get ourselves a prophet and for this we need to build temples and for this we need to spread the religion.

Option two is not so bad since the banks will be cheap with our Financial Trait. But it’s a bit of a long slog.

Option three would be quite small really since our capital doesn’t have so much in the way of commerce. At least the last time I looked we had city workers working unimproved tiles. Of course we could always move the palace. Rubygrad certainly looked to have the better commerce.

But Option four is the real accelerator. We’ve got the Great Lighthouse and 6 coastal cities and those alone would have 24 trade routes. I’d expect the average trade route to be worth 4-6gpt which will more than outweigh the loss of the Colossus.

I think Astronomy wins here despite the cost, particularly with additional benefits it brings (resource trading, galleons, observatories)

p.s. I actually voted Monarchy here before I wrote this. It's not a bad little tech for us to get first, particularly since we could use the +1 happiness.

[RobWorham]

Some excellent analysis above. Thanks everyone for helping to clarify our nation's needs!!

I'm casting my vote for Astronomy. We need a big boost to our economy, we need to have control of our coastal water, and we need to explore the rest of the world as soon as possible!!

Look up brave citizens, our nations future is written in the stars!!

[joncnunn]

Personally, I think it's nuts to reserach Astronmeny now in 34 truns when we could have 4 techs in only 25 turns.
There's no benifit to a partal tech.

In addition in general the best way to get Astronmeny is as the free tech from Liberalism.

[MMC]

I agree... If we change our focus to Philosophy, then we can fast track to Liberalism, and grab Astronomy for free.

[couerdelion]

I’ve been thinking about the Liberalism sling-shot although it will be a lot quicker via Theology. I also think we should be able to back-fill a few techs from our new neighbours once we get a better feeling for the political climate in that continent so beset by war and bloodshed.