OFFICIAL: What to research next?

[Locutus]

We just finished researching Bronze Working, so the question now is: what's next?

Writing doesn't have immediate advantages but eventually leads to Trade, Philosophy, Monarchy, etc. Stone Working gives us City Wall, Fortification and Pyramids. Shipbuilding gives us Coracle and Nets and Slavery gives us Slavers and Mines.

The numbers in brackets indicate the number of turns to finish at present science rate.

This poll will end in 3 days (7 Feb, ~16:30 GMT).

[child of Thor]

tricky one this, but i feel it boils down to two choices because of our current situation, either stoneworking or slavery.

Stoneworking: Walls and fortification will be very useful in the not too distant future plus it's the quickest one to research.

Slavery: i need to know if we are going to using slavery in this game and to what degree - only because it can be very unbalancing to the game. Mines are good but i doubt we are producing enough PW at the momment to be able to use them much.

So i vote for stoneworking.

[mapfi]

Stoneworking and Slavery - both have advantages

We are however not going to build walls in the near future because we want units for a war, so no use in stoneworking in my opinion. Slave labour - could be a good choice if we were to find lots of barb units to enslave - as for enslaving people from cities, that's just too expensive - i say no too.

I vote for Writing - reason being, it's the only one of those four which is a prerequisite for Monarchy - and that's the road to keep in mind if there are no other obvious advantages of the techs presented.

[Gilgamensch]

Not really a choice........

We have to go for slavery, even if we don't want to use it, to prevent other's from using it against us.

And as Mapfi mentioned already: Barbs are good workers to , they just need to be convinced a bit

[Maquiladora]

Easy, Writing. Monarchy is the most important goal now.

[Nimrod]

I agree with Maq

[MrBaggins]

Tough question... I'm still undecided...

Here are the major coef's for Tyranny

FoodCoef 0.85
GoldCoef 0.75
ProductionCoef 0.85
KnowledgeCoef 1

Empire Cap 10

and here are the major coef's for Monarchy

FoodCoef 1
GoldCoef 1
ProductionCoef 1
KnowledgeCoef 1.25

Empire Cap 20

The only *no question- we have to go for it* stat with the governments is the Cap...

Slaving allows quick growth in cities... which can quickly eclipse the bonuses here... 1/6 each time... and means freebie growth (and associated production spurts) that monarchy just doesn't give. Monarchy just isn't a no brainer given our distance from the cap of Tyranny

Not to mention that ultimately we'll be able to start slaving sooner. The question is, will we have 'targets' to slave? In the open enemy units count just as much as barbarians. Also we have to consider pop-pollution (at 5.)

I think its an open question and would be happy and think we can be productive either way. We have to get both eventually, anyway.

MrBaggins

[Locutus]

Slavery is immensely important, it can give us loads of free workers, especially with all those Barbs hanging around. And with soon already 3 cities, we can support plenty of slaves too.

In SAP, the government limit for Tyranny is 10, so as far as that's concerned we don't need Monarchy quite yet (although I agree it should be our first long-term goal). So we can divert from that path for a while longer to get those mighty Slavers...

[Pedrunn]

Either writting or Stone Working!
I´d like to get Monarchy!

Not to mention we need writting to get Roads (Writting --> Jurisprudence --> Trade giving roads)

Dont like slavers and i dont see us using mines in the next 22 turns!!!

[MrBaggins]

Whats your reasoning behind not liking slavery?

[medio]

we need writing; trade and monarchy should be immediate goals. We will grow fast, 10 cities will come quickly. We should be prepared.

[Immortal Wombat]

my poll was better

[Maquiladora]

Slavers take way too long to build, some enemy cities will probably have city walls, which makes slaving near pointless and a downright waste when we've only got 2 cities, we could lose one slaver on the first attempt, production well spent there.... Mines... pfft.

City walls take too long now, pyramids are pointless, no need for forts. No point in Shipbuilding.

Monarchy as soon as possible so we can keep steam rollering the AI until we reach 20-23 cities.

[Tamerlin]

We need to learn how to build mines as this would allow us to build settlers, units and buildings more quickly.

[MrBaggins]

I think you are mistaking basic slavers for basic slavers in another mod, Maquiladora. Slavers stacked with armies can capture a slave when the stack they are in is victorious in battle, city or not.

As for expensive, they run about twice the cost of a regular unit, and 3/4 to 1/2 the cost of a settler. Not a big deal, since you only need one in an active army stack, so we'd need 1 or maybe 2.

Another advantage is that they can see our enemies slavers; critical!! The enemy can and will use slavers. Losing population would be a serious setback for our cities.

So... I'm not decided... yet... I think both viewpoints,Writing and Slavery, have their merits.

MrBaggins