Tech-Trading in BNW

Avatan said:

I agree (even though a couple caravels on auto-explore do the trick nicely), but it seems that they want to put a strong emphasis on exploration. This aspect of the game gets a whole SoPol Tree, new use with archeology, a new incentive with the world congress, maybe a new exploration unit (archeologist, exporer??), so it seems unprobable that they would add a way to explore the whole map without any effort really.

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Agreed; also, reintroducing map trading would break the City-State 'find me X, Y or Z' quests and the Natural Wonder happiness boost (a bit like how if you discover Satellites without having explored the world properly, you get bombarded with Natural Wonder notifications and your happiness goes up by 3 or 4). A minor issue, perhaps, but something that does suggest it won't be making a comeback.

I'm trying to think what tech should allow tech trading, if it is to return. I definitely feel it should be something later. Assuming the tech tree doesn't change, I would suggest Scientific Theory. I wouldn't even mind it being later, but there aren't any later "sciency" techs and it was a good compromise between those who want it the whole game and those who only want it later.

Although I would argue that Printing Press would make a ton of sense. Not only because that's when the mass spreading of ideas was possible but because it appears to unlock the World Congress where you can regulate tech trading. I just hope it isn't Education (I actually hope it isn't in at all, but that's beside the point).

Louis XXIV said:

Although I would argue that Printing Press would make a ton of sense. Not only because that's when the mass spreading of ideas was possible but because it appears to unlock the World Congress where you can regulate tech trading. I just hope it isn't Education (I actually hope it isn't in at all, but that's beside the point).

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Just an idea, perhaps the world congress does not just regulate tech trade, but actually facilitates it.

Speaking of slowing down tech, I believe part of the problem is that every single boost to research speed stacks with all the others. Spies help people catch up, but they can also be used to backfill while bee-lining research-boosting techs. Order and Rationalism can both be taken, along with Patronage/Tradition/Commerce. You can have Interfaith Dialogue too. You can get mountainside starts and put observatories in your cities, and you can get jungle tiles and put trading posts on them. You can DoF with 7 civs for research agreements, you can run only science specialists for GS, and you can build wonders for more GS. It all stacks, often with multiplicative effects.

Personally I think there should be multiple ways to improve your tech rates but that they should be mutually exclusive so that it becomes more of a flavor decision. I think there should be mutually exclusive policy trees that benefit different types of benefits. For example, a tree that benefits spies (autocracy), another tree that bestows trading posts and commerce buildings with science (commerce), another tree that benefits production buildings (order), and another tree that bestows specialists with extra science (freedom), all of which lock out the others, so that you have to choose which benefit you want in that game.

I also think the Rationalism policy tree is a turd of the "just so good it's mandatory" variety and can be removed, allowing more options for social policies to open up.

atm u get a reduced research time to techs that other civs have researched, as long as u have met them on the map. this seems to me like a defult tech tradeing, except better as it promotes scouting early

I feel that science/tech is already WAY too fast.
At the same time I have asked for more diplomacy options, so I dunno...

Maybe slow down science/tech and add tech trading at the same time?

Lord Olleus said:

I like the system as it is, far less tedious than in Civ4 where you had to trade techs constantly just to stay on par. And it slows down the modern eras to a reasonable level.

The only way I can really see it happening in the World Congress, is multilateral rather than bilateral tech trade. That is, you pass a resolution forcing everyone to share one of their techs with everyone else in the world. Would provide quite a good 'elastic-band' mechanism actually.

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This. I would love to see such an option.

Also, I don't know if it would be feasible in the game mechanics, but the way that nuclear weaponry restrictions currently work is that you are not allowed to "research the tech", and not just not to build them. Isn't that so?