The Millennium Effect

A couple years ago, I was approaching A.D. 1 with a very high science score.
In the waning BC years, I was making 4 discoveries per turn.
In the A.D. 1 harvest, I got none at all. I know that the research box is supposed to double in size, but I was expecting to get at least one.
At the conclusion of the harvest (city check) phase, I was greeted with a rather disconcerting science advisor's display (see the Empty Research attachment).
At the time, I just assumed I had hit a limit in the allowable technology. Thinking that it was basically all over, I quit playing the game.
Seeing the Civ Quiz thread inspired me to look into this a little more.
As it turns out, all I needed to do was save and reload the game.
The research box was restored (Full Research attachment). My quest for the ultimate high score is back on again.

Anyway, what I mean by the Millennium Effect is the complete failure to make a discovery even though I generated enough bulbs to completely fill the newly doubled research box - and the subsequent display of a blank research box.

Yep, gotta save at 1 AD, and i do it at 20 BC too because i know what's coming. I play with the "Auto Save" function turned on, as annoying as it is sometimes, because that reminds me where the game's inflection points are. Always decline the auto-save box that pops up, but always remember to save at that date, after doing my moves and checking cities. Then quit, and because i'm superstitious about it, i wait until the system time clicks forward a minute before restarting. Have had the game freeze or screw up after repeated save-restarts on the same turn, so i treat a restart with reverence.

Valen said:

what I mean by the Millennium Effect is the complete failure to make a discovery even though I generated enough bulbs to completely fill the newly doubled research box - and the subsequent display of a blank research box.

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When i saw this message, could have sworn i've seen anomalies with the bulb rack at 1000 AD too, but figgered i shouldn't mention it if i wasn't sure. Since then have taken a few games past 1000 AD, and now sure. I don't get an emptied bulb rack, but at both 1 AD and 1000 AD there is no movement on the rack. For years have always saved at 20 BC, 1 AD, 980 AD and 1000 AD, and always do a restart at 1 and 1000 AD to defeat the Millennium Bug. A restart unblocks the flow of bulbs, but still lose that turn's production.

A number of years ago, added 1020 BC and 1000 BC to the routine. Don't remember having any trouble at 1000 BC, but just in case, you know? Yeah, by now i'm sure that one's just a baseless civperstition.

Valen said:

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Since you've got a game running with sufficient state of affairs, could you confirm if you can launch a 21 year ship in 20 BC ???

Tristan_C said:

Since you've got a game running with sufficient state of affairs, could you confirm if you can launch a 21 year ship in 20 BC ???

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I can't, none of my recent trials are that advanced by 20 BC, i have been running tests on other things. Hopefully Valen can; i've always been curious about the Lost In Space phenomenon.