Impossibly fast research by computer player?!

So something's been bugging me since I began playing civ 5. For the record, I've recently gotten into civ 5 (I've played civ 4 before but wasn't that great at it either), and so I'll warn you guys of this thread being a noobish topic. Also another note, I played civ 5 using mods (specifically, the elder scrolls mod only and I pit the factions from the game against my Korean civ and roman allies), but the factions included do not have a science advantage at all.

I've checked some threads about how to advance into eras and research faster and I've been staying faithful to the GL-NC tactic with the Koreans. However, I've also played the game with using only one city only (it seemed more easier to manage) and yet I outrun every player in terms of era advancement... until that is the modern era. So here's the weird part, I noticed that every tech in the modern era requires like 22+ turns and that most, if not almost all civs, were struggling to make it through to the atomic era. However, what really got me very surprised was one civ managed to finish the manhattan project, the apollo program, rocketry and atomic theory IN ONLY 8-9 TURNS; this civ also managed to declare war on 4 factions and still researched this quickly. How is this even possible? Because I have been playing the game in the prince level (lol I suck), but even after using the best science civ (or one of the best) in the game, I got outrun by a faction that emphasizes movement (+1 movement actually).

So I guess the main questions are this: How is this possible and how can I research just as this quickly?

I play on prince, modern era techs I can get through around 5 turns each. The key is to have high pop cities, or settle a ton of cities early on, while keeping happiness up.

If you play a lower difficulty and on quick speed, you'd easily pop a tech every 2 turns by the atomic era with just 6 cities. Same for the AI if you play on a higher difficulty.

VitruvianMan, if you install the InfoAddict mod, you will be able to see a graph which shows the science levels of the various civs. The graph is similar to the ones in Civ IV, but with more options. This mod is very helpful in detecting whether another civ is running away in military power, or science per turn, or economy etc.

Here is a link to the discussion thread for InfoAddict.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=391069


You can download a version for G&K (or BNW or vanilla) there. The thread also has some screenshots so you can see what the mod looks like. I highly recommend InfoAddict, and wish I had installed it sooner.

jlim201 said:

I play on prince, modern era techs I can get through around 5 turns each. The key is to have high pop cities, or settle a ton of cities early on, while keeping happiness up.

Click to expand...

I read somewhere here by a member that it's actually not the best way apparently and that the best strategy is to keep one city only (the capital); something about the only time you actually need a city is when you're at war and you end up catching one or something like that?

Without knowing more details it's difficult to give an accurate answer.

The AI could (and probably did) have RA's completing.
Contrary to the beliefs of some, the AI does build Unis etc. and staff them
It may have popped one or more GS or completed high Science yield wonders.
Probably taken Ration policies (check in the world politics screen)
Pop is beakers, reduce the AI's by capturing cities (the AI spams a lot of cities and gets a high pop therefore high beakers)

Hope some of this helps.