Game changing techs

I'm currently in the process of playing my first BNW domination game (Standard Immortal Pangea as Assyria) and it struck me how certain technologies just have a massive effect on the game's state all at once.

The continent here is split down the middle by a great mountain range, on the west side was me, Babylon, Attila, Mayans and Portugal, and on the east side is England, Iroquois and Carthage. Now I got rolling pretty early with my siege towers and CBs (one lucker dog is still with me 3000 years later as a level 11 XBow) and took out everyone on my side of the map (except Palenque, by the time I reached it Siege Towers were obsolete and Trebs/Cannons weren't much better).

But the east side is impregnable. Obviously everyone hates me at this point so no chance of sneaking across the mountains with Open Borders. There's only a handful of one-tile wide passes and on the other side every tile is filled with Longbowmen. So it's uncrossable (Elizabeth has Great Wall to boot!).

But suddenly... DYNAMITE.

The advent of Artillery has to be the biggest single technology in the whole game. What was once a hard-earned promotion on the relatively weak XBowman now comes pre-loaded on an easily mass produced unit with a whopping 28 ranged strength and triple damage vs Cities. Not with 50 Longswordsmen could I do what I can do with 3 Artillery. Obviously I've experienced this before but it's always fun when it happens again.

So, in your opinion what are some other absolutely game-changing techs? Some contenders are Civil Service (huge food boost), Philosophy (NC is a huge boost to science) and Astronomy (Crossing the oceans!), but I don't think any tech in the game can even shake a finger at Dynamite.

Dynamite is definitely one of them. Had several games where I am at a complete stalemate. Shuffling units, fortifying, trying to flank, nothing. Then one tech and the rest of the map falls instantly.

Philosophy is overrated. Science is king and NC is great, but it isn't nearly on the same scale as some of the other game-changers. As far as science is concerned, I give that to Education. The combination of working specialists, multiplied science, GS generation, and RA's is insane.

Just for the sake of discussion I will throw in Flight, Industrialization (BNW), and either Navigation or Electronics. Difficult to decide on which. Frigates offer an insane jump in combat ability on the seas close to that of artillery. You can be at a stalemate and a thrown together combination of trireme and galleass won't get anywhere. Frigates come and things die.

Then again, there is another jump with battleships. Park a few of those off the coast of an enemy and it is game over. They are to frigates what rocket artillery are to regular artillery, so I suppose I will give credit to frigates and Navigation.

The problem with Dynamite is that it's a lot easier to get to Flight without sacrificing the top half of the tech tree. Don't get me wrong, Artillery are fantastic, it's just that bombers have the same job, come at roughly the same time, and eat Artillery for breakfast.

Arachnofiend said:

The problem with Dynamite is that it's a lot easier to get to Flight without sacrificing the top half of the tech tree. Don't get me wrong, Artillery are fantastic, it's just that bombers have the same job, come at roughly the same time, and eat Artillery for breakfast.

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Hmm, I'd argue with that, Flight is later than you think.

For one you need Oil for planes, so either you aren't the tech leader or you need to get Biology first. Flight is Modern while Dynamite is Industrial. Planes take longer to build, take (significant) damage when they attack, and can only be used if you have a city within range (usually the case). After all that GW Bombers do a lot less damage to a city than Artiller (84 vs 50). Flight is nice but IMO isn't in the same league as Dynamite.

You hit Artillery and you conquer cities with impunity. You hit Flight and you have a slightly easier time taking cities.

Artillery also don't require any resources, will still drop cities faster than bombers, and may already be stacked with promos if you were using trebs/cannon. Dom games don't need labs, so heading to the bottom of the tech tree at this point in the game isn't going to set you back.

Last dom game I played I intended on getting bombers but my three and only three artillery guns were so stacked with promos that I just ignored air and went straight to rocket artillery.

every game is a race for Dynamite. Spam Cannons then upgrade to Artillery. Once you have Artillery you control the map, its then a race for nuclear weapons.

Other game-changers include Construction, Philosophy, Education, Printing Press, Flight, Plastics, Radar, Rocketry, and The Internet.

A nice late-game changing tech has got to be Rocketry. Once you get Rocket Artillery, you can have any city for breakfast, no matter how fortified it is.

Another one that seems overlooked is Fertilizer. +1 Food on tiles without water, really great to get cities growing that lack a river or lake.

play some multiplayer and you will quickly learn what the real gamechanging techs are:


TIER I:

education / machinery (can you afford to rush universities to get a scientific edge or will you rush to crossbows and terrrorize your neighbours?)

dynamite (i can't even hear you dying from back here)

plastics (research labs obviously and inf at that point is almost invincible)


TIER II:

industrialization, satellites, stealth


TIER archipelago / island maps:

bronze working & navigation (every game is basically a frigate race. have enough iron? good, rush to frigates and kill everything. you don't? well focus on science and hope no one notices you're in the game until you have subs - but realistically just hope they will kill you quickly)

Misanthrop said:

play some multiplayer and you will quickly learn what the real gamechanging techs are:


TIER I:

education / machinery (can you afford to rush universities to get a scientific edge or will you rush to crossbows and terrrorize your neighbours?)

dynamite (i can't even hear you dying from back here)

plastics (research labs obviously and inf at that point is almost invincible)


TIER II:

industrialization, satellites, stealth


TIER archipelago / island maps:

bronze working & navigation (every game is basically a frigate race. have enough iron? good, rush to frigates and kill everything. you don't? well focus on science and hope no one notices you're in the game until you have subs - but realistically just hope they will kill you quickly)

Click to expand...

I can't deal with Multiplayer because I don't have top-notch internet, so my games go like this:
-At war with some guy
-Move CBs into position, get ready to fire
-Enemy has already retreated
-Next turn I go to attack with a unit, wait he's already been killed
-Oops someone DCed and the game is over

Not sure who decided this was a good system. Makes about as much sense as playing Risk with simultaneous turns.