I've noticed Civ4 has the same problem that I've seen in every Civ game, and one new one.
In the modern age, research takes off like a shot. Your often getting tech in 2 to 3 turns, so you never have time to "enjoy it" By the time your getting to use your goodies the space race is over.
In addition, catching up on research is extremely hard to do. You can't steal tech like in previous Civs, which is fine, but it makes catching up against a dedicated opponent almost impossible without drastic measures.
Now I know there's a modifier to tech research that the more civs that have a tech the easier it is to research. I suggest that for the modern age, you slow down the initial researching of a tech and increase this "lag behind" bonus. This also more realistically models the fact that in the modern age breakthrough research requires a lot of effort, but information sharing makes it very easy to spy and pick up other technologies.
In the modern age, research takes off like a shot. Your often getting tech in 2 to 3 turns, so you never have time to "enjoy it" By the time your getting to use your goodies the space race is over.
In addition, catching up on research is extremely hard to do. You can't steal tech like in previous Civs, which is fine, but it makes catching up against a dedicated opponent almost impossible without drastic measures.
Now I know there's a modifier to tech research that the more civs that have a tech the easier it is to research. I suggest that for the modern age, you slow down the initial researching of a tech and increase this "lag behind" bonus. This also more realistically models the fact that in the modern age breakthrough research requires a lot of effort, but information sharing makes it very easy to spy and pick up other technologies.
