Techno Tanks

[Undefeatable]

I've seen a person get tanks, infantry, and gunships by 1400 A.D. How do the do it? And also, how do some proffesional players get, like, 5000 gold/turn with research at 90%?

[Zexx]

A low difficulty setting.

[Nares]

Tech trading with high level AIs.

[mariogreymist]

Generally, in the games where I've had tanks very early have been when I've been playing a solid economic leader (most commonly Darius, but have also seen similar dates with Mehmed and Julius Caesar) and taken all of a large continent with a very early war. I've never seen them quite at 1400(have seen infantry at this date in monarch, and tanks could have been had shortly thereafter, but were not a priority)...but 1600-1700 isn't that hard in a particularly good game. Careful economic management, a shrine or two and a corporate set up will yield crazy commerce numbers and when an org leader has enough room to build several dozen cities...watch out!

Oh...and an essential part of getting those early big units...cottages. I play mostly on huge maps, but I've seen triple digit numbers of towns...that's a lot of . The glh can also be a big aid in seeing early tanks.

Tech trading on high levels can get you there too, but for someone wanting to see tanks at an early date, I presume you want to see them in the field against spears In the game where I had infantry at 1400, I fought a war with moden armor/mech inf/bombers against LBs/pikes/muskets (they DoWed me!). It's amusing for about ten minutes imo.

[TheMeInTeam]

Originally Posted by Zexx

A low difficulty setting.

Deity is a low difficulty setting?

[Zexx]

I don't recall saying that..

I was trying to say that by putting the game on a very low setting, it would make it that much easier to rush to tanks - no city maintenance and easier tech costs, combined with slower expanding AI means you could almost neglect your military until you got to tanks.

In fact - it didn't even take till 1400. I'm not saying it's the only way, or even the best way. It's just A way.
(Xena?? Why?)

[Freyas]

This is the case both on really low and really high difficulty settings. At low difficulties, it's easier to get more land, and techs are cheaper so that you can both generate more beakers, and the techs cost less (what Zexx was saying). At high difficulties, the AI techs really fast due to those same factors, and due to trading techs with the AI to keep up with them, the player also techs really fast in comparison (what TMIT was saying).

Basically, due to the advantages that the player or AI has at the extreme ranges of the difficulty spectrum, you can get crazy tech rates at these levels. If you're playing somewhere in the middle, the tech rate is generally slower. You can still occasionally get enough land/commerce (GLH on archipelago with tons of intercontinental routes, a bunch of cities with cottaged riverside grasslands, etc) to tech this fast in the middle difficulty levels, but it's far more rare.

[mariogreymist]

I found a save game with a ridiculous tech rate that can demonstrate what was done to get to very early advanced units (at a medium level). The keys here were the early conquest of the whole continent, the building of the glh (and beelining astro), and the gradual expansion (no crash REXing) of an ORG economy. This is the game where I had modern armor killing longbows, pikes and muskets.

Note that playing with barbarians off helps too, as it means there is no need to spend money on fogbusters once the continent is captured. (probably would have been 20-30 turns behind this point if barbs had been on)

Also, the huge map doesn't hurt.