Buy Democracy off the Greeks?

[RuThLeSs310]

I played a game last night (online) and was fortunate to find several barbarian villages in the beginning of the game that gave me caravans. Very early in the game I had about 300 gold and I asked the Greeks for technology and they offered me democracy for 260 gold. I passed on it, seeing as I was in the tech lead at the time and thought the price was a little steep. However, I asked them again a few turns later and the price went down to 200. I passed again, hoping it would continue to fall in price. But a couple turns later, they claimed to have no useful technology, despite me having not discovered democracy yet. Does anyone know why this would happen? And is it worth taking the serious blow in gold to get democracy before anyone else?

Thanks!

 

[Ninja Flick]

I'm guessing the Greeks were an AI civ, as this sounds like AI behavior. The AI will often stop offering a tech when they see themselves as in competition with you for the tech lead. So if they were fairly close to you in how many techs they had, this could very well be the case, and they pulled it off the market so that you don't get too far ahead of them.

As for your question on whether or not you should buy it from them, that depends on the situation. If you're going for a technology or economic victory, then democracy is a useful government to have. Or if you need to build up some strong defense quickly, pikemen will definitely be useful. Points against the deal: you won't get a bonus for having it first as the AI already has it. Also, is that the best expenditure of your gold? Or would it be better spent elsewhere, maybe rushing out some units or a useful city improvement?