Most important technology? (Medieval Era)

[sampsa]

Philo and Music are good "war techs" because you can use your golden age to get and bulb towards libbing nationalism/miltrad (or go there without liberalism/bulbs). Cuirassiers are so powerful that they make pangaea borderline broken and it has been known for around 15 years. Recent showcase: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/shadow-game-immortal-w-sitting-bull.683164/

 

[MilesBeyond]

I find Philosophy a tough one to evaluate because its benefits are so nebulous? Like its biggest things are being easily bulbed and on the path to Liberalism, both of which are very important but neither feels like a pro of the tech itself. It's also good because it's great trade bait - but part of what makes it such good trade bait is that it doesn't really give anything important.

I like Pacifism a lot, and reliably founding Taoism on higher levels is nice if you can manage to squeeze out a Great Prophet, but that's kind of it. I do get Angkor Wat occasionally. I know an AW Priest economy doesn't actually work, but every few games I find myself thinking "But what if this time it does?"

I voted for CS, mostly because I don't find any of the Medieval techs all that outstanding, but after reading this thread I might change my vote to Music. Free early GA is a compelling argument.

But secretly, in my heart, my vote is for Machinery. I know it's not actually a terribly important tech, but sculpting your countryside with Windmills and Water Mills is just so fun.

 

[sampsa]

Pacifism is a very very strong civic, for me stronger than bureau at that stage of game.

I don't care about Taoism, unless there is no other way to get a religion. Shrines are very weak (i'd just rather grab an extra fish and sell it for 10gpt, thank you) thus prophet points are mostly pollution, like people say. Angkor Wat is pointless, probably a joke or a trap by the designers.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Pacifism is a very very strong civic, for me stronger than bureau at that stage of game.

I don't care about Taoism, unless there is no other way to get a religion. Shrines are very weak (i'd just rather grab an extra fish and sell it for 10gpt, thank you) thus prophet points are mostly pollution, like people say. Angkor Wat is pointless, probably a joke or a trap by the designers.

I don't think the devs made AW as a joke or trap, I think they just severely overestimated the power of hammers from Specialists. I think they were afraid of "Oh no, what if people use Specialists to make any city productive no matter the terrain" so they were real stingy with it. Engineers have a similar problem, but at least they're getting you GE points.

I think the devs also thought Priests would be a bigger part of the game in general, e.g. that Temples would be higher priority than they are, so people would have more Priest slots, and that Great Prophets would be more popular than they are, so people wouldn't see them as "pollution."

All of that is to say I know AW is worthless, easy F-tier wonder, but I just can't help myself from occasionally tinkering with it.

I agree Pacifism is rad, though, and easily the best part of the tech.

 

[Nick723]

I don't think the devs made AW as a joke or trap, I think they just severely overestimated the power of hammers from Specialists. I think they were afraid of "Oh no, what if people use Specialists to make any city productive no matter the terrain" so they were real stingy with it. Engineers have a similar problem, but at least they're getting you GE points.

I think the devs also thought Priests would be a bigger part of the game in general, e.g. that Temples would be higher priority than they are, so people would have more Priest slots, and that Great Prophets would be more popular than they are, so people wouldn't see them as "pollution."

All of that is to say I know AW is worthless, easy F-tier wonder, but I just can't help myself from occasionally tinkering with it.

I agree Pacifism is rad, though, and easily the best part of the tech.

If Angkor Wat improved all specialists, it would be a more interesting wonder. As is it’s completely rubbish.

Similarly I think University of Sankore and Spiral Minaret could give specialists +1 and +1 respectively to help make specialists last a bit longer.

 

[civac]

University of Sankore and Spiral Minaret are pretty good wonders if you already have the Apostolic Palace or otherwise use the Apo religion.

 

[MilesBeyond]

University of Sankore and Spiral Minaret are pretty good wonders if you already have the Apostolic Palace or otherwise use the Apo religion.

Are they? I feel like dumping 1100 hammers into two wonders to get 2-4 beakers and buckazoids per city is a pretty terrible ROI. Plus Sankore is pretty easy to get but DR is such a low priority tech and the AI is just obsessed with it, I can't imagine being able to nab the Spiral Minaret above Prince without going far out of my way.

I mean if you conquer those wonders then they make Temples more attractive buildings, for sure, but I wouldn't build them for that.

If Angkor Wat improved all specialists, it would be a more interesting wonder. As is it’s completely rubbish.

Similarly I think University of Sankore and Spiral Minaret could give specialists +1 and +1 respectively to help make specialists last a bit longer.

Yeah I agree. Specialists in general could use a midgame boost beyond Rep. I'm trying to think what could be done for AW other than that and I feel like... Overhauling Great Prophets, maybe? That and make it give either +2 hammers per Priest or +1 hammer and +1 gold.