0% Research

[michael4000]

Morning, everyone...

I'm taking my first shot at emporer, and my civ has stagnated pretty badly in the early Middle Ages. I'm leading in population, but I'm falling behind in military strength, my culture is a joke, and am getting dangerously behind in tech. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I'm thinking of trying the 0% Research approach.

I've done the appropriate War Academy reading, and I know a lot of very sucessful players use 0% Research, but I'm still kinda timid about this.

The formula as I understand it is: Slider to zero, trade every turn, buy whatever you can get your hands on, resell to anyone who is buying. Do I have that right?

Apologies in advance if this is an overdiscussed topic!

 

[Crimso]

Yeah, you pretty much got it there. If you're really going to committ to 0% research, you'll have to get some lux's to trade, build libraries and universities rarely, and use Democracy or Republic. Check every turn for new techs, for me they usually come in pairs: in this case there is usually a civ who only has one of the tecs, so go for the twofer.

Not building libraries and universities is a gambit though. If a space race starts, techs for the components get REALLY expensive, so you will have to reasearch yourself if you want to launch first. And reasearching with out these two improvements is wasting half or more of the money you're putting in.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Keep in mind that this approach is only viable on Emperor and above, maybe Monarch. Regent and below, the AI prolly is no help.

 

[IbnSina]

I always use 0% research on emperor and above, precisely to get me through that tricky period at the beginning of the middle ages. I do almost no research before the middle of the middle ages. The trick is to watch other civs very carefully for tech availability. You really want to wait until at least two civs know a tech before buying it - it's much cheaper that way. In the best situation, you can wait until two techs become generally known - by different civs. Then you jump into the gap and play arbitrage: you buy one tech that another civ does not know, and trade the tech to that civ for the second tech you do not know. Voila' - two techs for the price of one (and for about 1/8 the cost of researching them both).

As Crimo noted, researching without libraries and universities is crazy. Thus, I build libraries and universities vigorously through the middle ages, and by the end of that time, I can turn on research and blow the AIs away on emperor level (on higher levels it's a little different...).

P.S. It's not morning for all of us

 

[Tomoyo]

If you have no libraries or universities in a tight space race, your best bet is stealing techs.

 

[michael4000]

Crimso, Doc, IbnSina, Tomoyo - Thanks for the advice and cautions. I'm feeling well prepared to try this, although I'm short on luxuries and might hit a snag there. I definitely appreciate the help.

IbnSina - You're right, I was being provincial. Morning in Portland is not necessarily morning in, um, gnwus. For instance.

Tomoyo - Must be a good day to be a Sox fan!

 

[Tomoyo]

I wonder if gnwus is "Great Northwest United States"?

 

[michael4000]

I wonder if gnwus is "Great Northwest United States"?

Hey! That's where I live!


I have a follow-up question. IbnSina mentioned the "tricky period at the beginning of the Middle Ages," and I'm realizing that I also often encounter a rough patch at that time. Or, if a game is going to tank, that's where the wheels start to come off.

So, what makes the beginning of the MA tricky? I can think of little things, like scientific AIs passing you with their free tech, or the barbarian uprisings, and maybe a big thing, the rocky period when you have outgrown Despotism but aren't really ready for Republic. Is it just that you are far enough in that the problems caused by a weak expansion phase start to show?

 

[IbnSina]

[off-topic]
@Tomoyo: You have susp'ed it! That was the irony of it - it was the same time for me as for michael4000 when I typed that. Still, one of my favorite things about this forum is that people from many (but not all) parts of the world participate... You are three for three today: the sox won, you can rub your NYC friends noses in it (or, knowing NYC, maybe that's not such a good idea), and you know all about the gnwus.
[/off-topic]

@michael: I think the "tricky period" is the result of three issues: at the change of era, all the scientific civs get free techs, and as we know, they love to trade them cheaply to each other; moreover, the AIs are getting a reasonable number of cities and get their FPs about that time (with their accelerated production) so their advantages are strong; and third, we humans don't have very many markets in action yet, so our income is comparatively low. The result, in my experience, is that the AIs get a big tech surge at that time, which I can't keep up with. Thus, exactly when I want to push for chivalry or invention, I'm behind in tech. I think the key in addressing it is to build those markets as early as possible, switch to Republic, and get that FP in place. Once we do that, it's all over for those AIs - I never have as much trouble at the next era change, partially because I usually try to take out those scientific civs first...

 

[citizen001]

how do you handle 0% at the beginning of the game?

 

[michael4000]

I went to 0% last night, and am starting to get the hang of the trading process. Not having luxuries makes it a tough road, though. I need to get aggressive, but it's tough to expand when you are just barely holding things together. Still, I'm doing better than I was. Thanks again everyone for all the help.

 

[IbnSina]

how do you handle 0% at the beginning of the game?

I don't always do 0% from the first turn. Pottery seems so important that I frequently research that, and sometimes, depending on the situation, I run 10% research for a while. Still, I frequently do 0% from the first turn. It is not hard, but it is absolutely critical in that case to get warriors or scouts out making contact with other civs. Typically, if I do this well, I can end up as the arbitrator among civs that don't know one another yet. I buy a tech that two civs know, and then resell it to a civ that neither of them know for the high price we can demand when we are the only ones that know a tech. With 0% research, I can keep my people happy and still save gold for techs.

 

[kb2tvl]

I try to research up to Republic and buy or steal Republic.

I suggest to borrow cash to cash-rush markets. You should be able to get 16 gold for 1gpt. All things being equal, 1gold should equal 1 science beaker without the building maintenance.