A few questions regarding science victory

[Syntax Error]

Okay, so I'm kinda new to the game (and to the franchise), and now I'm gunning for a science victory (regular everything, Prince difficulty).

Currently, it's around 1500's and my research output is only 130ish. I'm guessing this is less than optimal and having doubts regarding my chances. I've also been stuck in the industrial era for quite some time (100 turns or so). So here are some questions:

1.) How many cities must you establish normally?
2.) What's the usual research output for that time period?
3.) How do I obtain culture in a timely manner when gunning for a science victory?

I've won the game through Domination and Culture, BTW. Currently, I'm all alone in a peninsula and have no way to meet other city-states unless I establish another city near the other side of coastline, which is pretty barren (no fishies, no luxuries). I'm considering rerolling, but before I do I want to know where I potentially went wrong (I have only 5 cities atm).

 

[R3dKnight]

Unlock your Rationalism social policy. All of them boost research.
+1 science per trading post is the biggest one.
While 2 free techs timed properly can jump you an era.

Feel free to establish city as long happiness hovers above 10. Golden Age does not affect science generation, so don't worry too much about hitting that golden age through happiness.

Cities serve as luxury resource hook ups for me. The more luxury you get, the more you can sell to AI for cash, and secure Research pacts with the cash.

For good culture boost, you can try paying cultured city states.

 

[Syntax Error]

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll just reroll this one and try for a better attempt tomorrow. So far the only SP's I'm looking to get are the Rationalism and Communism(?). Rationalism to get my beakers then Communism to get that bonus in production (not too sure about this one tho). I hope to get a better roll this time. In this game I managed to kill off Songhai and get to at least medieval before AD. Hopefully that happens again, but I'll have more hills this time, because I'm seeing my cities pop out the buildings I need at almost 10 turns apart.

 

[winthrowe]

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll just reroll this one and try for a better attempt tomorrow. So far the only SP's I'm looking to get are the Rationalism and Communism(?). Rationalism to get my beakers then Communism to get that bonus in production (not too sure about this one tho). I hope to get a better roll this time. In this game I managed to kill off Songhai and get to at least medieval before AD. Hopefully that happens again, but I'll have more hills this time, because I'm seeing my cities pop out the buildings I need at almost 10 turns apart.

Don't forget freedom policies for specialist benifits; half unhappiness and half food used on specialists make it easy to make sure you're always running all your scientists. far more important than the communism policies IMO.

 

[Paeanblack]

You can also skip a bunch of techs:

Metallurgy
Fertilizer
Rifling
Dynamite
Railroad
Combustion
Atomic Theory
Lasers
Nuclear Fission
Stealth
Advanced Ballistics
Nuclear Fusion

None of these are needed to launch a spaceship. Some (like Railroad) may be helpful for getting the last component built, but it's faster to head straight for the Apollo Project and get that finished so you can get started on the three boosters in your low-production cities. After you've picked up the required techs, then get Railroad and anything else you fancy.

Communism is not that important, since it's 4 policies deep. You may be better off in the Commerce tree with a 5-city empire if you have a coastal city with good production potential. It's only 3 policies for a +3 hammers boost, and the initial gold boost will help you buy the buildings you need along the way (like a Hydro Plant) The big benefit of a coastal production city is that you get the Railroad bonus immediately after researching it and buying harbors...no waiting for the slow-as-hell workers.

 

[CharonJr]

Are you sure about the RR bonus from harbours?

I think somebody saw that a harbour will not provide the production bonus, just a traderoute.

CharonJr

 

[eewallace]

Five cities seems too small for a science victory--you will need good production cities to make your space ship. I try to get a couple of science-producing cities going early on. Also, I try to get a city that constructs great-scientist-producing wonders and cranks out great scientists first to build academies in the science cities and later to discover new techs.

At the very beginning, scroll through the technology tree and find rocketry, which will give you Apollo Project. Look at all the techs you need (and the ones you don't) to get there. Check back with this regularly, to make sure you aren't heading down an unnecessary tech path. (You will probably need to stray a bit from the direct tech path, though, particuarly if you have aggressive neighbors to deal with.)

 

[Syntax Error]

A question on Expansion... When should I try expanding? I'm pretty sure I can get around with two or three cities before I really start taking over the land and get some serious research going.

 

[ccubed]

Are you sure about the RR bonus from harbours?

I think somebody saw that a harbour will not provide the production bonus, just a traderoute.

CharonJr

As long as your Capital is on the coast and also has a Harbor, then any cities that connect to it via Harbors gain the railroad bonus automatically. I just just checked in one of my games. I was able to then railroad connect the rest of the cities on that island and they all gained the benefit.

 

[CharonJr]

As long as your Capital is on the coast and also has a Harbor, then any cities that connect to it via Harbors gain the railroad bonus automatically. I just just checked in one of my games. I was able to then railroad connect the rest of the cities on that island and they all gained the benefit.

Thank you, thats good to know, I thought that I would lose out on the production bonus there, so basically the only advantage in connecting coastal cities is the faster transport speed if you have a coastal capital anyway.

CharonJr

 

[CheesyPuffs144]

Five cities seems too small for a science victory--you will need good production cities to make your space ship. I try to get a couple of science-producing cities going early on. Also, I try to get a city that constructs great-scientist-producing wonders and cranks out great scientists first to build academies in the science cities and later to discover new techs.

At the very beginning, scroll through the technology tree and find rocketry, which will give you Apollo Project. Look at all the techs you need (and the ones you don't) to get there. Check back with this regularly, to make sure you aren't heading down an unnecessary tech path. (You will probably need to stray a bit from the direct tech path, though, particuarly if you have aggressive neighbors to deal with.)

I just finished a space race with two cities (Continents, Emperor, Epic, Ramses). The Romans ran away with technology on the other continent, hitting Future Era when I started the Apollo Program, and Songhai took over China and America early on my continent, and I had a 2500 year war fending them off. Because he was easily triple my score the entire game, I never had a decent peace treaty proposal.

I went for writing early, then spent beakers rushing for riflemen (Songhai was starting to war everybody at this point), while bulbing most of the stuff for Civil Service and Acoustics with GL and GS. I fended off Songhai with superior troops, but could never push them back due to their sheer numbers.

In the end, I was dead last in points, with Arabia being 2x and Rome being 3.5x. Go spaceship!

 

[Horserush]

The Romans ran away with technology on the other continent, hitting Future Era when I started the Apollo Program

That is just ridiculous IMO. The AI should have won by then ...

 

[Syntax Error]

Okay, so as each failure I get, the more I get to understand how the game works. My latest game was the same (Darius, standard everything, continents). I managed to wipe out Elizabeth before 100 turns because she insulted me. Now I only have China, Ottoman and America on my side. I got warred by both China and America because of border clashes, and I just didn't have the military to hold them at bay at once. I knew I should have gotten rid of America when I had the chance, since my capital is behind a mountain range and here are a lot of hills on the way.

Lessons learned:
Hog all luxuries, then trade them to your neighbors (for additional fun, offer it first then click the "How do yu make this work" button. It's so lulzy I cannot grasp why AIs will offer you a lot when in real life, you're basically offering it to them, for free).

Get at least one coastal city, so you can meet the rest of your neighbors.

Currently, I'm not so sure on what to do: let the AI civs live so I have trading partners, or kill them all and hope that the ones on the other continent will be friendlier?

 

[CharonJr]

Since the civs on the other continent will have no borders with you for now trading with them should work well.

And having more puppets helps with research, too

CharonJr

 

[tibbles]

If you're going for space race, I suggest leaving each AI with at least 1 city. Then you can research agreement with them.

 

[Syntax Error]

Finally got my first space win!

This game placed me with China, America, Elizabeth and Suleiman. China was situated behind a mountain and has a CS near it, while immediately below her is my civ, so she can't expand a whole lot. She reached classical (or whatever tech it was) before me though, and she had swords while I still had axes. Elizabeth was on my west with a coastal city. I eliminated here cuz she called my army weak. Then I moved on to America, then Ottomans. I eliminated China last (left her as a trade partner. 100 gold for each surplus of luxury you have? Yes please!). She had only four cities next to each other and I trounced her in tech after my initial warring.

After that, I annexed London and built a Caravel to meet the rest of my neighbors. On the other continent, they have Iroquois, France and Rome, and the rest of the CS. One of the CS, Hanoi, is all alone on a far-off island, and gave me 30 gold at turn 200-ish.

I have around 15 cities (including 3 puppets). Final output is 1930's, future era, 1200-ish beakers and 200 gpt (with golden age). I got a Taj Mahal at around turn 250 and got a 49-turn GA for my trouble. That GA didn't let up until the end, cuz of a surplus of Great People. I bought 3 Space Factories for three of my cities while Space Race was cooking. I completed the space ship in 30 turns. Also, maritime CS for teh win! Also, China got GDR'ed for the lulz. I kept my save just because I'd like to see how a war between a few robots and a whole lot of gunpowder (France is still stuck in the industrial era) will look like.