A skeletal map of the production tree

[Katie Boundary]

Note that this is a SKELETAL map, and does not represent dependencies outside the production tree. This tree is tightly interwoven with the financial tree, which in turn has a lot of dependencies in the religion-and-civics tree. Two crucial decisions are how to get paper (Civil Service vs. Theology) and how to get Gunpowder (Guilds vs. Education). If you choose to ignore Mysticism through Theology in favor of going Currency -> Code of Laws -> Civil Service -> Paper -> Education -> Gunpowder -> Chemistry, then you'll be able to get as far as Printing Press and Steel, but you'll be screwed for Replaceable Parts. Conversely, if you ignore Code of Laws and Civil Service in favor of Theology, you'll be able to get as far as Combustion and Steam Power, but you'll be screwed for Assembly Line. If you're clever, though, you can skip Polytheism through Theology and just weave your way through Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Monarchy -> Feudalism to unlock Guilds and Civil Service... a fact that is NOT reflected in the path that the game will choose for you if you just click on Plastics on turn 1.

Either way, you can safely ignore the Fishing -> Sailing -> Compass -> Optics -> Astronomy -> etc path all the way up until you need Industrialism. Conversely, the "naval science" tree is quite dependent on the production tree: Compass requires Iron Working, Optics requires Machinery, Scientific Method requires Printing Press, and Biology requires Chemistry.

This leaves Agriculture and Hunting as the 100% optional starting techs.

EDIT: hmmm, maybe I should have made it vertical rather than horizontal...

 

[Tephros]

Note that this is a SKELETAL map, and does not represent dependencies outside the production tree. This tree is tightly interwoven with the financial tree, which in turn has a lot of dependencies in the religion-and-civics tree. Two crucial decisions are how to get paper (Civil Service vs. Theology) and how to get Gunpowder (Guilds vs. Education). If you choose to ignore Mysticism through Theology in favor of going Currency -> Code of Laws -> Civil Service -> Paper -> Education -> Gunpowder -> Chemistry, then you'll be able to get as far as Printing Press and Steel, but you'll be screwed for Replaceable Parts. Conversely, if you ignore Code of Laws and Civil Service in favor of Theology, you'll be able to get as far as Combustion and Steam Power, but you'll be screwed for Assembly Line. If you're clever, though, you can skip Polytheism through Theology and just weave your way through Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Monarchy -> Feudalism to unlock Guilds and Civil Service... a fact that is NOT reflected in the path that the game will choose for you if you just click on Plastics on turn 1.

Either way, you can safely ignore the Fishing -> Sailing -> Compass -> Optics -> Astronomy -> etc path all the way up until you need Industrialism. Conversely, the "naval science" tree is quite dependent on the production tree: Compass requires Iron Working, Optics requires Machinery, Scientific Method requires Printing Press, and Biology requires Chemistry.

This leaves Agriculture and Hunting as the 100% optional starting techs.

EDIT: hmmm, maybe I should have made it vertical rather than horizontal...

Interesting, but I think production is least likely to be the thing I'm short on, unless I'm playing on a tropical map. Agriculture is probably the most important tech in the game (well, maybe 2nd after pottery for cottages) because you can't do anything without growth, unless you're on an archipelago map or literally have no fresh water or grain resources. In that case, it's going to be fishing or animal husbandry or hunting...

Also, if you live in a flat area (as tropical starts can be), you also need to consider workshop boosts. In that case code of laws for caste system, guilds, and state property.

 

[Katie Boundary]

It's not necessarily about boosting production. The primary appeal of this tree, in my opinion, is in all the military units that you pick up along the way: Axemen, swordsmen, macemen, musketeers, riflemen, infantry, marines, tanks, machine gunners, catapults, trebuchets, cannons... not to mention all the stuff that you get from prerequisites in other trees, like Fishing Boats, Granaries, Aqueducts, Markets, Grocers, Banks, Libraries, Observatories, Universities, Vassalage, Serfdom, Bureaucracy, Caste System, Free Markets, Wineries, Plantations, every naval vessel ever except carriers and submarines... in this sense, this isn't merely the production tree so much as the EVERYTHING tree. Construction allows bridge-building and Colosseums. Engineering allows faster road movement. Metal Casting requires pottery, which allows cottage-building, and Printing Press boosts the gold output of high-level cottages. PP requires Alphabet, which allows tech-trading and the training of spies. Electricity boosts the gold output of windmills and watermills. If you're lucky, you can found as many as 3 religions along the way (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism). The Everything Tree even drags you through crap like Philosophy, Nationalism, and Constitution on the way to Corporation -> Assembly Line.

Agriculture is important, yes, but it's not mandatory in the way that techs like Mining and The Wheel are. Hunting is important too as a prerequisite for Archery, because defending your cities with melee units until you get gunpowder is borderline suicidal; however, it's not mandatory.

I already mentioned Code of Laws and Guilds as prerequisites for some of the techs in this tree, so it was completely unnecessary for you to mention them again. State Property is given from a worthless dead-end tech, Communism; however, Scientific Method and Education are prerequisites for Communism, so even State Property will require going through large chunks of the Everything Tree.

 

[Tephros]

It's not necessarily about boosting production. The primary appeal of this tree, in my opinion, is in all the military units that you pick up along the way: Axemen, swordsmen, macemen, musketeers, riflemen, infantry, marines, tanks, machine gunners, catapults, trebuchets, cannons... not to mention all the stuff that you get from prerequisites in other trees, like Fishing Boats, Granaries, Aqueducts, Markets, Grocers, Banks, Libraries, Observatories, Universities, Vassalage, Serfdom, Bureaucracy, Caste System, Free Markets, Wineries, Plantations, every naval vessel ever except carriers and submarines... in this sense, this isn't merely the production tree so much as the EVERYTHING tree. Construction allows bridge-building and Colosseums. Engineering allows faster road movement. Metal Casting requires pottery, which allows cottage-building, and Printing Press boosts the gold output of high-level cottages. PP requires Alphabet, which allows tech-trading and the training of spies. Electricity boosts the gold output of windmills and watermills. If you're lucky, you can found as many as 3 religions along the way (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism). The Everything Tree even drags you through crap like Philosophy, Nationalism, and Constitution on the way to Corporation -> Assembly Line.

Agriculture is important, yes, but it's not mandatory in the way that techs like Mining and The Wheel are. Hunting is important too as a prerequisite for Archery, because defending your cities with melee units until you get gunpowder is borderline suicidal; however, it's not mandatory.

I already mentioned Code of Laws and Guilds as prerequisites for some of the techs in this tree, so it was completely unnecessary for you to mention them again. State Property is given from a worthless dead-end tech, Communism; however, Scientific Method and Education are prerequisites for Communism, so even State Property will require going through large chunks of the Everything Tree.

Yeah these notions would never even come up in the kind of games I play. Huge, 12-18+ civs (colonies get established if I'm on archipelago), immortal. I can imagine it might be different on a small map with few foes. Even if I'm prioritizing military technologies, I can usually broker the techs I get first for those other techs. Even when they're not useful in themselves, actually especially when they're not useful in themselves, they then become great for retrading. For example, I trade something for divine right and some gold and then I trade divine right and gold for something else, and now I can afford to upgrade all my offensive units. But even when I'm being maximally aggressive, I don't need to beeline towards assembly line when my experienced riflemen and cannons are facing longbows and horse archers. Then the espionage techs help me to know when I do need to get to the next era in units by telling me what my foes are researching.

I actually almost never research archery early. My current game was an exception because my neighbors are korean. Axemen are the best defenders when the enemy lacks horses, and a spear or two completely negates the horses.

 

[Htadus]

I wish I can see the image before making any silly comments.

 

[lymond]

Just hit quote on her post and copy out the link. I guess she used the wrong tags or bbb code

Anyway, what i don't see here is much context to go on. I think most of us know that there is a lot more to optimal teching than military units.