Advances Tree Question

[Arteryn]

I have been playing civ2 since it was first published, but I've only ever played it on the Chieften difficulty level. I have tried playing on higher difficulty levels but one I get so frustrated when picking which advancements to research because I don't understand how the tree works, apparently.

I know the only prerequisite for 'Writing' is 'Alphabet', and whenever I discover the Alphabet on the Chieften difficulty level I can right-away research Writing. But when I up the difficulty to Warlord and research Alphabet, I'm still not able to research writing. After I research Code of Laws I can again research Writing, but Code of Laws is not a prerequisite!

I believe it has something to do with the categories of advances (e.g. Military, Economic, Social, Academic, and Applied), but I can't for the life of me figure out what mechanic is determining which advances I can and cannot learn in which order. Furthermore, I can't find any forum or faq online that explains this and the game manual is silent. Can anyone please shed some light on this for me?

 

[mackerel]

Welcome Arteryn! You've come to the right place. A year ago my story was the same as yours, and the information on this site helped me tackle Deity level easily.

The tech tree has one twist to it that's not related to the prerequisites system. The simple answer is each technology has a hidden number associated with it (0, 1, or 2). Each time you learn a tech, the next set of advances will be blocked.

For your example, Alphabet is 0, Code of Laws is 2, Writing is 0. Alphabet is what we call a "Joker Tech", meaning it's the first tech in the available alphabetical list so it's not going to be hidden even if it matches the secret number. When you learn Alphabet, the secret number must be updated to 0, causing Writing to be hidden. Learning Code of Laws (or anything else) changes the secret number to 1, causing Writing to be available (and Bronze Working, Masonry, Pottery to be hidden).

Section 2.5.3 of Solo's Early Landing Games Strategy Guide deals with the hidden technology phenomenon in detail: http://sethos.gmxhome.de/English/BookOfStrategies/EarlyLandingGames.html

 

[Arteryn]

Thank you so much! That's exactly what I was looking for.