Artillery tech order

[Cromagnus]

Ok, here's what I do. I'm curious if others do it differently.

I usually go Sci Theory, Industrialization, Dynamite, in that order, bulbing Industrialization to get the early Ideology. Sometimes I go Education, Dynamite, and bulb Dynamite, but I feel like my game goes better if I do it the other way... I get Artillery a *bit* later, but I can pump out units faster for a blitzkrieg.

Do y'all do it differently? Usually I find I desperately need the happiness in Ideology...

If you're not stopping at Scientific Theory to go back for Dynamite you're losing valuable turns getting Radio first. Furthermore, even though stopping at Industrialization slows down getting artillery, getting the ideology sooner means stealing techs sooner, which will often help you catch up on Dynamite. So, I feel like it's a net win.

Thoughts?

 

[EEE_BOY]

After education, go straight to dynamite, and use oxford to get dynamite. Build catapults and horsemen for upgrade. Can go Astronomy if have 2+ mountain cities. After dynamite Scientific Theories, Biology and then Flight. Can delay factories to see the ideology choices of remaining civs, and go the same ideology as your friend AI (to minimise happiness hit when going domination) .

 

[tommynt]

I pretty much agree that usually u ll want idiology before going for the push as USUALLY the happyness from it will be needed- in singleplayer ..
on other hand that will rpoly delay arties 10-20 turns ...

tech order just really depends on how much u care for future teching und your civ situation after dynamite ... dont think there is an "overall best path"

in mp we defnatly go towards dynamite right after universities, MAYBE getting banking asside as the gold and trade route really helps
scientists for military trad and oxford for dynamite.
But then u dont wont go kill 7 other players in mp but usually taking 5-6 cities will end game ..

 

[budweiser]

My thoughts are if you want a strong artillery force then you should foster it starting at Math perhaps garrisoning cats and then use cannons to earn promos and do a mass upgrade to artillery.

 

[tommynt]

nah all arties is need is 2 promos imo and u can get these 2 without doing any fight or just having 1 promo off the bat and let em shoot like 3 times ..

For an artiy beline i d not waste early hammer on something else as boosting eco.

 

[Cromagnus]

You will get artillery faster if you go Education -> bulb Dynamite w/ Oxford, yes, but now you can't afford to take any cities because of happiness, unless you've been sandbagging your population. IMHO. Industrial Espionage will make up for the delay almost by itself, unless you get unlucky and no one's teching towards Dynamite. Then, when you do get Artillery, you hit Militarism, just in time to attack.

Having Factories before you start your rush also really helps keep up with production needs. And the sooner you get into Autocracy, the sooner you benefit from it. The only problem with this strategy is that I get my Ideology so early that I then have a conflict between Mercantilism and Secularism. I end up wanting like 4 SP at once. I find if I go this route I have to skip Commerce altogether, so no Big Ben, no Mercantilism. Also, sometimes I can't trade for coal and I have to burn a Great General if I want to rush-buy factories. But, those factories can then start churning out Armory-promoted Cannons for upgrade as soon as I get Dynamite. I feel like it's a net benefit, unless the map allows for a really fast artillery rush. (If you can take a capital with Notre Dame or some other happiness source to start your run, then there's no need for the ideology that early)

But, I can see how in MP the only thing that matters is having artillery first. ;-)