Blind Research...but only at the frontier

[ProfessorPhobos]

I've been thinking about one of the longstanding design problems of the series- the iterative nature of it means that an early lead translates easily to a middle game lead and then a late game lead, so it's possible for the game to either "get away from you" (you lagged early and can never catch up) or become a done deal very early on (so why even finish?).

I've also been thinking of how much I liked Blind Research in Alpha Centauri. An idea I had was that if you were at the frontier of science- i.e., pushing into techs no one else had discovered, you couldn't pick what tech to research. You had to go in blind. You'd discover something, but whether it was Iron Working or Sailing or Banana Engineering, you couldn't pick.

But once a civilization discovers a tech, all other civilizations can choose to research it deliberately. This allows laggards an easier time catching up and slows down winners, without feeling like it's penalizing doing well. The thematics of it are, 'You're so awesome at science, you're pushing into the mysterious unknown! Go you!" rather than being openly punitive.

 

[Snes]

Big problem with this is that it removes the ability to select specific techs to suit your needs and playstyle. If I want to have an early focus on conquest, I can't be certain that I'm going to get Iron Working before I get Theology. I don't like it.

 

[InsanelyApple]

Maybe, but only if you could choose "research cultural tech", "research military tech", "research science tech", etc.

 

[9gkj548hkm20vk79dj689bnj4]

I think it could be done. But it's important to be able to beeline for certain technologies, especially if you have certain unimproved resources lying around that you really want. You can't do that if it's blind research...

1) Perhaps all techs for an era (Ancient thru Information) should be visible once you've reached that era. But looking after that era, the tech tree remains hidden and scrambled, like the clouds on the unexplored map. This will encourage bee-lining within that era, but you would have to even out your research before proceeding to the next era and bee-lining again. Otherwise when the next era tech tree is revealed, you'll fall far behind another tech that you really want that's now scrambled and placed on another research line. And plus, more evened-out research means no more easy spy promotions for stealing Sailing!

2) Or scratch that, and only world wonders could be accessed from blind research. They don't really connect to the technology that they're assigned to anyway. Would it really break the game to mix world wonders up? I don't think so.