Can somebody explain tech path stratagies

[Mukersman]

Can someone give me examples of different strategies that correspond with different tech paths? I know one of the many reasons I suck and can barely play beyond noble is because almost no idea of the implications of taking one tech path over another. I have trouble seeing beyond the next one or two techs. For example, If I get a leader that has mysticism to start and I'm on a small map, I would probably go for an early religion instead of agriculture or something unless there are a lot of food resources nearby.

I have looked at a good bit of the war academy stuff, but beyond an early/axe rush I have almost no idea what I'm doing.

 

[lymond]

First, I recommend heading over to the Strategy & Tips forum for this kinda stuff.

It's not easy to talk tech path strategies in a vacuum. In general, you always want to focus your early research on worker techs. Food first, Strategic resources second. Generally not recommended to go early religion, but Noble is so easy you can get away with it.

From there it depends on the map and possibly the leader. Do you have stone/marble? An industrious leader? Maybe you go for a few early wonders like Oracle or GLH.

Otherwise, keep your tech path focus depending on your strategy. Will you rush the AI early? Are they close? Or will settle back and get a tech lead. As you move up levels, the Aesthetics path is valuable for tech trading and catching up (AIs generally don't prioritize Aesths). On lower levels Alpha>Math>Currency is always a good play. Then shoot for Civil Service for a Bureau/Ox Cap.

Meanwhile, you should set up a high seafood Great Person farm to pump out some Great People, usually Great Scientists for some bulbing strategies like Liberalism.

If you really want to get better, the best thing to do is post a shadow/learner game over on S&T. Let's Play youtube videos are very helpful as well. TMIT and Absolute Zero have some good ones, although AZ's are mainly Deity which offers some strategies not really applicable at Noble, but you will still learn. I have one LP I created some time ago on IMM which is linked in my sig.

 

[Kid R]

Also, keep an eye on the trade screen every few turns. There you can see the techs the other civs have to trade.

Sometimes the best tech path is to choose one nobody else has - then you can trade it round and get several other techs in exchange. Effectively that's two (or more) for the price of one

 

[King Pluto]

The easiest tech path strategy to explain is the Lib beeline, which is basically the mid-game shot to Civil Service -> Paper -> Education -> Liberalism for a free tech. Great Scientists can bulb Philosophy (needed for Lib) if you have CoL and Meditation, as well as Paper, Education and Liberalism (if you don't have Machinery, have Compass and Aesthetics). Using Great Scientists can spring you up the leaderboard, especially on high levels where it's hard to keep up in tech. Even better, the AI often ignores the Lib line (including Philo if the religion is gone), so you can leverage the techs in trades to fill out other needs, like Guilds, Engineering, etc. Techs that are awesome to take with Lib include Nationalism (build the Taj), Military Tradition (Curis/Cavs, requires Nationalism), and Steel (Cannons, requires Chemistry).

 

[lindsay40k]

I disagree with the advice to get food online first; I almost always start with Bronze Working, then something food-related (if you don't have one for turning up), then beeline Alphabet. Chop to build Workers, Warriors and Settlers, then trade techs to get other early food and roads. If it turns out you have Copper in your start area, maybe even chop to get an army out and conquer a nearby capital. (Why found Buddhism when a neighbour can do it for you, eh?)

A popular early strategy/tech path is to beeline Priesthood, then from there Writing and Monarchy. With those two, the Oracle will give you Feudalism. Either learn Archery or to Alphabet to trade Monarchy for it, and you're packing very early Longbows - with this slingshot, Protective goes from being a generally weak ability to a fairy useful trump card.

If I have Elephants easily to hand, I look towards Horseback Riding and Construction. You've then got Elephants and Catapults; this combo can often trample the AI until Gunpowder appears. This path includes Mathematics, so Code of Laws is fairly close to hand to put Courthouses in captured cities.

If you have Priesthood and Pottery, the Oracle can get you Metal Casting. If a second city has a load of forests already reduced to a single turn cut (but not wholly cut!), you can immediately build a Forge and run an Engineer. He can rush you the Pyramids, or lightbulb Machinery. This works very well with Philosophical leaders. Sitting Bull has especially good synergy with this - Drill 3 Crossbows can make a mess of any foe lacking Horses.

Try to consider what works well with your traits and units; if you are Aggressive, then metals are even more useful. If you are Financial, getting Cottages online early is great. Carthage loves getting Sailing, Masonry, Compass and Currency on coastal maps - the Great Lighthouse becomes extremely powerful. If you've got Marble, the Temple of Artemis complements this brilliantly.

 

[lindsay40k]

Here's another good one: go for the Priesthood > Writing > Monarchy > Oracle > Feudalism rush. Trade and research to get all the early Religious techs (Alphabet's great for this). When the Oracle gives you a Great Prophet, lightbulb Theology; you get a holy city and can run civics to give you +4 XP before anyone has a Great General settled. And you can now research Paper > Education early, and build the Apostolic Palace and Sankore, making for a surprisingly robust economy. Main weakness is if you can't trade Code of Laws, you'll struggle to expand.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

I think lymond nailed it, there is no correct tech path there is only the one that suits your needs.

You are off to the right start by considering your immediate surroundings, and looking to bring resources online. Continue expanding that perspective, until you can consider what the game might look like in X number of turns. What sorts of resource improvements, military units, and civics will enable you to thrive?

One final bit of advice: try to research the technologies that will give you the biggest benefit soon. Big fancy technologies require many turns where no advances are occurring in your empire. Consider researching some smaller technologies, if they enable significant improvement in the short term.