Don't waste Gold

[KindLE]

This has probably already been posted by someone somewhere, but nonetheless... This is a good tip if you like to keep ahead of the competition in the research race. All you do is when you're 4-8 turns away from getting that next technology, turn down the research slider. Often turning it down 10 percent will allow you four to six turns of extra income. When it comes down to three turns, turn it down again, then two, then at one. You can almost turn it down ridiculously low at one turn. In the game I'm playing right now, while I researched some technology (I forget which one) I got it in one turn and an extra 1000 gold or so to boot. It's money that would just be wasted, like a 100-shield-per-turn city producing a warrior in one turn. Obviously there's enough to produce the warrior, but there's a good 80 shields or so not being used. It's the same thing with technology and gold. Anyway, this helps me stay rich in gold throughout the game.

Another good tip is to do (especially later in the game) no research for a few turns. Then, you go back to reseach and buy whatever you missed. Usually you end up with the same amount of technology you would have had if you did research, but you've got some extra cash as well.

Just make sure you don't forget to turn your slider back up after you researched the technology!

Anymore money generating tips?

 

[slothman]

If I do turn my research down to 0% I make sure I have at least 1 scientist. That way it will use up one of the 4 min turns for research.

 

[Grey Knight]

1. Arbitrarily turning the slider down may increase the number of turns it takes to research a tech. If slower research is what you want, it would have been better to get the cash earlier, and just set the slider lower in the first place.
   
   Since any extra beakers you research do not roll over to the next tech, you are best to optimize the research % to be the lowest possible while still maintaining the same turns to discovery. Always try turning it down when there are 2 turns and when there is 1 turn left. You can sometimes turn it down more than 10%! This is particularly true when you start researching very quickly.
2. Tech devaluation unbalanced. It is much more effective economically to not do research, and instead buy tech. Since the AI's always trade the tech to each other, you'll always pay "last civ" prices. The only reason to do research really is if you have a specific research target - i.e. Democracy, Music Theory, Scientific Method - that you will get a big benifit from being the first to research it.*

Cheers,
Shawn
* Ok, not really. Even if you are not the first to research a tech with a wonder in it, you can partially pre-build the wonder i.e. start building a palace 10 turns ahead of time, then switch it to the desired wonder.

 

[smallstepforman]

<quote> Ok, not really. Even if you are not the first to research a tech with a wonder in it, you can partially pre-build the wonder i.e. start building a palace 10 turns ahead of time, then switch it to the desired wonder. <end quote>

This is one aspect of the game I hate. I finish a wonder, and all AI civs switch to the next wonder, utilising the 400 or so shields they've devoted the previous wonder. This gives them a head start on new wonders. I cannot use this trick since you cannot build the same wonder in two cities simultanouesly.

Firaxis should bite the bullet and NOT ALLOW production switching when building a wonder. Transform the incomplete wonder to its worthless clone (ie. one Great Pyramid and countless other Granaries). One Hoover Dam and other small Hydro Plants. One Great Library and countless Universities.) This way you wont miss out completely.

 

[narmox]

Originally posted by smallstepforman
<quote> Ok, not really. Even if you are not the first to research a tech with a wonder in it, you can partially pre-build the wonder i.e. start building a palace 10 turns ahead of time, then switch it to the desired wonder. <end quote>

This is one aspect of the game I hate. I finish a wonder, and all AI civs switch to the next wonder, utilising the 400 or so shields they've devoted the previous wonder. This gives them a head start on new wonders. I cannot use this trick since you cannot build the same wonder in two cities simultanouesly.

yes you can use this trick. Let's say you're building 2 wonders: JS Bach's and Theory of Evolution. JSB has 10 turns left, THeory has 5 turns left. The AI builds Theory (darn him!!!). Switch your JSB to something else, then switch Theory to JSB - voila, 4 turns left to JSB rather than 9... (assuming they need the same amount of shields...)

Firaxis should bite the bullet and NOT ALLOW production switching when building a wonder. Transform the incomplete wonder to its worthless clone (ie. one Great Pyramid and countless other Granaries). One Hoover Dam and other small Hydro Plants. One Great Library and countless Universities.) This way you wont miss out completely.

Taking this further.. Production switching should be near-impossible! Switching from University to Mech. Inf?!?!?! Is that sooo realistic? (no, I'm not supporting disallowing the switching)

 

[Grey Knight]

The real problem with the AI's wonder-jumping on you is that the tech pace is outrageous, so there is always multiple wonders "in play". Even if you beat the AI's to wonder B, since wonder C was just researched they can flip!

Cheers,
Shawn