Easy way to slow down tech rate globally?

Note that these are not criticisms of the mod or requests for feature changes, just things I would be interested in trying on my local version.

Is there an easy way to slow down the global rate of tech acquisition without affecting any other rates? I know there would be knock on effects (like slowing down reduction of supply cap). Any other reason this would be unbalancing or a bad idea?

I'd also be interested in increasing the effect of technology spread (where techs get cheaper the more civs have them) as that seems to me more like how the world works; a good idea doesn't stay exclusively yours for long. But I do understand that VP is not the real world and there could be knock-on effects I'm not thinking of that would make the game less fun. It just seems like it could help out struggling civs.

 

If you go into the mod files at look at (2) Community Balance Overhaul > Balance Changes > Tech, there's a file called TechCost changes and if you adjsut the numbers in that file you can effect the speed of tech progression (do be sure to backup this file before editing).

I remember Enginseer had an old 'tech cost of history' post that worked with these values but that was for an older version. You could try looking up that old post and using that as a base for your edits.

 

Also, if you do not feel comfortable editing the files, all the common research slowing mods should be compatible. I think I am using the Slower Research mod myself,which slows down the research by 15% or 20% if I remember correctly.

Do not know how to alter the rubber banding mechanics.

 

Thanks! I'm comfortable editing files, I just wasn't sure what files to edit. I'll check it out, although if it's editing each tech individually it might be more trouble than it's worth.

I'll also look at those mods as those may be more in line with what I'm looking for (same relative costs, just everything a certain percentage slower).

 

Disable "Tech Trading" and "Tech Brokering" . For even more, disable "Research Agreements" . That way, you're changing mod options rather than altering gameplay values that might or might not affect gameplay balance.

 

I edited the file following Enginseer's ideas from the referenced thread (the values have changed a bit since then but the idea was the same, just add a multiplier to increase costs). By slowly increasing the VP assigned tech costs up through the middle of the tech tree and then decreasing back down again, it allows more play in the middle eras. So far really enjoying it; it slows it down just enough to for my tastes, although I haven't gotten through a complete game yet with these settings.


Changes to TechCostChanges.sql; I didn't mess with the marathon and epic scaling values below these lines as I don't play those speeds.

-- Change Tech Costs (from CEP):

UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 60*1.05 WHERE GridX = 1; --35
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 100*1.10 WHERE GridX = 2; --55
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 125*1.15 WHERE GridX = 3; --105
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 225*1.20 WHERE GridX = 4; --175
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 350*1.25 WHERE GridX = 5; --275
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 600*1.30 WHERE GridX = 6; --485
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 1000*1.35 WHERE GridX = 7; --780
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 1500*1.40 WHERE GridX = 8; --1150
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 2500*1.45 WHERE GridX = 9; --1600
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 4000*1.50 WHERE GridX = 10; --2350
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 5500*1.45 WHERE GridX = 11; --3100
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 6250*1.40 WHERE GridX = 12; --4100
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 7250*1.35 WHERE GridX = 13; --5100
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 8000*1.30 WHERE GridX = 14; --6400
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 9000*1.25 WHERE GridX = 15; --7700
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 11000*1.20 WHERE GridX = 16; --8800
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 13000*1.15 WHERE GridX = 17; --9500
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 15000*1.10 WHERE GridX = 18; --NEW!
UPDATE Technologies SET Cost = 17000*1.05 WHERE GridX = 19; --NEW!