Eureka moments as Tech Diffusion/Nerfed Tech Trading.

Psycadelic_Magi

Hippie/Philosopher/Peanut
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As we know, every technology has a unique mini-quest to help research it faster.
It's a great idea, but I still worry that it might further push certain lucky civs into an unchallengeable scientific lead.
This could however also work the opposite way. Perhaps for certain techs the bonus is not available for the first civ to discover it, but instead offers ways for other civs to exploit their current advantage.
E.g.

Gunpowder bonus- Defeat X number of musketmen units, and return those units that defeated them to friendly territory.

I don't know if the Eureka moments can only be unlocked once you start researching them; but I think it would be interesting if in certain situations achieving eureka could also unlock a technology you didn't currently meet the requirements for (perhaps you could short-cut to it if you were 1 tech away from being able to research it for example).

It would be quite difficult to start an aggressive war in order to steal a technology from a more advanced enemy, because if they were aware of the system chances are they would be able to stop them from returning to their own territory. However it might be possible with very careful raids by civs that are close to one another. It would be more useful in fighting a defensive war against a stronger enemy though, and I think could help combat a snowballing/steamroll effect, while still requiring some level of science infrastructure/advancement to take advantage of.

I've been thinking of ways to do this peacefully, such as by being traded (or gifted) a certain number of units by another civ but this doesn't seem particularly satisfying to me.

What do you guys think? Do you think it might be in the game in some form (either way it would make an interesting mod)? Any suggestions for expanding the idea?
 
I do like the idea of Eurekas as tech diffusion.

I'd prefer to get some actual tech diffusion though
+1 science per # of techs civ you know has - # you have... * (1+ # trade routes)*3 if at war * Era of neighbor (1 ancient, 2 classical)

Or each Tech gets +1 science/turn for every civ you know that has that tech, and +1 for each trade route to a civ that has that tech, and +2 for every civ you are at war with that has that tech.
 
That's a good idea, but I think it'd have to occur sparingly. That could translate to the equivalent of a 100% penalty for being the tech leader (because the leader would need double the science to stay ahead of an opponent), which is too severe (or too frustrating) to happen very often.

But in certain cases it could make a lot of sense. Maybe some of the late game military techs that grant support units (like anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons). So, you'd get the Eureka Moment from capturing the equipment and returning it to your engineers or scientists.
 
I really like this idea of tech diffussing.

Though i think it eureka shouldnt always be defeat gunpowder or else itll be unfair for the civ that first got it. Perhaps 1 out of every 5 times or lower? Similar to m15a's concerns.

Also i think you could extend this to be like have tech counters.

Like perhaps a civ will receive an eureka boost in radar for taking down three bombers. Then if civ Y bombs civ X, the civ X can catchup to counter it.

This prevents the everyone attains the same tech problem.

(Obviously this eureka should not alwayd be the same as mentioned before or else everything will be countered too easily.)

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As far as weaponry goes, tech diffusion was real. It did not take a nation long to get their hands on a new and deadly weapon once they saw it in action. Rather than have a nation get gunpowder because they are attacked with guns, how about if a nation is exposed to a new weapon, they get to build a restricted number of those units until they discover the tech?

For example, if the Aztecs are attacked by muskets and they don't have that tech, they could build 15% of their total army out as Aztec muskets until they get the tech. The percent could be linked to how far behind they are in the tech tree. Having those new units would speed up their tech progress towards the tech.

None weapon tech could be diffused through trade or other contacts.
 
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