Favorite tech beelines?

[bovinespy]

Hi all. I'm still getting used to BE (long-time Civ player), and one of the aspects of this game I'm most intrigued by is the tech web. I've only played 2 games so far on Mercury, but even I figured out the importance of getting Affinity techs quickly. So I'm not interested in Affinity-beelines.

That said, I ask you savvy Civvers: what are the favorite non-Affinity beelines you've discovered so far? Thanks in advance.

 

[Empedocles]

It is a rather short beeline, but picking up computers as your 3rd or 4th tech (after pioneering, ecology, and maybe chemistry) can often give you a big advantage. Any player who delays their spy agency too long has a good chance of losing their capital, and steal tech and recruit defectors are both very strong when your target doesn't have spies to reduce your chances.

The other tech I love to beeline is cybernetics. Orbital lasers aren't as strong as planet carvers, but they outrange cities and come packaged with the incredibly strong phasal teleporters. If I don't beeline this tech, I like to get it as soon as I reach supremacy 6 with the free institute tech, because the satellites are very strong in that era and because a leaf tech will let you reach Sup 7 and build CARVRs to go on a teleporting rampage.

 

[Kaigen]

The nature of the tech web discourages bee-lining directly for outer ring techs, but there are some short beelines I like. Grabbing Robotics early is big because it gets you autoplants (extra trade route) and lets you hook up Firaxite, which provides some extra beakers on its own and also lets you build Observatories. From there you can snag Bionics for Biowells and the Institute, which can be used to snag an expensive tech like Nanotechnology for free.

If I'm going Harmony I'll often shoot for Alien Ethics after grabbing vital early techs, then fill out some affinity points where I can. Xenosanctuaries are great (as are the Xenonurseries from Alien Sciences), and if you get them started early you not only reap the benefits of that extra culture, but also ensure that you don't suffer a production crunch when you unlock the Mind Flower and suddenly need those plus Mind Stems in all of your cities yesterday.

 

[Japper007]

I like going Genetics-Gene Vault (Purity leaf tech) - ectogenesis pod.

It starts you off with two excellent wonders, some purity points and some nice science and health buildings.

 

[Soffacet]

I like going Genetics-Gene Vault (Purity leaf tech) - ectogenesis pod.

It starts you off with two excellent wonders, some purity points and some nice science and health buildings.

Vault/Pod is definitely a strong win-turn play against the hapless computers. It shouldn't work (they should kill you for your greed or just outrace you with their cheats) but alas, the computers are too dumb.

 

[ZHONN]

If I go Knowledge, I want academies as early as possible.

 

[Japper007]

Vault/Pod is definitely a strong win-turn play against the hapless computers. It shouldn't work (they should kill you for your greed or just outrace you with their cheats) but alas, the computers are too dumb.

One time I did get run over with a turn 100 rover-rush by the AI though.

You'll also be in trouble if you start next to KP or another expansive AI, as they'll take up all the space while you delay expansion, meaning you'll miss out on the OP trade routes.

There's also the small chance the AI beats you to the pod or the vault (Daoming tends to do this a lot.)

It's very much a risk-reward thing and doesn't always pay off. I do agree, however, that it is much less a gamble than it should be.

 

[Carl_Bar]

Xenothilium via Organics if i can arrange it, generally minimum 6 energy Gen's without sats up. Spam cities at minimum separation and circle them with gens. Sure you'll be lucky with food choices on all building quests to get above 6 or 7 pop quickly and 10 or so max, but it barely matters. You end up with so much raw energy that nothing can compete with you, and with that many cities you will never, ever, ever, need acadamy's or domes or terrascapes or farms or anything outside of Gen's and Resource improvements. Ever. You can just get too much of all the necessary stuff from city buildings with trade routes helping. And at minimum separation between cities the number of tiles each is working gets fairly small relatively speaking, you stop needing food outside of what city buildings can produce, especially if you get enough harmony fast to pick up the Harmony food building alongside.