For you, what would be the most important technology in the game?

[CivNoobie]

For me it's Alphabet for example. Unless you research sailing +GLH which gives you a boost on your commerce, your beaker rate will remain extremely low (around 20 at most) if you have even settled only 5 cities. Only through rushing Alphabet, i can trade other smaller techs from other civs and build research in each cities to get mathematics -> Currency -> CoL by 1AD and hopefully by then my maintenance goes down and I can afford to build an army...


what would be the most important tech for you that enables you to get ahead of the game?

 

[Manco Capac]

Every strong player knows the most critical tech (da first) that changes everything is Currency.

 

[Kjotleik]

May I be so bold as to suggest... Agriculture?


(or if you meant a little later on I would think in the line of Mathematics/Currency)



Yours Sincerely

Kjotleik of Norway

 

[Manco Capac]

Not all maps necessitate agriculture. It happens it purely needs food stock techs like hunting and AH and nothing more for a long moment. Currency is always needed.

 

[Kjotleik]

Not all maps necessitate agriculture. It happens it purely needs food stock techs like hunting and AH and nothing more for a long moment. Currency is always needed.

You're correct about this...but I cannot remember the last game I started where I didn't need agriculture from the earliest possible moment.

I'm probably not starting enough games?


Yours Sincerely

Kjotleik of Norway

 

[lymond]

Yep, hands down Currency is THE tech

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Fission + Rocketry > All.

If you could pick 1 and only 1 technology at the start of the game and would have nothing else available, however, the choice would be "Rifling".

 

[Manco Capac]

Fission + Rocketry > All.

If you could pick 1 and only 1 technology at the start of the game and would have nothing else available, however, the choice would be "Rifling".

Fail TMIT!

All difficulty levels below deity are won before fission come into play. Thus, fission overpowering aspect is just a special case amongst all possible games.

I agree Rilfing+MT are often game finisher. Could be also Steel.

 

[Manco Capac]

never mind anyways.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Fail TMIT!

All difficulty levels below deity are won before fission come into play. Thus, fission overpowering aspect is just a special case amongst all possible games.

I agree Rilfing+MT are often game finisher. Could be also Steel.

No, you are lacking in understanding . Nukes are the ultimate weapon, it is worth waiting to end the game just to use them obviously.

That said, the strongest unit you can get with 1 tech only from t0 is rifles. Just having rifling = build rifles. While expensive for an ancient or classical unit D), it won't take long to win wars that way.

I'm not sure currency wins by itself. It is very useful, but so is being able to whip, being able to build granaries/cottages/other relevant tile improvements, military, and so forth. While currency is "always needed", so is pottery, and any currency pre-req.

Actually it might be harder on most difficulties to win w/o pottery than it would be to win without currency. I remember an old RPC where we weren't allows to ever acquire code of laws or build courthouses . That was a fun game.

 

[bestsss]

Currency is only ok w/ the big lighthouse (or state property), whipping (bronze working) is where it usually is but it takes granary to make it worthwhile - so bronze working+pottery. Adding chopping just makes sure the bronze working is the real deal.
In OCC currency aint hot at all either.

 

[Fippy]

It's Divine Right, yep. For details ask her majesty Isabella.
If you are fiendish heathens who disagree, she lets you know the most important tech now is Theocracy. She also argues that without Writing, you cannot get your precious gold and silver coins.
She wonders if that matters.

 

[elmurcis]

Astronomy... I just play map type (Archip..Archip ) where it is breaking point of the game.. 1st who get access to ocean ships (and is able to settle islands around the world), chance to trade for some new health/happiness bonuses and it opens ocean for trade routes with other civilizations (it can give 10-15% research increase in 1 turn if have GLH that I have in all coastal starts ). And because I play Dutch on water maps.. its all game target

 

[ben-jammin]

BW, Alpha, currency are the techs you want as soon as possible in pretty much every game. The urgency of all the other important techs depend on the game.

 

[Izuul]

Currency is only ok w/ the big lighthouse (or state property), whipping (bronze working) is where it usually is but it takes granary to make it worthwhile - so bronze working+pottery. Adding chopping just makes sure the bronze working is the real deal.
In OCC currency aint hot at all either.

Currency provides the same benefit with or without the GLH, and the %increase to your trade routes and total commerce from currency is actually larger without the GLH. Not to mention that it allows you to build wealth which is one of the most powerful economic engines in the game. Wealth and shrines (edit: forgot merchants) are about the only ways to fund 100% research later in the game, and shrines are not as reliable (you won't always capture a good one) and have less and less of an effect the larger your empire becomes while the benefits of currency continue to grow proportionally.

I agree with the rest of your post, but i think you are really underrating currency.

 

[bestsss]

I rate currency very high but bronze working even higher. You can certainly win (or be in a winning position) w/o having currency while doing that w/o bronze working on immortal+ would next to impossible.
W/o currency there won't be multipliers to merchants (in caste) or ability to sell tech (unless everyone else has it), usually selling tech for money is what keeps deficit research high.

Technically you can tech w/ scientists and bulbs + trades, so it's doable w/o currency, Great wall + spies allows teching via great spies (but need some holy city to help).

 

[i_imperator]

In the early game it would be between Three Techs, Pottery for cottages and granery's, Monarchy for Happiness and HR Rule,which allows you to grow those cities that have cottages and granery's, and Asethetics for trading on Monarch and Higher.

For warring techs it would be Steel, with cannons you can!

Edit: For Early Warring I'd choose Animal Husbandry, Horse archers can be quite powerful if you can deny the AI bronze and Iron.

 

[Izuul]

A bit OT, but i was actually thinking about posting an Immortal no-slavery game here for a bit of a challenge. There would be no restrictions on BW, but the actual slavery civic would be banned.

 

[bestsss]

You can trivially win OCC imm w/o slavery as long as you can chop. Not being able to chop means tons on unimproved forests as well.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

A bit OT, but i was actually thinking about posting an Immortal no-slavery game here for a bit of a challenge. There would be no restrictions on BW, but the actual slavery civic would be banned.

The difficulty would be extremely map-dependant.