Free Tech Tricks

[DaveMcW]

It's great to get a tech for free, but why settle for just one average tech? Here are some tricks to get more out of your free techs.

Note that most of these tricks work best on lower difficulty levels, where the AI won't beat you to any of the key techs. Also, none of them work in PTW.


Republic Slingshot (C3C)

This is a simple trick to do in Conquests. Just research in order: Alphabet, Writing, Code of Laws, Philosopy, Republic. If you manage to get Philosophy first, you get Republic as your free tech! Becoming a Republic before 1000BC gives you a huge boost in research and growth for the rest of the game.

Don't trade Alphabet or Writing, to keep the AI away from Philosophy as long as possible.


Expansionist Philosophy Slingshot (C3C)

This trick requires a Conquests game on a large map and an expansionist civ. Research Alphabet, Writing, and start on Philosophy. Trade with every civ you meet to get all their starting techs. Then go crazy with scouts, popping every goody hut you can find. After about 20 huts you will have every ancient age tech except Philosophy.

Finish research or pop Philosophy from a hut, and you can pick any of the Middle Age techs for free! Unfortunately you can't pop Republic from a hut after you have a Middle Age tech. But if you're planning to switch to Monarchy or Feudalism that's not a problem.

A variation is to finish Philosophy immediately after popping Code of Laws, and take The Republic for free. This gives you a very early Republic government, often before 1500BC.


Scientific Double Slingshot (Civ3, C3C)

Does it annoy you when a scientific AI gets the same free tech as your scientific civ? Never let it happen again!

To pull this off you need a lot of gold in the bank, or optional techs from the previous age to barter with. Finish researching the last tech of the previous age, and a popup will appear congratulating you on entering the new era. Click "What's the big picture" and you will zoom to your research screen - without your free tech!

Hit F4 to tab to the foreign minister and buy the free techs from all your scientific rivals. You may need to gift them into the new age. Pay gold, gpt, anything to get those techs. Hit F1 adjust your gpt income. You will get it all back soon.

Now exit out of the foreign minister and continue your turn. When the build phase finishes check your research screen - you have a different free tech that none of the AIs have. If you got all the first-level techs already, it will be a second-level tech like Theology, Industrialization, or Space Flight! Sell it to your scientific rivals to get your money back.


Russian Triple Slingshot (C3C)

The Russians are expansionist and scientific, so they can use both tricks! Research Philosophy as your last tech of the middle ages, and use the "big picture" to buy free techs from other scientific civs. Pick Theology or Invention as your Philosophy tech, and you have a 33% chance to learn Education or Gunpowder as your scientific tech. Now you can brag to your friends that you see Saltpeter or made the Great Library obsolete at 1000BC.

 

[Offa]

Marvellous advice. I have printed it out and will try to benefit from it in the future. Too late for COTM1 for me. I hope nobody else reads this before starting.

 

[kb2tvl]

I prefer Monarch slingshot. This requires trading though.

 

[T-hawk]

Note that all those slingshot tricks require you to enter the next age by researching the last tech of the previous age. If you advance an age by buying or stealing a tech, you don't get the "We have entered a new era" pop-up, and thus don't get a chance to jump into "Big Picture" and the menus before getting the free techs.

 

[dgfred]

I've been heavy lurking, looking for post from Dave and T-hawk ( top of the
line players) . Great ideas , I will try to put them to
immediate use . guys.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Republic Slingshot

This is a simple trick to do in Conquests. Just research in order: Alphabet, Writing, Code of Laws, Philosopy, Republic. If you manage to get Philosophy first, you get Republic as your free tech! Becoming a Republic before 1000BC gives you a huge boost in research and growth for the rest of the game.

Don't trade Alphabet or Writing, to keep the AI away from Philosophy as long as possible.

I wouldn't recommend changing governments so quickly in Conquests. The main point being if you get caught up in a war so early with low population points and few roads you may find yourself unable to research at all and in fact may go bankrupt a few times.

 

[Diakonos]

Re hitting F4 and trading techs. There may be something simple i am missing but how do you contact the other civs from this page to trade techs. In vanilla civ i just double clicked on the leaders portrait and could trade with them, but in PTW and Conquests when I double click their portrait all I get is a gong - like sound and nothing else happens?

 

[dresdor]

Scientific Double Slingshot

Does it annoy you when a scientific AI gets the same free tech as your scientific civ? Never let it happen again!

To pull this off you need a lot of gold in the bank, or optional techs from the previous age to barter with. Finish researching the last tech of the previous age, and a popup will appear congratulating you on entering the new era. Click "What's the big picture" and you will zoom to your research screen - without your free tech!

Hit F4 to tab to the foreign minister and buy the free techs from all your scientific rivals. You may need to gift them into the new age. Pay gold, gpt, anything to get those techs. Hit F1 adjust your gpt income. You will get it all back soon.

Now exit out of the foreign minister and continue your turn. When the build phase finishes check your research screen - you have a different free tech that none of the AIs have. If you got all the first-level techs already, it will be a second-level tech like Theology, Industrialization, or Space Flight! Sell it to your scientific rivals to get your money back.

The main problem with this is that you are giving a tech to an *enemy* Civ (even if they are an ally, they are still competing with you) who will in turn trade it to other Civs for a profit. And they end up getting to be pretty much even with you.

 

[AlanH]

The main problem with this is that you are giving a tech to an *enemy* Civ (even if they are an ally, they are still competing with you) who will in turn trade it to other Civs for a profit. And they end up getting to be pretty much even with you.

If you are playing at a higher level of difficulty (emperor+ and maybe monarch) there's little point in trying to maintain a tech lead by depriving the AI of tech trades - they'll get them soon enough, and meanwhile they are not doing useful research for you as they are duplicating stuff you've already researched.

The exception to this is when you want to slow the tech pace down overall, maybe to prolong the effectiveness of you UU, or to allow you time to build up infrastructure or units. In that case you'd probably want to avoid tech trading of all kinds.

 

[Longasc]

DaveMcW, uuh... what can I say?

Thank you - you pointed out some really shrewd and yet accessible ways how to improve my gameplay even more.


Thanks a lot!

 

[Darkness]

I wouldn't recommend changing governments so quickly in Conquests. The main point being if you get caught up in a war so early with low population points and few roads you may find yourself unable to research at all and in fact may go bankrupt a few times.

Why not?

Just make sure you don't get into a war too early...
IMHO, the sooner you get out of despotism, the better...

 

[dmanakho]

Now i want to make Russian triplshot..
But it must be an awfully hard to do on hard levels...
When you have multiple AIs sharing the same continent with you they progress with technologies like crazy....
Many times it is very very hard to get phylosophy 1st.
But it should be a piece of cake on every level below Monarch and even on Monarch

 

[microbe]

Scientific Double Slingshot

Nice tricks, but this one sounds very much like exploit. I will probably not use it.

 

[denyd]

Dave: Technical question, do you hit the F4 when the age change screen is up to contact the other AI for gifting & trading?

If you wait until the pick a new tech question, you've already gotten your bonus tech.

 

[DaveMcW]

Finish researching the last tech of the previous age, and a popup will appear congratulating you on entering the new era. Click "What's the big picture" and you will zoom to your research screen - without your free tech!

Yes, you need to do it on the age change screen.

 

[superslug]

@DaveMcW: This thread is excellent work, but shouldn't the Great Library be listed? Giving it away and retaking it later can be tremendously successful, especially since it's somtimes possible to build it on Sid...

 

[Bad Brett]

I may be real stupid but... I thought you only get a free philosophy tech if you are the first one to research it... if you research it as the last tech, how can you still get a free tech? And if you somehow is the first one, then how can the other civs have second age techs?

 

[Dragonlord]

I may be real stupid but... I thought you only get a free philosophy tech if you are the first one to research it... if you research it as the last tech, how can you still get a free tech? And if you somehow is the first one, then how can the other civs have second age techs?

Not stupid at all - I asked myself the same question! But he said: ' you may have to gift them into the next age'

Make that: you WILL have to gift them into the next age! I presume (haven't actually tried it ) they will THEN get their free techs which you can trade for and so on.

I doubt this can work on the levels I play on (never below Emperor), since it's almost impossible to research Philosophy last and still get the free tech..

 

[sabo]

These are all good but I'm looking for some tricks on higher levels, emporer and above. I've seen some articles on "how to catch up in techs" but not enough, thanks Dave

 

[Peglegasus]

Finish researching the last tech of the previous age, and a popup will appear congratulating you on entering the new era. Click "What's the big picture" and you will zoom to your research screen - without your free tech!

Hit F4 to tab to the foreign minister and buy the free techs from all your scientific rivals.

Does this work in PTW? I'm trying it in ptw 1.27 but can't get it to work. I have a save 1 turn before I finish currency and enter the MA. I choose the big picture at the entering new age screen and it takes me to the score graph screen. If I hit any of the advisor shortcut keys from there it takes me to the "tech chooser" window. I can't get to any of my advisors before that. At that point I already have my free tech.