Free Tech Tricks

[Paul#42]

Anyway, I was still the first to philo and I followed the guide and gifted my 5 opponents to the next era. But I hit another bump again, and nobody got Feudalism. So, Feudalism ended up being my sci tech, but I still got theology from philosophy.

Why didn't you gift them the other bonus techs, too? Once you milked the first civ, trade/gift that new tech to the next, get that other tech and trade both to the next - this should work, shouldn't it?

Until they are about to reach a tech you don't want them to have - then get your own free tech.

 

[DaveMcW]

Nope, doesn't work. The AI gets a tier 1 tech as soon as you gift them into the new age.

 

[choxorn]

I know this question makes me sound like a n00b (which I am ), but how do you contact an AI from the F4 screen?

 

[AlanH]

Click the leaderhead image in the circle.

 

[choxorn]

So- I click on a leader, then click on them again?

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Yeah, rapidly.

 

[choxorn]

Okay! I'll try it out then.

 

[Weird_bug]

After exploiting the big picture and thereby regrettably noticing that no AI obtained computers, I got recycling nevertheless:



For the record, this is not a mod and default rules were in use. Of course, I picked the AI rivals manually to get all the sci civs in. Except for Germany, all these sci civs were still alive at this point.
It seems like a glitch; if not, maybe the game's free tech selection is not even depending on the (own) knowledge of 1st level techs: then, the game engine possibly just checks for any advance (out of the newly entered age) that could technically be researched next (?). If that was true, one could ever (if not regarded as exploit, of course) take the gamble even in case there's only 2 or so sci civs around...
Maybe anyone made a similar observation and could confirm?

[edit: file naming changed][/QUOTE]
If you look very carefully you'll see you don't need computers for recyclinglol

 

[AutomatedTeller]

yes. You can get 2nd level techs.

I sometimes won't trade for feudalism until after I get my free tech - if you have monotheism and engineering, but not feudalism, you are about 50/50 to get Theology for free. If you have feudalism, it's 33%.

In your case, you had 5 techs you could have conceivably obtained: Recyclying, synthetic parts, space flight, nuclear power and computers.

 

[denyd]

Quite often if I have a significant tech lead, I'll also time my entry to the Modern Era with the completion of the ToE, so that (with luck) I can go from discovering Flight to have all of the first level and 3/5 of the second level in a pair of turns.