Great Library... Yeah, very great.

[qanda]

I built the great library in order to compete with another civilization who was building it. I finished it first but I did not get any free techs as all the other civs were too primitive. Isn't that infuriating? I wasted 35 turns just for a handful of culture points. Did anyone experience this before?

 

[Ribannah]

Sure. Here are some solutions to your problem:

(1) Don't build the GL if the other civs are too primitive
(2) Give all the techs you have to the other civs
(3) Stop researching after building the GL
(4) Win by culture
(5) Be happy that you prevented some AI from building the GL
(6) Play on a higher difficulty level

 

[wishfulthinking]

Yeah, it happened to me as well, but like Ribannah says, I was happy that I built it first! In a different game I played I was well ahead of the other civ, but didn't they go and build the thing first! Talk about information falling into the wrong hands!

Wishful Thinking

 

[robehans]

There is a conflict if you build it...
If you manage to build it first, it proves that you are ahead
in tech's... if you don't, it usually means you are in need of it...

atleast... so has it been in most of my games...

Just stop researchingwhen you're done with it, it starts working in regent much better, in my opinion...

- Robert

 

[Merd346]

You don't have to stop reserching after you build it. You can concentrate on the more expensive techs and let the other civs fill in the cheaper ones, like horseback riding, for you. It works for me anyway and I almost always build the GL.

 

[narmox]

oh, some people are never happy.

"I was behind in tech and didn't build it now I'm stuck behind for the rest of the game!"

then

"I built it but I was so advanced that it was useless! The GL sucks!"

sheesh.

 

[Sim_One]

the GL gives you new techonology obtained by TWO other civs...is there anyway to know which civs they are? is it randomly chosen two civs or is just the two civs closest geographically. also anyone seen a GL work when you have absolutely no contact with any other civs?

 

[CamDawg]

Originally posted by S1m0ne
the GL gives you new techonology obtained by TWO other civs...is there anyway to know which civs they are? is it randomly chosen two civs or is just the two civs closest geographically. also anyone seen a GL work when you have absolutely no contact with any other civs?

You must have contact with other Civs for the Great Library to work. I built it and then contacted a new Civ a few turns later and Monarchy came rolling in.

I don't think there is any way to tell who you got the tech from. You could start diplomacy with another Civ and see what they have under their technology tab.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by S1m0ne
the GL gives you new techonology obtained by TWO other civs...is there anyway to know which civs they are? is it randomly chosen two civs or is just the two civs closest geographically. also anyone seen a GL work when you have absolutely no contact with any other civs?

I thought you get all techs that ANY two civs have that you don't. Oh, and CamDawg, are you sure you need contact for it to work, and that the Monarchy thing wasn't just a coincidence? If you do need contact, thanks for the info, since I never knew that.
Edited.

 

[wohmongarinf00l]

when u get GL u get all the techs that any two civs have and u continue to get them as they are discovered until YOU get education...so, if u are playing at monarch and are saving gold for a massive military campaign u can do any one of several things to encourage a neighbour to build it. when u attack the neighbour and capture it and all the civs are way ahead, say just researched economics, u will get everything upto economics in that one turn. works great in deity and can help u jump from early middle ages to the middle of the industrial age.

 

[Becka]

Originally posted by qanda
Did anyone experience this before?

Yes, in a Chieftain game. What level were you playing? (I play regent, and usually the other civs are pretty advanced.)

 

[Barker]

Funny thing that I have noticed in my games is that I get Education from the GL, where it is stated that the GL expires after Education. I have even done some diplomacy and seen another civ with Education, and then 2 turns later I guess they trade it to another civ, and then i receive the tech and the message that the GL is now obsolete.

I guess this means that it only expires when the GL owner receives Education.

 

[Evie]

SOMETIME it's possible to win the GL race despite being hopelessly backward. Just make a beeline for Literature while the AI research all the other useful stuff and build the other wonders. That's what I did that other game when I started in the middle of a jungle.

I managed to survive, then to have my worker (later workers) clear out enough grassland and mine/road it so that I could catch up in tech thanks to the GL and start building up my nation (NOTE : Having the greeks and their damn hoplites just north of me blocking all passages didn't help on the military front) (basically, get ready to jump ahead in tech the moment education dropped by).

And yes, it was a rather low level game (warlord/regent, can't remember which)

 

[rangers85]

Originally posted by Barker
Funny thing that I have noticed in my games is that I get Education from the GL, where it is stated that the GL expires after Education. I have even done some diplomacy and seen another civ with Education, and then 2 turns later I guess they trade it to another civ, and then i receive the tech and the message that the GL is now obsolete.

I guess this means that it only expires when the GL owner receives Education.

Well yeah, if "expires after education" then it doesn't expire until you get Education. Otherwise it'd expire before education. It's the same with any other wonder or unit that becomes obsolete, it doesn't become obsolete until the tech is gotten to make it obsolete, why would it be any different for GL. I don't get why everyone is so surprised you can get Education from it.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by rangers85
Well yeah, if "expires after education" then it doesn't expire until you get Education. Otherwise it'd expire before education. It's the same with any other wonder or unit that becomes obsolete, it doesn't become obsolete until the tech is gotten to make it obsolete, why would it be any different for GL. I don't get why everyone is so surprised you can get Education from it.

I think Barker was pointing out that the GL becomes obselete when the owner gets education, instead of when the first civ to get it gets it. But that is true for any wonder; it becomes obselete when the owner gets the obselete tech.
Anyway, does anyone know for a fact whether or not you need contact with a civilization to get techs from the GL?

 

[narmox]

I've noticed that, unlike civ2, wonders in civ3 expire when their owner gets the tech, not when anyone gets the tech.

 

[Mathias]

Originally posted by CamDawg


You must have contact with other Civs for the Great Library to work.

This is correct. The Great Library only gives you techs that at least two civs you have made contact with already have.

Originally posted by wohmongarinf00l
...u will get everything upto economics in that one turn.

You will never get anything beyond Education from the Library. The most advanced tech you could get from the Library is Chemistry. That will probably never happen, because the AI's always go for Banking or Astronomy (and thus get Education) first unless you're already studying Physics.

I'll usually stop science altogether after I get Literature, or perhaps go for Monarchy. After I build the Library, I wait for the other civs to put me into the Middle Ages, then I beeline for Chemistry. Most of the time, I get Education by the time I learn Gunpowder, so I go for Astronomy, then on to Theory of Gravity, unless I want some other wonder.

 

[konigstiger]

Originally posted by Mathias


You will never get anything beyond Education from the Library.

Actually no. wohmongarinf00l is correct (at least in 1.17 though), I never had this hard-to-get circumstance to happen again in 1.21 or 1.29.

 

[Bamspeedy]

You will never get anything beyond Education from the Library. The most advanced tech you could get from the Library is Chemistry. That will probably never happen, because the AI's always go for Banking or Astronomy (and thus get Education) first unless you're already studying Physics.

This is correct IF you have contact with all the AI. If you are stuck on some island all by yourself and finally when the AI contacts you after they are all in the industrial age you get all those techs up to and beyond steam power in some cases. It doesn't expire until the turn AFTER you get education. In GOTM 7 there was some players who got techs past education after they captured the Great Library. Of course, it would suck if the 2 civs you happened to contact were the most technologically backward and had education, so you were still several techs behind everyone else.

 

[wohmongarinf00l]

i wasn't thinking about the case where you build it. if u can beat others to it u probably don't need the jump. i am thinking of the case where u have contact with everybody but the GL has been build by a neighbour and u attack the neighbour and capture the city with the GL. then u do get all the techs in one turn.