Help with tech research, please!

[woof6712]

Hi all
New to this web site and forum. Love it. I've played civ II and III for years, but never multi-player or tournaments, so I guess I'm a newbie to the strategies and tactics that seem to work best. I've read the war academy articles and many tips posts in the forum.
I've read about selling techs to the AI for gpt to bankrupt their ability to research new techs. From what I understand, many experienced players are 5 to 6 techs ahead of every AI by the Middle Ages. I can't get there! I usually play Monarch or Emperor level, huge map with 14 or so civs. I've been scientific civs and non-scientific civs. I've done builder strategies and warmonger strategies. I've put the tax slider at max science, minimum science and everything in between. I trade techs with AI civs. Most of the time I'm in pretty good shape, and by that I mean ahead of many civs and behind two or three top AI civs in one or two techs. But I can't seem to ever fully catch up or take the lead in techs. When I offer techs for gpt, the answer (so far) is "never." I have been doing very small trades for total gold in return for gpt along the lines of 3 gpt from an AI civ for 58 gold. Are tech trades for large amounts of gpt only available later in the game, say when banking is discovered?
Can anyone offer some suggestions? Thanks for your time and help and understanding that I'm new to this strategy.

 

[Theov]

First and best tip to get advise: post a savegame or screenshot. Seriously.
Safegame + "help!" + ? = result
Normally science is a balance between happiness (luxuries and marketplaces), food and difficulty.
Trading:
Rule number one: don't build early wonders.
Rule number one: have enough workers.
Rule number 2: make sure you keep a good reputation. Reputation is that . .. .. .. .. . that bites you in the butt when you attack someone when you're in a right of passage. (ROP Rape)
/
An enter in a post is nice. Just when you breathe, press enter. Try it.

 

[Spoonwood]

A lot this has to do with having all the contacts and picking the right techs to research, and then trading it around for other techs. Cope's and Newton's can help. Make sure you have plenty of libraries and universities also. They generally don't have much gpt before Banking... especially below Demi-God or for smaller map sizes.

 

[capnvonbaron]

Hi all
New to this web site and forum. Love it. I've played civ II and III for years, but never multi-player or tournaments, so I guess I'm a newbie to the strategies and tactics that seem to work best.

Welcome!

I've read the war academy articles and many tips posts in the forum.
I've read about selling techs to the AI for gpt to bankrupt their ability to research new techs.

Then you're off to a good start, it looks like.

From what I understand, many experienced players are 5 to 6 techs ahead of every AI by the Middle Ages. I can't get there! I usually play Monarch or Emperor level, huge map with 14 or so civs. I've been scientific civs and non-scientific civs. I've done builder strategies and warmonger strategies. I've put the tax slider at max science, minimum science and everything in between. I trade techs with AI civs. Most of the time I'm in pretty good shape, and by that I mean ahead of many civs and behind two or three top AI civs in one or two techs. But I can't seem to ever fully catch up or take the lead in techs. When I offer techs for gpt, the answer (so far) is "never." I have been doing very small trades for total gold in return for gpt along the lines of 3 gpt from an AI civ for 58 gold. Are tech trades for large amounts of gpt only available later in the game, say when banking is discovered?
Can anyone offer some suggestions? Thanks for your time and help and understanding that I'm new to this strategy.

Ok, you are not in trouble at all. I would generally say *most* people are 5 or 6 ahead around the middle of the industrial age (or IA) on monarch and emporer. I'm getting pretty good at monarch, and I'm usually in a tech tie with several civs at the turn of the AA/MA. I am almost ALWAYS the first one into the IA, and thats where I typically break away while the idiot rival civs waste time researching democracy, free artistry, nat'lism, esp and communism. Bankrupting civs usually happens first in the middle MA, when they first start accumulating enough wealth to buy techs for gpt (chemistry is usually the tech I get an easy monopoly on, and the first I use to start breaking other civs' banks before they're even built ). The middle MA, in my experience, is the best place to hit a golden age if you can pull it off. By then your expansion should be largely done, some good infrastructure in place, and some expensive buildings/units start becoming available. Really, the middle MA is where two or three civs start to stand out from the rest, in many cases, and those are the ones you target for gpt-for-tech trades.

Another thing to try... my best emporer games are ones where I am an AA bully. Found five or six decent cities, build a metric crap-ton of swordmen and horsemen, and beat neighboring civs into submission. Take a couple cities, steal all their workers, pillage their mines and fields, and when your hordes are at their capital's gates, demand all their gold and techs. Do this while running a straight research line toward Republic OR Monarchy (some civs have an advantage toward Monarchy, some Republic. Sometimes goody huts will help you decide). 90% of the time you will get one of those governments first, and when you do, trade them around to friendly, moderately advanced civs... the AI will over-pay for them. With newfound land, a solid non-despotic gov't in place, and plenty of free slave labor, the middle-age growing pains aren't so bad.

Best of luck!

EDIT: Also, I have to ask... do you play with barbs/goody huts turned on?? On huge maps, the AI gets so much good free crap from goody huts on monarchy and higher, when all you get is maps and barbs. This is partly why they do so well in the AA. Turn goody huts off and it'll even out the playing field some, except when you are expansionist. I hate expansionist anyways, personally, and don't oft play expansionist tribes. I also have a policy of killing rival AI scouts on sight, if I can catch them.

 

[Tone]

Hi. First things first. theov is right. add a save game and people can offer much more focussed help.

in the meantime just a couple of points.

I've read about selling techs to the AI for gpt to bankrupt their ability to research new techs. From what I understand, many experienced players are 5 to 6 techs ahead of every AI by the Middle Ages. I can't get there! I usually play Monarch or Emperor level, huge map with 14 or so civs.

It is more difficult to get this type of lead so early in the game at the higher levels. It is possible with a relatively strong starting position and good play though. Generally I think the key areas are a full set of contacts, loads of towns and researching what the AI doesn't (as spoonwood said). Then again it could be that you don't have enough workers to get the roads built quickly, you have too many military units just sitting around doing nothing (i.e. not getting you more towns), that you are not using Republic (or not early enough), or... Post a save and we'll have a better idea.

When I offer techs for gpt, the answer (so far) is "never." I have been doing very small trades for total gold in return for gpt along the lines of 3 gpt from an AI civ for 58 gold. Are tech trades for large amounts of gpt only available later in the game, say when banking is discovered?

It means that they don't have any spare gpt. The AI will never offer a gpt deal that would put them into negative gpt. They may be able to offer this earlier than Banking but it depends upon the game situation. Certain techs, such as Banking and Currency (plus government techs), improve the AIs ability to increase commerce and at the higher levels thay are able to build the improvements that do this pretty quickly. However it also depends upon how many cities and units they have. For example I played a Sid game the other day where the AI lacked any decent spending power until Democracy came along. This was due to the insane number of units that they had built compared with the number of cities they had. It was on a 'pelago map so they could lose these units through warfare very easily and the cost for excess units in Republic just crippled them. so the answer is 'it depends'. A save would help

 

[Spoonwood]

The AI will never offer a gpt deal that would put them into negative gpt.

For the *next* turn, right? I mean if they have 15 turns left on their GA, won't they give a 20 turn deal as if their golden age would last that long?

 

[Argetnyx]

New to this web site and forum. Love it. I've played civ II and III for years, but never multi-player or tournaments, so I guess I'm a newbie to the strategies and tactics that seem to work best.

Not necessarily, you don't need to play against other players to be good.

 

[Tone]

For the *next* turn, right? I mean if they have 15 turns left on their GA, won't they give a 20 turn deal as if their golden age would last that long?

Yes, that's correct. It's a good way to get into wars as the AI frequently declares war to get out of a long term deal that they can no longer afford.