How can I achieve faster science victories?

[CivDecimation]

Here is the save file from an immortal Pangaea science victory with Babylon and the victory date at 286.

How can I improve this? I know I did not nail the late game because I received an RA that blasted me to 17K beakers of overflow and I did not begin hammering space ship parts out quick enough (plus I used a gs on a tech that I didn't need).

By the end of the game my cities were at pop 40-31-18.

I built ToA, ND, Petra, PT, Leaning Tower, Statue or Liberty, Hubble, CN Tower and Sistine Chapel.

SP wise I went full Tradition, Rationalism two on the left, two in Order (factory science), then finished rationalism.

 

[budweiser]

Well, you are not next to a mountain. That would help. Beyond that, the biggest things is making sure all those RA's are working all the time. try to get at least 4 in each wave.

 

[DaveMcW]

Please provide a save from turn 120, which is the halfway mark for a faster science victory.

 

[Tachii]

You probably should've started with Tradition instead. I'm surprised you've still managed a 40 citizen capital without it. Then again you've got a bunch of river tiles, salt, and petra so it's not completely ridiculous.

Also if you build PT you should find friends fast for that. Usually just spying and sharing intrigue with embassy should be enough for 3 civs to DoF. I wouldn't go as far as saying having 4 RAs but 3 RAs is usually the average I can pull off on an Immortal game.

 

[CivDecimation]

You probably should've started with Tradition instead. I'm surprised you've still managed a 40 citizen capital without it. Then again you've got a bunch of river tiles, salt, and petra so it's not completely ridiculous.

Also if you build PT you should find friends fast for that. Usually just spying and sharing intrigue with embassy should be enough for 3 civs to DoF. I wouldn't go as far as saying having 4 RAs but 3 RAs is usually the average I can pull off on an Immortal game.

Woops I actually went tradition, I am not sure why I said liberty. I will see if I can get an autosave from around that time.

Edit: Last autosave I can get is 240, I played this game in about three hours so I didn't save. Looking at my files I have the replay but I don't know how I can play it.

I teched very hard into the middle of the tree and I never picked up optics until I had rocketry. I went writing first then picked up archery and lux techs then went for education. I then beelined fertilizer and scientific theory.

 

[Tabarnak]

For easy sub 240 science victories you need :

3-4 cities with NC before turn 95
Universities unlocked before turn 120
Publich schools before turn 170
Research labs before 200

Rush buy labs, then wait 8 turns to burn all your gs. With some RAs(no need of overflow trick) you can get all tech parts in time. Add Hubble(keep a ge for it) and the rationalism finisher and lastly Oxford to research them in time too.

I can burn 1 or 2 gs in the middle of the game to get key science buildings a bit faster.

 

[Ribannah]

The best thing you can do to improve is to play more slowly.

With +27 happiness, it seems clear that you could have had more cities. Surely you could have settled in the south where China is now. More heads = more science, and more cities means that you can build more spaceship parts simultaneously.

Also: why are you not in a Golden Age?

 

[Tich]

For easy sub 240 science victories you need :

3-4 cities with NC before turn 95
Universities unlocked before turn 120
Publich schools before turn 170
Research labs before 200

Rush buy labs, then wait 8 turns to burn all your gs. With some RAs(no need of overflow trick) you can get all tech parts in time. Add Hubble(keep a ge for it) and the rationalism finisher and lastly Oxford to research them in time too.

I can burn 1 or 2 gs in the middle of the game to get key science buildings a bit faster.

Everything he said is right, I just want to build on it a bit. I like to pre-built Oxford and leave it at 1 turn until I get Rocketry. Once Rocketry is on 1 turn left until it becomes researched, build Oxford and purchase a GE with Faith (hopefully). End the turn, then use your free tech (from finishing Oxford) on Satellites (Rocketry is now complete) and use your GE to build the Hubble Telescope immediately. This should secure it for you, even on Deity.

286 is respectable, but I hit 270 with random civs with no science bonuses even if I decide late that I'm going for a Science win. You should easily be able to tweak and improve your current speed. All you really have to do is beeline your key research techs, put a specialist in every science slot immediately, settle ~5 GSes and save the rest, and ensure that you get the Porcelain Tower and the Hubble Telescope. Signing RAs is key too I guess, can't really overlook that aspect of it, but at the end of the day you can get lucky and sign 6 (gotta love with when Mongols/Attila declares war on everyone and so everyone becomes friends to fight against him) or unlucky and sign 2. Even if you ally with the right people, sometimes the computers just do the dumbest diplomatic things that make no sense. If you can rush buy buildings that's awesome, but sometimes you're at war with multiple Deity computers and it's just plain not an option. Your money was previously spent doing more important things. Just do your best to convert your war efforts into science by puppeting, and it should even out in the end (more-or-less). Artilleries, Gatling Guns/Machine Guns, Bombers and various Infantry are fantastic at taking cities, so it's not hard to fight the good fight while building your tech.

 

[ifinnem]

You should be getting all of Rationalism left side to get RA boost before any Order I think
It might also be your tech path but the key is definitely early cities and growth

Basically you go early lux techs, construction for protection, beeline to Education, then to Pisa and PT, then the key science building techs then Atomic Th, then Apollo and then tech to rush Hubble via a GE (from faith?). Then bottom of tree for Space factories and finally finish off the rest

 

[Tich]

...then tech to rush Hubble via a GE (from faith?).

Assuming that your city has a religion in it, it doesn't matter whose, you can buy GEs once you have a point in Order (so the opener basically). It'll cost you a 1000 faith for the first one, and the second one you'll just never get at 1500 (I'm not expecting you to invest much into this), so you really need the first one to be the one that gets you Hubble.

I actually played a game once where I never founded a religion (it was on Deity, that was to be expected) but no religion ever made its way to my capital. I don't know how or why, but none of them ever converted enough people to get a majority. Anyways, long story short, I don't realize it until I go to buy my GE only to not see an option to do so >.>. Sigh!

 

[Ribannah]

If you have a city that is sufficiently productive, there is time to build Hubble normally.

 

[ifinnem]

If you have a city that is sufficiently productive, there is time to build Hubble normally.

Not if you are trying to finish quickly - you should be building parts there!

 

[Tabarnak]

If you have a city that is sufficiently productive, there is time to build Hubble normally.

In most cases it's much easier to burn a ge. But i guess you are talking about hammers overflow or something like that?

After Hubble tech you have a pretty tiny window to hard build it before reaching other techs.

Or are you talking about rushing Hubble tech with gs and Oxford then use it for last 2 techs? Sounds like a good approach for me.

 

[Ribannah]

I was thinking of my TSG40 game where Hubble was built in the capital in 7 turns, while four other cities work on a spaceship part and all the remaining techs are discovered up to the final few.

 

[ifinnem]

I was thinking of my TSG40 game where Hubble was built in the capital in 7 turns, while four other cities work on a spaceship part and all the remaining techs are discovered up to the final few.

Nice work!

Pretty unusual to be able to hardbuild at that rate and still have other decent cities for parts though...

 

[MamboJoel]

Rush buy labs, then wait 8 turns to burn all your gs.

I've read this tip quite a few times but couldn't find any explanation. Could you explain why you need to wait 8 turns after buying labs before you burn the GS ?

Thanks !

 

[ifinnem]

I've read this tip quite a few times but couldn't find any explanation. Could you explain why you need to wait 8 turns after buying labs before you burn the GS ?

Thanks !

GS bulb = sum of last 8 turns of research

 

[Agent Cooper]

I'd say your main 'issue' is the limitations of having only 3 cities

Imo about 5-6 is the optimal for a fast upper-level science win and perhaps some puppets from early warfare to supply mostly gold and luxuries/resources. It could add at least 50% to your total populace/specialist count. It shouldn't be a big problem getting the SPs you need in time, despite more cities, if you get some additional culture from buildings/wonders or friendly/allied cultural city states.

 

[ifinnem]

I'd say your main 'issue' is the limitations of having only 3 cities

Imo about 5-6 is the optimal for a fast upper-level science win and perhaps some puppets from early warfare to supply mostly gold and luxuries/resources. It could add at least 50% to your total populace/specialist count. It shouldn't be a big problem getting the SPs you need in time, despite more cities, if you get some additional culture from buildings/wonders or friendly/allied cultural city states.

Strongly disagree - 4 cities is more than enough for a quick time.
Puppets are not bad on top of that if necessary but you want to make sure you can still get 4+ RAs per wave

 

[OmniPotent42]

I've heard that it's worth it to make academies with your GS's before the Industrial Era. Is that the way to do it, or should you save them up until Research Labs?