How do you do it?

[BaBoOn 101]

I don't get it. I can keep my research at 100% for most of the game (religious wonders really help, esp. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism), I build plenty of libraries, and the earliest I can get into the modern era (on noble) is around 1725-1750 (on marathon, if that makes a difference). I have a big empire, but I can't figure it out. How do people manage to win space race in the 1500s?

 

[PublicEnemy]

To be honest, you need to give some more details as to how you're playing the game, so many things can affect it.
Your city placement, research path, wars, specialization, diplomacy, etc.

 

[BaBoOn 101]

I emphasise commerce and growth in all of my cities. I usually start with the religious techs. I usually play as Gandhi. I really only keep an army for defence (unless the opposing civilization in incredibly weak). All my cities are either near resources or on the coast, and for whatever reason all my rivals never want to trade techs, no matter how much they like me.

 

[DaveMcW]

How do people manage to win space race in the 1500s?

By expanding until research hits 0%, then building cottages everywhere.

 

[BaBoOn 101]

By expanding until research hits 0%, then building cottages everywhere.

Thanks, I'lll try that.

 

[Nials]

Welcome to CFC!

By the sound of it you are new to the game. I strongly recommend you read some of the brilliant strategy articles which can be found on this board. They helped me tremendously. They can be found here

In particular, Sisiutil's Strategy Guide for Beginners is a great place to start

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

By expanding until research hits 0%, then building cottages everywhere.

You mean in the early expansian fase of the game?

@bab: for large empires markets and espacially courthouses should be a must have in your cities to finance them. IF you see your finances plummet, build grocers and banks before universities.

my early build for my first 3/4 cities are usually worker/chop monument/granery/military/library/maybe in one of your cities another worker or 2/military/market or courthouses depending on the amount of cottages in the city.

you only need 1 or 2 cities for early military production against barbs.
Get your resources hooked up and cottage spam those grasland and floodplains. this should give you a headstart on the ai on noble difficulty.

 

[Jorunkun]

The three main drivers of technological progress are:

- lots of cottages/.../towns, and science-improvements in the cities next to them
- specialists, both for direct science generation and for lightbulbing tech
- trade with other civs

Are you using all three to maximum effect? Keeping your science slider at 100% doesn't say much: 100% of what?

 

[dalessi12]

I don't get it. I can keep my research at 100% for most of the game (religious wonders really help, esp. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism), I build plenty of libraries, and the earliest I can get into the modern era (on noble) is around 1725-1750 (on marathon, if that makes a difference). I have a big empire, but I can't figure it out. How do people manage to win space race in the 1500s?

As another poster has already mentioned, 100% does not tell us much. If you do not wage wars/expand, you will not have enough cities for the 100% part to matter. You need to expand throughout the game. Usually it is best to do this in spurts, eliminating rivals, civ by civ. You should raze a lot of their cities in early wars, and some of their cities in all wars, as some are likely not worth keeping, and early on (pre-CoL and Currency) you can't afford them.

You need to liberally lay down cottages (and work them). You need to keep research level high when you are not expanding, and allow it to fall during expansion phases. Build the appropriate buildings for each specialized city. Do not waste time making a university in your production city that barely makes any commerce, etc.

You also need to move along the tech tree the right way to maximize your research. It is very, very important to trade techs with the AI. It helps to know what tech paths the AI take and to target techs they will not have. When you get it, you can trade it to multiple AI in the same turn (always trade to as many as possible in same turn, or they will trade it around the next turn) for a ton of cheaper techs that you have skipped on purpose. Trade it for anything you can get; even a few gold is better than not trading it, because someone else will trade it to them anyway. There are a very few exceptions to this practice, namely certain military techs, or techs that are one away from a big wonder or free Great Person or Liberalism.

Anyway those are just a few things off of the top of my head.