How do you set science/tax rates?

[stwils]

I had read it was smart to set Science to 100% to get your advances.

Then I read somewhere it was not smart.

What are your thoughts on this?

And pardon me for asking this, but when I do set science high, I move the beaker to the right. But I think I read in the strat guide, you should move it to the left. That is confusing.

stwils

 

[kundor]

Well, it is to the right to set science high. Whatever guide you were reading was crazy.

I always set it based on the current situation. If I have lots of money saved up, I can set science to 100%, and lose money for a while until I discvoer stuff. If Im getting lots of tribute, sometimes it can be set to 100% without losing money. If I'm low on money, I set the science as high as I can and still make money. If a change makes me a lot more money per turn and only delays a discovery a turn or two, I'll set it lower. If I really need money for something, I might set science down to 10%. It all depends.

 

[petey]

I always set the research rate to a level so that I'm only losing as much money as I can afford.

For instance, if I have 200 gold in the bank and a research rate of 80% loses me 50 gold/turn and it will take 8 turns to research the advance, I'll move it down a notch. If at 70%, I'm losing 25 gold/turn and it will take 10 turns of research to get the advance, that's good for me.

Note that even in the second case, the amount of gold (25 gold/turn * 10 turns) is still more than I have in my treasury, that's not a problem, because you get to adjust it later. As you get closer to completing the advance, you can lower the research rate and still get it in the same number of turns. So this way, you can lose money researching early, and then pick it up later to use for future research.

I've found the best times are when you are 4, 2, and 1 turn from completing the advance. Move down the reseach bar, and you'll find you can complete it in the same amount of time, while losing less, or gaining cash each turn. You have to keep a careful eye on the research rate to make sure you're getting the most value out of it that you can

 

[Shaitan]

Second things first, you are correct that you move the slider to the right to increase, left to decrease.

First things second, you'll probably never want your science research at 100%. In the beginning of the game you generally cannot possibly invest enough to get better than a 40 turn research time. Later in the game you'll likely be able to crank enough science that you will waste a lot if you have it set that high.

There is a minimum of 4 turns and maximum of 40 turns to research any technology. If you are seeing research in 4 turns, bump down the slider to the minimum needed to keep it at 4 turns - anything else is lost. Same thing with the high end. If you can't get better than 40 turns (because you just don't have enough resources to get it any faster) then bump science down to 10%. You still get the tech in 40 turns but will save some cash.

Now, for my basic strategy -
I don't research anything during the Ancient Times. Rely on trading with other civs to get your techs. This is because you can purchase techs for much less than it would cost you to research them yourself. Build the Great Library at all costs. Once you have this you will automatically get all techs known by at least 2 AI civs for free. Since the AI trades techs very agressively you will almost always be current on technology and you don't even have to pay for it. Use all the money you are saving by not researching to build up your own research capabilities (Libraries).

I'll start agressively researching techs after the Great Library stops functioning (it stops when Education is learned) or about midway through the Middle Ages if I never got the Library.

 

[swt1]

If your playing with the patch 1.17f, put science at 0% until the modern ages. As Shaitan says buy techs off the AI. The techs are cheaper than researching. You can also get three or more techs from the AI while negotiating for peace.

This is an exploit IMHO, hopefully it will be fixed in the next patch.

swt1

 

[NY Hoya]

i would not recommend putting research at zero in the ancient era if stwils is playing on anything lower than regent. At those levels you have a research bonus relative to the AI and should use that to get a tech lead over the AI. Even at regent, I'm able to outresearch the AI in the ancient era. No amount of money is worth more to me than being able to take on AI spearmen and pikemen with my cavalry.

 

[stwils]

I'm playing on Chieftan. So where do I set the science thing?

stwils

 

[stwils]

Please help. What science/tax setting should I be useing at the
Chieftain level?

Where did I get the idea to set science at 100%? Maybe it was from some walkthrough of Civ1.

Appreciate any help.

stwils

 

[Mr Spice]

I have never played chieftain, but I would I am guessing that some of the methods listed above work on that level too. Of course the computer will be developing slower, so you may have to do more research yourself.

 

[marshalljames]

You goto the advisors screen,that's the top advisor and in the top right hand corner move the slider's.
It is my opinion that the tax/Sci/lux should be adjusted almost at every turn,and that there is no one correct setting as it depends on the situation and person you are playing.
Yesterday I would have said never set sci to 0 but after playing Shaka I have changed my mind.
Impi's are great,they are like ancient Cavalry in that they have greater mobility and can run away(I use 1.16).