How the Heck do you guys tech so fast?

[Keaka26]

I read quite a few of the strategy guides, but I still dont see to all this super fast teching/gold collecting.

I just finished my first game recently, and at 2050, I think I had was just about to come up with Marines, advanced flight, and the other junk at the end of that particular age of tech.

And how do you guys manage a domination/elimination victory of any kind on a huge map like the big earth map? By the end of 2050, I had complete control over africa and parts of the nearby continent to the northeast (my geography is horrible). I had like 3 coastal citys on the north american/US (irl) continent. Everything else was AI controlled. like EVERYTHING. I mean, there was no way for the computer to beat me at that point, but it would take me a while to conquer them all, let alone have it done by 2050.

Some of you say you enjoy the early tech/expansion phase, but I enjoy the more modern stuff because building is faster, railroads make movement no so slow, and the units are cooler...But since I tech so slow, I barely get to play with the fun stuff unless I play past the turn limit.

BTW, when the computer is at zero gold, does that affect their research or anything like that? I like to make trades where it drops the AI to 0 gold...

Thanks in advance,
Keaka

 

[Tomoyo]

We get the tech by trading and good micromanagement. On a huge map it is very hard to conquer the world, and you generally have to get MA quickly and start right away.

And when the AI is broke, they still research at the same rate.

 

[Padma]

Just to correct a possible misperception here: The AI is subject to the same rules as the human player when it comes to researching techs. (Except for handicaps/bonuses depending on the game level.) The reason the AI has zero gold, but is "researching at the same rate", is because all the gold it is making it is putting into research. If it actually has no gold income to put to research, it will take a (relatively) long time for it to conduct that research.

 

[Keaka26]

"trading and good micromanagement" is kind of vague. I do trade early on for a lot of techs, although this most recent time it was a bit difficult , since the 6-8 civs on the american continents werent accessible due to the huge amount of ocean tiles, so that slowed my trading for techs down.

But in the end, I think it has to be my micromanaging that is my tech problem...Maybe some help here would be useful....

 

[Tomoyo]

Maybe it has to do with your difficulty level? Tech moves slower on the lower levels.

 

[Keaka26]

Really? As in on higher skill levels you need less total "beekers" than in the low ones?

Im playing in the 2nd from the left now, and that most recent game was on the easiest.

 

[Tomoyo]

Originally posted by Keaka25
Really? As in on higher skill levels you need less total "beekers" than in the low ones?

No, but it used to take less total beakers for the AI than the low ones. The human rate used to stay the same. Now the AI still builds libraries and that kind of stuff faster, making them research faster.

 

[Horizon]

Do not forget that you are able to play longer than the default time that will lead you to year 2050 limit.

When you are on the Player Setup screen, after having selected the world size/age/water% etc... :
You just have to click on the word Game Limits (that is just on top of the rules you can tick or untick) that is under the word Description (under your ruler portrait).

There, you can select the number of turns before reaching the limit of the game (540 by default, put an higher number to play more before the limit is reached).

I like to take my time on the world maps, and i am always annoyed when i try to get a complete conquest of the world just to figure out that i have forgotten to add more turns in the setup when the game end by default in 2050.

 

[planetfall]

Originally posted by Padma
The reason the AI has zero gold, but is "researching at the same rate", is because all the gold it is making it is putting into research.

How do you put gold into research? I presume you mean adjusting the science % slider and keeping cash on hand above 10 but below 100.


PF

 

[Chieftess]

1 - Play on regent or higher. The AI researches faster, and trades more.

2 - Search for trades every turn (or every other turn).

3 - Build a solid infrastructure (meaning, every tile you build must be used by a laborer in that city), and build markets, libraries, and universities for research (markets generate income, and make your people happy if you have enough luxs).

4 - General rule of thumb: Mine grassland, Irragate plains, ignore desert unless you have no alternative (irragate).

5 - The more cities you have, the more income you make.

 

[Keaka26]

psshht...considering I was just on the african continent, I had to deal with mostly desert, and you cant irrigate there until you get electricity...

 

[planetfall]

Yes, you can it just takes time. I think there is a water source around monocco. You also have the nile and can bring the waters where you need them. Also get lots of workers and clear Congo to get to grassland. Not easy but doable, and better than siberia or Chile.

 

[Keaka26]

I eventually cleared out most of the marsh, but that took a lot of workers, and a lot of turns.

But yeah, I had 2 cities out in siberia that I got from an AI players in exchange for peace...Lets just say that they were very unproductive cities. They were VERY far from the capital, they were on crappy terrain, and I wasnt about to have a bunch of workers WALK all the way over there. I finally lost them to egyptians somewhere in the industrial era...Didnt even care...they were defended by 2 spearmen each .

 

[ConanConQ]

It is important to research techs that the AI does NOT have. Once u get them, DONT keep them for yourself. Trade it with all other AI's for huge prices. Usually going litterature is good. After litterature, choose the path to Military tradition. Now u better be secretive, check if the other AI's follow this path. If they do, u better hurry and get there first. Once u get military tradition, ( I assume u managed to get Leonardos Pizza Hut Wonder) upgrade all ur horsemen (and knights if any) and the rest of the world will be at your feet. I easily wil emperor level with this pattern and will be finished with all techs before the year 1900.. and even 1800 !!

 

[Jawz II]

buy techs,but not any tech

lets say u r 4 techs behind,lets call these techs A,B,C and D

where D is the most advanced tech,and A is the most common(with the other civs) in that order

what u should do is,u buy tech D,trade it with a civ that has A,B,C but not D

then u trade C and D for B and A with the more primitive civs

i think until the more military important techs come out,like military tradition,nationalism replaceable parts etc,dont worry about being behind 4 or 5 techs if there isnt a speciall wonder u want


in my latest game i havent buildt one single library or university,only banks,stock exchanges market places,and im at the top,tech wise

have 40000+ gold,and a huge army,im the most hated civ but no one has the army to attack me,and still they sell me techs for good $$$

i get enough money to buy whatever tech anyone researches

also i understand librarys are important for culture adn to counter culture flips,but i disable culture flips so u might wanna take that into account

 

[Keaka26]

some good advice these past couple of posts...keep em coming if there is more...

 

[Shyrramar]

I would like to add a point of view here. Many people like to do their research by trading them, but there are very few tips on how to make you yourself research faster. I usually catch up with the AI before Industrial ages on Emperor level even though I am horrible at trading (it just doesn't feel so good ).

I think the pain point is roads. Build roads to every tile that is worked as early as you can. Each road brings one gold extra, so in a relatively large empire they make a HUGE difference. And you should also prefer tiles adjacent to rivers, but you probably do that anyway (one extra gold there too).

Workers are also a decisive factor. A rule of thumb is one worker per city, but more the merrier . Well, actually there are many opinions about this, but I think one/city is a good start - you can increase or decrease it to your liking later. It makes a huge difference to have all your worked tiles improved (it can effectively mean double money and double production/food).

I almost never have to adjust the luxury-slider, as I make sure that I get all the luxuries I need (remember to connect your cities quickly). This way I can keep the science-slider somewhere above 60-70% at all times. Micromanagement tip: as the turns to complete are beginning to near 1, you should check if you can lessen the science output-slider and still maintain the same turns to completition. Don't underestimate this: you can get a lot of money by doing this! If your science slider falls under 60%, something is wrong in your civ: too many units, too many maintained buildings, too few commercial buildings, too few roads... Consult the Domestic Advisor.

IMO the marketplace is the single most important improvement in the game. It will make your people happier (if you have those luxuries) AND generate wealth. If I am a scientific civ, I usually build a library to a new city first (for culture) and a marketplace next. By the time they are both finished, the city is probably of enough size to bring in considerable amounts of money and research. Building too many barracks, temples, colosseums and such can severely damage your economy with maintenance costs if you don't have enough marketplaces/banks/other. If you are going to build an university and a bank, build the bank first (unless you are scientific: then you can build the university first if the city is big (above 6 as a general rule)). If you always build the universities and others first, you will in effect first build an improvement that costs you money, but you will not HAVE the money. A lot of libraries and universities don't help you much if you have to keep your slider in 10%! A general rule of life: first acquire the money, then use it, otherwise you will just end up owing people money that you don't have.

One of the most important aspects of the game are railroads. You should build them as fast as possible when you get them. You will be amazed at how much they can soar your economy - with the addition of factories and over 12-metropolises that are introduced at the same time. After building the railroads, the time needed to complete a tech is usually down to the minimum 4 with extra money left over! This is where I overtake AI if I have not done that already.

I hope these tips help. Most people would go for the trading tactics, but you can trade and research at the same time (not with money, though, as your money is spent to research). If you really want to get that tech-rate up, play a commercial and scientific civ! Commercial trait is probably the most underrated trait there is: it can really make the difference. I like scientific even though people tend to berate it. The extra techs are one thing, but cheap libraries/universities/research labs are a must! A library can replace temples for small cities, because the only thing temple does that libraries don't is make happy people, whereas libraries make science. As a scientific civ I never build a temple first. Instead I build a library.

Well, hope this has been of some use. And good luck! :good job:

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Keaka26
I read quite a few of the strategy guides, but I still dont see to all this super fast teching/gold collecting.

I'm not sure how everyone else doing it, but for me, I think the most important key for fast teching/gold collecting is to turn the AIs into working for me, not against me. The AIs are my friends, not my enemies! The richer they become, the richer I become. Btw, I rarely do any research on my own because 99% of the time, it's much cheaper to buy techs. For example, in my previous Sid game, I was making around 3000 gpt, if I research at the maximum rate, I would end up making around -10 gpt and would discover Radio in 8 turns. 8 * 3010 gpt = 24080 gold for the Radio tech. That's way too expensive!!! On the other hand, I turned off research and 8 turns later, I had more than enough money to buy Radio plus 3 other Industrial techs and still have plenty of money left over in the bank. Therefore, I can keep up with a very fast tech race by turning off research.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Chieftess
5 - The more cities you have, the more income you make.

Exactly! I have seen people who don't like to build a lot of cities because they fear of corruption. I think that's one of the major mistake right there! Especially in C3C, each taxman can yield two gold per turn; more cities = more citizens = more uncorrupted gold from taxmans.

 

[Ranos]

Most of my tech trading comes in Ancient times with the occasoinal trade later on. I almost always play civs that have the Expansionist ability. This gives me a scout to start off with which allows for finding goody huts which of course can have techs in them. Sometimes I only find one or two techs and have to do some trading early game. I have found as many as 12 techs from goody huts before! Usually its around 6 that I find. This gives you a nice boost on the tech race.

I try to have at least one worker per city until the industrial age when I change it to two workers for every three cities. I always mine grassland unless there are mountains or hills in the city. Early game, I irigate plains and deserts unless the deserts are in a city with flood plains, then I mine them. I clear all jungles and forests, unless the forest is on tundra. My goal is to have the max number of shields per city and have one extra citizen in my city. So if I have a city that can use all 20 squares in it's radius, I have 21 citizens. This of course goes up if the are flood plains in the city.

I set my tech slider at 80 at the start of the game and it stays there until sometime in the Middle ages when I have to move it to 70 because of rising maintenance costs. It should never drop below 70 unless I have so much income that I can lower it and still get the tech in four turns.

Once I have the techs and the game is flowing smoothly, I always improve my new cities the same way. Temple, Courthouse, Marketplace, Library. I do it in that order because happy citizens mean more production and commerce, lower corruption means more commerce, marketplaces mean more gold and libraries mean more research.

Most people concentrate on building up their military first, I build up my cities first. I build a defensive unit, then an improvement, then another defensive unit, then another improvement, defense and then concentrate on improvements. When my first cities are done building all the improvements available, I have them start building defensive units for the newer cities so those cities can just build their improvements.

I also build every wonder I can. Many call this wonder fixation. I call it good strategy. Now I will admit that I am still playing on Regent and this strategy may need to change later on, but it works fine now. I have had the game for over two years, but I play lots of other games as well and don't spend lots of time on my games. My point there is that I am not still on Regent because of wonder fixation, but because I don't play as much as some of you.

Back to wonders. Every wonder gives a very good benefit to you. Some can save you from building improvements in every city. Others improve research and other things. Building them also means the AIs don't get their benefits. Argue the point of building every wonder if you want to, but it works fine for me.

Anyway, I hope this helps.