I Can"t Get To The Modern Age!!!

[Mark2010]

Hello again. I'm having trouble getting to the modern age. Whenever I put so much on science I only get up to the begging of the industrial age and by the time I get there its the year 2030!!! Can someone please help! Thank you..

Oh and by the way, check out my other post about religon in civ3. AND I"M NOT AGAINST MUSLIMS OR OTHERS. I just studied Islamic history and read about the crusades. I thought that the islamic people were people who loved to fight and they are people who would protect their land. That's all. Anyway please respond.

 

[SKILORD]

playing cheiftan?

 

[Trabpukcip]

This is the answer I gave to someone with the same problem you have:

"Hi

well I'm a littlebit confused becose it's not that hard to reach high tech quickly... I'm not sure why you have problem with this but may be I can give you some advise that most experienced civ3 players would agree on (ecuse my english I speak French...)

First: build a library in every city, and as soon as possible a university to. That should help a great deal.

Second: build many city even if they have a lot of corruption becose a city that produce only a little is better then no city at all (many means many... everything depends on the size of the map but on a small map it I would say at least 50)

Third: War War War War War... and democracy... war is a great way to expend quickly even if you do not want a military victory and if you don't want to be savage, at least take a good governement... no communism for the peace like...

Four: American stink... choose a civ with a more scientific profile and a civ with a specific unit that come before the modern age. That should help you get a better start...

Five: Build all wonders that give a bonus to science. Like Copernicus's observatory.

Six: in your major cities and most importantly in those with the wonders I talk above, place scientist. You can change them in the city view by removing citizen from the working squares, that gives you an entertainer that you'll need to change to a scientist by clicking on them. That should improve your city science's production.

Seven: Build the Piramids and Sun Tzu's Art of War. That has nothing to do with science but it will save you a lot of production in every city on the continent (no granary and no barrack to build). That way you can use that production to build other city improvement that help science sooner... (this trick works very well on a pangea world)

Height: May be the most important of all! In the domestic adviser window, there's 2 bars in the upper right conner of the screen. Use the upper one to boost the amount of ressorses you dedicate to science. This is highly important becose it will directly affect the number of turns needed to complete a new science...

...ho and one last thing...

Having a road on every city square will increase your science per city."

 

[God]

Thats good advice, but still the tech rate on chieften is really slow. You may get into the modern age, but not very far. Only way to get to the Modern Age is to play warlord and above.

 

[Curufinwe]

I was in Modern AGe at Chieftain in the late 1800's, so it isn't that impossible, but the others are right, tech goes quicker as difficulty grows, and size plays a role to, small worlds can research tech quickly, while huge take way longer.

 

[Arioch]

I would suggest that size DOES matter, how big is your empire normally?
It may be you need to expand more quickly earlier in the game as this can often stunt your research potential. Read some of the strategy articles for specific advice for quick expansion - they really do help

 

[Frodo Bolson]

About the amount destined to research, two tips

1) At the very begining of the game, when there are almost no units or city improvements to mantain set it to 100% or 90%. Change that later.

2) Sometimes you will find that with 70% you have a big profit but with 80% a big loose every turn. In that case, leave at 70% until you earn a big ammount of money and then (better not when there are just a few turns for the next tech) change for 80% some turns. Also, build the wonder that pays the maintenance of economic improvements, it is not directly related to science but less looses will help to mantain the science research higher for more time.

 

[Sullla]

Tech progress is almost solely a function of difficulty level. If you aren't seeing the modern era, you're playing on one of the simpler difficulties (probably Chieftan). After you become more comfortable with the game and can move up in difficulty level, I guarantee you will want tech to be moving SLOWER, not faster! The size of your civ is also important; you need to control a good stretch of territory to have decent research rates.

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by Sullla
Tech progress is almost solely a function of difficulty level. If you aren't seeing the modern era, you're playing on one of the simpler difficulties (probably Chieftan

I have not played chieftan in quite a while and can't remember much about it. Is this another surprise from Firaxis? In the editor it has a tech rate in each difficulty level, but that is supposed to be for AI only.

Or are you saying that the AI researches techs faster than you do, and then you buy techs from the AI? In that case, on a lower level the AI would research slower and you wouldn't have any civs to buy tech from?

You may be right, but I have never heard that the difficulty level has a direct effect on the human's rate of research . Where did you get this information?

 

[Hawkster]

It is possible to get to modern ages on chieftan - the tips Trabpukcip are good - but war isn't essential or at least I didn't find it so when I was playing on that level.

Also remember to trade techs as much as you can especially early on - you wont get there on your own! Trading luxary items for gold per turn can give you a great boost as you can up your science spending. Make sure you build marketplaces / banks as these will increase your funds - as will building the wall street small wonder, if you can build A Smiths to further increase your gold supply (not essential but it does help).


You must try and get the Great Library wonder it can make a huge difference but hold off researching education - as it will negate the Great Library.


All this whilst maintaining a strong millitary to repel any attacks!!!!

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Isn't it so that the enemy will always be slowed in tech than the human on dhieftain? So if I'm researching each tech as the first guy to do it, it's gonna be way slower than than othrwise, because the techs don't get cheaper because of being common knowledge.

I'm playing a game with only 1 opponent on Regent, and in that game I noticed techs getting cheaper (while others didn't so it's not my science output) without my enemy knowing them. Also, I tried to check if they were researching it (by contacting every turn and checking if they got that tech) and twice I had the tech first. So it loks something about tech cost is not quite as we understand it should be.....

 

[sumthinelse]

Originally posted by Lt. 'Killer' M.
Isn't it so that the enemy will always be slowed in tech than the human on dhieftain? So if I'm researching each tech as the first guy to do it, it's gonna be way slower than than othrwise, because the techs don't get cheaper because of being common knowledge.

It depends. If you depend on other civs to have techs you need, then their tech rate would make a difference.

One way to play the tech game is to "stay in the herd" so that your opponents will finish some techs before you do. I prefer to have a tech lead all the time, even though it's more expensive in the short run. I will eventually sell old techs to the others, but I don't want to help them too much. When I get to navigation it pays off (always play on a 256x256 world where there is a lot of ocean between continents) because I can sell maps and communications. I get a few miscellaneous techs from the other civs (chivalry, democracy) that I didn't bother to research and then use them for trading. There are other advantages to having a tech lead, of course.

I'm playing a game with only 1 opponent on Regent, and in that game I noticed techs getting cheaper (while others didn't so it's not my science output) without my enemy knowing them. Also, I tried to check if they were researching it (by contacting every turn and checking if they got that tech) and twice I had the tech first. So it loks something about tech cost is not quite as we understand it should be.....

That's what I'm wondering. Is this some secret that only a few people know???? Every time I think I'm beginning to understand CIV3 I get another shock!

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Originally posted by sumthinelse


It depends. If you depend on other civs to have techs you need, then their tech rate would make a difference.

Well if I stay ahead all the time (I use to be 6 or 7 tech ahead on Chieftain, then it shouldn't, right?

That's what I'm wondering. Is this some secret that only a few people know???? Every time I think I'm beginning to understand CIV3 I get another shock!

I don't know. How can Printing Press go from 14 turns to 6 when we both research Engeneering to Gunpowder at the same time, but Music Theory stays at 6 turns all the time?????
I'll repeat that game and see what happens to my beaker output and tech costs and so on, but it will take time sorry. I get shocked all the time, too

 

[Dark Sheer]

I agree that the size of the map and your empire has alot to do with how fast is the tech rate. Lately in my own mod the research gets to a point it is so fast! I think almost everyone researching future tech by 1400 (YES, I mean EVERYONE). Of course by the time World War started its alot of fun with Modern Armor everywhere and I even sees London get nuked by the Chinese. And I play America who is also at war with half of the world.

 

[Zerzes]

Mark2010,

Try the "Power Capital" approach.
Keep restarting until you can build your capital next to coast and river. Build roads and mines on all your grassland adjacent to the river and use those squares first. After you have built say two settlers and a couple of defenders you should start building the colossus in your capital. Continue with library and later on university (throw in a temple when it is needed). Switch to republic as soon as you can. On chieftain it shouldn't be a problem to get the wonders you want, so go for Copernicus observatory and Isaac Newton's college in your capital too.

If you succeed with building a capital like that you shouldn't need much else to get a decent research. (Well, you need to max out the number of citizens in your capital and have your science rate as high as possible). You will probably find that such a capital produces more science than all of your other cities put together.

 

[Bamspeedy]

You must try and get the Great Library wonder it can make a huge difference but hold off researching education - as it will negate the Great Library.

On chieftain the Great Library will be rather useless.

Four: American stink... choose a civ with a more scientific profile and a civ with a specific unit that come before the modern age. That should help you get a better start...

You don't need a UU to get a golden age. Industrious is rather useful. Last game playing the French on Monarch level I got my golden age from the Colossus. Won by spaceship.

Third: War War War War War... and democracy... war is a great way to expend quickly even if you do not want a military victory and if you don't want to be savage, at least take a good governement... no communism for the peace like...

War is not necessary, but can help. By claiming more land you'll get more cities, and with war, you might get a great leader that can be used to rush the Forbidden Palace for example. It would be smarter just to stay in Republic than to keep going in and out of anarchy when switching from Democracy to a war-time government.

Six: in your major cities and most importantly in those with the wonders I talk above, place scientist. You can change them in the city view by removing citizen from the working squares, that gives you an entertainer that you'll need to change to a scientist by clicking on them. That should improve your city science's production.

NO, NO, NO!!! Not in your major cities. In your low-corrupt cities you need as many citizens working the tiles as possible, because all of the shields/commerce they bring in is uncorrupted, plus the libraries, universities multiply this gold. Scientists add just 1 beaker! In the high (95%) corrupt cities, then scientists would be good, because the beakers are corruption immune.

I have not played chieftan in quite a while and can't remember much about it. Is this another surprise from Firaxis? In the editor it has a tech rate in each difficulty level, but that is supposed to be for AI only.

Difficulty does not slow down the human's potential to research. The reason it seems that on lower levels it takes so much longer to go through the tech tree is because:

1. On chieftain, after you get the first couple of techs that the other civs start with or techs they got from goody huts, you pretty much have to research all of them yourself. On higher levels you can trade quite a bit for other techs that you didn't research yet alot further into the tech tree. Trading industrial age techs for example happens alot more on the higher levels than chieftain. In the industrail age, it takes the AI 40 turns for every tech it seems. It takes the computer so much longer to build infrastructure that they do not have the resources to research those expensive techs.

2. On lower levels, due to poor infrastructure, the AI has no money to give the player to help/trade the player to speed up his research.

My suggestions: Like has been said before, make sure you have roads everywhere. click on a city and zoom in, see which tiles are being worked. Make sure those tiles have roads on them (don't completely ignore mines/irrigation though). Build Libraries, courthouses, universities, etc. Make sure your people are happy, entertainers won't help you at all in production or research, so secure some luxuries and build happiness improvements. I recommend being a Republic if you want to take the scientific route. Ignore the dead end techs unless you really need it for a specific wonder/military unit, etc. Let the AI research those techs for you and buy it from them. Or if you are at the same speed technologically as the AI is, researching those dead-end techs might be smart because you could trade techs.

On chieftain I recommend having the science bar set to 70%, or the highest you can afford and still make a little gold each turn. Try to get Copernicus's Observatory and Newton's University in the same city. In the last game I played I had both those wonders, plus colossus in my capital and when I set science to max, I was making over 200 beakers/turn from just that one city. Later on, I got SETI program in that city also, but the spaceship was launched just a few turns later.

 

[Sanaz]

After you have Republic (or Democracy), you really should be able to research each Tech in 4-8 turns and still make money (trades help here, a lot). Follow all of the advice in previous posts. On Chieftain or Warlord, you should be pulling out of the Industrial Age into the Modern around 1700-1900, depending on a few things (maybe as early as 1600). Scientific/Industrious or Scientific/Commercial really helps with this style of game, but if you play to the strengths any characteristics will work. For example, if you are Militaristic/Religious, you can be at war continuously, generate a bunch of leaders, and you don't need to research Wonders, Forbidden Palace, or Settlers as much (rushing with leaders, and taking over defeated cities). If you're Expansionist, built a bunch of scouts and find the goody huts - this can get you out of the ancient age very quickly.