I just started a game...

[BigGabMor]

on level monarch im with 2 other civs on one continent... I just kn0w those 2 other civs. What the strategy in sciences at this point of the game. May i research the techs as fast as i can or may i make my amount of cash growin whats the strategy to adopt in this situation...

Aslo what do you mean when you say research at 3rd civs cost or 1st civ cost... And if i understood correctly how can you be faster than the comp is you research at 3rd civ cost and him at 2st...

Few things to be explained...
Sorry for my level of english i speak french 1st

 

[Hades]

I am not sure how to answer your other questions, but my strategy on playing monarch is to research literacy first. Use "build palace and switch" strategy to build the Great Library is my first priority. I set my research to zero after getting literary until I get Engineering then max out my research to get Militery Tradition.

You will not out research AIs at this level, so don't even try. But AI research in layer so use that to your advantage.

Don't worry about your English, I can't speak French but I love helping fellow Canadians.

 

[Japher]

I think the civ costs means; the more civs that you know that have that tech the cheaper the cost is.

I don't really worry about this... Stockpile gold, trade for tech, try and get the library if you want (not too important), and protect your own techs (don't trade them if you don't have too).

 

[Catt]

Originally posted by BigGabMor
Aslo what do you mean when you say research at 3rd civs cost or 1st civ cost... And if i understood correctly how can you be faster than the comp is you research at 3rd civ cost and him at 2st...

Don't worry too much about being behind. Most players are behind the AI in the early game.

The "3rd civ cost" versus "1st civ cost" is probably (I'm guessing, since I don't know where you saw this) a reference to the natural technology devaluation that occurs in the game. Each new discovery costs a certain amount of science beakers to discover -- but this amount is not fixed in stone. The first civ to discover "Mathematics" will "pay" full price for discovering Mathemetics. If one (or two, or eight!) other civs already have discovered Mathematics, it won't cost nearly as much to discover it -- with each new civ that discovers a technology (provided it is a civ with which you have contact!), the cost to you to research it on your own is lowered - one reason why it is so important to establish contact with other civs whenever possible.

Someone may have been suggesting to you that you research the technologies that the two other civs with whom you have contact have already discovered, making that technology cheaper for you to discover (you can figure out which techs they both have discovered by looking in the diplomacy window, or, more commonly, by just seeing which techs are much easier to research when you are presented a choice of research items.

An alternate strategy is to deliberately choose to research a technology that the other civs don't have, and then trade them that technology for the technologies that they have but which you do not. This is a bit riskier and takes more experience - you don't wnat to set oout researching Currency in the expectations of trading it only to discover that your opponents discovered it before you.

Good luck!

EDIT: cross-posted with Japher! Japher said it far more succinctly than I did

 

[BigGabMor]

''research in layer'' ??? Sorry but i dont understant that... What's that mean?

 

[Sullla]

Originally posted by Hades
You will not out research AIs at this level, so don't even try. But AI research in layer so use that to your advantage.

This is flat out not correct. In doing a One City Challenge game for GOTM10 today (Regent, standard, 60% water pangea map) I had no difficulty keeping up with and even exceeding the 7 AI civs in tech. And that with just my ONE city to their dozens! True, my one city ended up with the Colossus, Copernicus, and Newton's University wonders in it, but it takes skill just to get those wonders too. It's more about trading than anything else; I ended the game caught up on all technologies (game was up to the first couple Modern Age techs) and with over 10,000g in the bank. With my one city. So don't try to tell me that you cannot out-research the AI on Monarch difficulty; it just isn't so.

To clear up the confusion on the way tech costs devalue... OK, think of it this way. Every tech has a certain cost in beakers; when you put that many beakers into researching the tech, you obtain it. If you research a tech yourself and no one else has that tech already, you research it at "1st civ cost" - that is, the full price in beakers. But Civ3 is set up so that each time a tech is discovered, the price to research that particular tech is lowered for all civs in contact with that civ. And the more civs that know a particular tech, the greater the drop in cost, until techs cost almost nothing at "last civ" prices. Here's an example. Let's say it costs 100 beakers to research the tech Pottery. If your civ meets an expansionist civ (or any civ, for that matter) which already has the tech Pottery, your cost to research it will immediately go down to something less, like maybe 70 beakers. If you met another civ with Pottery, the price would drop again, until at "last civ" price the tech might cost 25 beakers. This is why one popular strategy is to wait until all other civs have a tech and then buy it at virtually no cost.

Well, I've said too much already, but hopefully that helps to explain the issue better.

 

[Shabbaman]

The formula concerning tech valuation is in the FAQ nowadays. It shows that contact with other civs is important. This also goes for the GL, as it only works when you've contacted three civs.

By the way, research in layers means to research all the tech on the same level in the tech three, in other words, from left to right on the science advisor screen, vertical techs before one tech to the right.

 

[Hades]

AIs reseach a layer at a time, for example, they research Natioalism, Steam Power, and Medicine first and then move on to Communism, Espionage, Industrialization, Electricty, and Sanitation. As human players, we tend to research with a clear strategy in mind. For example, Steam Power then Industrialization. Thats what I meant by research in layers

 

[bobgote]

They always seem to research literacy later than i do. To keep up, try to get to literacy early, then build library (great library if possible), but the main thing to do is trade techs with everyone, try to get contact with everyone to make this easier. It's not too hard, and if you can keep literacy off them for a while, you may well get a distinct advantage. It is not impossible to have a tech lead.