i need a tip on keeping up research plz

[luchofeio]

i usually play on noble ( yes im kind of a noob ) and i do very good until the modern age arrives...
i keep up with techs with the top 3 rivals...and even have 1 or 2 tech above then...but when modern age arrives they start to get techs out of nowhere! and i just keep falling behind! today i took me 30 turns to discover industrialism....

can anyone give me a tip on how to maintain my research ?
i build all the improvments and even make large towns have researchers inside...and sometimes i even put 1 or 2 town to research instead of production....

the thing is...i like small empires....i usually play on a large map...wish standard players number....and get like 8-10 cities

any tips?

 

[dalessi12]

You need cottages, lots of them, and you need at least as many cities as the AI have. You should build libraries, universities, observatories and monasteries where appropriate. You should also be able to run your research slider at at least 70-80%. If you can't, then you have too many units or not enough courthouses, markets, grocers, banks, etc.

Biggest thing for beginners is to cottage liberally, especially in your capital (for Bureacracy bonus).

Try one game where you spam cottages everywhere, build the buildings mentioned and see what happens.

 

[luchofeio]

hmmm...i do build all that stuff...i just dont spam cottage...im always tempted to spam farms...is that wrong? lol

 

[curtadams]

hmmm...i do build all that stuff...i just dont spam cottage...im always tempted to spam farms...is that wrong? lol

Well... it is wrong ... pretty much. What you want out of cities is commerce and production. Food is a means to that end and at some point you need people on other tiles to actually produce a benefit. Early in the game you can use food surpluses to get production via slavery and commerce via specialists and often beat "conventional" techniques. But as the game wears on, just having pop working good tiles becomes better and better. In particular cottage-based commerce just smokes specialist-based commerce in the modern era because of all the bonuses towns get. That's probably what's killing your research - no towns when you get to the modern era.

 

[yavoon]

start liking bigger empires?

 

[pnp_dredd]

bigger empires won't help usless your new cities are making more cash than they cost.

Cottage spamming is vital, at least in a couple of cities. A more important concept is city specialisation. Cottage spam in research/commerce cities; mine (and farm) in production cities; farm ONLY in your Great Person-producing cities (or possibly in slavery-focussed cities).

Also, never underestimate the power of courthouses and the Forbidden Palace. Particularly if you are increasing your land through warfare, you want a courthouse in most cities, otherwise the upkeep costs will cripple your economy.

 

[CivDude86]

Sounds like they're passing techs around behind your back. Are you doing any tech trading of your own?

 

[luchofeio]

well...i did a new game, and spamed cottage, dude it worked...lol...now im the greatest power by far in Noble...guess im ready to start in the next level, thanks for all the help guys...

but i still dont like bigger empires...i like the feeling of having a small country ruling the world.

and i do tech trade until im the most hated person in the planet...hehe

i thank again for the attention!