Increased tech cost to have (much) longer games, late game techs take 1 turn to research

[Aquila SPQR]

I always increase tech costs because I like to play the same save for weeks and feel the slow flow of time. That's how it looks like now:

UPDATE GameSpeeds
SET
    TechCostPerTurnMultiplier = 90,
    MinimumVoluntaryVassalTurns = 30,
    MinimumVassalTurns = 150,
    NumTurnsBetweenVassals = 60,
    MinimumVassalLiberateTurns = 150,
    MinimumVassalTaxTurns = 75,
    DealDuration = 100,
    InstantYieldPercent = 200,
    DifficultyBonusPercent = 200,
    SpyRatePercent = 300,
    ResearchPercent = 500,
    StartingHappiness = 2,
    GoldenAgePercent = 300
WHERE Type = 'GAMESPEED_MARATHON';

However when I do it - the cost of some late game techs drops to 1 turn. It seems the tech cost changes in time. At first I had ResearchPercent set to 600, and the last row on the tech tree showed 1 turn as research time. I changed it to 500 and it worked for some time, but I loaded save again and the last row again shows the 1 turn value.

For example I'm at the beginning of medieval era right now and my current medieval techs take 60 turns to research. On the tech tree telecommunications costs 191 000 beakers and it says it'd take me 2299 turn to research it with my current science. That's fine, by the time I reach that era my capability will be much greater and time to research it will drop considerably.

However the internet costs 234 000 beakers and it says it will be discovered in just 1 turn. And it will be like that - when I once reached that era it really was taking 1 turn to research them, even though the beaker cost stayed that high. The only working solution I've found so far is to reduce the ResearchPercent down to at least 400 or possibly even less, which isn't something I would like to do. It seems that it happens when the tech cost reaches more than 200 000 beakers.

Is there a way to prevent it from happening even with tech costs higher than 200 000 beakers?

 

[hokath]

Given the way it rolls over, there is probably a hard coded maximum limit.
If that's true then no, not without editing the DLL.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

I see. Okay, then I'll keep it under 200 000.

 

[azum4roll]

It's just a display issue. It should work fine. As long as the tech cost itself doesn't overflow.

 

[youngsteve]

I thought my games lasted a long time playing on marathon.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

It's just a display issue. It should work fine. As long as the tech cost itself doesn't overflow.

Not display issue, I once wanted to see if that's the case and I was really researching them in just one turn. It seems that keeping the cost under 200k is the only solution.

I thought my games lasted a long time playing on marathon.

Right now I'm on about 1200th turn and I'm only in the middle of medieval era. And I love it. Never understood the point of sprinting through the entire eras in 10 minutes.

 

[youngsteve]

Not display issue, I once wanted to see if that's the case and I was really researching them in just one turn. It seems that keeping the cost under 200k is the only solution.

Right now I'm on about 1200th turn and I'm only in the middle of medieval era. And I love it. Never understood the point of sprinting through the entire eras in 10 minutes.

Can I ask about the balance of the game. Firstly, Great Library must be one of the most powerful wonders due to having a free tech, which I already think is too powerful, with its other benefits. What about Tech Brokering & Tech Trading, which I presume you would turn off due to their overwelming benefit in a situation as this. Also, other advantages in gaining techs. Just wondered how you balanced these out.

I can understand why you have done this though, as I like the slow play as well. Sounds fun.

 

[Aquila SPQR]

Can I ask about the balance of the game. Firstly, Great Library must be one of the most powerful wonders due to having a free tech, which I already think is too powerful, with its other benefits. What about Tech Brokering & Tech Trading, which I presume you would turn off due to their overwelming benefit in a situation as this. Also, other advantages in gaining techs. Just wondered how you balanced these out.

I can understand why you have done this though, as I like the slow play as well. Sounds fun.

First of all I play for fun, I don't want to micromanage everything or win at all cost (victory screens are meaningless to me, I only turn on science victory because I like space exploration). So I don't really care if Great Library is powerful or not. If I grab it - then it's fine, I'll have an advantage. If someone else builds it - it's fine too, there's no point in becoming angry about it. It's just one tech after all, even if it saves the builder 60 turns - it's not something that would completely break the game. It also makes the wonder much more meaningful - because what's the point in gaining 10 turns because of free tech?

I always disable tech trading. I'm doing it since modded Civ IV. Tech trading was always one of the most ridiculous things in Civ to me - "we'll teach you monarchy, but you'll have to teach us metalworking". All of that instantly. Civs calling every other leader and "selling" tech to them gaining plenty of other techs in exchange instantly. In my games civs have only those techs they slowly researched themselves. Cheaper cost when neighbor has that tech is already enough.

When it comes to balance - it's completely random. Sometimes some civ becomes dominant and way ahead and it's difficult to catch up with them, sometimes civs are at mostly similar level and sometimes I dominate others with not much effort. But it's fine, who said that the game always has to be balanced? There can be fun in chaos and randomness

 

[rkkn]

can it go a bit above 200k? like, perhaps... 214,748?

 

[phantom22]

I've set it to 900 which is 3x longer than normal marathon. I would suggest bumping the difficulty up at least one. I generally play on warlord and can usually win games without too much difficulty, but with this change I seem to pull way ahead without trouble.

Balance issues aside, I like that I can build everything in my cities and have a truly magnificent empire. The wars can be pretty intense as well. Discovering a technology at a key moment can turn the tide of a war. Especially early on. I feel like I can do whole wars within technologies. I might start with warriors and end with spearmen rather than Longswordsman or the like. Happiness is a struggle early on if you play like you normally would. You can easily expand faster than you can keep up with, happiness wise.

I also play very casually so the wacky balance issues don't bother me too much.

 

[youngsteve]

I play on marathon, which makes certain units such as Spearmen last a long time, though still find others like Pikemen soon are replaced by Terico. I like long games as well, & it does sound fun. One thing I used to hate on standard level was during a war you had to constantly keep updating troops as techs sped by, making it a bit annoying if your army was a long way from home.

I hope they increase tech costs when they bring in the 4UC mod as it is certainly going to make the game faster, which is what I don't want.

 

[phantom22]

I think the 4UC was shown to slightly speed up the game. I don't know if they will adjust tech costs a little, but I'm sure they will never change it to what we are doing unless they can somehow incorporate another game speed into the mod. Epic>Marathon>Arctic Molasses

 

[hokath]

We will name the new speed "flow of time" and the icon will be the marathon clock melting like a Salvador Dali painting

 

[azum4roll]

Policies already unlock fast enough. I can't imagine unlocking ideologies in Medieval if tech costs are increased further.

 

[CppMaster]

Policies already unlock fast enough. I can't imagine unlocking ideologies in Medieval if tech costs are increased further.

Yeah, policy costs should scale the same

 

[azum4roll]

And then religions become OP (with spread beliefs), etc.

 

[CppMaster]

Why?

 

[azum4roll]

You found religions way earlier comparatively, and get better yields from beliefs than policies and techs.

Faith generation is relatively unaffected by policies and techs, so you can spread your religion just as fast.

 

[youngsteve]

Policies already unlock fast enough. I can't imagine unlocking ideologies in Medieval if tech costs are increased further.

Ideologies shouldn't be unlocked in Rennaisance let alone Medieval. If they are, there is something seriously wrong with the game.

 

[azum4roll]

Normally it's late Industrial to early Modern. But if you're tripling tech cost...