Late Game Techs: Oxford and Tribal Villages

[Minou]

Playing as Babylon, I ended up getting Oxford near completion when I was already pretty late in the tech tree. Since all the techs available at that moment were ones I felt I could boost in the next ten turns, I decided to pause Oxford, boost them all, and then also complete Stealth and Telecommunications by pillaging the remaining AI Campus. I then finished Oxford hoping to haul in Robotics (my tech was light years ahead of my civics) and one expensive (and unboostable) Future Era tech.

To my horror, I only got Robotics, even though Cybernetics was unlocked! I guess this means Oxford stops working after the Information Era. This is probably only mildly relevant as it would have been smarter to get an earlier start on the wonder and chop it when unboostable techs like Chemistry/Rocketry/Advanced Flight/Nuclear Fusion were on the table.

On a related note, ever since I started playing Civ 6 I have dreamed of getting a free tech out of one of those late game Tribal Villages I tend to discover near the end of the game. In the very same game I popped a hut on T135 for a double tech boost, which for Babylon means 2 free techs. Interestingly, I gained Seasteads and Predictive Systems even though I had not finished the pre-req Cybernetics yet. Pretty much cancels out my Oxford mis-hap and finally confirms (at least for me, not sure if anyone posted this already) that saving a bunch of huts for the final push may pay off big time - you have a 1/6 chance of a "Science" hut which could contain 1 tech boost, 2 tech boosts, or 1 free tech.

TDLR:
1. Oxford cannot award Future Era techs
2. Tribal Villages can award Future Era techs/boosts
3. Tribal Villages can award tech boosts even if you lack the pre-req (I am uncertain if they can award full techs without pre-reqs completed though)

 

[Alaindor]

Very interesting... all I got with late game goody huts was gold, which was useless at that stage in the game since it was so relatively low. In fact I very rarely got an eureka from tribal villages even in the earlier stages of the game. Guess you were more lucky.

 

[Minou]

The possible rewards are listed here, there are basically 6 “types” of village and within each type a set of increasingly valuable rewards. Some of the options only unlock after X turns or can only be gained if you have some PreReq (eg no Relic unless you have at least one slot to hold it). So in some cases it can be worth waiting a few turns to pop one, like waiting a few turns till T30 for the chance at a Governor.

https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Tribal_Village_(Civ6)

A lucky break can really change the course of a game, like getting a Relic turn 2 or scoring a high cost tech for free. I think one of the most undervalued options is the extra population which is can be extremely powerful if you get it in the first 10 turns.

 

[Bangau]

Oxford cannot award Future Era techs

That's useful info. Thanks. Good to know that one shouldn't wait till the very end to finish Oxford in a fast SV.

 

[ATEX]

@Minou, Whats the Babylons project? I started playing a bit again. Trying to see how tweaking game modes and setting can speed up the science games. It gives new options and even more synergies to explore. I was considering a Babylon game with heroes and ss to see if I could get a sub 100 sv. Not sure about map type or settings yet.

 

[Bangau]

a sub 100 sv

You believe that's possible?

 

[Minou]

@ATEX, not sure you mean by "project"? At this stage I am really just trying to beat my own record each time I find a good map - couldn't really do this before since they changed the game every month and it made games hard to compare. I always play Deity/Continents/Standard(speed+map size) for this purpose and I set myself two rules - I do not let cities flip intentionally (or gift them) to pillage and I don't exploit any of the trade bugs. All my games could be much faster with some flip-pillaging or city-chopping but it just makes the game fee so boring to me. I do roll maps, because it takes my like three weeks to finish a SV game and I don't feel like investing all that time in a bad map.

Anyway I haven't finished my Babylon game but I think I am on course to just barely miss T150 due to the Oxford mistake and forgetting to save a Great Scientist for Moon Landing culture boost and thus slowing Globalization by several turns. I also wasn't fast enough to get Da Vince and made a few other minor mistakes. Since T150 was my goal I got pretty demoralized but I should pick it up and finish.

Since the new patch I feel like the AIs are not putting up early walls as consistently as a few months ago, which speeds the game. On the other hand, the loss of neighborhood gold means you have to be much more stingy with buying stuff if you want to get two Reyna Spaceports.

This game I was interested in trying to get cities to Ecstatic since the 20% is even more valuable to Babylon. I kept my cities pretty small when possible and build a bunch of Zoos and National Parks. By T130 I had all my cities at +4 happiness - but I thought Ecstatic started at 4 and was horrified to see it starts at 5. By the time Iimped to 5 the tech tree was basically over. Looking back, I should have probably razed most of my late captured cities so they would not consume Amenities in order to get Ecstatic in a timely fashion. Still not sure if it is worth the high cost, probably better to have run projects versus investing in Zoos and stuff.

Speaking of T100, I was able to get a sub 100 game using the old Nalanda bug that they finally fixed, which is my personal cheese record. I think it was like T97 or something. I was going to write it up but they actually fixed the bug while I was playing that game (already had all the techs though)! I almost never play with any of the special game modes because they kind of ruin the immersion for me but it seems like T100 would be possible with the right mix of them.

 

[ATEX]

@ATEX, not sure you mean by "project"? At this stage I am really just trying to beat my own record each time I find a good map - couldn't really do this before since they changed the game every month and it made games hard to compare. I always play Deity/Continents/Standard(speed+map size) for this purpose and I set myself two rules - I do not let cities flip intentionally (or gift them) to pillage and I don't exploit any of the trade bugs. All my games could be much faster with some flip-pillaging or city-chopping but it just makes the game fee so boring to me. I do roll maps, because it takes my like three weeks to finish a SV game and I don't feel like investing all that time in a bad map.

Anyway I haven't finished my Babylon game but I think I am on course to just barely miss T150 due to the Oxford mistake and forgetting to save a Great Scientist for Moon Landing culture boost and thus slowing Globalization by several turns. I also wasn't fast enough to get Da Vince and made a few other minor mistakes. Since T150 was my goal I got pretty demoralized but I should pick it up and finish.

Since the new patch I feel like the AIs are not putting up early walls as consistently as a few months ago, which speeds the game. On the other hand, the loss of neighborhood gold means you have to be much more stingy with buying stuff if you want to get two Reyna Spaceports.

This game I was interested in trying to get cities to Ecstatic since the 20% is even more valuable to Babylon. I kept my cities pretty small when possible and build a bunch of Zoos and National Parks. By T130 I had all my cities at +4 happiness - but I thought Ecstatic started at 4 and was horrified to see it starts at 5. By the time Iimped to 5 the tech tree was basically over. Looking back, I should have probably razed most of my late captured cities so they would not consume Amenities in order to get Ecstatic in a timely fashion. Still not sure if it is worth the high cost, probably better to have run projects versus investing in Zoos and stuff.

Speaking of T100, I was able to get a sub 100 game using the old Nalanda bug that they finally fixed, which is my personal cheese record. I think it was like T97 or something. I was going to write it up but they actually fixed the bug while I was playing that game (already had all the techs though)! I almost never play with any of the special game modes because they kind of ruin the immersion for me but it seems like T100 would be possible with the right mix of them.

I played almost all my games with all standard settings, but it is acually quite fun to mix it up to see what is possible to make a strategy out of. Understanding what setting is best for different strategies seems to be a field of its own. Corporations I think just in general is a very nice game mode, as it gives some more incentive to care for luxuries. The modifier for Estatic seems very hard to obtain, so Im not convinced it will be worth the cost.

Pillage is still too strong, so war games seems a bit unappealing. The only thing that could be fun is to try to get the fastest SV possible (without using bugs). As the game stands today I think peacefull games are just more fun.

 

[Victoria]

Turn 132 @Minou, impressive
I have a game going where I can get that free tech from laying down an improvement, I’ll save it for advanced and see it it works then.
Tx for the Oxford tip, exactly what I was intending to do.

I think peacefull games are just more fun

I find the warring adds complexity and challenge. You know you are going to win, it’s about the journey and peaceful seems more samey than war. Especially with religion. Try war and no religion ... you rely on pillaging for your faith, and amenities are trickier.

 

[Minou]

Nalanda should be able to give Future Era techs. I haven't tried this since they fixed the bug, but back then you could get the whole tech tree. In light of this, it is specially odd that Oxford is the one "free tech" source that is limited in this way.

 

[Victoria]

should be able to give Future Era techs

Sadly when I got to the stage of using it, I remember having accidentally repaired one so no techs anywhere for me.