Optimal teching?

[Alraun]

labs can be $rushed, factories can be $rushed, powerplants can be $rushed.
And labs give beakers.
Isn't it a no brainer to go for computers before rocketry? I bet my shirt that (with the exception of low land tile maps like archipelago or islands) you get in almost every situation better results by going to computer first.

I believe getting Rocketry first is better. If your research is as vibrant as it should be, you'll still get Computers and build Labs in many of your cities before you finish building Apollo.

 

[Alraun]

As for the general strategy, prioritize science always. Scientific techs first, then anything else, military, economy, etc.

Pottery -> Writing -> Civil Service -> Education -> Astronomy

Backfill as much as possible of what you missed by tech trading.

I like to go for Democracy before Astronomy pretty regularly and on sub-Monarch levels, I'll usually pick up Metal Casting after CS so I can get my forges built and because I generally have to research that and Machinery myself anyway to get Printing Press.

 

[Murky]

My latest game is only at Prince with Elizabeth but I got off to a sickening start. My start location was by a fresh water lake, river and for resources it had stone and pigs. Ironworking revealed iron at the location a bit later on. I was able to build the Pyramids in the capital & Stonehenge in my 2nd city without difficulty. Later when the GE popped I used it for rushing the Oracle for the CS slingshot. I would build the Hanging Gardens and Great Library later on. The downside to SH/Oracle was the Great Priest GPP but I did found Confucianism so I was able to put the first one to good use.

 

[harusame]

hi,

i currently play OCC at Emperor, so the only viable choice to win is with space race (diplomacy is hard with 7 rivals)

for optimal teching i would say, best traits are (in no particular order):
-Spiritual
-Industrious
-Expansive
-Philosophical

usually i go Polytheism first to Monotheism for Organized Religion
of course Bronze working for chopping forest
(best starting tech would be Mining and Mysticsm, like India)
farm/mine all tiles and use Specialists (cottage spamming is useless in OCC)

after then build pyramid and oracle
later get alphabet fast for tech trading

i usually put priority to techs which give new civics like Civil service and Philosophy

as well as techs which give great person like music, economy, physics

 

[siggboy]

Cultural is the only one you need to plan for from the start.

This is simply wrong. The point upto when you should decide to go for cultural to achieve a reasonable win is when you have the first good opportunity to beeline Liberalism (or even just at the point when you discover Liberalism). This is the point to decide because you will want to stop teching then if going for Culture (in favor of collecting gold for $rushes, see below).

You should also have the Pyramids (for US), but these are usually a priority wonder anyway.

You don't need to hog wonders to get an excellent cultural win, because all you need are three religions within your borders and lots of cathedrals. These can be $rushed (if you have the Pyramids) and then you crank up culture to 100% and wait for the win. You certainly don't have to build modern era wonders such as Eiffeltower, Hollywood and Broadway.

It helps to plan for Culture earlier because you can then spam Great Artists from early on, but it's not a prerequisite. Rushing out the Cathedrals and having decent commerce to generate a lot of Culture is enough for a Cultural Victory (you'll still manage to get a few artists after Liberalism if you have farms, of course these will help speed it up).

In GOTM-12 I went for Culture and totally messed up, and still I got my win around 1915. Obviously not exactly a triumph but it was effortless in the end. I did miss out on a lot of wonders, I did generate only a handful of artists through my inability to handle GP farms properly and my military campaigning was a mess. And still I won. I don't go for Cultural Victory anymore because it's too easy and doesn't involve a lot of game play at all during the end game. The recipe is just too simple (establish 9 cities, build cottages, collect/found religions, rush cathedrals, crank up culture slider, end of story; getting to a 1700 win is practice and discipline, but there no suprises involved).

Having said that, any excellent win (that would get you into the HOF or a GOTM award) requires early commitment and a lot of skill -- not only Cultural.

--Sigi

 

[siggboy]

I was able to build the Pyramids in the capital & Stonehenge in my 2nd city without difficulty. Later when the GE popped I used it for rushing the Oracle for the CS slingshot. I would build the Hanging Gardens and Great Library later on. The downside to SH/Oracle was the Great Priest GPP but I did found Confucianism so I was able to put the first one to good use.

So you did built the Oracle in the city with the Pyramids? If you rushed it anyway, why didn't you put it together with Stonehenge (keeping Pyramids/Gardens/Library together in first city)? That way you can outbreed the second city's Great Prophets with Scientists and Engineers from the first city.

--Sigi

 

[Murky]

So you did built the Oracle in the city with the Pyramids? If you rushed it anyway, why didn't you put it together with Stonehenge (keeping Pyramids/Gardens/Library together in first city)? That way you can outbreed the second city's Great Prophets with Scientists and Engineers from the first city.

--Sigi

Good point. Didn't think of it I guess.

 

[Elandal]

This is simply wrong. The point upto when you should decide to go for cultural to achieve a reasonable win is when you have the first good opportunity to beeline Liberalism (or even just at the point when you discover Liberalism). This is the point to decide because you will want to stop teching then if going for Culture (in favor of collecting gold for $rushes, see below).

Only works if you use the culture slider. I've gone for culture win (planned one) without culture slider (or building culture), and getting there without having the culture victory decided before the game might have been quite hard..
I think cultural victory using culture slider is just too easy, so I hadn't played for cultural victory since my early chieftain or warlord game, but was inspire by RB team and decided to try it out myself. Quite satisfactory victory when done without the slider.

 

[cabert]

Only works if you use the culture slider. I've gone for culture win (planned one) without culture slider (or building culture), and getting there without having the culture victory decided before the game might have been quite hard..
I think cultural victory using culture slider is just too easy, so I hadn't played for cultural victory since my early chieftain or warlord game, but was inspire by RB team and decided to try it out myself. Quite satisfactory victory when done without the slider.

For my part I decided that teching using the slider is to easy. Therefore i only use scientists. too bad you need writing and libraries or col for this .

You play the game the way you want, but IMHO winning a cultural victory with the slider at your comfort level isn't easier than winning a domination win.

 

[Elandal]

SE requires too much micromanagement, so I rather go for CE (or hybrid actually)

I guess how easy or hard different victories are depend so much on playstyle and difficulty level that we can't really compare them. For me domination (let alone conquest) is just too much work as it seems I need to spend 5-10 times the wallclock while warring. Cultural feels easiest for now if using the slider, and I think space and diplomation are both if not easier, at least less tedious than domination or conquest. Time just can't happen unless space is disabled

While I have gone the warring route now a few times, seems to me that (relatively) peaceful is easier. Warring seems to drain my coffers and slow my teching more than peaceful (as in, only kick 1-2 civs to capitulation), making AI launch quite more likely than if I decide to go for launch (or friends game and UN) myself.

I assume map types make a difference though. I play continents, islands, and archipelago. Not pangaea or any other single landmass map. Especially on continents a lot depends on how the other continent does relative to your own.

 

[Paeanblack]

I invaded Alex. If I took enough of his land I would win domination. Shaka dogpiled on Alex. Even though Alex was still fairly strong, he capitulated to Shaka! This really, really screwed me up because Shaka and Alex were too strong for me to take out together (

Your last war does not need to be winnable...you just need to hold enough ground for one turn. If population is holding you back, nuking a few 20+ cities on the last turn is very effective. It's the fastest way to increase your pop%. On Standard maps, you can get ~0.4% per nuke. (Sorry, Gandhi! Don't take it personally!)