Research and Speeding it up

[Omega]

Greetings to all!

I am very new to Civ... I saw people play Civ2 CTP when it was hot, but I never really understood it. But with all the rave at Civ3, I decided to give it a try... and LIKED it!!!

I have a few questions:
1. How do I increase research, aside from the research slider in the adviser screen?
2. Does building libraries and such really improve research? How? I don't seem to notice it...
3. I am currently at 1655A.D., Democracy, and researching INDUSTRIALIZATION, and it'll take me 4 turns (5 years per turn) to finish it... is this fast/moderate/slow research speed?

Please explain answers in laymans terms... Civ3 is my first strategy-turn based game, so I'm still learning! No technical mumbo-jumbos, please!!

 

[Grotius]

1. The slider is the main way to allocate more funds to research, but most players seem to agree that the best way to supplement your tech progress is to trade for techs with other civs. Trade luxuries or gold or (sometimes) technology for technology. At higher difficulty levels, some people set their research slider to 0 or 10%, make cash instead, and use it to buy tech from other civs.

2. Libraries and such increase the research output of the host city. If you build a library in a city with only one "beaker" of science output, you won't see much gain in research. (The "beakers" are in the lower part of the city screen.) But libraries and other science improvements make a BIG difference in a city that does produce a fair number of beakers. Science-oriented Wonders can produce even more dramatic effects in such a city. As for increasing base production of "beakers," do the usual stuff -- build city improvements to increase commerce. Commerce is divvied up into tax, beakers, and entertainment, per your allocation of each.

3. 4 turns is fast -- in fact, I think it's as fast as possible. Someone posted that the quickest possible research time is 4 turns, and the slowest is 32. I myself have never seen a tech that could be researched in fewer than 4 turns. So you're doing something right. <g>

Have fun!

 

[Defectiv]

The fastest is four indeed, put since the patch the slowest is 40 turns, pre-patch was 32

 

[Omega]

Grotius, thanks for the explaination...

I was wondering....
Later in the game (1400-1600AD or so), all or most of my towns are of 12 population, and the granaries are full, so I take out people from the field until 'zero growth' is achieved, and I turn them into scientists... maybe one will be an entertainer, depends on the city, but most are scientists. I can have as much as 4 scientists in a city with food-bonus tiles nearby, most can give me 3 people, some 2.... by this time, most cities have libraries and universities in them already.

Is this useful? Or should I be making tax collectors and bumping up the research slider instead?

When I discover the City Hospital, should I be taking all those scientists back into the field?

 

[Bamspeedy]

I usually don't have any specialists with any city smaller than 21 (unless I have unhappyness). A scientist adds 1 beaker, a tax collector one gold. It takes alot of scientists to actually change the number of turns left for the next tech. When population is maxed at 12, before hospitals, what I do is go in the city and place my citizens on more shield producing squares, so I have more production with still having enough food to feed my citizens. This way you can build all improvements quickly, and when you run out of stuff to build, you can always build WEALTH (although it takes 10 shields to produce 1 gold! ), in this case it's probably smarter to make them tax collectors.