Research Path

[Dulahey]

This is going to be a pretty broad question, but not sure how to narrow it down.

Basically, I'm wondering if you guys can help/teach me some about the order of techs that I research. (I didn't really see a good writeup in the war academy)

I hear frequently about using oracle to get fast metal casting (good to get colossus I assume) And similarly heading to Liberalism for the free tech.

But how hardcore should you go after these chains? I know that no matter what you should research things like Animal Husbandry if you have cows, and Agriculture if you have corn and things like that. But what are the most common situations that will lead you down a certain research path?

Hopefully this makes sense, I don't feel like I'm typing what I'm thinking. lol

Also, I tend to play on Noble difficulty. Cultural victories are my most common. I tend to only war very early (usually someone starting close to me taking my space!) or very late in the modern era with tanks. So what is a good tech path for cultural victory? what about religious or space race?

 

[Refar]

You dont need to follow some guidlines/chains rigidly - choose waht seem to suit your Strategy/Goals the most.

You sould have certain medium and long term goals in a game - you need a military advantage for conquering someone ? or taking a important wonder (Sistina for example as you mentioned Culture) ? - you will beeline those.

In many games you will want to choose a path giving you your Civ's UU or UB earlier rather than later.

As you mentioned the Oracle - at this early point in the game it is i.e. important to choose something that really does bring you forward. There are many possible usefull techs you could take, so just taking MC because "The guys in the forums allways do" is not good. Not that MC is bad - if you have a use for it, take it. But also concider: Monarchy for the Civic, CoL or Currency for economy or - as you play on Noble - Civil Service for Buero.

 

[Sisiutil]

To add to what Refar said, a lot of your research decisions can and should be based upon what techs you start with and what the map looks like.

Starting with Mysticism, for example, may allow you to found one of the early religions. If you start with Mining, you have a leg up on researching Bronze Working, a very powerful early tech. If you start with Hunting or Agriculture, you may want to leverage those by going after Animal Husbandry. And if you have an early unique unit or unique building, you should ideally snag the tech that enables it ASAP. When I play as Egypt, for example, I like to research Animal Husbandry right off the bat and if I don't have horses in the capital's borders I'll found my second city to claim them.

The map figures into things in a number of ways. Having early access to marble, stone, gold, or ivory may lead you to research technologies that open up wonders whose builds are accelerated by those resources. Having an aggressive neighbour nearby like Montezuma or Shaka may lead you to pursue military technologies to defend yourself (and remember, the best defense is a good offense, especially with those two psychos). If you're isolated you'll want to make naval techs like Optics and Astronomy into higher priorities, but if you're on a Pangaea they're not nearly as important.

Basically, each map and leader is different so each game should be different. That's a big part of Civ's enduring appeal.

 

[oranges]

You need pottery to choose MC from Oracle. It.s not good just for the Colossus, but also the production bonus and the happiness (if you have gold,. silver or gems) and an engineer specialist you assign from forges. It's also an expensive tech for that age, you've saved quite a few turns researching.

I've never managed to get Currency, CoL or Civil Service, it requires some serious beelining towards those techs (and I'm always afraid I'll lose the Oracle race as it seems popular among AI civs), but these are all great choices.

 

[Rvil Plum]

I don't follow the same chain in every game, as it depends on the map, what resources are close to me, who the neighbours are, and the strengths / weaknesses of my starting position. However, here's a default starting chain for the classic period that I use sometimes when playing England on Emperor / Immortal, when going for a culture win.

Bronze
Masonry = Great Wall + Pyramids
Wheel
One health tech
Pottery
Second health tech
Writing
Aesthetics = The Parthenon, Staue of Zeus, Shwedagon Paya
Mysticism, (need it for literacy wonder already built)
Polytheism, (need it for literacy, wonder already built)
Literacy = Great Library
Music = Sistine Chapel

Don't shoot me if any of the above are out of order or wrongly spelt. as I wrote the above from memory.

If I have stone then I will build both the GW and Pyramids, in 2 different cities, but GW will still get in the way of Pyramids, as it pops Great Spies much faster than the Pyramids can pop Great Engineers. If I don't have stone, then I will go for GW, as it's a quick chop / whip build, whereas the Pyramids just take to long, and the AI will beat you to it 9 times out of 10 on that difficulty level.

When I arrive at Aesthetics, I want both The Parthenon and Shwedagon Paya for obvious reasons. I will probably trade Aesthetics with the Statue of Zeus still unbuilt, as the Great library is just around the corner. No, I don't have Alphabet to trade tech, but you can still do trades.

Literacy and the Great Library is a no brainer, as is Music and the Sistine Chapel. Being the first to Music gives you a Great Artist, which is mega useful if you are going for a culture win. Beware settling him in a border culture city though, as he will expand your borders enormously that early in the game, and the neighbouring AI may object. If you can settle him in a border city that is going to be one of your big 3 culture cities, there is a strong chance you will flip any nearby enemy city that is culturally weak. My record to date, was to flip 3 enemy cities from Pascal as a result of settling one GA in a game at Emperor level. It took a while for them all to flip, and I did pump additional culture into that city before I had all 3.

Music is the end of the early chain, as you will have the tech lead in Aesthetics / Literacy / Music and should be able to get some very good trades for all of them. If you have the GW, then you can steal everything else you need, providing you leave your spies in the enemy city for 5 turns to get the 50% discount.

You could evolve the chain further and go for Drama + Philosophy at this point, but it's dangerous, as you will be weak from wonder building, and it may be safer to concentrate on researching military or financial tech that you can't steal or trade for. You normally need Catapults, Elephants or Pike man at about this time, so going for Drama and Philosophy are a bit of a gamble. If you take the gamble and win, then you have two more advanced techs you can trade + one other wonder, (Angkor Wat). If I have the Pyramids, then I will probably go for the gamble, as I will have large cities with good tech from Representation, (Pyramids gives you any govt type), so I will be able to research Drama and Philosophy fast. If I don't have the Pyramids, then my cities will be smaller and my research weaker, because I will have only picked up Monarchy late in the chain, either via trading it for Aesthetics / Literacy / Music, or via stealing it with a Great Spy from the Great Wall city. Either way, I pick up Monarchy long after the Pyramids gives me any government type I want, so my cities suffer under a pop / health / happiness cap. Nearby luxury resources like Gold / Gems / Silver / Elephants are therefore a huge help if I don't have the Pyramids, but they would be to any player, following any tech chain. Interestingly, if you can afford to keep some of your cities working the same mine for long periods, there is a strong possibility that it will discover gold / silver during the time it takes to work through the chain. Your capital city seems the most likely to discover gold / silver during this period. I don't know if that's because it has mines the longest, or if it's because there is something in the game code, but if you don't have the Pyramids and no nearby luxury, then keep those mines going and hope one of them pops gold / silver.

The above isn't a "must do" chain, but it has worked for me when playing as England a few times on the higher difficulty levels. It certainly works at Immortal, but I have not tried it on Deity yet. The chain is designed to give me a tech lead / and first pop at wonder building what I consider to be "Key Wonders" for that particular chain. If it all goes to plan, then I will get:

Great Wall
The Parthenon
Shwedagon Paya
Great Library
Sistine Chapel

With a bit of luck, and a lot of blood sweat and tears, I will also get:

The Pyramids
Angkor Wat

The above wonders when combined with religious buildings / Great Artists / Representation / Mercantilism and Pacifism are enough to give you a culture win all by themselves, so you don't have to bother about any more wonder building, or founding any religions, and can just concentrate on defending what you have, and messing up the plans of the enemy AI. You will need to mess with the enemy plans at the higher difficulty levels if using the above chain, as they will get a space / diplo or dom win if you don't.

There is no perfect chain, and the above is just one that I have used a few times in the right circumstances on the right map. Try it in the wrong circumstances on the wong map, and the enemy AI will either beat you to the wonders, or come knocking at your door with a huge stack of troops to take away all your shiny new toys.

Hope the above helps.

Regards - Mr

 

[Jerrymander]

Typically, you want to research the techs that either show resources or allow improvements first.

I try to develop specific strategies with each game I play. If I play an isolationist match, I develop mostly domestic tech and try to beeline to Compass/Optics. If I draw Genghis on the random leader draw, I beeline to Horseback Riding, then Guilds, and Military Tradition.

Racing to Liberalism is a good strategy, but it's not an absolute. I like getting to Alphabet as quickly as I can so I can sue my neighbors for peace after I steal a couple of their cities with Axemen, and get a tech or two in the process.

 

[Dulahey]

Just to clarify, I wasn't asking for a specific build order. I know civ well enough to know every game is completely different.

I guess I just need to learn the techs better so that I can plan ahead. Slowing down when I play might help. heh.

But thanks for the suggestions thus far.