researching techs

[nadeem]

so i was trying to decide which tech to research next when i noticed something odd. one option, gunpowder, took 6210 beakers over 16 turns, while divine right, which takes the same amount of beakers takes 21 turns. can someone explain how this makes any sense..?
i haven't research either one at all.

 

[JujuLautre]

You gain additional beakers when you research techs 1/ for which you have multiple prerequisites, and 2/ known by some civ you know. I assume that either you have education and guilds, or you know more civs having gunpowder than divine right.

 

[Bushface]

About multiple prerequisites: Divine Right demands both Theology and Monarchy so there are no "multiples" immediately preceding it, whereas Gunpowder can follow Guilds or Education - if you have both, you get extra beakers. The same argument applies to Astronomy, which has no multiple "parents" anywhere in its part of the tech tree and so always takes longer than other techs costing the same number of beakers.
If only the game showed you how many beakers you are actually getting per turn, not your research cost, things would be clearer.

 

[nadeem]

wow... i've been playing this game for a long time and never knew that. thanks a lot.

 

[Celebithil]

Also don't forget the bonus for researching a tech other civilizations already know. That can make quite a difference too. See http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/tech_research.php for a complete description.