Science and War - 1180

[TimTheEnchanter]

Just a quick poll to judge our general science direction now that we are at war for the first time. I will try to structure this so I do not infringe on the other ministries sphere of influence and in fact, I strongly encourage the other ministers to voice their opinions on the poll.

I just need to know our general direction, so that I can best advise the president on how the science should be managed to best reach our objectives.

In our last research poll we identified our next research priorities as Theology, Magnetism, and Explosives.

The first option in the poll is to hold the status quo. We would keep these techs as our top priorities and not alter our objectives during the war. Near-term war plans would need to be designed without a significant upgrade in our technology.

The second option in the poll is to divert attention to military technologies. We can quickly obtain gunpowder, chivalry, and leadership for Musketeers and Dragoons. We could also pursue Steam Engine for developing Ironclads. This option diverts resources from our previously established objectives, but provides military planners with more powerful weapons in the near future.

The third option is a much more drastic approach. We could completely shut off science. We could then rush a number of caravans to build Leonardo’s Workshop, and then build a number of inexpensive warriors and Horsemen throughout our lands. Once these cheap units were complete, we could rush through the techs necessary to upgrade them to Muskets and Dragoons. This option is not recommended by the science ministry.

There is a fourth option if none of these plans seems adequate (please describe your idea in detail below)

 

[TheViking]

I voted for "Something else". The reason is that I want a modified version of the first choice ("Continue with existing priorities" which was my #2 choice).

We need theology for obvious reasons and also magnetism because we badly need better ships that can travel faster and carry more units.

In addition I'd want to research gunpowder before building the barracks that are a necessary preparation for invading Greece. These will not be built until everything (or at least most) of the items in MoDA's shopping list have been built.

It would probably be nice to build some ironclads too but engineers are probably a higher priority (using ironclads to bomb Athens is an interesting possibility though).

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Since the votes are for Status quo and Status quo with more emphasis on Gunpowder, we should NOT pursue additional military techs at this time.

That means we should NOT attempt to steal chivalry from the greeks (yet), as this tech is off-path from our established goals.

Because Theology is one of our goals, The science ministry strongly suggests we attempt to obtain Feudalism from the Indians before we complete research on it ourselves. It should be ok to give them any tech we posesses, including invention, because our tax and spending plans looks to be aggressive enough to complete Leo's before any AI.

Our next tech choices will be Chivalry, Gunpowder and Theology. Because Theology will not be available the next time, we should select it now.

Upon completion of Theology our choices should be Chivalry, Gunpowder and Navigation. We should pursue Gunpowder at this time.

After gunpowder, our choices expand to Navigation, Explosives and Metallurgy. Again, because it will not be offered the next time we should pursue Navigation.

After Navigation, we should get a choice of Chivalry, Explosives, and Physics. Neither Explosives nor physics will be available next time. Explosives does not lead to any new tech options, but Physics allows Magnetism which is one of our priorities, so select Physics, then select Magnetism after that.

Finally, select Explosives.

Our science plan should look like the following:

Feudalism (current) - obtain from indians
Theology
Gunpowder
Navigation
Physics
Magnetism
Explosives

Because we do not possess a decisive advantage in military technology and no ministry is pushing for our research to be redirected in this manner, the science ministry strongly advises against any offensive military strikes until AFTER these objectives have been reached and improved military technology has been acquired.