SE teching order?

[cliffjs]

I've been reading a lot about the SE strategy, and given it a try or two. I've actually been doing pretty decent, except that i can't seem to find anywhere with a list of how to lightbulb the correct techs. What i mean by this is, for example, a game i played yesterday my 2nd GS was trying to pop Compass instead of Philosophy. Does anyone have a list of which ttechs to avoid and/ or learn in order to go the Philosophy---Paper---Education---Liberalism route? Any help would be appreciated. thanks

 

[KMadCandy]

this is a tech tree of preferences. note that the first post is dated 2005 but was updated last month. it includes a downloadable file. i didn't download it since i already have one, perhaps the same one.

this is a list of beelines to certain techs.

you have to mix and match them to figure out what to learn to get your great people to do what you want. for me at least, figuring out what to not learn is harder. on the bright side, you're getting a post from me that's far shorter than my usual!

 

[Gryman]

I've been reading a lot about the SE strategy, and given it a try or two. I've actually been doing pretty decent, except that i can't seem to find anywhere with a list of how to lightbulb the correct techs. What i mean by this is, for example, a game i played yesterday my 2nd GS was trying to pop Compass instead of Philosophy. Does anyone have a list of which ttechs to avoid and/ or learn in order to go the Philosophy---Paper---Education---Liberalism route? Any help would be appreciated. thanks

Yes, as KMadCandy pointed out follow the tech preference lists available. I believe Philosophy is a higher priority than Compass though, always make sure that you have the proper pre-requisite techs in order to lightbulb the desired one. For Philosophy you need to have Meditation as well as either Code of Laws or Drama. Open up a tech line leading to Philosophy and the scientist should then prioritize it.

 

[futurehermit]

to bulb phil: you must have col or drama + medit + math

to bulb paper and ed: you must have cs

to bulb lib: you must have metcast, calendar, and compass but NOT machinery

all are with GSs

 

[cliffjs]

I realized that i'm just ******** and didn't have COL or drama when i got my 2nd GS. That's why i couldn't pop Philosophy. It was my first attempt at SE and i'm still trying to get used to it. It's a really weird transition going from a Cottage Economy to SE, but, from what i've done right, i can see how its way more powerful. What is the best difficulty level to use SE on (currently on Prince). I kind of feel like its a little too low.

 

[futurehermit]

The higher you go, the stronger it is.

COL is HUGE for a SE because it gives you caste system, allows you to bulb philosophy (pacificism) and is prereq for CS, which opens up your bulbing of paper, ed, lib (assuming prereqs cleared away).

 

[cabert]

to bulb phil: you must have col or drama + medit + math

to bulb paper and ed: you must have cs

to bulb lib: you must have metcast, calendar, and compass but NOT machinery

all are with GSs

the bolded part is wrong.
You can be faster with theology .

 

[futurehermit]

that's true, it is faster with theology.

in the future i may go this route instead. produce a GP first, bulb theology, and then GSs phil-paper-ed-lib.

the only problem is the conflict between theocracy and pacificism. at that time of the game i want to be running pacificism. but i suppose if you bulb theology early enough you could pump out an army and then switch over to pacifism in a bit.

this gives me so many ideas...

 

[Gryman]

that's true, it is faster with theology.

in the future i may go this route instead. produce a GP first, bulb theology, and then GSs phil-paper-ed-lib.

the only problem is the conflict between theocracy and pacificism. at that time of the game i want to be running pacificism. but i suppose if you bulb theology early enough you could pump out an army and then switch over to pacifism in a bit.

this gives me so many ideas...

I have tried this route several times but there is one other thing to remember; In order to Pick Nationalism as a free tech you must have the knowlege of Civil Service. Works well for Gunpowder, Printing Press and sometimes Astronomy.

 

[oyzar]

to bulb machinery you must not have CS but compas calendar either philo or not meditation. Its pretty easy to figure out from the tech preferences list...

 

[cabert]

that's true, it is faster with theology.

in the future i may go this route instead. produce a GP first, bulb theology, and then GSs phil-paper-ed-lib.

the only problem is the conflict between theocracy and pacificism. at that time of the game i want to be running pacificism. but i suppose if you bulb theology early enough you could pump out an army and then switch over to pacifism in a bit.

this gives me so many ideas...

I have tried this route several times but there is one other thing to remember; In order to Pick Nationalism as a free tech you must have the knowlege of Civil Service. Works well for Gunpowder, Printing Press and sometimes Astronomy.

I did say it's faster, not better.
I use the theology trick only when I can't avoid a prophet (mostly in cultural games).

 

[futurehermit]

Well, nationalism is only necessary when going for cavalry. Another route I like to go is fast-grens. Take PP from lib and then bulb chem. Especially handy when you don't have horses.

The thing I like about this possibility of going up through theology is that a first GS can't bulb phil immediately so usually people burn him on an academy. But with a prophet instead, you can bulb theology. This gets you past the bottleneck of CS which takes quite awhile to research since you can't bulb it (only with great difficulty with a GM).

I think if you worked everything perfectly, you could end up with VERY VERY early grens...

My concern, however, would be getting an additional prophet. You would have to hope you can get the GL and many scientists going in a different city asap to ensure that you don't get the 2nd prophet, at least not until you have all the GSs you need. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world, since you could use him on the Church of the Nativity, but to get super-fast grens, you would want GSs asap.

 

[JackOfClubs]

My concern, however, would be getting an additional prophet. You would have to hope you can get the GL and many scientists going in a different city asap to ensure that you don't get the 2nd prophet, at least not until you have all the GSs you need. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world, since you could use him on the Church of the Nativity, but to get super-fast grens, you would want GSs asap.

Well, if you get your GPr from a Priest specialist rather than a wonder, this wouldn't be such a problem because you could turn it off after you were done with it. The difficulty with getting an early Priest, of course, is that you have to have a religion in order to build the temple. That isn't usually a problem for me, but it might be a distraction from some strategies. Also, timing might be an issue. If the GPP for the first prophet are coming from Stonehenge, the Prophet will pop much sooner than one from the Oracle. But a temple is faster than the Oracle so if that is the source of the GPP, going for a Priest would actually be quicker.

 

[futurehermit]

Yes, that's a very good point and I was already thinking of that. I was thinking Egypt would be a good candidate because then you can run TWO priests off the obelisk and then go for scientists...hmm...I LOVE the sounds of this

Too bad Egypt is a better civ for early cav because you can upgrade veteran war chariots...