Some questions about buying tech

[cephyn]

I haven't tried the strat yet, but im curious

some strategies here (in particular, culture rush win) call for setting your research to zero and making money hand over fist to buy techs

now why i dont deny the validitiy to the strat, has anyone really noticed what the exact advantage, if any, there is?

what i mean is, youre buying all your tech, so youre keeping up -- but could you still modify the strat to achieve a balance -- for example, use money to buy tech along one line of the tree, and racing up the other line, while still making enough money for the rest of the strat holds up?

I know this isn't making much sense, im just not sure how else to say it. Im just wondering if the technique could be refined to actually keep you ahead in the tech race while still making tons of money and rushing for culture. thats where im going with this, i guess. Any thoughts?

 

[Smirk]

I only do this in the higher difficulty games, and usually only starting out, until I have the infrastructure to beat the computer.

The benefit is that you can get the same tech, a turn or two later for a much cheaper price. If you are an aggressive warmonger like myself, I get these techs for free when I let them give me that along with peace. In other words I'm warring the tech leaders until I see a tech show up in the trade window. Then they get a few turns off.

What you do with that large balance is really up to you, if there is an important tech you need you can raise your tech to 100% and take the negative balance for however many turns it takes. Trying to beat out the computer on tech is really only possible if you are dominating so much you could easily just win if you tried, or you are playing a low difficulty game. And also keep in mind its very costly both to raise tech levels to 100%, and having all the libraries and universities etc to get a large research value. As well as the fact that entertainment is tied to research level, so if you 100% in research you can't put any into entertainment. Which then requires you to build all those happiness improvements which is still more drain on your cash flow.

 

[eyrei]

Anybody ever wondered what the AI does with the large amounts of cash you are giving them for technology? Just a thought. I don't like to give the AI anything unless I have to. ****ing Zulus!