Suggestions in 1748

[madmaven]

It's 1748, prince level, standard map, vs 4 other civs. I'm hovering right around #2. I'm at war with Greece and Rome (they just declared about 10 turns ago) but I'm not too worried because their initial assault was turned back pretty easily. I'll include the save game file and I would really appreciate any suggestions or critiques of the game.

This is a pretty typical game for me. I start off fine, and then around 1500--or about the time I get to guilds on the tech tree--I have a hard time deciding what direction to go in. I've read Devi's guide that this is the time you should "choose your destiny" and I usually take a sceince / economy route (education / economics). I also think this is the most important time in the game because some very useful civics become available (I try to be the first to liberalism). My goal is to stay in the tech lead -- which I've already lost in this game -- but also maintain a strong economy and military (but not necessarily the strongest).

In this game I tried to be the first to liberalism and missed. But then I had its civics. I then grabbed constitution and democracy and was the firs to biology. Now I'm headed for the assembly line. It'd be nice if you could just get everything, but at this level I find that hard to do, you have to focus. So, what are usually the best things to focus on and what can be left to trade for later?

Starting around 1500 there are so many good techs at the same time, are there any good rules of thumb to follow?

Is it better to get a civic like representation (constitution) or go for the free tech with liberalism?

If you go for representation should you b-line to democracy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mmmm Butter]

I'm pretty new to the game, so I'm not sure what's the best route to take techwise, but I figure it's usually situational. I do the same as you though, I try to be the first to liberalism. If I've got a decent tech lead, I'll research something else beforehand that leads to a good advanced tech, and get that as my free one from liberalism.

In your game, neither Mansa or Hats has democracy, but it looks like you're already well into research for replaceable parts, so trading for that might be a waste. Mansa won't trade physics for democracy either. Maybe you could check and see if one of them can trade you steam power, after you're done with replaceable parts. Then check the other one and see if you could trade democracy to them for assembly line. That'd get you back in the tech race, and you could build some infantry for the war.

 

[BigCMan]

Representation is my favorite civic because it gives you bonus happiness and science production. I've never actually succeeded in getting to liberalism. The AI seems to really like getting that free tech. I think that if you get representation though, you can balance the missed free tech with the extra science output from all of your cities. Hope this helps.

 

[madmaven]

I'm pretty new to the game, so I'm not sure what's the best route to take techwise, but I figure it's usually situational. I do the same as you though, I try to be the first to liberalism. If I've got a decent tech lead, I'll research something else beforehand that leads to a good advanced tech, and get that as my free one from liberalism.

In your game, neither Mansa or Hats has democracy, but it looks like you're already well into research for replaceable parts, so trading for that might be a waste. Mansa won't trade physics for democracy either. Maybe you could check and see if one of them can trade you steam power, after you're done with replaceable parts. Then check the other one and see if you could trade democracy to them for assembly line. That'd get you back in the tech race, and you could build some infantry for the war.

Thanks for taking the time to check out the save file. It seems like there's a certain sequence of events that takes place every game where a Civ like Greece or Mali is a few techs behind me and then in about 200 years passes me because I've made the wrong moves.

I should probably go for representation earlier or even put more effort into building the pyramids so I can use it sooner. Or, when is the best time to use representation? ASAP?

Maybe I should build more cottages so I can spend more money on research over all. I tend to want to keep my cities growing. I end up #1 or #2 in population but not necessarily in the tech race.

 

[Mmmm Butter]

Thanks for taking the time to check out the save file. It seems like there's a certain sequence of events that takes place every game where a Civ like Greece or Mali is a few techs behind me and then in about 200 years passes me because I've made the wrong moves.

I should probably go for representation earlier or even put more effort into building the pyramids so I can use it sooner. Or, when is the best time to use representation? ASAP?

Maybe I should build more cottages so I can spend more money on research over all. I tend to want to keep my cities growing. I end up #1 or #2 in population but not necessarily in the tech race.

No problemo. I had that same thing happen to me a lot, until I started trading techs more. I love trading the AI a dead-end tech, like music, and getting something that I skipped over plus some gold in return. That way you don't have to go back and research the tech you skip, plus extra gold lets you keep the science slider up even if you're running a bit of a deficit.

If you build the Pyramids, then switching to representation right after is definitely the best idea. But it's not real necessary to build the Pyramids, for science. Pyramids are good for early wars though, since you can use police state, and the great engineer points are real good too. The best time to use representation, imo, is when you've got mercantilism. Mercantilism gives the free specialist in every city, then the rep. gives each of them the 3 beakers. Good if you've got caste system too, w/ the unlimited specialists. If you manage to build the Great Library, you're in great shape too. 2 free scientists + great scientist points, and add that w/ representation... then you could either merge a GS into that city or build an academy, and it produces a ton of beakers.

But, yeah, I think commerce is the best way to stay ahead in techs. I'm pretty sure you were playing Qin, and I think he's got the financial trait, so cottages would bring up the commerce a lot. Wouldn't hurt to turn some of the farms to cottages, since your population's grown a lot already and they can work them, and the 2 commerce from a cottage will be 3 with the financial trait.

 

[madmaven]

But, yeah, I think commerce is the best way to stay ahead in techs. I'm pretty sure you were playing Qin, and I think he's got the financial trait, so cottages would bring up the commerce a lot. Wouldn't hurt to turn some of the farms to cottages, since your population's grown a lot already and they can work them, and the 2 commerce from a cottage will be 3 with the financial trait.

That's what I was looking for. Thanks.