Tackling the Middle Ages Tech Tree

[Theov]

TL/DR: I want to balance the Middle Ages part of the tech tree, because the top part is not nearly as useful as the bottom part.

I've always thought the game is often won or lost in the middle ages.
Mostly won, by either bee-lining to Military Tradition, or taking the middle sea-faring route.

However, the AI somehow loves to spend many turns trying to research the top tech-route of Printing Press-Democracy-Free Artistry. So they can quickly build Shakespear's Theater and become a Democracy...
Now - because of this (the AI spending its time researching techs that don't help much, and the human player slowly becoming a military powerhouse) I've always thought this part of the game was heavily unbalanced.
Add the fact that they like to research Music Theory to build JS Bach's... and the picture is complete.

To top it all off - these techs aren't even necessary for advancement to the next age, so the human player doesn't even need to trade for them. Leaving the AI empty handed.

So.
I think I've made the case quite clear about what is wrong with this part of the tech tree.

I have started to give some more incentives for going for the top row of the tech tree by adding Theocracy as a viable war alternative for the AI. (maybe I should just merge it with Theology).
Also, I've boosted Democracy by adding a strong defensive unit and by removing Printing Press altogether.
I've also made Shake's a nationwide wonder, instead of a city-only wonder.

But having 4 techs on the top of the tech tree (Theocracy / Democracy / Free Artistry and Music Theory) only to have access to 2 govs - which are still not better than Republic - and 2 wonders seems... a lot.
Four techs on the bottom brings you gunpowder units, cannons, better ships and Cavalry.

There has to be a way to fix this.

With all that being said - my request is to come up with ideas to balance this part of the tech tree out - without completely re-doing the game. (I want to keep the feel of the game the same.)

Original Civ3 tech tree:



My Mod Tech Tree (yes, that's Elvis):

 

[Predator145]

I just got rid of music theory and free artistry, nerfed republic, make anarchy 2 turns for every civ (indirect buff to democracy) and made navigation and economics compulsory. Military Tradition also takes longer to get to.

 

[timerover51]

I have made Printing Press mandatory to advance.

 

[jarred!]

Why not make some more techs required? I'm thinking Navigation, Economics, Chivalry. Government techs are generally non-reqs in the base game, but if you make e.g. Democracy allow a unit and an improvement/wonder, it could be like Feudalism which is required. Printing Press is lame tech, but making it required would make communications trading a part of the game again.

 

[Alekseyev_]

I think merely being required for the next age will not change anything except make the human research them after the important techs (everything else) has been researched. To be worthwhile for any but 1 civ, a tech needs to give more or something else than just a great wonder.

What could also help slightly slow down the cavalry rush and would make sense background-wise is to have military theory require education. Or go the civ4 route and have it require music.

 

[tjs282]

What could also help slightly slow down the cavalry rush and would make sense background-wise is to have military theory require education. Or go the civ4 route and have it require music.

I have MilTrad requiring Metallurgy + Banking, but Education also makes sense as a prereq. To reduce the tedium/ prevalence/ effectiveness of massed-Cavalry blitzes (both to execute, and to defend against!), I also reduced all horse-based units to M=2. (For Horse-based UUs whose superpower was M=3, I gave other buffs instead, e.g. A/D tweaks, "Ignores movement-cost of [Terrain(s)]", Blitz, and/or Enslavement).

And on the grounds that horses (and more modern mobile-units) are generally more expensive to run per capita (=HP) than 'pure' foot units — but Firaxis decided to tie (excess) unit-maintenance costs to government rather than unit-type — I gave the post-Gunpowder M=1 units +1HP (and the post-Industrial M=1 defensive-units +2HP — but these also cost 1 pop-point).

 

[Civinator]

Here is a screenshot of the Era 2 techtree about a study I made some time ago for C3C techtrees allowing much more interesting units in the game by only renaming techs, making some techs necessary for progressing to the next era and drawing different connections between some (partly renamed) techs. If remembering well, I added in that study only two additional buildings which in my eyes were absolutely necessary for a better game play. One building is the administration center in era1, replacing the courthouse in that era reducing corruption (the courthouse was added to tech Democracy in era 2) and the other was the Jolly Roger of CCM, autoproducing pirate ships (that can be upgraded).

As tjs282 posted above, in my study about techtrees MV 3 land units are only allowed in era 3 and 4. The techs Music Theory and Free Artistry in my eyes could be combined in one tech of Free Artistry.

So the screenshot is in German language, I think it is understandable.

 

[Ozymandias]

I simply think that there are too many "Optional" Techs that don't make sense - The Printing Press?? Navigation??

I rest my case.

 

[timerover51]

I simply think that there are too many "Optional" Techs that don't make sense - The Printing Press?? Navigation??

I rest my case.

Having the Printing Press being optional makes no sense whatsoever. Navigation makes a tiny bit of sense, if you are primarily playing on Pangaea maps, and are a land-locked civilization. If you play on Random maps, Continent Maps, or Archipelago Maps, when you have a lot of water, it makes no sense whatsoever as well.

 

[Quintillus]

Theov, for some reason your new version of the tech tree isn't showing up anymore. Checked in two browsers just to be sure.

I like Civinator's changes. It eliminates the zerg rush to Cavalry, and creates a classic "do I research the optional Military Tradition tech for Cavalry and Ships of the Line (?) or focus on the Industrial Ages?" question. In the base game it's almost always "research Military Tradition" unless you are specifically playing a peaceful Space Race or Diplomatic game.

 

[Theov]

Well - I made the top row of techs a lot cheaper.
Old:
Theology 40
Theocracy 63
Democracy 65
Free Art 52
Total: 220

New:
Theology 30
Theocracy 30
Democracy 45
Free Art 42
Total: 147 (two thirds of the old)

Then, I made Navigation a required tech, but Military Tradition not.
As most of my games aren't on Pangea anyway.
Then I cleaned up the look - so it looks a bit more organized

Though I have never understood why the religious techs are at the bottom in the Ancient Age (and the military is on top), but continue at the top in the Medieval Age (and the military at the bottom).

 

[Ozymandias]

You can also have a look at "What Will the AI Research Next?" which can also be manipulated in interesting ways, although I'd say they're for more "heavy lifting" modding.

There's also a straightforward ranking of AI Tech preferences HERE, even though that thread's intention was to guide a Player through what to research apropos trading Techs with AI Civs.

EDIT: There's also the matter of AI Civs researching optional Techs which an aggressive Player might avoid.