Tech Faster

[Speedy36]

Hi

I need help teching faster, without being so much of a warmonger.

Normally, I just beat up the other civs and I turn their cities into science production centers, leaving my core cities (the ones I created) as military production centers.

However, that tactic only helps me conquer my continent leaving the other continent with a hugh tech lead on me.

Can anyone direct me to someone's game or guide that shows fast science production?

 

[futurehermit]

Your capital can generate most of your early-to-mid-game science. The key is to get enough cottages in your capital, to raise your happy cap in your capital as much as possible (hereditary rule), and to beeline CS early enough for bureaucracy. Also, generating an academy for your capital early is important. Getting your capital to size 10-15 in the BC era with an academy and lots of cottages in preparation for bureaucracy ca. 200-300AD (normal speed/monarch) is a good benchmark that I like to shoot for.

You can still have a couple of production cities outside your capital, a gpfarm is important for lightbulbing or other things, and then some more commerce cities to help out a bit.

Playing financial civs can help a bit too until you get the hang of teching efficiently a bit more.

 

[qwertz]

you can read xanaduxs mansa musa game. it is a very good example of a capital-cottage-bureaucracy game, where he gets a huge tech advantage because of it.

 

[kcmarkwell]

beeline CS for bureaucracy, get code and currency for economy, oxford / university in capital, cottage everything around capital = great science output

 

[kcmarkwell]

duh, get a Great Scientist as early as possible by running 2 scientists in capital after you build library at size 5/6, put an academy in it asap

 

[mystyfly]

i like having 1-2 religions in my cap for shrine. this then allows me to have the slider at 100% for more time (binary rate) and i can have my cottage cities focus on libraries, universities.

 

[Speedy36]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I can now surpass the AI to an extent but no where near the point where I have CS before 300 AD.

 

[futurehermit]

You have to choose your techs carefully. After worker techs are in go CoL-Math-CS. On higher levels you could do alpha instead and trade for math, but if you can't trade for math it is better to self-research it. CoL should be coming in around 500BC (normal speed/monarch) then math then CS around 250AD.

It will vary according to map/circumstances/tech needs, but this is just a rule of thumb I follow when playing to this strategy.

Also, remember that all you need to do is beat the AIs at the end of the day. This is something I tend to forget. As long as you are winning you are teching good enough. On higher levels where there are many more tech trades the tech pace will go faster. This makes it hard to compare against lower levels where you are self-researching pretty much everything yourself (unless you luck out and get some fast-teching financial civs who lay down enough cottages).

 

[madscientist]

Speedy, Antoher thing to do is run a hybrid economy. Build libraries in all your core cities, and run 2 scientists while working at least a few key cottages to get them maturing.,This will help you get through Col, currency abd CS. Use the Great Scientists for at least one adacemy and lightbuld techs leading to liberalism (philosophy, paper, education)

Also depends on which leader you choose. If your continually picking Mongols, Celts, or Romans for warring abilities your not going to tech as fast. Try a financial or philosophical leader or better, Elizabeth who is both.

 

[futurehermit]

Yes, it's true. When I play say Dutch I tech quite fast. When I play as say Cathy replacing financial with imperialistic I notice the difference in tech pace. However, after being on the warpath for centuries and I have level 4-5 tanks coming out of my HE city thanks to all the settled GGs I am satisfied. Of course financial > imperialistic, but that doesn't mean you can't win with imperialistic and a slower tech pace in general.

Heck, sometimes I think it is better in the long run to tech slower (i.e., go to war lots). This lets the AI get ahead and research a pile of techs so you know which paths they neglected and you can go up them and trade yourself back into parity.

Sometimes I think this is an "advantage" to the higher levels. At low levels when you are often the tech leader or at tech parity from early on, you are not sure (espionage aside) what paths your opponents are considering and you may find you research techs your opponents are as well thus limiting your trade abilities.

So if you have a warmongering leader like say the Celt lady, then focus more on military and expanding your empire. Of course don't crash your economy into the ground, but I think you can afford to take more liberties with it. Once your empire is quite large and the AIs are ahead in tech then you can focus on beelining/lightbulbing and tech trading to get back to parity. Parity means for you when your empire 2x-4x > than your opponents

 

[Speedy36]

Okay I chose Elizabeth and I learned a very important lesson:

Every turn counts!

I lost by 1 turn in a space race.

I backtracked changed some windmills into mines and I found some forests that were in the outer limits of a city that was producing the final space part.

I shaved two turns of my time, and I got 5000 extra points for winning.

Oh, well practice makes perfect.

 

[mystyfly]

I lost by 1 turn in a space race.

when you see, that the space race is gonna be tight, focus more on esp to have enought EPs against the race leader to sabotage his production and pillage his improvements around his core cities, and PILLAGE ALU if possible (last time i found he settled on alu, the git )

so you should be able to win a tight race..
just try again

 

[pi-r8]

lol, dueling scientist avatars.

 

[xanadux]

I just want to reinforce what futurehermit said about tech path. The techs you choose to research can be just as important as how many beakers you produce. Every tech you research should be part of a plan with an important goal at the end of it. Too much religious teching, too much military teching, generally haphazard teching, and teching towards wonders or buildings or units that won't really help you will all seriously impede your overall economy and tech rate.

Plan your techs 4 or 5 at a time. When you start the game, given your traits, starting techs, and resources, you should be able to decide on an ideal order to tech in. After you have worker techs and BW, you need a plan to tech for your economy. CoL is of paramount importance ... if you are running SE, it's vital for caste system. If you are running CE, it is vital to get to CS for Bureaucracy.