Tech path

[Narnia]

I like to play as Rome or Incas (quaenchas) and rush my opponents. I then either continue my military campaign or stop and use my newly formed empire to become a superpower and choose another victory. What is a good early/mid game tech path for me?

 

[joanne]

That question is too general, and there's a lot of undetermined variables without saves & screenshots. In general though, for what you're saying, for the Inca research the worker techs while building *quechua. Maybe you could move your capitol to another spot closer to the target civ's(very risky, esp. if you find out you're isolated), or on top of a plains hill for the bonus . For the Romans it's worker techs -> beeline IW, settle near Fe, build/whip *Praets -> attack target civ & capture best cities -> beeline currency and/or CoL and build wealth/courthouses to help with city maintenance -> if you decide to attack another civ, build/whip some more praets else beeline happy techs like calendar/monarchy for city growth. Of course that may not be the exact path and the only path; it depends on the situation

 

[Narnia]

Thanks, all I wanted was a general tech path, a "generally it is a good idea to research this, this, and then this" I'll try that.

 

[Sisiutil]

I play as Rome often and my early game tech path is usually Bronze Working followed by the Wheel and Iron Working. I research the Wheel before IW if I have copper ridiculously close by (especially if it's in Rome's BFC), but I'll research IW before the Wheel if there's no copper around. Once BW, the Wheel, and IW are under my belt I go after worker techs. (My workers build mines and pre-chop forests until they can lay down roads.)

By doing this I can usually field Praets just in time to thump the first barbarians that show up. The Praets then accumulate some XPs and thanks to whipping and chopping I can send a stack of them at my nearest neighbour while they have nothing better than Archers.

 

[G-Max]

As Rome, if you're playing Earth18civs or some other map where you start out right next to your neighbors and know where all the others are, beeline Iron Working first while producing workers and barracks, then crank Praets while doing the worker techs and making the appropriate improvements. Otherwise, do the worker techs first, then iron working. Either way, once you have all the worker techs + IW, you should aim for Engineering, although it's okay to pick up some other stuff along the way, especially Currency. Once you have Engineering, currency, maybe Priesthood for the Oracle, maybe Feudalism for Vassalage (vassalage + barracks = 2 promotions for every unit as soon as it's built!), whatever, it's time for the race to Liberalism. First to discover gets Gunpowder for free, lol. Then aim for economics and music if nobody has beaten you to them yet - free Great People and whatnot. After that, it's Rifling, Assembly Line, physics, and ultimately Industrialism. You'll want to delay Physics for as long as possible even though the first to discover gets a Great Scientist, because its two prerequisites are Astronomy, which obsoletes your Monuments, and Scientific Method, which obsoletes your Monasteries.

Once you have Industrialism, you've won. Everyone who hasn't been overrun by your praets, macemen, musketmen, riflemen, or infantry will get overrun by your marines and tanks.

As Incas... I don't know. I've never played them. The basic liberalism-gunpowder-rifling-assembly line-industrialism path should work, though.

 

[Tristan_C]

Outside crowded maps, I'd still do worker techs first unless you have plenty of seafood in the bfc. Working unimproved tiles longer than the AI does not go unpunished. Spiral-pattern explorers outward from Rome to ensure that you locate the very nearest civ and the very nearest iron. If the opportunity arises, steal a worker, choking optional.

I agree currency may be the next big target, but more immediately after IW is masonry and possibly Priesthood or Poly. Failgold from wonders is really appreciable.

 

[G-Max]

more immediately after IW is masonry and possibly Priesthood

If you see any stone or marble nearby, then Masonry is obviously the very first tech that you want to pursue. If you see stone, try to get Stonehenge ASAP; if marble, then beeline Priesthood and nab the Oracle. These wonders are both abnormally cheap and abnormally powerful - arguably more so than most of the more expensive wonders. This holds true regardless of what civ you're playing, how close your neighbors are, or any other factors.