Deljade
Prince
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2019
- Messages
- 312
I would like to discuss Tech Trading as of Patch 10-7. A lot of people play without Tech Trading, of course, but it is the default setting and I feel it has some merits to it, making it worth discussing. Specifically, Tech Trading occurs much more commonly in recent patches and the AIs value Techs at less gold.
Some Pros and Cons compared to Research Agreements and having neither of them turned on, assuming no tech brokering and the current iteration of VP.
Pros;
-More equality between the AIs, it's much easier for all the players to keep up in Tech, making for a more challenging and interesting game for the human when (s)he does not have the absolute lead. I think this point cannot be understated. It is the main reason I desire Tech Trading system to be fine-tuned.
-Potential to turn one's
into 
, covering for some builds' weak spots and giving interesting choices and options to the player.
-Less restrictive, more potent than Research Agreements. RAs promote a specific playstyle. This is more of a neutral one than a pro, depending on how much you believe super peaceful tall, science play should be rewarded. I personally think it was too good in vanilla.
Cons;
-Severely messes up the game pace. Imagine 5 AIs entering Modern era at approximately the same time. They all have different priorities and each enter with a different Tech. One enters from Corporations, one from Combustion etc. The first column of Modern Era would normally take, let's say 30 turns to be completely discovered by a solo player. But now, if the AIs trade between them, the 5 Techs will be discovered in the time it takes to research 1 Tech. They are all able to afford all the trades because, as the Tech leaders, they Passed down the Techs they've researched to the other AIs in the game, for a price. Of course this specific scenario will not occur often, it's rare that there are 5 players on the same tech level with different priorities. But miniature versions of this scenario with 2 or 3 AIs happen quite often and is reinforced by the constant Tech Trading. As a result the pacing of the game post Industrial can be made extremely hectic and unenjoyable.
-Maybe makes the game a bit too equal.
-An advantage to the human player and their critical thinking and planning. I do not know how good the AIs are at assessing when and what to Tech trade. Do they pay for Techs they will have researched in 2 turns anyway? They probably do not have a plan in mind either. The human can plan his research with Tech Trading in mind, making it very easy for them to reach their desired goals.
When thinking of the above points, it makes a good amount of sense that some adjustments are due (they should apply to Tech gifts also).
A couple that come to mind would be making it so, if not hard implemented, for AIs to not trade Techs they've recently researched. This also has real world basis, nations will keep their groundbreaking discoveries a secret, except maybe to their closest allies during war.
Furthermore, AIs should be much, much less willing to trade with other players on a similar, or higher Tech level than them. An AI that's been left in the dust Tech wise, should be able to buy some Techs in order to be a competent players in the game. But trading with equals, even friends, should be discouraged, so as to not mess up the game pace too much.
Of course the above are aiming more at improving player experience. I do not actually know the difficulty implications.
Let's discuss the current state of Tech Trading, the points I brought up, and brainstorm other ideas.
Some Pros and Cons compared to Research Agreements and having neither of them turned on, assuming no tech brokering and the current iteration of VP.
Pros;
-More equality between the AIs, it's much easier for all the players to keep up in Tech, making for a more challenging and interesting game for the human when (s)he does not have the absolute lead. I think this point cannot be understated. It is the main reason I desire Tech Trading system to be fine-tuned.
-Potential to turn one's
into , covering for some builds' weak spots and giving interesting choices and options to the player.-Less restrictive, more potent than Research Agreements. RAs promote a specific playstyle. This is more of a neutral one than a pro, depending on how much you believe super peaceful tall, science play should be rewarded. I personally think it was too good in vanilla.
Cons;
-Severely messes up the game pace. Imagine 5 AIs entering Modern era at approximately the same time. They all have different priorities and each enter with a different Tech. One enters from Corporations, one from Combustion etc. The first column of Modern Era would normally take, let's say 30 turns to be completely discovered by a solo player. But now, if the AIs trade between them, the 5 Techs will be discovered in the time it takes to research 1 Tech. They are all able to afford all the trades because, as the Tech leaders, they Passed down the Techs they've researched to the other AIs in the game, for a price. Of course this specific scenario will not occur often, it's rare that there are 5 players on the same tech level with different priorities. But miniature versions of this scenario with 2 or 3 AIs happen quite often and is reinforced by the constant Tech Trading. As a result the pacing of the game post Industrial can be made extremely hectic and unenjoyable.
-Maybe makes the game a bit too equal.
-An advantage to the human player and their critical thinking and planning. I do not know how good the AIs are at assessing when and what to Tech trade. Do they pay for Techs they will have researched in 2 turns anyway? They probably do not have a plan in mind either. The human can plan his research with Tech Trading in mind, making it very easy for them to reach their desired goals.
When thinking of the above points, it makes a good amount of sense that some adjustments are due (they should apply to Tech gifts also).
A couple that come to mind would be making it so, if not hard implemented, for AIs to not trade Techs they've recently researched. This also has real world basis, nations will keep their groundbreaking discoveries a secret, except maybe to their closest allies during war.
Furthermore, AIs should be much, much less willing to trade with other players on a similar, or higher Tech level than them. An AI that's been left in the dust Tech wise, should be able to buy some Techs in order to be a competent players in the game. But trading with equals, even friends, should be discouraged, so as to not mess up the game pace too much.
Of course the above are aiming more at improving player experience. I do not actually know the difficulty implications.
Let's discuss the current state of Tech Trading, the points I brought up, and brainstorm other ideas.
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